Whether in Yankee Stadium or the Land of Oz, getting home is an all-consuming mission.
But not on Stargate Universe. Not for Dr. Nicholas Rush. It seems he would rather probe the far reaches of science while stranded in a rattletrap spaceship billions of light years from home.
As played by Robert Carlyle, Rush is at the core of SGU, a meditative thriller premiering recently on the Syfy network and watched by more than 42 million viewers. Airing Fridays at 9 p.m., it builds on the mythology of the 1994 film Stargate and follow-up series Stargate SG-1 and Stargate Atlantis.
The titular Stargates represent a perilous but potentially lifesaving transport system for the voyagers. Found throughout the universe (but don't expect Mapquest to show you where), each is an imposing, ring-like portal stretched with a permeable membrane that allows the brave or brash to pass through and emerge who-knows-where, like in a hopscotch game spread across the cosmos. The Stargates offer a chance at connect-the-dots salvation. Or maybe doom.
Rush, the brilliant scientist, just wants to figure it all out. Home definitely isn't where his heart is, which puts him in regular conflict with his fellow journeyers, played by co-stars including Ming-Na and Lou Diamond Phillips.
Rush is a loner, who may or may not be trustworthy. "He's very isolated, very much on his own," Carlyle says. "He only goes to people if he needs them." And they don't like his neediness any more than he does.
Rush leaves viewers delightfully confused: Is this the one guy on board who, despite the others' pushback, has a handle on their crisis? Or is he a narcissistic, suicidal scoundrel? Viewers feel for him and doubt him at the same time.
Before SGU, Carlyle was acclaimed for his off-center characterizations. In Danny Boyle's 1996 film Trainspotting, he played a raving psychotic. A year later in The Full Monty, he was one among the down-on-their-luck steelworkers who dropped their drawers to strike it rich.
Carlyle welcomed the role of Dr. Rush, a man who doesn't want to come back -- even if he can conjure how. "There are people who spend time in jail or on a desert island and don't want to come back," Carlyle says. "That's massive! I thought there's got to be great drama in that."
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