Stargate Universe - Did Eli survive the journey in SGU?

[@lpeterson2336]

I really wanted this adventure to continue. I loved all the Stargate series.

[@prolotomasi1150]

Imagine the shock of the rest of the crew when they see how much weight he's lost

[@ProjectGrandMarauder]

Starvation

[@eisenklad]

or gained. SG Command sends him supplies and couple of mK3/MK4 Naquadriah reactor. it has enough supplement power to get the ship to the next safe sun and life support for 1 person. Mk1 reactors was used by Atlantis to help power the city segments, MK2 could power the city defenses. Mk3 or Mk4 could act as a micro ZPM. allowing Eli to survive... but being alone means you are susceptible to depression, which makes people starve or eat excessively

[@nexusdrop7863]

@@eisenklad He can use the communication stones. Spend 2 years pretending to be someone else and doing math stuff during the day while someone else has to sit in a room and not go insane. They keep swapping people out in my version.

[@eisenklad]

@@nexusdrop7863 oh right, forgot about the stones.

[@patrickday4206]

​@@nexusdrop7863you've got stones to say that 😂

[@jonpalmer7898]

you miss a big plot device from early season 2 the Seed Ship, either Eli or the Destiny itself contact the next seed-ship and it comes to the 'RESCUE'.... if it can build star gates it can build spare parts for the destiny.

[@bikkiikun]

Interesting solution... it could also act as shelter. Though, the food situation remains a fatal issue. Although he could use the seed ship to create a "gate-bridge" and use a space-suit to travel along and await Destiny's arrival on the other side.

[@nexusdrop7863]

That is a good one. Destiny seems to have a lot of automatic features to survive. Running out of gas mid galaxy trip would be a thing to plan for.

[@alphega1983]

This is a plot device that the writers would probably never do because it would be to convenient and straightforward and logical. Instead they like to pull plot armor rabbits out of there hat at the last moment. I always thought it was a very convenient and lazy plot device in Stargate Atlantis to only have 3 ZPM's to power the city with no redundancy, and an entire city with no manufacturing capability of new ZPM's, weapons, replacement parts etc. And if it were ever brought up, they would simply say it was damaged in the flooding.

[@mxviii]

@@nexusdrop7863 The Destiny couldnt have planned for it, because the SGU crew overode its systems to force it to skip the galaxy it was in. Its going way off course, to go around the entire galaxy, and then cross to the next galaxy without stopping at any stars like its supposed to.

[@zerodawn09]

@@alphega1983 yea that always bothered me about atlantis. when the atlantiens or the replicators took over they instantly make zpm's but when the humans were there they didnt even find where they were made. like how?

[@khaansulu5695]

Eli fixed the pod but didn't go in straight away. He started learning more about Destiny and fixing other important areas of the ship after repairing the other repair drone and sending them out only going into stasis as necessary. To think otherwise says his character development didn't happen. 0:20 That look on his face, he knows what he has to do and that he can do it.

[@anikinkhan]

Exactly. They could do flashbacks of what happened while he was up. They could even show an episode where an asteroid belt or some system failure hits the ship and destroys a bunch of the pods and kills half of the crew that they can't or would rather not recast. Few episodes of Eli being emotionally damaged because of the loss of all those lives. They could also show him overcoming all that, and then triumphantly fixing the ship and like you said, other important systems. They can show his character develop through flashbacks.

[@khaansulu5695]

@@anikinkhan Oh damn, I like that I didn't even really think about having to recast or kill off some people including important characters but that's a good solution

[@evertchin]

​@@anikinkhaneven a mini series about Eli trying to save himself would be nice

[@michaelmann8800]

Yeah, I agree with this kind of idea. We last see Eli with a look of contentment on his face.as if he knows what is ahead of him, is looking forward to accomplishing something, and more that ready to take on that challenge. I thought it was the perfect way to sign off with Eli being the one with the destiny of the ship more or less in his hands.

[@marcwolf60]

Or his smile being.. He could wander around Destiny in his underwear like he did at home :)

[@TheCraaaiiig]

Eli survived, got himself strong and fit, and managed to repair parts of the ship including the status pod with the help of Gin and Amanda. but chose not to use the pod and he had found something deeper into the ship that had him curious. and the fact that he had Gin and Amanda to talk to help him from suffering loneliness or going nuts because there's just him alone in a big ship. I really want it to come back it's my favourite stargate show.

[@Bertenburny.]

One big option you forgot: he went to the chair and uploaded his conscious and his body died when he couldnt repair the pod and out of options (and is there together with what was her name? Gin, his love interest, and theres already another woman in there if i remember correctly?)

[@The-Cosmic-Hobo]

This was always the way I pictured it going... with Eli becoming essentially like Destiny's AI co pilot...

[@khaansulu5695]

Eli was too good to fail and have to upload his consciousness. And Amanda Perry was the other woman's name, Dr. Rush's love interest.

[@bikkiikun]

This was indeed heavily implied, and the way I concluded SGU for myself. Although I do see the possibility for the Chair room to act somewhat like a stasis chamber. Meaning, it might be able to preserve his body, while the mind is connected to the ship, but unlike in stasis chambers his mind would remain conscious throughout. Mind you, it is implied that the chair room can act this way, because it gets cold inside, when it operates. And it does connect "tubes" to the body.

[@The-Cosmic-Hobo]

@@bikkiikun Yes... If I recall, I wrote maybe an A4 synopsis of my thoughts at the time... that he would gather all the resources he could into the chair room, and hook himself up for extended periods, trying to prolong his life as long as possible... That was my idea for the start of the next story, was his lonely journey, seeming to find ways to extend and extend his life, watching over everyone as they slept, maybe fight off the odd invasion... and when everyone woke up, they would sadly find that he had in fact died some considerable time earlier, and much of what we'd seen was essentially his subconscious... kind of like what they did with Clara in Asylum of the Daleks. Oh - spoilers.

[@Bertenburny.]

@@bikkiikun yeah I hear that but that would also consume quite a bit of energy, and that was also a point of why everybody went into stasis, not only the time but energy requirements, because they would run out before reaching the next galaxy and would be set adrift in the void between without hyperdrive, so I like to think he has to sacrifice his physical form to save the others from 100's years of sleep and waking up like old Wier from SGA (ok its not 1000s of years but the destiny was older tech also then atlantis but whatever) so he becomes part of the ship

[@spydermag5644]

There is a comic book that goes over what happens to Eli. He did survive. You can find it online.

