Today finalized the full cast and launch date for the Stargate Universe series on Sci-Fi channel.
As we previously noted, Robert Carlyle, actor extraordinaire and master of feelings (this man can cry at the drop of a hat, which is not always done well by male actors.) plays a major pivotal role. More of the cast has been filled out with various actors from other shows and movies (a range from 24, Smallville, Saw the movie, etc...).
Today two more names were announced you may know.
Lou Diamond Phillips and Ming Na.
It has been a while since Lou Diamond has had any major success. It seemed like he was on the fast track after parts in La Bamba, Stand and Deliver and Young Guns. I dare you to look at the roles he has played since and see if anything really stands out...I think we will agree. Not so good. He is cast as Colonel Telford, the leader of the expedition.
Then Ming Na, an ER alum, will be filling the part of an IOA member, part of the Stargate oversight committee. She has actually been more prominent lately in voice over work in animation and video games.
As well, the date has been pegged, with a two hour movie to hit in October. Of note, one of the links above is to the wiki page, and they list episode names. I find it cool that each episode has been named after an element, and then one episode after is named "Time".
The best part I have read about the series is there will not be one pivotal enemy. Thus, no major bad guy type thing the other shows did. I think I rather enjoy that bit of news...
Anyways, in closing, there is an awesome rundown of the character profiles and players on Joseph Malozzi's blog, producer and director for the SG and SGA series.
In that blog post, I need to mention one line....He says...
"late yesterday, Robert Carlyle delivered a performance in a key scene that was so outstanding it blew the doors off Stage 3 - and the entire crew away! “Masterful” would be one word to describe it. “Extraordinary” would be another. But I prefer to simply go with “Wow!”.
Oh yes...I know!
2 comments:
Hmm... OK, I'll give the pilot a shot. I'm still convinced that Malozzi and Gero pretty much neutered the franchise by swinging for the cheap seats. SGA and S9-10 of SG-1 were increasingly further away from what made Stargate great in the first place. Sure, there were flashes of brilliance, but overall, it was just a downhill ride.
The preproduction descriptions of Universe looked more like Stargate 90210, which was just one more foot in the gutter. Phillips and Na might just add enough to Carlyle to make a solid core of people worth watching... but I'm still going to be very wary. I've gone from a fan happy to see more Stargate to a bitter old curmudgeon looking for an excuse to go back to SG-1 S1-8 on DVD. They have to earn my goodwill back, and it's going to take a bit of work.
Well, it helps that in "series" format, Carlyle is a god. With natural reactions, and normal behavior that makes him a real person in front of the camera, that strays from other television personalities...it will be hard to look away from this.
Also, it has been explained that some Internet nerd rage started the whole 90210 in space discussion, because fans were ticked off about the Atlantis cancellation.
Finally as the bonus...like you, I felt the shows started to lose momentum ...especially after Anderson left. But, I give them credit for going for major geek points by putting the Farscape duo on the series together...and even though Atlantis was boring to me, I really enjoyed specific actors enough (Hewlett is truly awesome) to stick it out...but anyways, the bonus is the fact this feels like a reboot, and can stray enough from the original series to be something new (especially with full story arcs, as they will be going for more of the season long stories within the stories type of feel...like a standard serial series like Lost, Fringe, etc, etc...)
I have hope.
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