10 Worst Episodes In The Stargate Franchise

After the mammoth success of Stargate SG-1 and Atlantis, Stargate Universe had a steep hill to climb in order to get the same sort of critical recognition that its predecessors had achieved. Whilst nowhere near as reviled as the disastrous Infinity, Universe's dingy locale and broodier '00s tone was at odds with the franchise's light and lively tales of intergalactic derring-do, and appears largely absent on most much watch lists.

One area where the show was successful was in its shift to more emotionally complex, long form character arcs, in place of the more 'alien of the week' format the franchise had built upon in years past. The second season episode 'Cloverdale' is a notable exception to this. On a planetary expedition, Lt. Scott is infected by a fungal parasite which spreads across his arm, placing him in an unconscious state. Scott begins hallucinating a return to his hometown of Cloverdale, where he is to be married to love interest Chloe, and the rest of the crew appear with roles and identities changed.

Coma induced hallucinations with cast members as characters are a dime a dozen in the sci-fi world, but many manage to pull it off whilst saying something or adding impetus to a character or story arc. Cloverdale, unfortunately, does neither, and serves as little more than filler.