Allow me to start off today’s entry with an official retraction. In a recent post, I referred to Martin Gero “tapping out” at the conclusion of a dinner at Fuel. I wrote: “Martin tapped out and skipped dessert.” However, after reading my blog, Martin was quick to remind me that, on the night in question, he did not tap out and, in fact, enjoyed a piece of the Eleni Extra Virgin Olive Oil Cake with albion strawberries, caramelized cream, and vanilla foam. The management sincerely regrets the error and any harm it may have caused.
Well, yesterday was the final day of shooting for many of our regular and recurring actors: Rachel Luttrell, Jewel Staite, Jason Momoa, David Hewlett, Kavan Smith, Sharon Taylor, and Chuck Campbell. Today, marks Bob Picardo last day with us. Joe Flanigan heads to Vegas next week where he will complete filming on Vegas, and the series, alongside guest stars Neil Jackson, Steve Schirripa (The Soprano’s Bobby “Bacala“ Baccalieri), and Frank Vincent (The Soprano’s Frank Leotardo). A bittersweet time for all; me in particular. Bitter in that it’s been a great five years and I will sincerely miss the show and the many wonderful people who made it all happen. Sweet in that I like to sleep in.
To those of you commenting on yesterday’s video and those who skipped the video because they thought it would be depressing – the video was intended to be tongue in cheek. Terry is not really packing up my office (although the part about her wanting to move in is true). While I will be cleaning up, I won’t be moving out. Paul and I have a movie to write. As for our involvement in SGU – still too early to say anything specific regarding our participation in the spin-off, but I’m sure we’ll all be contributing in some capacity.
Speaking of SGU, I notice that much of the reaction to the character breakdowns has been negative. While I respect everyone’s right to express their opinions, I’d suggest holding off on making a final decision on the show until you’ve actually seen it. Last week, Brad pitched us the series and its first five episodes and, I have to say, it’s a far cry from the shallow confection many fans are imagining. In fact, in many ways, it’s a much more cerebral and mature addition to the franchise. While firmly entrenched in pre-established Stargate mythology, Stargate Universe definitely strikes out in an exciting new direction. It’s a series that will delight veteran fans, but also appeal to newcomers who may not necessarily know the difference between an Alteran and an Asuran. In spite of what the indicators may suggest, this will definitely not be a Voyager 90210. The assortment of characters that make up the character breakdown are certainly an atypical collection of heroes, far-removed from the skilled likes of Jack O’Neill, Samantha Carter, John Sheppard, and Rodney McKay – but there’s a damn good reason for that. Can’t say more but suffice it to say I have a feeling this show will pleasantly surprise a lot of people.
Today’s entry is dedicated to birthday gal Susanthetartanturtle.
If you say SGU is not a shallow confection, I’ll have to trust you. But I’ve always been a skeptic, so I shall see when I see, won’t I? Shallow confection … now I’m hungry.
Interesting that a possibly related link today is Kill Your TV.
(I am reposting this on today’s blog so I can be sure everyone can see it! 😉 )
Mr. M,
1. While packing up your office, Terry didn’t happen to come across that special thing you promised to send me after “Whispers” aired, did she? When I sent you the chocolate mixes and the thank you letter I made a request you agreed to in your blog entry. Remember? I also reminded you during the filming of the episode. Any of this sound familiar? I’ve recently re-sent my address to you at moorsyum so you don’t have to go digging for it. Reply if you need more hints. 🙂
2. [I hope the following is coherent as I’m extra-doped up today due to an ‘incident’. This issue interests me greatly.] I would read a novel by someone from a political party other than the one I back, but only, as you said, if the story didn’t beat me over the head with the author’s politics. I would judged it as I would any book. Same for authors who have different opinions — moral, religious, political or a combination — on issues such as abortion, immigration, etc. As long as their views aren’t gunking up the story, I’d finish the book.
There is, however, a limit to just how different that viewpoint can be for me. I don’t read books or watch movies made by Nazi collaborators or people who espouse such causes as racial inequality, ethnic cleansing, or Man-Boy Love even if those issues/beliefs are never mentioned in the book. Same with books by criminals exploiting their crime for profit.
Do you have a limit? How far out of your comfort zone is too far? My sister and I argue over this quite often.
Is taking your children to the local Catholic church’s Summer Social when you yourself are a nonbeliever — maybe even an atheist — wrong? What about buying a book of photography by a woman known to be a Nazi sympathizer and strongly suspected of being a collaborator?
Where is that line?
Anne Teldy
i will try and give sgu a chance, but i will be missing sga.
oh, joe….
(((joe))) 🙁
(((atlantis fans)))
and that includes me.
Believe it or not, you have successfully alleviated my fears regarding SGU, and I am now excited again…. thanks!!
I gathered from the fact that 0 objects made it out of the “officecleaning” that the video was a bit of a put on. But when the time truly does come, I volunteer to help move that book case. And the books on it of course… my cataloguing of books in my home just broke 1000, and that’s all fiction. I haven’t begun on the non fiction, or on the tubs of books scattered about. Still, it is progress.
I really want to remain loyal to the franchise, and I trust Brad Wright to produce a quality product. I do NOT however trust the network or MGM to not put pressure on him to dumb down the show or otherwise adversely affect the show. And I’m waiting to see what happens you yourself and all the other writers and crew that contributed so much to SG 1 and especially Atlantis. And though I want to enjoy Universe as much as I have its sibling shows, it’s going to be VERY hard to develop an attachement to a show knowing its likely to suffer the fate of Atlantis; a premature cancellation for the sake of the next ‘shiny toy’ to come along.
Very nice pics though, and love that the last ones are of our favorite Scotsman. But poor Jason Mamoa. Someone please take that Pegasus galaxy head parasite and shoot it! It’s a real shame he wasn’t allowed to go sans dreads for the last season. That …thing just did not work. One of the very rare failings of makeup or whoever’s department is responcible for such things.
See, I believe the negative comes from two things, in my opinion; one, most everyone knows, even though they will deny it, SGA was canceled because they wanted to do a new show and didn’t want to do two at a time plus it will save TPTB money. Two, Brad himself spun SGU as hitting younger audiences making us 35 plus not comfortable. Besides, when you like characters already and the show is doing well and they still cancel it, then it will happen again I am sure. I feel there is no respect for the fans and they just assume all the SGA fans will do as expected. Perhaps they will, but I tend to stand firm when I feel disrespected.
Doesn’t matter, in the end, I know the show I liked will no longer be on and well, I will choose not to watch a show that is not like the one I fell in love with and quite possibly was canceled for.
I just hope they keep their word when they say movies. I know you said as long as the results are good, but like someone said, airing the movie and then people buying it, the odds are not so great. I am someone who will, but not everyone is like me (TPTB should be happy about that cause if they were SGU wouldn’t make it).
Sorry, I just don’t feel any excitement at all.
On a different note, what were you drinking to write that Martin tapped out when he was there for what seems like most of the dessert? It must of been the excitement of the actual dessert that put you in a fog.
There’s no way SGU could ever be Voyager 90210 – for one thing the writers rock (as much as I enjoyed Voyager, the Star Trek franchise has been a bit of a let down over all for me) 😉
Looking forward to more info in the future (although I am sad that I won’t be enjoying Bob Picardo’s skills more often! Yay to movies!)
Since SFU killed SGA, I’m sorry, but I’m not trilled that it’s being made. I’m actually very upset.
I love my ‘skilled’ characters, the stargate history, and wanted much more from SGA. More team episodes, more friendship, move adventures. I hope during your plotting for the SGA movie – it’s a huge team episode with Sheppard’s Team foremost – maybe some cool gate adventure? Time travel or Au? We’ve seen alternate Rodney’s – how about other Sheppards??
And I don’t want Rodney to get together with Keller. Please don’t force it. I know, you writers all love her, but I would rather have had much more team episodes than the focus that’s been on Keller this season. I don’t dislike her, but why couldn’t we have had a strong John episode rather than more kidnapped Keller?
I’d like to give SGU a chance, but unfortunately, my parents got rid of most of our stations, so only the ones *they* watch are still available on our TV, so no Sci-Fi for me.
If I was basing my decision on the “character breakdowns,” I wouldn’t be watching SGU. Those promo things are always oversimplified and cheesy. However, knowing who it’s coming from, I’ll definitely give the show a good shot. For years every time I was channel surfing and saw SG-1, I thought, “Oh, that’s that military sci-fi thing with RDA” and promptly changed channels. Not my thing. Then I actually watched an episode or two, and I was totally hooked. I didn’t read any character breakdowns for Atlantis–I just watched it because it was Stargate, and I loved it. You can’t explain a show in a few sentences. You have to watch it.
Hello Joe,
I appreciate what you said about giving SGU a chance… and no doubt I will, but it is still sad that SGA is gone from weekly viewing.
Thanks you for the pictures of the cast… they look great but somber!
What happened to the video Q&A with Robert Picardo?
Please keep your office the way it is…we like the super villain motif.
How close is the 3 Millionth hit on your Blog?
Will you be gracing us with a chance to win something for the honor of the 3 millionth post?
Sorry, Joe. I know it’s in your best interest to put a positive spin on SGU but I just can’t get behind it. First of all, I really can’t support anything that’s taking the place of Atlantis. I watch Atlantis because I like *ATLANTIS*; I can count on one hand the number of SG-1 episodes I’ve seen and some of the comments made in the SGU press releases about Atlantis fans flocking to SGU for their Stargate fix was on the insulting side. Not to mention all the emphasis in the press releases about the show being geared towards a younger audience. Now, I’m only 31 and those comments stung. It’s like I’m not wanted because I’m not a 20-something any longer. I still feel that SGU is going to be Gossip Girl in space.
So what about you Joe? If you don’t get picked up for SGU, this Atlantis movie could well be your last SciFi production before moving on to greener pastures and this of course would start to erode the SGA dynamic for future movies (if any) after the one you’re writing. Of course it’ll probably turn out to be your best work to date, but even if SGU does prove a success the cast and crew turn over of this franchise must far exceed that of even Trek and will be getting known for such.
So do you have other works in the pipeline? other projects you might like to share with us.
I really want to believe you when it comes to the character descriptions, but ‘silver spoon’ and ‘every teenaged girl’s dream’ just doesn’t read as ‘cerebral and mature’ to me. Yes, once the characters are fleshed out (pun intended? only time will tell), we’ll see the differences, as evidenced by the character descriptions of the Atlantis crew and the way our beloved characters turned out.
I just have to say, while I understand the concept behind wanting a younger audience, I disagree with the way its been presented, as it feels, as a 29 year old woman, that I’ve been dumped for an 18 year old boy. I am curious to know if the time slot will change? I sincerely doubt that the targeted demographic that’s been hinted at so often, in conjunction with the phrase ‘young and desperate’ to describe the crew of SGU… will be all gung-ho to be sitting down in front of their television sets at 9 or 10 PM on a Friday to watch a Sci Fi show, instead of out with their friends.
Yeah, I’m more negative than usual, sorry about that. It hurts, losing SGA. I don’t doubt it hurts you, too. I’m glad for your sake that there’s something (the movie! Thanks so much for that, btw) you have to look forward to, that it’s not the complete end, just the crest of a hill.
~Darsy
This is how I see who is guilty in the cancellation of SGA.
Now correct me if I’m wrong Joe, but I don’t think you can!
MGM = GUILTY
SciFi Channel = GUILTY
Brad Wright = GUILTY
Robert C. Cooper = GUILTY
The Actors got a big kick in the ass with a “don’t let the door hit you on the way out”!
The fans got a “screw you, but we think you’ll get over it”.
Well it’s been a while now and I’m not getting over it. In fact, I’m getting madder and madder and madder!
It also sounds like life will go on for the crew and most of the writers and producers. It will be business as usual, but with a different TV show and movie on the side.
But you don’t seem to realize this “cool” new little show your pitching comes at a very high price – the loss of the fan’s favorite – SGA. How am I suppose to like something that killed the only show I watch on TV? Reading your last paragraph Joe makes me want to puke!
There! I’ve said it, now I’m done! I love all the SGA cast members and I will miss you so very much!! I will be watching for you in future projects and shows. Good luck to you!!
Thanks for the positive spin on SGU. While I am still deeply saddened by the loss of SGA still in its prime, I will attempt to keep an open mind about the new show.
I wish I hadn’t read the cast descriptions, because out of context they really do sound awful. With your assurances otherwise I will try and drum up some excitement for this new adventure.
That’s actually too bad if SGU will be good — I’ll never find out. :/
Like I said, not interested in having my heart broken again in five years, or supporting Wright anymore. It feels like he’s being too impatient to get going on the next leg of his career, despite it leaving the actors, crew, and fans of SGA all high and dry. I still cannot fathom why he couldn’t have waited one more year — weren’t most of the actors contracted for six? I’m pretty sure Hewlett said he was. I can understand not wanting to work on two shows at the same time, or even MGM not wanting to pay for it, but if you’re not going to be a primary writer on SGU, Joe — and it doesn’t sound like you are — why couldn’t he have just left SGA to you and Paul to run, and washed his hands of it? Why did he have to be like a kid with a ball, saying he didn’t want to play anymore so no one else coukld either? Maybe they couldn’t have shot SGU, maybe MGM still wasn’t willing to pay for it, but couldn’t he have worked on other aspects of SGU? Hell, couldn’t he have strong-armed them, made them put up the bucks to produce both? Would they really have said no to SGU if Brad has said, “You make both or you get neither”?
Even if he couldn’t, SGU would still have gotten made if they’d waited a year, wouldn’t it? (Just like the Atlantis movie would have gotten made even if the show went 6 seasons, right?) Then we would have gotten twenty more episodes, the crew would have gotten one more year of job security, and we all would likely have stuck around for the new show. Now, the actors and crew lose out on all that work on a job they loved, we lose out on 18 and a half hours of story, Sci Fi will lose a fair number of viewers who will refuse to watch the station anymore, and whether the new show is good or not, I and many fans can’t see supporting another Wright production. If SGU fails, then nobody wins, whereas if SGA would have continued, everyone would have won — we would have *tried* SGU despite how bad it sounds. Now it doesn’t *matter*.
Boycott was the only card we had to play to show our displeasure over the situation. I don’t make empty threats, so I have to stick by my word. I said I would try SGU if SGA got another season, and that I wouldn’t watch SGU if SGA didn’t get one. And I will follow through on that promise. I hope others will too, or viewer opinion really will come to mean nothing.
I will still buy the Atlantis movie, to support you and the rest of the crew, though.
Anyway … thank you for the pics! And sorry for whinging — you’re probably sick of it by now. We’re in mourning, trying to make sense of it all, and so far? Not succeeding on that count. 🙁
Still holding on to hope, though. Supernatural was essentially cancelled last season and get an eleventh-hour reprive, after all. And if Smallville can keep going for an frelling EIGTH season, despite losing two prominent players this year and moving out of Smallville … (So far, Green Arrow is my ONLY reason to keep watching.)
Yeah. Right.
Oh, I will give it a hopeful shot, but since I’m definitely not in the highly prized demographic that seems to be the target, I fear this life-long and very ardent fan of science fiction may not be able to relate.
snerk.
I am very torn about SGU. I am such a big Atlantis fan that the cancellation in favor of Universe is still an open wound. I feel betrayed by Brad, MGM, whoever else is involved in this.
Every time I feel I am coming to terms with the loss, some news such as the casting call comes along and tears open the wound again.
