Pitching New Stargate Series Premise to New Showrunners

[Supergater]

Hi there Gate community, I was thinking of opening a thread to allow fans here to pitch practical ideas for any future showrunners of the a Stargate series. Who knows if some producer might stumble upon here and pick one to present to MGM. So to increase the likelihood of a successful pitch (something more serious than fanfic), lets format it into something like:

1. Premise of the series: the story you can tell in one full order season with allusion to the story in future seasons.
2. Appeal to Audience: who your target audience is and why they would watch it.
3. (Optional)Format: is it a mini series, 20+ episode series, Television series, online streaming series...

In a way, pitch it like an actual pitch to MGM execs. Here's to the full scale revival of Stargate!

[Supergater]

Here's my pitch. Stargate: Ancients

1. Premise:
   Setting Story of a young Alteran (can be young Janus) who just join the organization that explores the galaxy (SGC equivalent). Stargate network is being expanded hence increase manpower. You can have adventure-of-the-week as they explore new worlds. Somewhere along the way, they meet the Asgards in their Atomic Age civilization stage (They are the tall version like the one in "Revelations" and their thinking and actions is still immature and "young" like humans). They will learn their space techs from the Alterans. Later seasons will introduce Furlings, Nox and the Four Races Alliance.
   
   Season 1 Things are peaceful. The overarching mystery begins with a series of outpost attacks and the Alteran govt would try to uncover the perpetrators. Mid season Janus will discover the culprit is/and the resurgence of the Ori. The Alterans thought they left them in their home galaxy (same ones as in SG-1 S9 & S10) but this group are self radicalized Ancients and trying to overthrow the govt. Reaching finale, the plan is uncovered that they are trying to contact their brethren back home as the Alteran made this galaxy a secret. Plan is thwarted in finale but cliffhanger will show the many other side project, one of them being a Goa'uld symbiote?(used for infiltration) (teaser for future seasons)
   
   Future Seasons Early seasons will show the Alteran mentoring the Asgards as their willingness to act character is more in line with theirs. But this leads to reckless consequences(Android Reese & Replicators?). Later seasons will have the Alterans being more restrained, being affected by said consequences and mostly influenced by the Nox's pacifist and non-interference, becoming a big part of ascension meditation. But Janus the renegade will still be hands-on interference guy like O'Neill. Seasons 5 can explore local Ori finally contacting original Ori and hence releasing the plague. Season 7 can explore moving Atlantis to Pegasus as first new colony base to escape the Ori massive Ori incursion but Alterans winning in finale hence now effectively colonizing two galaxies. Potential crossover with SG-1 and Atlantis could be done via time-travel or flash forward.
   
   
2. Appeal: The time setting is far back in history enough from showrunners to exert their own creative stamp without much constrain to continuity (like SGO). Any historical continuity established by SG-1, SGA and SGU can slightly be ret-conned (retroactive-continuity) since the nature of historical archaeology is making educated guess based on GIVEN/DISCOVERED evidence. By expanding the mythology, the studio will able to bring back almost all existing Stargate fans. But to make Stargate commercially profitable for television, new audience will need to form at least half the ratings. New audience can be introduced to all the established Stargate science and lore without needing to rewatch all 17 seasons of Stargate through the eyes of the main characters (they are the green horns learning the ropes of Stargate).

[Janus]

Stargate Universe: Season 3

1 Premise: The crew of the Beta Site attempts to dial the ninth chevron. Alas, things go awry and they are forced to evacuate through the Stargate. However, instead of ending up aboard Destiny, they find themselves aboard Spera (Destiny's alpha site). Its now up to this new crew to figure out a way to hook up with Young and co and rescue them.

Future Seasons Finishing the show as originally planned.

2. Appeal: All the original Stargate (Universe) fans. Also, the new crew provides a McGuffin to explain things, lowering the threshold for new viewers. And the United States Air Force. Because they would never abandon Destiny's crew if this was real life.

[Supergater]

Stargate Universe: Season 3

Interesting, because the main obvious problem with continuing SGA or SGU is getting back most of the origin cast after so many years. This pitch effectively bypass this problem and when the second crew do meet up with Destiny crew, they can just bring back whoever is available, though most likely only a few. Storyline-wise you can just say their stasis pod malfunction and they die or too dangerous to revive. It is also a very good chance to "correct" the tone on the show as was the most comment complaint of fans.

