Announcement

**Madeleine** · 20 September 2008, 03:05 AM

Originally posted by Arctic Goddess View Post

[B][COLOR="Blue"]Hi Madeleine_W:

As I've said before, it's about trying to make a difference BEFORE the series is set in stone.

Why, though? Shows you don't like must exist all over the place, and I'm sure you didn't protest their start-up ideas so as to change them.

Why try to change SGU?

**Galahalt** · 20 September 2008, 04:05 AM

i think the bad guys could be an off shoot of the asgard they would make some nice bad guys as they would be a different type of enemy wouldnt be too military like past bad guys would be more technological and more mysterious and it would explain the presence of humans in the galaxy.

i cant wait for SGU to start or for us to atleast now whos playing who etc

**Ikaros** · 20 September 2008, 06:28 AM

Originally posted by iolanda View Post

I don't know... maybe just express our frustrations with the development so far. I guess the best thing that we can achieve is, that they smooth the whole thing and make some 25-30 out of the 20-25 year olds or rethink some characters.

But it's the character discription that is the problem really, not the ages by themselves.
Those characters are unbelievable for a sci fi show. They have no experince in anything, they are nobody.
In Sg1 we had a Genius in Carter and another, in his area, in Daniel.In SGA we had a genius in McKay and almost everybody on this expedition was "the best earth could offer". That made those shows "believable" and therefore wonderfull to watch , without getting anoyed with things that looked "too much" to believe them.
What are those new people? What can they offer? legs, behinds and muchles?

**Skydiver** · 20 September 2008, 07:50 AM

Little reality check here folks

They're gonna make A show.

now a show just for you or you or you or you.

They're gonna make that MGM and possibly Scifi thinks will be a hit. And they certianly will NOT put much credence in the random comments of random fans on a random forum...because dudes, this show has MILLIONS of viewers - and potentially more - and even if every single person on this forum spoke up, we're at 38,000....a mere drop in the bucket.

I'm not saying that - in some way - they don't care. What i am saying is....look into a reality check and get some perspective. they will NOT make it solely to cater to just what you personally want. They're gonna make what they think will appeal to the population at large, and you will have to accept that and deal with it.

I'm not saying don't express yourself, but folks, if you seriously and honestly think they're gonna alter what they've got planned just to cater to you personally....get a clue.

Like it or not, they're gonna go forth with this. Maybe with some tweaks, but it will not substantially change. So please express your opinions, but don't take it personally if they don't change it just to suit you.

Ultimately you're gonna have two choices....watch it, don't watch it.

**Ikaros** · 20 September 2008, 08:20 AM

Originally posted by Skydiver View Post

They're gonna make that MGM and possibly Scifi thinks will be a hit. And they certianly will NOT put much credence in the random comments of random fans on a random forum...because dudes, this show has MILLIONS of viewers - and potentially more - and even if every single person on this forum spoke up, we're at 38,000....a mere drop in the bucket.

Not all Stargate fans have those Nielsen things to, but they make decisions based on what those who do have those boxes watch.

Originally posted by Skydiver View Post

I'm not saying that - in some way - they don't care. What i am saying is....look into a reality check and get some perspective. they will NOT make it solely to cater to just what you personally want. They're gonna make what they think will appeal to the population at large, and you will have to accept that and deal with it.

I don't really think it matters to them if we protest or not either. They've made their decisions, but we can deal with it by not watching it and saying our opinion about it. [/QUOTE]

Originally posted by Skydiver View Post

Ultimately you're gonna have two choices....watch it, don't watch it.

I don't really think it matters to them if we protest or not either. They've made their decisions, but we can deal with it by not watching it and saying our opinion about it. Just because it makes us feel better.
Like when you call someone names , because what you really want is to kick his *** , but you can't for some reason.

**Naonak** · 20 September 2008, 08:46 AM

Originally posted by Ikaros View Post

But it's the character discription that is the problem really, not the ages by themselves.
Those characters are unbelievable for a sci fi show. They have no experince in anything, they are nobody.
In Sg1 we had a Genius in Carter and another, in his area, in Daniel.In SGA we had a genius in McKay and almost everybody on this expedition was "the best earth could offer". That made those shows "believable" and therefore wonderfull to watch , without getting anoyed with things that looked "too much" to believe them.
What are those new people? What can they offer? legs, behinds and muchles?

What's unbelievable about them? That they aren't the "best of the best" and all that? That kind of assumes that these characters are the people that the IOA/SGC selects for an Atlantis-style expedition, but based on these descriptions they probably aren't, and it seems much more likely that they're accidentally and unwittiingly thrown into something that they're not prepared for, which to me is a very interesting prospect.

Hmm, that was a long sentence...

**smurf** · 20 September 2008, 08:58 AM

Originally posted by Madeleine_W View Post

Why, though? Shows you don't like must exist all over the place, and I'm sure you didn't protest their start-up ideas so as to change them.

Why try to change SGU?

I think a way of looking at it is that people want the best for the show. If you see what you think is an accident waiting to happen to someone you care about are you going to sit there and do nothing? Or would you at least attempt to warn them?

They heed your warning, and avoid a painful injury.
If they don't heed your warning, and they get hurt then at least you tried.

Of course, if they don't heed your warning, and they don't get hurt then the worst that has happened is you get to feel a bit silly.

**Pepermint Jaffa** · 20 September 2008, 09:14 AM

Originally posted by Naonak View Post

What's unbelievable about them? That they aren't the "best of the best" and all that? That kind of assumes that these characters are the people that the IOA/SGC selects for an Atlantis-style expedition, but based on these descriptions they probably aren't, and it seems much more likely that they're accidentally and unwittiingly thrown into something that they're not prepared for, which to me is a very interesting prospect.

