So I walked into the office the other day to discover a glowering Carl seated at his desk. Now, usually, it takes him the better part of the morning to work his way up to a full glower but, on this particular day, Carl was already there the second I walked in. When I asked him what was up, he informed me that he might have to start boycotting my blog because, in his opinion, some of the fan comments had crossed the line. While he is all for constructive criticism, he apparently takes exception when fans start labeling characters “whores” or suggesting the producers should consider killing off certain characters, especially when its common knowledge that the actors playing said characters check out the blog. And not only the actors, but their immediate family as well.
Sadly, the negativity has also taken its toll on one-time regular Sherry, proud mother of actor Brian J. Smith, who, surprised and saddened by some of the hostility here, has elected to no longer read the blog. Also, after several months of connecting with fandom online, Brian is stepping away from his popular twitter account for much the same reason. Some of the very same fans who he was kind enough to open up a dialogue with in the run-up to the premiere started leaving him nasty comments as though he was responsible for the show’s creative direction. I imagine that if Robert Carlyle was on twitter, these same morons would be berating him for being mean to his fellow Destiny crew members.
I find myself in an awkward position. On the one hand, I want to keep this blog’s comment section open to differing opinions and allow fans to express their honest feelings about the show; on the other hand, I don’t want it to turn into a battleground where fans can feel free to insult the production, its personal, and each other. I have to walk a very fine line and, sometimes, I will let a comment through that may be deemed borderline in order to respond to a “distilled” representation of an oft-repeated opinion.
For the most part, I don’t think it’s gotten all that bad here (I’ve read worse on other forums and even moderated worse). Still, I’d suggest that anyone looking to post a critical comment consider their wording – not their opinion, but the way in which they express said opinion. Sometimes, you can be offensive without even meaning to. And, when this happens, rather making a good point, you risk alienating the very people you’re trying to convince.
For example, amidst all of the ongoing discussion about the Scott-James scene in the pilot, the Scott-Chloe scene in Light, and the burgeoning relationship between Scott and Chloe, someone here referred to Chloe as a whore. Now never mind the fact that we have only seen the Chloe character be intimate with all of one other character so far, and this only after bonding with him following the loss of her father and as both faced what seemed like certain death and thus took advantage of the only opportunity they would have to be together. So how do you think someone on the production would react to such a comment? Would they stop and consider the message at the heart of it? Unfortunately, no. They dismiss the poster and her opinion as extreme and move on.
Also realize – if it hasn’t become apparent by now – that we love our cast and are very protective of them. Trust me when I say that there’s no better way to guarantee a character’s long and fruitful stay on a show than to insist we get rid of them. Keep in mind that the simple fact others in your particular online niche share an opinion doesn’t make it the prevailing attitude among the show’s viewers.
In order to head off any potential frustration on the part of those who are unhappy with SGU’s direction, allow me to make a few points that may save you time and effort in any attempt to change some of the creative choices we’ve made.
SGU is NOT SG-1 or Atlantis. It’s a different show in terms of tone and characters. If you’re expecting flawless people, square-jawed heroes, and stories that set up and deliver all the answers over the course of a forty-five minute episode, you WILL be disappointed. And DON’T expect that to change. If you don’t like the character interactions, romance, and open-ended story elements introduced to date, you’re in for a looooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooong haul because that’s our show.
Unlike the more kid-friendly SG-1 and Atlantis with its wholesale slaughters of enemy combatants, tortures, stabbings, and occasional live burnings, Universe will touch on the heinous topic of physically intimacy. These “sex scenes”, which amounted to approximately 1 whole minute of the 270 minutes aired to date, engendered a fair amount of controversy. And that’s fine. I don’t mind continuing to read and approve your comments on the subject so long as you don’t mind knowing that nothing will change in this respect and that if you were offended by that broom closet scene in Air I, I guarantee you’ll be clawing your eyes out of your skull given what we have in store later this season. Also, while I can understand why some may have had a problem with that broom-closet scene in the premiere given that it did come as a surprise to many, I can’t muster up much empathy or understanding for those complaining about the Scott-Chloe scene in Light. Again, if it’s a matter of not enjoying shows that focus on the occasional romance between characters, then that’s unfortunate – because that’s the type of show you’re watching. If, on the other hand, it’s an innate response to the very notion of intimacy no matter how modest the scene, then I’d suggest a deep-rooted personal issue that would be best dealt with somewhere other than this blog.
Finally, some words of advice – words of advice not so much for those of you here but those leaving comments on other forums and websites (if you would be kind enough to pass the message along): STOP MAKING IDIOT COMMENTS. Note I didn’t say idiotic comments because that would imply that the lion’s share of the idiocy lies with the comment itself rather than the commentator. No, I mean: STOP MAKING IDIOT COMMENTS.
For example, say you have a problem with the James scene in Darkness in which she threatens Riley and Eli after they try spying on her with the kino. You can go ahead and make an argument for the scene being sexist (although I’d argue that there’s a difference between the scene being sexist and the characters in the scene acting inappropriately, especially given that a clearly disappointed Young admonishes both men), but if, in the body of your comment or any subsequent comment, you refer to the James character as Lieutenant Rack or McBoobs, then you’re a hypocrite who has successfully undermined their argument by demonstrating you can’t be taken seriously. Also, you’re an idiot.
If you want to express your opinion and argue why you feel that scene was sexist, then by all means do so. If, however, you dismiss anyone expressing a differing opinion, despite the fact that they go through the trouble of presenting a cogent counter- argument, simply on the basis of their sex (“Oh, look ! Another privilege man trying to tell us woman that something is not sexist ! Wow, what a surprise ! What a shock ! What a revelation !” – compliments of one grade school level narow-minded poster here: xxx), why bother posting on a public forum. Rather, pick a private sub-forum where everyone is guaranteed to agree with your opinion or, better yet, imagine you live in a wonderful world where everyone thinks you’re brilliant and sees eye to eye with you on everything.
Hmmm. A lot less ranty than I’d expected two days ago when I had originally planned to tackle this topic. Still, ranty enough to ensure some thin-skinned faction of fandom will be whining and stomping its feet in response.
Hey, while you‘re here, check out a behind-the-scenes vid from Water:
I was very sorry to read that you have been receiving really “rotten” comments about SGU. This really isn’t the spot for that. It’s almost like telling a parent that their child is ugly. How rude of people. No bad comments from me on SGU. Never happen.
Hear! Hear! Right on Joe!
Elminster
Hello, a shame that people are not being respectful..
While I understand the circumstances in SGU are different than those in the previous series, I enjoyed the humor shown in those series. Is there is a chance for some humor to be shown in upcoming episodes?
Hi Joe:
Cool video. What was the stuff flying around that was supposed to look like snow? Also, did you guys ever consider doing a “cold set” like you did on Continuum?
Patricia
Well said, Joe.
I am really enjoying the show. Don’t change a thing.
Not every fan makes these comments or feels like this about the series, for every post on the forums making idiotic comments there are tons talking about the good points of SGU and how much people love it. Not all Stargate fans can be held responsible for the actions of idiots.
Still i’m sad to hear you feel this way and i hope some positive comments make you feel better about the fans of this series who are out there.
From a long-time lurker, thank you for saying what you did in this post. SGU has been amazing so far! I love it and find the characters to be quite interesting. My friends and I have held very long debates about Rush’s motivations and intentions, it’s been fun~
I’ve been reading this blog regularly for a couple weeks now, but not following the comments as closely. This is my first comment.
I’d just like to say that it’s great to see you defending the actors (and your readers) from the legion of morons who can be found everywhere on the Internet. I love that you call people out on what they say, and that you’re not afraid to tell them to go screw themselves if they deserve it.
I’m also really enjoying the show so far… and I do somewhat resent Chloe’s actions, but only because I’ve been in a similar situation and I identify most with the Eli character. My reaction is a result of good writing, not bad. The characters are believable.
Keep up the good work, and don’t let the idiots get to you!
Fans should realize they are lucky to have inside access to the show with your blog. I am really sorry that you have to read the “idiot comments”. Anyone associated with the show should be able to read your blog without having to deal with that. I for one thank you for the effort you put into reading the comments, answering questions and putting up with all the crap. All the best Joe…..
I’m not/wasn’t entirely happy with the scenes, especially when I first saw it in Dark, but I think you used it well, particularly in Water. In any case however calling someone a whore is incredibly uncalled for, and doesn’t make sense anyway since the actor isn’t the person responsible for what the character does in show, the writer/producers are!
In any case I apologize for the general idiocy of other commenters, and feel free to tell people such as the actors and family that as well.
Just a quick note that everyone is invited to vote for their favourite character on Stargate Universe at my site at http://www.abbaskarimjee.wordpress.com.The poll is further towards the bottom of the post.
Thanks!
hey, i like Water. TJ really shines in that eps. cool~ luv u TJ~
man, i hope SGU will make it to my country. As far as i remember, they only have SG-1 for 5 seasons, and Atlantis for 2 or 3 seasons. i dont really remember.
anyway, if it doesn’t, i’m still gonna buy it’s dvds! just like what i did with atlantis~
see ya. >.<;;
Coming out of lurking to second Elmister’s “Hear! Hear!”. People can be douchebags and all one can hope is that they aren’t procreating and passing the idiot on to the next generation of humans.
Mr. M wrote:
Uhm. Isn’t that what pollsters and focus group studies do? How else do you figure the opinions of the general viewership?
As opposed to the general viewership, most of your commenters here want to like SGU and were predisposed to do so. Yet a noticable majority of them are complaining about the same thing. Shouldn’t that carry weight?
susan the tartan turtle wrote:
I took his collapse this way: he was fine in real life when he had that conversation with Emily but his subconcious imposed his injury into the memory.
Quade1 wrote:
Your math is off. 23 guns = 23 groups of 3 people = 69 people. Not all people went on the search so 80 still seems correct.
Chloe said her chances were one in five or one in six. 80/15 = 5.333 or a one in 5.33 chance of being chosen.
Anne Teldy
Poo. So I gotta tone down my
immaturecolorful use of words? No more ‘hide the willies’, or ‘rumpy pumpies’? 🙁Okay….I’ll behave. But ONLY when talking about the show! You’re still fair game, Joey! 😀
In all seriousness – thanks. It needed to be said. What disturbs me most is that a lot of the personal attacks are coming from 40-somethings, aimed at 20-somethings. That’s just obnoxious.
However, I am disappointed to read your comment about what’s coming later this season. I love the flawed characters, but must admit that the romantic element doesn’t appeal to me at all, and may end up being the thing that kills the show for me. I don’t want it to – but I am just not a people-person when it comes to romantic relationships, in real life and in my choices of entertainment. I’ve just never been interested (at. all.) in who’s dating/marrying/sleeping with whom, and only enjoy such an element in a show when it is more about the breaking up than the getting together. (Guess that’s why I love Wolverine – all his women get killed! Huh…same with Hornblower, Mad Max, Elric…and any Wraith who’s lost his Queen. I’m seeing a trend here… )
Yup. I am NOT a romantic. It’s one of Mr. Das’ complaints about me – he loves romance in his shows (heck, he’s a Smallville addict – ’nuff said!), while I prefer stuff blowin’ up. Sure, he likes a good action flick, but he can’t resist a love story. I can. See, for me it’s not the sex (though I do dislike explicit sex scenes), I just don’t give a damn about love! I’m one of those ‘if it happens, it happens’ types – no need to talk about it. Well…except to complain about it if/when it becomes a focal point of a tv show. 😛
Yeah. Shutting up now. And I was gonna tell ya about my great day…but seems a bit innappropriate with this entry, and my ‘don’t know when to shut up’ ramble. Sorry.
das the ass
Although the scene in Air 1 came as a complete surprise to me, as I just did not expect it in an SG show, the Chloe-Scott scene in Light didn’t bother me in the least (however I did feel bad for Eli). Although I’m still not sold on the Chloe character, she just doesn’t seem to have any purpose yet, except she has become a lightening rod character….
I’m not keen on the stone- back to Earth scenes, but I understand the reason for them and loved the cameo of Peter….
I’m really loving the Young character and very curious of why TJ was suppose to leave and didn’t. Very curious about Rush. I also like how Young is so protective of Eli….I’m just letting myself go along for the ride.
Sure I was bummed when SGA was cancelled (although I was more of a SG1 fan and really didn’t connect w/Sheppard, loved Ronon, Teyla (met Rachel at a convention – what a sweetie) and Rodney. But it is not the fault of these actors and this crew and they are doing their job and doing it well, so I’ll enjoy some more Stargate, in whatever form it happens to be…
First, if my comments have offended any of the actors, production people, or others who strive to bring a quality product to the screen, my apologies. While I will criticise the show if I believe it is a valid criticism, it’s not my intent to insult or belittle individuals. Merely to point out why something does or does not work for me personally. I’ve been impressed for years by the Stargate production standards, and that hasn’t changed even if the new show is not one I’ve instantly fallen in love with. But whatever issues I have with the show are no reflection on the actors, all of whom have put in solid to brilliant performances each episode. It’s not even really a slap at the production/writing staff, as much as expressing a difference in opinions.
Which is what I love about this site. I quickly dropped visting Gateworld Forums because of all the venom that seems endemic over there. Here, for the most part people voice their disagreement in respectful, even humorous ways. I try to avoid responding the few trollish posts in order not to stoke the flame wars they seem intent on starting. Besides, you as host do more than an adequate job on bug-stomping when needed.
So, what can we do to let you folks know how much we appreciate your efforts(not including the occasional book and/or chocolate shipments to vous) Whatever it is, I’ll be happy to do what I can to make the cast and crew feel appreciated, especially if it means we can entice them to come to conventions.
As a final note, is it just me or does it look like Young’s suit has a codpiece? I certainly didn’t notice it when the episode aired, but in your video clip … personally I think codpieces are great. It’s just that they seem to be so….unAncientish. Anyways, thanks for the video, the rant, and all the other stuff you do for your readers.
I do have an off Stargate question that I’m not sure you can answer, but thought I’d ask. Why do some series not get released because of music rights? I’m specifically thinking “China Beach.” Which I loved and introduced me to Bob Picardo. It has been written that it won’t be released because the music rights are too expensive. I know SG1 and SGA used original music, but SGU is using some contemporary music. Will this be a problem? I would think that if a song is in an episode then the music has been paid for? I know that when Roswell was released they had to replace alot of the music for the DVD’s, but if the show is reran, it has the original music. It’s just very confusing and damn frustrating as I’d love to own China Beach.
Amen.
Well, I’d like to take the time to apologize to Brian (and Miss Levesque) for anything I may or may not have said that was offensive… I may not like a character but I try not to let that hatred convey to the actors portraying them. My bad, guys!
On a perhaps lighter note…
“Trust me when I say that there’s no better way to guarantee a character’s long and fruitful stay on a show than to insist we get rid of them.”
In that case, I must insist you destroy all of the kinos and the machine that dispenses them… post haste!
Just make Rush a little more likeable (pretty please), the character has so far exhibited no redeeming qualities at all.
(no reflection on Robert Carlyle, he’s fantastic in the part but I want to like him)
Liking (not loving… yet) the series so far and it’s understandable that it’s a little slow paced atm (lots of new characters to establish)
I do love Eli♥ though, soft squishy, teddy bear that one.
Hear hear, for sure! To quote Yahtzee Croshaw, “Some fans are clingy, complainy idiots who will never be satisfied with anything that you do.”
Sad, but true. I hate that the fandom’s accusations about the Scott and Chloe characters has leaked into the actor’s lives, and it sucks for those of us who enjoy it. It’s not only making watching SGU a little detrimental to some who like it, but having conversations on forums about it will always lead to more Scott/Chloe bashing.
It must suck for the actors and the producers too, who craft this show – their baby – and to have that baby ripped to shreds by the aforementioned fandom. And those same same actors and producers want to go in and create a new episode/baby with a positive attitude, and idiot fans ruin it for them.
Oh Joe 🙁 I’m really sorry to hear that some people are feeling it necessary to boycott your blog because of the negative comments. Please be assured that these ‘idiots’ are in the minority, and that most of us are quietly enjoying all aspects of SGU.
Maybe we should be a bit louder 😉
*hugs*
Thank you for this post. I hope my rant the other day didn’t piss you off. Everyone’s intitled to their own opinion but like you said, it’s the way they say it that can offend people. I concidered not following your blog because I like to read most of the comments made by my fellow fans and some of them were getting very ugly. I’m very proud of the show and even won an autographed poster signed by everyone except Lou Diamond Phillips. I will miss reading Brian’s Tweets but can understand that he needs a break. I know I’ll get updates from Sherry. I just hope that as the SGU and it’s story porgresses, the negative comments will die off a little, not completely because people won’t always like certain aspects or story lines of the show.
Great work on the show, Joe. SGU has some great characters. They feel real. Not everyone is a boy/girl scout!
SGU is quickly becoming my favorite Stargate show! And I don’t say that lightly! I was completely in love with Atlantis and SG1, but Universe is a whole different love for me. In my humble opinion, it may be the greatest drama/action/sci-fi show on TV! You should have ranted more, because there are still idiots out there!
I’m glad that Lieutenant James was written in a way that she took the high road when it came to Chloe, so far at least.
I had asked this question before, however I’m not sure if it was either not approved or I simply failed to hit the submit button. So as far as Hulu goes, do you know how or if views on Hulu of SGU affect the overall ratings for the show?
As it has been said before, the anonymity of the internet makes people feel the can get away with being, well far more critical then they would ever be face to face. So take all things with a grain of salt and consider the source. People will be dicks to be dicks, sometimes you can find a morsel of truth in the criticism, in the end that is all you want to leave with from those comments.
Enjoying the show so far, keep up the good work.
hey joe, loving the series so far, was hoping chloe would get with Eli and not with scott, but am hoping they will by the end of the series! quick question, does the appearence of the suits in this episode mean that the ones used by the asgard in fifth series of atlantis taken from the ancients? or perhaps taken BY the ancients?
Thanks for the rant, Joe. I think you are a very gracious host and have been very open to other people expressing their views. This is your blog; we’re guests here and guests should behave in a civil way. But enough is enough and I’m glad you told off the folks who can’t express their opinions without getting vicious and personal. I’ve got to admit that I’ve been avoiding reading many of the posts lately – partly because of spoilers and partly because of the sheer nastiness.
Das, I look forward to your creative writing! Please don’t stop.
I find it interesting that so many “loyal” Stargate fans gave so much negativity towards SGU, yet still watch it. Perhaps it is an ongoing experiment in human psychology. In connecting the dots, it appears that most of these online thugs are the ones bitter from SGA being finished. This is their venting, I suppose, and for them SGU was doomed from the start.
I also happen to be watching Batman Returns, and I find a parallel. The two Tim Burton Batmans were really good, some of the best superhero movies at the time of their debut(s). But with Returns and Batman and Robin, it was more of the same (and some campy added in, which was happening to SGA and SG1, which you may debate…). Then there was Batman Begins. A wonderful movie which was character based. It is how Batman survived cinematically, and as we all know, now thrives. Stargate is taking the same road. We, the audience, would be moaning and groaning if this was rehashed SG1 and SGA, but to an even greater extent than the whining about SGA rehashing SG1 plots.
In summary, I commend and respect the direction the franchise is going. Now, I have a recommendation: mucho space battles. It’s what I loves the most.
Questions:
How did Priors come through the Milky Way gates from the Ori galaxy if the Stargates had not been invented before the Ancients departed for Earth/Milky Way (as see in AoT)? This has bothered me…
Does the Hammond have Asgard beam weapons? If so, why not use them in Air I?
Will there be any more Milky Way space battles in SGU?
Thanks!
*comes out of hiding* Thank you Joe for addressing this issue. I have been avoiding your comment section and select portions of your mailbag these past weeks because I cannot stomach the toxic and insulting comments any longer. I am so sorry people are being so disrespectful and offensive. I sometimes characterize fandom as a lynch mob; it’s not a nice place to be when a certain few are out to get anyone who disagrees with their POV or the creative direction of “their show.” I can tolerate creative criticism but this is just too much. I’m also disappointed these select few have ruined the experience for many new cast members and those and close to them. Most of us in fandom are truly nice and respectful people. Guess it’s like the adage says, “one bad apple ruins the bunch.” I hope this blog entry will put some of the “excitement” to rest (doubtful though.)
Eat some chocolate, keep your chin up and keep blogging.
-K
PS. On a happier note, my mom loves your “Weird Food purchase of the day” segments.
On second thought, I’m glad you said what you said today because it made MYSELF realize that I was actually saying, “Hey, I wouldn’t mind if Chloe didn’t exist in the show.” Which obviously isn’t quite an appropriate thing to say when the people involved with production actually read these comments.
I personally try to be as insightful and constructive as possible in my comments here because I know a lot of people aren’t. I try to be honest and just give my opinion as it is. Normally I can do that in a constructive manner which is just supposed to raise questions and think about something instead of making irrational statements such as “Chloe is a whore.” I love SGU as a show and love the direction it’s going and I love how it’s far different from its predecessors. There have just been a few pet peeves that have made me wonder about a few things. I didn’t mind the sex scene in Air whatsoever. I didn’t mind Chloe’s behavior toward Eli in Darkness followed by her and Scott in Light. I was a bit surprised that her and Scott were actually pursuing something romantic when I felt it hadn’t really been hinted at enough before, but I was okay with it and it didn’t really bother my enjoyment of the episode.
