Should they off a character every year to keep costs down?

[kymeric]

To stay on the air longer? Season 1 kinda set a precident that hey, main characters are are not necessarily safe. If a main one gets bumped off every year then actors wont need as much $$ and we can get a longer show plus some real danger.

Whos first for the chopping block?

[Wraith_Hunter]

In S1, no main characters were killed off.

Only in S2 did a main character go AWOL.

As to killing people off to save costs, why not put everyone on longer contracts. Which keeps the production costs the same every season. Wouldn't that make more sense?

Killing people off to save on costs is silly. The show needs characters, they couldn't do Atlantis on it's own with 2/3 characters. Not only do they need all the main characters to give the show it's own dynamic look & feel. They also need recurring, one off charatcers as well to complete the show.

S1, they killed off Grodin, immediately replaced him with Chuck. They chucked out Bates, replaced him with Lorne. Chucked out Everett, replaced him immediately with Caldwell. Chucked out Ford, immediately replaced him with Ronon.

As to main characters not being safe & introducing danger into the equation. Is that a joke? In 10 seasons of SG-1, only DJ has went from the show after being killed off. Yet he miraculously ascended, then de-scended twice. O'Neill died, eyt was brough back by Ba'al.

In Atlantis, Shep gets put into a Wraith hybrid, yet gets put back in the very next ep. Then again in 'Common Ground', he's magically back to himself after being put into a virtual walking skeleton.

They will never kill off main characters simply to produce danger & show people aren't safe, because they are & any less is a load of crap.

McKay, Shep etc can be inside a Hive after it gets nuked, yet you know they will always be alright.

The only way a character will be killed off, if if they don't want to do it any more or TPTB feel they have someone better to do the role, so don't wish to extend the contract. Which is exactly what happened with Ford.

[jckfan55]

To stay on the air longer? Season 1 kinda set a precident that hey, main characters are are not necessarily safe. If a main one gets bumped off every year then actors wont need as much $$ and we can get a longer show plus some real danger.

Whos first for the chopping block?

Sure, then before long it will *officially* be all about Rodney.
(sorry, I've just been feeling like there's been too much Rodney on the show.)

[Wraith_Hunter]

Besides, Rodney has already said that shouldn't he be out doing the missions on his own. So they already have the wheels set in motion to go down that route.

(sorry, I've just been feeling like there's been too much Rodney on the show.)

I'm sure they'll be kind to us, after all they have only titled one more ep after him this season ('The Tao of Rodney').

I'm sure we will be seeing hardly some more of Rodney in the 2nd half of S3. After all, it's not like he'd had much character moments in these past 3 seasons. He's put to shame seeing how much all the other main charatcers get.

[Ltcolshepjumper]

Should they off a character every year to keep costs down?! Are you serious? why would they do that?If they get rid of a character every season, there will be no characters by season 6 (if it will last that long).

[Lauriel]

I don't think it's a good idea. People fall in love with the characters as much as the show. Knowing that they may get killed off at the end of the season will just stop people from becoming as invested in the show, and that will cost ratings which will affect their profits. So in the end (if you could follow that sentence - sorry folks) it will cost them, rather than being a cost benefit.

[Gate Geek]

I don't think it's a good idea. People fall in love with the characters as much as the show. Knowing that they may get killed off at the end of the season will just stop people from becoming as invested in the show, and that will cost ratings which will affect their profits. So in the end (if you could follow that sentence - sorry folks) it will cost them, rather than being a cost benefit.

I agree with ya Lauriel. I get invested in these characters. Kill off the main characters and I have no need to continue to watch a show.
Maybe it's just me, but I can't see fans of a show wanting to get to know new characters every season. I sure can't imagine having to cast a new character every season either.

I see this is an all around bad idea.

[Rootortoise]

I agree with ya Lauriel. I get invested in these characters. Kill off the main characters and I have no need to continue to watch a show.
Maybe it's just me, but I can't see fans of a show wanting to get to know new characters every season. I sure can't imagine having to cast a new character every season either.

I see this is an all around bad idea.

i agree GG.....and im not going to say anything else on the matter because its just a silly idea....i mean i watch atlantis for sheppard and the other characters, why would i want to watch a show where none of my fav characters were safe and could be bumped off at any time?!!

[jenks]

To stay on the air longer? Season 1 kinda set a precident that hey, main characters are are not necessarily safe. If a main one gets bumped off every year then actors wont need as much $$ and we can get a longer show plus some real danger.

Whos first for the chopping block?

Yeah, preferably Weir!

[Brigadier General Pants]

Plus, it wastes a lot of time establishing character backstory etc. As soon as a character gets introduced, they spend a few eps from that season telling us all about them. Detracts from the main story arc in most cases.

[2ndgenerationalteran]

this is possibly the stupidest thing ever asked on gateworld

[Wraith_Hunter]

Plus, it wastes a lot of time establishing character backstory etc. As soon as a character gets introduced, they spend a few eps from that season telling us all about them. Detracts from the main story arc in most cases.

I wouldn't necessarily say that. Simply because if they didn't do that, they'd waste them anyway on other un-necessary crap. Such as this season dedicating 2 eps to Lucius, when they could have used that money to bring back Ford or even Michael etc.

[Lida]

They did it before, didn't they?????

[Linzi]

For goodness sake! As if killing off the odd character here and there makes that difference to the cost of the show! Production is the main cost, so one salary would be the tip of the proverbial iceberg in the overall cost of making the show. So, er, nope, that's a daft idea, IMO.

[Alipeeps]

Sooooo... your suggestion is that they save on costs by killing off characters as soon as the actor has been with the show long enough to want a pay rise... and replace them with someone new (and therefore cheaper)?

Not only is that extremely shortsighted (and not conducive to good quality) but it would also destroy the show. Unexpectedly killing off one character - every now and then - can be awesomly dramatic and make for amazing (if difficult to watch) TV (Joss Whedon is a master at this). Regularly killing off characters a) dilutes the emotional impact/shock value of having a character die, b) would put people off from watching the show (why bother getting invested in a show where the characters you like keep dying/being replaced?), c) would confuse non-regular viewers (and thereby have an impact on all-important syndication) etc etc etc etc etc.

In short - it's a pretty unrealistic and unworkable suggestion and, the way this thread is going, it seems your interest in starting this discussion is just to diss the characters your don't like and suggest they get bumped off.