[@dragonhawkeclouse2264]

to my understanding, that isn't exactly canon.......sure, it might exist.....and i have a story line as well that i wrote.....neither of them are canon

[@Bland-79]

Comic book isn't canon.

[@nexusdrop7863]

it is A version. Lacking anything else I take it as official. If they continue the show then I could understand it not have happened officially.

[@Svensk7119]

He survived in my imagination as well.

[@bryndal36]

Not sure how others see SGU but I always considered it to be Eli Wallace's story as it started with him and finished with him. And given he was the one documenting what was going on with the use of the keynotes, it kinda makes sense this was his story.

[@droomonsta]

The only get-out I could think of was that he fixed the pod eventually, but at the cost of changing some power systems around, so the ship went a little slower to its destination, and the pods didn't do their jobs as well. So everyone has aged a little bit ... thus fixing the fact its been over a decade since we've seen them.

[@Kerify]

I would think Eli survived bc: 1- He's super intelligent, 2- His character is an integral part to the storyline & 3- His character is so well loved by so many that it would be blasphemous to kill him off. (Imo) 🖖 I loved Eli! ❤

[@chrisschembari2486]

Your # 2 is very important. It gives Eli "max plot armor". 😅

[@Kerify]

@@chrisschembari2486 🖖

[@dragonhawkeclouse2264]

we could only hope that the writers wouldn't be like George RR Martin......kill those you love, save those you hate.....sorry Sean Bean

[@lonknight3197]

Sorry when the crew comes out of statis they need to find Eli dead , it brings home the real cost of their survival.

[@dragonhawkeclouse2264]

@@lonknight3197 Eli IS stargate universe though......it would be like killing off Jack O'Neill or Daniel Jackson in the movie.....or Samantha Carter or Teal'c during SG-1

[@thestrange_1]

Start the episode with Eli in a space suit (he'd been spending time in a space suit to conserve rss as it takes a lot less energy/air to make a suit livable than an entire room or shuttle). He's been on his own for years now (easy explanation for the aging of the actor), Destiny came out of FTL short of the next galaxy and has just been coasting through the remainder of the void. While he's been wearing the suit, he would have been exploring portions of Destiny that had been closed off due to hull breaches. His motivation to do this could be curiosity, boredom, or just a desire to do something useful with the limited time he knows he has. Maybe he's even been making some repairs along the way as well to keep busy. During his exploring, he could find a McGuffin that would move the story forward. It could be something that provides additional power, maybe even enough for a single trip through the Stargate back to Earth. That could be made to be a dilemma for Eli. He'd have the choice to use up the power source to get Destiny the rest of the way to the next galaxy, and remain trapped on it, or he could selfishly use it to get home. It would be a selfish dilemma because maybe the wormhole would only have power enough to safely allow a single person to make the trip, or say Destiny no longer had the power to maintain life support between the stasis area and the gate room leaving Eli no way to take anyone with him. Knowing the type of person Eli was, he'd of course choose to use the power to shorten the trip. But you can't make it that simple. To make it interesting there could be a new enemy, or some natural threat to the ship, that shows up as Destiny is coasting in the void between galaxies. That would put Eli under a time crunch to interface the power source with Destiny's systems, raising the tension. There's a bunch of different ways to take the end of that story, depending on the threat against the ship that's used. I think it would make for an entertaining first episode of a new season. Even if they don't want to green-light an entire season, I hope they will at least give us a miniseries or a movie to tie up that story.

[@jau1976]

I cannot remember if his mother died of cancer during the two seasons, but if she did not, that could be the dilemma, that she is finally very close to dying, and his choice is to shorten the trip, or go home and say goodbye to his mother in person :)

[@thestrange_1]

@@jau1976 I can't remember whether or not they told his mother the truth (I think I remember Eli trying and her not believing it) and I also don't remember the fate of his mother (gonna have to rewatch it). If they did tell his mother the truth, Eli could just use the stones to be with her at her deathbed. The only reason I could see for him to justify going back himself would be if she was near death and he thought he could cure her with something from Destiny. That would definitely be a dilemma!

[@viewfroml1359]

Remember when Teal'c got caught mid-transit in the Stargate buffer? Eli could do the same...basically a Stargate version of Scotty's solution to upload himself into the transporter buffer in the Star Trek TNG (S06E04). The whole first episode drama could be the crew trying to figure out what Eli had done and retrieve him before they cycle the Stargate. For what it is worth, it was stupid to sacrifice the best person capable of getting them back to Earth if he couldn't get the pod working.

[@pelinoregeryon6593]

Ha! didn't think of that, I thought of the chair immediately, and ascension (would be a horribly unsatisfying deus ex machina, but it is an option for this franchise, and one that it's canon can be reversed), two others OP seemingly forgot about, but I didn't think of that one.

[@zerogrey3798]

I think that little grin at the end was him figuring out how to fix either the ship or the pod.

[@nealkrueger6097]

Another option is that Eli finds several repair drones ( like the attack drones in SG, although Alantis.) . He fixes them , and although slow, they allow him to repair sections of the ship that are sealed due to hull breaches, giving him access to more storage of materials, food stuff, and databases. He even finds a data file for an Ai intelligence and a biological android body for it.

[@DarkArtsMage]

or better/worse, he finds a section of the ship, that the Ancients had turned into a mini-FTL space! a few pods in permanent FTL-that also has all the "people" connected into a VR-type setting! All this time the "Ship's Engineers or Emergency Crew" was been waiting, but due to some reason or damage, has been stuck all this time in FTL-Stasis!

[@jeremyqadams7825]

Don't forget he also has the stones, so he has the ability to communicate with SG Command and Atlantis and loan his body to others. In the short term this could help with the "fixing the pod" scenario by allowing SG command to basically replicate the CO2 filter troubleshooting scene from Apollo 13 with the stasis pod. Alternatively, in the long term if he has to take refuge in the shuttle he can use time with the stones to maintain his sanity by taking "time-outs" on earth interacting with others while also getting help with finding solutions to any challenges, maybe even taking up some new hobbies (like maybe he receives combat training during his time visiting the SGC), or helping figure out how to power a resupply gate-mission. It'd be kind of funny to if at the end of the two year crossing everybody wakes up to find that not only is Eli much more buff and is suddenly able to strip/maintain weapons and operate with the military crew, but he actually knows all the latest news and trends back on earth, and they wake up to find that the stargate has just shut down from receiving its first resupply mission from the milky way so Eli is walking them through all the cool parts and supplies they just got.

