Stargate: The End of a Franchise??

[wraithfodder]

Well, as usual, bad news seems to come out at the Vancouver Stargate convention (first time was when we found out that Daniel Jackson was going to die, die, die). No wait, he's died more than that, but I digress.

http://www.airlockalpha.com/node/8428/mgm-brings-stargate-movie-franchise-to-an-end.html has a number of quotes from twitter ..."To quote a castmate: Finding out there will be no SGU, ['Stargate: Atlantis' and ['Stagate SG-1'] movie was 'like getting cancelled all over again," SGU star David Blue shared on Twitter Sunday afternoon. "I can't imagine not playing Eli. We all hoped a movie would allow us the chance to play together again. It was an amazing crew, cast and team."  ....Reports are that many of the cast and crew learned of the show's final fate Saturday, with Wright tasked to share the bad news with fans Sunday. The announcement seems to go beyond SGU, and include the rest of the television franchise as well.

http://www.gateworld.net/news/2011/04/wright-sgu-continuation-other-movies-dead-for-now/ has quotes from Brad Wright. “We just recently found out that the SGU movie is not going to happen,” Wright said during his stage panel today.  “It took too long.  We just couldn’t get it together in time, and the window has closed.  It’s actually sad for me, because after 17 years, I’m cleaning out my desk tomorrow morning.”

David Hewlett @dhewlett tweeted "Sounds like Brad's Stargate news not what people were hoping for...what's a snarkastic genius to do now?! #StargateWontDie"

http://josephmallozzi.wordpress.com/2011/04/17/april-17-2011-until-we-meet-again/ added his comments.

http://stargate-sg1-solutions.com/blog/2011/04/brad-wright-stargate-movies-wont-happen/ has the best rundown of all the quotes, etc. so definitely click on this link.

------

For some reason, this does not surprise me. The economy sucks, MGM is putting its eggs ($$$) into the Bond basket, and SGU just did not perform like they had hoped. I've watched the entire franchise - Atlantis is still my favorite with SG-1 *extremely* close. SGU never grabbed me like the first two incarnations, but I do watch it. I must admit the literal darkness of the series did turn me off, plus I wanted to really like a chararacter and it was tough. I do watch TV to escape reality, so don't want THAT much reality in my TV, unless it's news / documentary stuff.

A big thank you to all the cast and crew of the Stargate franchise. It's been quite a roller-coaster ride over the past, um, er, geez, seems forever! ;) The best part of being a fan has been meeting other fans, and making very good friends, plus meeting cast and crew. It's had its ups and downs, but I never whined just to do it, it was because I loved the franchise. I think a lot of fans can say the same.

Well, we fans will keep it alive in fanfiction, and let's hope the paperbacks keep going, and down the roads, maybe we will get a movie or two or three with our favorite characters..

P.S. If anybody sees any good links to reports from the con, please feel free to add to the comments section below :)

Comments

[ed263.livejournal.com]

Just read this really good report on Joe/Paul/David Q&A
http://mashimero.livejournal.com/145164.html

[seticat.livejournal.com]

Sadly, not only the demise of the franchise, but the way it was done comes as no surprise. Think back to how the SG-1 team and the SGA team found out about being canceled.

MGM & TBAB have a track record. It's sad how consistent they seem to be on this. And the actors, crews and the fans are the ones who pay the price.

[alyssa22.livejournal.com]

TPTB have screwed with the actors to the point where it's appalling, first on SGA and now with SGU. The least they can do is be up-front with people when they're about to lose their jobs.

[astrumporta.livejournal.com]

For fans who really believed there'd be a movie, I'm glad at least they don't have to wait around any more in limbo. It will be interesting to see how the fandom evolves from here. Like you I'm hoping for continued fanfic and paperbacks. Mostly I hopet he best for all the actors in a tough business!

[gelbes-gilatier.livejournal.com]

For some reason, this does not surprise me.

Me, neither. Actually, I'd been kind of hoping for something like this. At least now there's some definite closure instead of ass backwards rising hopes that would never be fulfilled we had for nearly two years now. They should have had the guts to announce that so effing long ago.

[black-raven135.livejournal.com]

I don't care, Sheppard will be my favorite as long as
Joe is not doing another striking character like him, but
probably a lot longer given how unique Sheppard was and IS...and then there is always my preference for guys that like to travel faster than 200 miles and hour.
:D

[cynatnite.livejournal.com]

Cancelling SGA was the beginning of the end, IMO. SGU had some promise until they tried to make it another form of BSG. That was when I knew the best thing for the Stargate franchise was to die.