At this point I am not willing to even give the new series a try, as I am so very pissed.
Perhaps by next year after the anger has dissipated and acceptance has occurred, I will give the new series a chance and watch it. But at this point, I feel like it is a betrayal of Atlantis to say so.
I know, very emotional, but that is honestly how I feel.
It is so sad that SGA is ending. I woke up this morning crying because of it! And I’m not an emotional type of person. I’m going miss my weekly dose of John, Rodney, Teyla, and Ronon. I am looking forward to Universe, though, and I hope it’s as good as the other two.
Hi Joe — thanks for sharing the “last days” of SGA. Also thanks for the positive info on SGU — it makes me feel a little bit better, even though I’m not in the target demographic. Alas, no way to backtrack to my twenties, nor would I want to 🙂
I saw on an earlier blog where you bought Ragamuffin by Tobias Buckell. Have you read it yet? It is the 2nd book in his Xenowealth series. Sly Mongoose, the third, is even better, IMHO.
Sad to see Atlantis go, even with all the unpredictable changes made in the past two years.
Speaking of changes, for whatever reason they were indeed made, did they achieve the desired results? I don’t think you ever did tell us, did you?
Patricia (AG)
hellooooooo Joe!! I’m back from snowboarding in NZ with a few very nice bruises to show for it, but nothing broken this time!!
I’m still annoyed about Atlantis coming to an end, and unfortunately nothing is amping me into even a lukewarm acceptance of SGU as a replacement. Especially after reading the casting notes for the new characters – it’s enough to gag a maggot.
I seriously think I will just hold out til the SGA movies – plural – come out. All I can say is, I sincerely hope that TPTB were taking the piss when they worked out a cast outline of such incredibly unrealistic proportions. It’s an insult to the intelligence of the Stargate fan base. One forty-something commander with a bunch of just-out-of their-teens crew. Oh puh-leeez…
Thanks for the SGU comments Joe! The character breakdowns do sound a bit odd, but without faces they don’t really stand for much…
I would love to see Courtenay J. Stevens join the show – his characters in Last Stand and Childhood’s End were fantastic.
I am trying to reserve judgment. On one hand, these are the same people who created SG1 and Atlantis, two shows that I love! On the other hand, that cast breakdown doesn’t inspire much hope, at least not as it stands now. It’s hard to imagine relating to a cast of college-age kids. And that’s a big part of any show for me, being able to relate to the characters.
I know that the big push with this show is to go after “younger” viewers. Hopefully they also continue to value the rest of their viewers, the Stargate fans who have stood with them up to this point.
And that’s all I’ll say on that. We’ll see how things go.
~Gen
P.S.: Besides, I’d rather have Atlantis back. 😉
I, along with many others, are waiting to actually seeing the show before giving any type of final opinion. And I know that if anyone can put together this cast of characters and portray them seriously and maturely, that it will be the veteran Stargate writers.
But surely you can understand fans hesitance to believe considering the age of the characters? Many know and understand that the writers would not (I hope) let Stargate go down that road, and most understand that things are subject to change; that characters may change and be revised, but the fact remains, they’re calling for a group of twenty-somethings to play lead characters.
Anyway, we can’t know until we see it; hopefully it will work all work out. But considering the writing team behind it, I have high hopes.
Oh, and just wondering, has Baron Destructo been up to anything lately?
While what you’re hearing and reading behind-the-scenes may suggest that SG:U is cerebral and mature, what we’re seeing and hearing out here is quite the opposite. If, as you say, SG:U is a worthwhile show, perhaps the PR could reflect that? Because right now the sum total of information we’ve been given focuses on the hot, sexy, young, partially slacker, partially inept, lost-in-space nature of the crew. Voyager: 90210 as a sarcastic tag for the show may reflect a lot of fan bitterness about SGA being over, but it also accurately reflects how the show’s being touted to us. I’ve read nothing yet, about the hot, sexy, young, partially slacker, partially inept, lost-in-space crew that makes me want to watch this show – the fault is not with the fans here, but with the show’s creators and the folks who communicate their ideas.
Oh…okay. So my heartfelt worry and concern over you and your future yesterday was all for naught, since you were just having a big ol’ laugh on us. I feel so used. I feel like such an ass.
Well…
MORE of an ass than usual. 😛
For that, will you please answer my question regarding BT & the gift of life…while I sit over here – *points to corner* – and deal with my own little overly-empathetic emotional rollercoaster.
And I swear – after this – touch a single silver hair on Todd’s lovely tousled head and I’m gonna…
I’m gonna…
BITCH. A LOT. well…more than i already do. 😳 Please don’t hurt him…I mean, haven’t you toyed with my emotions enough already?? *sniffle*
Big meanie.
And what makes this all worse is that I haven’t felt well the last two days – which tends to make me more sympathetic towards others – so you attacked while I was already weak, and then yesterday I had THREE, count them…THREE…spiders in my kitchen…allinoneday. One so huge it even scared the crap out of my Official Spider Catcher and Re-releaser into the Wild, Mr. Das. We agreed that it looked just like one of those standard Replicators. Long skinny body with these big, almost cartoon-like legs, pitter-pattering around the catfood bowls. *shudder*
On a brighter note…
The other day we finally caught and released that elusive scary-ass toilet paper spider. Afterwards, my husband informed me that he had seen the spider in the bathroom several times before, but didn’t do anything about it because he considered it the ‘bathroom spider’ – like it belonged there, or something. 😕
But see? I found a way to save it…although, if it finds its way back inside, I’m gonna…well…Mr. Das… is gonna SMUSH it. Me? I’ll just be cowering over here – *points to corner again* – sucking my thumb.
das
I know I’m probably in the minority, but I’m even more excited for SGU after reading the character descriptions from the casting call. I like the idea of having most of the main characters around my age. Maybe I could finally get some of my friends that aren’t fans of Stargate to tune in with characters they could better relate to.
Hi,
I really want to thank everyone (cast, crew, writers, etc) for the wonderful five seasons of entertainment that you have given us. I love and have enjoyed SG1 and SGA more than any other show that I’ve had the pleasure to watch. Thank you!
I’ve created this video to completely illustrate my appreciation for SGA and how it has changed my life (detailed at the end of the video).
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WchZM0DrkTE
I’m still on the fence about SGU. I have heard that SGA was cancelled so that SGU could premiere. I must admit, the very thought of that reasoning saddens me greatly. I remember hearing about it on the comic con video on sci fi and was excited at the prospect of a new SG series. I did not think it would be at the expense of SGA, as I have invested time in the characters of Atlantis and I would like to see them continue to grow.
I like also like how I can relate to the characters of Atlantis. They are not young, hot looking soap opera characters. They are older, wiser, and more realistic. I certainly hope that SGU incorporates this aspect into it. I think the “playing for a younger audience” comment has worried many fans. Realistically, it’s a slap in the face to many as it’s saying that the fans of Atlantis are too old and no longer desired. I’ve no idea if I fit into this category or not as I am 28.
I am curious though, will there be any SG1 or SGA characters moving over to SGU? I take it from your comment that Col John Sheppard will not be moving over. 🙁 I had seriously hoped he would! Will any guest stars move on to SGU?
Are there any confirmed names of who may be involved cast wise?
I love SG1 and SGA for the beautiful character interaction. The character relationships (not just romance but friendships) are what draw me in to the show. I love the dynamics from the witty one liners to the compassion between friends. Hopefully SGU will continue these dynamics.
I am getting a little bit excited about Stargate Universe. I never got into Stargate until Atlantis; I’ve seen a couple of SG-1 episodes here and there, mostly just reruns when I have nothing else to watch. But over the past summer, I sat down with Atlantis DVD sets and really got into it. I’m sorry that it is ending.
Truthfully, I am not sure if I’ll ever be able to get into a new Stargate because I am not typically a sci-fi fan; I barely have time to watch TV anyways, so I stream what I can online and download from iTunes. I’m glad I found your blog and I will take your word on Universe. I think I’ll give it a shot. But like many other fans, in the back of my mind I can’t help think that Universe is the reason for Atlantis’ cancellation. I am a little bitter, because I have become emotionally invested in the characters and the story.
I do sincerely hope that Universe will succeed; maybe it will draw in more atypical fans, like me with Atlantis, who don’t usually go for the sci-fi space drama shows or watch much TV at all. This is such a wonderful franchise, full of talented people and dedicated fans, that I have no doubt in everyone’s bright futures.
I’ve said it once (or twice) and I’ll say it again, Sarcastic Font.
Sorry about the misunderstanding there. I did think it was a bit odd, but I just shrugged my shoulders and figured I either didn’t have all of the information or it was another decision I couldn’t find the logic in.
Anne Teldy – I treat books/movies/opinion based conversation all the same way. It’s not necessarily the topic that may have me turning off, closing the book, walking away, but the delivery of it.
I will listen to anyone, even on subjects that I may seriously disagree with, mainly because if I listen, I can understand their thoughts and motivations better. Plus there is a strong likelihood that I will learn something new and adds another cog of information on the subject. But if someone is abrupt, abusive, disregarding proven fact or ignoring everyone else’s viewpoint then I walk away or most common, change the channel.
Glad you got your facts straight with Marty G. There’s pride (and a potential lawsuit) on the line here when it comes to how much you can all eat.
Hey Joe,
Well I was going to give SGU a chance, I am just very cautious after reading the casting call. I do have faith in your judgement.
Some questions about the SGA movie. Do you know if it will have a bigger budget than “Ark of Truth” and “Continuum” since both MGM and SCI FI are funding the project?
Also, do you know if SCI FI will have an interest in the DVD sales since they are sharing the production costs?
How do the chances look for Mr. Paul McGillion to be casted in the movie?
Best,
Squall78
Yay you can stay in your office!
And Im not worried about universe at all, I mean its from the people who brought us SG1 and Sga! Hello people they embody awesomness! XD
I will give SGU a chance.
But I agree with Thornyrose about not trusting the networks to put pressure on the writers and Linda Gagne about where the negativity comes from.
Also, I don’t understand what the whole “young and desperate” aspect of SGU that’s been released in statements is supposed to mean. I never felt the Stargate franchise was “old”…
I know people who started watching SG1 when they were 10 – 15 and a are a bunch of 20-somethings now. How much younger do the networks want?
So put all of the things released about SGU together with the character breakdowns of “handsome, beautiful, stunning, sexy, every teenage girl’s fantasy,” of course SGU is going to get more slack.
I always hold my final opinion for when I actually see something, and I hope you’re right and that it’s going to be good.
Besides, if SGU is the most-awesome-show-ever, everyone involved can say “We told you so!” 🙂
Joe,
Today’s blog made me cry. I miss all of you SGA folks already.
*sniffle*
*squishy hugs Joe*
I think I need some pug pictures ASAP. Something cute. Something very … I dunno … very Lulu.
Trish in Texas
(kiss mah ass Hurricane Ike)
Hi Joe,
I hope your time without your wife is going okay. I bet you can’t wait until she is home (and brings you goodies!)
As for SGU –
As long as there is a Jack/Daniel type banter or Shep/McKay type relationship I will be more open to the show. Those are my favourite parts of SG-1 and Atlantis.
Can’t wait until the new Atlantis on Monday! PVR is already set (and is also set for First Contact – YAY Jackson goes to Atlantis!!!!)
;_;
I really still don’t find myself caring at all about SGU. I liked Space Cases when I was 12; I doubt I can handle a very similar (practically the same by the sounds of things so far (dear God I hope that changes)) show at the ripe old age of 24.
And if you don’t know what I’m talking about regarding ‘Space Cases’ ask Jewel. It will probably embarrass her. (Who am I kidding? Ask her anyway!)
Joe:
The one downside to the vow I took of never watching or supporting anything SciFi again is that I will not have the opportunity to critique SGU. I guess I will have to read about it in your blog.
I am quite serious in being incredibly annoyed that SciFi cancelled the show. While it has not been boldly stated, it would seem that part of the decision to cancel had to do with the direct to DVD movies doing so well. Well, they did well in part because loyal fans wanted to help “feed” the organization that was producing and baring the financial burden of SGA.
I had to go through SG1 withdrawal, but was willing to accept that the show needed to go in a new direction (SGA) because RDA had all but left, the main enemy had been defeated, etc. It had a solid run and I felt that SciFi was more than fair to the fans. But SGA still has a few more seasons left in it and it had good ratings. Considering that it airs on a cable channel it did DAMN well and more so when we consider that SciFi channel has a very specialized audience. (Science Fiction fans and *ugh* those that enjoy watching scripted “sports”, aka wrestling)
Alfred
Joe,
When SG-1 was canceled, my reaction was Hey, you guys had 10 years, for Pete’s sake. Get over it. But now, I understand exactly how the SG-1 fans felt. Because once you fall for a cast of characters, you want them to go on forever.
I came to this party for Atlantis, not for a franchise. And it’s not possible to just plug in another Colonel and another socially inept genius and call it even.
I hope you know my anger isn’t directed at you but at the seriously misguided people who believe that one Stargate series is just as good another.
Rose
While the run-down of SGU isn’t exciting me overly at the moment, I don’t necessarily understand those that won’t even give it a go. You may love the show, you may hate it. But to not watch it out of spite, it will only be you that misses out.
If I decided to not watch shows based off the premise of being unhappy with change, then I would never have given Atlantis the chance I did and would have missed out on a great 5 years.
Quick question Joe. Do your dogs get jealous of your laptop?
I’m having some jealousy issues particularly with our big guy.
Sad days indeed.
At least you get to keep your office.
Hmmm…let’s see, who should I look to for a more balanced view of Stargate Universe?
The raving, senseless ramblings of a massive number of fans at Gateworld forums (those who regularly comment here excluded, babes; yes, even those who disagree; at least you can form your opinions without every other line being some kind of idiotic slur against SGU/TPTB), or someone who’s actually worked with the people who’s making Universe, and who’s actually seen some behind the scenes stuff directly from them?
Tough choice, but I think I’ll go with numero deux.
I tried to be logical; I tired to see things as objectively as I can, and I tried, for the upteenth time, to spell out my reasoning for the fandom. A few have responded with very logical arguments of their own on why they disagree, and I respect that; but more than a few just kept ranting and mocking as if they’re a broken record. I’ve had enough.
So far I am cautiously optimistic about Universe. The cast can be brilliant or a disaster, depending on how it’s written and portrayed. I LOVE LOVE LOVE the idea of a group of people who aren’t, for once, the best of the best, who are forced together because of a common problem. I have a fanfic just like this, but it’s Star Trek fanfic. However, the descriptions of the characters does seem a tad…shallow? A lot was spent on appearances. Now, this could very well just be the convention of these “for actors only” character descriptions; I don’t know.
What I do know though, is what Brad Wright and Rob Cooper have written in the past, and how I think it’s almost impossible for them to write anything remotely resembling “Voyager 90210”; these are the peeps who wrote The Shrine, The Torment of Tantalus, Abyss, The Pegasus Project, Heroes, and so on and so on. It makes no sense to me that they will suddenly start writing teen dramas. Of their own free will.
The fact is, I’ve enjoyed SG1 immensely; SGA more so, and is devastated that it’s going off the air. Furthermore, you, Joe, are not even currently involved with SGU, so I have no real reason to stand up for the 3rd series other than the fact that it’s Stargate, and Brad Wright and Rob Cooper are writing it. They’re cool dudes, but obviously we know and are familiar with your antics more so than theirs. Now, if YOU were involved, then I can definitely see why I’m gonna defend this series…but you’re not, so why am I defending it?