I think the thing that raises the most controversy among fandom here and on other websites is how the characters are acting in/dealing with this situation. The writers write the characters in ways they think the characters would act in this surreal situation. They are, after all, characters CREATED BY the writers themselves, so they should know best, right? And I go under that assumption. No one really knows how anyone would act if they were stranded billions of light years from Earth on a space ship with limited supplies and facing death every other day. I think that creates the most controversy: people’s interpretations of how the characters would handle things.
My previous comment about Chloe in “Water” was out of frustration of seeing her whine about Scott to Rush and just standing there crying instead of trying to help. Again, that’s MY interpretation of how she SHOULD handle the situation–and obviously the writers wrote it differently. I have no problem with that.
I like the actress and I think she does a fantastic job, as does everyone else on the cast. I just don’t quite get the character, and when TPTB say “These characters have flaws” and then say “Chloe feels helpless and feels like she has to try to prove herself”–to me, it’s coming across as Chloe being lazy and selfish and it appears to me as a stereotypical “flaw” in the character which feels redundant and boring. I’d rather see Chloe working her ass off to help with ideas to SAVE her new crush instead of standing there yelling at Rush and whining. It’s just annoying to see that when she really ought to be doing the exact opposite according to what TPTB have said about the character and what Chloe herself said in Darkness.
So anyways my apologies if I’ve ever said anything inappropriate but I do look at myself as someone who comments more constructively than the majority of people who comment here and I feel like I understand where everyone’s coming from. I’m not really sensitive to anything and I try to see all sides of it and I just come here to express my opinion to someone who is involved with the show and might be intrigued by the viewpoint.
Hey Joe,
I’ve been a lurker for a couple of years but don’t think I’ve left a comment yet. I have to say I’m really disappointed that members of the cast and their families feel they have been abused. I’d like to say that I’m really enjoying the grittiness and realism of the characters and that I’ve found the actors quite believable. I think that most of the actors have found their stride quite quickly, I don’t think the actors in SG-1 and SGA were quite as comfortable in their roles six episodes in as the SGU actors are.
Looking forward to many more seasons of SGU! And hopefully an idiot free blog.
By the way great to see a ‘real life’ gate in the behind the scenes video… was the puddle a projection onto a screen? I thought the gate effects were CG.
I completely agree that harshly, rudely, irrationally negative comments have no place on your blog, nor directed at any of the actors or production who have an on-line presence. I would not blame you for moderating more of them than you have.
Speaking as a fan, I’ll say honestly I wish fans could have a place to talk about TV shows, movies, etc, without anyone from the productions looking over their shoulders. I’d like this not only to avoid hurting someone’s feelings, but also avoid being mocked as a psychopath or worse. Sometimes it’s just fun to kvetch without worrying that someone from a show will read any of it. Not all comments are intended to influence anyone; most are just for us, as part of the fan experience. I’m sure when you guys slam movies at the office, you’re very grateful Hollywood doesn’t have your hallways bugged.
It seems now there’s no place obscure enough for fan privacy in a forum-type setting. I’ve seen small forums’ comments be cited in twitter then make their way to your colleagues. So are fans just supposed to stop posting anywhere that an unregistered user can read? That seems pretty restrictive!
So yeah, your blog obviously is not the place for fans to criticize your show to the nth degree, IMO even politely. Yet if they do it out in the corners of the internetz, please don’t hold it against them; it’s not for you to overhear. 🙂
I don’t really have anything to add other than that I agree with your post. Some people can get really out of line. As a viewer, I don’t feel I have the right to tell you how to make your show. If I don’t like it, that’s my problem.
Hello again! I just finished watching Water and I must say I loved it! I’m very sorry about all the hate comments you’ve been getting. Also I’m sorry if my last comment made anyone upset at all, and thank you very much for the fair warning to everyone about the romance in the up coming episodes. I normally can’t watch the show live anyway, all the TVs in the house are normally taken over. So I’ll just adore my fast forward button. 🙂
Anyway, last episode – Awesome!! So far my favorites are TJ, Colonel Young and Greer, can’t see why anyone wouldn’t like Greer. Those bugs creeped me out, but it was really cool idea. I never would have thought they could be so scary. When Eli pointed out that the bugs were the ones drinking all the water — you should have seen my face! I was like “Oooohhhh!” Then I felt really stupid.
Thanks for the behind the scenes video! What where they using to make it look like snow? Bits of potatoes is my guess.
where is the adventure and excitement?
@ Gracey – I think Northern Exposure has the same problem (not sure if it ever made it to DVD yet) – held up, I believe, by music rights. They may release it eventually, but without all the songs that originally played in the eps as they appeared on tv. Shame, because it’s often that music that makes the show, but I guess they have to write up new contracts, sign new deals, and pay for it all, just to get the soundtrack put on the DVDs intact.
I think there was a similar problem with Queen of the Damned, but at the time of its original production, not when it went to DVD. I never saw the movie (as I’ve said before, undead vampires just aren’t my thing), but the soundtrack is one of my all-time favorite CDs. I *think* Jonathan Davis of Korn sang many, if not all, of the songs in the movie, but because of contracts, label obligations, etc, he could not sing on the soundtrack for the movie, so other artists stepped in and performed his songs for him. Or something like that.
I think it boils down to lawyers screwing everything up.
das
Dear Joe,
I would like to apologize for my snarky comment earlier today. My comment was not directed at SGU in particular, but rather at TV in general. I was profoundly struck by the fact that both the characters of TJ and Chloe were wearing fabulous shades of lip gloss which stood out to me given the rather dire situation of running out of water. I was deeply amused by this observation and decided to share which may or may not have been inappropriate.
I recognize that this is one of those things that comes with any story, whether in TV or movies, like the fact that women still manage to find mascara in a post-apocalyptic war zone or that a scientist can look through a normal light microscope and identify a virus. As a viewer of any visual medium, you are forced to make these concessions to enjoy the overall story. I am more than willing to overlook these issues in the name of entertainment. For future reference, I thought it was a wonderful episode, which I may not have transmitted clearly through the sarcasm.
I also realize that this is not entirely relevant to the point you were trying to bring across in the rant. In that regard, I would hope that my comments up until this point were perhaps critical but never disparaging. At least that was my intent. I realize is very easy to misconstrue the context of a comment when it is being read rather than heard and I wanted to be clear.
I have faith in you Joe and in the SG writing team. You have always been upfront and honest as to what the SGU is and isn’t. I appreciate that and all the effort that is going into making it a good show. Thank you Joe.
I think I’m getting all rambly now, so enjoy your evening.
Oh dear.
Welcome to fandom, Universe.
They’re batshit crazy but… well, mostly they’re just batshit crazy.
Hey Brian’s Mom / Sherry / Mrs. Smith,
In the off-chance you happen past this post, know that your son is doing a fantastic job.
Hell, every cast member is ridiculously good. I recently watched an episode of Dexter in which a side-character, Deborah Morgan, FINALLY had some intense emotional scenes that forced the actress to flex those acting muscles. And yet, that has been the case for every SGU episode so far.
To Joe –
Comment moderation is a very, VERY good thing. If you’ve ever read the comments to any YouTube video, you know what I mean. Thanks for taking the time to weed out the mouth breathers.
Cheers,
-J
Thank you for the clip from Water. My hubby and I just watched it on Hulu. We love SG-1, SGA and are getting into SGU.
I have to say I was shocked by your rant because I do not always read everything others type. When someone starts loosing it, I skip the post and move on. It is bad that they are acting like that. Thank you for keeping them in line.
Hubby and I have been keeping away from spoilers for the most part, and have been enjoying the characters trying to survive.
My hubby keeps saying they need to keep going and trust the ship because it has been around for a very long time, and it may be the only way home. And, I keep saying they need to stop at a planet before they get to far from Earth (knowing they are already really far) or should look for one like earth and try to gate back closer to Earth over time.
My idea makes me think of the movie Cube where they went from one room to the other surviving and using the character’s individual skills.
Hubby and I talk about what we would do if we were on the ship. We talk over what decisions we think we would make knowing that if it was a real situation that you may not act the way you think you would, but it is fun to bounce it around like a Ba’al clone. lol We decided that the current villian is the ship. SGU is great. *smiles*
PS – I take everything back I said about Carl being skeevy…if that helps.
I think I’ll go sit in the corner for a bit, and keep my mouth shut.
If it’s at all possible.
Not sure it is. 😛
Nite.
das
I have no issues at all with your “rant”, you made it clear your comments are directed at the malicious and cruel comments, and not fandom in general. I hope you realise most of us feel the same way – it’s the few immature and vitriolic “fans” who can’t bear that anyone else has a different opinion and can’t bring themselves to respect others (including the PTB and the cast and crew) that reflect badly on the rest of us.
I speak only for myself here, but I would like to say that while I don’t always think you guys made the right decision I absolutely respect your right to MAKE that decision, after all, if I don’t like it I can choose to turn off the TV!. And might I add that I’m enjoying SGU (not love mind, but enjoy) – I especially swooned at the lighting and music in “Light”, gorgeous. I’m enjoying the slightly more adult tone to the show, I don’t get the furore about the sex scenes (hey, refer them to “True Blood”, complete (addictive) rubbish that makes SGU look positively prudish in comparison :p ).
I hope no one thinks they can use reverse psychology to prevent you from killing off characters by insulting them, that would be twisted.
Personally I like the new direction this show is taking. SG-1 and SGA did what they did well. SGU is doing what it does well. I think Water had more action and more drama than SG-1 ep 6 Cold Lazurus. I found Light a bit more exciting but Water was still a solid episode which progressed many of the characters. They’re all interesting even – or especially – when they aren’t likable.
I fear that even after they claw out their eyes, some anti-fans will find a way to keep watching and complaining.
I didn’t realize SGU had that kind of fan reaction, maybe some of it, but just some. Gosh, I’m enjoying the show and plan on tuning in every week! All the actors/cast are great! And i’m sure the crew is always fantastic as usual. SGU has my support!
Bravo, Joe.
I’d say more but it’s late here and I really ought to get to sleep. 🙂
Thanks for your rant, Joe. I sign it immediately. After I read the comments the last week, I could only shake my head on how some people express themselves.
I learned early that not to say negative things about other people, so not to hurt them. If you want to help someone improve, you give constructive criticism. If you can’t do that, you stay quiet. But this might be my Japanese side in me.
I watched every Stargate episode there is, and I liked all of them. I didn’t love them that I would watch them over and over again. They were nice stories.
With SGU though, it is different. I can relate to the characters and their situation. I have watched all SGU episodes a couple of times already to see the great acting of the complete cast and to detect all those small nuances I missed the first time. A good actor/actress can portray a character without any words, just with facial/physical expressions. And I see this a lot on this show.
I don’t need to tell you, that you guys choose the right people to portray the wrong people in the wrong location.
I think I said it before. SGU is like a good book. I read it to find out more about the characters and how they develop. I would never write to the author of the book to change his/her story. I read this book to listen to the storytelling of someone else. In this case, I watch SGU to see how you guys tell this story.
So, when I’ll ask some questions in the future or make comments, then it’s just because I would like to get a better understanding of the story. Not because I want you to change your creative process.
One last comment to your today’s blog entry.
You wrote:
“Also realize – if it hasn’t become apparent by now – that we love our cast and are very protective of them. Trust me when I say that there’s no better way to guarantee a character’s long and fruitful stay on a show than to insist we get rid of them. Keep in mind that the simple fact others in your particular online niche share an opinion doesn’t make it the prevailing attitude among the show’s viewers.”
Now, you throw me into a dilemma. I don’t like to be negative towards people and I love the cast. But you say the best way to keep the cast is to demand them being killed off. I hope there is another way, because I don’t want anyone of the cast to be killed off.
I wish you a nice weekend, and please let the cast and crew know that there are people out here who really appreciate all the hard work they put into Stargate Universe.
Dewamata (ではまた)
Nina
THANK YOU!! I have long thought that most of the nasty comments stem from those who are trying to fit sgu into sga’s shoes. Sgu is different yes, but that’s what makes it a great show. And I can’t imagine how hurt the actors and all of you are by those who can’t keep their mouth shut. Opinions are great, but not when the are at the expense of another human being. Please don’t let those individuals get you down, there are plenty of us out there who are pleased with the show and the direction in which it is moving.
wishing sgu all the best and many seasons to come
-ZPB
I hate it when the actions of a sub-group make things harder for the group as a whole. Over on the GateWorld forum, as well as a couple others, I voice my opinion on the Chloe/Scott relationship. But I don’t attack the actors, or the writers, or even the characters.
My advice to anyone who can’t act mature when voicing his or her opinion: Grow up or Stop watching the show.
To those involved on the show; I am sorry that y’all have to deal with such immaturity, I hope you will continue to focus on those of us who can voice our opinions in a civilized manor.
This is interesting, after reading this post I no longer seem to be as annoyed by the shows developments so far…interesting.
Oh and I bet someone is tracking how much lipstick those characters which use it have left. It’ll run out eventually. Maybe there’ll be a Kinosode about that.
Part 13 of the “47 part interview”, LOL. (kudos to whoever picked that number for Eli to say)
Hey Joe,
I haven’t commented on here in a couple days, but figured this one definitely warranted one: basically I agree with everything you’ve said. I’ve kind of kept my distance in the last little while – aside from reading your main post – because I was finding certain aspects of the comments to be entirely…moronic. That being said, I wanted to comment today.
I only got into the whole Stargate thing last year, and my experience – up until lately – had been with a friendly and welcoming fanbase. Thus, this recent… vitriol has struck me by surprise. I have actually been ashamed to count myself among some of these people. And I feel for the actors and their families – in particular, Brian J. Smith and his mother Sherry, and Elyse Levesque – who were great enough to open up and make themselves accessible to fans only for *this* to be the reaction.
I already posted over on that article by ShowPatrol (I believe you linked to it in yesterday’s post) so I’ve pretty much worn out my rant of sorts, but I do sincerely hope that you do not close this comment section, as it has been a great source of amusement and camaraderie until lately.
Thank you so much Joe, for your continuing contact with us fans – I do hope that you pass on my respect and admiration to all in the production office. As I know you are aware, unfortunately it seems, as of late, that the most vocal of the fans are the ones with the, how was it you put it, “idiot comments”.
On that note, I loved SGU last night – phenomenal episode. Each week I find myself marveling that they seem to just keep getting better!
Oh, and please tell Carl not to glower so much at the computer – it’s not good for stress levels.
Thank you for everything,
Nadine Ramsden
(naddycat on Twitter)
Well said. I stand in full support of yourself & the rest of the production. Lately I have just been reading your posts, I haven’t been reading the comments or if I have its just been skimming to avoid the ugly comments from a vocal minority.
I think maybe I erred by avoiding the comments. Perhaps I should have taken a stand to let people know that while having an opinion is fine (I love a good debate) calling a character a whore is unacceptable. I would support that these type of comments were not approved in future.
I’m gonna keep visiting and I’ll be letting Sherry know when its safe to come back. We’re hoping its safe when you’re on your Tokyo trip and everyone will be talking about Japan.
Cheers, Chev
Joe,
I want to say thank you for finally speaking out on the subject matter of the recent episodes, i agree whith you rant! And like you said b4 “Its not your Daddys Stargate”. This series like you said all along is its own entity, and people still want to compare it with SG1 and SGA. SGU brings a little realism to Stargate and people are upset that it doesn’t snuggly fit into Stargate lore. I for one am a fan of all series and look forward to the future of SGU, and the other 2 series movies. My heart goes out to Brian and his Mom . Its a shame that the negative comments scared her away. Please to all actors and crew and Family members of them, you guy are Stargate. Please don’t let the few bad apples spoil this Blog for you all.
A while ago when you posted the pic of Ivon at the wrap party I said I had an idea. It actually wasn’t a Photoshop idea (something else entirely) but the Twitter bunch enjoyed the last Photoshop of Ivon at the Emmys so much they asked I do something with it.
So mega thanks Joe for the original Ivon photo. I hope you don’t mind that I took it out for a spin.
Anyhoo for those that are interested here’s Ivon Bartok
Cheers, Chev
so sad to hear about the people who were hurt by some of the comments. People need to remember that line from “Bambi” ‘if you can’t say anything nice don’t say anything at all’ I’m all for expressing your opinion but let’s “think before we post” people. If you don’t like how the show is going then just CHANGE the channel instead of bashing people. Nobody’s twisting your arm to sit and watch SGU.
‘kay? Thanks. =)
On another note:
Joe, is another side of Rush going to be shown in upcoming episodes or is what has been shown mostly what we are going to get?
“So how do you think someone on the production would react to such a comment? ”
Honestly? I would assume they’d get a good chuckle out of it.
“Trust me when I say that there’s no better way to guarantee a character’s long and fruitful stay on a show than to insist we get rid of them.”
Kill Rush please!! *g*
“SGU is NOT SG-1 or Atlantis. It’s a different show in terms of tone and characters. If you’re expecting flawless people,”
None of them were before, so I didn’t.
” square-jawed heroes”
Nor that.
” and stories that set up and deliver all the answers over the course of a forty-five minute episode”
This of course happened all the time. But at least you had the feeling of a story, or motion – here not so much. As for arc, Babylon 5 – clearly one of the best arc shows ever (if you think you don’t agree that’s because you’ve forgotten that you do in fact agree 😉 but they almost moved at a clip and preserved the illusion of actually having completed something by each episode.
“you WILL be disappointed. ”
What is life but disappointment.
“And DON’T expect that to change. ”
We can hope for a little less superficial teenage angst. After all do we not have the audacity of hope *g*
“Universe will touch on the heinous topic of physically intimacy. ”
Torchwood in space. Got’ya. Will there be kid sacrifices later? 🙂
“then I’d suggest a deep-rooted personal issue that would be best dealt with somewhere other than this blog.”
Hm.. you mean go after the advertisers instead – noted *g*
“nothing will change in this respect”
Well that’s it then – so to sum it up, just to make sure we got it right: There is no point in anything but praise here?
Btw, you want to see rants – go see Kurt Sutters blog *g*
The characters deserve to be criticized, Scott and Chloe I mean. Not much has been done make them likable, Scott in particular. If the people on the shuttle would have died in ‘Light’ in would have been no big loss. Those characters were nobodies and so far the show hasn’t done anything to make us care if the should live or die.
I found myself rooting for Scott to die in ‘Water,’ the first time I ever rooted for a main cast member of a Stargate series to die. So far the character has been portrayed as a man-whore.
I like Chloe, but I don’t like how she sleeps with a guy she just met. We have words for people like that.
Notice I criticized the characters, not the actors. The actors/actresses seem like perfectly nice people. It’s a shame the majority of the fandom wants of their characters dead.
We don’t blame the actors. We blame the writing.
Some people are apparently not appreciating what they get here: a closer look behind the scenes than any amount of DVD extras could ever hope to offer and even more amazingly: a way to connect to the crew.
And for all that you only have to show a little bit of responsibility. In real life, you probably wouldn’t walk up to Julia Benson and scream “Nice pair of ****!” to her face. So be responsible and consider who might read your words before you post them. Even Carl can only take *so* much, you know, and he already puts up with Joe’s various antics to make us laugh =)
As for the show: don’t change a thing, it’s incredible as it is.
And if so many people have a problem with the characters, it’s your fault, not ours.
Of course, it is your show. So you’re perfectly entitled to keep around characters that you like that much of the fans hate.
There’s always someone (or some group).
Sorry to hear that Joe I hope that no one is TOO offended by these…. these….. umm… daft people 🙂 to be polite…
““Trust me when I say that there’s no better way to guarantee a character’s long and fruitful stay on a show than to insist we get rid of them.””
btw btw, if you really mean that – that’s a really childish attitude.
@J Daniels
“Just make Rush a little more likeable (pretty please), the character has so far exhibited no redeeming qualities at all.”
Sure he has – it just underlines the cultural divide between countries (and why they need british judges on Americas got talent etc) – the constant need to LIE all the time and constantly say fake things because that is the polite thing to do. Sometimes (often in fact) truth need to be spoke and anybody who gets upset about that should pull themselves together (and gat goes for people who leave in a huff because of a few basically harmless comments about characters on TV) – Rush has been speaking truth almost entirely – and that all the uptight twits on the ship get upset well – they are the ones who should grow up and get with the program – this is supposed to be an emmergency not night school. (and btw if any of the staff get upset over me calling fictional character uptight twits – really – do you have a life apart form work?)
Rush has shown many good quality (he doesn’t need to redeem himself to me) – but politeness isn’t one of them. Too bad – doesn’t mean he is wrong.
“I do love Eli♥ though, soft squishy, teddy bear that one.”
Carefull, he’s wearing red and nobody has really complained about him! He’ll probably have died before the season ends!
No wait, this is stargate nobody who matters ever dies … no wait, this isn’t stargate… ack – its all so confusing *G*
I’ve done complaints about Chloe and Scott, yes. I have not ridiculed the actor/actress as they can only perform the material they are given. The fact that so many viewers hate these two “characters” goes back to the writers, NOT the actors. Have the writers taken a look at their own work with these characters? Do they realize how these two are coming across to the audience? Do they really think Scott is our “beloved hero” as in John Sheppard or Jack O’Neill? I would recommend rewatching episodes and trying to view the final edited product as a viewer would, especially since there are rumors that cast and writers don’t even watch the show when it is broadcast. You might be surprised at just how poorly these two characters are coming across.
Wow, amazed to see that even after this post (and some of the supporting comments by various people) there are still those who insist on spewing their vicious comments…
I think I’m going to have to avoid reading most of the other comments for a while – just makes me way too annoyed….
Once again, please do keep up the amazing work!
Nadine Ramsden
I can’t comment on anything that’s happened on any episode of SGU since I don’t (and never will) watch it but I do have a few comments ie: your above rant.
