SGU 2.03 "Awakening" Episode Guide

Précis

The crew encounters a ship, similar in Ancient design to Destiny, which may provide the means to return to Earth.

Guide | Transcript

Syfy.com Official Summary

Catastrophe transforms to opportunity as an obstacle in Destiny's path proves to be a seed ship akin to Destiny. As the seed ship automatically docks with Destiny, it begins transferring massive amounts of data, from which Eli learns that the seed ship has enough power to dial Earth and send the crew home. Young sends a team to the ship as the scientists devise a plan to transfer power from the seed ship to Destiny, and the civilians ready their effects to go home.

But the recon team finds an unpleasant surprise: An alien, weak from months or possibly years of stasis aboard the seed ship. They call TJ to examine it, but on her way, Chloe stops her to tell her that her gunshot wound is almost completely healed. TJ is stunned, but has no time to investigate the matter. Before they can discern the alien's origin or purpose, it regains its strength and slips out of their custody.

Telford, out of concern for Young, asks to be included in the search team and heads to the seed ship. He arrives to find Rush unconscious, stunned by an alien weapon. Further recon reveals a Stargate manufacturing plant, as well as a dozen or so alien stasis pods—all recently open, and vacant.

Aboard the Destiny, tensions remain high between Young and Camile regarding treatment of the Lucian prisoners. Although many of them are compliant, one Lucian officer's continued aggression is making matters worse for all.

And as Eli and the team begin dialing Earth, the power suddenly spikes, then begins reversing direction; someone or something outside of Eli's control is directing power from Destiny to the seed ship. If they can't find a way to stop the draw, not only will they not be able to go home, but Destiny will be left without enough power to even make an FTL jump. Telford, who has a working knowledge of Ancient technology, volunteers to stay on the seed ship in a last-ditch attempt to get everyone home. Eli talks him through the steps as the rest of the crew tries to hunt down the remaining aliens and prepare for the eventuality of disconnecting from the seed ship.

As Telford is on the verge of reversing the power flow, Rush suddenly disappears. Moments later, the two ships disconnect, and Destiny powers up for an FTL jump. With no way of returning to Destiny, Telford is stranded on the seed ship, just as a cadre of aliens encircles him.

Cast

Opening Credits:

• Robert Carlyle as Dr. Nicholas Rush
• Louis Ferreira as Col. Everett Young
• Brian J. Smith as 1st Lt. Matthew Scott
• Elyse Levesque as Chloe Armstrong
• David Blue as Eli Wallace
• Alaina Huffman as 1st Lt. Tamara Johansen
• Jamil Walker Smith as MSgt. Ronald Greer
• and Ming-Na as Camile Wray

Guest Starring:

• Louise Lombard as Gloria Rush
• Julie McNiven as Ginn
• Mike Dopud as Varro
• Peter Kelamis as Adam Brody
• Patrick Gilmore as Dr. Dale Volker
• Jennifer Spence as Dr. Lisa Park
• with Robert Knepper as Simeon
• and Lou Diamond Phillips as Col. David Telford

Closing Credits:

• Leanne Adachi as Cpl. Barnes
• Darcy Laurie as Airman Dunning
• Ryan Booth as Cpl. Marsden
• Jeffrey Bowyer-Chapman as Airman Darren Becker
• Marie-Eve Boudreau as Alien Reference

Production

• Written by Joseph Mallozzi and Paul Mullie
• Directed by Andy Mikita

Related Articles

Keywords

• Destiny

Other

• Stargate Universe: Season Two
• Previous: SGU 2.02 "Aftermath" Episode Guide
• Next: SGU 2.04 "Pathogen" Episode Guide

Related Links

Official

• MGM Official Website: Search Results for "Awakenings"
• Syfy: 2.03 "Awakenings" Guide

Fan

• Solutions News and Spoiler Blog
• Solutions at LJ: Universe Tagged Entries
• Solutions Universe Forum