@Janus, you have my support. On top of that, I personally think they must get back David Blue aka Eli Wallace. He's the humor of the show and a genius (Dr Brody & Rush's words). And interviews with previous EPS showed David was a huge fan & expert of stargate and served as a second "consultant" on set.

[Platschu]

Stargate : Academy

Premise of the series: When Atlantis has used its Wormhole Drive to save Earth in time from the Wraith, a beacon alert was also activated that the old Ancient cityship returned to Avalon (Earth). Unfortunately this signal warns and attracts a new high advanced hostile race. They send a bomb to Earth, but instead of Atlantis it lands in the SGC. The gate room is destroyed and unable to operate. The alien armada looks merciful in other worlds as they don't start direct attacks against any fleet, but they release a galaxy wide weapon which don't allow to open hyperspace windows. So nobody could gather any bigger fleet of space ships against them as the local races are forced to use the gate system. All the Ha'taks and X304s are stranded in different star systems. Earth is without defense when they arrive there. They have to use the landed Atlantis's shield to cloak the whole Earth and move it to an other dimension with Arthur's technology. The trick worked, but the alien ships didn’t leave our solar systems. The blockade lasted for years and everybody believes in the galaxy that the Tauri has fallen as all contact and communication has broken. Some of them believe that was the hand of the gods.

They would discover that the stargate works in transphase as well, but it looks no address was working anymore. Earth is really isolated for years under the blockade until a young cadet gives the idea to try to dial the Nox for help. The wormhole establishes and a short answer message arrives through the gate from the Nox. They would offer their help without a direct conflict as they are a peaceful race, but they have also given us a gate address what is not in the Goa’uld or Ancient database.

The new adventure could start here, when the ship of the mystic aliens are finally gone without any reason, but they still leave their satellite around Earth. Later it will be discovered they follow to hunt down the escaping Nox cityship with a fake Wormhole drive beacon, so they helped us to gain some time. Atlantis stays on the Earth for a while, but then it flies back slowly to the Pegasus galaxy / Halfway Station without FTL to avoid to risk Earth again. Later they plan to use the Wormhole Drive to lure away the enemy to the Pegasus galaxy. Nobody knows when our newest enemies will return and if they want finish the the job what they started. This little time window was only enough to move Atlantis away from our solar system, but then they have to cloak Earth again with the Asgard technology as the enemy will return and land on the Moon to observe Earth.

A group of new heroes follow the gate address what the Nox has given them, which leads to a strange planet. The local stargate looks unique in the Milky Way gate system as it has got its own secret. It can definitely accept wormholes from normal and transphase reality. It looks like it was used by the Great Four Race as a neutral meeting and educational place with other alien and humanoid lifeforms until it was corrupted by mysterious forces and then even the stargate was closed down for centuries.



Our heroes would also meet the guardian of the academy, who would reveal his true identity for the Tauri, which completely changes the earlier known knowledge about the known Milky Way gate system. The first step would be the discovery of a new database of gate addresses which are located in the transphase dimension and were hided and protected by the Nox. Some addresses would lead to such forbidden planets, which was considered dangerous by the Ancients. These addresses can be reached directly only from this stargate, so the Academy would play a very important role in the future of Earth. The Guardian would allow them to establish a base on the ruins until the potential threat is not eliminated from the galaxy. So the new group of heroes would try to find a way to stop the FTL curse in the Milky Way which effects every civilization and later in the home galaxy of the invaders, while they would try to find out what happened in the distant past here.

The new heroes would realize quickly that lots of things have changed in 10 years, while the Tauri was isolated. New alliances were forged in the Milky Way, while new hostile and friendly alien races revealed themselves. The galaxy had fallen into different political fractions. Most of them developed their own strategy how to conquer each other without fleets, so they began to build different type of gateships. Lots of stargate has been transported into hostile environments by aliens. Some stargates and gate travelling protocolls were slightly modified by advanced civilizations with the help of stolen Tollan, Asgard, Goa’uld, Ori and Ancient technologies too. So Earth and the heroes of the Academy face chaos and they have to use their unique base to gain advantage.