The best thing that needs to be done is for it to stay dead for a while...maybe 5-10 years.

Bring a whole new group of people, most especially new writers, and start all over. In other words...a reboot.

Stargate needs a reboot in the future and hopefully the crowd that drove the franchise into the ground will have moved on by then.

[alyssa22.livejournal.com]

Agree 100 percent. It worked for Dr Who.

What they need to do is get back to the basics of what the franchise was about to begin with. Quick messing with a formula that works. They really alienated a huge group of SG1 and SGA fans when they went all "dark" and "BSG" on SGU.

[kodiak-bear.livejournal.com]

Stargate's demise was determined the moment they made the choice to end a proven series prematurely, dump their current fanbase, in hopes for greener, untried pastures. It blew up in their face. No SGU movie? Don't give a damn. And that'd be the same feelings for 99% of stargate fans. That's where TPTB screwed up. If they'd stuck with SGA, they probably could've milked the franchise for another few seasons at least, some movies, and more novels.

No ill feelings towards the cast of SGU, but definitely not feeling the love for BW, JM, etc.

[cynatnite.livejournal.com]

You nailed it.

[kristen999.livejournal.com]

Couldn't have said it better.

[anjak-j.livejournal.com]

Totes agree with this.

The producers are basically to blame for the demise of the show. In their arrogance, they had no respect for those who paid their wages - the fans.

I think the beginning of the end was the cancellation of SG-1, for which the blame lies with Skiffy. This is the point at which the writers seemed to lose interest in SGA and the writing really went downhill. I think that was the biggest problem - I don't think the producers and writers were that invested in SGA, which made it easy to cast aside.

[tavabean.livejournal.com]

Agree completely.

[alyssa22.livejournal.com]

Well said!

[medaviolet.livejournal.com]

;___;

[i-cant-talk-now.livejournal.com]

I agree with your comments on SGU. it was just too dark. physically. as mood lighting, it certainly helped kill my mood. and i also never really liked any of the characters. they weren't particularly likeable. and i really like robert carlisle. but i also didn't dislike anyone sufficiently enough to want to watch them being delightfully evil or in the hope they get what's coming to them.

[cynatnite.livejournal.com]

And according to Mallozzi and a few others, we're to blame for SGU's failure. Go figure.

[anjak-j.livejournal.com]

I'm not surprised by this. I'd have been more surprised if they'd announced films were beginning production to be honest. MGM are going to do what makes most money and whether I like them personally - I don't - that is Bond films. But yet again, how the announcement came about sucks.

It's a sad day for the franchise, for it to finally be confirmed what some have known for a long time - Stargate is done. I feel most sorry for the fans who had their hopes up for the continuation of the franchise through films. I feel sorry for the casts who were looking forward to working together again. But I think this announcement is a good thing because at least people - cast, fans - aren't hanging around in limbo.

It'll be interesting to see if the franchise can survive as well as Star Trek has in print. I know there are the new SGA novels that follow on after the last episode. I'm just wondering if Stargate can have continued print success.

[monkey-junkey.livejournal.com]

'Tis a dark day for Stargate fandom. Definitely was a great ride though!

[sgafan.livejournal.com]

Not surprised, unfortunately, but sad all the same. I've been a franchise fan for years, though that to me was SG1 and SGA. U never grabbed me, I couldn't stand it. :(

I still believe this downward slide started with the cancellation of Atlantis and TPTB hell bent on trying to fix something that, frankly, wasn't broken. Some of the negative comments and things that were said didn't help either. I believe there are certain people involved in TPTB who made this bed, and now they have to sleep in it. Just unfortunate that they had to take the entire franchise with them.

Hopefully at some future date the franchise will be rebooted and when it is, MGM will take a hard look at what DID work, (the formula for SG1 and SGA) and what did NOT (U).

Just IMHO. Fandom will keep the franchise alive, but its very sad to see this news. :(

[iolandasblog.livejournal.com]

I have troubles being sad about this, not for SGU, but for the whole franchise. I guess my very private good-bye was after SGA was cancelled. I do watch SGU but it never convinced me to be the show that prevents the sip from sinking. Sadly, because I wanted to love or at least like it, but I couldn't. There are parts of it I grew fond of, but I still have to find the one episode I thoroughly loved.

My big thank you goes to the cast and crew for their fantastic work over years and it also goes to first 10+ years to JM and BW where they wrote some of the greatest episodes and before they lost their touch with the fanbase and the feeling how to write the stuff for their audience.

