Stargate Universe A Good Concept?

[Xylian]

Does anybody out there think Stargate Universe is a good concept and will do well? It seems every person on every thread I've read absolutely hates it and thinks the show will suck. I for one think it will do well, and everyone is being too overly dramatic.

[Bareassedmunky]

I think the setting is ok. I'd prefer it to be set on earth though. I don't think it will work more because of statements about them aiming at a younger more mainstream audience. I think reaching a more mainstream audience is ok, but if you set out to reach them you are selling out - Compare pop to classical music.

I also think they are burning their current fans in favor of the broader mainstream audience (less tech and mythology). I don't think they will pick up these new audiences and they will loose, or at least put off, some of their current fans. MGM and Sci-fi seem to be dictating the creative process more than they used to, which can only be bad

I like the concept, but not the implementation

[Chricton]

I remember some of the old Atlantis hate from the boards when it was announced. It was so out of control and unfounded this place was unbareable for months. Even after it premiered people were still so angry about it. The Rodney hate was downright childish.

I'm sure it will be the same case here. It will get ragged on, BSG probably taking an unfair amount of hate as well. Though I admit the premise sounds much less intriging than Atlantis did. BSG style sounds interesting though, could be great, could be a crappy Andromeda/ST clone. The style gave BSG a lot of positive critical attention, maybe it could do the same for SGU.

[sinfuldraconis]

I can't wait to see it!

[markaudette]

Stargate Universe is a TERRIBLE concept.

My evidence?

1. Robinson Carusoe

2. Lost in Space

3. Space 1999

4. Star Trek: Voyager

5. Land of the Lost (I know: it barely qualifies as a television show...)

6. Lost

7. Andromeda

8. Buck Rogers

3 of the 8 shows listed even have "Lost" in their titles for Pete's sake!

I will state this fact with all the sincereity and importance I can muster from the bottom of my soul: The current development staff on the Stargate universe are now officially creatively bankrupt. There's not a damn one of them who have an original creative thought in their entire brains.

And the suits at MGM are oblivious morons for not even being able to realize that whoever pitched Stargate: Universe have pilfered 289 years worth of other people's intellectual property. (Wiki "Robinson Carusoe" if you don't believe me.)

[Bareassedmunky]

OK, the comparisons to voyager, amongst other things, needs to stop. Just because it is set on a spaceship isolated from earth doesn't mean it is a rip off. As a matter of a fact, that is the end of the comparison.

I suspect they will be moving from galaxy to galaxy - there was mention somewhere that they were unable to control the navigation schedule, not that they would be unable to control the ship. I suspect they will be able to control the ship but at a set period they would jump to the next galaxy. This is why it is called universe - because it covers the whole universe. If my suspicions come true i think that is quite a novel idea.

Voyager was about them traveling home, they were always pointed towards earth - it sounds like they have no idea how to get home in universe. That leads to a whole different psychology - it is a lot harder to keep motivated if you are always moving farther away.

Finally, being based on a ship stuck a long way from home is so vague a situation that to say that every time someone writes a story about it is a rip off is nonsense. It is a setting rather than a complete description of the story - we know nothing about the characters, the ship, the resource available, the aliens they meet (as we are moving into galaxies not colonised by ancients, they probably won't be human (and if they are, it will be ****)) and the story arcs as well as the general tone. Shall we also say that it is a rip off of 'Master and Commander'? It's about a ship a long way from home!

The Muppets are a rip off of punch and judy?
Saving Private Ryan is a rip off of every WWII move that ever preceded it?
'Backdoor Sluts 9' is a rip off of 'Frontdoor Whores 6'?

[g.o.d]

Does anybody out there think Stargate Universe is a good concept and will do well? It seems every person on every thread I've read absolutely hates it and thinks the show will suck. I for one think it will do well, and everyone is being too overly dramatic.

I like it and if it's going to have more dramatic intensity like BSG, I'll love SGU

[TheLastSunset]

I'm kind of uncertain about the show. Nonetheless, I will probably watch it regardless. Unless of course it was despicable, for me, which doesn't seem too likely.

[markaudette]

If I don't really have any pull in whether the suits think my opinion will in any way influence this show happening then I have one and only one caveat: DON'T lock the freaking cameras off in some corner and start rolling film. I really enjoy that shaky-cam for that you're-right-in-the-middle-of-the-action feel. Like what Joss did with Firefly.

I have really grown sick and tired of the fact a camera is bolted down in some corner, someone yells "Action" and the film crew goes off to eat donuts while the actors try to stay in frame. This is my biggest gripe.