While Earth plans to restart the Stargate Program as a Moon base and the destroyed SGC will be rebuilt in an upgraded version as well, but they still have live their life in transphase for years. Nobody knows if it will effect the human biology or the ecosystem, so they have to find a quick solution.

Earth must try to step-up again and to bring peace to the galaxy as the true heir of the Asgard while they must also protect their legacy as the leader of the Asgard Protected Planets. They would also develop a new jumper type ship in Area51 while they were under the blockade and now they try to forge a new alliance against the enemies of the galaxy, but they have to realize that everybody has made numerous technological upgrades in a very short time and their fame has faded away.


Appeal to Audience: this show / mini series would be a direct continuation of the established stargate franchise in Milky Way, while it would softly reboot this whole, rich scifi world. It would be explain what happened with old characters, but it would mainly focus on the new ones. New type of gate ships, new adventures, new discoveries, new and old non-humanoid alien races, new gate system(s), while temporarily Earth would be weakened and “written out” of the events. The show would be a mix of Game of Thrones, Babylon 5 and Harry Potter, while it would focus more on discovery and gate related adventures.

(Optional)Format: I would start it only as a 6 episodes long mini-series as it would be a transition series to explain what happened in the last few years.

I have wrote down my own ideas here :
https://forum.gateworld.net/threads/...galaxy-in-2020

[plumber]

Let's pitch:

Stargate: Fracture
(a.k.a: Siege, but that title's already been used several times, so...)

Premise of the series: The Milky Way's Stargate Network suffers a temporary malfunction disabling long-range Gating, while at the same time FTL ships get seriously busy/slowed down. Only nearby Gates/planets can be easily reached. Trips that used to take one day become logistical nightmares. Everybody's "equation" changes, lots of people stranded away from home. Mayhem ensues! P-}

Appeal to Audience: SG1 diehards, as most lore would still be relevant. Perhaps new viewers too, if one of the groups struggling to Gate home is a platoon of trainees new to the SGC program. Also, a new powerful maybe extragalactic villain (unless the malfunction was accidentally caused by Carter/McKay).

Format: A pilot: "Stranded". Maybe a short miniseries. Maybe a full season series.




Stargate: Novus
(a.k.a: Wheel of Worlds)

Premise of the series: The Novans and their new galaxy. The Stargate is already public, but they don't lack other challenges (political, economic, scientific, exploration), before or after the Drones are taken care of. If a way is found to dial from/to Earth, everybody can join the fun.

Appeal to Audience: Old and new viewers alike. It may qualify as a soft reboot of sorts, being so far removed from SG1, SGA and even SGU. Established lore can be acknowledged, but new lore can be created with little interference.

Format: miniseries or full-blown series, if there's demand.



SGU: Legacy
(a.k.a: what cliffhanger?)

Premise of the series: Eli cannot fix the pod, sacrifices himself instead, by Gating off the ship, to try his luck adventuring (as David Blue suggested) and find his own destiny, with the Drones, or perhaps the Novans. He finds that and much more, including a way to save Destiny, thanks to well-known devices plus some ingenuity.

Appeal to Audience: SGU fans, perhaps new viewers. The Drones' origin can be explored. Novan civilization too. ("SG: Novus" could be a spin-off). Destiny's mission and travails continue.

Format: A pilot: "Left Behind". A miniseries. Followed by full-blown series or spin-offs.



SGU: Discovery
(a.k.a: full steam ahead)

Premise: Destiny is fully restored, even improved, by the Novans, or the Ancients. Rush and Eli, working with Novan scientists, learn why the CMBR signal became so important to the Ancients, and why Destiny must go on with the mission.

The crew is evenly split into three groups: One, led by Volker, wants to stay with the Novans and their advanced civilization. Another, led by Rush and Young, wants to go on until the very end, to learn what Destiny will eventually discover in the millennia to come, and help where they can. The third, led by Eli, is in no hurry to leave, but want to eventually settle someplace nice in a new galaxy, and start a new life.