[@paulbuntine]

This was the first Stargate series I watched from the start and I would love to see a continuation of the series.

[@khaansulu5695]

We didn't see the planet builders in SGU but we did see their influences, the planet with the tower that group stayed at, the solar flare sending them back in time to save themselves and returning the crew that was left behind. And my theory is the planet builders are actually descendants of the Destiny crew. We don't know how many times they were sent back in time and if one group was sent back 1,000 years, who's to say another group wasn't sent back millions?

[@nexusdrop7863]

I think they are the ascended ancients.

[@khaansulu5695]

@@nexusdrop7863 Nah, that goes against their rules

[@evertchin]

​@@nexusdrop7863could be a different group, just like Ori.

[@DarkArtsMage]

@@khaansulu5695 that only applies to the Ancients in the Milky Way Galaxy & some from the Pegasus Galaxy! who's to say some of the Ancients that were originally on the Destiny didn't ascend, but decided to interfere as they saw the state of the different Galaxies... especially if they kept encountering different types of "Replicators or mindless-robot-eradicators"!

[@brokenfut6025]

I always thought that crew would defrost from the cryopods and Eli would be missing. Not dead, missing. Destiny would be in better repair, Eli had done a lot of work on his endeavors to save himself. The chair was put off limits by a restored Gin. The crew goes over his vlogs, there are hundreds of entries. It would be the central mystery of the season.

[@davidchapman370]

At the end of the season it's revealed that he's not missing, instead he's hiding because he has gone "strange" and is talking to himself about things no one understands and for some reason he doesn't show up on the ships sensors.

[@augiz261]

@@davidchapman370 Like the functional ancient memory bank transfer system we saw in SG1, just with less side-effects XD or his GIGABRAIN enough to just go mad from it, and not complete vegetable or accession :D Though i like brokenfut6025 idea, make an ENTIRE SEASON 3, of SG:U about crew finding out what happened to Eli, and how quite a number of repairs on the ship is done. They basicly, find his notes, learn that they ran out of power before reaching the new galaxy, and they were adrift... and that in like 2~ day's destiny will be able to reach a nearest star to resupply on energy, and they find out that the capacity of said energy, is 2x more then it was able to hold before they went into stasis, and episode by episode, they find out that Eli slowly repaired parts of the ship, and found more about it, and repaired a lot of 'crucial' systems, or better yet, entire compartment filled with spare destiny parts, and fixed a wopping shit ton of problems the ship had. Until finnaly they unearth what happened to Eli, and it can go multiple ways, he survived, he died, he ascended(by accident), uploaded himself to the ship via chair, saved by planet builders, stuck in a jerry-rigged junkyard Eli-built stasis pod frozen, waiting for them to get him out.

[@DarkArtsMage]

maybe he accidentally half-ascends, but is stuck on the Destiny, due to a mix of wanting to reach the endpoint & wanting to stay with his friends! or Gin! or even trying to figure out how to give Gin the chance to Ascend too!

[@LJGrindewald]

Honestly. Best music in any show I've seen. This music used to make me tear up loads. You really feel you know the characters well through the tune. Feel like it represents them well and their situation.

[@jeffreyfredricey3612]

I loved how that Johnny cash poster and songs just tied so much together

[@TheErador]

Don't forget to breathe...

[@JasonBaker-z8o]

Spot on, amazing track ​@@TheErador

[@locker1325]

Would live love to get another shot at this show. Was so bummed it ended

[@adriancronin9052]

The ancients sent a remote self aware repairship that the ship finds and docks with it then repairs the ship completely. So that all 100% of the ship can be explored.

[@michaelglassey8126]

Good theory for destiny to receive unannounced visit from unknown repair mission

[@sam2943]

Just like Destiny has/had seed ship(s) to build gates ahead of it, it would be cool if Destiny had a tender ship that while in between galaxies put Destiny into "dry dock" and perform automated repairs. The tender ship would have gathered resources from the previous galaxy to fabricate repair parts. This way Destiny would be able to continue indefinitely.

[@mkdrivingzone]

Eli only had two weeks worth of excess power to use before Destiny shut down life support to keep the stasis pods running. Two weeks to either fix the broken one or not and find another way to survive. Personally I would want him to explore the ship (he & Chloe had done this accidentally) and find either more working pids or a way to survive.

[@staceygruver1969]

The whole issue was that, if even a single person was alive and not in one of the pods, Destiny would run out of power before getting to the first star in the next galaxy. There were only a couple of days that Eli had in order to fix the pod before he had to commit suicide, that’s why Rush was forced to get into the pod because the Colonel refused to think that Rush in the end would kill himself in the allotted timeframe or risk the entire crew and ship drifting for centuries to maybe drift into the next galaxy. So, unless Eli fixed the pod in those few days, he should be dead from suicide.

[@danialmoser2573]

How about: the crew wakes up, in a galaxy they AREN'T supposed to be in and ELI is missing. The first season is figuring out what happened to Destiny and Eli. Clues are randomly scattered throught the ship. Eli has accessed most of the ship. Evidence of a fight. New defensive weaponry is on the ships exterior. New offensive weapons are designed but not completed. Blaster marks and debris are scattered throughout. Eli is shown in flashbacks and recordings negotiating with an unknown species. Fighting another using newly gained tech. The ship is adrift near a blackhole, preventing or limiting stargate activity to 1 planet. Bring back a race from SG1, there are a few to choose from the 5 that would make sense. The crew has to decide to go home or keep looking for Eli. Some leave, some dont. The ancestors of the Destiny planet have caught up to Destiny and assume control or provide assistance. Merge the crew out of necessity. Soo many ideas.

[@marktisdale8058]

My theory was that Eli figured out how to use the energy scoops in the space between galaxies.

[@traverserred]

I think the same thing. I think the light coming towards the ship would be enough to run the life support for himself if he dropped the collectors. In the end Eli finally had a second to think and he realized that. That’s why he smiled then frowned because he would still have to spend the 3 years alone.

[@superdave8248]

Option 2 isn't an option. He would likely deplete their resources so when the crew woke up there would be nothing left for them. That and two years of solitary confinement would likely make him completely mentally unhinged.

[@Rob8729]

Maybe the writers will use a little known Astronomical fact....The 'void' between galaxies isn't really empty, there are star systems between galaxies. you can use these star systems as steppingstones. to the next galaxy.

[@newhopeparish68]

I really hope they continue this story. SGU was really beginning to gain a lot of traction in its story development when it last aired. Hoping beyond hope it’s not the end. There’s still so much more to tell and Eli is such a great hero. You wonder how many real-life Elis are out there.

