Stargate: Universe - Uneeded Replacement or Welcome Continuation

[GhostPoet]

I get the feeling they are just giving the old fans the shaft. They are trying to open the series up to a new fan base and not really caring about the current fan base at all. Just the sound of the announcement screamed it. "We want a younger fang base, time to re-invent"

[Conn8d]

Well... neither here nor there really...

Uneeded replacement? No, I do think that the franchise could and should continue to expand its outlets, and a new show does that. Is the timing great? Not really, but what can you do. Is the premise good? maybe. Parts of it sound interesting, parts sound week. I can't say what'll happen until I see the show and how its written.

Welcome continuation? Not exactly. Like I said. It hasn't really been written. I don't know the characters, the plot or anything yet. Some of the idea is interesting, but I haven't seen it. It is good to see the stargate franchise continue, but I don't know what I will be saying next summer.

So, I'll watch it first. Then decide whether in IMHO it fits into either category (if any).

[CrazyCarter]

Where did the article say that they're going to "scrap everything"?

Several times actaully. It was quite obvious: "No longer want this show to be about sci-fi" "Want to appeal to a new generation, not the existing one" "Younger audiance." You can't make the show something new and keep it the same. It's an oxymoron. You either making something new or doing the same thing with perhaps a few alterations. It's quite clear they're doing an entirely new show.

[Atlantis1]

I'm glad I got the five years of SGA. I've really loved this series.

I won't be around for the new series but I wish the best for those who are looking forward to it. I hope people can be as understanding of my choice as I tried to be of the fans who loved SG-1 and didn't want to watch SGA after loosing their series.

[Grinspoon]

I think with Atlantis having a rocky start and it's just the same small pool of writers behind thins, they'll have a harder time trying it again. It also seems like a variation of the Atlantis concept.

I think they would have been wiser to have tried both shows simultaneously. What if Universe is a complete bomb and mess. They can't wrap it up and keep going with what was working and try and re-group. It's taking a massive risk with the future of the franchise.

I'd rather they didn't do the next spin off as a replacement. I hope they actually have something solid and gold and time to really work on the concept. Not just confident they can pull it off because they've been doing well with new seasons of the previous shows every year.


People saying more like BSG... eh thats not stargate. Closest to something like that, would be if say earth had to build a big battleship to travel across the galaxy on an important mission, then get trapped, or lost or something. Do an arc with their mission, then second season a new one. I think the completely set in non human environments, relying on ancient technology is a bit too lame. Also the idea the ships so ancient is lame.

I would also feel better if they were say going to try a 12 episode, tightly written dramatic season. I think the 20 episode seasons has made stories drag on for a bit longer. there's always episodes that need to be cut.

[lunarleviathan]

I want SGU to be good. I welcome it.

However, on the other hand, I am really sad about SGA going away. SGA was terrible for the first two seasons. However it started to turn around in Season 3. Season 4 was excellent and so far Season 5 has been almost as good. It is sad to see it go when it's only just found its feet.

SGU could be really good. However, if they mess it up like SGA from the get go and have to make drastic changes a few seasons down the line to set it on a possitive course, then why bother at all?

[dark_side]

I remember when atlantis was coming outand the same kind of feelings were going around then,

"Why do we need another show?"
"Whats the point?"

But look at all of the support that Atlantis is getting know! I say give it a chance and see, obviously one ep wont be enough to make a fair decision, so i intend on watching the first few and then making my mind up!

[Franklyn Blaze]

I don't like getting to watch an unfinished series. If they did run into problems with SGA things like casting changes and more flat writing shows they failed to 'fix' the Atlantis and got canceled. I don't have faith in failures.
They are going to have to dig hard to get out of the hole I see them in. Just because I am a fan doesn't mean I have to be a loyal puppy dog and eat whatever scraps they throw my way.

[Rodney M. Caboose]

I Just think that MGM & Sci-Fi Honestly should give a new audience/fanbase something to get them started. but also give something to please the Established fan base as they have been farley understanding when SG-1 was cancelled some are farily OK with the news that though Atlantis has been cancelled but they are getting films.