I’m an Atlantis fan who’s said before that he’s been “betrayed” by the establishment, and now I’m standing up for Universe, when all around me (at Gateworld), fans are frothing at the mouth and mocking the series senselessly, along with those in charge.
The more I think about it, the more I realize that it’s time I move on from fandom for a while. We’re just too dissimilar at the moment. So I’m gonna try to log out from Gateworld tonight, and not log back in for as long as I can. Let’s see how long this lasts.
You win, Gateworld fandom, for the moment. Your absolute idiocy has finally driven me from your ranks. Bravo!
What I can’t get over is saying that these new characters are unique.
The colonel was even described as being a younger Jack in the casting call! (see also Cam and John)
You have the young medic – Keller
The socially inept genius geek – Rodney, Daniel in his early years
Young soldier hunk – Ford (see how well that worked out) (alternatively Flash Gordon – football hero anyone?)
Psycho menacing dude – Ronon, Teal’c, (strong silent type)
OK Chloe the socialite Party Girl Princess is new to Stargate, but certainly not to 90210…..
so why ditch a show we love?
We already had what we love.
Are you guys saying the “goods” we had are stale and you are trying to repackage them? Cause that’s what it sounds like.
A huge disappointment and betrayal in my eyes.
So sorry, I’m extremely bitter and sad.
I loved the original Stargate movie and loved SG1 from the start as well as Atlantis…..but I am sorry but from what I have read SGU will as nothing I care for in it and will not be watched by me.
I am sick that a show loved by tons of fans world wide was dumped in the gutter for this new show…*gag*
🙁
To PG15
Please be a bit patient with us.
We are grieving for something we love.
Those on Gateworld included, I think we are having difficulty moving beyond the anger stage of the process and moving towards acceptance as you seem able to do.
Time heals many things, but some never do stop mourning the loss of something they love.
I know this is JUST a TV show, but any of us who have taken time to go to a forum or to Joe’s blog are passionate about the show in some way and thus have emotion invested in its existance.
Bringing another show to us so quickly to replace our beloved SGA is akin, emotionally (mind you not in reality) to bringing in your new step mom the same day your dad kicks your real mom to the curb, and say’s here’s the new model, love her…
It touches the same emotional chords and I think what we are seeing is a very human response.
Some of those who are now adamantly opposed to SGU may give it a chance later, some of us won’t ,as we will remain hurt and betrayed by this choice.
And it was a choice, it did not have to happen like this. That hurts even worse.
*gulp* I hope the casting call with Chloe is not for real. It’s seriously plan scary.
Instead of a hot, young, likely snobbish, college party girl..perhaps someone who has some of the funny quirks that Vala from SG1 had.
*very scared now*
I think I’d rather have a formula that has proven to equal success like Atlantis than SGU. I want SGA back. *sniff*
Okay – Don’t laugh…but sometimes a picture captures what you don’t normally see. So, is it just me, or does Mr. Das have Wraithy brows in this picture (grainy, unalterd cell pic from last Sunday)???:
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v54/dasNdanger/ds2.jpg
I may have just discovered the source of my obsession. Should I just paint him green now and get it over with? 😛
😆
Or, maybe I just need some rest…
das
Oh, and to add, instead of having another Teal’c or Ronon…the marine could be a kick ass, sexy woman. I think that could be cool.
Just adding my insights for what it’s worth.
This entry makes me sad, but at the same time, I’m looking forward to trying SGU out.
Still, there’ll never be another Atlantis, another Sheppard, McKay, Ronon, Teyla et al. You can make something new, and maybe it will be wonderful, but it won’t ever replace the beloved past.
Hey Joe, I really respect you and your loyalty to the franchise, but I still don’t believe SGU will work for me. It doesn’t matter what great in-story reason is given for a bunch of kids to be stranded on a ship with one adult… it’s still a production choice to go that way, and I’m simply not interested in watching a bunch of 20-somethings. My 9-year-old nephew might be, but his allowance is way lower than my salary so he won’t be buying the merchandise. 🙂
And sadly, I don’t see the descriptions as atypical heroes. I mean, how cliched is it to have the smart guy also be acerbic and maladjusted? Can there every be a genius who is also cool and not the comic relief?
The commander sounds like every other Stargate commander, with that dash of angst for the wife. So maybe he won’t be shipped with the chicks, which is a blessing since they’re 20+ years younger. Then we have the hot young officer and the psycho marine. Sigh. What is not cliched or stereotypical about these characters?
Of course they will be given more layers than are shown in the breakdowns… but they’ll still be kids, and I still won’t care, sorry.
By the way, a medic would not be an officer. She would be enlisted.
Ooooh ooooh ooooh!!!
I read the casting call for SGU and got excited about it!!!
Not because it sounded all that exciting, but rather because it sounded like something new and different, while still being true to the world of Stargate. Which got me excited!!!
Question for the day:
Can we get Paul to do a guest blog???
Hi Joe,
I wanted to thank you, as well as the cast, crew and other writers of Atlantis. You have done amazing things with the Stargate ‘verse. I will never forget my favorite episodes or moments over the years in both SG-1 and Atlantis. It’s brought laughter and smiles. 🙂
I plan on giving Stargate Universe a chance — I was hesitant about Atlantis in the beginning and now I can’t imagine not having Atlantus on anymore! So, I do have a lot of respect and trust for all of the people who created, worked on, and have made Stargate what it is. I am sure that I will be surprised by Universe.
I did have one question, though I’m sure you might not know the answer to this, but I noticed on the casting call there wasn’t any mention of another race (besides Tau’ri) joining the cast? (i.e. Teal’c, Teyla, Ronon, Vala). I was wondering if there was a reason for this, or simply something that hasn’t been considered yet? I do hope that it’s a possibility since it is an important element of the Stargate ‘verse.
Again, thank you for everything and I look forward to watching the rest of this season of Atlantis! It’s been a fun ride, 🙂
~L
Last post for the night.
Joe, what in heaven’s name, is the rationale for those of us who love and support the cast and crew of Atlantis, to support the new series.
When I feel this new series has killed the one I love and put those very people out of business and out of work.
Even if I might actually like Universe, I would feel like I am morally wrong in supporting the darned thing, just cause it was the instrument that caused the demise of the thing I love.
I realize this is all a bit silly, denying myself something I like out of principal and all, but I feel it is the right thing to do.
And sometimes you just have to take a stand for your beliefs.
(maybe I should go try to save the whales or something?)
Hi, Joe.
Well…darn it, Joe, it’s a good thing I keep an industrial supply of Kleenex next to my computer 24/7 (asthma), because I’ve sure needed it this week while reading your blog.
I’m just so proud and grateful towards everyone who has worked on Stargate (Atlantis and SG1). Your devotion to your craft, the sharing of your talents and lives and with us, the grace and generosity of your hearts and spirits…I Thank You, all of you, and wish everyone the very best in your future endeavors.
Whoever you are, there is some younger person who thinks you are perfect.
There is some work that will never be done if you don’t do it.
There is someone who would miss you if you were gone.
There is a place that you alone can fill.
— Jacob M. Braude
Happy Gating!
Morjana
I’ll give SGU a chance, but I must admit the character descriptions didn’t excite me. A group of us were discussing said descriptions over at Gateworld and were wondering what the original descriptions of the SG1 and SGA characters were. How different did the characters turn out after the casting was complete?
Are the old descriptions still around somewhere? We all thought it would be quite interesting to read them and see if we could recognize the characters we’ve come to know in the profiles.
Thanks Joe! For your entertaining blog and your years of dedication to my favorite franchise. Looking forward to the movies.
Oh, you have no idea how patient I am, Hachi. I have been posting on Gateworld for 3 years now; I’ve got almost 15000 mostly on-topic posts under my belt, and I’ve had to put up with this crap far too many times. Let me list them for you.
There was a BS Session at the beginning of Season 3 because OH NOES GASP!! Carter might come and “contaminate”10 episodes of Season 3!! RANT RANT RANT, BITCH BITCH BITCH.
There was the BS Session when Carson and Weir got offed. OH NOES GASP!! TPTB has betrayed ALL fans by doing this!!! They treated Paul and Torri like crap!! So we’re gonna act no better than how we perceive TPTB and treat them like crap in turn!! RANT RANT RANT, BITCH BITCH BITCH.
There was a general BS Session for Season 4. OH NOES GASP!! They’re changing everything! Carter’s going to SUCK ASS as the new commander!! They obviously tossed out Weir for Carter!! They obvious tossed out Carson for Keller because she’s a buxom blonde!! RANT RANT RANT, BITCH BITCH BITCH.
This continued for most of the season. Oh, and then there were the anti-Keller brigade that just kept RANTING AND BITCHING AD NAUSEAM forever and ever and ever. They’re still doing it. I’m not talking about regular complaints and criticism either; I’m talking about full-on bashing with very little logic in the arguments.
Then Season 5 rolled around. General BS Session: OH NOES GASP!! They’re bringing effing Woolsey to Atlantis?! But he’s a dweeb and weasle! He’ll suck! Also, a female team? WTF SEXIST!! RANT RANT RANT, BITCH BITCH BITCH.
And now this crap. BS Session: OH NOES GASP!! Stargate Universe will be made for teeny boppers!! All the characters will have SEX with each other in the pilot and many episodes afterwards there will be angst and ugggggh horribleness!! Why don’t they like us old people?! AGISTS!! RANT RANT RANT, BITCH BITCH BITCH.
I’m sorry, but enough is enough. I’m done with sharing my opinions with this bunch. Hey, as individuals, I’m sure they’re mostly good people. But put 35000+ in the same place, and it’s a horrible, horrible environment.
I understand that they’re grieving, I really do. I loved Atlantis, and I grieved for it as well. I’m a huge fan of the series; just ask anybody. Please don’t think I’m some outsider who’s coming into the forum and telling everyone to stop behaving like utter children because I accidentally stumbled upon Stargate fandom while surfing for porn or something.
No, I’m someone who’s very much within the fandom…who’s telling everyone to stop behaving like children.
Heh.
Ok, obviously not everyone. Heck, it might not even be the majority, but the general atmosphere created over at Gateworld over this has finally worn me down. Maybe I’m just odd; maybe I’m one who doesn’t feel as intensely as other people (I’m serious here; this can most definitely be a possibility; who knows; I’m no psychologist) about these things, maybe I’ve got a low threshold for what I perceive as bullshit, whatever the case, I’m done with Gateworld Forums.
I’ll still lurk though, just to be up-to-date with Stargate news. Any other stuff is off my radar for as long as I can keep this up.
Hi, Joe
Just to let you know: I own (and watch) all ten seasons of SG-1, both SG-1 DVDs, and the first four seasons of SGA. I will purchase SGA 5 and any SGA DVDs the powers that be see fit to produce.
I’m 47 years old, retired, and a junior at university. I have time to watch SGA live on Friday nights, and the money to buy your products. I’m a lifelong fan of science fiction, and even remember watching the premiere of Star Trek when I was five years old.
No, I will not be watching SGU. I see enough immature, sexy, dreamboat, musclebound kids with entitlement issues floundering around on campus. I’m not going to spend what little free time I have from studying watching it on TV. I watch SG-1 and SGA because they appeal to me as an adult. But I’m not the right demographic so no one is going to listen to me anyway.
Thanks for five great years and I wish you, the cast and crew, all good things for the future.
When will casting for SGU start ((or has it already?)) and where are the locations if it is in fact an open call?
I’m only assuming there will be open calls as its been said most of the cast will be “unknowns”
sometimes you don’t want the new, shiny toy. sometimes you want the old, familiar toy that you’ve loved for years and has been there for you through ups and downs. the toy you hug when you’re sad and when you’re happy.
and when someone yanks that toy away, throws it in the garbage and gives you a new one with expectations that you’ll accept it and love it like the old one…well, you just wanna throw a fit and drop kick that new toy across the room.
i’m sure i’ll give SGU a try. you are right that the writers aren’t the ones who cancelled “Atlantis” so it’s not fair to be harsh to them or to the actors who will eventually play these characters. but, i’ll be watching this new show with the mindset of a cranky little girl who had her favorite toy taken away.
The SGA original casting call can be found at the following
From a post on Gateworld:
http://forum.gateworld.net/showpost.php?p=8945908&postcount=16
“This was the casting call for SGA:
http://www.filmjerk.com/news/article.php?id_new=350
http://www.filmjerk.com/news/article.php?id_new=362
Spoiler:
# Major John Sheppard: A gifted military pilot, posted at McMurdoch Air Force Base because it’s the only place they will let him fly; Sheppard once defied a direct order and flew his helicopter to rescue two Rangers trapped behind enemy lines. Though people might see a good-ol’ boy exterior he is also a closet mathematical genius. He has a wry sense of humor and likes to pretend he’s not as smart as he really is. Most of the time a perfect gentlemen – who tries his best to be charming – when he’s pushed to fight he can be an absolute animal with single-minded purpose. He distrusts authority and always goes with his gut letting his strong sense of common sense morality lead his actions. The character is listed as being between 35 and 40 years old.
# Dr. Elizabeth Weir: Described as “attractive, brilliant, and the master of five languages,” this 35-year-old started out as a critic of government spending on the military. But she ultimately decided the best way to fight the establishment was to join it and change what she could from within by brokering peace and being a voice of reason to whoever would listen. She worked behind the scenes for the U.S. government as a high level international negotiator for years before being offered command of the Stargate Program by the new President. Now, she has been given the opportunity to lead an international team through the gate to a new galaxy on a grand mission to save all of humanity and she is not one to turn that challenge down.
Mikala: Beautiful and soulful, she is a native of post-apocalyptic alien world viewers will encounter in the initial episode and has lost most of her family to the Wraith. Despite her youth, she has become somewhat of a leader to her people. Initially seen as a love interest for Sheppard, she joins our team’s effort to defeat our common enemy in the Wraith and their budding romance becomes playful sexual tension as they focus on their mission. She proves herself early on to be a surprisingly scrappy fighter, a survivor under any circumstances and an invaluable source of knowledge about the people and worlds we will be visiting. The producers are looking for an actress of any ethnicity for the role, which is listed as being between 20 and 25 years old.
Lt. Aiden Ford: Described as “boyishly good-looking, with an ebullient sense of humor to match,” this 25-year-old is an officer who volunteers for the Atlantis mission. A good man in a tight spot, he accompanies Major Sheppard on a perilous rescue mission to the Wraith planet, where unspeakable terrors lurk. He keeps a cool head and his finger on the trigger when the Wraiths are closing in on the rescue party.
Dr. Benjamin Ingram: In his 40’s, Ingram is a brilliant African Canadian scientist who has done a heroic job of interfacing modern technology with those of the Ancients, and is in large part responsible for the new discoveries that have made the Atlantis mission possible. However, it bothers Ingram that he doesn’t possess the rare gene that would allow him to physically interact with the Ancients’ technology. He also accompanies Dr. Weir and Major Sheppard on their risky journey to another galaxy, where Atlantis now lies.
Colonel Marshall Sumner: A hardened officer with a buzz cut and a hair-trigger temper, 50-year-old Sumner is no-nonsense and autocratic, a man who is accustomed to having his orders followed without question. He is the military leader of the Atlantis expedition, but he is second-in-command to Dr. Weir. At times, he forgets who’s in charge, but he is an inspired commander who is committed to the mission, however dangerous. Later, he refuses to give vital information to the Wraith Queen before meeting an untimely end. Producers are looking for star names for this role. “
*hugs PG15*
I agree with **ALEXANDRIA** – a kickass ‘Starbuck’esque female marine would be good. Oh, and maybe to offset the potential “Hilton” partygirlness of the senator’s daughter, perhaps she would be an opportune way to introduce a homosexual character…? Just a thought…
Meanwhile, I seriously would love to see NATHAN FILLION cast as the lead! Seeing as half the cast of FIREFLY has already made it over to SG!
