This issue has been discussed in depth, but in my mind, the three main reasons for SGU's lack of success (referring to the ratings/cancellation - I am a huge fan) haven't been touched on enough.
1. Stargate: Universe should never have been Stargate: Universe.
When you change direction as SGU did, you have to make an active effort to ease fan expectations while also signaling to non-viewers that they should take another look. Despite being very different from the two previous series, it was never truly marketed as such. So non-viewers thought, "ugh, it's Stargate," while some existing fans were thinking, "ugh, it's not Stargate." That's the absolute worst possible result - gaining few new viewers while you prune existing viewers based on tastes.
The show should simply have been called "Destiny" and marketed as set in the Stargate universe but not a direct continuation of it.
2. The writers were not bold enough.
I know that some have lamented SGU as being *too* different, but that was largely because of #1. The truth is that SGU didn't go far enough. If you want to take an idea in a new direction, do it! Don't put a crew on an Ancient ship when that aspect of SG lore has lost much of its appeal through overuse and consistently unflattering portrayals.
Instead of having been built by the Ancients, why couldn't Destiny have been *discovered* by the Ancients as it passed by Earth on its current mission? During this flyby, they saw that Destiny was conducting extensive scans of the background radiation (which led them to discover the same structure), and also that the ship had relatively similar Stargate tech. Instant travel throughout the universe is a pretty big deal - if the universe is populated by advanced races of beings, you'd figure that *someone* else would have had the same idea (much like FTL/hyperspace tech seems to be prevalent). Seeing that other forms of Stargates existed, the ancients always built theirs with a ninth Chevron (which functions as a programmable modifier to make wormholes compatible with alien Stargate tech). Ascension and so on got in the way and they never figured out how Destiny's gate worked (cue Rush/Eli).
Season 1's character building could then have been woven together with story threads regarding Destiny's mystery builders, brand new lore and radically new technology. It would have been similar to early SG-1, which didn't feature particularly fast-paced or consistently high-quality episodes, but all of the interesting new concepts and technology helped steady the show until it picked up steam. The first two or three seasons of Atlantis also had this appeal.
Among other benefits, you'd also lessen the amount of information (about the ancients/existing SG lore) new viewers would need to get into the show, be free of the current "older-than-Atlantis" technology constraints, and otherwise open up incredible potential without any changes to the core storyline.
To be even bolder, cut off Destiny from Earth entirely, ditch the stones, and increase the size of the ship/crew (to allow for guest appearances by characters like Amanda Perry, who was loved more because of the way the actress portrayed her than the stone aspect of her storyline).
3. "SyFy Original Series" is a badge of shame.
Would you approach a channel named "Funtysy" to produce a mini-series based on a fantasy book?
What exactly did SyFy have going for it, other than having aired 1.5 (SGA and half of SG-1) other SG shows? The channel is frequented most often by people who are largely outside of SG's target audience (the Ghost Hunters, cheesy horror movie, and WWE crowds) and the very name of the channel reveals a distaste for the show's genre.
Showtime, HBO, various cable TV stations - just about any other station would have made more of an effort to keep the show alive. Season 2 was considerably better than Season 1 (which I also enjoyed, but had quite a few lows), so why didn't SyFy air one of those dirt-cheap half-hour "the story so far" specials to try and generate interest leading up to S2? Optimally paired with marathons of episodes like Time, Space, and Lost which had wide appeal. Too many cheesy movies to showcase for the Golden Raspberries?
1. Stargate: Universe should never have been Stargate: Universe.
When you change direction as SGU did, you have to make an active effort to ease fan expectations while also signaling to non-viewers that they should take another look. Despite being very different from the two previous series, it was never truly marketed as such. So non-viewers thought, "ugh, it's Stargate," while some existing fans were thinking, "ugh, it's not Stargate." That's the absolute worst possible result - gaining few new viewers while you prune existing viewers based on tastes.
The show should simply have been called "Destiny" and marketed as set in the Stargate universe but not a direct continuation of it.
2. The writers were not bold enough.
I know that some have lamented SGU as being *too* different, but that was largely because of #1. The truth is that SGU didn't go far enough. If you want to take an idea in a new direction, do it! Don't put a crew on an Ancient ship when that aspect of SG lore has lost much of its appeal through overuse and consistently unflattering portrayals.
Instead of having been built by the Ancients, why couldn't Destiny have been *discovered* by the Ancients as it passed by Earth on its current mission? During this flyby, they saw that Destiny was conducting extensive scans of the background radiation (which led them to discover the same structure), and also that the ship had relatively similar Stargate tech. Instant travel throughout the universe is a pretty big deal - if the universe is populated by advanced races of beings, you'd figure that *someone* else would have had the same idea (much like FTL/hyperspace tech seems to be prevalent). Seeing that other forms of Stargates existed, the ancients always built theirs with a ninth Chevron (which functions as a programmable modifier to make wormholes compatible with alien Stargate tech). Ascension and so on got in the way and they never figured out how Destiny's gate worked (cue Rush/Eli).
Season 1's character building could then have been woven together with story threads regarding Destiny's mystery builders, brand new lore and radically new technology. It would have been similar to early SG-1, which didn't feature particularly fast-paced or consistently high-quality episodes, but all of the interesting new concepts and technology helped steady the show until it picked up steam. The first two or three seasons of Atlantis also had this appeal.
Among other benefits, you'd also lessen the amount of information (about the ancients/existing SG lore) new viewers would need to get into the show, be free of the current "older-than-Atlantis" technology constraints, and otherwise open up incredible potential without any changes to the core storyline.
To be even bolder, cut off Destiny from Earth entirely, ditch the stones, and increase the size of the ship/crew (to allow for guest appearances by characters like Amanda Perry, who was loved more because of the way the actress portrayed her than the stone aspect of her storyline).
3. "SyFy Original Series" is a badge of shame.
Would you approach a channel named "Funtysy" to produce a mini-series based on a fantasy book?
What exactly did SyFy have going for it, other than having aired 1.5 (SGA and half of SG-1) other SG shows? The channel is frequented most often by people who are largely outside of SG's target audience (the Ghost Hunters, cheesy horror movie, and WWE crowds) and the very name of the channel reveals a distaste for the show's genre.
Showtime, HBO, various cable TV stations - just about any other station would have made more of an effort to keep the show alive. Season 2 was considerably better than Season 1 (which I also enjoyed, but had quite a few lows), so why didn't SyFy air one of those dirt-cheap half-hour "the story so far" specials to try and generate interest leading up to S2? Optimally paired with marathons of episodes like Time, Space, and Lost which had wide appeal. Too many cheesy movies to showcase for the Golden Raspberries?
Stargate or not.
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