This particular spin-off follows a group of civilian researchers and military personnel as they are forced to evacuate a planet under attack, only to find themselves on a derelict ancient ship, the Destiny, hurtling through space and completely out of their control.
The evacuee's military might is headed up by Colonel Everett Young (Justin Louis), while the civilian side of things is controlled by the team's lead scientist, Dr. Nicholas Rush (Robert Carlyle) and International Oversight Committee (IOA) member Camile Wray (Ming-Na). Most of the season not only deals with the entire crew's survival as they find problem after problem with the ship, but also the power struggle between the civilian and military branches of the group. This aspect is so important in fact, that at one point, Rush and Wray actually stage a revolt.
The ship's military personnel also include Lt. Matthew Scott (Brian J. Smith), Lt. Johansen (Alaina Huffman) and Master Sgt. Greer (Jamil Walker Smith). Johansen is the crew's only doctor, but since she is only a field medic, she finds herself in over-her-head on many occasions. Greer is a no-nonsense character who follows every order to the letter and has a bit of a dark past that leaves him with little patience for anything but keeping the peace. Meanwhile, Scott is the pretty-boy of the group, and while he is second-in-command in the show, he tends to let his feelings get in the way, something Greer doesn't like at all.
On the civilian side, there is Eli (David Blue). His character is first introduced to the entire concept of Stargates and interplanetary travel when he solves a complex mathematical puzzle embedded in a videogame (much like The Last Starfighter). By solving the problem that has been plaguing Rush, he is invited into the Stargate Program and through teaching his character, newcomers to the series will get the information they need to understand what is going on. Eli quickly falls for a Senator's daughter who is stranded with the rest of the group by the name of Chloe (Elyse Levesque), but Chloe's eyes turn towards Lt. Scott, much to Eli's chagrin.
As the season gets started, each episode focuses on some resource the group needs. At first, it is basic things like water and clean air and as the ship adjusts to its new inhabitants, they have to struggle to keep it running. Thankfully, the ship seems to know what it needs, when it needs it and where to find the necessary resource. While the ship's inhabitants lack any real control over the ship, it occasionally drops out of hyperspace close enough to planets for the crew to stargate to them and gather whatever resources they are lacking, but they have a time limit to get back to the ship before it jumps again. The away team's constant awareness of the ticking clock is another recurring theme that adds to the show's tension.
SGU also has quite a few classic-style science fiction episodes like one where the crew finds out they died on a planet and were able to somehow send videos of their gruesome deaths back in time to themselves in order to prevent the disaster. Also, about halfway through the season, the crew encounters an alien race that seems bent on capturing the Destiny, and our heroes struggle to not only keep the ship together, but also fend off the invading force, again all with very little control over their vessel.
Stargate Universe: SGU The Complete First Season doesn't come with any special features that couldn't be found on the two half-season releases from earlier this year. While it is, of course, nice to have them all grouped together, for those that already have part of the season, you might as well just buy the other half instead of considering the full season as a replacement.
So what are the special features? Pretty much anything you might want to learn about the making of both the series and this particular season. Besides tons of interviews with the cast and crew, there are also featurettes concerning several of the show's stunts, and the design of both the Destiny's set, as well as the new alien race. The extra features are rounded out with commentaries and Kino Video Diaries, the webisode series that went along with the season.
Stargate Universe has a noticeably different feel when compared to the previous two series in the license. The overall show feels much more confined and claustrophobic. Even though Stargate Atlantis flung the cast to a different galaxy with little to no connection to Earth (well, early on anyway), they were still able to do a lot of exploring. In SGU, a lot of the show stays on the ship and deals with the human interaction during these various stress-filled events. Because of that, it might not appeal to all existing Stargate fans, but it is worth looking into. As for those that didn't previously follow the show, SGU attempts to give you the data you need, when you need it, but if you haven't already caught the Stargate bug, you aren't likely to this late in the game.