[flingslass.livejournal.com]

I just couldn't bring myself to read Mallozzi's blog. He's got too many tickets on himself!

[wraithfodder.livejournal.com]

I just read the one paragraph. Have barely looked at his blog in last year.

[myhelix.livejournal.com]

I am very sad about these news. I love all three shows. Would have loved to see it continuous in some way or the other. Sad to see that one fanbase don´t support the other.
McKay and Rush rocked! Also love Ronon, Eli, Daniel. Gonna miss these characters on my weekly TV program. :(

[wraithfodder.livejournal.com]

Alas, the fanbase in Stargate has been contentious since day one, from 'if you love Daniel, you hate Jonas', etc. etc. ad naseum. Each show had its own appeal.

[jya-bd-cp-ttgb.livejournal.com]

Damn it, they'd better finish those Homecoming novels and somebody needs to get Joe, David H. and Jason to do a couple of audio books like Kavan and David N. did.

Didn't watch SGU, and be damned if I'm watching Bond or whatever other crap those jerks come up with. Gah.

[wraithfodder.livejournal.com]

Oh wow, I'd love if it Joe and David and Jason did audiobooks. I can see David's now. 90 minutes condensed down to 15 minutes because he talks so fast ;)

Gotta admit I do like Daniel Craig as Bond but have yet to watch the last movie. DVD sitting on shelf waiting for me to crack open.

[kriadydragon.livejournal.com]

I don't really have anything to add since everything has already been said, but I am going to miss the franchise. SG-1 was fun and SGA was the first show I got fannish about beyond just fanfic. It sucks that we had to lose something that was so much fun because TPTB weren't thinking straight.

[wraithfodder.livejournal.com]

yeah, just the loss of the franchise is bad, no matter which show you watched. I'm glad that SyFy still repeats it (alas, at 2am) and that the DVDs are out. I remember when I was watching SGu, my brother walked in and said "why are you watching BAttlestar Galactica?" Seriously. He tried it a few times but never finished any episode.

sga_newsletter: Apr 18 2011

[pingback-bot.livejournal.com]

User dossier referenced to your post from sga_newsletter: Apr 18 2011 (http://sga-newsletter.livejournal.com/538137.html) saying: [...] : Stargate: the end of the franchise [...]

[cimmerdeux.livejournal.com]

Sad for the fans; sad that, in my case at least, familiarity with TPTB (via their blogs and interviews) bred contempt ("loose lips sink ships" should have been carved in stone at Bridge Studios somewhere *sigh*); and sorry too that I'm not really sorry that the franchise is out of 'their' hands. I think it was time for them to move on, long ago but I do understand not wanting to let employment go even though you're no longer thrilled by the job. Still sometimes you need a good swift kick to get your life going in the right direction and maybe this is the silver lining in this cloud for TPTB? I think it might end up being a good thing for the franchise and regardless of what it looks like now, I don't think MGM will let Stargate languish very long. Along with Bond they've greenlit The Hobbit, they're a working studio again and SG is a valuable asset on the books. For all we know while we've been waiting for the penny to drop for Brad and Co., MGM has been busy figuring out what's next for Stargate.

Still, I thank them for the eps I enjoyed and a clever TV series made from an 'interesting' scifi movie. I thank them for hiring the actors that gave us some great characters and adios. I won't say vaya con Dios because in all honestly, after all of this I will probably not watch anything with TPTB names in the credits again, still I'm sure they'll all land on their feet. They seem good at doing that (indeed aren't M&M and Cooper already working on another show, virtually no down time? they've 'failed' upward it appears. LOL).

[stclare.livejournal.com]

No vids of this panel yet, or at least none I can find. Im realy wanting to see more of what was said. ive seen a couple of statements concerning what BW said. I would feel a lot happier if i could see the full panel and what he said in context with his facial expressions!

[carmen silva ciocolata (from livejournal.com)]

I admit at first I was very pissed off because they've just cancelled SGA and felt like SGU was replacing it, so I minimised it quite a bit. But then I watched it (it was still Stargate even though darker) and I liked it more and more. Now I'm pissed off they've cancelled everything about Stargate, again why everything good must be cast away? Retoric question, I guess. Anyway thank you guys for doing the great job you did with the Stargates, I have all of them and I know you made a great difference in the world. You're the best!

[kosmikdawg.livejournal.com]

This gives me a sad. :( I've been with Stargate since 1994. I will miss that universe.