*reads PG15’s post…and goes back to sucking thumb and cowering in the corner*
*sniffle* i…i…just don’t want ’em to kill todd…is that a bad thing, too? *sniffle*
…pg15 scareded me…
🙁
das
Oh, and big hugs for everyone at the Wrap party!! — If I happen to win big on the Super7 Friday night, I’ll be on the redeye to Vancouver sooo fast to crash that event!!!
Of course, the chances of that happening – doubtful that even Rodney could do the Math on that one… So, instead, I *really*, REALLY want to see pics of the ceremonial burning of the Ronon Rug!!
PUL-LEEEEEZZEEE!!!!
SGA is one of my all time favorite shows. I love the character interaction and have to truly thank all for a wonderful 5 years. I hope for many movies for both SGA and Stargate.
As for SGU, I love the idea and I am looking forward to hearing more about the series and see who has been cast. I was hoping that one of the recurring cast would cross over. I think Major Lorne would make a great addition to the current cast of character. Just a thought!!
>Meanwhile, I seriously would love to see NATHAN FILLION cast as the lead! Seeing as half the cast of FIREFLY has already made it over to SG!
YESSSS!!!!
My main concern is that SGA was canceled to make way for SGU which can more easily become a giant commercial like Eureka now is for Degree antiperspirant.
I have a deep seeded fear that Sci-Fi will invade the show in that way, and that was the real reason (whether the production team is aware or not) for their push with MGM to cancel SGA for SGU rather than doing both and doing a send off final 6th season to tie things up and go onto the next “spinoff” which in terms of Stargate should always just be the next chapter in the Stargate mythos.
Oh, and then there was the BS Session where PG15 quit Gateworld and totally mocked all the fans and belittled their opinions and blew their reactions way out of proportations. RANT RANT RANT. BITCH BITCH BITCH.
—
Haha. Yeah, I totally recognize the utter irony and/or hypocrisy in my comments. Oh well, these things happen. I’m still sticking by them though.
I’m looking forward to how you guys will wrap up the series! I haven’t seen the Sopranos, but Steve Schirripa did guest star on Star Trek Enterprise as Carmine, so I’m looking forward to seeing him again.
Lastly, I think you know how I feel about all the cast and crew who work for Stargate Atlantis, Joe. You guys have done an amazing job over the last 5 years, and it’s been my immense pleasure coming along for the ride. As days go by and the cast leave the set one-by-one, and production on Atlantis the series shuts down for good, it’s hard not to feel depressed. Still, I can’t help but be reminded of Teyla’s song in Critical Mass…
Beyond the night, a rising sun
Beyond the night, a battle’s won
A battle is won
Fear and shame now in the past
Pain and sorrow gone at last
Gone at last.
Circle renewed, peace will be found
Beyond the night, on sacred ground
River flows, led by the wind
First new breath, Our journey begins
Our journey begins.
I deem this the official Atlantis song with lyrics (the main theme is, of course, the official Atlantis song without lyrics…except the choir part). Our journey is just beginning. With or without Universe, there is still movie(s?) coming. Do us proud, Joe, and make them BIG!
On second thought, YYYYEEEESSSSS!!!
Colonel Everett Young
40’s handsome, capable, former SG team leader. Like the Jack O’Neill of ten years ago, but Young’s edges have tended to sharpen over time. He requested permission to serve the remainder of his commission on Earth upon marrying his wife, Hailey, two years ago, but for now he’s temporary commander of a secret off world base. The loss of two members of his team several years ago has taught him never to take anything for granted, and be prepared for anything. He stays on top of his team so they stay alive. STAR NAMES ONLY. SERIES REGULAR;
Uh… Nathan all the way!
That idea is delicious enough to start a grassroots upon.
Heh, that was so not the response I thought I’d receive, Hachi. Thank you for that, and sorry for pretty much blowing up in your face. I do wish that your emotional wounds will heal over time, along with all the fans’. I just…need some time away from them, for now.
das…heh, sorry to you too. I love Todd and wish him a long and well-fed life. There’s definitely nothing wrong with hoping that they keep him alive; I do too. I’d say he’s the best guest star on Atlantis, actually. 🙂
Nathan Fillion:
Contact Information: Agent: MarkSchumacher, The Gersh Agency, 232 North Canon Dr., Beverly Hills, CA 90210.;Manager: 3 Arts Entertainment, 9460 Wilshire Blvd., 7th Floor, Beverly Hills,CA 90212.
Lets execute a plan, anyone with me? 😀
Oh, what a sweet, sweet man ya are, Cap’n Mallozzi! Ya took some good-bye pictures of our truly loved Dr. Beckett/Mr. McGillion. And do ya know? Is it possible that our Pauly knew we wished for a great big bear hug? In the last picture it looks like he’s got his arms open wide, just waiting for one, the kind with a back rub built into it.
The truth is, Cap’n, if I were ever lucky enough to meet this prince of a mon, I’m terribly afraid I’d forget meself, grab his lapels, and plant a big, soft one right on the kisser. Oy! I’ve been known to be a stingy girl with kisses, but he’s a thoroughly gorgeous mon, inside and out. T’would be lovely, even though someone else has already done that… (Step back, Mr. Hewlett, and nobody gets hurt!) Hmm, I’m for wondering if Pauly likes ladies with long hair…
…For the Love of Mallozzi
There are na wairds enough to praise our Cap’n. We’d all agree to that. He not only helped create a fascinating world called Atlantis, he populated it with interesting characters. Ones with both heroic qualities, and quirky foibles. “It’s complicated!” (Aye, Col. Sheppard, t’is indeed.) But those only made the personalities more adoptable as “ours.”
After everything is written, and said and done, and filmed, you give us the grand backstage tour. You show us how the magic is made by all the other unsung stars of Atlantis — who by now probably wish they had their anonymity back. “Och! These fans! Weel the questions never end?” You’ve given us words, pictures, videos, script breakdowns, deleted scenes, sci-fi food for thought, and some foods we dunna ever want to see on our plates. And then there’s Fuel…food fantasy if ever there were such a thing.
Life t’would be easier if we were all as cool and self-composed as the radiant Ms. Teyla. Being sentimental is a trial at a tame like this, when all good things… Drat it… It’s no use, this stiff upper lip business. God love ya, Cap’n Mallozzi, and thank you fer showin’ us your world.
…and For the Love of Atlantis
It’s been written that there’s a tame to build up, and a tame to tear down. “Now” does’na feel like Atlantis’ natural tame to go. Everyone’s contracts are written for a sixth year. There are storylines needin’ to come to a natural conclusion. The ratings are swelling. And paradoxically (try saying that in brogue!), the best reason for continuing Atlantis is SGU itself.
Why would’na the Sci Fi channel want to cleverly do what other channels do when they introduce a new show? You run the hit show, and either lead in with the new show first, or, with no commercial break, immediately let the new show follow on the coattails of the hit. Works like a charm, it does. Statistics prove it. It would surely help protect the front-loaded investment in a new product to air. Who wouldn’a want to do that?
The Power of ONE
We loyal fans, besotted with stories as we are, also are practical enough to understand the bottom lane. Resources are tight everywhere. Don’t we live with budgets at home?
If it’s resources that Sci Fi and MGM need, then I say we put our resources where our mouths are. That is the kind of language they will hear loud and clear. Even those of us in a strain can find a dollar for dear Atlantis. Put them all together, and there are millions of we fans, and there could be quite a lot. T’would prove how many of us there really are, bett-r than a Nielson rating, yeah?
After all, dinna that strategy put a college kid through university? One dollar at a tame? (Cheeky lil’ bugger!) Some of us might have a fiver or more if we looked hard.
We would need central organization and financial oversight, t’is true. I was busy planning my brother’s weddin,’ so I dinna have tame to research that. Surely we have those talents among us somewhere! Bottom lane, if it’s money they need to keep Atlantis, then money we can give them.
Who can save Atlantis?
We can.
Who will save Atlantis?
We will, if we apply ourselves.
Seriously, For the Love of Atlantis, consider it…
@ PG15 –
But you’re my friend at Gateworld. 🙁
Ya know – I think you just hang out in the wrong threads. You really should come to the Wraith Defender’s thread, ’cause – we tend not to bitch. We DO worry (a side effect of loving the creepy green guys with the giant bullseyes on their asses 🙄 ), and whine a bit when one dies (there will be whining Friday night, I’m sure), but we can also see the humor in it all. In fact…we laugh a lot in that thread. Laugh…and drool. Okay, drool maybe more than laugh…but still…
For the most part, we either discuss deep, intellectual stuff like Wraith reproduction… or the finer aspects of Todd’s hair vs Steve’s hair…or analyze the extent of pleasure a Wraith feels while feeding based on the sounds it makes…or gush over how sexy handginas are… or… 😐
Yeah. Okay, so…basically we’re a bunch’a sick bastards, so you should fit right in. 😉 Just not today, because some are bitching over the SGU line-up…but I think that’s just a side effect of the overall atmosphere there right now. Mostly we just worry about Todd’s chances of survival…and speculate on the mention of ‘shirtless Wraith’ and all that it implies.
And yes – as a huge fan of Galaxy Quest, I am well aware of the idiocy of sci fi fandoms and my current involvement in one…I just don’t care. 😀
That said, personally, I have NO problem whatsoever watching young, muscular men running around, shooting guns, if that’s what SGU is all about. If we can’t have a Wraith, my only desire would be to make one of the male characters a flowing-locked albino. Perferrably that broody, tortured fella they’re looking to cast. THAT would totally sell me on the show.
Totally.
Have him be a master swordsman and martial artist a la Prince Nuada, and I’d even invite 10 friends to watch…AND get a Nielsen box.
😀
d as in Damn shallow.
🙂
Hi, Joe.
‘Tracker’ is on TV Guide Online’s TV Hot List:
http://www.tvguide.com/tv-hotList
We’re at the top of the column!
Woo-hoo!
🙂
Morjana
It was great to see you being so positive about life, the universe and everything and I am certainly going to look forward to SGU whilst missing SGA. Will any of the cast be making guest appearances or is SGU going to try to break free of that link to the past? Just curious.
You may remember (doubt it tho) that my central heating is being installed this week, well hold the presses cuz the plumber went off sick and now I have a house packed away in boxes, rooms I can barely move around in as a result, 7/8 radiators hooked up, no boiler, no gas and no chance now of it being completed before the end of NEXT week at the earliest. I must have got the only plumbing company that only has one sodding plumber! Give me the copper pipes and I’ll finish the bloody job myself, how hard can it be? PMSL
Hang in there PG15!!! The force is strong with us.
I am laughing at the perfection that your expression of opinion was met with a RANT, RANT, RANT, BITCH, BITCH, BITCH. Priceless… and also kinda poetic.
If you find yourself reaching for the login button, you know where to find us non-Gateworlders. Yep, you can find us annoying the hell out of Joe. Sorry Joe.
Need to go. We are having the best thunder storm here right now. Must go and enjoy.
Have a good night everyone!
TPTB had their reasons for the decision to cancel SGA, likely a mixture of the financial and creative. We who are not privy to the details cannot judge the wisdom of that decision.
However, we can compare the casting breakdowns for SGU to those for SGA, and see that while several of the SGA characters were described as attractive, nowhere was there the panting quality that runs throughout the SGU breakdowns. That raises an eyebrow.
We can also let TPTB know that they cannot take for granted that current SG fans will stay with the franchise. Some angry fans will have their emotions temper over time, they’ll give the show a try, some will stick with it and some won’t. If TPTB’s bet pays off, they’ll bring in a greater number of newer (younger) viewers than they’ll lose in transition. I’m curious to see how it all plays out — way more curious than I am in the new show itself.
As for the argument that these are the folks who brought you SG1 and SGA, so you should trust them… I love SGA yet SG1 bores me witless. I’ve watched at least a dozen eps, from various seasons, and my eyes glaze over every single time. So, as far as I’m concerned, BW and RCC are 1 and 1.
SGA is the ONLY show I watch. I haven’t been this invested in a TV show since the X-Files. I download the eps from iTunes, buy the DVDs, went to ComiCon… and I’ll wait a year for SGU to hit Netflix then will watch the show and see for myself.
I remain cautiously pessimistic and completely unenthused.
When SG-1 was on, I tried to love it, but I didn’t. I respected, admired and even liked it a lot, but I didn’t love it. And I tried really hard, because it was MacGyver, for heavens sake! I had even liked RDA in Legend, although I was really watching it for John de Lancie. 8^) Maybe because SG1 was based in the military, maybe because I didn’t watch it from the beginning because started on a cable channel I couldn’t pay for. I don’t know, these things just happen. Why does someone marry one person and not another?
When Atlantis came on, something clicked for me. I immediately responded to the characters while my friends around me mourned the loss of “their” show. I was the lone person who came to the group SciFi Friday viewings just for Atlantis while everyone else waited after watching SG1 for Battlestar to come on. Not that they didn’t watch Atlantis, not that they didn’t like the show. But I was the only one who loved Atlantis.
While I’m willing to give Universe a chance, I just don’t see it grabbing my attention, my devotion, like Atlantis did. I’m outside the targeted demographic, being neither male nor in my twenties. I can understand trying to appeal to a younger crowd, to try to capture an audience and have them stick by you in the coming years. But frankly, I’m not all that interested in a show that has only one main character older than 30. The show isn’t trying to appeal to me, so I’ll have to see what happens.
Thanks to all the Atlantis cast and crew and everyone else who contributed to the show. It was 5 wonderful years, and there’s still more than half of that fifth year to watch. I wish everyone the best.
I hold it true, whate’er befall;
I feel it, when I sorrow most;
‘Tis better to have loved and lost
Than never to have loved at all.
— Alfred Lord Tennyson
Well I admire you for putting forward the spirited defence of SGU – I may have even bought it if I hadn’t read about ‘party girl’ and ‘every teenage girl’s fantasy’ first.
In all seriousness I wish you well with SGU, but I’m sorry a bunch of kids playing on a space ship is not ‘different’, it’s not ‘new’ and it’s not appealing.
I hope you do find an audience for SGU, I just suspect it’s not your old one. So I’ll just say thanks for ten mostly good years of SG-1, a couple of great years on SGA wish you well for the future and part company with Stargate while I still like it.
je trouve dégeulasse d’avoir annulé SGA et maintenant on ragardera quoi????? SGU il faut pas rêvé là……….
une fan en colère.
Hi Joe,
My first comment, and I’m writing it on the last day of shooting in Vancouver 🙁 I read your blog often, and I’ve been wanting to say something for a while now, but never found the right time to actually say it. Today’s entry suddenly let the words flow. It made me feel so proud of all of you guys working on the show, but also extremely sad again that it really is over (even though MGM will receive my letter. Couldn’t hurt right ;)).