At the same time, a contingent of Novan recruits is ready to join the crew with new talents and goals. A workable "bridge" between the Novan and Milky Way galaxies is finally established. Earth sends its best and brightest to ensure the Tau'ri master every secret Destiny, and the Universe ahead, still harbor.

Appeal: SG fans of every stripe, old and new. SGU's broad horizons combined with some old and new faces and themes from the rest of the franchise. Can be combined with SG: Novus. Many possible viewpoints, heroes and villains. And a new planet or adventure every day.

Format: A pilot: "The Message", followed by a second part: "The Bridge". Possible miniseries. Possible full series. To be capped, after enough seasons, by the Big Awesome Reveal.

[Mnikolic]

Stargate: Revolution

Premise of the series:
Named after the unmade third SG-1 movie, it is a series that slowly continues where all three series have left off while establishing a new premise that will revolutionize the Stargate program and the SGC forever.

The series starts some time after the events of "Stargate: Continuum". Baal is gone, the Ori have been turned good and stripped of the majority of their power and recruited by the Jaffa to stand against any evil forces and alliances that might stand in their way. The Replicators are also gone and that's enough for the SGC to appoint SG-1 (Daniel, Teal'c, Vala, Mitchell and Sam) to one last mission: creating a Union between Earth and the remains of Earth's Milky Way allies and the Ori, who have been turned into Earth's allies following the final events in the "Ark of Truth" movie and have been stripped of all the powers they abused in the name of Origin. However, it turns out that the Lucain Alliance members who hijacked Destiny were just a group of manipulated people who were led to believe that they even are a part of LA and that the alliance is not even interested in Destiny. Commander Kiva was also just a puppet of the LA's true leader, who had some more advanced versions of Naquadria bombs planted in various planets all over Milky Way in an attempt to undermine SGC and take the control of Earth. It's SG-1's assignment to track the bombs down and stop them from exploding. But what they don't know is that actually stopping the bombs from exploding would actually activate all the hidden bombs back on Earth, including the main Naquadria bomb, which is disguised so that not even the latest technology can uncover it and even McKay can't figure out where the hell is the main bomb. However what he doesn't know is that he is walking by it every day while trying to figure out along with Carter where it is. The clock is ticking, the relations between Earth's Milky Way allies and the newly-turned good Ori are becoming more and more complicated with every passing day.

While the clock is ticking with a stable countdown in the Milky Way, things have been also getting more and more complicated back in the Pegasus Galaxy on Atlantis, where Todd has decided to turn against the Atlantis expedition ever since the sudden appearance of a new, never seen before Wraith Queen who has recruited the Genii by making them Wraith worshipers along with an Athosian who claims to be Teyla's father. This resulted in the remainder of Athosians to present Teyla with an ultimatum: leaving her own people forever and giving up ever seeing Kennan and their son or leaving Atlantis and staying by their side. Ronnon is also faced with the possibility of leaving his friends and allies on the City of the Ancients, since there have been significant events which seem to be pointing at that Ronnon's people might be still alive somewhere. While John's trying to keep his team and friends together, he has a dilemma of his own - he is haunted by his actions on the Asuran planet and he keeps regretting that he allowed to bring Wier in a situation where she had to sacrifice herself so they could escape from Oberoth. McKay's guilt about his egoistic choices is also taking its part of the cake - both his engagement to and relationship with Jeniffer Keller is under a big question mark since Rodney obviously can't live with himself and Jennifer trying to help him is only making things worse - not just for them, but for the entire expedition as well.

Now, both Mitchell and Sheppard must find a way to keep everyone together as Samantha Carter has decided to be together with Jack O'Neill. To make things worse, Vala Mal Doran is also thinking of leaving since a big verbal conflict that she had with Daniel. And to add to the complexity of the problems of the two Galaxies, Eli has contacted the SGC via the Communication Stones with an unwelcome news: he has failed to fix the last statis pod and is requesting help from Earth. Destiny has been running low on power and its systems have began to fail all over the ship. Re-charging Destiny would no longer work due to several software and hardware errors. This triggers the current USA government and the USA president to make the Stargate program public in an attempt to salvage what can be salvaged. However, as it turns out, the Stargate program somehow already became public knowledge, as there were information leaks about SGC that date back to the days of the SGC leadership of the deceased General George Hammond. As it results in the end, SGC has been getting military, science and personel support since the beginning of the Atlantis mission from all over the World from organizations, secretly working with the president of USA and General O'Neill. This allows for a complete revolution of the Stargate program, Earth, Milky Way, Pegasus and the lives of the Destiny crew - a revolution that seemed impossible to everyone and that will finally turn the course of events in the SGC's favor... permanently. To get to the resolution of their problems, our heroes on Earth and Atlantis must entrust a part of their problems to a unity made of the newly formed international SG teams and fractured remains of Earth's Milky Way and Pegasus Galaxy allies.