It’s never cool when an actor/actress is attacked for something a character does. They’re not the ones calling the shots and certainly not the ones writing it. That being said, there’ve been plenty of times where I’ve loathed a character and liked the actor just fine. Jewel Staite comes to mind here. I was big into ‘Space Cases’ when it was on TV (Jewel played Catalina on that show) and even ran the official site for Kristian Ayre who was also on that show for a time until my panic disorder got so bad I had to give it up. Jewel used to come into the Space Cases chat rooms on AOL back then (along with her mom) which I thought was way cool. But, I hated the character of Dr. Keller on Atlantis. It was nothing against Jewel or her acting, it was 100% the character.
That being said, some thicker skins should be in order when it comes to comments made specifically about a *character*.
“Trust me when I say that there’s no better way to guarantee a character’s long and fruitful stay on a show than to insist we get rid of them.”
This comment bugged me, Joe. When fans are telling you they don’t like a character, they’re telling you something that is lessening their enjoyment of the show you’re creating. Shouldn’t you at least take their feelings into account since without an audience you have no show? And what about Weir and Beckett on Atlantis? Where were their ‘long and fruitful’ stays?
@Jimbo
“I find it interesting that so many “loyal” Stargate fans gave so much negativity towards SGU, yet still watch it”
But do they call themselves “loyal” or do you? Besides *nothing* is perfect.
“these online thugs are the ones bitter from SGA being finished.”
Don’t know if you consider me one of the “online thugs”, but just in case: I’m not bitter about SGA finishing (it wasn’t that good either *g*)
“Now, I have a recommendation: mucho space battles. ”
A space battle is always nice – but is it compatible with nuevo stargate do you think? 🙂
@saltygrapes
“I was actually saying, “Hey, I wouldn’t mind if Chloe didn’t exist in the show.” Which obviously isn’t quite an appropriate thing to say when the people involved with production actually read these comments.”
Not so obvious? If you don’t like the character, you don’t like the character – and why shouldn’t you say it? Of course now that we know it would make no difference, there is little point in saying it – but I don’t see why you couldn’t. Its not the dislike that is wrong, but the way you put it could possibly be.
ok I haven’t been keeping up with the posts like I should so I do not know what comments have been made.
Please tell Carl, Brian’s mom, and all those involved with the show that I am very much in love with SGU and think what I have been viewing as a show is a by product of hard, honest, and tiring work. And that I am very thankful for the opportunity to have them share their talent’s with me.
Hey Joe, Ive been reading your blog for at least 3 years and i am making my first comment. All i wanted to say was well said! Im sick of hearing stupid comments about SGU. Its a great show and very well done. I wasnt totally convinced the first time i watched because i do like shoot em up episodes but this show is clever and edge of your seat stuff without having gun fights and such. Im from Australia and i watch every friday night. Keep up the great work to you and everyone on the show. I have one question though as my memory fails me, When SGA started, was there this much critisism of the cast?
Thanks,
Ryan
Joe —
Thank you for so cogently making the points which seem to need to be made repeatedly with fandoms.
For every moment of screen time there are many real people involved. Real people with real feelings that can be injured.
I hope Brian and the other folks involved with the production of SGU realize that the majority of us are grateful for all their hard work. And that their families realize that the obnoxious, obsessed fringe element is by far the minority.
I’ve only watched Water once, so my impressions are still less focused than they will be later. I second the appreciation of the way Lt. James behaved. I was afraid for a moment that things were going to go down a bad road, but I should have had faith in you PTBs. Scott deserved the verbal jab, but she didn’t take it out on Chloe.
Glad to see TJ stepping up. I thought Alaina Huffman did a great job. I’m feeling the “wrong people” having to dig down and find their heroism vibe growing each episode and it was TJ’s turn in Water.
I do wonder if I’m the only person having fandom flashbacks to the Star Trek: The Next Generation situation when Patrick Stewart became the break-out heart throb against all expectations. I keep getting that feeling every time Louis Ferreira is on screen. Yes, Brian and Jamil are both handsome and talented. David is cute, funny and talented. But there is just something about Louis that says this is the guy to watch.
It’s all about the tone. Well, okay, words count, too, but the anger in some posts leaves me speechless. There’s a huge difference between discussing your opinion and berating people for not seeing that they should agree with you!
It also confuses me because, as I’ve said before to the point of becoming monotonous, I come here for fun. Why would anyone who didn’t like the show (to that degree) or the writers waste their time hanging out here?? Again, I mean to that degree.
Sometimes I think I have an advantage in that my employer can and does check on my online life. Before I hit “submit,” I always imagine my supervisor reading my post. He might think I’m a dork, but I don’t want him to think I’m an idiot.
The characters on Universe are not all doing what I think they should do. I will admit to yelling at them, purely through the TV, telling them what they need to do. That is the sum total of my efforts to control a show.
I am amazed, again and again, at the talent that goes into the Stargate shows, from music to writing to acting to costumes to everything I can’t think of right now. There are so many talented people working on this show, and that alone makes it a joy to watch what they’ve created. In this particular show, I love the unanswered questions, the unresolved discussions of ethics, and wondering how far Dr Rush is willing to go for the greater good.
Well, I believe this post would not be detrimental to my next employee review, so I believe I will send it. Night, everyone!
Thank you Joe!!!
I have stopped reading comments lately (or skim them at most) because of what has been said by some people. I don’t even bother to go on the Gateworld forums any more because I just get frustrated. These people have no idea what it takes to create/wright/produce a scifi tv show. They also seem to have no idea how much the actors put into giving us high quality entertainment.
I went to DragonCon in Atlanta in September (my first convention) and it made me love the actors even more. They took the time to come and spend the weekend with fans. Sure, they made money off of photos, etc. but they could have decided to stay home and spend the time with their families. Every Stargate actor that I met and talked to that weekend was so nice. I met Paul 3 times and each time he was great. And I even got to hug Ben! It was awesome. From what I saw and heard from others, not every fandom has actors like us. I got my photo with Paul and Joe and in it Paul stole my P90 (and Joe made fun of the fact that I’m Canadian) and it made for a hilarious photo. In photos of other fandoms, people have said that the actors didn’t even look at them or get a handshake or anything. We should feel lucky that as Stargate fans our actors enjoy making the show just as much as we enjoy watching it. I hope that Brian goes to DragonCon next year so I can personally thank him.
The Stargate franchise has given us fans so much and some “fans” think that they could do better. If they hate it so much why do they call themselves fans and why do they watch it. It bothers me that people hated the show before the first episode was even written. Some of them continue to watch it just to complain about it.
My rant is done so now onto why I love SGU:
So far I am loving SGU. Rush and Scott are my favourites and they have been from the start. They characters that I didn’t enjoy in the first few episodes are growing on me. I don’t mind the relationship stuff. People have to realize that the crew is cut off from their loved ones and they are confined to a relatively small area, relationships are going to happen – and they have in varying degrees in all Stargates. The Chloe/Scott thing makes me feel sad for Eli. Eli is probably the most relatable character for me (and a friend agrees) and I enjoyed the Star Wars joke a little too much. I love the spacesuits as well. The art/model department did a great job with those.
Do we know if/when there will be a midseason break or will SGU play through with just a short break over the holidays?
Make sure to tell the cast and crew that we love them and to keep up the amazing job! I hope we hear about season 2 soon!
I think SG:U is awesome and a very exciting new take on the franchise. I hope it continues for a good run and gets the praise it deserves. 🙂
My dad loves stargate universe and he’s 70 next year, he saw the move, the series and is the biggest critic i know. nuff said, my mum on the other hand is a crazy thai woman in her 50’s but i say 60’s who dosent understand a thing about stargate except she says she saw one of those things on destiny when she was younger weird.
sorry bout all the shit your having, to put it bluntly, but hey debating, isnt that what the ancients left us here for….
You all rule, even those who are commenting, you keep a story alive so thank you too. Heres to many more stories….
also joe… have a good day, i finished work at 4am this morning uk time, its raining… hard…. it was halloween so in the uk it means girls dressing in nothing, literally there was a girl in just a tissue she said she was a mummy… but i didnt belive her….i met a silent bob…. but of all the lot…. for the first time ever…. i met SG-1, a grumpy general, a black man painted gold, a very smart chick and the nerdiest of nerds. I mean SG1 for halloween, legends…. where can i send you a pic. have a good night my friend, well you know what i mean.
have a good one
*chokes* Blame the WRITING??? Seriously?? Wow. That’s just… wow. Really, words just cannot encompass the sense of futility I sometimes feel in the face of such… glaring unwillingness to display even a modicum of decency.
Yeah, I think I’m going to be avoiding the comments.
Just realized: with all the furor, I forgot to inquire about what’s *really* important…
How are the dogs? I do hope no sudden health problems or anything have cropped up? Did you dress them up for Halloween? Are they scared of the firecrackers? Our little one Bella really doesn’t seem to like them much…
Nadine Ramsden
I feel a bit queasy reading your post. I might complain about writing, relationships, not even female characters… but for people to attack actors who are doing their job? Yes they are idiots. Then the same idiots wonder why the actors don’t attempt to connect with fans? Gee wonder why? FWIW please express to Brian and his mother that not all fans are so impressively STUPID as to confuse a role with an actor.
Whatever my complaints, you have a spectacular group of talent on that show. They step up to the plate, they work every line given. The complexity of this shows’ characters is great and for those so shallow as to call even a character a vile name just because they have sex…well, like you said they need help they won’t be able to get on a forum.
Do I think SGU is perfect or you all walk on water? Nah. But you are great. And when I am whining about the women’s roles, I try to make sure I add in how much you hit the mark otherwise. I do not imagine my complaints are an issue, but if I ever cross the line, don’t post it. I won’t pout or rant. I’ll consider how to word it better next time.
You give so much, more than any writer other than maybe JMStrazynski back in B5 days, and anyone who doesn’t respect the amount of you that goes into it… screw them. Yours is the only blog I read daily. Some tough days you give me the only real laugh. Don’t let the buzzards get you down.
Hi Joe,
Being a fan of the stargate franchise ( Sg1, Universe and my beloved Atlantis) for almost 9 years now and a regular in your blog since November 13, 2007, I have never seen you this pissed off before. Shame on the people insulting hard working individuals such as the Universe cast but even more so shame on them for not respecting scifi art such as SGU and thats not to throw roses at you all but one has to recognize quality and worthy work when one sees it.
Come to think of it Joe, why are you even wasting your time with ignorant fucks such as these; you are either too diplomatic my friend or too nice.
On a brighter note, Kudos to Carl Binder on Water. I enjoyed a lot and definitely liked the interaction of this new genre of alien lifeform….that doesnt speak english and is not humanoid.
Moreover, I hear from various spoilers and teaser pics that Mr.Martin Gero’s Earth, airing as of next week, will probably be the best eppy as of yet.
A couple of questions that will not require you to ingest some advil or aspirin:
1. How’s Mrs. Mallozzi fairing? Wish her the best from us loyal fans.
2. Are you considering taking the H1N1 flu shot, because its really creating a big controversy here in Montreal. Half the people I ask are either lining up to take it or have taken it already and the other half are swearing that they prefer to sever a limb than take it…. what to do? Whats your take on this?
3. Whats the verdict on the S5 proposal… I wasnt joking man!!
Thank you very much for sharing that interesting BTS footage.
Watching that episode…I was wondering what it
must have been like to shoot all of those wild looking
ice planet scenes.
The finished product came off looking really good…which in this case means that everything came off looking really
bad on screen…weather wise.
A *big* “job well done” salute to the SGU VFX crew.
I am really looking forward to seeing what they did
with that big tropical rainforest set/shoot.
I am really getting a good kick out of how the
new show is progressing and moving along.
There are so many juicy characters to try and learn
all about and play around with in that process.
The story started out good..and things seem to only
be getting better and better.
Season 2?……hell…come on Season 3!
Water was yet another great episode…It’s funny how all three Stargate series started out strong, unlike some other sci-fi series that had horrible first seasons and then got better as the years passed.
Spoilers
Spoilers
Spoilers
I loved Eli’s “hover sled!” Great idea. I don’t think Rush treated him very well. He is a civilian and has only been involved with the military for a few weeks. He thinks people should be more truthful, and for the most part he is correct. He is being used as a spy by Young, and a bunch of the crew want him to be their mole. He is lucky he is still sane.
Nice touch bringing back the sand creature. I guess it isn’t an ascended ancient after all.
Nice to see Young and Scott out in the field together, Commander and 2IC. Also nice to see TJ do a pretty good job in her first opportunity in command.
I think the loudmouth will eventually team up with Telford to take control of the ship. Well, maybe not that extreme, but we will see.
Line of the night:
Young: “Eli, clean up this room.”
I was expecting Eli to say “Ok, Dad.”
Can’t wait until next week, looks like Telford is making his move.
One Atlantis question: In Enemy at the Gate, after the Control Chair was destroyed at Area 51, could they find another control chair somewhere else(Taonas) and bring it to Earth to fire the drones?
Well said, Joe! Differing opinions and disliking something are fine, just so long as it’s not conveyed in a negative manner. People need to remember to be respectful!
Remember this blog readers: Just because you can hide behind a screen name, making it easier to say whatever it is you want to say, your words can be just as hurtful as if you said them in person! That sticks and stones saying is nonsense; words can leave a lasting hurt.
I think it’s obvious that the all ‘loyal online fanbase’ thing is not working with “character drama” shows like BSG or SGU any longer (if it’s ever worked).
Most of the fellow trolls never taking their whining (or whatever) comments very seriously. I mean they not imagining insulted Brian J. Smith (or his Mother) reading comments like “blah, Scott was such a [—]bag today, totally. Boy literally f[—]cks everything that moves in the whole Universe…” or confused Elyse Levesque reading lines sort of “Mighty Lord, Chloe is so looks like space-whore now… I hope she will die painfully very very soon. Oh blah blah blah” etc.
With all the angry fans, pissed off about prematurely cancelled Atlantis and some “soap opera’ish” SGU scenes, you mean this isn’t what show masterminds was expecting? Best thing that some cast and crew members can do, is leaving the “fanbase” alone with their anger. I mean, you can always find something what might insult you or your friends on the Internets. Such is life.
And for the actors. Come on, you’re at least get some money for this stuff. More crap what “fans” pouring on your SGU characters, is equivalent to getting more popularity for your persona. You’re lucky anyway, for [—] sake!
P.S.
I know SGU is not BSG. Still sometimes good old “FRAK” really missing to me in a few scenes. Maybe SGU need to invent their own PG-safe bomb word or, why not, just use one from Galactica. I’m pretty sure that Eli watched that show back home.
I give my congratulations to SGU, because I really think that the Stargate needed a change. Some things were very repetitive in SGA and SG1. Thinking in black x white, right x wrong … is not the best way and SGU seems to change that.
I also want to ask a question: In SGU will have meeting with aliens as they occurred in SG1. New aliens, new technologies, and the main these aliens spoke English? I always thought it strange?
Hugs from Brazil!
also, ive ELECTED myself, Paddy, (the half thai/irsh hybrid, an expert on all things stargate!) to be the one that takes the flack joe…. If theres a problem on set just mutter “its paddy’s fault…”
and i know im new here, posting… but ive been in the shadows for many years, if you dont like the show, simple just dont watch it, but these people are people… real people.
please by the way if you get the chance i know your busy that the unloved was truly great, and it was a wonderful british movie, seeing the interviews and living in the uk, its shame what happens happened. (hope that makes sense)
but if your angry about the way SGU is going, if u feel you need to shout, swear and insult… email me thomasfenn@hotmail.co.uk or ask a question like why would i do this…
PS. whats gonna happen when Sabotage airs…
PPS sorry for spelling mistakes, its 5am, and i just finished work… what time is it where you are…
If your life is so trivial and empty of any real meaning that you find it within yourself to HATE a fictional character — not just dislike but hate — and keep coming back week after week to find more justification for your continued hatred…
Then really… all I can do is feel sorry for you.
Flying Kino Table- Awesome!
I’ll take six.
Paddys Post Part 3 (surly i should make you wait a week for this)
but i meant to say : please by the way if you get the chance if you pass Mr Robert Carlye, i know your busy but tell him that “the unloved” was truly great, and it was a wonderful british movie, seeing the interviews and living in the uk, its shame what happens happened. (hope that makes sense)
Actually, I thought you were much more eloquent this time around. Fans sometimes tend to take such a display of raw anger personally.
While I think SGU is deserving of harsh criticism, it saddens me to hear that the production staff and family of the actors are taking it so hard. If any of you are still bothering to read comments, please, I assure you that not all of us are cruel and immature and eager to lash out so irrationally as some people on this blog have done. Sci-fi fans have always had to live down the reputations of that 1% of fandom that goes too far or can’t distinguish reality from fiction, and it pains me to think that there are still people out there trying to ruin the fun and joy for everyone else just because they’re too angry to care any more.
I mean, seriously… What does it say to Joe and the rest of the production staff if a fan goes nuts with the nasty insults? It just proves to them that we’re not smart enough to know any better, much less know what we really want to see on television. But what if our fandom decided speak with their remotes and protest by switching the channel instead? I guarantee you that this, plus maybe a politely-worded bit of constructive criticism, will get us a lot more attention than publicly-directed nasty comments.
Joe, please give Carl Binder my regards — ‘Phantoms’ is still my all-time favorite Stargate episode! I just about gave up on SGU as a soapy, watered-down version of the Stargate I loved, but I decided to give ‘Water’ a try because of how much I like his writing. I really wanted to give SGU a proper chance, but this is the only episode so far that’s been even remotely interesting and had any real substance for me. I prefer more plot and less pointless UST and inane drivel, and this one was pretty good. If there is a season 2, can you get Carl to write more scripts?
Dang. Sorry to hear.
I mean I have to agree with everything you said. It’s unfair to call characters and more importantly actors whores. I think it’s totally unfair. And I do agree and echo everything you said. Only one quote tasked a concern for me.
And that’s fine. I don’t mind continuing to read and approve your comments on the subject so long as you don’t mind knowing that nothing will change in this respect and that if you were offended by that broom closet scene in Air I, I guarantee you’ll be clawing your eyes out of your skull given what we have in store later this season.
Ok let me first say for one I think it was just me interpreting it the wrong way. I don’t mind scenes in sgu like the one in light. Very tastefully and modestly done. However this comment sounds like you are going to up the sex level in the show and make the scenes more graphic. I don’t think that is the case, it just comes across that way. I don’t mind sexual issues being delt with or modest scenes like in water and light, but graphic, out of place and titilating sex is not cool IMO. Just my 2 cents. But again, I think I’m interpreting it the wrong way.
I’ve been scrolling past most of the comments because I don’t want to be spoiled. I’m behind by an episode. I can’t believe that people would come here and make comments like that. Boggles the mind. They should know how protective you are of the actors and crew. I just can’t believe that people have treated Brian J. Smith that badly. Some people in fandom need to take a step back and look at how they act. Brian is a terrific young actor who will definitely go places. He’s doing a great job!
So keep on being protective and rant when you need it. I don’t blame you one bit. SGU is not SG-1 and SGA, thank goodness. I wouldn’t want it to be either. Admittedly, I was a little shocked by the scene in Air, but if people would look at the ratings (TV-14), they should know that there will be adult situations occurring. I like it that the writers are exploring relationships on SGU. People do not operate in a vacuum. They love, they fight, they mess up, they have sex too.
Keep up the good work. It’s a thankless task being a producer and writer. Give Carl a hug. Or maybe not. Don’t hug Ashleigh, because she’s sick. I hope she’s feeling better.
@ JoeM.
Copying my suggestions to posters over from yesterday. I think they complement your “rant” but won’t be hurt if you don’t agree.
Hey, folks, do the delayed viewers a break and use a
SPOILER ALERT
o
o
o
o
o
and spoiler space as shown when discussing the episode just broadcast in USA. Our friends who tape-delay or are outside USA will appreciate it, and Joe probably doesn’t have time to do it himself.
Wow, you hit the nail on the head. I just started reading your blog about a week or two ago and I must say I was surprised by the rude criticism and negativity that some people displayed. Thank you so much for addressing that.
It’s sad that the actors are getting abused for the parts they play. It’s not their fault that people don’t like them and the fans should support them, not hurt them.
I just wanted to say thanks for having this blog and for keeping it open to fan’s questions. It can be a two-edged sword in some ways, but I know that I appreciate it very much. Also with Twitter, it’s so great to be able to communicate with the actors and talk about the show. I’m so sorry that people have been misusing that privilege.
I happen to absolutely love the show. I love how real it is and how three dimensional and believable the character are. All the of the actors are doing an incredible job. Sure the characters aren’t perfect, I wouldn’t want them to be. I rather like them with their flaws. It’s what makes them human and easy for us to identify with.
Please let the actors know that it doesn’t matter what some may say, there are tons of fans that support them no matter what. This is my favorite of the Stargate shows and I hope we get to see many seasons to come.
Please keep up the wonderful work. I can’t wait to see the rest of the season. Friday night’s really are the highlight of my week.
Thank you so much for having this blog and for being willing to communicate with fans. I very much appreciate it. I hope other fans realize just how much hurt they can cause with their words.
To those fans out there…think before you type!!! You’ll save yourself embarrassment and you’ll keep others from being hurt. Do yourself a favor, THINK! If you wouldn’t want it said about you, don’t say it about someone else!
You can’t please all of the people all of the time, but you can please some of the people some of the time.
It is only a TV programme – the actors are only earning a living.