I just wanted to say that I want to thank all of the people who made SGA possible!!! I still can’t believe it’s over, it seems so unfair now the ratings are so incredibly good, cancelling a show during it’s best season so far, but I know it’s not something that was your doing, so I’ll leave that for MGM ;). I’ve loved all the stories you’ve told throughout these five years, and I so wished we had a few more years to tell more stories that were there to be told. It makes me very sad that characters who almost feel like family will not come to my screen every week, and that I will never get to see any new material of them after this season. I know we get movies, but it just doesn’t feel the same, especially since it’s so unsure how many will follow.
I also wanted to say that I’m a member of Gateworld, and that I’ve become close friends with a lot of people, especially the Pegasus girls at the Joe/Shep thread. Without SGA I wouldn’t have met them, and I know we will stay put to follow the rest of Joe’s career.
And lastly, you actually made me feel a bit more reassured about SGU. Even though I’m not liking the way SGA got ditched for it (because I can’t help but have that feeling. The cancellation and green light were too close to each other, and we knew running two shows wasn’t going to happen), it’s still you guys and you know how to make shows and write episodes.
Thanks again for five seasons of fantastic tv!! *sniffs*
Sandra (aka SanGate)
Joe,
As so many others have already said, I’d like to say a big thank you to everyone involved in Atlantis for five great years. The show has been an absolute pleasure to watch, and I really wish it wasn’t ending so soon, but that’s just how it goes sometimes. (That’s the adult-me talking. The kid-me is wailing, “No, it can’t end! Not like this, not so soon! I’m not ready to say goodbye!” Let’s just ignore the kid-me for now).
Hey, you’re not dropping us off the edge of a cliff with the season five finale, are you? It’s just I seem to recall a remark or two about season five’s big ending… 🙂
I will be giving SGU a chance even though I’ll admit I am not yet feeling much excitement for the new series. But then, Wright and Cooper created Atlantis, which gives me hope. Alas, I am not in the target demographic of young and hip or new to the Stargate universe — too bad for MGM and Sci-Fi. (Oops, sorry, kid-me slipped loose for a minute there).
Anyway, thank you all again for Atlantis. (Kid me: And there better be lots and lots and LOTS of movies!)
Thanks for the lovely pictures of the cast! 😀 They made me all sniffly 🙁
I’m glad that SGU is striking out in and exciting new direction because it means I won’t miss anyting by not watching it. I was quite happy with the exciting direction of Atlantis.
Cazz x
I know you’re trying to do the ‘right thing’ but let’s face it….they (being MGM, Sci-Fi and Brad Wright) screwed over the fans, crew, and cast when they canceled SGA for SGU..no matter how much everyone tries to spin it..that’s what happened.
They should have given SGA one last season as a lead in to SGU and there where have been ratings for both and less harsh feelings.
Sorry, can’t do it. Will watch and buy the SGA movies. I can only hope those who made the choice will learn never to think their fan base that stupid or gullible— or change their minds.
I understand Joe that you need to put a positive spin on SGU but for me (a veteran fan) it just has nothing whatsoever that appeals to me. There are a zillion shows on TV where I can watch young beautiful people with emotional issues and I avoid them all like the plague. I have nothing in common with any of these new hot young things. You think psyco, or party girl will interest me and as I’m not a teenager I’m not gonna scream over any hot young marine. I really don’t care how “mature” the writers try and make SGU, it’s still full of kids.
Why on earth do you think that veteran fans would have any interest in something like this. I don’t want to watch kids in space, no matter how well it’s written. SGA had the perfect mix of characters which appealed to my age group a lot more than twentysomethings. Can’t characters be sexy and stunning at 40, Joe Flanigan certaintly is and he and the rest of the SGA cast appealed to all ages, young and old. But it looks like the tpb are only interested in appealing to the young audience because if they really think that the more mature audience is interested in characters like psyco, party girl and young hot marines then they are really mistaken.
So I’m feeling incredibly sad that SGA was cancelled for this, I have no intention of watching. I hope you get your young audience and it’s enough to carrry the show for years to come. But SGA still had so much potential and it hurts even more to hear that SGU will be concentrating on the characters more and their development, when we have been screaming for this to happen for years on SGA. So much potential wasted.
Aww. So sorry to see it all breaking down. Although there is much comfort in knowing movies are on the way!
As for SGU? I think you should tell MGM to let the writers come up with ways of describing the show that won’t alienate the veteran fans. That first press release was a disaster.
Still, I’m willing to watch it. You guys haven’t let me down yet!
If the tpb want us to believe that SGU is worth watching then why give out these cheesy, cliched shallow bios. But even if they don’t turn out half as bad as the bios sound, they still don’t appeal to me in the slightest. How can you make twenty somethings with emotional hang ups sound mature. Why would I have any interest in any of these proposed characters. Why the need to cast nearly all of them in their twenties ,and then to honestly believe that veteran fans will be interested.
I want mature actors in their thirties and forties, or a mix or all age groups as in SGA. I find it highly insulting that Brad Wright couldn’t be bothered trying to appeal to the fans that have brought him to where he is today. We are all being tossed aside to keep the kids happy.
Well my 15 year interest in Stargate dies with SGA. I don’t have any faith in Brad Right anymore if he honestly thinks that this is the way to take the franchise and I can’t even say that the writing was always fantastic either. SGA had so much more potential than was realised at times by the writers, but instead of trying to infuse fresh new ideas into SGA and developing the characters more, the show gets tossed aside along with its fans.
As much as I am disappointed in the demise of SGA I would like to thank everyone involved for bringing us a wonderrful show. SGA and it’s characters will always hold a special place in my heart.
Nathan Fillion already has a new series for ABC, ‘Castle,’ that’s scheduled to air mid-season (read: replace the first new series that ABC cancels).
Morjana
First of all, thank you for introducing me to the wonderful actors that are Connor Trinneer and Christopher Heyerdahl, through Stargate Atlantis.
I’m hoping to catch them on different shows now, too, so that’s very positive. I’m very much thinking of getting Enterprise on DVD, as Trip is just *such* a honey. 😀
Is the girl that played Hoshi too old to be on SGU?
That said, please, please, please do not use Nathan Fillion on SGU. It would definitely be a reason for me not to watch it, as I absolutely didn’t like him on Buffy.
Spikey
hey joe. just so you know, im exited about SGU, and terified it might not be as cool as i would like it to be.
So they cancelled SGA because the fans they had weren’t good enough (too old). They think putting a bunch of barely 20-somethings is going to give them those young fans they want, and obviously think those too-old fans are either desperate enough or brain-dead enough to keep watching anything with the StarGate label on it.
Newsflash to TPTB: You’re not that good.
SGU is not going to attract younger fans by slapping some 20 year olds in the cast. And a large percentage of us too-old fans are not going to waste our time watching the angst of a bunch of vapid college-agers who have absolutely no credible reason to be in that situation. I can think of absolutely no reason to watch.
And I think this idea that we’re going to get a series of wonderful SGA movies that will make it all worthwhile is a crock too. Yes, if they get ratings/sell DVDs you’ll keep making them…slowly loosing regular cast members as they get other projects and are no longer available. No time for development of characters not named Rodney in 2-hour one-offs. What’s to celebrate in that?
Top o’ the mornin’ to you, Joe..
And how melancholy today’s post is already sounding. If I could, i’d throw my ever faithful Labby through the office door to scramble you with a slobbery greeting and kiss away all the heartache.. But as we’ll probably be swinging from some mossy-faced mountain in Cumbria by the time you read this.. Well, I guess a virtual slobbering’s gonna have to do for now.
I’m still very much undecided on this whole SGU thing. As with many others, I fell in love with the Stargate franchise when the original film first exploded across my tv screen. SG-1 was THE best thing to scream into the scifi world (followed very closely by Firefly).. that was, until Atlantis was born and I watched my first dose of ‘Rising’.
Since that very first episode, nothing has come close to making me watch tv as much as Atlantis has. And I don’t necessarily watch it for all the hard work you and the other Writers put into it (although, that is greatly appreciated 😉 ). But I watch it for *Atlantis*. The City. The Expedition. The Team. Those wonderful interactions between characters as we saw in The Shrine and many other episodes through the past five years. I don’t doubt that Brad and Rob have ‘something wicked’ up their sleevs. They are clever guys and i’m sure will have many more years of success with SGU.
But, it isn’t Atlantis. And that’s the only name I look for when scrabbling through the tv guide.
‘Never Say Never’.. and I won’t. But i’ve *never* watched an episode of BSG. I lost interest in Star Trek as soon as they sent Janeway and Co out into the black. I could have quite happily lynched Mr Lucas for giving us the last three Star Wars runts and ruining what had been the most awe inspiring scifi epic to hit the big screen. And despite living in rainy, water-logged England.. I haven’t watched Dr Who since Tom Baker gave his last jelly baby over to a ranting Dalek.
I’m gonna miss Atlantis. And i’ll give SGU at least two or three episodes before making up my mind. But I would hate for anyone to be fooled into thinking that somehow I might be appeased now, because i’m not. And if I did ever have the pleasure of meeting up with any of TPTB down some darkened, back alley.. I would ask for whatever understanding and forgiveness my violence might incur.
Have a great weekend. Enjoy the party and give my heartfelt thanks to all the cast and crew. Kudos.. It’s been the best five years and I don’t think you guys could’ve done it any better, even if you’d tried 😉
Joe,
In all honesty, SGU could be the most awesome show ever. I’m really hesitant to watch it because I hate this feeling of having my all-time favorite show ripped away from me. At least with SG-1 I had ten years. Plus my ENTIRE family loves SGA. We talk about this show, the actors, and the writers often. So I keep hearing from my mom, my dad, my sisters, my nephews, and my children, how sad they are about losing SGA. Not to mention the DOZENS of friends I’ve made because of this show. Basically my entire support group is sad.
Here’s a saying that describes me well: Everything I’ve ever let go of has claw marks all over it.
This is just how I am, I suppose. We need to get another puppy. But both Jeremy and I can barely talk about it.
The one thing Jeremy has said to me is, “I just don’t ever want to go through that again.” I keep telling my girls to give daddy some more time. It sucks. I want to just take Jeremy out to look at the pyr rescue doggies. But I, too, don’t want to go through that again. *sigh*
It’s kinda how I feel about SGU. Right now, I just don’t wanna go through loving a show and then having it cancelled too soon. No one can ever convince me SGA wasn’t ended too soon.
I think this is all I will say about it. You may not like my opinion. You may think I’m being foolish. Or childish. Or over-emotional. But there it is. One thing I am being is very honest.
Thanks, Joe, for this blog. And thank you for getting all those videos. It’s hard to watch everyone say good-bye. But it’s also great that we get that chance. I can’t think of any other fans that are spoiled like us.
@pg15: I can’t even venture into Gateworld. I have no clue how you do it! 😯 I guess one main reason I’m a squirrel is because David H’s forum is like the anti-Gateworld. And also because I may be a wee-bit obsessed with D.H. Maybe. Possibly. *shrugs shoulders and avoids eye contact*
@Das: Firstly— ((((huggles)))) THREE spiders?!!! Allinoneday? IN the KITCHEN?! Yikes! But don’t you hate it when your usual spider wrangler catch and releaser into the wild is not available and you ask someone else to do it and they SMASH the spider! That’s happened to me several times. Once, I think it was my dad, someone thru the poor spider into the toilet and flushed before I could even say, “Stop!” Allie assured me that one probably survived. She said think of the little guy having the best water rollercoaster ride of his (or her) life. So I do!
Secondly— Uh… Mr. Das has a total Todd expression on his face! Yes… I do believe I see a resemblance. And for the record, my entire family and I want Todd to live on forever!
(((((((((SGA FANS)))))))))))
(((((((((((SGA CAST AND CREW)))))))))))
Trish
Uh… sorry for the long post. 😳 I think I need to edit my thoughts more BEFORE I hit *submit*.
Perhaps if you do not wish SGU to be referred to as a shallow confection, it shouldn’t be presented as such.
Hey, thanks to Angel for posting that original cast list! I was curious about it myself, wondering how Atlantis sounded at first.
Thank you for addressing my concerns, Joe. I certainly cannot have been the only person who dropped you a line on the issue yesterday, so a hearty ‘thank you’ from all of us. I just posted your response on GateWorld; hopefully some of the animosity will calm down from your candid response. You’ve restored some of my faith in SGU, man.
Meanwhile, thank you for a terrific television series. Stargate Atlantis has been a fun ride from ‘Rising’ to ‘The Queen’, and I look forward to everything that’s left and, hopefully, a long, profitable line of continuations.
And most certainly, thank you, thank you, thank you to everyone who made SGA happen and continued to bring their A-game for five years. You folks are some of my biggest role models, no exaggeration.
Lastly, thank you to the fans. Without you — and me, by extension — Stargate would have remained a 1994 film and a failed attempt at further development. Today the brand is wrapping up production on its fifteenth season and looking forward to a sixteenth and more savvy DTVs.
Joe, you and the rest of the magicians you affiliate yourself have taught me damn near everything I know about the television industry. (The rest I learned from the ‘Save Farscape’ campaign, for the record.) Hat’s off to you.
Go figure, I actually agree with pg15. Congrats on seeing the light. As you said, it’s about what happens when you get such a large amount of passionate people in one place. I’m sure there are some wonderful people there and great threads but it’s never been a place I want to hang out. I’ve found a much better place.
Cheers, Chev
Thanks for the pix. Hope to see more. Just no crying. Er…
…it’s a far cry from the shallow confection many fans are imagining. In fact, in many ways, it’s a much more cerebral and mature addition to the franchise
What other reaction could be expected from that insult-to-fan-intelligence casting call? “Every teenage girl’s fantasy” c’mon.
SGU = as it stands to my knowledge, not interested.
Tracker = SCIFI can’t even get the title correct on their website. It will be DVR’d tonite, as we have other plans.
the video was intended to be tongue in cheek. Terry is not really packing up my office
I lost my humor about such things back in May.
DD
SGU could win one Emmy, Gemini, *whateveraward* after another, I still wouldn’t watch it ’cause I’m simply fed up with the “we know what’s good for you, you’ll get over it, you’ll *love* the new show, *pats fan’s heads*”-attitude of TPTB.
A couple of years down the road exactly the same will happen with SGU and the fans who love this show (and there will be fans because *every* tv-show has fans – question is, how much) will be treated in the same way.
I know, it’s business, nothing else, but you know what? Even in business it’s possible to treat your customers/audience with respect and sensibility to their wishes, after all, you (generic “you”) want them to *buy* your product, right? Then you shouldn’t give them the feeling they don’t count and you don’t care for their opinion, not even if you start to target a new group of customers. Quite the contrary, the goal should be to keep the long-term customers/audience on board of the franchise *plus* gaining new ones.
And in this regard, cancelling SGA for SGU (and nobody believes the fairy-tale of this *not* being the case) instead of *using* SGA to support the new show and to “transfer” long-term fans over to it while targeting a new group at the same time is simply a poor strategy. Or rather – no strategy at all.
But then, I guess they don’t really need a strategy since the majority of the tv/sci-fi audience out there will most likely simply watch whatever is on ’cause they don’t have much of a choice if the alternative is turn off the tv. And that’s what the decision-makers are counting on, I guess.
Just because we care for a show doesn’t mean we’re of particular worth to the decision-makers in the tv-business. They’re looking for the big, average audience that doesn’t particularly care but *watch* without talking back. That’s the way this business works and the only thing you can do is, to *not* hang your heart on a tv-show and its characters or even on a franchise if you can’t stand the knowledge that you only count as a cow that has to be milked and is otherwise supposed to just suck up whatever is dished out.
