It is not in my nature to stick with something once I’ve decided it sucks. I admit to watching only three episodes of Enterprise, despite the allure of Scott Bakula. I lost interest in Lost somewhere around season 2, and I barely managed one whole episode of the revamped Battlestar Galactica (and yes, I know it was slick, clever and well-produced; that still didn’t make me like it.)

I am, however, still very much enjoying the Stargate franchise’s new offering, Stargate Universe. It, too, is slick, clever and well-produced… and I love it.

My first Stargate romance was with the original movie. The mix of mythology, action/adventure and science fiction pushed all my happy buttons. Not to mention the friendship, romance and redemption. (And Kurt Russell looking very fit)

The series Stargate SG-1 therefore had a lot to live up to, but the casting of MacGyver’s Richard Dean Anderson as Col. Jack O’Neill was a good start. By the third episode I was thoroughly infatuated, primarily due to the chemistry between the show’s four main actors (Anderson, Amanda Tapping, Michael Shanks and Christopher Judge). For the next eight years, SG-1 told imaginative stories with a deft mix of humor and pathos as our intrepid team explored the extraordinary. It was much cleverer than it was ever given credit for and I forgave it for sometimes ignoring characterization for plot because, even when it embraced story arcs, it was essentially an adventure-of-the-week format, and SG-1 did adventure of the week very, very well

I will say, though, that I came close to falling out of love with the show during its Season 9 revamp. It wasn’t the absence of Richard Dean Anderson -- because I thought Ben Browder was a fantastic replacement -- but there were too many changes, and not always for the good. Quite a few episodes stretched believability to its very limit and beyond, but I slowly found myself falling in love again – albeit in a quieter, more understated way. I was genuinely disappointed when SG-1 was finally cancelled after its tenth season.

Stargate Atlantis and I had more of an on-again/off-again love affair. I liked the pilot episode, “Rising”, but I stopped watching just before the mid-season two-parter as I was just plain bored. “But you stopped watching just when it got very good!” wailed my best friend. So I caught up, conceded that yes, “The Storm” (01.10) and “The Eye” (01.11) were fantastic, and carried on watching until Season 2. I hated Season 2, it and its idiotic biogenic-warfare storyline. I only tuned in to Season 3 because of a lack of other things to watch, and found myself slowly falling in love again (despite the revolving door on the office of the expedition leader); I remained fondly hooked until Atlantis was cancelled after its fifth season.

So I was thrilled -- thrilled -- with the news that another incarnation of Stargate was on the cards. And yet… I also wasn’t.

The early signs were ominous. Casting calls indicated a much younger cast than the two previous shows, and had online forums screaming that it was going to be Stargate 90210. Then there was the premise that the show was set on a spaceship, which seemed to disregard the major complaints of the last few seasons of SG-1 and Atlantis: not enough of the Stargate, too many of the space battles. Finally, there was the Voyager-esque plot, which prompted the question: is there a TV rule that the third spin-off of any successful sci-fi franchise must be about a group of people stranded in another galaxy trying to get home? The only things I was really looking forward to were the announced “increased focus on character development” and the heralded return of Richard Dean Anderson as Lt. Gen. Jack O’Neill, so it was actually with some trepidation that I sat down to view the first episode of Stargate Universe.

I was in love after the first hour, and now (admittedly only ten episodes later), I still love it -- flaws and all.

Here's why:

1. The Characters Have Relationships!

For years, one of the criticisms leveled at the franchise has been that there weren’t enough moments between the characters; that the friendships and romantic relationships which the fans adored would end up on the cutting room floor all too often in order to make way for scenes that moved the plot forward.

Atlantis’s “The Shrine” (05.06) was applauded for the sweet moment when Sheppard (Joe Flanigan) and McKay (David Hewlett) were simply sitting on the pier drinking beer. “Why can’t we have more moments like this?” was the cry. And let’s not even mention the lack of one canon kiss between our universe, timeline, non-robot, non-clone, non-influenced-by-alien-virus, non-dream/hallucination Sam and Jack, which would confirm that “going fishing” together actually did mean that the couple got their happily ever after.

That’s not the case on SGU. And it’s not all about ship as in romance and sex (although there’s plenty of both if that is your thing). This new show is focused on all the different relationship dynamics between the characters -- everything from friendship to professional rivalry to the parent/child bond.

True, some of the relationship dynamics shown are the opposite of friendly. The rivalries between Telford (Lou Diamond Philips), Young (Louis Ferriera) and Rush (Robert Carlyle) are colored by the more negative emotions of jealousy, anger, and bitterness. And one of the most intense dynamics is between Sergeant Greer (Jamil Walker Smith) and International Oversight Advisory bureaucrat Camile Wray (Ming-Na) who clearly can’t stand each other. But this is great. People don’t always get along like the Brady Bunch, especially people who wouldn’t normally choose to be together. My main criticism of Trek’s Voyager was how quickly the conflict between Starfleet and the Maquis was set aside; there seems little danger of that in SGU.

There are also some wonderfully positive dynamics highlighted in SGU, too. One of my favorite scenes to date is the sacrifice of Senator Armstrong (Christopher MacDonald) to give his daughter one more day of life. It was powerful, moving and at the same time, incredibly uplifting because this is something with which many parents (and children) can identify.