It is one thing to do something ‘positive’ for the Stargate community (Save Carson campaign neither hurt nor upset anybody) but to take things to a level where they are alienating the actor (and, more importantly, his mum) to our community then it is a nasty thing perpetrated by nasty people.
AnneTeldy I never thought of that interpretation for Young’s apparant collapse. I have been watching him like a hawk waiting for him to keel over.
Susan
Second and last item copied over from 31 Oct. Good night and sweet dreams.
So many comments, so little time…*sigh*
It seems the online fan community has picked up new members with the new show. It wasn’t so long ago (2002) that I was a newbie. So besides my spoiler space comment above, a few other suggestions for the newer folks:
–Google “Internet etiquette” for some basic do’s and don’ts
–Take advantage of Gateworld’s resources; your questions may be answered by the Omnipedia entries or episode transcripts.
–If you can, watch the episode a second time. I often find something I missed the first time.
–Tolerate English errors unless the errors interfere with understanding. English is not the first language of some of the commenters. Also, some of us are dealing with Mac or iPhone keyboards.
–Conversely, please preview and edit your posts. You might have a great thought, but it might get lost if you use a paragraph instead of a sentence.
–Remember, Season 1 is DONE as far as scripts and shooting are concerned. There is little we fans can say that will affect the finished episodes.
You’re welcome to take or leave the above advice.
As for the trolls on Twitter, *sigh*, one of my favorite sayings is, “Never try to teach a pig to sing. It will frustrate you and annoy the pig.”
“I don’t mind sexual issues being delt with or modest scenes like in water and light, but graphic, out of place and titilating sex is not cool IMO.”
I guess it sort of depends on what you consider ‘graphic’. Probably the most explicit stuff I’ve seen on SciFi (or whatever they’re calling themselves these days) has been on BSG, and even that was pretty mild compared to what you get on some of the pay-for channels these days.
Oh wow. How surprising, it’s Joe’s “everybody that doesn’t like my show is an idiot” rant. I so wasn’t expecting this. What do you expect when you contribute to a show that’s been dumbed down and sexified into a soap and then tack on the name of a beloved and actually intelligent franchise? I don’t have anything against the actors, but I can truly say I hate most of the characters. They’re more than just people with character flaws. They’re unashamedly indecent individuals. They aren’t even recognizing their flaws or trying to change them. The problem is that some of their flaws, like hooking up for a night, are condoned by the writers themselves. I don’t blame the actors. I don’t blame you because I haven’t seen any of your SGU stuff. (although I do blame you for seasons 4&5 of SGA, that’s a whole nother topic) I blame Brad and Robert. I don’t think their dumb. I don’t think they’re evil master minds. I think they’re either righting the show for money alone and they know that this junk sales, or their tastes have gone sour since SG-1. Either way, I blame them for making a show like this. I’m sorry if I hurt someone’s feelings with this comment and I apologize if they they spend tonight crying. I just am slightly annoyed that what was once a good show has lowered itself to the trash that is mainstream.
Oops, I guess I wrote an Idiot comment.
Also, I didn’t watch Water and I’m not planning on watching any more SGU. I’d like to make sure you guys lose at least one viewer while I’m spreading bad publicity about the show. I’ve seen and heard from you enough to know that this show is not worth my time.
Hm, at the risk of sounding like a negative person, I’ll try to make a complement. The show sure has awesome Special Effects.
Joe, wonderful rant! I love it mostly because you are teaching us how to constuctively voice our opinions. I think I can do it, and since I have an extra hour to kill because of the time change, I’d like to give it a shot. See if you approve…
I’d like to address the shakey camera work specifically in the fantastic episode “Water”. I realize (at least I think) the director is going for an edgy look when they shake the camera. I find it distracting. Your Director of Photography, James Alfred Menard, is a multiple Leo Award nominee over a great span of at least 10 years. His work is awesome and the SGU look and camera work this year has been nothing short of stunning thanks to Jim and his crew! Yet I notice when the camera shakes and jumps around my eyebrows furrow and I become a little irritable. This sort of awakens me out of the Stargate tunnel vision gawk I got going on during your shows, and I am more attuned to the camera and not the scene. It is just a little distracting, but I appreciate the different camera work being tried. Jim Menard is such a professional maybe he could shoot the scene a different way and still get “the look” he is going for. Jim is the master! Just a thought. Thanks for your attention.
Thanks Joe for posting this. As rants go, I’d have to say that was very measured. And definitely mild compared to the abusive rants we’ve seen in a lot of posts lately. (I guess that shows what happens when someone puts *thought* into a post, *before* posting.)
I’m enjoying SGU. I like that I have a lot of questions still about the characters. I like that I’m wondering whether Rush is really a jerk, or whether he’s just trying to make everyone think he is (and if so, why). I like that I’m worried Colonel Young’s keeping secrets from most of Destiny’s civilians (and some lower-ranking military) will lead to mutiny down the road. I like that Scott can be irresponsible sometimes, like 20-somethings tend to be. And I like Eli, but also realize that the geek doesn’t usually get the girl and Young and Chloe hooking up is more realistic. I like that the characters have flaws just like every human being has flaws, and that they don’t always get along with each other. It makes the show more believable and more interesting.
I was a big fan of SG-1 and Atlantis, but I’m totally OK with SGU being different. After all, I have 15 seasons of the other series on DVD to turn to if I miss them.
And I’m sorry for all the crap you and others in the production have had to put up with. Tell Carl we love him (but hopefully not in a creepy stalker net fandom way) and would miss his photo and video contributions to this blog (although maybe he shouldn’t be subjected to another WFPOTD).
– sorrykb (especially sorry today, and so using my full name)
I want Brian back on twitter. 🙁 He was awesome.
THANK YOU!!!
When I read some of the “bad” comments about the James/Scott/Chloe situation I was, not inconsiderably, angry. It’s a TV show, a great TV show and one that I, personally, love, but it is a TV show none-the-less. I think that if, as a viewer, you’ve really got that much of an issue with something that is happening you should just change the channel. And if you feel the need to make some comment (critical or otherwise) about it, don’t be a jerk. I can tell you that I don’t like something without having to be, as you said, an idiot about it.
I was very disappointed when Brian announced earlier this week on Twitter that he wasn’t going to continue his online correspondence with fans. One of the things that really got me heavily involved with the whole Twitter-thing was being able to chat with and discuss episodes with the actors online. So yeah, I’m annoyed that some of the fans actions are affecting the rest of us so negatively. I am therefore very glad that someone (quite a few someone’s actually) have taken the time to make a stand and say something. Like I said to start with thank you. Maybe you’ll get through to some of the people that the rest of us just couldn’t reach!!
Lacey
(@apalusalight on Twitter)
why is it that violence is so much more acceptable than sex on TV? that’s always seemed so ass backwards. also, if someone really has so many problems with the show, there are like 800 other channels to watch. constructive criticism is one thing, but being cruel will get you nowhere.
Another Halloween of no adorable costumed kidlings at my door. I guess apartment buildings are too scary.
No little princesses or Jedi warriors to oogle over. But even these kids know the difference between playing and reality. What’s really scary is I didn’t realize there were such small minds in adult bodies. I can’t believe that people would personally attack an actor for a part he was playing.
I’m not a huge fan of SGU yet. But I absolutely respect the hard work and long hours every actor, writer, producer and crew member has given for this show. Equally, I can’t thank Joe enough for allowing us, the fans, to voice our concerns and appreciation in all things Stargate related. It’s extraordinary for someone in this business to be so open and available to the public.
Ok, enough smoozing, I have a couple of questions:
I believe you mentioned that SGU was going be science-lite in comparison to SG-1 and SGA. But was there a reason why traveling through a sun only provided 40% of the power capacity to the ship? Or did I miss something?
Also, I don’t care if Scott is in a broom closet having sex or sweeping the broom closet clean. I have a problem with him being intentionally out of communication with his commander to the point that someone has to go look for him, as he was in “Water”, when they’re in such a dire situation. That to me is irresponsible. And Young saying what a great guy he is doesn’t smooth it over for me. Is Scott heading for a smack down at some point?
And when is Carl getting his own show?
I wasn’t thinking clearly and wrote:
>and Young and Chloe hooking up is more realistic.
OK, just to be clear, I meant SCOTT and Chloe.
Although… Hmmm…… 😉
And here I was criticizing people for not thinking before posting. Oops.
– sorry(er)KB
@Shadow Step – Love ya!!! And I hope no one takes you too seriously. That is – if they’re to take you seriously at all. *g* I hope you don’t mind my saying this.
Okay, It’s late and I’m tired. I’ll try to write something tomorrow, respectfully of course. That’s been my theme.
P&L,
j
P.S. I hope Maximus is doing alright.
Hey Joe,
Very nice RANT. Nuff said.
Best to you Joe,
Cheryl 🙂
P.S. After the blog, I will hit “end” and skip all comments. I really am here to read you.
*adds his tick of approval for this rant* Well said. I am always impressed with your rants Joe because you beat down the illogical with simple logic, and without resorting to their level of whining. Hear hear!
Tim
I agree with you a thousand percent, but I’m TIRED of these idiots getting ALL this attention. That’s what they feed on. And the more attention they get, the more vocal they become. If I’ve learned anything in years of fandom is that the only way to deal with people like this is to IGNORE THEM.
It’s not easy to do when you’re being personally attacked, but it’s the only thing that has ever worked. I tried to fight the good fight years ago in another fandom, and it only got worse and worse until I put up the big ol’ TALK TO THE HAND, and it all settled out.
There are always going to be mouthy jerks saying really cruel and inappropriate things. I’m sorry that the actors are being subjected to the kinds of verbal abuse that most of us sane fans have been subjected to for years while participating in fandom. But the majority of us aren’t mouthy jerks, and I hope we can move on to other topics.
Romance and intimacy doesn’t immediately equate to sex in my mind. That can indeed lead to it, and better if more of it. The 1 minute out of 270 that has been played perhaps just isn’t enough and why so many seem put off by that part of SGU. It just seems too sudden, and I think for some it comes across as off putting rather than story involving. In and out without any real explanation or introduction. Like it was put in there by obligation to fit the cookie cutter “Edgy” without actually exploring the moments a bit more or leading into them with more, well foreplay.
For example, it would have been great to see more buildup of the scene between Scott-James by perhaps having more than just one 15 second seen of hard action in the broom closet, but perhaps some flash scenes of some steamy making out or something before that part comes and he gets called away.
Then with the other, maybe spend a little more time (I just spent the day re-watching all episodes to make sure) in foreshadow with the eventual Scott-Chloe liaison that happens so it at least isn’t so surprising that Scott is a loverboy and Chloe is exploring more of a wild side. It would have made more sense whilst still in the process of (and I know I am not alone in this) getting into the situation the characters are in, marveling at the million year old ancient tech, admiring the ship, effects, and learning about the show.
Stargate in general has always been about the exploration of the universe and growing towards a point where it can be more “fifth race” like. That should also continue to hold true in this inadvertent (or perhaps we’ll find out, on purpose) situation this group of people find themselves in while trapped on Destiny. That said, I was getting into the exploration parts of this show when out of the blue, broom closet.
It just seemed too rushed, too soon.
I really hope that perhaps this point might come through. It’s not the inclusion of sex in and of itself it is how abrupt and without enough explanation to fill out the why. Hell I have been a fan of Stargate since the movie AND Children of the Gods when it aired for the first time on Showtime complete with nudity and well written moments where a curse word was needed. Any true fan can acknowledge that Stargate was never puritanical in nature. I would just like to see more detail in these relationships going on.
Maybe S2?
Since both Scott and TJ are the same rank…what makes Scott second in command behind Col. Young?
His decision to turn off his comm. unit while making out with Chloe showed less than stellar judgement, whereas TJ has shown herself to be a capable leader.
I thought the dust alien was a bit reminiscent of the water creature in The Abyss…especially when it mimicked TJ’s face.
I feel bad for Brian and especially his mom as she is so rightfully proud of him. It’s a constant battle in the forums with people who seem to join just to rant. The majority of them have no clue about how the business works or what it takes to produce a show. I must confess I stop reading those sorts of posts after the first few words.
I am a SG1/SGA fan and I love the way SGU has gone. Things need to evolve and adapt if they’re going to survive and I like the fresh coat of paint that’s been applied to the franchise. The visuals are stunning and Joel has really outdone himself with the music.
Looking forward to more.
Gator
Hey Joe, I’ve been reading your blog for about a year now, never really read the comments or actually commented on anything before, but you did great with the rant. Some people really need to lighten up and realize that SGU is a TV show, not real life. It’s entertainment, pure and simple. The actors, writers and crew try their best to do that. If you don’t like it and it doesn’t entertain you, then don’t watch it. It’s as simple as that.
If you don’t like a show, that’s what you do. You don’t watch it solely for the purpose of having enough fuel to try and burn the people that work their asses off to make it.
As you’ve said, people legitimately criticising the show or pointing out something they don’t like in a civilized manner are welcomed to do so.
Anyway, let Brian J. Smith (and Carl) know that people appreciate what he and everyone else are doing.
Oh, and being a 24 year old guy who bonded with his current girlfriend of two years over a personal loss and mutual understanding, much the same as Scott And Chloe, what happened between them wasn’t exactly outlandish.
Great Job and looking forward to the rest of season 1 ) and hopefully more.
I hope that my comments have accurately reflected my enjoyment of SGU. I’ve fully enjoyed all of the incarnations of the SG franchise. In fact I’ve gotten one of my best friends in to the franchise, even though he thought the idea of a gate was silly. Now we both love SGU. I agree that some ‘fans’ get kinda out of control when it comes to their opinions. What I find dumbfounding is the fact that they continue to watch the show.
I’m really glad that you said what I’ve been thinking. Especially the bit about killing, torture, and violence generally being acceptable while physical intimacy is regarded as something unacceptable. I was talking to my SG convert best friend and he made the same observation. What’s more is that sitcoms and dramas of other genres have been showing similar levels of physical intimacy for years and there’s been little uproar. In fact in the audio commentaries… yes I remember stuff from the commentaries… comments were made at the high Jaffa body counts in certain episodes.
I’m sorry to hear that actors and their families and the SG production staff have been upset by the comments of some people, again I hope that what I’ve said has been in good taste. I for one have never meant to offend or upset anyone, even other posters. I just want to add to the discussion of the episodes and of course the wonderful blog entries.
I think people forget that there are real people reading what they are posting on the internet. It’s a lot easier to insult someone and be critical when it’s not to their face. It’s wrong and it’s hurtful, people need to learn to look over their comments and determine if they would say it to the person’s face, if not, don’t post, if yes… well then maybe they’re an inconsiderate jerk, or maybe not, most likely the first.
Good rule of thumb, constructive criticism, if you don’t like something then fine that’s your right. But if you are telling someone back it up with a HELPFUL and INTELLIGENT suggestion.
“Chloe is a whore, you should kill her off,” this comment is neither helpful nor intelligent.
People need to get out of their fantasy worlds and remember that the actors and actresses are doing just that, acting. They have done nothing to deserve the treatment they are recieving, and these so called fans ruin it for those of us that actually respect SGU for what it is.
Those of you that don’t like it, why don’t you just do back to watching Survivor cycle 54 or America’s next top model cycle 153( it certainly feels like it) and spare me from having to hang on to my IQ points for dear life everytime I read you’re mind numbing comments.
*deep breath* you’re rant made me rant along with you, I completely agree with you….obviously
Wonderful, fantastic post.
I’ve found, over the course of my years of internet-ing, that many folks who are otherwise kind and intelligent human beings – when given anonymity and an audience – instantly transform into assholes (though the real-life assholes tend to remain such on the internets).
Furthermore, I’m really astounded by the fact that, unless viewers have completely missed one of the main points of SG:U – to explore the raw human reactions to such dire circumstances – they’re quite literally implying that interpersonal relationships and sexuality are apparently taboo and exempt from any sort of quotidian (albeit very abnormal) affairs.
Yeah – because a group of flawed and unique human beings stranded billions of lights years from home are TOTALLY asexual beings. Not us, just them. For some reason.
Finally, if nothing else, remember this: as is inherent to the internet, 99% of the material out there is total junk. That means that, out of the derogatory and degrading comments you get, 99% of them hold zero constructive value. Furthermore, there is a significantly larger number of people who believe in what you’re doing but simply haven’t said anything (until this entry, as evidenced by the numerous comments so far).
My only complaint with the show (a very minor one) is the lack of technical jargon relative to the two previous shows…but then again, I’m an ubergeek like that. 🙂 Otherwise, I absolutely love the show and wholeheartedly encourage you and the rest of the SG:U crew to keep up the fantastic work!
Re, my point about how the vast majority of viewers actually love the show, this comment from “anneteldy”:
As opposed to the general viewership, most of your commenters here want to like SGU and were predisposed to do so. Yet a noticable majority of them are complaining about the same thing. Shouldn’t that carry weight?
Perhaps most of the commenters are complaining, because the majority of the readers and the viewers love the show, and hence one doesn’t hear from them.
As a long time and huge fan of Stargate SG1 and Atlantis, I’m disappointed at the hurtful comments that motivated this post. Personal attacks are wrong and goes against the Stargate-grain.
I think the motivation behind some of the comments derive from a deep frustration at the direction of the show as you addressed. Personally, I love that aspects like romance, sex, and feelings have entered the Stargate realm. But the direction Universe has gone down, i.e., the darkness, the hate that seems to radiate from Dr Rush (which as a physicist – I find difficult to watch) is hard for the Stargate fanbase to get used to. We knew it would be different. And in my house we will try to hang on as long as possible, but we miss the old realm. We hope that some humor gets injected into it, that each episode isn’t about survival from a quick death, and that some exploration for fun starts to happen. We miss episodes like ‘wormhole extreme’…perhaps another series is in order:)
BTW – I love the casting!
It’s wasn’t all that long ago that fans would have loved a intimate scene between Jack and Sam. Maybe not lust filled like is Air. But if in any of those ‘we are so dead’ episodes of SG-1 if they went there it wouldn’t have been the end of the world. That being one portion of the fan base, while some others would have been screaming bloody murder.
Long Time Reader, First Time Commenter. I want to start out by saying that I very much love this show. The actors are amazing, and the writing is spectacular (a ship powered by stars… seriously genius.) I’ve been a fan of Stargate since the first movie, own the SG-1 Complete series on DVD, as well as all of the movies. So I’m helping the cause, so to speak, as much as I can.
I am, however, probably one of the ones that bruised your collective feelings, with this Twitter post: http://twitter.com/robertmclaws/status/5124073668. To my defense, this post was immediately before it, in regard to “Light”: http://twitter.com/robertmclaws/status/5115898469
Now, I know you’re going for gritty, more real, etc, but I’m not a real big fan of the was-gonna-be-a-preacher-but-now-can’t-keep-it-in-his-pants turn you’d given Brian’s character. Many Catholics assign a little more value to sex than that, however it’s your show, so write your characters however you want. Hopefully we’ll get to see some more backstory on why Scott has taken such a 180 in his life.
But I don’t think my comment was particularly offensive (nor was it intended to be, just pointing out the fact that in 5 shows, we’ve experienced tidbits of his sexcapades 3 different times.) It’s cool that you guys are taking more liberties with this series, but it seems like you guys have a lot of pent up frustration not being able to write about sex for 12+ years, and are now either reliving your teenage years, or your screenwriting has taken creepy-old-man turn.
Yes some of the comments (you may even think mine) are over the line. However, we are the viewers, and you have a very loyal fan base, so it’s not like this wasn’t expected.
You guys also need to get thicker skins, too. Because some of us fans can think a character is being whoreish without thinking the actor themselves is just that much of a whore too. It could be that we think the writing is to blame, not the acting. We are sorry if, as a writer, this offends you.
Some people (like me) would like it if you guys found a happy medium between SG1 and BSG. And for the most part, you have. But the major sexual overtones so early in the series make it seem fake. Sexual tension has to build some (I mean come on, you are the guys that didn’t let Carter & O’Neill hook up!). Right now, the sex angle just seems like a distraction in order to get ratings.
Sure, Season 1 is in the can, so our opinions don’t mean anything. But you would do well not to flaunt that in our collective faces, especially when people like me are the ones who enable you guys to keep doing what you’re doing, without not-so-disposable income in a crappy economy. Piss enough people like us off, and you guys will wish you hadn’t cancelled SGA so early.
Everyone on the Stargate team has had the luxury of having mostly positive experiences with the fans, and that is because the show has been mostly positive, and hopeful. Now, you guys have taken a darker tone that seems less hopeful. So you should expect that fan opinion/method of conveying that opinion might take the same turn. It’s the price you pay for taking a risk.
So, it appears that everyone involved needs to take a deep breath and re-attain the correct perspective. Fans need to remember that it’s just a show. And you guys need to remember that we keep you in business.
Having said that, please keep up the great work. Aside from a few minor annoyances, this show is truly amazing. I look forward to every Friday.
Thanks for your time.
Robert McLaws
Tallahassee, FL.
@Gracey – I believe it’s because they’d have to pay separate licensing fees to release it on DVD. There’s a music quiz show here in Australia that I’d love to own on DVD (Spicks ‘n’ Specks), but it can’t even be replayed on the internet-version of the station that airs it because they can’t afford the extra licensing fees for that. And yeah, I’d have loved to buy China Beach, too.
@Das – they did release Northern Exposure – I own the first couple of seasons.
