Creators and showrunners Brad Wright and Robert C. Cooper delivered Air: Part 3 to viewers on 9 October, 2009.

With only a twelve hour window before Destiny jumps back to FTL, Rush (Robert Carlyle), Eli (David Blue), Scott (Brian J. Smith), Greer (Jamil Walker Smith) and others pass through the gate and find themselves on a desert planet, which according to the ship, has the materials they need to get the air scrubbers back to work and restore life support.

We get more character flashbacks, learning about this new cast, and we’re already seeing changes… some of the people want to use the gate to travel to a habitable world, ignoring the advice that Eli offers. And that doesn’t go well.

Chloe (Elyse Levesque) is able to contact Earth (using a familiar set of stones), and share the sacrifice her father made in the last episode to save this new crew of the Destiny.

Both Richard Dean Anderson (O’Neill) and Lou Diamond Phillips (Telford) both make appearances, as Young (Louis Ferreira ) report in, and Telford examines the state of the Destiny.

Are they going to be able to find a solution before time runs out? And is there something on this planet with them? Scott seems to be seeing things.

There are lots of character arcs in play already, interesting beats and reveals, and you can tell these people aren’t trained for this. They are not the team that should be out here, but they are the team we have.

They make it just in time, and are able to save things, just as their timer runs out… and Eli holds the gate open.

As the series opener closes, we are left with the Destiny slipping through FTL, their home and destination, somewhere out there…

Darkness was directed by Peter DeLuise, and written by Wright. The first story after the season opener still finds the Destiny in rough shape with power reserves dangerously low. It’s going to be a fight for survival every step of the way.

There’s some friendly banter as Young hosts a meeting, and Rush remains stand-offish and arrogant. He’s also working on figuring out why resources are declining – everyone is trying out systems, turning things on, instead of letting the scientists handle things.

But Rush is less than friendly about it and really isn’t making friends. He’s all stressed, drained, and needs a break. So much so that he collapses.

Everyone is trying to figure out how to help out around the ship, but everyone also has a lot of personal static. They may all be Stargate Command personnel (well most of them anyway), but they aren’t all military, and they aren’t all ready for what they are dealing with.

They are able to resolve the power issue this week, as they close in on a number of planets. Unfortunately, a slingshot around a gas giant has put them on a collision course with the system’s star.

Let’s see how it plays out next time.

The expansive cast of characters are all touched on; there are so many things happening here. This is unlike either of the Stargate series before it, there’s a lot of character drama at work here. And the story is more serial in nature.

I’m enjoying it.