So, how do we know that Brad and Rob are in it for the long haul? What if in another couple of years they get restless to build another “shiny new car”?
I will give it a go. I like the episodes they’ve written in the past and they gave us characters like Sheppard, McKay, Teyla etc. If I don’t like it then it will hurt even more, because my favourite show was dumped for it. That’s just how I feel.
If you were to write for SGU, which character would you be most excited to write for?
I was just watching Sateda and perhaps you or someone else could explain how they did the blow dart scene. I’ve always wondered. Great line…..oh, crap!
Cheers, Chev
Character breakdowns? I must have missed that. I think the show sounds interesting. Mainly, I really do like the franchise. I know some people were nervous about SGA taking the place of SG1–I think its the same kind of thing. I just like good sci-fi and so am looking forward to the new show. Though, I will miss SGA. It was only about the second sci-fi show I watched on a consistent basis. It really lead me on my path to being an obsessive TV sci-fi watcher. Just looking at these pictures makes my eyes want to water a bit…Thanks for sharing them, of course!
Morjana – well said. That’s ditto from me.
Cheers, Chev
At the end of SGA’s Season 4, there was a large photo made of the entire cast and crew. Is there such a photo for Season 5?
I was cautiously optimistic about SGU until I saw the call sheat. A rich party bimbo (undoubtedly white, blond and busty), a quaterback (every teenage girl’s dream), an unlikable geek, a “psyco”, a wanabe doctor and an “old geezer” to watch over the poor, mismatched group of Scouts, trapped in space by some mistake of other of course.
I thought that when they said young, they wanted the characters to be 25-30 (contrary to 30-40 like in SGA), Daniel Jackson’s age, not high-schoolers! I hoped that Stargate would be the one show that would avoid jumping the “barely legal, hot and willing” wagon that everybody is driving but this sounds more like something that would fit with teeny soaps on The CW.
No matter the reason – and you say that there is a reason – it’s a group of emo kids trapped on a ship. And nothing that I’ve read so far speaks of anything else.
To be absolutely honest I don’t intend to even give it a chance. At the moment I’m fairly certain SGU won’t ever grace my TV set. It’s a good thing (I guess) that not everyone has a Neilsen box or perhaps MGM would see how many fans they are losing over this.
Every time Brad Wright opens his mouth he makes me dislike him even more and makes me less inclined to watch SGU.
The latest comment on Gateworld about SGU being very expensive blows the theory of letting SGA go because it cost more than a new series out of the water.
And he’s proven himself and now wants to ‘do it right’? SG-1 and SGA was done wrong???
Sorry for ranting at you, Joe. I’m just still extremely bitter.
Hey Joe,
Your comments re SGU encourage me. I’ve really liked SGA because of the chemistry of the cast, especially DH and JF. SG-1 I like too but it has never clicked with me like SGA did. I hope that they can repeat the genius casting of SGA when it comes to SGU.
By the way – is that balcony in the picture the same location we saw at the end of Rising, when the Athosians and new Lanteans were celebrating?
As the cast and crew wrap up 5 years of SGA, I just want to say again – THANKS! It was a wonderful ride for 5 years – I wish everyone the best in their future endeavours, whether in the Stargate Universe or not.
Jean
Stumbled across some location photos for Vegas at Castanet.net.
Looks like an episode of Mythbusters – Jamie want big boom 🙂
So why did they shoot Vegas last? Did that muck up the 100th episode celebration, ‘cos technically the 100th ep you shot was actually 99.
Cheers, Chev
As much as I would love to see Nathan Fillion since he already has a show coming out with the batch of midseason shows I’d say its probably not going to happen. Unless cloning technology is real, then hey why not. Anyone interested Nathan Fillion will be staring in Castle about a mystery writer who helps solve crimes. I know it sounds like Murder He Wrote, but its Nathan Fillion so it will be shiny.
Amazing how so many people don’t mind calling you a liar on your own blog! Why are they here?
TV shows are no longer allowed to fade away–there’s too much money involved. The smart folks have other irons in the fire ready for the sudden network decisions. Cooper/Wright/et al haven’t tried to pull a fast one on the fans, they’re trying to keep Stargate in the game. I’m not happy that Atlantis is canceled (in fact I’m mostly pretending it hasn’t happened), but at least there’s the possibility of another Stargate show for me. Maybe I won’t like SGU, but I’d say the odds of me enjoying that are a whole lot higher than me enjoying Painkiller Jane or yet another reality show. If SGU doesn’t work for me, I’ll hold out for the SG-1 and SGA movies!
I 100% agree with everything PG15 says, I love Gateworld the site, but the forums are full of complaining whingers and I’m getting sick and tired of it and I think I will join PG15 in leaving the forums.
Every single thing TPTB seemed to do on the show everyone whinged, I saw Continuum before 90% of people and loved it and so did everyone who saw it early but then the masses get into it and rip it to shreds.
Joe,
Thanks again to [b]everyone[/b] for 5 great years of SGA. We’ve only got 12 new episodes to hold us over until the new SG-1 and SGA movies…so get writing!
just to say i wont be watching SGU i’m too old! But please thank the cast and crew of Atlantis for giving me something to drool over after RDA left Sg1. And if you can Mr M, just one BIG pic of Jason!!!!hugs
Joe- thank you for all you’ve done with SGA. You, the other writers, the cast and crew should be proud of yourselves- you have created something really special over these years. Look at how the fans are *grieving*. That should show you, how what you all have created is so brilliant and wonderful and real, and has become so dear to us. I’m very sad to see the series end- I’m grieving along with everyone else. I do look forward to enjoying the rest of the season (Sopranos guest stars! Yay!), and I hope there are many SGA movies to come.
Good luck with everything! I will continue following along here to see what you’re up to next- plus I love your food posts ;).
Dear Joe.
I am a fan – of good televison. That is why I have enjoyed both SG1 and SGA. Much like I pick up books from my favorite authors because I enjoyed their last effort, I will watch SGU in the beginning because the producers have a history of providing good television. If I enjoy it I’ll keep watching.
In my opinion I am somewhat of an anomaly for fans who visit your blog or Gateworld. Obviously since I am here I am more than just a casual viewer. I read the articles for insight into the show, but avoided many with spoilers the last few seasons to increase my appreciation of the shows when they air. While disappointed that SGA won’t be around next year, I don’t feel that the reason that happened was done as a personal afront to ME, as it seems that many fans do.
I’m sure some will think I am not a “true” fan for not being outraged, but that can’t be helped. I read the character breakdowns, and while what was put forth didn’t give the greatest first impression of some of the characters, I didn’t head for the ledge, or start a campaign, or come up with hundreds of ways the show could be better. Something must be wrong with me. I’m 46 and don’t feel dissed that the show might skew younger. I WAS younger when the SG franchise started. I’m older now, but I’m not quite ready to join the monthly AARP meetings. While some may worry about the show becoming Voyager 90210, I don’t want to see Matlock in Space! The track record of those of you who have brought us SG1 and SGA is very good and I have no reason to think it will change with SGU.
Just thought you might want to hear what a “regular” avid fan of the show had to say. Looking forward to following your blog as it is always entertaining, Stargate related or not.
What PG15 said. I’m (KurganSGC) done with Gateworld forums myself, beyond the occasional troll. The majority of them are acting like the so called “angst filled teens” they claim to hate.
Hi there Mr M
Greetings from (a slightly different location) County Tipperary!!
Am on Child-care/crowd control today….
Firstly, my humble thanks and gratitude to all involved with SGA….What a ride! My sincerest hope and best wishes to all you guys for the future..
Secondly: RE: SGU…… I (for one) am thoroughly looking forward to it…. Not working in the television industry, I have no idea how decisions are ultimately made, but as a television viewer all my life, I constantly find that there is an air of “The King is dead…. Long live the King” about franchise productions…So I for one am anxious to see what you guys all pull out of the bag for this one!!
Thirdly: PG15, I totally empathise with your summation of how you feel. I enjoy considered debate and respectful discussion….That’s why I come here. GW has a place, and is informative. I thoroughly support its unique niche in this Universe and I think Darren and David do a fabulous job of articulating what a lot of fans feel about the franchise, but I for one steer clear of any ugly threads, preferring to air my views either here or in person with other GWers I have had the privilege of meeting over the past few years… It cuts down on the blood pressure medication!
Finally, not to go all melancholy on you, but when I had the privilege of touring the Atlantis Set in April, two things went through my head….Mr Goldsmith’s powerful theme was infectiously rolling in my head and also (out of nowhere) I couldn’t help but think of a poem I learned in School. Because the set was empty (of cast and crew) I had the feeling of a deserted city, and given the nature of Atlantis and its mystical kingdom I thought of Thomas Moore’s Poem. It seems fitting that on this day that Atlantis lies empty, you might consider it here:
The Harp That Once Through Tara’s Halls by Thomas Moore
The harp that once through Tara’s halls
The soul of music shed,
Now hangs as mute on Tara’s walls,
As if that soul were fled. —
So sleeps the pride of former days,
So glory’s thrill is o’er,
And hearts, that once beat high for praise,
Now feel that pulse no more.
No more to chiefs and ladies bright
The harp of Tara swells;
The chord alone, that breaks at night,
Its tale of ruin tells.
Thus Freedom now so seldom wakes,
The only throb she gives,
Is when some heart indignant breaks,
To show that still she lives.
Til the next time
Shirt’nTie
Re: My earlier question about a Season 5 cast and crew photo. I meant to ask if there will be such a photo, AND will you please share it with us?
I’m all for Nathan Fillion, not that you, Joe, are in charge of that sort of thing. Or are you?
I’d suggest holding off on making a final decision on the show until you’ve actually seen it. … it’s a far cry from the shallow confection many fans are imagining. In fact, in many ways, it’s a much more cerebral and mature addition to the franchise.
Of course, no one can make a decision until they’ve seen the show. That said, most Stargate fans are experienced enough in sci-fi programming to doubt the freshness of, say, “Chloe,” who sounds rather like zillions of other whiny characters beginning with “Dr. Smith” in “Lost in Space,” except without the ulterior motive. If anything, the character descriptions are beneficial in that they allow us to lower our expectations and, thus, limit the depth of our disappointment if we don’t care for the show. Hopefully, many doubters will love SGU, myself included.
Watched “Desperate Measures,” which Sci-Fi broadcast after last Friday’s SGA. The episode really hit the ball out of the park on many levels–continuing the Carter/Jolinar arc, introducing the goa’uld-on-Earth thing, great performances by John DeLancie and Tom McBeath and Amanda Tapping, angst, action and even a little “ninja” humor.
In contrast, I was not happy with “Whispers.” I know you worked very hard on the script and on the fog thing and many, many viewers enjoyed the episode. I just felt that the old-fashioned monster story didn’t work very well. Also, the fist bumping thing? Please.
While Brad and Co. certainly have good intentions with SGU, and the premise is intriging, all those pretty 20 year olds just make me gag. We all know Skiffy will have their fingers in the pot, and they like to have lots of “hawt” bods and sex. Just look at their recent “hits” like Flush Gordon and Painful-to-Watch Jane. Its knowing what Skiffy’s input will be in this endeavor that is disappointing, and we aren’t looking forward to it. Whatever happened to cool old guys anyway, like Hammond, Jacob, and Bra’tac?
It occured to me last night, I think a big part of why I have gotten so attached to SGA, more than other shows in the past, is because of your blog, Joe, and those of the actors (especially Teh Hewlett’s). Never before have we the fans had this kind of connection to a series before. So of course it’s more personal. If you don’t become a big part of SGU, and Wright doesn’t start blogging, and the actors on it don’t blog either, will it ever gain as devoted a following, I wonder? It might have as many fans, but will they be willing to make the effort to support it, by pimping it on other sites and spreading word of mouth and writing the sponsors to thank them? Maybe some will, but as may, and to this extent? Is that factor even being considered?
@ Hachi ~ well done, your sentiments were beautifully said and very aptly portrayed how I’m feeling!
@ Wendee ~ you too — loved the toy analogy.
@PG-15 ~ Um … I hope you enjoy SGU? ^^; I hope Wright doesn’t break your heart a second time. I stand firm by my promise, though. Rather than seeing us as children pouting, I see those of use who won’t try SGU as more akin to the action of a now world-weary person who’s been betrayed and is getting out of a bad relationship with an admittedly brilliant but selfish being who doesn’t care for said person’s needs or dreams and isn’t willing to compromise in a way that could leave all parties satisfied. 😉 Since the show hasn’t even been cast yet and I’ve already made my decision, there’s not a notion of punishing anyone but Brad and the execs — the rest will know the holes are already in the boat when they go to jump in, and will have apt info to decided for themselves whether those holes in the that support will sink the ship or not. 😉 At any rate, the show is aimed at your demographic anyway, not mine, so if they don;t want me anyway, it’s not punishing them, 😛
I really don’t know whether I’ll watch SGU or not – but if Mr. Wright and Mr. Cooper manage to get me emotionally that much involved as they did it by creating the Wraith (what I don’t expect) I’ll send them a bouquet of flowers. 🙂 I won’t say anything more about SGU, because – slowly but surely – this discussion is boring me. Can’t change it anyway. From now on I will do nothing else but enjoying the remaining episodes of SGA as a series – especially that ones Wraith are appearing in. 😉
BTW: Wraith….There are a few questions I wanted to ask you (the authors) since the beginning of the series:
What were your thoughts about the Wraith at the beginning of the series? Where did you see their place within the story? Should they only be bad and cruel villains, the people could hate (because they feed on humans) or was it planned for them to be more? Have you ever thought that they would get so many devoted supporters? And if not – what were your first thoughts about us Wraithfans? I’m asking, because for a long time I had the suspicion that you (the writers) would really have liked to see us on a hive, inside of cocoons and fed upon.
Dear Fans
Has it occured to anyone that if you put your foot down and say “I won’t watch SGU unless I get SGA too”, we would get *both*? If you say you’ll watch SGU anyway, you’ll doom SGA for sure. Is SGU really *more* important to you than Atlantis? Particulalry since it sounds like we’ll get SGU no matter what?
I’ve already given plenty of examples of shows that were cancelled but given an elleventh hour repirved. Make it not viable for SGU to go on without SGA, and you can strongarm them. Dollars talk, and if *enough* dollars do our talking, things can happen. Wouldn’t it be sad if the show didn’t get saved simply because not enogh of the fans spoke up about where their money goes? If all 2.2 million viwers said what I’m saying, do you think they really could ignore us at that point?
It’s not getting SGA instead of SGU, people, but WITH it, or at least before it. And it sure as hell is SGU (instead* of SGA if we let things stand as they are.
Speaking of dollars, I really like For the love of Beckett & McGillion‘s idea of everyone sending a dollar to the studio. 🙂 If nothing else, if not enough people do it, the money could at least go to charity. It’s better than lemons.
Well, I’m definitely going to give SGU a chance, don’t worry. But when the character descriptions for the new series appeared . . .
Honestly, I half-thought/fervently hoped they were a joke; you know, a good-natured way of getting back at the fans for all the “Stargate: 90210” and “Babygate” stuff that’s been coming your way.
But now you’re telling me they’re not? Hoo boy, I sure hope you guys know what you’re doing! You do have ~13 years of Stargate experience under yours belts, though, so that gives me a little confidence. Thanks for your note of reassurance!