[@DiyintheGhetto]

I hope Eli lives. Because I want to see what happens to the show.

[@DiyintheGhetto]

Now I’m really hoping there will be a new series. Or at least a movie with Eli in it.

[@DarkVoidIII]

Speaking of which, what is the actor who played Eli doing now? It's been several years and COVID happened in between. Is the original actor still around and interested in making a comeback?

[@jnrmac8270]

I'm a huge SG-1 fan from day 1... took me a while to adapt to the new version of SG... but once you do... no going back... it's lime the adult version of SG... so wish we get so many more seasons... personal opinion... leaves SGA for DEAD... think about it 🤔 ay!!!

[@DiyintheGhetto]

@@DarkVoidIII yes. I think it should make a comeback and the cast member David blue played as Eli would make a awesome epic mini series or a movie in its own. As far as the third season of stargate universe goes in my personal opinion would be great to have a third season.

[@DiyintheGhetto]

@@jnrmac8270 I use to be a stargate SG1 fan. Then when Atlantis came out I switched. I’m still a fan of Atlantis because of David Hewlett. He played in a lot of tv shows I watched growing up. Then when stargate universe came out I also became a big fan. But it left a lot of unanswered questions and ended with everyone wondering what happen, what’s next? Yes a third season would be great to have or even a movie for the ending of did they make it home or settling some other planet. Also with David blue aka Eli. Now that in Itself needs a story of its own on what happened to him after everyone went into the sleep pods. A small mini series or a movie on itself would be great. A lot of us is still holding onto our. Seats waiting to see what happens next.

[@Mysha-d5x]

Well, since you asked:I like the version where the survivors find the dead body of Eli. But the mind of Eli is still on board. In exploring the ship, while resources last, Eli finds an unusual communication stone (interface). In a race against time, around when the last morsel of food is consumed, he exchanges his mind with that of the ship. After he has kept them safe for the rest of their jump, the survivors mourn the body that was Eli, but Eli is still with them. If I recall correctly he might not even be alone in there, but I'd have to rewatch to be sure about that.

[@GnRGaming]

Well, the writers certainly intended for him to survive somehow. They've all said as much. They just never got the chance to make it happen (yet).

[@GrandizerGo]

What was the size comparison between the Destiny and Atlantis. I can see there being loads of space on Atlantis not opened, but not so much on Destiny. Note, after Atlantis landed next to the Golden Gate bridge, I reevaluated it's size as well. It basically straddles a slightly greater than 1 mile body of water, so not tremendously huge when talking about the size of a city. I admit, I am not sure at all about the size of Destiny though, I did not know whether to compare it to one of the Ancient Atlantean ships that used to dock at Atlantis or was it bigger. Note, I do recognize the difference in Atlantis Tech and Asgardian Tech.

[@dragonhawkeclouse2264]

i personally like the idea of Eli having uploaded himself into Destiny after doing such, he realizes that they didn't have to skip the galaxy he accustoms himself to his new conditions, and then wakes up the first few crew members....we'll say, Rush, Young, Chloe, Scott, Greer, and maybe a few others He comes over the ship's com and tells them to meet him on the bridge, which is where he explains his idea they will go to another star with a command ship, and all of the drones, they will take control of and magnetize them to the haul. And from that point on, they will continue to do this, any time they need to recharge, or just stop for fun he will take every effort to not make physical contact, so that no one realizes he isn't physical anymore they come to a point, we'll say about 50 drones, where Destiny simply won't jump....it could be 100, but i will say 50. Now, Eli knows that they can store more IN the ship, but rather than always having the answers, he allows someone else to come to the realization......he is trying to keep up the charade as long as possible.....for what reason.....i haven't gotten to yet......but part of the reason will be, a growing consciousness in the ship's network of course, the command ships come to realize what is happening, and so they start teaming up. the crew comes to realize that to really deal with this properly, they need to destroy the place where these ships are being made the fun bit, is that the audience wouldn't even be aware of Eli's condition until the ending of the 3rd season....sure there would be hints throughout the season.....but there is always an explanation Eli essentially becomes as secretive as Rush.....and even has his own corridor, that we get a first look at in episode 3, but the rest of the crew doesn't find out about until atleast episode 15.....always "sneaking away" not being able to be found...ACTING LIKE Rush During this time, Rush and Young actually become close confidants for each other.....and Young regularly asks Rush, you had done this, what was your motivation.....obviously, not exactly asked like that, but in a manner that would show the two of them becoming, even, friends Greer......he doesn't want to think anything negative about Eli, but there would be an event that would sit wrong, even for Greer about episode 8 to 10 maybe, somewhere around there, Eli would say that he needed to think about something, saying that to Greer, and turn to walk away. Greer would be certain that Eli took a specific turn, and head that same way to say something to him......but it would be a dead end. Greer would be outrightly confused. That would probably be episode 8, and then Eli gives a plausible explanation in episode 10, of taking a different path. Greer, thinking Eli isn't a liar, accepts the idea, and moves on from it there would be other hints up to this point. He gets out of sight, for a second, having turned a corner, and someone runs to try to stop him, and literally only a second or two from him turning the corner, to the person trying to catch him, and he is gone nothing solid, but all of these little hints then, the final episode of season 3, either Eli is alone, and he misses making physical contact, and we see him put his hand on a console, and we see it go into the console.....or, he looks at the console, deep in thought, and then disappears.....one of those two season 4 would pick up as a flashback, showing Eli trying to figure out the stasis pod, and then back to regular time.....then another flashback, the regular time, the another flashback......kind of like the first episode. There would be about 5 flashback moments, culminating on the eventuality that we already know, he sits in the chair.....but it would explain WHY he came to that point. And season 4 would be, by episode 10, young and rush finding out. I am debating if they find out BECAUSE of chloe, or if she remains in the dark for a bit longer.....but rush and young will keep it a secret until Eli is ready to show the rest of the crew, which he does by the end of the season......but, in a strange way. Everyone is gathered together, with the intention of Eli telling everyone.....but then some catastrophe, where everyone has to jump into action, and it is severe enough, that Eli says that he will do the calculations and meet them on the bridge, and he simply vanishes, leaving all the rest of the crew shocked......and the episode ends on that cliffhanger

[@djpitts8810]

There is also the chair (I forget the actual name of it), which uploads the person's consciousness into the mainframe, which Eli could have used. A crazy thought is that using it and parts from the broken stasis unit Elis creates a hybrid system to keep him alive and also understand more about Destiny's mission. And when everyone comes out they find him linked up to the system, and as he comes out he has to adjust to deal with people again as well convey what he now has learnt. Effectively a way of enforced social isolation and social readjustment

[@lylelaverdure5173]

The ship have more than 80 living quarters, so there had to be more than 80 pods.