Production Notes

• "More spinning today in the writers’ room and more headway made on those first ten episodes. ... I’ve cast my lot with Episode 2." — Joseph Mallozzi, October 28, 2009
• "Looks like I won’t be doing episode 2 after all which is a shame as I was really looking forward to tackling what will be a wonderfully multi-character-centric story with a tough ethical dilemma at its core. Instead, I’ll be switching over to 3 which, to be perfectly honest, would have been number five on my list of choices only because of the tech component of this particular story (techy scripts are on my personal No Fly list, coming in somewhere between Ancient storylines and anything involving replicator duplicates of our team reaching out to Atlantis). Still, the late addition of another story element (which I initially pitched out for another episode) has certainly made 3 far more intriguing." — Joseph Mallozzi, October 30, 2009
• "Well, another day and still no work completed on the outline. I mean, seriously. Outlines usually take me about a day to complete but I’ve been so distracted of late that I haven’t even had time to sit down and run the scenes in my head." — Joseph Mallozzi, November 12, 2009
• "Oh, and you’ll be pleased to hear I did get around to finishing MY outline which is no doubt sitting, ignored, on Paul and Carl’s desks as well." — Joseph Mallozzi, November 19, 2009
• "Yesterday, we gave and received notes on three outlines: ... Episode 3 (my story, which will shoot fourth)..." — Joseph Mallozzi, November 21, 2009
• "I might also bring along the outline for my upcoming SGU season 2 script – if I can find it. ... Okay, it’s not that big a deal. I mean, I have copies. But it would be nice to be able to reference everyone’s notes that I made a point of writing down on that hard copy. And yet …" — Joseph Mallozzi, November 22, 2009
• "Well, I was back at it today and by “it” I of course mean working on Stargate. I finally started writing that script and made some good headway, hitting the ten page mark before flaming out. Still, ten pages aint bad. At this rate, I’ll be finished by this weekend. Which, of course, I won’t be." — Joseph Mallozzi, December 10, 2009
• "More progress on the script, albeit of the slow and painful variety. Hit the 15 page mark today which means that, this weekend, I will no doubt fall well short of the 50ish pages needed for a full script. Still, 25 pages five days off an exhausting trip to Asia would be pretty impressive." — Joseph Mallozzi, December 12, 2009
• "Ah, you’ve heard I see. Yes, it’s official. Stargate: Universe has been picked up for a second season. And do you know what this means? Yes, that’s right. I have to finish that script." — Joseph Mallozzi, December 14, 2009
• "No progress on the script front. In fact, I re-read the eighteen pages I have so far and hated it." — Joseph Mallozzi, December 16, 2009
• " I’ll go over what I have, rewrite and polish what I think works, toss out what doesn’t and start again. Eventually, I’ll get a rhythm going and I’ll be able to ride that out to the script’s conclusion. Come the top of the fifth act, it’s smooooooooooooooth sailing." — Joseph Mallozzi, December 17, 2009
• "I worked on those first eighteen pages of my script and, after several re-reads and tweaks, I’ve gone from “hate” to “mere dislike”. I hope that further rewrites will improve my opinion to “firm ambivalence” before I leave for Montreal. In the meantime, I’ve forged ahead with the next scene – a toughie – and hope to be out of Act II by the weekend. Hopefully inspiration strikes and I can roll through Act III in time for my Montreal departure next week." — Joseph Mallozzi, December 18, 2009
• "Oh, that outline I couldn’t find before leaving for my Tokyo trip? Whereabouts still unknown. However, I do vaguely recall looking for an out-of-the-way place to hide it just in case my place was broken into while I was out for the day." — Joseph Mallozzi, December 20, 2009
• "More writing – actually, rewriting – on the script today and I’m actually beginning to like what I’ve got so far. 30 pages in and that really tricky scene fast approaches." — Joseph Mallozzi, December 22, 2009
• "...I hit the 35 page mark, and concluded Act III of my script." — Joseph Mallozzi, December 22, 2009
• "Did some more writing today and am well into ACT IV. Should have a rough first draft by middle of next week. I foresee a fifth act obstacle I don’t quite have an answer for. But I’m not worried. These things tend to work themselves out – hopefully well before this goes to camera." — Joseph Mallozzi, December 26, 2009
