Well hello.
After lurking around on GateWorld for a few months without actually signing up, I thought it was finally about time to register and throw my hat and thoughts into the ring. I'm an avid Sci-Fi fan and after finishing yet another rewatch of every show in the franchise (besides Infinity and Origins), my mind naturally went on to consider ways in which the franchise could move forward now that a new show is a definitive prospect.
We know MGM have approached Brad Wright about rebooting - or more precisely - continueing the Stargate franchise properly, after their failed attempt to satisfy fans with Stargate: Origins. And I believe this is indeed a very good thing. We see alot of other franchises being rebooted in recent years, where the reboots do not stay true to the existing established source material, characters, canon and timelines. Take Stargate Discovery for an example. Science fiction fans are thirsting to see their favorite characters from existing stories brought back to life on the tv-screen. In all this mess where shows get politicized and franchises betray what the fans hold dear, Brad Wright gives us hope that Stargate will not make that mistake and will actually stay true to 17 seasons of established cast and canon.
Now, to pick up the franchise where it left off is indeed very tricky. Stargate Universe ends with the Destiny in a very peculiar situation, the crew in the stasis pods and Eli left with not alot of time to fix his own, let alone figure out a way to maybe change that outcome of what would happen within the three years of stasis if the Destiny were to continue on the course it is currently set to follow.
There are multiple ways to resolve this (and while I know the story has already been continued in comic form, a new show would have to pick up at the ending of the second season of SGU simply because the majority of Stargate fans just aren't familiar with the comics and only ever watched the show on TV).
- We know Atlantis has a type of wormhole drive that far exceeds the speed and range of classic intergalactic hyperdrives. This is one potential way to get to the Destiny and get the crew on board before the Destiny will be out of reach forever.
- We know Rodney McKay and Samantha Carter managed to build the gate bridge and link gates to pass on their buffer to the next gate instead of materializing it. This could potentially be used in a different form with the gates seeded by the seed ships along the path the Destiny took.
- There is the potential option of cloning the crew of the Destiny on earth with existing DNA samples, then using Asgard technology to download the consciousness of the crew members from the Destiny into those bodies using the ancient communication stones.
- Ori supergate anyone?
Why would the new show have to begin by resolving the storyline of the Destiny?
It wouldn't. But the story really should be resolved given the opportunity, and there are pretty good options to do this.
2 main ways actually.
First of all, the first season of the new show could resolve the storyline on the side, with nobody from the Destiny actually appearing until the end of the season when Rodney and Sam finally manage to bring them home with either of the three techniques mentioned.
Alternatively, if one season equals one year in the Stargate universe, then the three year statis could mean that the new show has three seasons for the characters to come up with a solution, and it would make for a bigger overarching storyline.
Here's a few things I really think the new show needs to do in order to live up to expectations:
- most of the existing and established living characters should appear, some of them as recurring characters, and some of them potentially even as series regulars such as Dr. Rodney McKay.
- the Stargate program will have to be disclosed to the public at some point during this show, since all notable enemies in the home galaxy have been defeated by now, the Ori have been dealt with, Ba'al is dead, and the Wraith do not yet have the ability to reach earth again so easily.
- the inhabitants of the Pegasus Galaxy need to play a role of some form. The Wraith as villains have not been dealt with, there are still several dozen hive ships out there and they still need somebody to feed on. Also the Asgard in the Pegasus Galaxy could come in as very handy allies - or potential enemies.
- the Stargate Universe storyline has to be resolved, not necessarily right at the beginning but over a time span of several episodes or seasons for sure.
We know a new show would necessarily come with a new cast of main characters, with certain old characters now inhabiting new roles. Where to take these characters from is a very interesting question though. There is one possibility that I think hardly anyone has considered yet.
We know from an appearance of Bill Nye on Blindspot and his mention there of Dr. Rodney McKay that both shows are set in the same universe. Blindspot is coming to an end after its upcoming 6th season, freeing up several cast members to potentially become leads in a new show.
What I think could work would be for three of the Blindspot characters to end up with the SGC:
Kurt Weller, Jane Doe, and Rich Dotcom.
It is not even that far fetched. Kurt Weller and Jane Doe would make for excellent SG-Team members, and Rich Dotcom as a capable hacker would make sense to stumble across top secret Stargate Command documents somehow, linking the two shows.
The show could deal with a variety of issues. The disclosure of the Stargate program and subsequent putting it into different hands, which could lead to Homeland Security and the IOA ending up in charge (again that is, for the IOA). Dealing with the Lucian Alliance who might figure out Ori technology along the way to actually become an enemy worth taking serious throughout the show. Dealing with the Wraith and strategically bringing back Atlantis into the Pegasus as a base of operations in defeating them. Finally turning the free Jaffa nation into something that actually works and isn't constantly on the brink of civil war.
