Nicholas Rush

Dr. Nicholas Rush

WARNING: SPOILERS

The following article contains SPOILERS. Proceed at your own risk.

Summary

From MGM: The scientific head of the Icarus program and a certifiable genius, Dr. Nicholas Rush is one of the most brilliant scientists of his day. Having devoted some of the most difficult years of his life to the program, he knows more than anyone the importance of what is beyond that 9th chevron address. Definitely not the most agreeable aboard the ship, he is without a doubt the mastermind behind most of what goes on, whether people know it or not. Unwilling to bend to any sort of military rule, his focus is always on discovering the secrets to, and purpose of the Destiny.

Personal Data

• Birthday:
• Birthplace: Glasgow, Scotland
• Marital Status: Widowed, Gloria Rush
• Children: None
• Parents: Father worked in the shipyards of Glasgow
• Siblings:
• Stargate Program Rank: Civilian
• Stargate Program Position: Lead Scientist of the Icarus Project and now stranded on the Destiny, where he has become the go-to guy concerning the Ancient ship

Before Joining the Stargate Program

Rush has a working man's background, established by his father who worked in the shipyards of Glasgow. Rush himself worked two jobs while attending Oxford on a scholarship. (Stargate Universe: 1.03 "Air Part 3")

His wife, Gloria, was a concert violinist who was happy in her career and marriage, but her life was cut short by cancer. She wanted children, but once stricken with the fatal disease, decided that perhaps it was best that she hadn't had any. (SpoilerTV, July 13, 2009)

Dr. Daniel Jackson was apparently the one who recruited Rush into the Stargate Program. It's possible that Rush was a university professor (based on location shoot and spoilers for "Human").

Icarus Base and Destiny

Dr. Nicholas Rush was the lead scientist of the Icarus Project, a top secret project financed by the U.S. government to discover what was on the other side of the wormhole from a nine-chevron destination written about in the Ancient Database. Since it takes a great deal of energy to power the Stargate to get to an eight-chevron destination, Rush assumed it took even more power to dial a ninth chevron. A good portion of the beginnings of the project included finding a planet in the Milky Way that could provide that kind of power. Once a planet with a naquadria core was found, the Icarus Base was established and personnel were assigned. Even though Col. Everett Young was put in command of the Base, Rush still had access to all of the military personnel's records. Two young men, Lt. Matthew Scott and MSgt. Ronald Greer, were on the roster, but Rush wouldn't have selected them himself. (Stargate Universe: 1.01 "Air Part 1", 1.02 "Air Part 2", 1.03 "Air Part 3")

Drawing energy safely from the core was a challenge that Rush himself was unable to solve. With $1.6 billion of the American taxpayers' money already applied to the Project, Senator Alan Armstrong had to find a way to salvage the time and money that had already been dedicated. His daughter and aide Chloe came up with an idea that saved the Project: incorporate the power problem into the Dakara Weapons Puzzle in an online game called Prometheus to find the brilliant mind who could solve it. That brilliant mind was that of Eli Wallace, a MIT drop-out. Lt. Gen. Jack O'Neill and Rush went to Eli personally to recruit him into the program. Eli was reluctant at first, but after he was beamed up to the USS George Hammond' and saw Earth from orbit, he became a believer. Rush also offered a financial package to support Eli's ailing mother. (Stargate Universe: 1.01 "Air Part 1")

Rush was excited to finally get to dial the nine-chevron destination, although his ego was bruised by Eli's mathematical genius. But on the day that Senator Armstrong, Chloe, and Eli were to witness Col. David Telford's team walk through the Stargate to the unknown destination, the Icarus Base as attacked. Rush and Eli figured out that the nine-chevron destination was really a code and that Earth's was the ninth symbol, or point of origin, no matter from where the Stargate was dialed. With the core going critical and irreversibly heading toward a catastrophic explosion, Rush made the decision to dial the nine-chevron destination rather than Earth. He claimed that he didn't want to risk the explosion to translate through the wormhole to Earth, but if the truth had been known, he realized that this was his last chance to dial the mysterious destination. He wanted all of his hard work and dedication to mean something. (Stargate Universe: 1.01 "Air Part 1")