My 2 cents. 1.5 cents Canadian.

[xandder]

I think the setting is ok. I'd prefer it to be set on earth though. I don't think it will work more because of statements about them aiming at a younger more mainstream audience. I think reaching a more mainstream audience is ok, but if you set out to reach them you are selling out - Compare pop to classical music.

I also think they are burning their current fans in favor of the broader mainstream audience ([/B]less tech and mythology). I don't think they will pick up these new audiences and they will loose, or at least put off, some of their current fans. MGM and Sci-fi seem to be dictating the creative process more than they used to, which can only be bad

I like the concept, but not the implementation

less mythology, unless i missed a whole season of atlantis, which i doubt, but that had zero mythology at all, except for the whole ^lost city^ thing, that was it, it was never expanded on and no new mythology was ever added, it was all about fighting imo i really hope sgu is mythology heavy in someway, that was the main reason i loved sg1 but i doubt it, which i dont mind, because im really excited for the new series, and while im upset that sga has ended, im a little glad aswell, the storylines were getting old and a little contrived, there was zero character development, altho the new season was looking to change all that, the addition of woolsey seems perfect and the mckay/keller thing looks like it could have potential, other than that, it still needed to end before it got even worse and more ppl started hating on it.

anyway back to sgu, i really think this has great potential, plus we might actually get to see a stargate being built if i understood the description right, they are stranded on a ship set to seed the universe with stargates, so the ship has got to be really BIG, maybe rivalling atlantis is size, but more streamline, which is gonna rock, one thing im looking forward to is seeing the different colours of the hyperspace windows, every galaxy seems to have a different colour, mw is purple, p is aqua, ida seemed to have a red one at one point.

[LiquidSky]

Ok stop the comparison with ST Voyager. How about Lost in Space!

LS

[Bareassedmunky]

Firstly, I was paraphrasing Brad Wright, so there is no point arguing with me, you need to find Brad Wright and argue with him. Atlantis was more reliant on tech than mythology, but i did put those two terms togeather for a reason. Also there was mythology in SGA, just in a different, more subtle way

The term mythology includes anything in the history of the show - such as the war with the wraith and the creation of the replicators. The difference between the mythology of sg-1 and SGA is that in atlantis they have the database, so rather than trying to convert old myths into information they could use, the atlantis crew could just go to the ancient version of google and look it up, but it is all still part of the mythology of the show.

[Betelgeuze]

Up until now i have always been optimistic about changes made to a Stargate show. Changes in character like replacing Weir and Carter, or changes in enemy like in SG-1 season 9&10 never bothered me. What makes me uninterested in the new show is the entire concept. To me what sets Stargate apart from all the other science fiction shows is the exploration of new planets trough the Stargates, and by this having the main setting of the show on planets instead of on a ship in space. There are so many science fiction shows that are based on space travel on a ship, that i find it a shame that TPBT feel the need to create another one.

Having the focus shift away from the real science fiction and the mythology of stargate towards character relationships also does not appeal to me. Character development is important, as a sub plot. But what really turns me against the show, is that they will be targeting a younger audience. Many stargate fans have followed the shows since the beginning, i think it is a mistake to think we will watch the show just because it has Stargate in the title. All these thing and the whole desperate young explorers thing makes the show sound like a soap opera in space.

When i first read about the show i thought i'll give it a chance, but now i think why watch a show with a concept that doesn't appeal to me just because it has Stargate in the title?

[Andromeda Galaxy]

yeah, it does feel like everyone is hating on the show before even seeing it. I am actually very excited for it and can't wait having another SG show. Universe seems to me like BSG(which i love) with a Stargate feel which is apsolutly amazing. I CANT WAIT UNTIL UNIVERSE!

[Gollumpus]

I think it's not a bad concept, but is it one on which you can build a long running TV series? My thought is that if it becomes successful then the series will be canned and they'll make straight to DVD movies.

I suppose it's only natural for folks to think Voyager. Even if the humans on this new show cannot control the "Destiny", the basic premise of the show is still, "How do we get home? When will we get home? Can we get home?"

I also thought about a show from the 80's called "The Starlost", about a large spacecraft carrying humans who had no means of control.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Starlost

How good SG:U can actually become will rely upon: the actors chosen; the directors selected; and the quality of the writing. What do the characters have to face other than a series of adventures which must be sorted out "just in a knick of time" or risk becoming stranded in some distant galaxy? That plot line will get old very quickly.

regards,
G.