[@mmaelstrom4718]

I always liked the idea that Eli survived by rigging stargate into some sort of feed back loop, the crew are trying to search for him only to find the gate acting strange when they touch the controls and it actives and Eli appears walking out like nothing happened, making reference to how Scotty saved himself by using the transporter on star trek next generation and no one gets it

[@BuggsK100RS]

Its possable that would work I remember one of SG1 getting stuck in the gates Buffer and having to be rescued.

[@lloydevans2900]

This may have been technically possible, assuming that the Destiny Stargate has the same type of pattern storage buffer as the Earth Stargate had: Remember that the Destiny Stargate is thought to have been one of the first ever created (if not the actual first) and was composed only partially of the Naquadah element. The Earth Stargate and all the other Milky Way Stargates were composed almost entirely of Naquadah and could connect to any other gate within the galaxy, whereas the Destiny Stargate could only connect to other gates within a limited radius of the ship, which only represented a small part of whichever galaxy it was travelling through. The only exception to this being the ability to dial Earth - essentially a special gate program hard-wired into the ship, so only the Destiny Stargate could do this - none of the otherwise identical gates installed on planets along the Destiny route would be able to connect to Earth, even if they somehow had the extra power required to make such a long distance connection. In fact there were several different "generations" of Stargates which became progressively more sophisticated: The Destiny Stargate and all the similar gates installed by the "seed ships" along the Destiny route were first generation. The Earth Stargate and all the other Milky Way gates were second generation. The third generation was the Atlantis Stargate and all the similar gates in the Pegasus galaxy. For completeness, you could argue that the Ori "supergates" were a generation 4 design. Anyway, even if the Destiny Stargate was capable of doing what you suggested here, I doubt it would have actually been a viable way for Eli to survive. Remember that the entire point of putting all the crew in the stasis pods (which use hardly any power) was because the ship needed almost its entire energy reserve to make the 2 year long FTL jump to the next galaxy. So it had to use the bare minimum of power for anything other than the FTL drive and shields, which meant turning everything else off, even life support. I think it's fairly safe to say that this would have included the Stargate so unless the buffer feed back loop idea could have somehow worked without using any power, it would not have been a viable option. In fact pretty much any other method you can think of for how Eli might have survived (other than fixing the stasis pod so he could get into it) runs into the same problem - if it requires using more power than would be required to keep life support going for a couple of weeks, then it isn't viable: As soon as you exceed that, you start eating into the reserves required for the FTL jump. If this is shortened by even a tiny fraction of a percent, then Destiny drops out too soon and would be left powerless and drifting for years before reaching the first available star at the edge of the next galaxy to recharge itself.

[@bikkiikun]

Do you mean solar-flare time travel?? If so, interesting, but that comes with a hitch... the stargate moves and after those two years it would have crossed a distance much further than what the gate would be able to reach, nomally. Mind you it can't even conect to every gate in the galaxy... but let's assume it is possible, crossing the void would require lots of power that destiny simply doesn have (without risking to fall short and drift for many, many years, centuries or millenia, before reaching the next galaxy with a bunch of corpses on board). Or do you mean he rigs the Stargate in a way, that his pattern remains in the buffer, like Scotty did in that Dyson Sphere episode of TNG?? Both would be possible, but that also comes with a dangerously high probability of lazy-writing. Deus-ex-machina moments should be rare and very far inbetween.

[@nexusdrop7863]

@@bikkiikun He did mention Scotty's method. I like the time travel one, maybe he could plan something super sneaky and high five himself on the way out. The new version shows up, gives him directions, and send the old version to complete the tasks the new version already did - no paradoxes or extra Eli hanging around.

[@HedKracka]

I had found on the internet 8 scripts for the 3rd season. Now i have no clue if they were fan scripts or officials, but my search was only about a month after i heard of the 3rd season not going ahead. Basically the builders you mentioned did rescue Eli, only about 1 day before his supplies ran out, (the crew were using up the perishable food b4 they went into stasis, so Eli only had about 2 weeks to survive/repair b4 he would have to shut down excess power (his life support)) Eli was frustrated at failing to fix the pod and he found himself on a planet in a house. I wish i could find the links to the scripts i found but it has been a while. Keep up the good work.

[@jau1976]

They are probably the 8 episode scripts made by Laurence Moroney, whom were consulting on the franchise. If you still have them, please upload them somewhere, or send them to me :) They are as far as I know, not accessible online anymore :)

[@xKR33Px]

It would be easy to explain everyone's aging with the pods were failing and Eli had to wake everyone or they would have died inside the pods.

[@richardajoy79]

Eli wouldn't survive without outside assistance... I started a fanfic that included the end of Destiny where he decides he can't fix the pod so uses the stones to go to Earth and see if there's any news on help. Eli was given access to the SGC database which includes all Asgard and Ancient data obtained and comes up with a plan, use the Ori Supergate to establish a link to Destiny; but that will take months. I wrote a lot more, but he does survive and everyone wakes up shocked to discover Destiny is full of personnel from the SGC and Eli (now leaner) having accessed the Destiny's control chair, has the Destiny's knowledge that's aided in getting Destiny ready for the SGCs arrival.

[@benjaminseelking9483]

I´m partial to a Wormholedrive using Rescue Ferry from Earth, as it is the most logical Way for Earth to keep a semblance of Control over the Destiny. The SGC or rather Homeworld Command would want to keep Tabs on the Ship and the result of it´s Mission, so building a Ship that can reach that far would be smart.

[@TurpInTexas]

Of course Eli lives, he met Q along the way, they became great buddies, and made Eli a Q too. And they all lived happily ever after. The end. I just saved everybody from all that angst worrying about him, and saved the production companies a lot of money from trying to do a remake.

[@tadashir100]

my headtheory was always that the pods sustained but wasnt true stasis and the people inside still aged so when the series eventually restarted they could explain their 10+ years aged

[@zebragrrl]

The most 'true-to-the-series' solution is one you didn't explore. Eli would be missing. And the first 3 episodes would be about finding him, getting him back. Followed by an obligatory half season of him not being 'quite the same'

[@jamesswitzer3727]

What if he found a way to ascend and then unascended somehow after the crew wakes up.

