Is Stargate underrated and overlooked?
A while back I stumbled across the Facebook group "The stargate franchise is so under-rated!", and it's only today I realised how true that is.
I discovered that Entertainment Weekly compiled a list of "TV's fanatical faves", and omitted Stargate SG-1. They later produced a list of “17 more shows†which people had written in about because they had missed, SG-1 was included here. I think they're caption on the photo sums up how I felt about, "No STARGATE: SG-1!? How can a show be on for 10 seasons — Yes, 10! — and have it's own national conventions dedicated to it, and not get a nod here?".
It's not just things like this, I remember a while back when it was revealed that Stargate Atlantis was named one of the most illegally downloaded shows. The author of the article I read seemed surprised it was up there with shows like 24 and Lost because he didn't think it was very good.
Both Ark of Truth and Continuum surprised MGM with their DVD sales, I think this is another example of it being overlooked. Continuum won a few awards here and there, yet still I get the feeling it slipped under the radar of most people.
In my experience it seems that even in Sci-Fi circles Stargate's something that's over-looked. I remember bringing Continuum along to my Uni's Sci-Fi society, when it came to voting on what we were gonna watch it got about 3 votes, one of those was a sympathy vote. During the quiz they held earlier that year it did seem as if there were some Stargaters among the group, but it doesn't seem to be a popular show within that group of people at least. I've since come to learn that I have a different taste to most people in that group anyway, as IMO the majority of shows and movies that get voted in are ****. The above is just one experience, I'd be interested in learning if this is a one off or is common place.
Related to the above, in an SGU Comic-Con panel Brad Wright and Robert C. Cooper asked how many of the audience had watched SG-1 and Atlantis and, while you have to infer this from their reaction as you can't see the audience, they were surprised about how many people hadn't watched it. If comic-con goers don't watch Stargate who the hell does?
I realise that Stargate isn't for everyone, what is? At least with the people I know, the people who have watched Stargate say they like it, and the people who haven't watched Stargate (at all) say they don't want to because it's rubbish. This may be partly due to the mentality of "ZOMG, It has "Star" in the name therefore it's about Luke Skywalker exploring planets on the Enterprise". Most people I know haven't even heard of it until I tell them about it.
You could say the reason is because it's on SyFy, and while it get's good SyFy ratings these are nothing compared to the ratings main network shows get. But what about BSG? This got alot of attention by critics, while Stargate was left relatively unnoticed. Now where's BSG?
There's a parody of the "Delilah" song called Hey There MacGyver, it contains the lyrics "Hey there MacGyver how's Stargate? I heard it's second rate". Is this how the general public view SG? I don't think I need to defend SG-1 here, but second-rate?
It's been 16 years since the original movie was released, since then we have had 334 episodes, 1 uncanonical animated series and 2 DVD movies. In the 16 years of Trek they just had the Original series (3 seasons, 79 eps), the animated series and 2 movies. Yet it's rare to find a Stargate reference in Popular Culture, and when it happens (Simpsons, South Park) we get all excited about it.
Is Stargate just too young to get noticed?
Do you agree with me that it's underrated? More importantly why do you think it's underrated?
I'll finish with a quote from a review
I discovered that Entertainment Weekly compiled a list of "TV's fanatical faves", and omitted Stargate SG-1. They later produced a list of “17 more shows†which people had written in about because they had missed, SG-1 was included here. I think they're caption on the photo sums up how I felt about, "No STARGATE: SG-1!? How can a show be on for 10 seasons — Yes, 10! — and have it's own national conventions dedicated to it, and not get a nod here?".
It's not just things like this, I remember a while back when it was revealed that Stargate Atlantis was named one of the most illegally downloaded shows. The author of the article I read seemed surprised it was up there with shows like 24 and Lost because he didn't think it was very good.
Both Ark of Truth and Continuum surprised MGM with their DVD sales, I think this is another example of it being overlooked. Continuum won a few awards here and there, yet still I get the feeling it slipped under the radar of most people.
In my experience it seems that even in Sci-Fi circles Stargate's something that's over-looked. I remember bringing Continuum along to my Uni's Sci-Fi society, when it came to voting on what we were gonna watch it got about 3 votes, one of those was a sympathy vote. During the quiz they held earlier that year it did seem as if there were some Stargaters among the group, but it doesn't seem to be a popular show within that group of people at least. I've since come to learn that I have a different taste to most people in that group anyway, as IMO the majority of shows and movies that get voted in are ****. The above is just one experience, I'd be interested in learning if this is a one off or is common place.
Related to the above, in an SGU Comic-Con panel Brad Wright and Robert C. Cooper asked how many of the audience had watched SG-1 and Atlantis and, while you have to infer this from their reaction as you can't see the audience, they were surprised about how many people hadn't watched it. If comic-con goers don't watch Stargate who the hell does?
I realise that Stargate isn't for everyone, what is? At least with the people I know, the people who have watched Stargate say they like it, and the people who haven't watched Stargate (at all) say they don't want to because it's rubbish. This may be partly due to the mentality of "ZOMG, It has "Star" in the name therefore it's about Luke Skywalker exploring planets on the Enterprise". Most people I know haven't even heard of it until I tell them about it.
You could say the reason is because it's on SyFy, and while it get's good SyFy ratings these are nothing compared to the ratings main network shows get. But what about BSG? This got alot of attention by critics, while Stargate was left relatively unnoticed. Now where's BSG?
There's a parody of the "Delilah" song called Hey There MacGyver, it contains the lyrics "Hey there MacGyver how's Stargate? I heard it's second rate". Is this how the general public view SG? I don't think I need to defend SG-1 here, but second-rate?
It's been 16 years since the original movie was released, since then we have had 334 episodes, 1 uncanonical animated series and 2 DVD movies. In the 16 years of Trek they just had the Original series (3 seasons, 79 eps), the animated series and 2 movies. Yet it's rare to find a Stargate reference in Popular Culture, and when it happens (Simpsons, South Park) we get all excited about it.
Is Stargate just too young to get noticed?
Do you agree with me that it's underrated? More importantly why do you think it's underrated?
I'll finish with a quote from a review
Nobody seemed to like [Stargate SG-1] but the fans; it somehow always slipped under the radar of most TV critics
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