Stargate Universe is the latest entry in the long-running Stargate franchise. The two-hour long season premiere will air on Friday, October 2nd on the SciFi (SYFY) channel.

It looks like the premise for Stargate Universe is going to be what I had expected Stargate Atlantis to be when it first started -- a bunch of scientists, soldiers and civilians sent through a Stargate and then inexplicably cut-off from Earth's Stargate so they can't get back home and can't get any help from the home team. Whoops!

Hopefully it will shape up to be a classic lost in space story and we'll be able to experience a fresh take on Stargate. Without ties to the Cheyenne Mountain facility and all of the cast there that we expect to see, we can have something a bit different. Also, it looks like there will be less of the military aspect with so many civilians on the ship. This should change things up quite a bit.

Additionally, a bit of mystery and wonder has its place and the Stargate seems to have lost that over the years, like everyone has become used to the fantastic.

By introducing a whole new group of people to the concept of the Stargate (i.e., all the civilians newly recruited), they can really show off how awesome the Stargate system truly is.

The ship itself, the Destiny, was made by the Ancients, so it represents another place for the crew to explore. Hopefully they will take more advantage of this in the series than SG-A did.

As for the rest, the cast certainly has potential. Robert Carlisle and Lou Diamond Phillips are the most well-known cast members, but it looks like this may be shaping up to be an ensemble cast. It's hard to tell whether Lou Diamond Phillips will be a regular on the show. I strongly suspect that his character will share much the same fate as that of Robert Patrick's in the first season of Stargate Atlantis. We shall see though.

As far as I can tell they are setting up Carlisle's character, Dr. Nicholas Rush, to go head to head with Colonel Everett Young, played by Justin Louis. Colonel Young is the commander of the secret off-world base that everyone finds themselves fleeing when it is attacked. Once aboard the Ancient ship, Destiny, he takes control of the crew -- not a conclusion that Dr. Rush appreciates.