[@universalparadoxes2081]

They missed out on making a really cheep episode, or several episodes with just 1 actor in it. He was also the only character that was not annoying.

[@HughHarding46]

One thing you did not consider, Eli used the Stones and traded places with people who had the necessary manual skills and could do the repairs. A general guess would be that they had only searched 5-10% of the ship. Maybe he found things in the storage holds that could have been used to repair parts. Just my two-cents.

[@hackbyte]

3:11 My PERSONAL theory, how eli survived the journey _AND_ how all of them aged accordingly .. and why it took _that_ long finally is. Eli was unable to fix the Pod at first.. But then discovered, that he could manipulate the ships systems so that _all_ pods would lose a tiny amount of energy, on top of driving the hyperspace with less power. So he actually became able to restore the function of the final pod he needed. In effect, all of them would start to age normally while in stasis and the journey could take longer than 2 years. But they all would survive as they were. At least. ;)

[@DanielRichards644]

My idea would be Eli can't solve the pod issue fast enough (as he only had 2 weeks) so he develops something that siphons power from the rest of the pod system to buy him more time to solve the problem with his pod, this causes everyone to stay asleep and not need food but their bodies still age at the normal rate so if the show returned 5-10 years later you could explain the characters aging. Alternatively the same concept but at a slowed aging rate and the Destiny ran out of engine power before reaching the next galaxy so everyone was in stasis for some amount of time (like couple hundred or thousands of years) and their descendants come and rescue them

[@merlin_XY]

Eli figures out how to bypass part of one of the working pods to take the component he needs to initiate the freeze cycle. Repairs his pod and goes into cryo. Then when they reach their destination and Eli wakes up he tries to restore the pod he took the component from and he can't get that cryo pod to unfreeze whomever is in that pod. For several episodes they are looking for what they need to fix the remaining cryo pod then either they do and Eli is relieved, or they break the pod and the person dies leaving Eli with guilt. Alternatively he could figure out how to get the ship to absorb his mind and he frees his red headed girl friend from the computer memory and they have fun for a couple years in virtual space. While he tries to figure out how to restore both their bodies.

[@sufyaankriel9241]

One that might work is that Eli explores uncharted areas of the ship, ans while he makes discoveries/repairs, etc. he finds another group of pods, and that's where he takes his nap. Of course, one of the reasons why things are "different", is that something happened with what he was doing (whether its another seed ship, some sort of cosmic event, a race tried to dial the Destiny, etc. the writers will have to sort that out), causing the 2 or 3 years to become 10 years, and suddenly everyone looks different and older, including Eli..... well that's my 2 cents on it.

[@sonja11.11]

The cliffhanger was THE most rivetting thing on tv for that decade. Loved it. Miss it. Watch the DVDs occ

[@jessetuck8748]

I always imagined that the planet builders could possibly be ascended beings.

[@scarsdale7186]

I'd say either repairing the pod, or finding out there was more pods in a location that they couldn't reach without some repairs. They were talking about trying to repair areas that were unsafe to enter when the attacks got started, plus the additional damage the attacks had caused made taking that action unreasonable to attempt. So with no farther attacks happening, and the reduced need for power and resources, Eli could have made such attempts. If it were me, I'd rather take those risks than dying alone.

[@rayrix3276]

He might find information in the data on the ship relating to prototype ZPM research and built a makeshift power module. that would have been cool and very on brand for Eli.

[@traverserred]

I think the best way to bring the show back would be to change the main character to whichever actor looks like they haven’t aged. And it be from their pov being the last person to be woken up. If everyone else was awakened offscreen before that person it would explain why they have aged. Example person wakes up is greeted by someone who is older and is told sorry it took so long to wake you up, it required a lot of power, we’ve been waking people up slowly over time. It’s been like ten years not three. The last galaxy was a piece of cake, it was huge with no enemies and tons of supplies, and all we did was wake up a person at each star recharge. Now we’re headed out of that galaxy fully stocked and repaired and the last thing to do is wake up the last person.

[@traverserred]

My head cannon is at the end when he smiles then frowns is him finally having a chance to look around looking out at the swirling colors and realizing what it was, it was light. If he dropped the collectors that would be enough light to keep life support running for him. But he frowns realizing that he’d still have to spend the time alone.

[@DarkVoidIII]

What if the most unlikely attacker in SG:U saved him: The Berzerker Drones. The drones contact their owners about the attacks from the Destiny and this information is processed, and some alien entity decides to go visit Destiny to find out what really happened and investigate the situation. They are pretty powerful drones maybe their owners did not intend for them to do what they did to the Destiny and want to set things right?

[@werhold]

I remember reading a online comic book about the undisclosed script for the next series, eli solves the power problem by setting up a kind of dynamo where the ship traveling through hyperspace created power, now that power wasnt an issue he realised that the ancients ships was designed to hold hundreds of ancients so why were there so few hibernation pods, he realised that there must be more pods on a unexplored part of the ship, he eventually found more pods after searching for a few months - the pods were already filled with ancients in hibersleep, it turned out they went into hypersleep when preparing for the launch of the ship, but before launch the project was abandoned and they were forgotton about, he managed to wake them up and explain the problems to them, they then got him to wake up his leader"Colonel Young" and they treat the earthings like insects, thats all that happened in that episode of the comic and I couldnt find the next one

[@taradarwin7896]

I always thought they should wake up to find the blue aliens running the ship... (maybe with Eli and the blue aliens working together in peace, that would have been a fun twist)

[@GregInHouston2]

The SGC potentially has access to Ori technology as well.

[@Raydanium]

