Stargate Universe continues to divide Stargate fans, but I'll never comprehend why. Don't try to explain it to me either because if you don't like it, go tell someone who cares. Or better yet, keep your opinion to yourself.

Since this is my site, I can however force my opinion down your throat (well, as far as you being willing to read it will allow). And here it is in no uncertain terms:

Stargate Universe is exceptional television.

Stargate Universe is proving to be an original take on the Stargate franchise that, to my mind, has finally done away with the Star Trek style adventure of the hour by seamlessly melding the individuality of each episode into the ongoing whole. It's also a pleasure to see more than a handful of episodes flow by without one solitary medieval village coming into the equation.

Regarding my last comment, I should clarify. I'm a big fan of both Stargate SG1 and Stargate Atlantis, a big fan. I've been watching Stargate since the premiere of the original movie and own all the DVD's. But at times both series had their moments of tiresome and, at other times, both series served up some absolutely terrible episodes. So far, and yes, I understand that it's early days, Stargate Universe has not.

Every episode of Stargate Universe has been A-Class, both in story, in acting, and in tension. Not one episode has felt like a filler. All have melded seamlessly together to paint the picture of an ongoing story arc whilst at the same time maintaining minor episodic based story arcs without them seeming episodic. Do you realize how hard that is to do? Cudos to the script writers I say.

The most recent episode to air, S01E05 'Light', kept this consistency going and delivered another shining example of great science fiction story telling.

Oh yeah, I've read the hating going on by fans in the webosphere...actually, I shouldn't call them fans because "fans" don't hate on what they love unless they're tossers. So either they're not fans or they're tossers, so to avoid confusion let's just ignore the "not fans" and refer to the haters as tossers for now.

With S01E05 'Light' the tossers have thrown in their two cents as they always do. Between Twitter and various blogs/news sites, 'Light' has been whined about for a few reasons, although many of those whining are really directing their negativity towards their hatred of the series as a whole rather than the episode itself.

If you haven't seen 'Light' yet, there's a link at the end of this article to go watch it via VOD. Do that before reading on, as the rest of this discussion contains spoilers.

I don't want to focus on the minor issues 'Light' had, for it did have some. Rather, the main problem with 'Light' is that many people are claiming it was predictable. The consistent gripe is that people knew the crew wouldn't die because everyone knew Destiny was solar powered and would get its power back from the sun. Ok, so maybe nearly everyone gathered the general idea of what might happen, but on the details behind what actually happened I call bullshit.

How many people were honestly sitting back in their armchairs thinking, "I know, the ship will fly through the sun, lower scoops, and scoop up the material of the sun to convert into useable power." Sure people may have guessed the ship would get its power from the sun, but it seems to me that few people knew how it would do it.

Not so predictable when you consider that the ship doesn't appear to be solar powered in the conventional sense, and therefore claiming it was predictable when you didn't know how it would do it sort of debunks a big chunk of the whole predictability claim. Even now, does anyone really know what exactly the ship took from the sun to power it up? Hydrogen? What exactly? Yeah, that's what I thought.

Can you tell me one science fiction television series where the main starship powers up by flying through a star? Please, enlighten me.

I for one thought from the outset that Destiny was solar powered, but obviously I was wrong. I didn't think the ship would be capable of flying through a sun, let alone that it would do so to scoop up material from the sun. I doubt anyone thought that exact chain of events without having had some sort of heads up and, if they did, then I would argue it wasn't predictable, they were just crazy ass episode prophets who would have known whatever outcome was going to happen, even before the script writers did..

Truth is, the way Destiny powered up was damn cool and really quite original.

Whilst we're on the subject of predictability, did anyone predict that there would be a drama with the returning of the lottery winners via shuttle as a result of Destiny powering up and gaining too much speed too fast? If you say you guessed that particular plot arc then I'll suggest you also knew who exactly would be drawn in the lottery to be on the shuttle in the first place, and probably know what color underwear the actors were wearing on the day of filming. Hell, you probalby just won the lottery - twice. Otherwise, predictability -1.

Yes, I'm having a little bit of a rant here, but only because I'm seriously enjoying this show and am getting very tired of reading haters on virtually every thread or website that discusses it. Especially when Stargate Universe is high quality television and deserves the appropriate recognition for it.

'Light' was another powerful drama set in a science fiction setting, with excellent acting and excellent writing, based on the cool as hell Stargate premise but less dependant on it than its predecessors, and set amongst a consistently interesting and ongoing rather then episodic story arc. Brilliant television and no, I don't work for MGM, Syfy or anyone else connected to the series (something postive reviewers of the series are frequently accused of, go figure).

Stargate Universe is averaging 2.85 million viewers and is up something like 36% over the viewer numbers for Stargate Atlantis. It is kicking arse in the ratings, because it's a kick ass series. If you don't agree, don't watch it. But if you want to enjoy some great sci-fi television, then get into it.

I give 'Light' 10 monkeys: [Rating:10/12]

See larger image Light (Amazon Instant Video) Director: Peter DeLuise New From: $1.99 In Stock Release date October 24, 2009.

Tags: Stargate Universe, Stargate Universe S01E05