Return of the Ancients

[KikeGate]

It's been a while, We doubt about his return.......

His fanfic is great and I believe it would have been a more suitable theme or setting for SGU. After SGA and SG1 , Cooper JM and Co should have looked this into a greater context of the ancient domain when creating sgu which IMO would have been a success reflected in high ratings for sgu.

[Aragon101]

It's been a while, We doubt about his return.......

His fanfic is great and I believe it would have been a more suitable theme or setting for SGU. After SGA and SG1 , Cooper JM and Co should have looked this into a greater context of the ancient domain when creating sgu which IMO would have been a success reflected in high ratings for sgu.

For fanfic it is quite good, but it depends too much on the 15 years ahead of it for it to have enough mainstream appeal to succeed as a show IMO.

Look at Farscape and BSG, they got so broiled up in their complicated plots that neither lasted more then 4 years. ROTA has 15 years worth of backstory to it and it's not easily accessible to the casual viewer who doesn't know all the little ins and outs of SG. It's like starting BSG in season 4, There's just been a huge development and now the viewer has to see how they deal with it. it's too much information for a casual sci-fi viewer to get into, because it's not information like in a drama show that's easier to wrap your head around since it's earth based.

Good fanfic, sure. But successful TV show? Precedent says no. Its simply too complicated to draw in the large numbers of casual viewers that make up the majority of the ratings. SG1/A were primarily successful because of the characters, not the technical detail to plot. I oculd watch an episode in season 4 and pretty much dive right in without knowing everything that happened beforehand, whereas ROTA i need 15 years of backstory. Would SG fans watch ROTA? Probably, but the fandom makes op only a fraction of the viewing audience, and certainly not enough to keep a show going as is evident with both shows prior cancellations, lack of movies, and dismal ratings for SGU.

[KikeGate]

According to your analogy, sgu should have started from scratch to successes and forget about what happened in sga and sg1, despite sgu is supposed to be part of sg franchise.
Look at star trek franchise, they created ST Enterprise not as a continuation of ST next generation but the setup was a bit different from its previous brethren and yet managed to have four seasons just like sga did. Even thought many star treks fans complaint ST ENT did not fallow the established cannon.
Back to topic, I think ROTA would have been a better set up for SGU as destiny would be a better setup for a sga movie. Many SG lovers( not 24/7 fans) like me would love to explore the mystery of the ancients in more depth and not just their used tech as a plot device to get away the story line.

[Aragon101]

According to your analogy, sgu should have started from scratch to successes and forget about what happened in sga and sg1, despite sgu is supposed to be part of sg franchise.

That's not at all what i said.

Farscape and BSG were highly successful at their outset, but become so embroiled in the complexity of their stories that by season 3-4 of each, it'd become a 'fan' only thing. The Fans are not enough people to support the high cost of such a show.

SGU tried to avoid this by almost neglecting SG1 and SGA backstory beyond the most basic things (Ascension for instance) but because of varying reasons, it's now got less fans than SGA Season 5. There are many many reasons why people have stopped watching SGU, and i think the introduction of the Lucian Alliance, a formerly only SG1 plot, is overcomplicating what should be a simple premise of a show. Not to mention the stones... egads.

Look at star trek franchise, they created ST Enterprise not as a continuation of ST next generation but the setup was a bit different from its previous brethren and yet managed to have four seasons just like sga did. Even thought many star treks fans complaint ST ENT did not fallow the established cannon.

Star Trek began with TOS, and it was canceled. The fans managed to convince the studio to bring it back, but how many seasons were there? 3? 79 episodes?

It became a cult classic over the span of twenty years. the movies built up a huge audience because the TOS movies are damned good. Then TNG came about in 1987 a full twenty years later. TNG got off to a rocky start but is still critically acclaimed because the quality of the stories and acting was high.

That's when the franchise began to expand and try and capture the entire market. DS9 appealed to the drama fans, Voyager to a more 'original style' type of fan. Enterprise as we all know was never a huge success, primarily because while the quality was decent, the stories were all over hte place and yes, corrupted "canon" despite being a legitimate of it.

Enterprise lasted 4 years, and it marked the death knell of the franchise which like a phoenix, arose a new movie and reboot that goes back to a simple concept.

And SGA had five seasons and was according to producers ready to enter a sixth. SGA was successful for what it was.

Back to topic, I think ROTA would have been a better set up for SGU as destiny would be a better setup for a sga movie. Many SG lovers( not 24/7 fans) like me would love to explore the mystery of the ancients in more depth and not just their used tech as a plot device to get away the story line.

I agree about the mystery of the ancients, but the blending of 15 years worth of backstory for SG1 and SGA is what would prevent ROTA from becoming a hit in TV.