SO its just bassically a "Wait and See" Idea.

But Hopfully it will not flop as it would be a shame that MGM's Stargate Franchise has given us 14 Years of Solid Entertainment (Stargate The Movie, SG-1, Atlantis, The Ark of Truth, Continuum, and (if You actually thought there were any redeming features in the show) Infinity.)

This is a Joke!!!

Spoiler:

General Jack O'Neill Hears about Sci-Fi's Weapon to Possibly Wipe out the Stargate Franchise?
The weapon on Sci-Fi was built by the Ancients. It is not only capable of destroying Replicators but all life in the galaxy.
And your own sweet self included.
Yes.
So why would you use it?
I would not, but there is one who would -- one who can survive such pervasive devastation.
(Jack closes his eyes as he realises who Baal is talking about.)
Oh, please don't tell me.
Brad Wright!!!
I asked you not to tell me.
To Be Continued...

[Vespasianus]

Several times actaully. It was quite obvious: "No longer want this show to be about sci-fi" "Want to appeal to a new generation, not the existing one" "Younger audiance." You can't make the show something new and keep it the same. It's an oxymoron. You either making something new or doing the same thing with perhaps a few alterations. It's quite clear they're doing an entirely new show.

I'm sorry, but it seems to me that you read too much between lines. I don't think anyone said anything about not caring about the existing fanbase, they want to build on it and add new fans.


"The Stargate franchise enjoys a loyal and substantial fan base that welcomes each new installment..."

"We really don't want to be more of the same. It's going to build clearly off the existing franchise but with a cast that gives it a younger vibe."

"In 'Universe,' we plan to keep those elements that have made the franchise a success, such as adventure and humor, while breaking new ground in the relationships between mostly young and desperate explorers, thrust together and far from home."

"We have to draw from our experiences and our desire to do a good show, and make it engaging and entertaining enough that fans are going to tune in."

"Maybe a little more character-based, a little less rooted in a sci-fi mythology." [but that doesn't mean it won't be rooted in sci-fi mythology at all]

"I find the word "mainstream" kind of silly. But it really does come down to characters and stories that are engaging, and that people want to see -- that they feel like they haven't seen before."



Yes, they want something new and fresh and I kinda applaud them for this bold step. Atlantis was "SG-1 in a new package" (quote by Martin Wood not me), this time around I'd like something more different that's still Stargate at its heart. And I don't think that's an oxymoron or paradoxon.

[Cautious Explorer]

I get the feeling they are just giving the old fans the shaft. They are trying to open the series up to a new fan base and not really caring about the current fan base at all. Just the sound of the announcement screamed it. "We want a younger fang base, time to re-invent"

I agree. The problem is, they're trying to reinvent themselves with the same PTB and writing staff.

Look what happened with SGA. S4 was supposed to be about a new start.. Toss out several established characters and replace them with.... a character who has already given 10 years to the original series and new doctor who flip-flops all over the place depending on who's penning the episode. Nothing new or compelling there.

Atlantis was cut off from Earth again......for all of two episodes. What?

The stories were going to get edgier, darker......planets/civilizations destroyed off-screen, a Wraith/Replicater war off-screen, no clear plotline carried through the season, the same quick fixes at the end of the episode. The only real change I saw was in the lighting of scenes and a few characters going more emo (when the writers felt like including it). A lot of dark corridors, angry Teyla, angry/angsty Sheppard, Ronon still in the background and McKay front and center but playing a different character from week to week.

TPTB couldn't fiix what was wrong with SGA. IMO they made everything worse -- took out most of the humor and simplified the plotlines. If they can't see the problem, or don't have a clue how to fix it, how are they going to create something better?

I think their "solution" is to sell the same old stuff with the same old problems to a new fan base that won't be so criitical of it. Distract them with big ships, a younger, hotter cast (although IMO younger most certainly doesn't equal hotter) and more CGI action. It's not about improvement. It's about diguising the same old problems.