Overall there are enough existing storylines that haven't been resolved yet to properly do about 3 seasons of 16 episodes each, which would be more than the 10 episodes alot of other shows do nowadays, but still reasonable (considering The Walking Dead does it as well). If MGM really stands behind the franchise and gets Brad Wright the budget he needs, we could get a show bigger in scale than anything we've seen so far, but still staying true to every last bit of established canon. And if after 3 seasons the Wraith are defeated, the Lucian Alliance has been dealt with in a number of different possible ways, and the Destiny or at least its crew have been brought home, maybe this would really mark the point where disclosure of the program is the only option, and that is a storyline well worth exploring over the course of at least another season. How could it come to be? Many possible options. But how about a big spaceship like the Destiny landing somewhere where a coverup simply isn't possible, forcing the IOA to come forward and slowly disclose information one piece at a time over the course of the season, while we see the mess of reporters and international media trying to keep up and get their hands on new information ahead of time, and the whole stress this is gonna put on everyone already involved in the Stargate program.
Now is the time to do a new show, and there is so much great stuff that can be done with it. Amanda Tapping is up for it, David Hewlett is up for it, Richard Dean Anderson is up for it, Brad Wright is up for it, and I'm sure alot of the other actors will be up for it as well.
I'd really be interested in your thoughts on this. MGM currently has the opportunity to really crush the competition by doing this properly. The fan interest is there, the convention panels get more fans attending than ever before, and even the actors are in!
Mister Brad Wright, I hope you are going to make this happen!
Also on a side note:
What would happen if you use a ring transporter but the recieving end gets destroyed or moved while the matter stream is still on its way? Would the matter stream fly until it hits something else, or would it just dissolve after a time.
Also what would happen if you send the matter stream of a ring transporter into an active stargate?
Two questions well worth exploring in a new series. Since in modern Sci-Fi with overarching storylines (as precedented by Babylon 5), there should usually be at least 2 main storylines going on per episode. An A story that only appears in the actual episode and happens in the foreground, a B story that happens over a span of a few episodes and is part of the larger overarching storyline, and a C story that could happen in the background and slowly evolve until it culminates in something either resolving or going terribly wrong and setting off a chain of events in B and A storylines.
Well anyways, thats my formulation of thoughts on a new stargate show and how it could be approached. What do you folks think? I'd love to get a discussion going about this to rule out bad ideas and get a more complete image of what this new show could be to really satisfy fans of all existing notable shows, while keeping the audience engaged and not drowning in fan service or repetitiveness.
Have a great day and lets get this party going!
[apologies for any typos or grammatical errors, I'm not a native english speaker AND my keyboard isn't in the best condition, so sometimes keys might not have registered]
After lurking around on GateWorld for a few months without actually signing up, I thought it was finally about time to register and throw my hat and thoughts into the ring. I'm an avid Sci-Fi fan and after finishing yet another rewatch of every show in the franchise (besides Infinity and Origins), my mind naturally went on to consider ways in which the franchise could move forward now that a new show is a definitive prospect.
We know MGM have approached Brad Wright about rebooting - or more precisely - continueing the Stargate franchise properly, after their failed attempt to satisfy fans with Stargate: Origins. And I believe this is indeed a very good thing. We see alot of other franchises being rebooted in recent years, where the reboots do not stay true to the existing established source material, characters, canon and timelines. Take Stargate Discovery for an example. Science fiction fans are thirsting to see their favorite characters from existing stories brought back to life on the tv-screen. In all this mess where shows get politicized and franchises betray what the fans hold dear, Brad Wright gives us hope that Stargate will not make that mistake and will actually stay true to 17 seasons of established cast and canon.
Now, to pick up the franchise where it left off is indeed very tricky. Stargate Universe ends with the Destiny in a very peculiar situation, the crew in the stasis pods and Eli left with not alot of time to fix his own, let alone figure out a way to maybe change that outcome of what would happen within the three years of stasis if the Destiny were to continue on the course it is currently set to follow.
There are multiple ways to resolve this (and while I know the story has already been continued in comic form, a new show would have to pick up at the ending of the second season of SGU simply because the majority of Stargate fans just aren't familiar with the comics and only ever watched the show on TV).
- We know Atlantis has a type of wormhole drive that far exceeds the speed and range of classic intergalactic hyperdrives. This is one potential way to get to the Destiny and get the crew on board before the Destiny will be out of reach forever.
- We know Rodney McKay and Samantha Carter managed to build the gate bridge and link gates to pass on their buffer to the next gate instead of materializing it. This could potentially be used in a different form with the gates seeded by the seed ships along the path the Destiny took.
- There is the potential option of cloning the crew of the Destiny on earth with existing DNA samples, then using Asgard technology to download the consciousness of the crew members from the Destiny into those bodies using the ancient communication stones.
- Ori supergate anyone?
Why would the new show have to begin by resolving the storyline of the Destiny?
It wouldn't. But the story really should be resolved given the opportunity, and there are pretty good options to do this.
2 main ways actually.
First of all, the first season of the new show could resolve the storyline on the side, with nobody from the Destiny actually appearing until the end of the season when Rodney and Sam finally manage to bring them home with either of the three techniques mentioned.