• "Damn this script! It just doesn’t seem to want to get done! Usually, by the time I hit the midway mark of the fourth act, I’m able to blaze through the final pages in one seating. And yet here I sit, stuck at the top of Act V, agonizing over the attack on the opening scene, the elusive linchpin exchange, and, quite frankly, all that has come before. ... No 11th hour revelation. No act four twists or clever fifth act resolutions magically coming to me when I most need them. Just a scene heading, INT. DESTINY – CONTROL INTERFACE ROOM – DAY, and a blank page." — Joseph Mallozzi, December 31, 2009
• "Back in the office January 11th – hopefully with a first draft of my script. And a title." — Joseph Mallozzi, January 3, 2010
• "I head back to the office tomorrow with the first draft of a brand new script AND a brand new title: The Awakening. I like it because it works on a couple of levels – none of which I can go into any detail at this point. You’ll just have to trust me." — Joseph Mallozzi, January 10, 2010
• "...I was in quite a mood by the time I got in and my already sour disposition wasn’t helped by the news that everyone else had put their scripts out leaving me odd man out. So, while everyone else was in Brad’s office chatting away, I retreated to my office for one last pass at the script before handing it off to Lawren." — Joseph Mallozzi, January 12, 2010
• "Since we already gave Rob notes on episode two before the hiatus, we moved on to episode three, my script. It’s no secret that this one was – well, a bitch to write but the big question was 'Had those weeks agonizing over the script paid off?'. Well, let me put it this way: By the time they were done giving notes, it was so late that we decided to call it a day. In fact, I probably would have received even more notes had Carl not actually willed himself to pass out in order to escape the marathon session. The day also brought a title change from The Awakening to the Brad Wright-inspired Awakenings." — Joseph Mallozzi, January 13, 2010
• "Last day at the office before the Olympic hiatus and I finally completed the rewrite for Awakening (episode 3)." — Joseph Mallozzi, February 11, 2010
• "I also get to ponder the batch of notes I received on my first script, Awakening, as it heads toward Blue Draft status." — Joseph Mallozzi, March 10, 2010
• "Yesterday, we received a visit from our friends at Syfy, Exec. VP of Original Programming Mark Stern and Director of Development Erika Kennair, who dropped by to talk travel, television and, oh yeah, Stargate: Universe. We spent the afternoon discussing the first five scripts of season two and beyond – character developments, story arcs, and surprises in store for the not too distant future. It was a pleasant and ultimately fruitful sit-down that yielded some terrific ideas that I was quite excited about… until I sat down in front of my laptop this morning and realized I would now have to incorporate these terrific ideas into the rewrite of Awakening. Don’t get me wrong. I really do like the notions we came up with. They’ll help clarify some of the character motivations and offer up interesting revelations about her heroes. I just hate rewrites. Even more than I hate writing first drafts." — Joseph Mallozzi, March 12, 2010
• "Don’t you hate it when you spend hours working out a very complicated script rewrite and head to bed satisfied with a job well done, only to wake up in the middle of the night with the horrible realization that the Volker character isn’t where he’s supposed to be, thereby throwing a wrench into the intricate choreography of that fifth act sequence you thought you’d solved? Yeah, so do I." — Joseph Mallozzi, March 14, 2010
• "Today, we broke Linda’s story (episode 13), which explores the relationship of two of my very favorite characters, and also discussed the Awakening blue draft." — Joseph Mallozzi, March 24, 2010
• "I had a great time with Director Andy Mikita (who I’ll be spending a lot more time with when episode 3, Awakening, shoots in a couple of weeks) and the rest of the crew. ... Was planning to get some work done on Resurgence (episode 10) today, but ended up doing the notes on the Awakening blue draft instead." — Joseph Mallozzi, March 31, 2010
• "Director Will Waring started shooting episode #2, Aftermath, today – which meant it was time to begin prep on my script, episode #3, Awakening. We kicked things off with the Concept Meeting, Director Andy Mikita presiding over the gathered department heads as we spent an hour going through the script, discussing the various sets-in-progress, scheduling, the repercussions of a character switch, and the surprisingly complicated orchestrations required for a simple photo shoot. We followed that up with a much lengthier get-together with the Art Department and Construction in which we, once again, discussed the various sets-in-progress and scheduling – but in much more detail. Rounding out the day, a quickie Costume Meeting with the lovely Val Halverson, and an equally brief sit-down with Props Master Evil Kenny Gibbs (pictured below)." — Joseph Mallozzi, April 6, 2010
