Why are some people so desperate for the Stargate to be USED each episode?

[Flyboy]

Yes - the show is called 'Stargate'... anyone coming to me with that will be flogged and ordered to be shipped to Australia. It's a silly cop out answer.

Would actually seeing the gate activated REALLY enhance the episode's storyline? Would it make that much of a difference? So what if the show is CALLED Stargate, are fans so simple minded that in order to enjoy it, the central theme has to appear every episode? The latest X-Files movie, was not, in face, about an X-File. The new and upcoming series of Torchwood doesn't ACTUALLY revolve around the Torchwood institute as it's fallen.

Honestly... I just don't understand the complaint.

[escyos]

Why does Australia have to be a punishment for anything. You do know where not a penal colony anymore right?

[DigiFluid]

The show loses something intangible without it, IMO. Early- to mid-SG1 we saw it all the time and it felt like a driving device of the show. Same with a lot of SGU so far.

The problem was most prevalent in SGA, where we hardly ever saw the damn thing used. And consequently, it just felt like 'generic action-adventure story #89'.

[D Toccs]

Why does Australia have to be a punishment for anything. You do know where not a penal colony anymore right?

It's just the pom's way of compensating for our overwhelming awesomeness.

On topic. I have always viewed the Stargate itself as just a plot device like any other. Sure in the earlier seasons when Earth was still inexperienced, the gate was used pretty much every episode and there was more focus on it.
Nowadays however the SGverse is much bigger and Earth's capabilities are much more.
I don't see any reason why the Stargate needs to be used in every episode.

[Flyboy]

Why does Australia have to be a punishment for anything. You do know where not a penal colony anymore right?

LIES! Now if you excuse me... I have some Imperial Policing to engage in.

The show loses something intangible without it, IMO. Early- to mid-SG1 we saw it all the time and it felt like a driving device of the show. Same with a lot of SGU so far.

The problem was most prevalent in SGA, where we hardly ever saw the damn thing used. And consequently, it just felt like 'generic action-adventure story #89'.

I think that's a seperate issue that came from the way Atlantis became so SHIP based, rather than the lack of Stargate though... some of SG-1s best episodes were, imo, not directly linked to the gate. Eg, Seth, Full Alert, etc...

It's just the pom's way of compensating for our overwhelming awesomeness.

On topic. I have always viewed the Stargate itself as just a plot device like any other. Sure in the earlier seasons when Earth was still inexperienced, the gate was used pretty much every episode and there was more focus on it.
Nowadays however the SGverse is much bigger and Earth's capabilities are much more.
I don't see any reason why the Stargate needs to be used in every episode.

Indeed!

[DigiFluid]

I think that's a seperate issue that came from the way Atlantis became so SHIP based, rather than the lack of Stargate though... some of SG-1s best episodes were, imo, not directly linked to the gate. Eg, Seth, Full Alert, etc...

Nah. I do agree with the ship business being an issue of its own, but I don't think that's so much the case with Atlantis. It just bugged the hell out of me how there were SO many episodes they did where it would just start on Generic Vancouver Planet #532, get into trouble, get out of trouble, closing scene in Atlantis. There was just no sense of going somewhere, just--like I said--generic action-adventure story #89'.

It's certainly not a requirement for a good episode by any stretch of the imagination. Like you say, there's tons of episodes without Stargate use that are really great stuff. But for when they're out doing off-world adventuring and the gate isn't even seen, it's a bit bizarre and really loses something.

To me, there's something really telling and a bit sad about the fact that they didn't even bother to build an on-location gate for SGA.


I could use a trip to Australia though, so: the show is called Stargate

[KEK]

I'm not convinced they really are. It's just another stick to beat the show with, whether it be SGU or Atlantis.

[Gatefan1976]

I don't think the gate has to be used in every ep, but the stories should use the gate as a reference point at least to start with. For Example, the majority of SG-1 in its early seasons were pretty "gate-centric" insofar as "go through the gate, X happens, resolve X, go home" to some degree or another. SGA used the gate pretty often or referenced it "in show" fairly often in the first season or two of its existance. Did both shows use it less later, yep.

SGU on the other hand uses it very sparingly (to be nice). What that means for some is, SGU could exist on any ship in any universe. The story itself would work just as fine as a ship getting thrown through a wormhole and arriving on the Destiny. Then, you have the travel aspect diluted even further by the Stones. Sure they are "Stargate tech", but they again could be ancient tincans tied togeather with a subspace string for all they are worth.

To cap it off, you have scenes where they find a stargate factory and it is dismissed as a "distraction" by Rush, or when Chloe casually says "oh the stargate, we use that all the time"

It's things like that that make people say stuff like "it's not stargate". Is it fair?, perhaps not, is it valid from a viewers perspective, yes it is.

[blazingfire]

To cap it off, you have scenes where they find a stargate factory and it is dismissed as a "distraction" by Rush, or when Chloe casually says "oh the stargate, we use that all the time"

This really irked when when I watched Awakening. It's not like stargate factories are grown on trees and seen before. It's a fantastic, and really rare find and yet, Rush just casually handwaves it away.

[Egle01]

This really irked when when I watched Awakening. It's not like stargate factories are grown on trees and seen before. It's a fantastic, and really rare find and yet, Rush just casually handwaves it away.

It's just shows Rush's character; and whether in his opinion it's more important to stare at uncompleted stargates or deal with the big problem at hand.

[Mr Evil 37]

I totally agree with the OP. If the story is good, what does it matter of the Stargate is used or not? My favourite episode from all five seasons of Atlantis, "The Daedalus Variations", doesn't even SHOW the Stargate.

While I feel that SG-1 should use the gate in almost every episode, Atlantis and SGU are different stories; they are both about different things, especially SGU, which is more about Destiny and it's mission, with exploring the universe as a secondary objective. And the gate is used in SGU a reasonable amount, it's just used for different purposes (i.e. basic survival, leaving people behind etc).

Not all (in fact, quite a lot) of Battlestar Galactica wasn't set on Galactica. I just think that after seventeen seasons worth of episodes the Stargate has been used so much that it doesn't have the potential for storylines as it once did, as most of them have already been done. That is why I am glad that SGU focuses more on Destiny, as Destiny is a brand new idea to the franchise and creates opportunities for a vast range of stories to be told.

[Gatefan1976]

It's just shows Rush's character; and whether in his opinion it's more important to stare at uncompleted stargates or deal with the big problem at hand.

With all due respect Egle01, weather Rush thought it was important or not is immaterial, more than some of the RL viewers are interested in it. 16 seasons and we have only a vauge notion of how the gates are made, and now, we have a damn factory and it's a distraction??. I'll grant that *in the episode* it was a distraction sure, but it's the casual "disregard" of what brought the show "to the party" in the first place that people find, err, "flawed".

[Inquisitor]

Every time a stargate kawooshes, an ancient gets its wings.

[Gatefan1976]

Every time a stargate kawooshes, an ancient gets its wings.

GREEN!! (just like Tink's dress)

[Egle01]

With all due respect Egle01, weather Rush thought it was important or not is immaterial, more than some of the RL viewers are interested in it.

Of course, I'm extremely interested in it aswell. I'm pretty sure we would've gotten to know more about how seed ships manufacture gates and deposit them on planets after season 2. This time the episode was about power and aliens. "Awakening" had already lots of CGI shots, showing more about how gates get put together would've needed even more. Their budget has limits, after all.