Appeal to Audience:
A way to finish some long-running storylines, while introducing new characters and events for the franchise, thus setting up the stage for a latter, more modern Stargate series. Old, now veteran characters would assume recurring status, while the show would take on new characters and end up exploring their plots and storylines, thus allowing the unfinished stuff to be brought full-circle, while keeping some of the old audience and attracting new viewers with new, engaging and exiting sub-plots, characters, events and storylines.

EDIT April 10th, 2018:
Forgot to add the format.
Format:
Full 6 seasons long series - 20 episodes per season
OR
6 mini-seasons long series - 12 to 15 episodes per season (which means no fillers and politically-focused episodes)

Introduce the international SG teams at the beginning of the first season and slowly work the veteran characters into the show. Put focus on the international SG team members, but have the cameo episodes focus on the veterans. If full season series, fully build-up the characteristics, backgrounds and personalities of international SG team members and combine their storylines with plots and storylines from the previous three series. If mini-season series format, give equal focus to both international SG team members (however introduce less teams on-screen) and the veteran characters. With 15 episode format, show the fast-paced version of the story. With the 12-13 episode format, show only the most important moments and parts of the story. Of course, the shorter the season format is, less story elements can be taken into consideration, which might prove difficult to write/produce.

[aRush]

Thought I'd add my main idea for a new series (other than a straight SG:U continuation/follow-up)

Stargate Praxion

Premise: In our main timeline, evidence of the Praxion time machine station used by Baal in Continuum has been discovered. The discovery is the biggest thing in the Milky Way since the Dakara superweapon, and despite attempts at secrecy many of the galaxy's big players learn of it and seek it. The leaders of Earth are no different, and the mission to locate Praxion is a go. Whoever controls Praxion, controls the universe. Can Earth get there first? And if so, are they ready for the responsibility?

While excavating an Ancient site on planet P4X-8C2, the SG team on-site makes a startling find: a tablet describing a collaborative project between the Furlings and the Ancients to investigate how the Stargate can be used for time travel. While not providing a detailed location, the tablet does give hints to the project's location as well as the scope and ramifications of the research. Suddenly a member turns on the team! Sleeper agents from the Lucian Alliance have long been a re-occurring problem for Homeworld Command. While the Alliance has never been able to overthrow Earth as a galactic force, their Guerrilla tactics have made Earth unable to eliminate them completely. This one, realizing the nature of the discovery decided to risk his cover in order to secure the prize.

The attempt cost the LA agent his life, but not before he could send a data burst containing the information to the Alliance. Little known to either party is that the Jaffa Nation- generally friendly but still weary of the ambitions of humans in the galaxy- was in orbit monitoring the activity and managed to intercept the data burst. At this point it is a three-way race to the prize. Jaffa vs Lucian Alliance vs Tau'ri. The scramble to locate Praxion leads to multiple clashes between the three sides, straining tensions between the Jaffa and Earth and pushing Earth and the Lucian Alliance back into open conflict.

Once the site is claimed, the winners will learn that the hardest part of King of the Hill is not getting on top, but staying there. As word spreads of the discovery, enemies far and wide and from within all show themselves hoping to claim Praxion's power for themselves. And that power is even greater than imagined. The site not only can predict solar flares to allow for precise time travel, but can also monitor if wormholes intersect with flares allowing the facility to monitor and predict potential timeline anomalies.