After only ten episodes, there is a veritable smorgasbord of such moments to choose from: Eli (David Blue) meeting Chloe (Elyse Levesque); Greer fighting with Rush; Scott (Brian J Smith) confiding his own losses to Chloe; Eli making cookies with his mother; Chloe confiding her fears of uselessness to Eli; Camile cooking with her partner Sharon (Reiko Aylesworth); Sharon breaking down after Camile leaves; Young giving Greer a pep talk when he’s disturbed by failing to protect the others in an alternate timeline, and more…

Personally, I love the hinted-at-but-not-yet-completely-confirmed relationship between TJ (Alaina Huffman) and ship’s commander, Colonel Young. There’s a real friendship and caring between the two – a sense that it wasn’t simply the tawdriness of a broom closet quickie that led them to stray from the Regulated path. It’s the subordinate-and-CO affair that was denied to Sam and Jack, and that’s actually why I love it. Partly, because it elevates Sam and Jack by comparison: not only because they held to their honor and duty (unlike some), but also because it illustrates the messy consequences that may have unfolded if the two of them had ever just screwed… er… the Regs.

And, speaking of Jack and Sam...

2. Cute Cameo Appearances

The benefit of seeing the Stargate franchise continue is that there’s always the possibility of seeing more of my favorite and much-loved characters from the previous shows. I’ve loved the cameo appearances made in SGU to date.

Daniel Jackson’s Stargate 101 was just genius (and MGM released videos of his lessons on their official Stargate site as a bonus), but I also liked seeing Sam taking on the Lucien Alliance in the General Hammond, ordering Telford and Young with real authority, and her reporting back to Homeworld Security at the end of “Air, Part 1” (01.01). Frankly, I was just delighted to see Sam and Jack in a scene together again.

As a shipper, I admit it would be nice to have seen some sign that they are together romantically, but the scene was one where they were on duty and being professional, not to mention separated by a vast expanse of space, so…I’ll take what I can get. As a bonus, Sam didn’t finish every sentence with the word ‘sir’ and the vibe was one of surprising equality given the difference in their ranks. It’s certainly ambiguous enough that I can continue to imagine them as a couple off-duty (although I wouldn’t mind if the producers found some way of slipping a Sam and Jack kiss into SGU in the future).

And speaking of Jack…

3. The Return of a Serious Jack O’Neill

Personally, you could just have Richard Dean Anderson turn up, say nothing and I would still be one contented bunny. The man still has the most gorgeous pair of… brown eyes. And having met him briefly at Avalon a couple of years back, I have to say in the flesh he’s got stacks of sex appeal that literally turned women -- including myself -- into gibbering idiots (and I don’t turn into a gibbering idiot easily). Even at sixty, the man can melt chocolate because he just has that indefinable something.

Lt. Gen Jack O’Neill isn’t Col. Jack O’Neill. The character has evolved and is now the Man. He’s beset by the IOA and the President, politics and practicalities, rather than having the freedom out in the field to do his own thing. And yet, the core of Jack remains the same. He always was a serious military-minded man with a scathing sense of humor for anyone he didn’t immediately like or respect. One of the best moments in the pilot for me was hearing Jack’s retort to Eli when he says he needs to check out the document with his lawyer: “And by lawyer, I assume you mean mother,” Jack drawled caustically.

I’ll concede that the other episode to really showcase Jack, “Earth” (01.07) had issues in terms of plotting (too much Earth and not enough Destiny), but I liked Jack giving Young a much needed kick up the butt about his command authority on the ship. There’s no doubt in my mind that had Jack ended up on the Destiny, it would have been under military command and there would have been no question about it. SG-1 always had a military commander and, despite occasionally listening to Daniel’s civilian objections, it certainly wasn’t a democracy under Jack’s command even if it evolved that way under Carter -- and, later, Mitchell.

There’s also no doubt in my mind that Jack meant the reassurance he gave Young that (to paraphrase) Colonel Carter had saved his ass dozens of times with wacky science (and, yay for Jack even mentioning Sam). Even if the scientists’ idea was out there, it was worth at least trying it.

And when Young finally steps up at the end of the episode and effectively sticks it to the briefing room and its occupants, you can’t tell me there’s not a hint of pride in Jack’s eyes; he’s certainly quick to back-up Young against the IOA guy. Also, I can’t see Jack tolerating Rush’s behavior on the ship any more than Young does. Maybe Jack wouldn’t have left him behind on a planet to rot as Young seemed driven to do at the end of “Justice” (01.10), but Jack could be just as ruthless when he needed to be: he closed the iris and knowingly killed a man (OK, so Alar was the equivalent of that world’s Hitler, but still); has shot most of his team when they’ve been infected by alien entities; and was prepared to blow up a ship with Daniel on it to save people. And let’s not forget that Jack himself once conceded that he’d done some damn distasteful things in the service of his country. He’s not a Boy Scout.

My main complaint of the Jack in SGU so far is that I want more of him. I love his scenes with Young but I’d like to see him doing more with the other characters too.

And speaking of characters…