@Joe – It’s a shame posts like this need to be written. Personal attacks say more about the poster than they do about the victim. And as for the Twitter issue: there’s this condition that exists on the internet, wherein those affected can only feel better about themselves by writing really nasty things to celebrities. Honestly, the stuff that gets written to people like Stephen Fry, Alan Davies & Brent Spiner … you just *know* they’d never have the guts to say it in person (although there is that variety of git who gets off on insulting a celebrity in person, too). There are a lot of sad people out there. Brian Smith came across in his Q&A as a really decent guy too – it’s a real shame he’s experiencing this.
I never could understand something, if a show is so bad for the viewer, why do they watch it? (unless you’re really that stupid, that maybe you should not own a tv in the first place, how u managed to find the power switch and learned how to use the remote control..not sure, I am guessing the instruction book included color photos, but now, it is time for you to watch something intelligent, SGU, friday nights..It might seem difficult, and not step by step instructions are included this time, but, make the human race proud once again, that you can safely operate a TV.)
There is always criticism, but once it hits the point where it is in bad tastes, it’s not criticism anymore.. I don’t know what one calls it, maybe something being written by a psychotic mind, yet that is not fair to those who suffer from psychosis… Maybe you are an unemployed worthless whiner that would complain if they were not being strung up with a new rope..
I like SGU, I wont compare it to SG1 and SGA. SGU is a different animal, it’s different, it’s refreshing, and I do not know nor understand the negative crap people are giving it. I could say, for all you bitchers, if you can’t do better, shut up. Please don’t misinterpret that, I just mean, if the ones who are complaining those most, & don’t have all your wonderful insightful and creative stuff you have in your delusional minds written up and on Tv, in book, on screen elsewhere, what fraken right do you have to make the comments you are making? Humans evolve into being something better, they strive for progress.
Except all of a sudden, something went stale.. Maybe it was the last administration in office.. maybe it’s facebook or microsoft.. but something came to a a standstill and while the better part of the human race actually does
like SGU and likes it because it is different, or what not, and the rest of you slipped back into the primordial goo.
If something is that bad for you, you strike out at anything and anyone showing your ignorance, it’s sick and it is tiresome, the internet is a great tool for communications, some just need prior training it seems to utilize it, I am guessing those kinds of people also have a huge granny porn collection too…
If the sex scenes, what they are, are leaving you jealous and horny, take it to the bathroom and grab a box of Kleenex, sex is part of humanity, it is part of being human, and if by chance you have reduced it down to just sex, you probably missed something.
(personally I thought it was kinda funny that Scott radio kept going off when he was getting to the good point…that’s gotta be frustrating, especially with no cold showers available.. 😉 )
SGU is a great show.. It’s one of a kind, that even I can not compare it to other shows, besides that always tends to taint and ruin a show, the dreaded comparison.. Watch the show with an open mind.. If it bothers you that much, shut the TV off, and go back to being the wanker you prefer to be..
I like How SGU is unfolding and I like the way it is written..
It has a great set of writers, creators and an incredible ensemble of actors and actresses.. Yeah, I have my favorites, something I actually have not had in previous shows in the franchise…
Ok, so I like O’neill and Carter, But not like I like the characters or even might I say, bonded to the ones in SGU… I choose who I liked in the first show, and I know that is probably not fair, being that the characters are still unfolding. Give the show a chance, you don’t like it, piss off you feckless thugs. Don’t expect this show to be anything you have seen so far, It is different, that is a good thing…
Yeah, my favorites are scott and young, sorry elli.. oh and I like TJ too (whoa!).
I don’t want to know too much, I want it to unfold in front of me. Reading too much about the show, isn’t for me, I like the surprises, even if they are small. So far this isn’t
about the technology as much as it is about the people…
we however want to see the more advanced technology, probably because we’re also a
bit spoiled.. SGU has the right mix.
I liked that Brian (smith) actually did a Twitter account, I think that is cool when an actor/actress does that for their fans, he didn’t have to, but he did.. for someone to do that like that is awesome.
People are chosen for parts because the production believes this the best choice to fill a character, and that the person can bring something to a project… In turn the actor learns something and is more than a person playing a part for a pay check.
The internet also brought out the feckless thugs in the world, the people who hide behind the keyboard typing
away, things they would not say to a person or a group of people in person.. because u are weak and pathetic.
Brian is a human being, he is not anymore perfect or imperfect (yeah, I know, but, i am speaking about the person.. not the body.. ) than any other human being and if you knew him in person, the attacks on him and (sgu) family would not be happening.. If someone attacked you and family you would defend yourself. If you don’t have the balls to tell someone face to face, in person. why be such a chicken shit and do it on a posting board?
There is intelligent good and bad criticism.. Emotions can not be shown well in text messages, misunderstandings do occur, but, but there are limits to everything.
If one can not get into this show, then don’t watch it, if you want SG1 and SGA, then watch reruns, if SGU doesn’t click, maybe you are not trying or brain death has already
affected you…. (I’m guessing this post won’t get printed…probably not a bad thing either, I probably just vented too much and did exactly what I should not have
done….bollocks!.. How many humans did I just insult?)
I cant believe some people. They will complain and complain about a show but keep watching it! what purpose does that serve? do they enjoy watching tv they consider bad?
I urge people to boycott negative threads and forums and fully support the franchise which has given us YEARS of entertainment and possibly (hopefully) YEARS MORE!
People are jerks, generally. Especially if they dislike something. They always write without thinking, which is why I usually critique the grammar of negative comments. It makes me feel better (read: smarter). For example: a few of the negative comments today use their instead of they’re, they invent words, etc.
Bravo on the rant. It needed to be said.
I have to say I have already given up on this show. Sorry. I wanted to like it, I tried to like it. I just don’t.
On the first show I had a problem with Scott while in the broom closet, ignoring an order from his commanding officer. As the wife of a military man I found this to be a big problem. He did it again in this last episode, (tv was left on syfy after and before Sanctuary) and I happened to look up and there he was ignoring an order.
By the way, my 20 year old son who is I believe in your key demographic, watched the first show and decided it wasn’t worth the time away from his X-box. He said he thinks it’s stupid…don’t shoot the messenger.
Well said and better put than I managed yesterday in my comments. I gave up on most online fandoms years ago because of all the venom – I hate being in any way associated with those nutjobs. I only started reading fanfiction and your blog again in the last few weeks because SGU was starting. That’s how much the poisonous atmosphere created by some people on teh internets put me off. It’s not easy to avoid without cutting yourself off completely.
While I appreciate you don’t wish to be too authoritarian and you wish to hear all viewpoints, if things don’t calm down here soon I’ll stop visiting. I don’t say that as a threat; I don’t expect you to either notice or care if I’m not here; but merely to illustrate how uncomfortable I’ve found things, especially in the last week or so since Light. Since I enjoy *your* writing on your blog, I’m hoping that my enjoyment will outweigh those negative vibes in the future.
There seems to be a core of people determined to hate SGU *in principle* and frankly I wish they’d just get over themselves. As you point out, on a fairly regular basis as I recall, the nutters make up only a small minority of fans, but the fact remains that they’re so loud we all get tarred with the same brush. It’s unavoidable and embarrassing.
On different note, yesterday I forgot to get down off my soapbox long enough to say I thought Peter DeLuise was looking uttery fabbie in his pic on your last blog and I hope we’ll be seeing more of him. Met him at a con a few years back and he was just lovely 🙂 As was Martin Wood – hint hint nudge nudge 😉
Ignore the haters. The internet is full of them. Also… a character was called a whole…and? People are mad because a character on a TV show was called a whore? Maybe I could see if the actress was being called a whole, but c’mon. Who cares?
Do your thing…plenty of people like the show. If haters get on and comment…like they always do…just ignore them. DON’T FEED THE TROLLS.
What the hell? I just the other day promised I would drop Brian Smith a line about how he and everybpody else is doing a bang-up job and how he shouldn’t sweat the small stuff. And now he’s non-receptive to any comments?
NO. This does not happen. Twitter is not a free-for-all against celbrities or the project the are employed. Voicing your opinons in a proper environment (i.e. this blog or another forum) is welcomed, but Twitter is somethng we must preserve for the most pertinent comments. Whether they be of praise or of condemntation. If you are to condemn, odds are there are many who would agree and post elsewhere forthwidth. The point is, if you are irked by a (God forgive me) nickel-and-dime issue, see how other people address it, and don’t blame some kid who’s working his tail off to bring us quality entertainment just to have it thrown back in his face because he represents a negative male role model in your child’s life.
Well, you shouldn’t rely on TV to provide proper role models. And if you aren’t feeling quite up to spot, you sould get laid more. At any rate, if you are blaming a TV show for portraying “bad morals,” then you really have only yourself to blame regardless.
Joe, this is your blog and I’m not looking to preach the most obvious facts at hand. Let me just say that while everyone is entitled to their opionion, precious few have one worthwhile.
Joe, no one is perfect. NO ONE.
Yes, I agree, personal attacks on the actors themselves is not on because they are just using a script and talent to play a role.
Personal attacks on the writers is also not on because they have written the best script they can.
However, If the episode (in my opinion) turned out bad I will tell you – politely yes, but I WILL tell you.
It is known as freedom of speech. A wonderful concept.
I have spent the last 15 years speaking my mind without someone knocking on my door at 4am coming to arrest me and I find it quite exhilarating.
Sorry if this comment is a little bit too much, but i’m tired of the bull! I don’t normally respond to anything on-line, but i’m sick of all the negative comments about this series. 1) Joe hits it right on the nail. Say something constructive, or go wine somewhere else. “SGU=Maximum Suckage!” Oh, thanks for that fab insight… like for the one billionth time! You are truly a f’ing sh*t-on genius. I know i’m your sterotypical nerd. I also know that this is just a TV show. You don’t like it, then move on to something else, because the only thing your pearls of wisdom are doing is making you look more like a childish moron. 2) The show is great in my opinion. Keep up the excellent work people!
P.S.-This franchise is nowhere near saturation point, in comparision to say “Trek” or “Wars”.
Big hugs to everyone on the staff….oh and btw I said I watched Air 3 yesterday…actually it was Light…LOL
As to SGU it is just not my cup of tea but that does not mean it is not written well or produced brilliantly….with the crew you guys have you could never go wrong there…
Please keep this blog as I love reading your views on things and the little titbits you give us are brilliant and I personally appreciate all the hard work you put into it.
Btw just a quick question…can’t remember if you answered this or not…but have you read David Eddings or Anne McCaffrey?..if you have what did you think?
Kriss 🙂
I’d also like to add that never have I seen a Stargate show generate so much discussion and debate. Should people watch their words more closely? Of course. And that’s why I thank you for posting this, because I honestly was not. I got to the point where I began ranting and didn’t even think about what I was saying. Many others could probably say the same thing.
However, Joe, I hope that you and the rest of the people over there making the show for us also see this as a good thing–the show is making people think. It’s making people question what they believe and its making people express their thoughts. Much moreso than its predecessors. That shows that fans are passionate about the show–some may simply not like it, but I think the majority of people who say they don’t like it are actually just taken aback by how different it is and aren’t quite sure what to think of it.
I had never really commented here before a few weeks ago because I simply wasn’t interested in Stargate anymore. The end of SG-1 and end of Atlantis lost me and I wasn’t really into it anymore. I haven’t watched either of the SG-1 movies and I haven’t even watched the second half of the final season of Atlantis. SGU restored my interest in the franchise to the point where I actually enjoy it and feel like its worth it to take the time to post my thoughts here.
To summarize… I’m just trying to point out that while it got out of hand, I think that’s cause people really want to like the show and are really passionate about it and have strong feelings about how these characters should be dealing with the situation. I think having the discussion and debate is better than having little or no discussion, and I think your post today was a good reminder for people in the future. Thank you 🙂
I’m sorry that so many have been hurt by so few. That should never happen. We all enjoy personal freedoms but freedom comes with a price. No one thinks it’s a good thing to shout “fire” in a crowd, but it seems that a personal attack is acceptable. It’s not just here in your blog, unfortunately. Popular programs on TV are BASED on rude, insensitive behaviour…and they are huge hits. It speaks very poorly of us as a people, and will in time cause much more hurt than to the young people on your show. My husband and I spent a lot of time training our kids to be responsible, kind adults (with good success, thank god). I wish more parents worked a little harder on theirs.
We do all have freedoms. We can like the new show or not. Watch it or not. But no one has the right to treat another with such disrespect. Have a beef? Write the production company. Leave the actors to do their jobs. Grow up.
Well the fact that people are talking about the show is great. It means they are watching and care about what happens to the characters on the show, which is what you were aiming for.
Let’s just hope that those who have issues can learn to state their OPINION in a grown up and reasonable manner instead of carrying on like idiots.
If I recall correctly, you (and others in many interviews) stressed that this was NOT SG-1 nor Atlantis and would be more adult in its story telling. What did people think that it meant? Oh and by the way – there was sex on SG-1 people seem to forget that. Even the saintly Sam got some.
Shaggy
Hey everyone
Remember a show called ‘Hill St Blues’?
It was one of the first shows that seemed real, like a documentary and what made it so successful was that the characters in the show had flaws.. they all weren’t 100% heroes or villains.. they all were shades of in between and we were privileged to see their problems play out on the screen.
We didn’t like the antics of some of the characters and some we even disliked. The CHARACTERS not the actors. If their actions were negative and it got us viewers on the character’s bad side then the actor did a great job. The writer then , must have done a great job to supply the actor with good material to work with.. and so forth, even back to the editor and lighting technician.
The characters must be the ‘babies’ of the writers.. they invented them, created their character pluses and minuses and even put a bit of themself into the character. To insult the character is to insult the writer. Chloe a ‘whore’ .. say what??
The internet is a medium where people instill a false bravado within themselves, causing them to type words that they wouldn’t say to the intended recipient face to face.
Remember that the people we type to are human, just as we are.. they have feelings.. we have feelings. Just because we see them as pixels on a screen doesn’t mean they are impervious to what we say.
Hugs to Carl and all of you xx
Hi Joe,
You are my favourite.
Although I am saddened that the cast, their families and the crew have been hurt by the recent comments, I would like to thank you for your rant for an entirely different reason. Thankyou, on behalf of every girl who has ever been called a slut or a whore by self-righteous, judgemental, mean-spirited and cruel people. People who feel that their idea of morality and their personal comfort zone related to sexual matters entitles them not only to disagree with a person/characters actions, but also to label that person/character as something despicable and less than.
In many of the recent comments these same people have accused tbtb of not knowing how to write women properly. But calling them a slut is fine? That’s how to respect female characters and celebrate their right to make autonomous choices, especially about their sexuality? Using words like slut and whore does not express your displeasure with how these characters are written. These words are used to judge women whether they are characters or real people. These words are used to make women feel ashamed and unentitled to make decision you may not like about their own bodies. Again, if you object to the storyline that is completely separate to the use of these words that express only that a woman should be ashamed of their sexual behaviour. Ashamed! Do you get this?
Who the hell do you think you are to object to a 30 second sex scene as an afront to your unquestionably superior morality, but then feel it’s perfectly ok to throw those words around in a public forum. You don’t want your kid to see a sex scene on Stargate, but what about the kids who read Joes blog? My niece read these comments and thankfully asked me about them rather than internalising just one more piece of crap she is subject to everyday as a 14-year-old girl. Chloe has a fan. If one day my brilliant niece gets stuck in a space ship and is sure she is going to die, I hope like hell she gets to feel close to someone, make some kind of connection before the end. If she chooses to.
Joe, I have read you blog since almost the beginning, but have been a lurker for most of that time. I realise I have taken your rant and Carls’ objections in a direction you may not have intended. Perhaps your main motivation was in defence of your cast (which is perfectly understandable) and not this broader objection. If I have over-stepped I apologise. Perhaps I should have waited a couple of days like you did, but this has been bugging me and if I wait till I am less pissed I will just stay lurking.
I came for the Stargate, but mostly stayed for the picture of maximus at the top of your blog (it’s the eyes…no it’s the ears…aghhh).
Hope he is recovering from his surgery ok.
Thankyou Joe (and Carl and all the ptb)
Hey Joe,
I know once again I’ve been MIA. Just some stuff going on in my life making it hard to get on here… and I heard thru the grapevine that people were letting their stupidity show. 🙄 I REALLY hate when people do that. Usually, here, it’s on the roads. And I call those people Floridiots with good reason. Sounds like the same people that act like they own the road are posting here.
I have something to say:
My grandmother often said, “Don’t look a gift horse in the mouth.” Anyone who’s ever been bitten by a horse knows exactly how stupid that is. I think some people have been guilty of that on here. Watch out… the horse has big teeth.
In case you don’t realize it, this blog, what Joe gives us, is NOT what you deserve. He does not HAVE to do this. It’s a pain in the neck to do, I’m sure. I can’t even get here everyday. Yet Joe has faithfully blogged EVERY day for us. He is CONSTANTLY thinking of ways to treat us to things… to reach out to us. To have an ACTUAL relationship with us fans. Again, not what he HAS to do. He CHOOSES to do it! Maybe you thought, because he does this, that you’re special and can act like a spoiled child. Because really, when people start making personal attacks they are actually having an adult-style tantrum. Stop having tantrums. Control yourselves! That actually means having to tell yourself *no*. Shocking, I understand. However, it’s the right thing to do.
Seriously, people! To complain so violently about things on here… Can I have YOUR problems please? I mean, really!! IF ONLY the biggest problem in my life right now were how a television show is coming along. MY LORD! I think I’d be SO HAPPY!
I haven’t had the time to watch SGU in the past three weeks… I’m behind. I have this thing called LIFE. It’s PROBLEMS have gotten in the way. Try it some time.
Again, I ask, can I please have YOUR problems? If you have the time to complain about the direction of a show your life has GOT to be awesome compaired to mine.
I mean… A.W.E.S.O.M.E!
Get over yourselves. Leave Joe and the good people of Stargate alone. Joe says you are making idiot comments. I agree. Stupid is as stupid does. Try to keep that in mind when you make stupid comments. M’kay?
To the cast and crew I say:
I’ve been a fan of Stargate for years now. The people involved in this franchise are unique in that they are all real, honest and decent people. They reach out to the fans like no show or television franchise I’ve ever heard of in my life.
I just want to say to everyone on the show and their families… I’m sorry if you’ve been hurt by the comments of rude people. I hate it when that happens. It’s certainly not how everyone feels. Isn’t it always the way that one rotten thing in the fridge makes the whole fridge smell? It doesn’t mean the entire fridge is rotten though it can seem that way. You need to find the offending rotten item, throw it in the trash and kick it to the curb. Problem solved.
Or, in the case of Joe… the delete button works. He doesn’t have the easy job here, for sure.
Sorry it’s gotten ugly. I guess some people were never taught proper manners and feel incredibly entitled to lash out in immature ways.
Joe: Please know that there are many of us out here who actually appreciate all the things you have done for us fans. My mom constantly says how great you are. She’s amazed at all you do for us fans and in such creative ways. So thank you. Thank you for all you have done, all you do, and all that you will do for us. I greatly appreciate it.
Trish
magsol wrote:
Absolutely valid point. So how do the producers of any show determine what the general viewership thinks/feels? Ratings can’t tell you how to improve the ratings.
Anne Teldy
Good post, Joe and I’m gonna try and make my comment as polite as possible.
On why people watch the show even if apparentely they hate it
If you’ve watched the entirety of SG1, SG Atlantis AND the SG movies, you would probably want to give a show a fair chance to win you over. Even if I hated every single episode of SGU I would still probably watch the entire first season, just to get an idea of how the show is evolving. I think that any TV show needs at least 2 seasons to mature and come into it’s own. After being part of the Stargate franchise for so long, even fans with negative comments at least EARNED the right to watch the new show for as long as they want, not be booted off by other fans who like it with the rather obnoxious comment: “Well if you don’t like it, why do you watch it”
They have earned the right to watch it and give their opinion on anything Stargate related. If they aren’t polite enough to express their opinions in a relevant way, that’s another problem entirely.
On the actors interaction with the fans
Honestly, I follow every single SGU actor who’s on twitter and while this is not a reflection on who they are as people (I’m sure they are all lovely) their Twitter presence seems rather ‘fake’ to me. Except for maybe David Blue, they all seem to be on Twitter not cause they REALLY like Twitter, but rather cause they’re been made to by the PR/Advertising team. Everybody is on Twitter, you should be there too. That is just MY impression.
On the negativity of some fans
This may be just me being cynnical, but were the production team and cast REALLY that surprised by some of the negativity? This is what happens when you radically change a concept that was pretty much the core concept of the franchise for 10 plus years. Of course not everybody is going to like it. But you still have the best jobs in the world, you still make a lot more money than most of us poor comentators will ever make in our lifetimes so guess who still has the last laugh?
This may be a douchy thing to say, but seriously. Suck it up and deal with it. We’ve had our little rant, now let’s get back to making SGU a kick ass show.
Thanks for your honesty!!! I’ll tell you again you are really brave to face your fans and to read the comments. Now one thing annoys me and it is not in realtion to the way the show is going. It is in relation to the fans that think that they have a voice in the creative process. Writing is your job and your doing a hell of a good job. You have my undevided attention and if at one point I don’t like what your showing me I’ll let you know by not watching the show anymore not by bitching about it on your personnal I take time out odf my day to write blog…..
So thanks and keep on trucking!!!
I completely agree Joe, as I said on my blog. I’m loving SGU and all the folks involved-behind and in front of cameras-are, obviously, so talented.
And the folks I’ve actually met, spoke or Tweeted with are friendly, interesting and seemingly totally dedicated and supportive of the series.
I asked JCLenic this, but thought I might ask you as well: Any chance you guys will do a soundtrack of the awesome SGU score? I love it.