Alternatively, if one season equals one year in the Stargate universe, then the three year statis could mean that the new show has three seasons for the characters to come up with a solution, and it would make for a bigger overarching storyline.
Here's a few things I really think the new show needs to do in order to live up to expectations:
- most of the existing and established living characters should appear, some of them as recurring characters, and some of them potentially even as series regulars such as Dr. Rodney McKay.
- the Stargate program will have to be disclosed to the public at some point during this show, since all notable enemies in the home galaxy have been defeated by now, the Ori have been dealt with, Ba'al is dead, and the Wraith do not yet have the ability to reach earth again so easily.
- the inhabitants of the Pegasus Galaxy need to play a role of some form. The Wraith as villains have not been dealt with, there are still several dozen hive ships out there and they still need somebody to feed on. Also the Asgard in the Pegasus Galaxy could come in as very handy allies - or potential enemies.
- the Stargate Universe storyline has to be resolved, not necessarily right at the beginning but over a time span of several episodes or seasons for sure.
We know a new show would necessarily come with a new cast of main characters, with certain old characters now inhabiting new roles. Where to take these characters from is a very interesting question though. There is one possibility that I think hardly anyone has considered yet.
We know from an appearance of Bill Nye on Blindspot and his mention there of Dr. Rodney McKay that both shows are set in the same universe. Blindspot is coming to an end after its upcoming 6th season, freeing up several cast members to potentially become leads in a new show.
What I think could work would be for three of the Blindspot characters to end up with the SGC:
Kurt Weller, Jane Doe, and Rich Dotcom.
It is not even that far fetched. Kurt Weller and Jane Doe would make for excellent SG-Team members, and Rich Dotcom as a capable hacker would make sense to stumble across top secret Stargate Command documents somehow, linking the two shows.
The show could deal with a variety of issues. The disclosure of the Stargate program and subsequent putting it into different hands, which could lead to Homeland Security and the IOA ending up in charge (again that is, for the IOA). Dealing with the Lucian Alliance who might figure out Ori technology along the way to actually become an enemy worth taking serious throughout the show. Dealing with the Wraith and strategically bringing back Atlantis into the Pegasus as a base of operations in defeating them. Finally turning the free Jaffa nation into something that actually works and isn't constantly on the brink of civil war.
Overall there are enough existing storylines that haven't been resolved yet to properly do about 3 seasons of 16 episodes each, which would be more than the 10 episodes alot of other shows do nowadays, but still reasonable (considering The Walking Dead does it as well). If MGM really stands behind the franchise and gets Brad Wright the budget he needs, we could get a show bigger in scale than anything we've seen so far, but still staying true to every last bit of established canon. And if after 3 seasons the Wraith are defeated, the Lucian Alliance has been dealt with in a number of different possible ways, and the Destiny or at least its crew have been brought home, maybe this would really mark the point where disclosure of the program is the only option, and that is a storyline well worth exploring over the course of at least another season. How could it come to be? Many possible options. But how about a big spaceship like the Destiny landing somewhere where a coverup simply isn't possible, forcing the IOA to come forward and slowly disclose information one piece at a time over the course of the season, while we see the mess of reporters and international media trying to keep up and get their hands on new information ahead of time, and the whole stress this is gonna put on everyone already involved in the Stargate program.
Now is the time to do a new show, and there is so much great stuff that can be done with it. Amanda Tapping is up for it, David Hewlett is up for it, Richard Dean Anderson is up for it, Brad Wright is up for it, and I'm sure alot of the other actors will be up for it as well.
I'd really be interested in your thoughts on this. MGM currently has the opportunity to really crush the competition by doing this properly. The fan interest is there, the convention panels get more fans attending than ever before, and even the actors are in!
Mister Brad Wright, I hope you are going to make this happen!
Also on a side note:
What would happen if you use a ring transporter but the recieving end gets destroyed or moved while the matter stream is still on its way? Would the matter stream fly until it hits something else, or would it just dissolve after a time.
Also what would happen if you send the matter stream of a ring transporter into an active stargate?
Two questions well worth exploring in a new series. Since in modern Sci-Fi with overarching storylines (as precedented by Babylon 5), there should usually be at least 2 main storylines going on per episode. An A story that only appears in the actual episode and happens in the foreground, a B story that happens over a span of a few episodes and is part of the larger overarching storyline, and a C story that could happen in the background and slowly evolve until it culminates in something either resolving or going terribly wrong and setting off a chain of events in B and A storylines.
Well anyways, thats my formulation of thoughts on a new stargate show and how it could be approached. What do you folks think? I'd love to get a discussion going about this to rule out bad ideas and get a more complete image of what this new show could be to really satisfy fans of all existing notable shows, while keeping the audience engaged and not drowning in fan service or repetitiveness.
Have a great day and lets get this party going!
[apologies for any typos or grammatical errors, I'm not a native english speaker AND my keyboard isn't in the best condition, so sometimes keys might not have registered]
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