The nine-chevron code led them to the Ancient exploration starship Destiny, several billion light years away from home with no way to return. Even though the evacuees knew the address to get back to Earth, they didn't have enough power to dial Destiny's Stargate. They blamed Rush for their sad state and if it had not been for Lt. Scott, who was put in temporary command after Young was severely injured in the evacuation, Rush might have been mobbed. Rush claimed to have been given leadership aboard the Destiny by O'Neill himself after he contacted Homeworld Command via the Ancient Long-Range Communication Stones that Young had the presence of mind to bring with him during the evacuation. (Stargate Universe: 1.01 "Air Part 1", 1.02 "Air Part 2")

Rush took it upon himself to solve the immediate problems that started to occur on the failing ship. He found that he could input their needs into the ship's computer and that Destiny would match those needs to a planet in its course ahead. Destiny's course is determined automatically as it follows the starships that were sent ahead of it to plant Stargates on various planets located in one galaxy after another. Rush learned that the ship would drop out of faster-than-light (FTL) speed to dial the Stargate to the planet that would best serve their needs. The ship gave the explorers twelve hours to visit the planet and would then return to its FTL course. On the first planet that they explored to obtain calcium carbonate for their air scrubbing system, Rush had a physical altercation with Greer because Greer wouldn't share his water and bossed him around. Rush also called Lt. Scott "Captain Marvel" because Scott, the leader of the away team, insisted that he go on alone to find the compound after Rush admitted defeat. (Stargate Universe: 1.02 "Air Part 2", 1.03 "Air Part 3")

Rush continued to study the Destiny's database extensively, but was still not able to access the ship's main computer systems, much to his growing frustration. When the Destiny appeared to be running out of energy, Rush panicked and ordered everyone to not turn on any unnecessary systems. He blamed the others for trying to dial Earth and draining all of the ship's reserves, something that he had insisted from the beginning was not a good idea. Seeing that Rush was highly agitated, Young tried to assign Dr. Dale Volker, an astrophysicist, to help Rush in figuring out the systems, but Rush insulted Volker's intelligence and kicked him out. Eventually, exhaustion and caffeine and nicotine withdrawal led Rush to a melt-down. He collapsed and slept for ten hours and would have stayed asleep if he hadn't been awakened to determine why Destiny had stopped where it had, outside the Stargate's range of planets. (Stargate Universe: 1.04 "Darkness")

The Destiny was on a collision course with a sun. At the time, they didn't realize that this was how the ship recharged its reserves, so the crew prepared for the worst. Seventeen of them were put on the ship's only working shuttle so that some could survive. The others who were not chosen by Young or the lottery had to prepare to say their farewells and face death. Rush himself pulled his name of of the lottery and explained to Young, "This ship…coming here, was my destiny. My life's work was to be here, not trying to survive on some rock with a bunch of strangers." (Stargate Universe: 1.05 "Light")

When Eli asked that he leave a farewell message in a kino, Rush merely stared at the kino's camera in silence. He preferred to stay alone in his quarters, listen to music, and finish the book he was reading as his way of going out. (Stargate Universe: 1.05 "Light")

Later, the Destiny stopped near an ice planet that had pure water for the crew to drink. Their supply was getting low, but more important, it was getting inexplicably rapidly low (they found out later that alien entities were depleting the water supply, not hoarders). Young and Scott went to the inhospitable planet, and when it came time for Young to make the choice to save Scott who had become trapped in a crevasse or bring in the second load of ice, Rush tried to have Young leave Scott for "the greater good." His words of wisdom to Lt. Tamara Johansen who had been given temporary command while Young and Scott were off-world, spoke to this philosophy, as well. (Stargate Universe: 1.06 "Water")

Hobbies and Other Interests

• Classical Music: Rush enjoys listening to classical music. One such track was "Vissi D'arte" from the opera Tosca by Puccini (sung probably by Maria Callas). (Stargate Universe: 1.01 "Air Part 1")