Oh, and thanks for the behind-the-scenes vid. Is the “Gate” image there a projection? It looks “real.” I assumed all that was added later and actors would be in front of green screen.
Big props Joe.
Thanks, Curt
Well said Sir!
I’ve only left 2 or 3 comments on your blog since I started reading it, but I’m surprised people would call the Chloe character a ‘whore’. Any of those people ever heard of a show like, say “Sex and the city” ? They’d be in for the shock of their lives….
And if anyone thinks Robert Carlyle’s character is mean on SGU, they should definitely check out the film “Trainspotting”. Rush is tame in comparison to what he does in that film.
So far, I’ve thoroughly enjoyed the show. The structure is very similar to ABC’s “Lost”; I was particularly thrilled to see the use of flashbacks and the fact that the crew was unwillingly thrown into their situation (almost literally). Now, I could use a little more of O’Neill and his snark, and an awesome cgi alien spaceship fight (or more!) but I guess that’s what the SG1 & SGA DVDs are for.
Can I quote you on the above? Because I know a few fangirls who might shut up after I tell them that.
Also, the Lieutenant Rack / Mcboobs comment is very funny, albeit disrespectful to Mrs. Julia Benson. Thing is tho, the whole female cast is incredibly hot. TJ reminds me of the young defiant Samantha Carter in earlier seasons of SG1.
Ok, I’ll just shut up now. Thanks again for keeping Stargate alive.
Hey Joe,
Are sorry that the comments lately have become so personal and nasty that you had to ‘rant’, but “well said”.
I must admit to skimming the comments over the last couple of weeks, as others have too, due to the negativity by some people. I understand that people are passionate about Stargate which is a good thing, but at the end of the day, its only a TV show, and if you don’t like it, there’s always the ‘off’ switch.
Carl – please don’t go!!! 🙂
So I’m not allowed to criticize the show? Many comments on this page say “Don’t like it, don’t watch it.” The fact is I do like the show. ‘Water’ is my favorite episode so far.
So I do like the show. Just not two of the characters (Scott and Chloe).
If you look at Gateworld, IMDb, etc. you’ll see I’m not the only one with this opinion. In fact, the majority agree with me.
My best wishes to Brian’s mum Joe…I’m a mum myself with a 21 year old son and it’s not nice to read stuff like this about your child, whatever their age and profession…
Sadly having been involved in this fandom online for 5-6 years and having read almost everything there has been written about Stargate, I’m not in the least bit surprised…..once again saddened but not surprised….
Many fans’ sense of “entitlement” now outstrips their need for respect….very very disappointing….
Deeds xx
Can’t take it eh??
Ok normally I don’t post twice in one blog entry, but I’ve gone and read other areas where a similar topic is being discussed. I’ve been ranting in my head for the past so many minutes… in fact I’m still ranting in my head. AAAAAAH… so many counter arguments… must resist urge to. . .ARGH…. I’m going to watch a DVD it’ll clear my mind, I hope.
I don’t comment much but I have to now.
I TOTALLY agree with you Mr. Mallozzi. I can’t believe the nerve of some people sometimes. But my guess, they’re more idiotic when posting over the Internet because of the “veil” of not being physically there – they think it’s ok to do anything they want.
I love the show. It is different – in a good way definitely. You can’t please everyone right?
LOVE THE SHOW! Keep up the great great work and here’s to more great story telling in the seasons to come.
-Jayson
I’m so glad someone finally said it, now hopefully the small section of the fanbase that is responsible for 99% of the crap that is spouted in every direction will stop being idiots.
“Lieutenant McBoobs” Haha. There should totally be a character called that. That would be awesome.
But seriously, I certainly hope nothing I’ve written has offended people. I do try to be nice, even when criticizing something I didn’t like, and I would certainly never launch personal attacks because of creative decisions, least of all against the actors. People who do are best left ignored, IMO.
I hope you don’t mind us continuing to tell you what we think of the show, as long as we’re nice about it. I’m pretty sure the people who come here and want to talk about it do so because they care about it, even if sometimes the language they use is overly harsh. It’s not that people who criticize the show don’t like it yet keep watching it because they’re stupid or looking to be angry. Sure, we could just go away and watch something else–that’s the beauty of TV and free choice–but I think what we’re hoping is that by giving you feedback on what we, the viewers, are thinking, it will help in some way. We like it, but we think it could be better. That may sound egotistical, but it’s human nature for people to have opinions about things, and I think most of us know perfectly well that you are perfectly free to discount those opinions. Of course it’s still your show to do with as you like. But we still like to state how we felt about things and what we think can be improved, on the off chance that one of our comments sparks something in the creative process and turns out helpful.
Of course there are always douchebags who step over the line, and that sucks. Personally, I wouldn’t blame you at all if you did decide to be more selective in screening comments. It’s your blog, after all. You don’t have to let people yell at you or your readers if you don’t want to. And if anyone complained about you doing so, they’re probably the ones being jerks and don’t have anything intelligent to add anyway.
You´re so right Joe and by the way everyone should think about ONE thing…:IT´S A SHOW and not reality it is there to entertain us.I loved SG1 and SGA and i love SGU also…the Stargate Franchise has grown up a little bit it´s Darker ,more rough and is giving us more information about the Characters Emotions.
Great Show Great Team (Great SFX)
Go on and on ,I will be watching
I’ve been one of those who, in the end, made a couple of “idiotic” comments on Twitter. Problem for me was I tried to discuss something with someone who posted Brian was leaving Twitter – questioning the motives behind it, and questioning a comment by what (to me later on) turned out to be his immediate family *sigh*
On top of that this all happened on Twitter – try being coherent on a 140 character basis combined with English not being your first language 🙂
In the end I lined myself up perfectly with those who made Brian leave in the first place – idiotic a**holes. I didn’t get the reactions I got by Brian and his family at first, because I thought I was “just asking” – which I basically wasn’t to them, because when you are already riled up, you most definitely don’t take what I wrote as a question but rather a direct statement – or better, an accusation. Which I then got – and trust me it took the better part of 24 hours to not run around with a totally red face. I felt like an ass and it took me some extensive groveling to make that come across.
So thanks to all those narrow-minded children out there who helped me accomplish being an ass. I never thought that Sci-Fi (or better: Stargate) Fans could behave like fans of Fox News, Twilight – or ざおい.
You rob the better part of the world of the chance to have a real discussion with the makers of the show and the cast. You create such a hostile environment that you make it impossible for the rest of the fans to interact with them.
Mind you, I’m a fan of the show. I don’t like certain aspects of it, heck I would even LOVE to discuss it, but after making a complete fool of myself by “just asking” (in retrospect not a good idea when you read stuff like “Obama a communist?” on Fox News) I’m most likely better off to STFU from now ’til eternity, for I risk hurting people who work on the show.
Because, you know, I GET THAT. I understand perfectly how harsh it is when you get such negative comments about the work you love so much and you think is worth, if not praise, then at least recognition.
I mean I get why people would express that they won’t watch the show anymore because it’s not their taste. I get why you just want to express that because you loved SG-1, you loved Atlantis, and this is simply what you expected from the show. I for one expected another Star Trek: Voyager and was pleasantly surprised. I don’t even consider this show to be a BSG ripoff which people now try to convince me of it is. I like this show very much (and criticized the hell out of BSG’s final season because it didn’t give me what I wanted).
Anyway, first and last comment about this from me. Again, I’m sorry Brian for what I now now was a very negative comment towards you and your folks. Again, it wasn’t my intention, but I now perfectly get why it came across that way. I still feel like a total moron and while it’s hard not to blame this on others, I could’ve known better.
Mr.Mallozzi,
BRAVO for sticking for your cast and crew.
I LOVE SGU. I have been a fan of the franchise since the original movie in 1994. I feel like I’ve grown up with the show and SGU, like the next step in my life, is the equivalent development in the franchise.
Keep up the outstanding work.
Joesph,
I am not sure you understand the reason why so many people are upset over the Cloe-Scott scene in Light. The anger being expressed is not about the depiction of sex, romance or flawed characters in a Stargate series.
People are angry with the Cloe-Scott relationship because prior to the sex-scene, these two characters did not have a “burgeoning relationship.” There was not enough build up for it. More effort was spent in establishing a Scott-James relationship and a potential Cloe-Eli relationship, or even a Cloe-Eli-Scott love triangle.
The problem is when Cloe says that she never felt closer to anyone then she did to Scott. The viewers never actually saw this on screen. What we did see was Cloe getting closer with Eli. In Darkness, when Cloe was naked, alone and in the dark, at her most vulnerable, she calls out for Eli, not Scott. So when Cloe and Scott had sex in “Light” and then spends her final hours with her head resting on Eli’s shoulder, it makes her look extremely superficial and shallow.
By showing Scott having sex with James, and then having sex with Cloe a few days later, it does not look like Cloe and Scott have bonded over the death of Cloe’s father. Instead it looks like Scott has taken advantage of Cloe’s emotional vulnerability.
I know it was not your intent to depict the Cloe-Scott relationship this way, but this is how many viewers have interpreted the relationship and why people are very upset and angry. Within this context, these two are not very likable or sympathetic characters and that is why people are saying very nasty things about them.
Lay the hammer down! *shmack!*
Sad that the actors and their families had to read those comments. Pass along hugs from those of us who can recognize opinion from truth and fact from fiction?
Joe,
Im in the Customer Service busness you can’t please eveyone…As for those who don’t want to read your blog because they don’t like some of the Viewer Comment;s “GROW THE FUCK UP!!!” We who write these comment’s are also the one’s who sent the SGU Rating’s through the roof!!!
Well, first off, I have to admit that I didn’t use the nicest term for Scott in a previous comment (you mentioned only the Chloe-whore-thing, which is a title I don’t see any reason for either, but I guess that not-calling characters-names can be expanded to any character) .
Still, I really meant no harm and just wanted to tell my opinion on that character – it wasn’t even intended as criticism, just feedback on what I thought about him and I never wanted to offend the actor (or any of the actor’s family), I think he’s doing good work so far (can’t get more into detail because the only “rating system” I have for actors is a) I watch it and “believe them” or b) I watch it and it feels fake, Brian J. Smith would be under a) ) ).
I just wanted to clear that off even though I don’t think my comment was offensive (but then again, that’s up to the people who read the comment) but in general (and for further comments to come) I don’t intend to be insulting to anyone and I’m trying to express my opinion in a reasonable way.
Sometimes, I might only find questionable words to describe what I felt (and given the foreign-language-factor it’s sometimes hard to judge how questionable those words really are – it could be that a word is used in this area often and therefore it’s use has gotten normal/ more or less accepted even though it’s not the nicest, whereas the translation is more negative or even insulting than I ever intended to be) but if I really should cross a line please feel absolutely free to delete my comment (you would surely do that anyway, but be sure to have m approval because I’m not commenting here to flame)
I can’t promise not to use any questionable word in the future because sometimes, they’re needed (if I don’t like something or something might come across very negative – which could even be intended when it’s “a baddie” – I just need some words to describe that) but I’m hoping that those words won’t ever cross a line.
—-Spoilers —-
(wonder if that quote works… if not, it was intended as a quote 😉 )
That doesn’t work the other way round, right? Right? … *fears-for-Rush* 😉
I really want him to survive as long as the show is going to run, I love that character!
I liked his disagreements with Eli and Young in Water. Those are questionable situations (Being honest compared to ensuring the ice keeps coming for the greater good, but what if they had not been able to take care of the bugs and Young would have returned to a ship of dead people? Or saving Scott and leaving quite a lot of ice behind – what if they’re really running low on it and people die because there’s not enough water?)
Without Rush, there would be missing something, I like the addition of his “different perspective”. But he is also “growing” into his role on the ship, after his argument with Eli he said “we”, he seems to have accepted now that he can’t do everything on his own.
James, Scott and Young were also great in the episode, I could have done without the Scott-Chloe interaction but it’s part of the show, so well… I guess I made clear that I didn’t need that addition but it’s not going to kill me.
Oh and TJ was great! Looking forward to seeing more of her! And one can speculate on her… but I’m not going to post speculations now but in case they’re true, I can at least say afterwards “ha! I knew it!” xD (I have to make up for the fact that I belong to the very, very, very small minority that did not see Destiny going for solar power in light… >.<” but I saw Scott and Chloe coming… maybe I’m focusing on the wrong things 😉 )
—
Hope, your mum’s doing better as well as Maximus.
On the off chance this comment is read by people associated with the show, I’ll add one comment here: I have no problems with any of the actors or even the scenes that apparently drew vicious comments from others. I’m also fine with SGU not being SG1/SGA too– different style here, I get it.
I just can’t figure out why the show seems so disjointed and so boring. This isn’t a complaint about actors or even characters; it’s still early and characters always develop a lot more past the first few episodes. But many shows lead in with exciting plots years in the making and run out of ideas over time, while SGU has already spent most of an episode walking across a desert, and another trying to transport ice. This has nothing to do with style or darker tones or sex scenes— this is just tedious, like too much drama and build up with little viewer reward. These seem like filler episodes when you’ve run out of production budgets, but you’re only ~4-6 episodes into the first season, so that’s troubling if true.
In fact, I think you’re getting pulled into intra-staff melodrama too quickly BECAUSE there aren’t interesting external actors/characters to deal with. SG1 spent much of the first season visiting new planets and meeting new races with new stories; the Gate was just a medium to get there. For SGU, the alien-swarm thing almost had potential, but you just chased them around the ship, then locked them in a barrel and pushed them off the ship, without learning anything interesting about them. If the new “style” of SGU is not learning or exploration, but just “chase it, kill it, throw it out the airlock,” then this is going to be a really bizarre show.
As for why people finding it tedious (like me) are still watching, in my case it’s because my loyalty to SG1/SGA and knowing it sometimes takes some time for shows to develop. If you can tell me now that most of the episodes will focus primarily either collecting sand or collecting ice, then I’ll stop watching now.
PS: Use of the communication stones is written really badly. Are there no scheduled check-in times? They just have 24/7 shifts at SGC for whenever they randomly check in? And when the people on the ship are completely stuck and in over their heads, why haven’t Col. Carter and Dr. McKay and all the experts of the SGC ‘comm-stoned’ onto the ship? “Darker tone” is great… but doesn’t make up for poor writing.
Thanks to David Blue for sharing this site with us on Twitter. Thank you to Joe for saying what he did. I also agree with what BK said in the posting.
I am a total SGU fan as my name implies. I seriously enjoy the characters, all of them, and wait impatiently each week for the next episode to air. I am a 45 year old mother of a 26 year old military man. I can relate to what Scott is going through and doing because of my son. I have a daughter Choloe’s age so the same goes.
I felt blessed to be able to Twitter with Brian, Elyse, David and others who took time out of there busy lives to show their fans that they care. For people to VICIOUSLY attack the characters and then VICIOUSLY attack the actors was inexcusable in my book. For those that did not have the good fortune to Twitter with Brian J. Smith you missed something heartbreaking when he became so upset over the attacks on him. He seems to be a sensitive young man with a “heart as big as a house” who truly cares about his character and his TRUE fans. The same goes for Elyse, she is a fine young lady who also was gracious enough to Twitter with fans…unfortunately the viciousness oozed to her as well. David was quick to defend his costars and friends and was gracious enough to hopefully let Brian and Elyse know that there are truly those that DO CARE about them. David Blue is wonderful to keep letting everyone know what is up with him and those he cares about.
I have written to the moderators and the site admins of other sites to hopefully make sure that they realize how hurtful the posts are to the actors, writer, producers etc. I have shed many a tear (figuratively)for the mother and family of Brian Smith and hope that they can help to make sure he comes back next season to continue to giving great performances. You don’t know how very much I wish that we, the ones that really care, could let Brian, Elyse, Carl, David, etc know in such a way that it is very loud and clear that we want them to continue their work and try (though it is hard to do) to ignore the negative people who have nothing better to do with their day than to make others miserable. I dont normally get emotionally involved with people I will never get to meet, however with those from SGU who Twitter they allowed us to get to know them a little bit and become “real” enough that the outpouring of support for Brian, Elyse, David and everyone was heartfelt.
Brian Smith stated he was taking a retreat for a while and leaving twitter for a time for personal reasons…did anyone stop to think that this role as a main character was stressful and then the vicious attacks may have shaken him? Yes people, comments can hurt.
Everyone is entitled to their opinion, just make sure that the opinion you express is stated in a way that it does not harm. And YES the actors do take it personally when their character is lambasted to the point that it spills over to them personally. There is a saying “do what ye will, yet it harm none”.
Thank you for letting me post my opinion on your site, and please know that I for one will continue to watch, continue to care. Also just for a laugh, my husband calls me a groupie.
I agree with you on the tone of some of the comments, even though I don’t really like SG:U very much so far. I’ve found most of the episodes to be extremely predictable. Perhaps that’s simply a result of me being quite a different person now than when I started watching SG:1, for example, but still. It’s been disappointing.
I find this decidedly odd in relation to your comments that the story elements have been open-ended or in any way more complex than the more “heroic” tone of SG-1/SG:A. Perhaps you didn’t mean to imply that the story is more complex or deeper, I find the exact opposite to be true. Perhaps things don’t end as “neatly” as on the previous Stargate shows, but that doesn’t stop the plots from being pretty obvious and not digging very deep in their use of tools to provoke emotional responses in the audience. So far, I find the majority of the characters to be childish, their motivations obviously emotional in the most basic sense. Perhaps that is realistic, but it’s not very entertaining. I really don’t have much interest in how the average person on the street(Or G.I.) would react to being dumped onto a spaceship a million light-years from Earth.
That said, coming to a place like this and directly insulting the people who work on the show is plain stupid. It’s the internet, and to be expected, because few on the internet seem to have any understanding of the fact that they are speaking to human beings in the same way as if they were standing right in front of them.
Still, if you spend time on the internet, you should condition yourself to some extent to deal with comments like these. Simply refusing to read honest, if harsh, commentary doesn’t improve your character or viewpoint. I’ve read and laughed at far worse criticism of work I’ve done than I’ve ever seen posted on this site. If that’s too difficult for some, then they should really consider stepping back from their own perspective. Pride is almost never a useful attribute.
@ Rweethareyet : I’m not gonna pretend that I know anything about the military, but I would like to think that Scott ignoring his radio while making out with someone is perhaps meant to be a recurring gag..
O’Neill had recurring gags where he thinks everything that happens is due to magnets and he misspells technological stuff ; e.g, neutrinos became nintendos and so on. McKay also had recurring gags where he complains about being hungry and almost anything else. In light of this, Scott’s recurring gag seems almost discrete.
*applause*
That was just amazing. Your rant was just fucking amazing.
And though one would wish all comparisons to SG1 and SGA to be avoided . . . do people forget that every member of SG1 ended up with someone other than who they started with . . . several times over? Carter dated a few people (even got engaged to one) all while loving O’Neill. Jack dated around also while loving Carter. Daniel and Teal’C tended more towards the one and only true love, until that true love died, but they weren’t exactly shining beacons of purity either. At one point you in fact see Carter having sex with someone, though not graphically. I would never ever say that Carter was in *any* way whorish or any such related word, in fact I *dare* you to say she is!!! She is the *epitome* of strong Stargate women!! And yet, when Chloe, yet another strong Stargate woman, expresses her feelings and lives her moments as if they were her last when she has sex with Lt. Scott, she is suddenly a whore. Like you I do not understand this logic one iota. It’s like the CW canceling Gilmore Girls because they brought the wrong demographic. What?!
I do not understand how the demographics work with the apparent opinion of the show . . . whether they are older and more conservatively tended towards the simpler SG1, or whether they’re just young and easily bored . . . but I truly love SGU. It has killed me these past few weeks when I see the credits roll, because I know I’ll have to wait a whole ‘nother week before enjoying the depth and wit and just goddamn awesomness of these characters. And the actors behind them! I admit, the main reason I joined Twitter a few weeks ago was because I heard so much about the actors twittering, whether random anecdotes or what they were doing that day. Through these little snippets, one can see they seem like honest, genuine people! People who, regardless of whether they’re on a TV show I like, I would love to meet one day! It’s heartbreaking that the reaction of some so-called “fans” has pushed them away. These people who claim to try to “better” the TV show by calling out apparent flaws. Do they not understand, at the very least of it, that these people have spent the better part of a year making this show? Making it awesome and perfect and worthy of our appreciation! This is their *lives* we’re talking about!! . . . Of course, you, Joe Mallozzi understand, as you are one of those people who have worked so hard . . . I’m just preachin’ to the choir here. It just . . . vexes and completely discombobulates me that these people would do that!!!
So, all in all, I applaud you. For calling these people out. For being willing to snap back. For totally having the cojones to do this. Thank you.
Bonjour Joseph!
Ai – je dit quelque chose d’idiot un jour? =(
J’espere toujour m’avoir justifier avec des mots qui n’étaient pas offenssant.
Bah vous savez comme je vous l’avez dit les fans de SF sont un peu déconnecté de la réalité, c’est pour ça qu”ils trouvent un refuge dans ce genre de série (sg1, sga)..mais en l’occurence dans sgu ce n’est pas comme ça, donc ils doivent faire face à des choses de la vie difficile même si dans la réalité ils évitent tout ça . Moi personnellement j’ai vraiment du mal à me penché sur tout les problémes qui peuvent touchés chacun, je pense que c’est une perte de temp, c’est trop dépriment et ça fait mal…pourquoi de pas y passé et rire? =P
C’est pour cela qu’avec certaines scénes de sgu j’ai du mal à les regardés j’ai tendance à passer certaine sscénes qui révéles certains travers de l’homme…et oui ! selon Anais le monde est tout beau tout rose^^!
