Watched the first two episodes on Sky Anytime last night and I'm assuming there's a few fans of Stargate on here, or at least someone who can explain my issue.

They were all whisked from Earth onto a ship that went through hyperspace that took them to a planet that had a stargate on it. Then they went through the stargate and ended up on an 'Ancient' ship. My issue is that it's supposed to be set in the present day and yet no explanation has been given (nor surprise by the characters) about the fact that all of a sudden hyperspace travel and beaming up is possible. They're explaining all about the stargate and the Ancients and how it all works, but no mention about how humans have suddenly gained the ability to travel to a planet a couple of light years away and transfer matter.

Can anyone explain, or is it just a really shonky SF show?

Towards the end of the SG1 series they were given the beaming technology by another alien race and humans developed their own hyperspace technology by using alien tech they acquired from exploring other planets

The original Stargate film shows how they got the Stargate working. It creates a wormhole.

Hope that helps you.

Have you seen the film or Stargate SG1?

Ah, thanks for that. Seen the film, but can't remember any of it and a couple of episodes of the rest. So obviously, this assumes you're familiar with the series then. It had been billed as being suitable for newcomers. It wouldn't have been too difficult for them to have explained all that at the start!

Plus, from what you're saying, it sounds as this is a continuation of where the last series left off, I was under the impression that it was a whole new thing.

This series follows on the SG1 / SG Atlantis and they have assumed that people will know enough of the SG background not to need all that explaining

Haven't watched it yet, but will be doing so. I very much doubt it's shonky, but I'm prepared to be wrong. James is right, all of the advanced tech they possess is the result of over 10yrs of exploration through the gate at the SGC in Colorado Springs. They made various allies along the way and have combined various bits of alien tech with current Earth expertise to create a lot of useful kit.

In terms of being suitable for newcomers, of course there's a huge back story, but don't let that put you off. I've high hopes for this.

What’s the betting that, despite the shortages of just about everything, that senator’s daughter manages to have an endless supply of red lipstick.

I thought we inherited Asgard Hyperdrive engines too? Not to mention shields, weapons etc.

I am I think only one finding the 'big problem' they have is a bit shoddy? OK, they've been zaped onto a spaceship that's thousand of years old and all the CO2 scrubbing technology has worn out. But there was nobody on the ship before they got there. So there actually wouldn't have been any CO2 to scrub out of the air before they got there. So why the heck is the equipment worn out? It wouldn't even need to be switched on!

Kind of struck me there was a lot of that kind of thing in it. Carlyle's doing a good job and some of the other characters are interesting but the show is very rough at the mo. I'd be OK with that if this was actually a new show, but really they've been doing pretty much this show for the last 12 years or whatever. I'd kind of expected Universe to start off a bit more polished.

Jon

If Life support was not on the temperate on the ship would be almost down to Absolute zero as it is in deep space.

They did say the Gate was on the ship so that the “owners” could visit it and so I guess they left life support inc the air scrubbers on

Or it’s so old it’s just suffering from various forms of fatigue.

I still haven't seen this yet, but I think if you're questioning things like this, maybe the show isn't right for you? Just a thought...

We did but we developed our own hyperspace engines before then. Naquada reactors.

umm I hate to burst your bubble of belief but when did we develope these Naquada reators, outside of a tv programme thats is?

Actually we used Naquadria, but hey

Naquada reactors were developed by the SGC (episode 3.5) and we acquired hyperspace technology by stealing it from the Goa'uld.
In the SG universe the first Earth vessel with a hyper generator was the X302 fighter, the previous X301 didn't appear to have one and was a bit of a death trap in any case as it was converted from a captured Death Glider and was booby trapped by Apophis.
Naquadria was discovered on the homeworld of Jonas Quinn (who first appeared in episode 5.21) and was used to power the hyperspace generator on the X302 but it proved too unstable to create a hyperspace window.
The X303 battle cruiser Prometheus had the first fully functional Earth hypergenerator and it also used a naquadria power source with better safety and control systems than those on the X302. It was still rather unstable and the ship had to jettison its power core due to an unforeseen interaction with something in hyperspace (episode 6.20).

Eventually the Asgard (classic 'Grey' aliens and long standing allies of Earth thanks to the assistance they have received from SG-1) provide Earth with much safer hyperspace technology which enables ships thus equipped to travel intergalactic distances in an acceptable time frame. The successor design to the Prometheus (the Daedalus) was the first ship shown to be thus equipped.
By the end of the original Stargate series (all 10 seasons of it) the Asgard provide Earth with all of their technology just prior to the destruction of the Asgard race.