Longer term- Some things I see the show delving into...
* In a final desperate attempt to save their race, the Vanir return to the Milky Way and attempt to take control of Praxion.
* The original launch of Destiny. After the Destiny crew discovers evidence of tampering in the ancient past while repairing their energy capacitors, a Praxion team goes back when the ship first set course to investigate.
* An ally, the Tok'ra, use Praxion under false pretenses to bring one of their past leaders to the future, but what happens when their hero isn't all that they seemed? The crew of the Praxion base must fend off a powerful Go'a'uld double agent to prevent the resurgence of the System Lords.
* A major timeline anomaly is detected: Atlantis suddenly appears off the coast of Washington, DC in the year 1999 following a malfunction of the Wormhole Drive in the future. The Praxion team must go to future Atlantis and stop the crew from using the Wormhole drive.
* Finally taking some time to explore the Furlings. I made Praxion a collaborative effort in order to facilitate this. My thoughts are the Furlings are the ones who first discovered that wormholes interacting with solar flares can have temporal effects, and worked with the Ancients to understand them.

Appeal: This can appeal to fans new and old. This series will focus much more on time travel within the Stargate universe, giving it a fresh take compared to the previous three shows. However, that very focus on time travel will allow the show to re-visit some old favorites, close some loose ends from the previous series, and build on the franchise's existing mythology. The show can also have greater freedom to explore a variety of "what-if" scenarios. The show will also have its fair share of 'present-day' plot lines, as the base works not just to protect the timeline but the facility itself.

[Janus]

Well, took my long shot and send my pitch for SGU 2.0 (or season three) to MGM (and the CEO of Netflix). I know the most likely outcome is zero response. But I don't want to be the kind of person who worries about what would have happened if I had send it. So, we'll see.... (If you want more info, follow the link to my blog, where you will find the letter I send along with said pitch.)

[jtg]

The broad outline of my idea is that SG1 uses the Atlantis spacecraft's super-speed drive they used in the final Atlantis episode to make the trip out to Destiny. It takes awhile, but it's doable in a reasonable time.


#jtg

[Mnikolic]

Just came up with another idea:

Stargate: Doomsday

Premise of the series: Years after the final defeat of the Goa'uld, the SG-1 team members have gone back to their normal lives and have not had contact with anyone connected to it. Teal'c has been back with his people on his home planet and the others just went their separate ways: Sam and Jack finally started a family of their own, Daniel became a science teacher, Vala returned home as well, Mitchell has been assigned to lead a new SG team and General Landry is still in charge of the SGC. However, once a new System Lord appears out of no-where and openly attacks some of Earth's Milky Way allies, Teal'c contacts and visits the SGC along with a super-old Bra'tac who's just entered his final days of life. The new System Lord doesn't seem like a lot of trouble until it's revealed that he has the ability to look into the past, present and the future and change the course of history. Close investigation shows that it is, infact, not another Ba'al clone or a Ba'al from a different dimension/universe/timeline, but someone who has located a weapon that can change destinies - far more devastating than Ba'al's time machine from "Stargate: Continuum". A detailed investigation by Carter reveals that the someone is a System Lord named Conta'uld, who had remained dormant until all other System Lords have been defeated. Daniel is able to confirm that he was also the trump card of the defeated Lords as a part of their long-term plan to somehow revive themselves and bring the entire Milky Way Galaxy to its knees, starting with SG-1. Despite the long-running dispute between the former SG-1 members, the former friends and teammates must find a way to overcome their differences in order to defeat this new menace.

NOTES:
- The series takes place after the events in "Stargate: Continuum".
- The series ignores the events, plots, storylines and characters of Stargate Atlantis and Stargate Universe as it takes place in a universe where there was no 8-chevron addresses besides the Asgard planet that Jack went to in "The Fifth Race" and no 9-chevron addresses.
- "Stargate: Doomsday" continues the adventures of SG-1, however, it's NOT EXACTLY the SG-1 we all know and love (until the end of the series).
- The main villains's name, Conta'uld, is a reference to the title of the "Stargate: Continuum" movie who had made many modifications of the original Ba'al's plan to erase the Stargate program from existence. SG-1 will have to team-up with their own versions from other universes in order to stop Conta'uld. Once he is defeated, SG-1 will be able to unlock more Stargate addresses.
- The series is at least a 3-season story.