Think about this. If you were to drop into DS9 or Babylon 5 in its climax season (7 for DS9, 4 for BSG) Would you at all understand what's going on? The casual viewer - which makes up the majority of the audience btw - isn't interested in seeing overly complex plots that require you to watch every single episode. Lost was one of the best written dramas in recent history, and for a network show was a great success. But what was the primary aspect of the story? The story of the characters, not the black mist, not the hatch.

ROTA is so deeply involved in its fast paced plot and conglomeration of the backstory from SG1 and SGA that it's like jumping into Lost in season 4. You know nothing of the characters or their motives and experiences, and nothing of what's been going on on the island. You hear someone reference "the hatch" and you've got no clue what "the hatch' is.

It's not a hard concept to understand. The more a person has to learn of backstory that's not shown in a series, the less people will watch it. How many single season sci-fi shows are there that do exactly that? Present us with a situation so far removed from simplicity that the first episode is just bringing everyone up to speed on the conditions and rules of the universe?

Look at Star Wars: A New Hope. That worked because the plot was devilishly simple. Princess, black knight, young warrior, dashing rogue, and an old wizard, and a last stand against 'evil'.

Simplicity sells because there's no need to get invested into the story. A deeply involved plot like ROTA should be designed to run for four seasons in my opinion because there's very little that isn't plot oriented. Missing one episode will leave you scratching your head in the next. That's the bane of a serialized drama. It can only last so long.

SG fandom isn't HUGE. I'd say in total, about 4 million+ people watch SG in some form or another.(The US market which is the one used to rate the show) But that's not what matters, what matters is how many people are watching a show live.

If a serialized drama like BSG fell out around the fourth season with low numbers, and it was a critically acclaimed show with mass appeal and huge marketing. How's a show like ROTA going to survive when the SG market is much lower, isn't marketed nearly as well, and instead of BSG's style of explaining hte backstory over time...

Simply put, ROTA is for the diehard fans who wanted deep plot. light on the characters. I appreciate it for what it is but i don't think it has the mass appeal needed to become a show itself, and frankly hearing that is an eyeroll moment for me especially since ATM and for the foreseeable future, character drama (well written that is) is the mainstream appeal.

A reboot is what's needed, but that would mean ROTA would need to make major changes. Such as having no established characters, having to introduce 15 years worth of technological updates, yadda yadda yadda... it's too complex is my final thought on the subject.

[_Famrir_]

has anyone read Aerki's star wars fan fic? Ive read it and its protagonist is very similar to Stevenson imo

[Burns]

has anyone read Aerki's star wars fan fic? Ive read it and its protagonist is very similar to Stevenson imo

Yea that was one of the main reasons why many people said this was a star wars fic with Stargate characters

[Aer'ki]

No, it's not dead. I've had a busy past three months of training and don't expect to slow down in the foreseeable future. Don't expect frequent additions and I'm sorry, but the 5 day 5 chapter deal isn't happening any more. I just found the time to write this chapter and there's no saying when I'll get to the other four.

I know that's not what some of you wanted to hear, so don't get too anxious about when the next chapter comes out. Just wait for the auto email and I'll get to it whenever.

Thanks though for the continued pestering...it's nice to know you care about the story even after 3 months of nothing.

[locutes]

we were all longing for this and we can understand that RL takes presidence

[Lant3an]

as long as its back

[KikeGate]

He's baaaack! ...
There's a new ep,check fanfic.net

[Burns]

Nice, welcome back, and what are you training for? One of the best surprizes all week, how elas was shocked by that alert

[shadez2]

Gd to know that someone has updated there fic hopefully rasunda hasn't abandoned any of his ff.net work. Any way what are you training for

[ussrelativity]

No, it's not dead. I've had a busy past three months of training and don't expect to slow down in the foreseeable future. Don't expect frequent additions and I'm sorry, but the 5 day 5 chapter deal isn't happening any more. I just found the time to write this chapter and there's no saying when I'll get to the other four.

I know that's not what some of you wanted to hear, so don't get too anxious about when the next chapter comes out. Just wait for the auto email and I'll get to it whenever.

Thanks though for the continued pestering...it's nice to know you care about the story even after 3 months of nothing.

Great that you're back at least. What kind of training is it?



---Oh, and I haven't abandoned my own work either. Still working on it.

[Phantom6]

It was only two scenes.

If the updates are going to be spread out more then hopefully we can get more than a couple of scenes. I mean really, if this were a show we just got a fifteen minute teaser.

[kyman123]

Glad your back
love the fanfic
though there kinda alot of techincal details on everything