SGU & Issues of Consent
There's been quite a lot of disappointing reviews out there Stargate: Universe. I'm not particularly attached to it myself. It's not bad as mindless entertainment but certainly nothing worth the fanish devotion of SG1 or SGA. My husband seems to enjoy it, but he's never been a devoted fan to any show.
Unlike some of my internet peers, I haven't found it to be terribly offensive as far as being staunchly sexist or horribly bias against any group. While there are certainly characters that could be put to better use or written better, I suspect it might be the nature of start-up shows trying to find its footing. Though personally, I don't like Ming-Na, the actress so she irritates me. The character of Chloe annoys me a lot - the latching on to Scott like a clingy octopus drives me crazy. None of the other characters except for Rush & Eli are particularly memorable. I was looking forward to seeing Lou Diamond Phillips but he ended up paying such a small part and was the antagonist too!
This last episode was significant for the events that happened while the stranded characters took over the bodies of people on Earth via the communication devices. What I do find interesting is that several months ago, there was an internet uproar over a audition call sheet and a storyline regarding issues of consent. Now in last week's episode, Colonel Young and Colonel Telford (Lou Diamond Phillip) exchanged bodies via the communication stones. While Telford was taking command of the ship over Young's protest, Young took Telford's body to visit his wife and during their reconciliation, they had sex. In my opinion, this is a MAJOR ISSUE OF CONSENT! To add to the complication, when the ship drops in or out of FTL, there's a temporary break in the communication stones and Telford wakes in his body for a few seconds in the middle of their bedroom shenanigans. And at the end of the episode, we see Young's wife opening the door to a Telford dressed like Young... So now we have someone stealing someone's body, someone's probable intention to deceive and manipulate another. Yet nobody objects? Why? Because they're all men? Does nobody on that production team find any of this problematic or did everyone just sign away their rights to their own body when they entered the military??