I have several thoughts on how Eli could have lived long enough during this entire break between galaxies, including between TV series. 1) He was able to repair only part of the capsule, only the freezing function, so that he could join the team in stasis, but unfortunately, this required too much energy and they had to fly another 10 years to the nearest star. At the same time, Eli prepared a video recording in the Cinema for those who wake up, so that he would not be accidentally killed in an attempt to return him. 2) he stretched energy resources by transferring everything needed into a narrow zone, maintaining which would not load the ship long enough to be profitable. A couple of compartments between the control and the restroom, so that there is somewhere to eat, sleep and defecate. As an aside, I like the idea from the comics that he was able to reduce consumption by opening the star's chargers during flight, but this is too ineffective, and prolonged use of them eventually led to a decrease in the efficiency of energy collection. So now fate must charge even longer, while having only a small fraction of the original Volume. If earlier they could charge, if I remember correctly, by 40%, now this number barely exceeds 30%. However, in search of a solution to the Capsule issue, Eli finally found the drawings of the ship, and left in the notes the path to them, and what materials and where they are can be found. He could also find the only Matter Replicator that the Ancients would use as a multifunctional printer. (his part for printing organic matter is damaged, which will not allow him to make food, but at the same time he is somehow capable of printing tools, and at the same time ammunition for the team (let them shoot at someone normally) 3) When repairing the capsules, a breakdown occurred in the system that prevented aging, which is why everyone on the ship seemed to be in a coma, aging, but did not need food. (this way it will be possible to return the entire cast, without any problems with the fact that too much time has passed, and also to explain why certain characters are not there, they simply continue to lie in capsules, since they, like Eli, may not survive awakening. 4) In the new system, they may encounter the wreckage of another seeding ship, the ship has already been destroyed by a new enemy, but has long been abandoned, and Parts from the wreckage will help the Ship patch up some of its vital systems. In general, I would like a full-fledged season to complete the entire Arc of the series, but a full-length film would be nice.

[@Name-ot3xw]

Three options: 1: Eli dead 2: Eli came up with an ad-hoc solution to stow away for the 3 years without breaking things. His brain is probably half broken in this scenario. 3: Eli pulled a Franklin and is no where to be found, except maybe to come haunt Rush.

[@unclebobthe1]

Eli sat in the chair. I know, power. Plot armor. The chair has its own power supply. The chair is basically a stasis pod. The rest of the crew wake to find Eli there to greet them. Some did not survive of course. But one of the crew goes to embrace Eli and goes right through him. He is a projection of himself. First few episodes are figuring that out as the chair room door is closed and a figure can be scene through the smoke in the chair.

[@Poorboychickencoop]

Eli searched the ship and found another pod.. somehow he survived.

[@drakemasta9655]

they did have atlantian space suits on the ship maybe eli managed to fix one up enough that he could have traversed to previously unaccessable sections of the ship cause he would have had to vent oxygenated compartments, and with eli being alone he didnt have to worry about that as much so with the suit he can travel the ship more freely.

[@djice49203]

What I'm surprised of nobody came up with the idea take turns in the pod like switch out every month that if they have the supplies to do it

[@h2opower]

Here is what you are not taking into account. How much food and water does one human require for two years? How much fresh breathable air or sanitation needs does one human require in two years? The only way he would be able to survive would be to either fix the problem or a more exciting choice would be to stumble across the source code for the machines and upload a virus into them as they over specialized thus breading in that weakness that they simply would not be able to overcome. One thing you seem to have forgotten is all the life support needs to be shut down in something like two weeks for the ship to be able to have enough power to make the trip. If he doesn't allow the ships systems to shut down he kills everyone which is why Russ would have never been allowed to stay and attempt to fix the broken pod as Russ would just do the wrong thing to save himself even if it meant killing someone in a pod as they slept so that he could take their place.

[@paulbritton1436]

What about the automatic repair modules on the ship? Never saw those except for the engine removal

[@mikeknapp6305]

Hopefully they find him well, big n buff not dead in the corner, shrivelled and rough💪👽

[@lezking5060]

I'd like to think that Eli would have found another room of stasis pods, maybe they weren't functioning, but in better condition than the one he couldn't use... and he would have got one of the pods working and waited out the journey like the rest of the crew.

[@qelapafu]

Lots of simple solutions but I feel like there could be a number of step he’ll need to complete to save himself. Some are menial fetch quest but other might require huge sacrifices. He could strand himself on accident given the choice to go home or try and keep saving the crew, get advice from an ascended being, find some kind of AI that helps him and keeps him sane.

[@PneutaticDragonStudiosLLC]

in the show, the ship went through multiple galaxies, correct? What if it went through the Pegasus Galaxy and picked up a DART before leaving, and Eli found it and put himself in the system so he could survive until the crew woke up, and left a note on how to release him once they all woke up? Maybe accidentally releasing a Wraith when they got Eli out also so that the Wraith would be the big baddie of the week....

[@davidjellofox]

I think a more likely and more story forming solution is that Eli couldnt fix the pod so he uploaded his consiousness via the chair into the ship's computer. this would allow him to be a reoccuring character perminantly linked to the ship.

[@richardzeiders5496]

Necessity is the Mother of Invention. Desperate necessity is a Great Motivator. Life & Death necessity is the Greatest of all Motivators. Captain Kirk was a firm believer that there is no such thing as a No Win Scenario, I ascribe to such a belief. If anyone aboard the Destiny would "Solve" this problem, Eli is that guy.

[@chriss-nf1bd]

Seeing the old gate system would have been found in the Atlantis library. Which could be used to send puddle jumpers all the way to destiny with ZPM's and technology to give aid.

[@eisenklad]

not everything is Atlantis Library. ZPMs and research that the ancients made after abandoning Atlantis(Merlin's device) the ancients have a bad habit of abandoning stuff. Destiny, The Antarctic outpost, Atlantis city ships and their home planet/Ori homeworld.

[@darkage5]

They drained all the zero point modules moving Atlantis to earth. The Or'i are no more. Yes they have the information on how to create the ZPM but not the understanding. Same thing with the Tolan Ion cannon. The technology is so advance they can't make sense of it.

[@andrewsingsthehymns9567]

i honestly always thought they were implying by the look on eli's face in that last shot that eli was lying about his confidence to fix that pod and was simply sacrificing himself.

[@dimitarmargaritov]

I still remember about the show from time to time and still sad it got cancelled. Really hope the series will be properly concluded one day.

[@alexanderpitman9433]

At this point, they would likely have to do this as an animated show since it has been so long since SGU was in production. Whether he survived or not would then be predicated on if they could get the actor to come back to the show.

[@LJGrindewald]

If they got Kino footage of the obelisk on Eden, the planet the aliens created, maybe Eli can find the signal in that footage and broadcast it on Destiny so the aliens come and restore the ship. They could return it to brand new like they did the shuttle and it would unlock areas of the ship we haven't seen plus, everything working at full capacity like shields and weapons.

[@jaybias8665]

In one episode the found what appeared to be a repair robot. I propose he uses that to make some repairs that give him sufficient time to repair the stasis pod. Then he leaves the robot running while he joins the others in stasis. Don’t know how they would explain his physique

[@scottgardener]

It is definitely a better story if he does survive, and not just by fixing the pod, but instead by his own epic journey, maybe involving stuff from the unexplored sections of the ship. Maybe a few days in, as he is working on the pod, realizing it cannot be fixed without jeopardizing the others in stasis, a warning signal from the ship goes off, and he has to put on an environment suit and go see what it is…

[@canadiankewldude]

Atlantis used their "Worm Hole Drive" to instantly go to any spot in the Universe in seconds. High power cost, yes, but still. It is a fiction, thus open to a plethora of ideas.