J’espere mûrir et un jour apprécier sgu comme sga et sga1 =)
voila petit confession^^.
Votre blog est trés important pour moi, ne l’arrétez pas pour des gens qui disent des béitises.
Bisou,
Anais.
I love SGU and the direction it’s going. The characters are extremely realistic, in a way I don’t think any other Stargate characters have been. I think each episode is better than the last and I’m excited for next weeks. It’s one of 3 shows I count down the days for. I think the writing is fantastic, though the Matt/Chloe relationship did seem a little rushed. I understand the “this could be the last time” fling in the bedroom, I just don’t know why he chose Chloe over Vanessa when he obviously had a connection with the latter. Perhaps I missed a spark or two between he and Chloe.
Continuing with the Matt/Chloe thing (which seems to be the reason for the rant) : At first I did have a small problem with them hooking up in Light. However, it was mainly for Eli’s sake. It wasn’t the actual getting together that made me upset or the fact that Eli had his close-up sad face moment, it was the fact that as soon as Matt was gone, she was all hand-holding and snuggling with Eli. It kind of irked me. Like I said, though, that was at first. I realized that it’s not really her fault. It’s no ones fault. She probably see’s Eli as a best friend more than anything. He’s been there for her from the beginning practically, and he is pretty darn sweet. And she’s so darn cute you’d be hard pressed to find someone who didn’t form a crush on her. I think she and Matt make an attractive couple. Eli will just have to wait until some really smokin’ alien badass comes along (Teyla’s LONG lost TWIN sister, perhaps? 😉 )
I don’t know why people have an issue with Rush. I actually feel really bad for him. It makes me a little angry that Young is so suspicious of him and his actions. That he knew what would happen in Light and just decided not to tell anyone. Rush is a good guy. I refuse to think otherwise. *prays she’s right* Don’t get me wrong, I love the relationship between Rush and Young. I think it’s one of the more interesting things about the show. I especially love when Young says “He’s a lot of work.”
And I’ve lost my train of thought…
Anywho
I’m sad Brian and his mother and who knows how many other cast/crew/family were hurt by peoples comments. Although everyone’s entitled to their own opinions, they should always be aware of how they voice them, or in this case write them.
Can’t wait for Earth. Everyone did a stand-up job so far and I hope SGU gets picked up for a second season. I’m also excited for the SGA movie and am looking forward to another SG1 movie. Keep up the amazing work.
<3
I think its mostly a cultural issue. I come from Holland and though I enjoy American shows very much, they are pretty mild by our standards. I wouldn’t even call any of the “sex” scenes very graphic.
You see boobs here on TV during daytime (no its not porn, no its not damaging our children, no not all TV programs have boobs in them), its all about how much you are going to be a prude about certain things. I wasn’t shocked by the scene in Children of the Gods, certainly haven’t been by any in SGU.
Though I think the point many people are making with Cloe&LtScott is that the romance seems a bit “out there”. They’ve been holding hands a couple times and had 2 conversations but that’s all we’ve seen of them together. On the other hand they’re attractive people so physical attraction isn’t the issue… 😉
I remember what I was going to say before my thought train left the station.
The Destiny. My goodness gracious, what a ship. Definitely on my top 3 favorite space ships of all time list, and I’ve seen my fare share of space ships. I think the writers did an excellent job in creating it. She (can I call it a she?) is as much a character in SGU as anyone else. Not only does she search out planets for resources, but she has waterless showers AND runs on stars? The utimalte green machine. Now I know what I’m asking Santa to get me for Christmas.
<3
re Glider and the spoiler alert… Um why? If you haven’t seen the episode, don’t click on the comments that day. It isn’t hard to just use main page
josephmallozzi.wordpress.com/
where the comments aren’t shown rather than have up to 100 people a day put in spoiler area. Just ASSUME that there are spoilers in the comments and read them the next day.
I have to say that I love the show. I also love SG1 and Atlantis (still hoping that the movie comes soon ;)). Also thank you very much, you answered my question about TJ, and what happens in the next episode, she was in command. It was suprising to see, at least to me and I really enjoyed it :D.
All the actors and the characters on SGU are great, I would go so far to say that if they’re not like this that it wouldn’t fit in the show as great as they do now. In my opinion it is clear to see that really hard work is behind it, on the one hand the creative writing with the real interesting character depth on the other with the marvellous acting of everyone. Not to forget the superb people behind the sets and camera and and geez just everyone 😉
I’m really hoping that you keep on writing on this blog, and also change Carl mind *keep fingers crossed*.
So just wanted to add this question at last, it might be annoying to you to see it again but anything heard about the movies?
Something I also have to add is, that I can’t wait for the next episode…that reminds me I have to apology, english isn’t my mother language so I hope you can read my text at least ^^”
I just want to point out, quickly, to those who think that the negative comments speak for the fanbase… it really doesn’t.
Millions of people view this show world wide, many of these fans. Consider how many of the fans come here, then consider how many post comments.
I know of many who don’t post here simply because of the hostility. They read what Joe has to say and move on.
Harsh.
All in all though Joe, you guys are doing the best you can. When you shake up a franchise as you have here, there were always going to be ans who reacted badly.
Cheers to you.
Yeah.
After “Darkness” I was still wasn’t happy some aspects of the show, but willing to give it a chance.
Then, in the space of just one day’s comments on this blog, I was called a douche, lectured on what a “good fan” would do and, my personal favorite, given a long list of scriptures to read to cleanse my soul of my hypocrisy and all because I don’t “love” the show. And those comments were on top of the countless “get a life” type of comments already posted here.
But the show’s detractors are the are the “only” problem?
Take a second look at the comments made in response to your rant and see who is representing “your” show out there on the Internet. How long can you survive with *only* the SGU “purists” still watching?
I’m done.
I had no idea the comments on your entries had gotten so bad that you needed to write a post like this.
The new show is fantastic. I was well warned not to expect the old stargate, though im so glad the writing is still beautiful.
personally i wouldnt notice if you cut the graphic scenes. its just another part of the story. the show is meant to shock, cause a stirr in people and make them think (people dont always like to think, especially before they speak.) dont change a thing, the show is great.
I followed the link to this post from David Blue’s Twitter account (though I am a long time lurker over here as well!) and I am actually somewhat disgusted that people have been levelling such vicious attacks at the actors and the characters they play. Having an opinion is one thing, and we’re all entitled, but some of the vitriolic comments I’ve seen? Is why we can’t have nice things. Case in point: Brian J Smith stepping away from his (very entertaining!) Twitter account.
I’ve been a massive Stargate fan for 15 years and yes, I was sad when SG-1 and then SGA were cancelled (apparently this makes me ‘bitter’, and an ‘online thug’!). I’ll admit when the first few details of the new show were released I was a little dubious, but for the most part I have enjoyed what I have seen so far on SGU and it’s making me go back for more. Sometimes you have to take a franchise in a different direction and I have to say I think it’s working for me.
Keep up the good work!
Joe,
Sorry to hear what people are saying. This is actually my first visit to your blog and I came because of a link from another forum. That user thought you were calling them and idiot, so I decided to read the post myself to see…and have decided that they were overreacting.
I really understand where you are coming from. My father is involved in local politics and there are times when people post things online that I find offensive or question the way they worded something. I hope this will not prevent your colleges from leaving the online community forever.
Also, I wanted to say thanks for your paragraph about the creative direction of SGU. I’m one of the people who has been disappointing with the show and I appreciate the terseness of that statement. Unfortunately that means I’ll probably stop watching the show on TV, but not entirely (there’s always hulu and gotta keep up the water cooler talk).
thanks and I hope things get better for you all.
Bloody well said frankly.
There’s sometimes a phenomenon among fans that I’ll never understand, and can frankly only equate it an inability to seperate reality from fantasy.
‘Loving to hate’ a character is brilliant. Actually hating the character because of their in universe actions is very odd…
I was always under the impression that good fiction, literature or visual mediums was about the story, plot, and the emotions it can stir within the reader/viewer. Hence I’ve always been confused when someone starts screaming about how ‘Woolsey just can’t lead Atlantis, he’s an awful leader! I don’t want him on my show!’ etc etc. I’d have thought that the socially inept nature of Woolsey and his by the book approach would be perfect from a story point of view simply because he’s so awful from a practical point of view. But alas, some fans seem to take to the Atlantis expedition, or the Destiny crew as if it’s THEIR own personal crew and rather than wanting good story, want what anyone would want in their own team.
This in itself always bothers me, because what story would there be if the team was perfect? It bemuses me, but some people can’t seem to accept that whilst you may hate a person in real life who demonstrates a particular trait, in fiction they are the back bone of good story.
So keep it up, and don’t let the moronic crowd get to you – as indeed you appear not to be.
Thanks Joe.
The adventure continues I hope with Season 2 and ok 3 or more. The actors are terrific and must really be doing a great job to bring out all the controversy comments. They are actors doing exactly what the scripts calls for, its not real life (is it?) so the writers are doing a wonderful job writing. I am enjoying the heck out of the show, it is Stargate and it is Friday night so happy I am. I appreciate it not being Rocky 99, die hard 78.. you know what I mean. Thank you all again and keep up the GREAT work keeping me entertained.
@das, keep up the writing, I like to laugh.thanks! 😎
Thank you for standing up to the idiocy out there. I am often embarrassed to go anywhere online where Stargate fans gather as I have never seen such a prime example of mob-think where the negative people reign supreme over fans who are positive. (And I don’t read the comments here, so don’t even waste time refuting me.)
It’s not to say that other franchise fans don’t have the same segment of its population that behaves inappropriately. But other franchises don’t have the extensive level of contact with the cast and crew as Stargate fans have, either.
I feel the worst for Brian and his mom who have been so wounded by this behavior. The two of them were among the first to reach out to everyone. They have been kind and caring. Those who have been so unkind might do well to figure out some way to get a word of apology to them; although I doubt we’ll get to see Brian online again. (And a con? Why would he do that to himself?)
Joe, please pass on to everyone involved that there are fans out there who enjoy and appreciate their work and kindness. And I hope you will continue to entertain us with your blog; whether or not you decide to continue to allow comments.
I think it’s always very sad when people judge anything too quickly. We’ve only seen 5 episodes of this new show, yet people want to compare it to SG-1 (over 200 episodes) and Atlantis (100). With anything creative, especially if it involves something people are familiar with (a new take on an old play for example – which I’m only too aware of), or a new direction with a familar franchise as in this case), viewers feel it is their right to criticise. Whilst it’s good to share opinions, it’s not good to be personal. Everyone involved in SGU have worked their butts off to get it to our screens for our enjoyment. That must be remembered and appreciated. It must also be remembered that who we see on screen are CHARACTERS not those who play them. This distinction is often forgotten, but only by silly people. The actors are doing their job (and very fine jobs too) to represent a STORY and other people. I think it’s mean and cruel to start attacking actors because you don’t like what their character is doing.
Give SGU a chance, watch a few more episodes, find out where the writers are taking us and if you still aren’t happy – the remote does have an ‘off’ button. Just choose not to watch it and leave it to those that do like and appreciate it.
I would like to say to everyone behind & in front of the cameras – you’ve done a great job so far and I’m looking forward to how it all unfolds. Nasty people are in every walk of life, but it doesn’t mean we have to give them the time of day – just ignore them, that’s the best victory!
If there’s going to be intimacy in your show why not throw Eli a bone, I’m pretty sure that would assuage the hard feelings a lot of your nerdbase has about Scott/Chloe 😉
Okay, different show, but there will be more explosions, right?
Personnel not personal
SGU is like life…all kinds of people…all kinds of values
Just like the comments you receive
I can’t see the behind the scenes vid for some reason. It just doesn’t show up.
Uhm… About your rant. Well while I have been in my comments harsh at times, I have expected it to be nothing you and others couldn’t deal with and certainly at least I’d like to think I’ve stayed within the boundaries of good taste. If that’s not the case, I’m sorry.
For the comments you feel do NOT stay within the boundaries of what can be considered a healthy debate, I think you should moderate them out. There’s no reason why you can’t, it’s a private blog after all, and you have every right to moderate out swearing and gross insults. In fact the argument could be made that you have a duty do to so as a courtesy to other readers who read the blog and as a courtesy to the actors. I don’t really know much about US or Canadian laws in regards to defamation of character, insults etc (all that basically would be “iniuriam” in Roman law) but there have been cases of websites getting sued and won cases against all over the world. Usually the sites then had to provide IP adresses of those who did the insults but still, apparently there’s a violation of law there somewhere when you sprout insults at real people, at least, or else such things wouldn’t be ordered by courts.
On the other hand, if you start to moderate… You do risk of course at some point starting to moderate out posts simply because they’re comments you don’t like. And, as one of your SGU characters pointed out cleverly, “Some people will think you have, anyway”.
I’m just doing a little inventory of arguments for both sides, here. I’m not tipping particularly to either side of the scales.
As for Carlyle/Rush, oh I don’t know. I have a soft spot for the character already. Call me nuts but I dig an anti-social streak…
holy ****!
well can you tone down the sex a little? its not like im getting any action right now so do i have to be reminded of that every freakin second! lol just kidding— about the first part.
for me its about canceling Atlantis, always has been. and then u guys tarnish the Stargate name by displaying such filth—- again im half joking.
but all in all, most criticisms have been unfair, however, thats your fans that supported your shows throughout and they just feel let down by all this, i mean a year ago it was so different then all of a sudden we getting Hooters in Space or something funny. the only scene i had a problem with was the closet one because it seemed silly but most of all shocking to see in a stargate show. if we are getting threesomes next, i got no problem with it as long as they are using protection—–those ancients gotta have had something stored around lol seriously though, its a good show, i never yawned once, and i yawn alot in other shows. i never looked at the time once, and i never disliked a character– i found them to be all interesting and well-written.
having said that, im schizophrenic btw, this show has the same quality of writing as the other shows and the storytelling is somewhat the same in terms of plotting, only difference is style and a different foundation for character development. but its still similar, if you thought putting sex and atrocious behavior is gonna make it change then you have failed. otherwise i hope this shows gets as many seasons as SG-1.
Joe–I agree with just about everything you said in your rant but I also agree with @anneteldy that the opinions of your blog readers should not be dismissed just because we’re a small representation of fandom. I would point out that the Nielsen ratings are also a small representation of fandom generalized to a viewing population in the millions and the Nielsens and ratings historically, are notoriously inaccurate. Overnights are taken from several thousand peoplemeters that do not represent the population as a whole. Peoplemeter data is subsidized by diary keepers, who are more representative, but diary info is significantly lacking in accuracy. Altogether, the data are not accurate but networks, stations, and advertisers buy into the system because there is no more accurate way to gather ratings, at least at this point. In general, I’d say that your blog readers are more accurately representative of fandom than the Nielsen ratings. We all watch the show. Additionally, your blog tells you why people are watching or may not continue to watch, something Nielsen cannot do. I think that makes us pretty important but that could just be my vanity at work :-).
@das and @gracey–Music rights organizations like ASCAP and BMI gather payments from radio and television stations, movie and television productions in order to compensate (in the form of royalties) the composers, authors, and publishers of the music. Unlike performers, who get their money up front, these people must rely on the music rights organizations in order to be compensated for their creative work. I suspect that most of the problems with clearance have to do with television programs or movies whose rights were negotiated before the popularity and significant growth of DVDs and VCRs for that matter. The fact that older television programs and movies are not as popular as newer ones (read lower sales) means that any significant extra payment for music rights translates to a significant potential drop in profits. In order to release the program on DVD I think they substitute less expensive and less popular music for the original music in order to safeguard a profit margin. If the show’s owners don’t want to substitute, they opt not to release the series on DVD. Anyway, I think that’s what’s at work here but, then again, it could be those bottom-feeding lawyers screwing with everybody once again.
@Rweethareyet
I’m 23, I like the show so far. I may even cash out for one or two of my favourite seasons on dvd.
I certainly do hope that SGU’s producers haven’t got the plan to sell on hormones only to the 20-something crowd, unlike Voyager with 7of9, lol. So far, it doesn’t seem like they’re trying to, so far it’s more of a Space: Above and Beyond kinda thing so I’m fine with that. If the show turns out like Voyager, I will stop watching. I never did see the last 2 seasons of that one.
I do feel there’s a little too much graphic luuuuuuuuuuv scenes in there so far… This despite being into “Rome” where such scenes were much more frequent and graphic and despite having no problem with public nudity, polyamoury, despite reaaaaally loving the lovemaking myself… Despite being very, very far from a prude. So why I have a problem with the horny scenes in SGU… I think it’s because it kind of feels like they’re trying to cram them in there when there’s no room for them. For example, the steamy scene with Vanessa James in the pilot ep, I’d much rather have seen it as a kind of CSI-like flashback with short bits of footage in rapid succession for a few seconds, rather than a whole full-blown scene. It felt like the scene there was taking up time that had been cut away from other scenes.
Hey, I believe I know the source of your insomina 💡 .
Now that you’ve gotten that off your chest, I hope you can sleep well finally.
Loved “Water”! Alien planets and dealing with alien problems are the greatest!
T
I’ve got mixed feelings on this subject. Going with personal insults helps nobody and I really resent some of my fellow Stargate fans being as harsh as they are toward you and the actors/actresses. I think this is one of those things that can best be handled by ‘reasonable’ (non-hostile/civilized) fan debate rather than the mud slinging going on.
This is meant as constructive criticism (hopefully interpreted as such), but please don’t be utterly dismissive of the voice of the fans due to a few loud souls ranting over what they hate. Stargate has survived network to network over the years because of the voice of the fans asking for it to keep going.
Personally, I appreciate the new style and direction of the series. I enjoy the story of the Destiny and believe this to be more of what Atlantis should have been. This isn’t to say I didn’t enjoy Atlantis, but I never felt they were quite 100% in life threatening danger.
I believe the majority of the controversy stems from the dual nature of Scott’s character. The religious aspect of his character (him holding prayers, etc) backfires a little due to him seeming sexually loose. He comes off as hypocritical due to it. While this doesn’t define the character, the flashback scenes in Light give me the impression that he’s been this way since his teen years and has never really grown up. He’s not convincing me, personally, that he’s military material. His priorities seem confused with his sex life taking precedence over his obligations to his career.
Brain J. Smith is a fantastic actor, and personally I have no ill will toward him. The fact that he can play Scott and perfectly hit the emotional responses for the trauma and haunted history of the character is a testament to his acting skills.
I have no hostility toward Scott as a character, but at the same time I understand why others may take offense. I neither like him, nor dislike him. I’m waiting to see where the character goes before forming a lasting opinion. I hope this clarifies (in a respectful and polite way) what some of the fans are trying to voice.
I understand and respect you have to walk a fine line between keeping your creative direction and not alienating your fanbase. I would suggest, though, that you should take to heart some of the complaints and that some viewers might have personal religious and background reasons for disliking the sexual content. A compromise would be reducing the number of times we see Scott caught with his pants down (figuratively and literally) instead of slamming the door closed in the face of critics to get the last laugh.
If the show is to last and maintain its viewership, you can’t just ignore the voices of the fanbase who have given you support for all these years and many seasons of Stargate. Its fans who make a show and fans who break a show. Not all of us are wanting to just rant. Some of us just want to be heard.
It’s Stargate, people. Surely we can find some way to all (producers, actors, and fans) get along better and support the each other.
I rarely read the comments, but I should have guessed the drama was the sex scenes. I gotta say, some of these complainers? Probably the same ones who were so intent on getting Sam and Jack together on screen or Sheppard and Weir. (Of course, they might also be those who complained about Sheppard and all his female aliens, too.) While it’s definitely a new aspect of the Stargate ‘verse, I have no problems with it. It quite frankly *is* more realistic. And I think you’re doing it tastefully. It’s not drawn out seven years, but it’s not happening every episode, either. My heart broke for Eli–but that’s *life*. Who will know what happens later? And frankly, I loved that James came to talk to Chloe about Lt Scott on the planet. That showed the best of humanity.
And as always, I will never understand fan’s need to blame the actors. I guess if you want to call the character a whore, that’s your opinion (though it is an incorrect use of the word; use a dictionary, folks). But have some heart and recognize the character is not the actor, the actors read this blog, and their parents read this blog!! I can’t imagine how upset my mother would be if she read some of these things being said referred to me. On top of that, some of the complainers are no doubt parents themselves. How would you like it if someone talked about *your* kid that way? It’s just rude and downright mean.
I hope people like Sherry and Brian know it’s not all the fans. There are just as many as obsessed fans who also understand restraint, manners, and who actually like the show. I really hope a few bad apples don’t spoil their whole experience. 🙁
Good rant, Joe. Understandable.
Hi, Joe.
My grandmother always told me that there will be some people who will complain if you hung them with a new rope.
🙂
Hi Joe. First off I know I have been a bit harsh on SGU, not here but on Twitter. I was mad and pissed off after seeing Air because its not SG-1 or Atlantis. To be honest I still don’t like the word Stargate being associated with SGU, because honestly, it is not anything like what has come before. Don’t get me wrong, its a great show, and I enjoy watching it, but it is not the Stargate I grew up watching.
As for some of the comments, I can see where some people would call Chloe what they have. She seems to very much run to the geek Eli for safe haven, and building an unrealistic relationship in his mind, then run to the handsome Scott for physical release. It is very stereotypical and I find it very very insulting to me as I have had that happen to me before. It was very personal, and I reacted personally to it. I guess I am not the only one. Did I call for the death of the actors? Of course not? That is stupid. But calling for a difference in how the writters think about certain situations? That is what a concerned fan does. The Chloe/Scott/Eli Triangle is a horrible Idea, and I fear it will end very, very, badly.
