Originally posted by minigeek
Well, you have to keep telling a story. No matter how that gets sliced up, that's the crux of it. And a good story has a beginning, a middle and an end (how's that for fomulaic? ;p ) The point is, if each story is an arc, and each story is to utlize the same characters, then it has to have something new to offer by way of dramatic conflict (included in that are villains, obstacles, personal character-growth, etc). Most TV series' don't last a decade because most TV series' are based on the premise of a single story, and once that arc runs its course, the writers are usually out of ideas; they tend (generally speaking) to not have much future vision beyond that arc.
Unless a story is plotted out as a trilogy or quadrilogy (etc) in ADVANCE during the arc planning stages, adding onto it with both relevance and integrity (where both the originating characters and any new components are concerned) can be a creative calisthenic that most writers are simply not gifted enough to tackle. It's hard. And I think we're seeing something of a generalized status-quo here where SG-1 is concerned in that our writing pool is in just as dire a need of a "new blood" infusion as they felt the cast and the story was. NEW ideas are necssary, to drive NEW adventures involving ANY characters ... ESPECIALLY adventures which are meant to integrate established character voices with those who are new to the dramatic arc.
The writing team had the right idea in wanting a spin-off, but the wrong idea in thinking they could handle it alone without new blood in THEIR OWN ranks. They didn't need a Col. Mitchell and a Vala Maldoran they needed a Sarah Smith (writing team addition) and potentially even a Jane Doe (second writing team addition). The producer's own arrogance is what is driving SG-1 into the ground right now. That (as Sky has pointed out already) they "know all" and have enough combined talent to tackle any creative mountain alone.
Any artist worth his or her salt will tell you that collaboration is key for stories of this monumental design and drawing from new creative sources is just as key. Especially after a decade. Let the old guard run the show and bring in new creativity. New storytellers to challenge the status-quo. God knows the "old" characters don't stop growing simply because they've told one story. But they have stopped growing, because the current writing team grew them and the current writing team "finished" with them. A new writing team infusion would NECESSARILY grow those characters further because to those new creative minds, those "old" characters are just as "new" as the ones that showed up in season nine. THAT would make for new challenges; better drama, further conflict, character arcs and story narratives that might truly have the potential to be exciting and different.
THAT, to my mind, is the problem right now with SG-1. It's not the characters. It's the people telling the story. And there's nothing they can do to fix it. They need to expand their repertoire and accept a bit of humble pie - take on some new creative blood. Whether their egos like it or not.
geek (I'm sorry, I taught two classes yesterday and I think I'm still inpreacher teacher mode!)
Unless a story is plotted out as a trilogy or quadrilogy (etc) in ADVANCE during the arc planning stages, adding onto it with both relevance and integrity (where both the originating characters and any new components are concerned) can be a creative calisthenic that most writers are simply not gifted enough to tackle. It's hard. And I think we're seeing something of a generalized status-quo here where SG-1 is concerned in that our writing pool is in just as dire a need of a "new blood" infusion as they felt the cast and the story was. NEW ideas are necssary, to drive NEW adventures involving ANY characters ... ESPECIALLY adventures which are meant to integrate established character voices with those who are new to the dramatic arc.
The writing team had the right idea in wanting a spin-off, but the wrong idea in thinking they could handle it alone without new blood in THEIR OWN ranks. They didn't need a Col. Mitchell and a Vala Maldoran they needed a Sarah Smith (writing team addition) and potentially even a Jane Doe (second writing team addition). The producer's own arrogance is what is driving SG-1 into the ground right now. That (as Sky has pointed out already) they "know all" and have enough combined talent to tackle any creative mountain alone.
Any artist worth his or her salt will tell you that collaboration is key for stories of this monumental design and drawing from new creative sources is just as key. Especially after a decade. Let the old guard run the show and bring in new creativity. New storytellers to challenge the status-quo. God knows the "old" characters don't stop growing simply because they've told one story. But they have stopped growing, because the current writing team grew them and the current writing team "finished" with them. A new writing team infusion would NECESSARILY grow those characters further because to those new creative minds, those "old" characters are just as "new" as the ones that showed up in season nine. THAT would make for new challenges; better drama, further conflict, character arcs and story narratives that might truly have the potential to be exciting and different.
THAT, to my mind, is the problem right now with SG-1. It's not the characters. It's the people telling the story. And there's nothing they can do to fix it. They need to expand their repertoire and accept a bit of humble pie - take on some new creative blood. Whether their egos like it or not.
geek (I'm sorry, I taught two classes yesterday and I think I'm still in
Yepyepyepyepyep.
I can't green you again yet. But 1000X yes! ARHH!
::suse walks off mumbling rude things about shortsightesness::
::suse comes back::
At the same time they kept thinking SG-1 was going to end. Perhaps they thought they could wrap it good enough. Well, that explains S8. But there is no excuse for the same thing in S9. Os -so far- for S10. I'm sure they had an inkling their "new" show - Stargate Command - might be picked up with the infusion of the "shiny new" characters.
Suse
Congrats on 800 posts, deeeeepspace!! 
I joined because of the great posts on this thread. Thanks to all of you for making this a great place to hang out.
I know its around here somewhere...
Comment