[@grcunyus]

SGU was not shy about killing off cast members. IRL everyone is expendable.

[@RobertSchroeder-o5n]

Eli also might have during that time found another sleep chamber section by accident aboard that they didn’t know about and made use of it when he was finally finished taking care of other things.

[@MrLildjray]

I like the “Finding his own solution” option. Maybe he’s poking around the computer core (since Rush had it opened) and he finds research on food replication and power generation. Of course it can’t all be that easy so there would need to be some small issue at least. Maybe the power generation isn’t as simple as it seems…

[@canadiankewldude]

Wallace figures out how to communicate with another, empty, seed ship. More power, they could dock and the seed ship could have what was needed to fix the last pod.

[@rapunzel1701]

Production wise, I think the first scene of S03 would have been panning past all the pods, the last one with Eli. The explanation would have been a suspiciously phrased "I fixed it." This would be to set up an Eli flashback episode later on.

[@nielslarsen5554]

A runway star. Web has found several of them

[@marlonlacert8133]

Maybe when Ship hits a critical level of damage, it activates an auto repair system.. Maybe he finds a way to activate the old auto repair system. That has emergency power supplies.. However to do so he must awaken his Blood line.. And become someone who uses his mind to play with things around him... Even to the point he uses his new powers to animate a puppet he made, to walk and talk, as a second personality of his grows.. In other words, he would be on his way to ascending, but only 50%. As he does so with ship's info and guidance. The story could then revolve around his mental growth, and failures, as a side story! This way writers could use the idea that hopeless events can cause him to grow! And hint that this was the plan of the ship's AI all along.. Making one realise the pod failure was the ship's doing.. All to make him start to awaken...

[@jgeear]

SGC befriends the Ori priests and they share tech and a power drive that can fit through the gate and get them all home.

[@Taz6688]

The logical solution, Eli repairs the maintenance bots/system, slowly without constant interruption from the crew he gets more of the ship working, discovers more stasis pods, when they arrive and wake up they find the ship almost fully working.

[@PatrickComley-1973]

Did anyone think about hopping galaxies and crossing each galaxy like Baal . You can use something like a ZPM or Jack O'Neal power booster. You can use pudding jumpers so you don't have to check the air. You can even install a beaming device so you can bring more materials with you in the jumper. Instant solution.

[@jonson856]

Just finished the last episode :C If the show were to be picked up again, today, and I had a say in the story, I would say of course Eli survived. He repaired the pod... somewhat. He knew when entering and activating it, he would survive, but because he couldnt repair the pod to 100% functionality, it would drain much more power. Destiny would fall short after 3 years of FTL travel and then drift another 150 years before reaching the next galaxy (with just enough energy left to recharge in the next star). Eli enters the pod anyway. Better they wakeup 150 years too late than not at all. About 25 years after Destiny started the long journey, the crew is woken up. And of course they still havent reached the next galaxy. Col. Young wakes up and looks into the face of some unknown colonel. It is busy, loads of people opening stasis pods. People not from the Destiny. But people from earth. As it turns out SGC found another Icarus type planet. Langara (from S2E15) was unfortunately destroyed when the Lucian alliance tried to conquer the planet and Earth defended it. In those 25 years a lot has changed. The people of Earth know about the Stargate program. Earth has become a new economic super power in the Milky way galaxy. The Lucian alliance just couldnt compete with companies such as VW, Audi, Shell, Exxon Mobil, Walmart, Apple, Google, Microsoft and Facebook. xD It took a 10 year long war between Earth and the Lucian alliance as well as another 12 years to find another Icarus type planet, and 3 more years to build the facility and all to run the 9th Chevron program safely and have a permanent supply line. SGC already knew that Destiny would drift for a long way since just before Eli entered the stasis pod, he informed SGC about everything using the communication stones. So, as the Tauri could finally send another expedition to Destiny, they brought with them a few new power sources which are compatible with Destiny's systems (e.g. McKay and Zelenka found a way to build ZPMs). Since so much time has passed, the people we know from SGC have already retired and are now civilians. SGC is run by completely different people now. Except Telfort. He has been promoted to general.... The Destiny crew has aged by about 15 years (2009 - 2024). As it turns out the stasis pods could not put a person fully into stasis, so they still aged but much slower. Which also explains how Eli lost so much weight.

[@Saxxin1]

Wasn't a big fan of SGU at first but I stuck with it because I'm a big stargate fan. By season two it was my favorite SG series. SGU was cancelled just when it was getting good.

[@zigzagzarf]

he survived in the comic...found a room with frozen ancient builders woke them up they knew how to auto repair the ship to like new woke everyone up ect....it was a decent few comics

[@jordanfalkowski6924]

Seems like when i catch that old Stargate film on tv i think about it. So that kid wanted yo play with zippo and he was setting to the right when reaching for a cigarette. Then (daniel was drawing on the sand to the girl, she erased where his side drew a round shape.

[@NoArmsJames]

I've always thought that Destiny was never met to be able to dial home. I always assumed it was going to be a one-way mission when the ancients created it.

[@TheKnightsShield]

As good as it may seem, trying to live on one of the shuttles would have been a risky move, seeing as they were exposed and not inside a hanger, safe below the Destiny's outer hull. With the failing shields and constant attacks, it would be highly likely that one, or both, of the shuttles would end up becoming detached from the Destiny, leaving Eli with the challenge of starting from scratch, if indeed his food was stored onboard one of the shuttles. Also, considering he was alone by the end of the series, it wouldn't be safe for him to take a shuttle out by himself, otherwise he might get hurt and/or be stranded if something was to happen while on a planet or another ship, like what happened to Rush in the first season when he was left behind by Young. There are any number of variables involved when conducting an away mission, hence why there is usually more than one person on away missions, so that there is always someone to help if and when they're needed. Eli's best chance of survival would be to remain in an area that he's well acquainted with and to make sure he has all the supplies he needs to live on and the tools in which to work with when any problems arise.

[@jacksonroykirk1631]

I think that the ship finds a rogue star between galaxies and resupply itself and begin repairs.

[@Greg-mw5kh]

He finally opened the dang crates and had everything that would be needed to repair the equipment. I never understood why they werent opening the crates that they found on the ship at the beginning.