🙂
-Pansy Chubb (aka LilRicki)
*waves*
Tis a sad sad day today. My luff goes out to everyone and I bid you all good luck, and nothing but best wishes to the future for everyone. I’ll miss the show, but i’ll still be watching and buying the rest of the series and the movie[s]? Hopefully plural. But most of all I think after this all ends I’ll miss the fans that i’ve played with over the years. 🙁
*feels very sad today that it’s an end of an era*
PG15 You know I luffs ya babe, and i’m sorry I don’t see what you see, nothing has changed. The people at GW are as you’ve always known them all these years. Yes they’re unhappy, they have a right to be. But they don’t need to be disrespected. Alas I hope you change your mind, you still owe me a snarking match. 😛 Things will calm down in time, this is just natural venting. You know how I feel about SGU, I won’t reiterate it here. I won’t be watching it for a variety of reasons. But i’ve not changed who I am. I’m the person i’ve always been. Keep that in mind while you’re on ‘sabatical’. 😉
*hugs*
Hey Joe, loved seeing the pic’s,but i am sad all over again, and in reference to Nathan Fillion OH BOY GO FOR IT!!, he would be wonderful in that roll! “J” i am with you-i copied down the address to his manager and to go spikey, look at NF,s other rolls he has done some amazing stuff and a gentelman! Of corse my favorit being-firefly/serenity! GO NF IN NEW SGU!!
Geez guys, whats with the whingeing? Sure Atlantis is a fantastic show with well rounded characters, awesome writing and wonderful cast. Sure I’ll be sorry to see it end but there’ll be movies and after all it is still only a TV show. We got over Star Trek, Firefly and we’ll get over this too. Onward and upward I say! Looking forward to SGU
Well, Joe, I understand why you’re trying to sell SGU to us, and I hope that what you’re telling us turns out to be correct – and mind you, I’m NOT calling you or Brad or Rob liars and I am certain you are all well intentioned – but what is being used to promote the show so far, and what that casting sheet indicates about the characters, is about as far from cerebral and mature as Flash Gordon is from Stargate: SG1.
(Do notice what has happened with what some have called Flush Gordon and others have called Flash Boredom and what I couldn’t stand to watch even long enough to get that far.)
Further, as others have said, no matter how you try to spin it, SGU is still a show about a person in very early middle age babysitting a bunch of very early 20 somethings who are lost in space. Providing a good reason why they’re out there in the first place is a very good start, but alone is not enough to maintain a show for me. Maybe a tv movie; it couldn’t be worse than the other crap Sci-Fi shows on Saturday night, the most dangerous and second most stupid night on Sci-Fi (the stupidist is of course when they show wrestling). But a series?
When it comes right down to it, I don’t care about the concerns of college students. Hey, I live in a college town in the Chicago area (Evanston, IL, home of Northwestern Univ, a very good school). And I see well more than my share of college students. I live down the street from the football stadium. I see and hear more of college kids than I care to as it is. I have nothing against college age kids; all my nieces and nephews are college kids, and they’re good kids and I am most fond of them.
But listening to the woes of the early 20 somethings endlessly is not something I want to watch on tv. I’m not saying that one or two characters shouldn’t be that young, but frankly, Joe, the youngest of the SGA characters haven’t fared well. I never could stand Ford, and Keller isn’t exactly the most believable doctor known to humanity. No matter what you have done to try to redeem her, I still find her inherently unbelievable.
She still whines. She’s still impossible to believe as a doctor, and the problem is her age (and the general whining). I must say, though, although I thought that The Queen was an incredible episode, Keller’s feats of plastic surgery are totally impossible given even the most advanced surgical technology available today, even on Atlantis).
So, a bunch of young kids lost in space. Wow. So thrilled.
As far as young girl’s dreams, do Brad and Rob know any young girls or the things they dream about? Have they read the awful Twilight vampire series that the young girls are reading now? Have they seen the godawful High School Musical? Or listened to Mylie Cyrus, the incredibly untalented but very popular girl singer that young girls like?
Or by young girl’s dreams, are they talking about college students? ‘Cause I don’t think that college students have the same stupid young girls dreams that young girls have. And even those bore me to death.
Is this what Stargate has come to, party girls and emo boys? Equating that with cerebral and mature seems to be a pretty impossible task, unless what is going to happen is good dialogue with half-naked characters.
That said, I WILL tune in initially and watch it. If it’s any good, I will continue to watch it.
I gave Star Trek Enterprise a chance, but after the first three episodes, I found it intolerable; they too were going for a young, edgy audience, and all they managed to do was kill the Star Trek franchise. As I’ve said here before, I’m a long time SF and Star Trek fan. Unlike some TOS fans, I embraced TNG, DS9 and Voyager, although they started to lose me with the Seven of Nine show in the last years. A
lthough Jeri Ryan is an incredibly talented actress, the emphasis in costuming on her physical attributes was intolerable to watch. And Jolene Blalock was absolutely astonishingly good as T’Pol, but getting around the costuming and the juvenile sniggering the others did around T’Pol was very hard.
Enterprise and its attempt to oversexualize Vulcans and everybody else in a blatant effort to get the young boys watching the show lost me.
When the show finally improved in its third season, and turned in an outstanding fourth season, I was gone, as were most everyone I know who had watched Star Trek through the years. Since then, I have tuned in to reruns and have caught maybe two or three decent episodes in the first and second seasons combined, and the truly excellent last season. But by then, it was too late. The first season was garbage, and they lost viewers who never came back.
This is what I am afraid is going to happen with Stargate.
SG1 was an utterly amazing show from the first season, first episode, to the final credits in Unending (however, I welcome the recut of Children of the Gods that Brad is doing). I welcomed Atlantis, and I like it very much, although the characters have never pulled me in as much as Sam, Teal’c, Jack and Daniel.
Even with SG1’s changes in season 9 and 10, I still love the show. I had some real issues with season 9, and I still do, BUT I was sucked back into SG1 love with The Fourth Horseman, both parts. Totally blew me away. Completely. I still watch those two episodes on the edge of my seat.
They were SF storytelling at its best; you had your dire, world – no, galaxy – threatening circumstances, and everyone, that is EVERYONE, engaging in incredible heroism and sacrifice. After those episodes, I decided to put up with Mitchell being in command of SG1 and accept him for who he was, also a hero. I still can’t stand him giving orders to Carter, and she should be in charge, but I can get past it. I wouldn’t have been able to, though, had not the story been so strong.
The story was that good.
And you’ll notice, it didn’t have emo kids running around whining about being lost in space, either.
(BTW, Part II was my fav of the two parts, and I only noticed recently who wrote it.)
If Brad and Rob and all the rest of you talented folks can come up with stories like that for SGU, it has a chance, but I don’t see how the show can be sustained with one adult and a bunch of children.
The other day I was whining about this to a friend of mine (who is a GOOD friend because she puts up with my endless yammering about the awesomeness that is Teal’c – with Teal’c, I’m kind of like das is about Todd). Anyway, she reminded me that I watched Buffy the Vampire Slayer for 7 years, and I have watched Smallville for 7 years. And she was right. So I grant the possibility that I may like SGU and I WILL give it a chance. However, both those shows also had significant and real adult characters, and even those shows had seasons that were difficult for an adult to take seriously or to watch.
(And while I could deal with Buffy years ago, I can’t now and have given the dvds to my 20 something nieces).
But as others have said, what Sci-Fi and MGM and the casting sheet are saying about the show is a complete 180 from what you saying about the show being cerebral and mature. They can’t both be true. I also suspect that the girls are going to be wearing clothes that are very tight and show endess cleavage. I won’t put up with a show like that even if the stories are good.
And the first time one of those girls comes on to the colonel, or he comes on to one of them, I am totally out of there. Period. Forever. Shepherd and Beckett salivating over the hot girl team half their ages in Whispers was almost more than I could take and almost ripped me out of what was otherwise a very good episode. Sleaziness is not sexy. Or interesting to me, although I know it is to some.
Mary
someone just posted this at gateworld, thought it was appropriate/kind of funny:
http://forum.gateworld.net/showthread.php?p=8958479#post8958479
“http://www.roskilde-festival.dk/comm…e;topic=1923.0
Quote:
Post by: PeterBrandsborg on August 22, 2008, 09:16:00 am
——————————————————————————–
What does SGU mean?
Every dane writes it, and it irritates me cause its not a word! or is it…?
…….
Sgu” is a contraction of “sågu” wich again is a contraction of “Så Gud hjælpe mig!” – So God help me…
Is a classic (soft) swearword ment to put extra weight on a statement.”
Thanks for great 5 years of Atlantis to you and everyone who made it possible.
I’m glad we’ll get at least a movie to wrap the s5 cliffhanger. I hope it is a success… And I hope the cast move to other things after that, rather than making other SGA movies. As much as I adore Atlantis, I rather watch the actors on other stuff after that first movie.
I won’t be watching SGU at all. Not because SGA was canceled. I won’t be watching SGU because:
1) Nothing that has being said so far sounds remotely interesting to me (I’ve been already saying this long before Atlantis was canceled and the more I hear about the show, the less appealing it sounds)
2) I’m not a Stargate “franchise” fan. I won’t watch a show or movie just because it has the word Stargate on its name. I didn’t like the original movie and I didn’t like SG-1 either. I’m a fan of Atlantis. Not a fan of whatever the franchise want to throw at me.
3) I don’t appreciate getting treated like mindless sheep, in a condescending and very insulting way. And I’m NOT talking about you, Joe. I’m talking about what other people from TPTB have said in official interviews during these past few months. I have no intention of watching a new show from people who speak in such ways about the audience, the people who have put them in the position they’re enjoying now.
So, I really don’t care whether SGU ends up being the best show ever. I prefer watching any other show where TPTB at least pretend they care for the audience. Or at least they avoid making comments like the ones I’ve heard and keep them to themselves.
So, once Atlantis ends… bye bye Stargate franchise for me. Good luck to all. And thanks for listening, Joe.
@ Trish – Firstly, {{{{{hugs}}}}}. I look at it this way – there are so many animals out there in need of homes and love, just giving back a little bit to one of them tends to take away the pain of the one we’ve lost – it’s the gift they give us in return for accepting them into our lives.
TV shows are a bit different for me. I don’t get too hooked on shows – so this thing for SGA is a bit unusual for me (I only get this sort of obsession once in a blue moon for tv shows – more often for movies). Usually, I go for a specific character – like the Wraith. So…all I *need* from a show is a ‘happy ending’ for whoever I watch the show for…thus my panic over Todd & Co. For the first time since Worf’s brother, Kurn (portrayed by Tony TODD 😆 ) have I panicked over the fate of a character (Kurn was to ST what Todd is to SGA for me). Usually I avoid getting attached (and usually a show rarely holds my attention beyond a few episodes), but if it does, and if it goes away, eventually a show or character will come along that replaces it, and I no longer miss that which once was. Sometimes, I don’t even remember it. 🙂 Except Kurn. I’ll always remember him…just like I will always remember Todd.
Secondly, Spiders. Last year, I had this HUGE spider in my bedroom – one with a big, round body. Hubby wasn’t home, so I asked my neighbor to come get it, and he smushed it. I then made him clean it up. 😀 One thing worse than a live spider, is a ewwwy-gooey smushed one. *shudder*
Thirdly, I am SO glad that someone else saw the Wraithy resemblance in Mr. Das. I was starting to think I was going crazy…ier. 😛
Fourthly, don’t worry about the length of your post. They will never be as long as mine, which will NEVER be as long as PG15’s. 😉
@ Joe – Please address noir’s questions – I would be interested in the answers as well. Thank you.
@ noir – I suspect that Joe just takes a really hot bath – with antibacterial soap and gallons bleach – after he reads comments made by Wraith fans…or at least, those made by some of us… 😳
das
When does shooting start in Vegas? Early next week?
K
It’s so sad to see the actors saying goodbye. I know that we have a movie to look forward to, but, imo, it’s just not the same. I always thought that having “SG-1” as a lead in for “Atlantis” was a smart move, and was hoping that the same would be done with “Atlantis” for the new series…..oh well.
Enjoyed “The Queen”. Loved the interaction between Todd and Teyla. Good stuff.
Looking forward to tonight’s episode.
dff
I’m in the target demographic for SGU and from what I’ve read it still doesn’t appeal to me. But I’m willing to put that aside, I’ll probably watch 2 or 3 episodes before I make a final decision.
That being said, I agree with some of the previous posts about the problems with how the new show is being portrayed by MGM. People aren’t taking it seriously because they haven’t released any “serious” information about it. Based on the casting call it really does seem like the show is going to be a Voyager 90210.
One thing makes me wonder. Why did they announce the cancellation of SGA and the greenlight of SGU almost simultaneously? I think they might be getting more “hype” from all the fans bitching about it than they would have otherwise. Not sure enough if they’d be stupid enough to think that any publicity, even bad publicity is a good thing. But then again they were stupid enough to cancel both SG1 and SGA, so they might be.
Wolfenm, I couldn’t of said it better myself. Glad to see you have SGA loyalty.
Bailey, they are airing SGU at a time that they hope we will get over it, but I won’t be directed by them ever.
Well that’s done it. Those pics and the news that most of the cast are now finished has completely torn down any willpower I was managing to cling onto and I’m crying like a kid who’s just realised they’re losing on of their best friends. 🙁
As for SGU, I’m sorry Joe but nothing anyone says will make me get behind it. I will continue to support SGA of course but I cannot in good conscience support a show that I still feel was largely responsible for Atlantis’ demise.
Wow, long, long posting today… doubtful if anyone will ever read this far down… but a thought… why the need for SGU in the first place?… if it was to keep Stargate fresh and prevent staleness creeping in… as we have been told… why not simply incorporate it as a story arc in SGA… and make these changes from within?… would have been a lot more diplomatic… a compromise all round… this splitting of the fanbase is doing no-one any favours…
Ending now… wishing everyone at SGA all the best for the future… and sincere thanks for five good years…
The words like final, goodbye, last shooting, really drive home that Stargate Atlantis is really leaving – to a world that has no gate address – we will be all floating out there in space like Weir.
I really enjoyed the show – I wrote about it in my blog – under the five things I have to have now title.
It’s a gap that will never be filled. I’ll give the SU a chance, but the character sketches have me worried – the writing hopefully will save it from being Space Troopers.
Thanks for giving us a great show – and it looked like you all had a lot of fun in the process. Back to my DVDs.
I’m not sure I understand those who say they won’t even give SGU a chance. I’ll be watching for it like I watch every new genre show (thumbs down on Fringe already. too icky), but with higher expectations. The preliminary cast list looks ok. I’m hopeful about the Asian doctor and the possibly ethnic marine. Even more so than regular tv shows, genre shows tend to be entirely too pale.
@Iberostar Could you be referring to David Hewlett’s Twitter’s?
Everytime I got one since the announcement it’s felt like a countdown. And the last one – Thank you and good night – hit my cell phone at something like 1 am just as I was about to go to sleep. I cried! Literally cried!
@PG15 – I know what you mean about Gateworld. I stay away from the forums as much as possible. The comment section of the articles are bad enough.
@Joe M – please get plenty of good pics at the farewell/wrap party. (That means many pics of David, Jason, and Joe – grin)
Joe,
The fans from a forum I moderate have asked me to post a simple request to you. I hope this is appropriate.
Would you please pass the following suggestion along to Mr. Brad Wright? (Alas, we don’t know how to get him a message ourselves.) It is our understanding that he is looking for a familiar actor (of great wit and skill). We don’t know how far along in the casting process Mr. Wright finds himself, but a bunch of his fans would humbly like to suggest Adam Baldwin. We respect whatever Mr. Wright does with that suggestion and are thankful for a brief moment of his time.
