Stargate Universe

Stargate Universe (2009-2011) is the third series in the franchise and it’s self-contained, so you can watch Season 1 on Showmax without the 1994 movie or other spin-offs (such as Stargate Origins, which is also on Showmax).

The Destiny research spaceship is billions of light-years from Earth and is trying to get home. The problem is that they can’t decipher the glyphs on their local Stargate… so they basically can’t dial home and travel through the portal to Earth. And just when they do get clues to help, they’re attacked.

The point of this series was to break away from the original two TV spin-offs while staying true to the film and enhancing its story with a “completely new, mature arc,” says lead star Robert Carlyle. What it has in common with Stargate SG-1 and Atlantis is that the CGI is second to none and it really feels like you’re in space on this ship, as well as the Earth-like planets at their base. The only problem is the cliff-hanger ending – fans were hopeful that there would be a third season.

“Quite a bit of this series feels like Lost in space,” reviews Joanna Weiss from boston.com. “And it is – early Lost, before things got all Others-y and time-travel-bogged, when it was largely about unlocking characters’ mysteries and playing with grand themes.”