the thing I like about universe is that, unlike every other show where we see the best of the best, here we see the B team doing their best, in a situation none of them asked for or are prepared for. they understandable have a hard time adjusting, but as time goes in you can really see bonds forming and characters developing, it's a shame we didn't get more.
Stargate
Does it end reasonably well or is there a huge cliffhanger?
Nothing worse than getting invested and never receiving a resolution to story lines.
Huge cliffhanger. Doesn't end with any kind of conclusion. Can't decide if Universe or Atlantis has the worse ending in that regard.
It was less of a "cliffhanger" and more of just an "open ending". Sure, the story could have gone on for additional seasons in order to resolve the overarching conflict (stuck on a ship away from Earth). But at the same time, season two did have a satisfying, optimistic ending. You were not left with a sense of "oh no, how will they get out of this immediate predicament??" like you generally get with a cliffhanger.
Ok.
That's particularly uncool. Pass for me, then. On to other shores.
The series is almost entirely centered around interpersonal drama. As it progresses, they solve many problems, but still continue to come up with new sources of drama.
I put the early show character issues down to everyone suffering from caffeine and nicotine withdrawals.
I definitely enjoyed SGU and have watched it through a few times. Its a shame it was not able to continue.
Unfortunately it takes a while to settle in to meaningful stories. The latter half of season 2 is, in my opinion, on par with the rest of the franchise, but by that time they had already been cancelled.
It's the only one of the three shows that I don't rewatch. It doesn't lend itself to rewatching due to its drawn out pacing. Barely anything happens in each episode.
I suggest you to continue. It really is not as bad as we remember and in season 2 the Stargate spirit starts showing (especially in the second half). I was same as you and when I rewatched by the time it ended I was really sad it got cancelled.
There are many things I didn't like about the character drama in the beginning, but I loved the second season, where the Stargate feel was back. It's a shame it didn't continue.