Thanks, Joe!
I actually cried yesterday when I really thought that you were packing up your office. Thanks for “clarifying” that whole situation and I’m somewhat comforted to know that I was NOT the only one who was… concerned.
Mr. M wrote:
There’s a plausible reason why the extremely strange collection of characters in Stargate Universe end up stranded together?
Anne Teldy
Mr. Paul McGillion is looking trim and fine! Thank you for his goodbye message to the fans.
Mr M., any idea if Col. Everett Young could be scrapped altogether and replaced with the existing Ltd. Col. John Sheppard??? I think I’d watch SGU then…
To PG15; While I respect your opinion. For me, and I hope others see this too, it all comes down to the fact that TPTB feel they know what is best for us and the assumption that we will all follow like good little toy soldiers. The way THEY are publisizing it is what is hurting them and the fact that they don’t care how they word it makes me even angrier.
I see some here accept that, but I just can’t. Call me the deviant one.
So, will SGU be part of a new transmedia approach to the Stargate Franchise? Will SGU be reflected in Stargate Worlds and is the hope that it will entice the gamers to watch the show and vice versa? That would make a certain amount of marketing sense and is really the only reason I can think of that would persuasively call for the cancellation of SGA. If the game is ready to roll, then a year’s delay in the SGU rollout while SGA gets a last hurrah might negatively impact both show and game.
So, Mr. M, are we talking transmedia here?
As with virtually all the posters here, let me say that I have enjoyed the five years of Stargate Atlantis – and even understood most of the cast changes – and proffer my thanks to the cast, crew and producers.
I do note that the ratings took an uptick when you and PM took the reins. I do hope that translates into a feather in your cap, and a position, when it’s time for SGU.
To lindagagne; I wasn’t going to comment but I didn’t want you to think you were alone on this! I agree with you completely. The more commentary I read on the why’s/who’s/and demographic market Universe is aiming at the more upset I become.
I missed Stargate when it left, I really did. But Atlantis, wow, I already miss it to pieces!
Thanks Joe for five great years…and hopefully many movies to come.
Wait, what. What is Gero doing to Amanda Tapping? Is this a rumor was should start? (*checks calendar*)
“The assortment of characters that make up the character breakdown are certainly an atypical collection of heroes”
Really, you think that? Thought it was totally stereotypical and predictable myself.
Now if they had gone for a turban wearing Sikh as the leader (check Canadian newspapers a few weeks back), THAT would been very atypical.
Wow quite alot of harsh comments regarding SGU, of course to be expected, what with atlantis being so great.
I myself fully intend to watch at least the entire first season, mostly to see if its as good as all the interviewees say, but mostly to see if it turns out to be as good as SGA. (Yeah right).
All i can hope for really as others have said, is that there are a plentiful of SG1 and SGA films to come over the next 5-10 years, because SGU won’t last past the first season, because the ratings will most likely plummet to around 0.6 per episode. Sad but almost certain to be true.
It’s a very sad day today. Many of SGA’s cast and crew have wrapped. Sniff. 🙁 Thanks to all of those involved in SGA for keeping me entertained for 5 years. 🙂
I’ve loved SGA so much, and am pretty annoyed and saddened at its demise. I echo the sentiments of WolfenM. I can’t support SGU. Whichever way you look at it, SGA was sacrificed as a TV series and SGU has taken its place, and I can’t forget that, because I’m loyal to SGA – period.
I have no interest in SGU at this time. Why would it appeal to me? Twenty something year-olds? Beautiful, sexy, every girl’s dream? A senators spoilt daughter, 20 years old? Good grief. It sounds akin to something my daughters would watch!
I do feel disrespected as a fan. That is down to BW’s comments and words from various network execs. That can’t be changed, alas. As a fan of SGA, I feel let down. That won’t change either.
I wish everyone involved in SGA all the best in the future. I’ll miss my weekly Stargate fix next year, but I will support the movies passionately. 🙂
Joe,
I hope to god the Lost Tribe doesn’t keep saying “What fate Amuroka”.
Hey Joe!
<>
Was SGU inspired by Space Cases? Because Jewel was in Space Cases as a child and you all seem to be going for the same demographic. All things Jewel rock and should be used to model everything! (Yes, folks, that was me participating in Joe’s snark. Sheesh.) By the way, I like Jewel. Keller? Meh, but certainly not the beast people are making her out to be.
Regarding the character breakdowns: Is there a copy of the SG-1 cattle call sheets so people can see you things change once there is a character that is ‘in the flesh’? I’d imagine we’d laugh at those too.
That being said, I did laugh and think of Gossip Girls when I read the Chloe breakdown.
suse
I agree with what a lot of fans are saying. If I want to watch young, beautiful 20 somethings with a lot of teenage style angst, then I’ll just turn on the tv at 1pm every day. Plenty of soap operas on television already. I won’t need to figure out how I’m going to get the episodes to watch here in Australia either.
JimFromJersey:
“The majority of them are acting like the so called “angst filled teens” they claim to hate”
Because they are! Why do you think the powers that be want to make a show aimed at that demographic? (It’s not because they can afford to buy anything though *g*)
Hey Joe,
Just wanted to say that I’m looking forward to seeing SGU. Thanks again for all of your great work on SGA and, like most everyone here, I hope you continue to be a part of the franchise.
All the Best,
Pol
Looking forward to the Atlantis movie(s) – hopefully more than one.
As for SGU – I just don´t care about it. Could be the best out of the three shows, and it still won´t change that the actors/fans of SGA got screwed and kicked in the ass in it´s favor. Sorry, no love from me for that move.
Wish everyone from SGA/SGI good luck for the future though and thank you for 5 great years of SGA.
SGU sounds interesting. I found that SGA had gone as far as it could go and was unsurprised by the fact it as moving to films.
Please cast someone good as the leader of the team, Michael Biehn comes to mind. He’s always projected the demeanour of the consumate soldier. With so many thinking the casting choices to be made are for the demographic and not the story, casting Biehn will be a step in the right direction.
Whatever the decision made, I’ll be there for SGU. I just enjoy the entertainment.
Hey Joe,
I personally cannot wait to watch Stargate Universe. I have been exited about the series, ever since it was first talked about!!
I think the cast breakdowns look great. And I hope that other fans will give the show at least a chance. I totally believe it won’t be Voyager 90210!!!
And I have a question. Wasen’t Atlantis first hated by the fans when it first came out?? But then they fell in love with it.
No doubt the same will end up happening to Universe.
I would be more worried. If the creators of the orginal Movie. Made two more, that DID NOT FOLLOW STARGATE CANNON, than the cast breakdowns of UNIVERSE!!!
A STARGATE FAN FOREVER!!!
One more comment.
I think Blood Ties Kyle Schmid would make the perfect Lt. Jared Nash!!!!
Sci-Fi is going to drop ‘Universe’ like an old dumb dumb sucker if the fans are pissed enough. Ratings are like Dollars signs. The only things we can do besides complain to JOE…is to complain to EVERYONE responsible for its demise. There is no Younger Audience. Stargate was born when I was a teenager…What Am I going to pass away in the next 20 years? I don’t want to watch a bunch a kids learning everything Carter And Daniel already did. I am so sick of Characters getting dumped like last weeks girlfriend. You all…BRAD and ROBERT..have lost connection with your fans…You might get to pay new Actors less…but its already difficult having to accept Paul and Torri gone…YOU GUYS ARE OUT OF YOUR MINDS! You have the nerve to say..’well watch it and see’…as JACK O NEIL would say “WHATEVER…”
But seriously Jo…You are cute.
I appreciate your attempt to reassure us, really. It’s nice to know we’re at least being listened to, and I feel a little guilty about how much hell we’re all raising over this when the show hasn’t even started yet. I can’t understand a Stargate world in which none of the characters have any life experience. Sure, BSG can pull off having a younger cast, but BSG’s grim, post-apocalyptic tone allows for more mature characters (plus, it still had the VERY strong older cast to support the young’ns). I would consider it a severe departure from the Stargate spirit if this new show were to go the Battlestar route. Surely, Stargate should always be just a little campy, right? That’s why we love it.
As for the emphasis on the SGU characters’ attractiveness: I think they’re going about this the wrong way. Sci-fi fans aren’t dependent on eye-candy. I can only deduce that the sci-fi fans aren’t good enough for TPTB anymore; I guess they want the mainstreamers, too. Which is understandable, except that personally it has made me feel like a nerd on my own turf. I’m just not hip enough for SGU, I guess (I’m 21, by the way, and I personally can’t imagine loving a younger, hotter cast more than I love the older, jaded, imperfect SGA characters. And, on a shallow and oft-repeated note, I defy ANY 20-something to be hotter than Joe Flanigan. Seriously).
Maybe SGU will be great, but it won’t feel like Stargate. That’s what most of us are reacting to when you get right down to it: we kind of resent the implication that the fans won’t mind the cancellation as long as there’s SOMETHING on air with ‘Stargate’ in the title. The fact that SGU has such an iffy premise is just sort of the straw that broke our backs.
It doesn’t seem fair that our loyalty to SGA wasn’t rewarded or taken seriously; people are bitter and combative about it. But your defense has convinced me to at least watch the SGU pilot, and to find out what that that ‘damn good reason’ is. I am unwillingly intrigued.
Here is the deal. I’m a “Stargate” movie loyalist. Over the past several years, I have enjoyed “Stargate: SG-1”. I ended up watching a very few episodes of “Sargate: Atlantis”, and I found that I only like fewer than I watched. “Stargate: The Original Picture” was the reason why I watched “Stargate: SG-1”. There is a sense of nostelgia in both the movie and tv-series. While watching the television series, you are reminded of “Star Trek: The Next Generation” and “Star Trek: The Original Series”. Old school science-fiction that captures the human condition, and then spins it upside down and inside out. Awsome stuff. Gene Rodenbery’s original involvement makes “Star Trek’s” past extremely successful. When you get further away from the original, and futher away from the original writters, you loose the reasons why people watch. “Star Trek: Enterprise”, “Star Trek: DS9”, and “Star Trek: Voyager” failed because the original creator, producers, and directors are gone. What you loose in translation is the original feeling, which the creators had original put into motion. “Stargate: Atlantis” was a pretty interesting show, but it reminded me of “Star Trek: DS9”. Imagine how I felt when I saw the similarities in opening credits and uniforms. Grrr… “Stargate: Universe” is an interesting concept, but it is way too far away from the original movie. When Gene Rodenberry shifted from “Star Trek: The Original Series” to “Star Trek: The Next Generation”, twenty years had passed inbetween both eras. There was tons of room for expansion, and people we ready for the switch. Time allowed people to come around.
“Stargate: Universe” could end up being a great show, but it also may be too soon. People want that “Stargate: The Original Movie” and “Stargate: SG-1” feeling. “Stargate: Universe” is… Look its just too soon. People want more “Stargate: SG-1” (seasons 1-8) style shows. Without repeats. Thats all they want. “Stargate: Universe” can allways be made when you know fans can apprechiate the work. Too much “Stargate” will just make the franchise implode. See what happened to “Star Trek”?
I can’t go back and edit my post. I didn’t fix the speeling or missing words. Sorry.
If you want the “Stargate” franchise to maintain intergrity, you would listen to those fans who are telling you this straight out and honestly. We all love “Stargate”, but don’t shove it down our mouths.
(See post 162 for details as to why.)
Please rethink the 20 somethings. It gets dull.
Give us some people with some life experience too. One guy in his 40s isn’t enough.
Hi,
I just wanted to say that I’m a huge SGA fan, so kudos for delivering one of my favorite series of all time.
I have to ask though, could you give us some insight into why it is being cancelled? Is it simply to make room for SGU? And if so, why? Couldn’t that have waited until SGA was at least coming to a natural end? Or in the unlikely event that it lost its popularity? Why kill off a really great show with a huge following just to start a new one?
Sorry if these are answers you’ve probably answered several times before but I’ve only just found out about this and I’m devestated 🙂
John
I actually have an optimistic view of Stargate Universe. I had a pessimistic view on Stargate Atlantis before it even aired and I still regret that view today. I learned that I need to wait and actually see something before making a decision.
I trust you guys and believe that quality can come out of this as long as you (TPTB) can stay true to the fans. I know you have stated that and I hope that will be accomplished.
Now, I have a quick question on SGU. Now, some fans may disagree, some might agree, some might even praise it. We have noticed from SGA that it was a international expedition consisting of a variety of countries around the world. I was wondering if SGU would take a step further and possibly have a inter-racial “expedition” (if you would call it that) to the Destiny. What I mean is that will we have allies from the Milky Way such as the Jaffa and the Tok’ra accompany us there. (Even if it is a minority.)
Now I know, in the recent years, our relationship with those two races have been strained in the Stargate universe, however, maybe that relationship has built up somewhat and both are interested in exploration and discovery. It would make sense since the Tok’ra have come out of hiding creating a grand city (as seen in Stargate: Continuum). The Jaffa probably have rebuilt their society ever since the Ori have been eliminated (as seen in Stargate: Ark of Truth). So yeah, it might be a little far fetched, however, it would be nice to bring some old faced aliens (allies) into the new series while still meeting new “faces” as the series progresses.
This question by the way would be more directed to Brad Wright and Robert C. Cooper since they are creating the show (Hopefully, an answer could be given by the two. Whether an interested possibility or not so much, an answer would be awesome.), however I welcome your thoughts as well.
By the way, this is only a curious question. It won’t affect my optimistic look for the series. Thanks for reading and for a possible response.
Having purchased much of the franchise DVD collections and spent a good portion of my life watching them, I can say that all ends if SGU is what it’s rumored to be.
Sci-fi went thru a period I call “Marines in Space” several years ago possibly due to the influence of Starship Troopers (1). The shows didn’t matter, the 20-nothings in combat gear did – at least to the demographic. You could say these days my role model is Jack O’Neil, not Wesley Crusher.
Voyager 90210? We’ll see. I have a bad feeling about this one. No matter what kind of spin is put on it.
I have a feeling that it is going to be hard to say goodbye to a series like SGA. I have seen a lot of shows come and go in my 50+ years and I have never found a show that has captivated like SGA.
I loved SG-1 and have seen most all the shows and I have seen all the movies but I have went as far as to order some missed SGA episodes on DVD and I have never done anything like that before and this last season I have not missed one episode, If I could not be home for the broadcast I would record it.
I only hope that SGU can hold a candle to it’s predecessors. I know they say they want it to be a stand alone show but it needs to fill this empty void where SGA used to be.
This is like saying goodbye to an old friend that I know will be missed.
I still don’t understand why a series that is so well liked has to end.
Love you SGA so long and as for SGU I just want to say, You better bring it!
Could you please tell us why SGA was actually cancelled in the end? Were the actors tired and wanted to do something new? Was it getting too expensive? Were the audience figures slipping?
I was under the impression that it’d fallen upon a working formula, a steady cast (with a few extras that could put in guest appearances to stir things up a bit), a range of good lot arcs (including a very promising new range with “Todd”) and an entertaining maturity.
I was enjoying that. Put it back! 🙂
–Ratz.
SGU sucks dude you need to put aliens in the show i mean its not stargate if there are no alein races SGU is just battalstar galactica with a stargate twist to it why did you cancel SGA for SGU there was no reason to cancel SGA you guys didnt cancel SG1 when you started SGA im so pissed at scifi at MGM at the producers of stargate