Bingo! My thoughts exactly. The casting call made me more interested, not less.

**Madeleine** · 20 September 2008, 09:23 AM

Originally posted by smurf View Post

I think a way of looking at it is that people want the best for the show. If you see what you think is an accident waiting to happen to someone you care about are you going to sit there and do nothing? Or would you at least attempt to warn them?

I just think that people wanting to make a show that isn't the same sort of show as the last one they made isn't the sort of thing that warrants a warning. What can anyone warn TPTB about anyway? That the characters are young? TPTB know how old the characters are.

Basically, if you don't like the premise of the show, what it will tell TPTB is not 'we should change the show so that ___ likes it' but 'Oh well, ____ won't be in our target audience, never mind'.

Protesting a show that's not even made yet will get no one anywhere, nor should it IMO. People should be free to make the shows they want to, and bearing in mind how many different shows there are in the world and how many different tastes, it's no loss if some shows get made that you or I don't like or don't watch.

**Skydiver** · 20 September 2008, 09:27 AM

I'm not saying folks can't express themselves, heck, you certainly see me expressing my opinion. My point is....express all you want, but i hope no one seriously and honestly expects Bridge/MGM/Scifi to change things just cause a couple hundred fans on one forum want changes made.

We ain't that important.

and, unless we have Neilson boxes in our houses, we literally don't count and don't matter. Ultimately, they will make the decisions that they think will work and they will 'live or die' by how right those decisions were.

**smurf** · 20 September 2008, 09:49 AM

Originally posted by Madeleine_W View Post

I just think that people wanting to make a show that isn't the same sort of show as the last one they made isn't the sort of thing that warrants a warning. What can anyone warn TPTB about anyway? That the characters are young? TPTB know how old the characters are.

Basically, if you don't like the premise of the show, what it will tell TPTB is not 'we should change the show so that ___ likes it' but 'Oh well, ____ won't be in our target audience, never mind'.

Protesting a show that's not even made yet will get no one anywhere, nor should it IMO. People should be free to make the shows they want to, and bearing in mind how many different shows there are in the world and how many different tastes, it's no loss if some shows get made that you or I don't like or don't watch.

That's a bit more specific then a general why anyone would want to protest.

Yes they are free to make the shows they want, but a protest letter is hardly a gun to the head. It may not achieve anything, but surely it's the protester's time to waste.

Who knows, maybe one of TPTB might read a letter and think; "Hey we never thought of that, that's a good point." He then proceeds to write an extra line of character motivation. Not a wholesale change, but a minor one which will attract more people.

ETA: There's also the minor fact that Stargate has rather a long, and loud, history of protests. So it's to be expected now.

**ShadowMaat** · 20 September 2008, 09:59 AM

So Brad gets a handful of "pissy" letters from fans griping about the set-up of SGU. So what? Joe's already given us the party line: "Y'all don't know what you're talking about; there's more to it than meets the public eye." Brad will undoubtedly think the same thing and I'm sure after so many years involved in Stargate he's had plenty of letters saying "I'm not gonna watch if..." and "You're ruining the show by doing..." and stuff like that. He knows better than to listen and quite frankly that's a good thing, even if it sometimes goes against "our" wishes. You can't have a good show that caters to the whims of fans because fans can never wholly agree on what they want. For every group saying "this is crap!" there's one saying "this is awesome!" so even if you were inclined to listen to fans, how would you decide which group was "right?" Count up the letters and see which side has more? Yeah, then you'd better hope no one wrote multiple letters under assumed names in order to make their "cause" look more important.

Ultimately, as has been said before (and will be said again), what "we" want really doesn't matter and quite frankly all of us together don't add up to much more than a hill of beans when you look at the larger picture. How many MILLIONS of viewers does the franchise have? And we have, what, about 36,000 members on this forum? And only a fraction of them post consistently. That's NOTHING. And we're nothing, basically. For everyone screaming that they won't watch there are ten more who will.

Write all the letters you want if it helps you feel better, but don't expect changes to be made just because YOU demand them. And your little friends, too.

And yes, thanks, that's a generic "you" for whichever issue on whatever show you like (or dislike).

As Mads said, shows I don't like are popping up all the time and I can't say I've ever felt inclined to write to the producers demanding they change things "before it's too late." LOL! It's kinda funny to think about, though, if you'll forgive me for saying so. Maybe I should write to Kevin Murphy and tell him that his "Valentine" series is just a cheap rip-off of "Cupid" and that if he REALLY wants a show about the Greek gods in modern times to succeed he should try and make it more generalized, rather than focusing on the love aspect and playing it for laughs which will be stupid and pathetic (factually stated, rather than an opinion

). I'll threaten not to watch. I'll get all my friends to write in and say similar disparaging things. Who knows, maybe Kevin will appreciate a good laugh.

If a show is coming out that I don't like, I simply don't watch it. I don't feel compelled to watch just because something is by my favorite producers (although I might give it a shot just to see) or because it's part of a loved franchise. I had no interest in Caprica even back when I still loved BSG and I have even less interest in it now. I'm not gonna write to Ron and tell him how to make his show, I'm just gonna ignore it and let it ignore me.

Do I think SGU sounds like crap? Yes. Am I happy to call them on the points where I think it fails? Absolutely. In fact I derive much amusement from this whole travesty and have enjoyed coming up with worst case scenarios. I'm not going to try and stop it or change its direction though. A) It's too much fun the way it is and B) it'd be like trying to change the tide with a broom.

**ciannwn** · 20 September 2008, 10:05 AM