• "A little later, a bunch of us headed downstairs to check out one of the sets being built for the episode. My first reaction upon laying eyes on it was “OMG!”. That was my internal dialogue. I can’t remember what it was I actually said, but it was more or less the same sentiment expressed in much more colorful terms. Director Andy Mikita assured me he looked forward to the challenge of pulling it off. While everyone else was measuring and chatting lighting issues with Director of Photography Jim Menard (who, earlier that morning, had contested my interpretation of several Stargate-related issues in my recent blog mailbags), I talked builds with Scott from Construction. Specifically, we talked about the BIG build going on right next door. Everyone who has seen it has declared it the most impressive set we’ve built to date. Scott, a veteran of the business, agreed, saying it equaled the craftmanship of another awe-inspiring set: the X-Jet from X2." — Joseph Mallozzi, April 6, 2010
• "And so, I had to go it alone: an early stunts and special effects meeting that blew by, a laborious hour and a half long playback meeting, and an equally long and involved visual effects meeting. When VFX Supervisor Mark Savela presented us with the visual effects budget for the episode, I thought Producer John Lenic was going to pass out on the spot. My buddy (and Exec. Producer) Carl wasn’t fazed when he heard the number. He merely shrugged and said: “Hey, we knew it was going to be big.” Well, yes. Big. Not BIG! And so, to ensure we have enough money left to make the remaining fourteen episodes (or alleviate the need to make that special clip show three-parter), Director Andy Mikita and I spent an hour going through the script, tightening up here and there, trimming where we could, and shaving down that number. As a result, the VFX budget for Awakening now falls somewhere between big and BIG. BIg I guess. But what an episode it’ll be!" — Joseph Mallozzi, April 7, 2010
• "...with the first day of principal photography on Awakening fast-approaching. Day 1 = Friday, over on Stage 4. I put out my yellow pages today, incorporating everything Director Andy Mikita and I discussed in the concept meeting and in the various other chats we had in my office, in his office, in the corridor, or passing each other on the stairs. There’s A LOT going on in this episode and it’s great to have someone as talented as Andy calling the shots on set. I, of course, will be spending some time on set with him while the episode shoots, on hand to answer any questions and stand in exactly the wrong spot whenever equipment is being moved. I also get to spend time with the cast." — Joseph Mallozzi, April 13, 2010
• "Instead, I ended up putting out some green pages for Awakening which starts shooting tomorrow…sometime. It’s almost 9:30 p.m. and I’ve yet to receive a call sheet. Since it’s my episode, I’ll spend the day on set loitering around the craft service table and offering Andy unsolicited directing advice (“Hey, you know what would be cool here?! A swish pan!”)." — Joseph Mallozzi, April 15, 2010
• Mallozzi's Weblog: April 16, 2010, entry has a run-down of Mallozzi's schedule and a few behind-the-scenes images.
• "I spent a couple of early hours on set this morning to watch Director Andy Mikita work his magic on Awakening (Day #3 of production). A lot of jumping around in this one which resulted in our block-shooting a number of successive scenes. Producer John G. Lenic swung by to inform me that we were pulling up a big scene from tomorrow’s schedule in order to give Andy time to shoot in that impressive new set in Stage 6. ... Andy was confident that he could get it done – and so long as my director was comfortable with it, I was comfortable with the decision. And props go out to Louis Ferreira, David Blue, and Jennifer Spence who ended up having to pull up and prepare yesterday’s scene today on next -to-no-notice – and still hitting ‘em out of the park!" — April 20, 2010
• "Production Day #3 on Awakening had me at work, bright and early, for the 7:00 a.m. crew call. There, I watched Director Andy Mikita work his magic on an extremely challenging set – with ten actors in play! Between the goings-on on Stage 6 and my office, I also found the time to join my fellow producers in taking in a matinee double-feature..." — Joseph Mallozzi, April 21, 2010