[Flyboy]

They need Steven Moffat as a writer.

[CrazyCarter]

I'm sorry, but it seems to me that you read too much between lines. I don't think anyone said anything about not caring about the existing fanbase, they want to build on it and add new fans.

How are you sorry? Of course I was reading between the lines. That's what you have to do with a network or studio statement. You think they're just going to outright say: "We hate the fans so screw them we're making a new show for others instead!" I'm shocked that they said as much as they did in this press release. What they said in network lingo was just as bad as what I just quoted.

"The Stargate franchise enjoys a loyal and substantial fan base that welcomes each new installment..."

In other words, "We know there's an existing fanbase, so we'll use the name of Stargate to sucker them in" - becuase the article is then followed by all that 'younger audiance nonsense' which means, in combination with the previous quote, - "Well' be using the existing fanbase to leech off of an existing series success, but change everything so we can draw in a whole new bunch of new fans in a completly different demo and psychographic just so we can make as much money as possible because Sg-1 and Atlantis proved to use sci-fi doesn't make enough money and that's all we really care about." Star Trek Enterprise did the same thing, and it turned out to be just a God awful show and hardly Star Trek at all.

"We really don't want to be more of the same. It's going to build clearly off the existing franchise but with a cast that gives it a younger vibe."

Yes, it's going to build of the existing franchise. They're using it as leverage to sucker people in, and then they're going to give it a "younger vibe" and pretty much change everything for the sake of money grubbing.

"In 'Universe,' we plan to keep those elements that have made the franchise a success, such as adventure and humor, while breaking new ground in the relationships between mostly young and desperate explorers, thrust together and far from home."

The keyword here should be 'success.' Note they aren't saying 'We plan to keep the key elements to the story that make sense' or 'We plan to expand the story elements so they evolve as a science fiction universe should.' No, they use the word 'success.' In other words, ratings, ratings, ratings. The rest of that quote is so distant from what Sg-1 is I don't even have to bother to illustrate how it's giving up Stargate for a new appeal.

"We have to draw from our experiences and our desire to do a good show, and make it engaging and entertaining enough that fans are going to tune in."

Obviously they have to make it entertaining - entertaining for their new psychographic at least. If they didn't then nobody would watch. And how do you appeal to this 'younger, hipper, sexier, broader' psyhographic that they clearly want to appeal to? Well, you don't need to be a marketing expert to come to the realization that Stargate is clearly not what appeals to that psycho, because if it was, they wouldn't have needed to cancel it in the first place.

"Maybe a little more character-based, a little less rooted in a sci-fi mythology." [but that doesn't mean it won't be rooted in sci-fi mythology at all]

As far as the networks are concerned, it does. Being a science fiction channel, they had to soften the blow somehow, so they used the words 'a little less.' That really means next to none becuase they don't want to touch sci-fi elements. They just want it as backdrop for marketing appeal.

"I find the word "mainstream" kind of silly. But it really does come down to characters and stories that are engaging, and that people want to see -- that they feel like they haven't seen before."

Yes that people want to see. 'People' being those that they are appealing to; new fans, not us, the Stargate fans.

Yes, they want something new and fresh and I kinda applaud them for this bold step. Atlantis was "SG-1 in a new package" (quote by Martin Wood not me), this time around I'd like something more different that's still Stargate at its heart. And I don't think that's an oxymoron or paradoxon.

They want to do something new? Great. Make a new series. Don't ruin an established one just to make money. Too bad in the world of network television that's all suits care about.

[Vespasianus]

CrazyCarter, I don't think we'll convince each other, though I see your point. I'm way on the other side, I just hope you'll enjoy SGU when it airs.

Hell, I hope I'll enjoy it!

[CrazyCarter]

Only time will tell. I can't possibly see this series turning out good after that monster of a press release.

I don't judge books by their covers, though I may speculate, so I will of course watch the show before making a final opinion on it. But things don't look good. We'll have to wait and see.