Injuries, Illnesses/Sicknesses, Deaths

• Eyeglasses Broken: Rush needs to wear eyeglasses to correct his vision and his only pair were broken during the evacuation. He tries to use them, but most of the time, he goes without. (Stargate Universe: 1.01 "Air Part 1", etc.)
• Exhaustion and Caffeine and Nicotine Withdrawal: As a smoker and heavy coffee drinker, Rush suffered from the headaches and other symptoms associated with withdrawal. Adding exhaustion and his frustration on not being able to solve the ship's energy problem, Rush ultimately collapsed after having a spectacular emotional breakdown (Sgt. Riley called it a "nervous breakdown"). (Stargate Universe: 1.04 "Darkness")

Key Episodes

• SGU 1.01 "Air Part 1"
• SGU 1.02 "Air Part 2"
• SGU 1.03 "Air Part 3"
• SGU 1.04 "Darkness"
• SGU 1.05 "Light"
• SGU 1.14 "Human"

Gallery

• MGM: Character Profile and Gallery

Related Characters

• Senator Alan Armstrong
• Chloe Armstrong
• MSgt. Ronald Greer
• Dr. Daniel Jackson
• Lt. Gen. Jack O'Neill
• Sgt. Hunter Riley
• Gloria Rush
• Lt. Matthew Scott
• Col. David Telford
• Dr. Dale Volker
• Eli Wallace
• Col. Everett Young

Related Articles

• Ancient Communications Stones
• Ancients
• Destiny
• Destiny's Planets
• U.S.S. George Hammond
• Homeworld Command
• Icarus Base
• Icarus Project
• Stargate
• Stargate Program

Further Reading

• "What we know so far is that he’s been married, but his wife is dead. The fact that he was married is the only thing that actually roots him in reality, because he ‘lives’ in a different type of reality, one, I believe, in his own mind. Rush is by far the biggest expert on Ancient technology, and when his wife dies and he gets the chance to go on this exploration of the universe, he jumps at it because there’s nothing left for him [on Earth]." (Robert Carlyle, Official Stargate Magazine, Issue 29, July/August 2009)
• “Dr. Rush is certainly a complex individual. You’re never sure what his motives are, and to be honest with you I don’t know what’s happening with the character either. Brad Wright and Robert Cooper [Stargate Universe creators and executive producers] are obviously telling me everything I want to know, but I’d rather not know it all, which is how I’ve worked over the years. When you know how your character is going to end up, you’re tempted to play his heroic side. In fact, what you should be doing is playing the moment and each scene as it is, which is fresh. Just like you shouldn’t look too far ahead in your [real] life, you shouldn’t look too far ahead in your acting life." (Robert Carlyle, Reprint: Official Stargate Magazine Interview, Issue 29, July/August 2009)
• "As far as our story and where our people end up, it’s Rush who tells them that there’s no chance they can ever go back, and he thinks there’s nothing greater! This is the best potential for exploration that mankind has ever known. That’s what’s driving Rush; and therefore he’s probably not to be trusted by anyone on the crew." (Robert Carlyle, Official Stargate Magazine, Issue 29, July/August 2009)
• "If we start at the top in terms of crew ranking, Colonel Young is my character’s nemesis, there’s no doubt about that, and it’s quite serious. These guys are not having a petty conflict. Without giving too much away, there’s an episode, which we’ve yet to shoot, where a tragedy takes place aboard the Destiny and Rush tries to frame Young. They hate each other that much. Young is a soldier, while Rush is a scientist, and they just don’t get one another. As soon as they end up on the Destiny, the colonel is all about getting everyone home, and Rush is all about ‘How do we avoid that?’ So they’re against each other from day one and that’s been developing beautifully over the past six or seven weeks of filming." (Robert Carlyle, Reprint: Official Stargate Magazine Interview, Issue 29, July/August 2009)

Actor

• Robert Carlyle

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--DeeKayP 23:09, 10 July 2009 (UTC)