• "5:30 a.m. wake-up tomorrow so that I can be in for that 7:00 a.m. crew call. Awakening – production day seven – shoots on Stage 4 all day, Destiny in the morning, then “up top” after lunch." — Joseph Mallozzi, April 25, 2010
• "Just wrapped on a fun episode by Joe Mallozzi. It's a real creepy story." — Brian J. Smith, Twitter, April 26, 2010
• "I feel as though the past couple of weeks have finally caught up with me and I could sleep for a week. Or, at the very least, the weekend. Might as well make the most of it because next week, I’ll be launching into my rewrite of episode #10, Resurgence, AND spending a couple of days in editing working on my producer’s cut of episode #3." — Joseph Mallozzi, May 8, 2010
• "Anyway, Maverick and I worked through the day my producer’s cut of Awakening: discussing the Previously On, extending the visual effects sequence in the tease, losing that scene from Act I, trimming here, adding there, paring down some of those extra shots VFX Supervisor Mark Savela tried to sneak in and, ultimately, putting that scene I took out back into Act I. Things would have gone a whole lot easier if I had actually been able to read the notes I’d jotted down while watching the director’s cut. I don’t quite recall writing “T.J. bargs tp woogle zog” but, in retrospect, it may have been Rob’s note. Tomorrow, I head back to post where I’ll go over my cut one more time before putting it out to the masses." — Joseph Mallozzi, May 11, 2010
• "You’ll be pleased or indifferent to hear that I completed my Producer’s Cut of Awakening this afternoon. My fellow producers will screen it tomorrow and no doubt declare it brilliant after which we will send it to SyFy who will also love it and insist I “not change a thing”. And that’ll be that. In the meantime, I shift gears to completing my rewrite of Resurgence." — Joseph Mallozzi, May 12, 2010
• "Spent about an hour in editing today, tweaking my cut before sending it out to the network. In the end, I wound up adding a few more visual effect shots: a) to help tell the story and b) because they’re going to be cool." — Joseph Mallozzi, May 14, 2010
• "If the director is presented with a fairly complicated bit of choreography, he may story board the sequence – like Andy Mikita did in Awakening." — Joseph Mallozzi, June 9, 2010
• "Speaking of Day 1 mixes, guess what we watched today? Yes, a Day 1 mix. That’s the easy part. What episode? Correct again. Episode #2 [sic], Awakening. You guys are amazing! I just phoned Joel Goldsmith to congratulate him on the wonderful job he did scoring the episode. Congratulations should also go out to director Andy Mikita, the cast and crew, and – oh, boy! – Mark Savela and the VFX team! I repeat. Oh, boy!" — Joseph Mallozzi, June 30, 2010
• "This morning, I sent post our notes on the Awakening Day 1 mix. In retrospect, I should’ve sent off those notes last week when they were still fresh in my mind. Instead, I spent the better part of the morning struggling to decipher my writing, continually referring to my dvd copy of the mix to help me make sense of the scribbles." — Joseph Mallozzi, July 5, 2010
• "We eventually settled in and checked out the finished visual effects for Awakening. Wow! I think it’s their best work yet. The movements are fluid and incredibly life-like, the body language and the subtlest of glances alone imbuing the characters with personality. And the ship sequences are pretty damn cool too!" — Joseph Mallozzi, July 22, 2010
• "We’ve been deluged with mixes! Awakening yesterday, Malice today, and The Greater Good tomorrow. Awakening boasts some of those incredible(r) VFX I was referring to (especially one complicated sequence many had reservations about that turned out nothing short of amazing) in addition to the discovery of a little something certain fans have been asking about since first season." — Joseph Mallozzi, August 24, 2010
• "The Visual Effects for episode 3, Awakening, are probably the best we’ve done to date." — Joseph Mallozzi, September 3, 2010
• Concept Art: Interior Seed Ship: Gate Factory — Cable Ties and Gate Clamps posted by Joseph Mallozzi, September 18, 2010
• Images added to Solutions Gallery
• The official name of the aliens introduced in this episode is "Ursini". Mallozzi published a series of conceptual art designs for them in the October 19, 2010 entry.

Further Reading

• Joseph Mallozzi's Blog
• Brian J. Smith's Twitter
• Solutions: Stargate Universe: 2.03 "Awakening", October 12, 2010

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--DeeKayP 14:37, 18 January 2010 (UTC)