How hard is it to understand people to change the channel if you don’t like whats on Because you all(Negative Commenters) are still watchin SGU and spewing you hatred and anger about each episode. Again SGU IS NOT SG1 or SGA! It’s one thing to be critical but being polite about it, but alot are not.
Joe has Kind enough to bring a little of his life and Stargate to us. Please don’t force him to make drastic descions due to the idiocracy of a few.
I for one don’t enjoy the info Get from gateworld or the likes. I don’t want it to end up that way.
I liked the broom closet scene btw… it made me laugh a little bit and the expression that James had on her face as he left was great.
I was also on pins and needles for Water because I’d heard a rumour that somebody was going to die in E06 and I had this very stomach-gutting feeling it was going to be Scott. I wouldn’t put it past you guys…
I don’t understand people bashing a show and… still watching it… boggles my mind. I’ve watched a few shows that I declared awful immediately and my response to that was to do something else with my time. Do people really think you’re going to change the direction of the show, NOW, since they’ve complained? *shakes head*
I feel bad that the actors and others involved in the show have been hurt by the comments they have read on the internet.
However I think that, in this day and age it is going to become increasingly common that performers and creative folk are exposed directly, so to speak, with fans and critics.
We, the unwashed masses, now have the ability to interact with you on blogs such as this, twitter and online journals. Reality TV has blurred the lines between people appearing on the screen as themselves or characters.
There are no filters between what the public thinks and what the actors hear/experience.
So, although it can be painful to hear criticism, it is probably not something that is going to stop, as long as people in the creative community offer themselves up online for such interaction.
I’m sure there has always been negative opinion about a show or the characters on it, it is just that it was not communicated directly, as it is being done here and on Twitter.
I have read scathing reviews of stage and film productions professional critics, which include criticism of the actors ability, appearance and performance, in addition to the writers and producers choices. How are these viewed by those involved? Are they as hurt by them as by the things they read online?
\
P.s.
Mr. M, I read the interview with James Bamford on Gateworld. It was so interesting. He must be fascinating to work with.
T
There is something that I noticed recently that I would like to point out to those who are vehemently apposed to Chloe and Scott together. So if you are tired of this particular area of comment then feel free to skip this, though I think people will find this interesting.
Do we really know what kind of relationship they have? Think about it they had sex in “Light” and were making out in “Water.” Now granted I am basing this though on just two episodes, and I will reevaluate it as I watch more episodes, but it seems to me that it is primarily physical.
Don’t get me wrong, there do appear to be feelings and emotion involved. But I ask, to what extent. Granted they could simply be in the “hot & heavy” stage of a new relationship, but I don’t know. Guess we will have to wait and see how this plays out.
@Gilder
LOCATION ROLL CALL
Pls cut and paste to your new post, then add your info. List is in random order. Entered some locations based on earlier posts. Feel free to correct my errors.
Joe M. Vancouver, Canada
Gilder Texas, USA
PBMom Texas, USA
Susan the Tartan Turtle Scotland
SG-1lover Scotland
Dasndanger New Jersey, USA?
Charlie’s Angel Southern USA
Pastrygirl Arizona, USA
Montrealer Montreal, Canada?
Rose/OhioAnne Ohio, USA?
Sparrow_Hawk Midwest USA
deeinsouthafrica South Africa
Elminster Oshawa, Ontario, Canada
Please don’t blame the fans for the failings of your writing staff, it’s undignified.
You want to know why people are calling a whore (which is stupid), it’s because you had a whole 4 episodes prior to the sex scene contain multiple scenes of Chloe interacting with Eli, Chloe bonding with Eli, Chloe in sexist misogynistic shower based fanboy pandering with Eli and one scene with Lt Scott….
Gee maybe if you’d wanted people to understand that Chloe and Scott have some kind of connection with Scott maybe you should have shown us some of it? Maybe it’s there in the rough cuts or you’re just seeing the relationship from the perspective of somebody who knows the entire story arc. But from the viewers perspective, it’s just Chloe decided to bang the Lt almost entirely out of the blue, it would have made as much sense for her to end up with Greir or Young, she’s interacted with them about as much.
Remember Rule One: Show Don’t Tell!
And no, if Carlyle had a twitter people wouldn’t be flaming it, because Rush is one of the few characters that haven’t been written as Whiny and unhelpful (Chloe), Irrational and dense (Young) or a smug fratboy (Scott). I get that it soothes your ego to call your characters ‘complex’ but they aren’t, you’ve written douchebags, writing an unlikable prat isn’t the same as writing a complex character.
Finally your defense of a scene that served no plot purpose other than to get an attractive female cast member to stand around in the hallway in a tight top and panties is hilariously precious. Nobody is ever going to buy your line, no matter how hard you try and sell it.
I guess I’m joining those coming out of lurkdom.
Personally, I’m a long time Stargate fan and I love SGU. It’s different from SG1 and SGA but that’s a good thing IMO. I think the quality in SGU is fantastic – everything from the special effects to the acting which has been stellar.
I can fully appreciate for the producers, crew, actors and families that hearing negative comments regards the show and its characters, especially those expressed in an angry and abusive way, can be extremely hurtful. I feel huge sadness that they have already been hurt by what is a tiny element of the overall fandom.
I also feel an enormous amount of frustration about how these same fans and others take it on themselves to spout opinions about how the whole of the fandom feels about SGU, about the sex scenes, about Scott-Chloe, as though they were elected representatives when they are simply expressing their own opinion. I hope all involved with SGU realise that these fans do NOT speak for the fandom – and that Stargate fans are a very diverse group with wildly differing views on all elements of the franchise. For every fan who hates Chloe or Scott and their relationship, there will be someone who loves them.
I’m looking forward to seeing the rest of SGUs first season (and I say first because I can’t believe it won’t get picked up for a second), and my thanks to cast and crew on what so far has been an extremely quality slice of weekly entertainment.
I’ve never posted here before, but I read this blog every single day (right before my Organic Chemistry class, actually), and I appreciate what you’re doing here. I’ve also noticed that the people who hate stuff on the show are a lot more vocal than the folks that love it, or people like me who like it but don’t quite love it yet. So, take heart, cast, crew and producers, you have an entire fan base full of people like me, the girl down the hall from me, the guy who sits behind me in Organic, and my little sister, who watch the show and like it but never mention it online.
Also, while I’m at it, my sister would like to inform you that she has high hopes for a return of “the sand critters.” Is there a chance a few cells followed them back through the gate, or were they happy on the ice planet?
And again, thanks for providing a forum of interaction here. We’re not all jerks, I promise.
Shame about some of the fans lucky its a minority that are posting these idiot comments. I am loving SGU by the way and so is the rest of my family who did not sg1 and atlantis like me.
Hi Joe,
Sorry to hear that there’s negativity – it really, really isn’t deserved. I’ve asked around for opinions on the show from old fans and new viewers, and they’ve been positive and hopeful towards it, if not down-right enthusiastic (though my geologist friends are out-raged that you killed the geologist). There aren’t any complaints about the portrayal or writing of the characters – they’re engaging and wholesome. Smith and Levesque are doing a great job.
I guess crazy people post online because no one else will listen to them. And crazy stupid people – do you really think they’re going to work out how to post properly? They should be pitied. Infact pity them, it’s probably the exact opposite of the reaction thay’re hoping for.
It’s also possible that some offenders are venting, but revising their opinion later, and not following up online to post that they’re not angry anymore.
And on the subject of follow up, I’m getting used to the camera movements – originally thought they were jarring at times, but hardly notice it now. Adds to the show nicely.
Laila.
“Fans need to remember that it’s just a show. And you guys need to remember that we keep you in business.” ~ Robert McLaws
Best comment made to date.
Yes, fans do need to remember it’s just a show – don’t like it? Watch something else. And never, ever attack the actors.
But the creators also need to remember that it’s the fans that keep a show on the air. Any way you look at it, we are your bread and butter. As Johnny Depp often says of himself, ‘the fans are my boss’. Sure, we can’t tell you what to do, but it is always good to keep a finger on the pulse of your fanbase, and not blow off what you perceive to be minor symptoms, because it may turn out to be a major problem in the future, even spelling death for the show.
If there are elements that are turning people away from the show – those people who are saying, “I REALLY want to watch this show, I like it for the most part, but I just can’t get past such-n-such”…maybe it’s more productive to look at how ‘such-n-such’ can be tweaked a bit to make the show more entertaining for all, and not just for a few.
Most of the complaints I hear are those revolving around the increased focus (for a Stargate franchise) on sexual relationships. This is my biggest complaint as well, for reasons I’ve noted before (and won’t bore you with again). I choose to watch sci fi over the likes of Grey’s Anatomy because – for me – sci fi has always been about adventure, science, the unknown, and teamwork. SGU does have all of that, and I was actually okay with the sex UNTIL I read your comments above. Now I almost feel as if the creators have decided to use this element to effectively thumb their noses at viewers – to see how far they can push the envelope, not for the sake of the story, but solely for the sake of pushing the envelope. “You don’t like it? GOOD! We’ll shove more down your throat, just to see how much you can take before you choke! So THERE! PFFFT!”
That’s the feeling I have now – after a good night’s sleep and time to reflect on all that you said – and now I am more apprehensive about what is to come.
das
Joe, sorry…I should have added that it may not have been your intention for your words to come out that way – it’s just how I’ve personally perceived them. So don’t get defensive! I betcha you like me better when I have insomnia, eh?
😉
das
Thanks for addressing those issues. I’ve followed the cast and crew twitters from the beginning and have really enjoyed the comments. When some of the converstions took that negative slant I was surprised and dissappointed. Surprised that people are actually that ignorant and dissappointed that such words can be hurtful to some wonderfully talented human beings. I enjoy your blog and the comments and at times some of the remarks tend to raise the hackles but I’ve always found that to respond in kind is giving those people what exactly what they want, attention.
Thanks for that video clip. Must have been a grueling shoot. Different logistics from the White Sands shoot, much more confining and closed. How much time did it take? Did Justin and Brian do all the suit work themselves or were they blessed with stand-ins?
Love the show. Thanks again for the dose of sanity. And for Sherry, if you can pass it on at some point, your son is a marvelous actor and (if his tweets are any indication) a fine person. My kids are close to his age and I understand completely how you must feel.
P.S. Does glowering Carl really have other expressions??
Very well said, i think there are a lot of people who need to think on what they are posting before they post,
With 124 comments already posted and Sunday dinner on the go I’m going to have to catch up with everyone elses posts later, however I would like to say how very sorry I am that the cast and crew have been subjected to negative criticism. Without them we wouldn’t have our entertainment for that is what it is, pure entertainment and I for one am very grateful to be allowed a little insider info courtesy of the great Joe M.
I hope those responsible for such petty ill-informed downright nasty “criticism” are hanging their heads in shame and that I have not contributed to the overall bad feeling in any way, if I have it was unintentional and I apologise unreservedly. I’m loving Universe and am appreciative of the more adult themes tackled therein which is what the human condition is all about.
To those whose noses have been put out of joint I would urge them to up their medication and get a life. I quit the forums years ago because of this and I only feel at home on Joe’s blog because the majority of regulars are sincerely wonderful people who seem to feel the same as I do.
To those cast,crew and family who regularly read i would beg you to turn a blind eye to those small minded individuals and please don’t think ill of the silent majority of fans who love and appreciate every effort you guys make in order to give us some real quality storylines and acting.
@Carl, dude I hate to think you guys feel this way because of a handful of ingrates and I’d hope you will return to reading Joe’s blog soon.
Seriously you guys ROCK.
Moyz X
I am so sorry to hear that ‘fans’ [and I’ve chosen to use the inverted commas] are being rude and horrible and disrepecting what they supposedly support. There is a medium to critique and to give constructive criticism but to blatantly criticize with unjust reasoning is wrong. Just because a plot line isn’t going the way I want, doesn’t mean that I will go to someone else’s block and opening voice my displeasure for all the world to see. That’s just rude. Yes, we’re all entitled to our opinion but there is a limit and as a great actress once said, ‘it’s just that. An opinion.’ It really is unbelievable what some people think.
Sanctuary is getting the same backlash from fans who are petitioning and boycotting the show. It’s ridiculous. I was upset as the next person but I won’t go that far because I love the show with all my heart just as I adore the Stargate franchise and I’m taking SGU into my fandoms and I’m loving it. Whingers and haters only get noticed because they are louder than everyone else and everyone dislikes seeing pejorative comments. I’m sorry to hear that that is reason why Brian J. Smith has taken a step back from twitter as I am one of his followers. I follow them all.
Hopefully, the haters will go away and transfer their hatred to something else and leave the ones that like and love SGU in peace.
It’s a shame about Brian’s twitter account. I enjoyed his tweets.
I wish it was so easy as to say, ‘ignore the idiots’. But it is pretty easy coming from somebody like me who does not have to endure the type of net ‘assault’ that those in question have. Hopefully they know it’s just a vocal minority.
We’re loving SGU in this house, and everybody I’ve talked to likes that it’s ‘not your typical stargate’.
Thanks!
Sorry to hear how cruel people can be, but if its any help, the first year of the reimagined BSG brought a ton of the same hateful people out of the woodwork. Hang tight, you guys are on to something – something special, wondrous, and entertaining. Every episode is better than the one before, which is exciting since the last few episodes have been close to perfect.
Side note – I never considered the SG-1 characters perfect so I continue to respectfully disagree with the SGU creative team on that note. The actors (and stories) brought out idiosyncratic moments which were some of the most delightful beats of the series.
Best wishes.
Hey Joe, I agree with everything you just said. I mean, people knew show’s gonna be different, if they don’t like it, why watch?
And I like all the characters so far. Eli, Scott, Chloe, psychotic dr. Rush (lol) and all the rest, of course. And i never considered Chloe a whore, or Scott “off” because he was with one woman first and with second next moment. He’s not attached for cryin’ out loud to the first lady! People who ditch the show, i’m not sure they know human behavior. Reactions vary from person to person, some things are cliché, but still “normal”.
Plenty people don’t get the “drama” innit, but i’m sticking with it!
I hope you all get to do your third sg1 movie, i really miss the crew. 🙂 And how bout you guys close things for Sam and Jack? 😀
*gives cookie to Joe*
@ Sherry, you have an enormously talented son and every reason to be proud of him, as a mother myself I understand how you feel, tell me who to punch as I have all this menopausal tension to get rid of in as constructive a way as possible.
*hugs*
Wow great post. I agree people can get a little too opinionated about some subjects especially when the are covered in a show that they get so emotionally invested in. Sometimes they can get nasty and completely lose the whole weight of thier arguement like you just stated. I myself absolutely love the direction of the new show. I was definitely a fan of the previous (I.e. SG-1, Atlantis) but this one, I feel, os finally the direction I was hoping for. A much more creative and dramatic version of the story rather than staying comical. Please keep doing exactly what you guys are doing, and try not to let the trolls get you down 😉
“if it’s a matter of not enjoying shows that focus on the occasional romance between characters, then that’s unfortunate – because that’s the type of show you’re watching. If, on the other hand, it’s an innate response to the very notion of intimacy no matter how modest the scene, then I’d suggest a deep-rooted personal issue that would be best dealt with somewhere other than this blog.”
So the only reasons people might not approve of the scene are either they don’t enjoy romance in shows, or they don’t like any intimacy in shows? Hmm. Sounds as if someone doesn’t understand why people might disagree with him. The problem is with characters and situations who obviously exist just as fanservice. Have a real romantic situation, with leadup and fallout, and you’ll get less complaining. As it is, its not much more then fanservice, useful for the effort to switch demographics. No real attempts have been made, from a narrative standpoint.
Does that mean people should be calling the actress and actors involved bad names? No, thats getting personal and unprofessional. But this criticism isn’t going to go away. On the other hand, people are still watching the show, so apparently the criticism doesn’t matter. The only real way criticism can be shown is by not watching the show, or not buying the DVD’s. The latter takes far, far too long for it to actually have an effect, especially in the short-term business culture. The current isn’t happening, yet.
As iI have grown up so has Stargate!! Keep up the great work and forget all the idots out there!!
SG U is awesome and i cant weait for every Friday night!!
Thanks for such great work!!!!
Joe,
Thank you – and Carl. I commented for the first time in a while yesterday because I had stopped reading alot of the comments – for reasons you point out. If I have ever offended you in any way with a post – I am sorry. Not my intention. I just couldn’t believe people were being mean to Brian – a very sweet guy – for a role he plays on a TV show. That just really floors me.
Almost everyone who posts here loves the Stargate franchise and appear to be very nice people. I think the problems some are having relate to the fact that they don’t want SGU to move in a totally new direction. Fair enough. I haven’t commented much on SGU because I have not seen enough episodes yet.
When I start watching a new show – I expect to watch a fair number of episodes in order to understand the characters, the story arcs and its nuances. I don’t expect someone attached to the show to answer questions for me each time I see an episode. Joe – you are amazingly gracious to do that. People should not take this for granted. You are under no obligation to answer anyone’s questions and yet you do.
For me, having a show dissected everyday just takes things away from the experience. So, I have tried not to read too many comments here lately as I realize others don’t feel the same way. But folks should really think before they comment and apply some empathy about how they, themselves, would like to be treated in online discourse.
I am looking forward to the next SGU episode, BOTM and your Japanese culinary odyssey. Thanks for all you do for the fans.
Cheers
Just a recommendation to posters. It’s more considerate to avoid using “THE” offending phrase to make your point, even in support of Joe’s rant. I think the point is that certain language is inappropriate in any context related to commenting on the show.
I think Joe’s is asking simply people to make their points respectfully. It’s not too much to ask.
I’ve recently started reading Joe’s blog, and It’s become part of my daily reading.
You know, I wasn’t an avid watcher of SG-1 or SGA for no reason other then I just wasn’t. I had no reason to not be a fan or to be one either. I heard about the new SG series SGU coming to SyFy and heard the concept and was reminded of the show “LOST”. I’m a huge fan of having the ‘wrong people’ as the cast because I’m a fan of every day situations. What they did with SGU, was take the every day people and put them in a very non every day situation and I was hooked. Overall the show is taking a bit of time to unfold and show some main theme for the season and if it’s fixing up the ship, I have a feeling the viewer count is going to drop steadily. I don’t intend to give up because I feel it’s been great so far and have I wouldn’t have made any changes as far as character development or dialogue.
To have people slander characters and them as a person is out of the question considering they can’t change their character. They writers chose the characters and how they’re to be unraveled over the course of the show. Now if you don’t like them because they break some moral code, then say why you don’t like them (Quoting “Rweethareyet”: On the first show I had a problem with Scott while in the broom closet, ignoring an order from his commanding officer. As the wife of a military man I found this to be a big problem. He did it again in this last episode ) She didn’t break out and call him a ‘whore’ or any of that. Simply just busting out the “He/She is a whore” line really shows you haven’t taken much thought into the show and just perceive with your eyes and not your mind.
The following is just rant, read if you want ~
I have both heard and read about people slandering characters who they simply don’t ‘like’ eg. Chloe Armstrong and Matthew Scott due to the nature of their relationship after what Matthew Scott and Venessa James showed in the pilot episode. Now to clarify, the people who are playing the roles of those characters, have no means to change them because the writers have unfolded them that way and to change that, changes everything. We have Eli Wallace to obviously likes Ms.Armstrong though she is enjoying Matthew Scott’s company instead. So that in itself is a story to be played out along the course of this show. So to call Chloe and Matthew a ‘whore’ because you don’t like their character is by far hard headed thinking and complete arrogance to the fact it’s for both character and plot development. It shows Matthew is very confrontational with himself after getting the sixteen year-old gear pregnant after wanting to become a form of religious figure in his life. So we see that he wants to be pure of heart and follow God, but at the same time, can’t resist being physically interactive with those he feels for. Now Chloe’s reason for being attached to Matthew is because he was there for her after the passing of his father as this is mentioned in the blog.
So if you really feel the same way after reading the blog and other numerous comments along with mine. Then I suggest you simply go watch “The Hills” or some other ‘bogus/stupid/retarded’ show that you feel makes you warm and fuzzy inside. I speak for myself but encourage others to agree. I would happily point you in any direction but here for the duration of forever.
I think the SG:U guys on twitter has been a highlight of my twitter use. I’ve used twitter to interact with people that normally I wouldn’t have a chance to. Most of the time it’s been either programming/IT stuff or usual stuff with friends. When the SG:U group started twittering it was great – watching a group of friends who worked on something they hoped we’d enjoy.
Sadly I think it’s pretty inevitable they’ll stop for the same reasons as Brian. There seems to be this mantra that because people work in public jobs they have to accept the public’s abuse. Combine that with the internet’s anonymity and you reach new obscene levels of abuse.
Eventually public people will retreat into a walled environment where they can share with everyone without opening up to the flood of hatred. I’m hoping that the smart guys at twitter will work out a way to keep twitter involved because while interacting with one member of the SG team (yourself) on a blog has been very fun it really was something else to get that sense of active and inclusive community that came from the SG:U twitters.
I’m also worried that while the SG production team has been very savvy to social media that if it is left up to Sony/MGM or syfy it could end up being something very sterile and processed.
Hi Mr M!
*Phew*….Right on!
I have been keeping a low-profile here at your blog recently, to avoid spoilers and well frankly to avoid the borderline comments.
As usual Mr M. you have hit the nail on the head, and as I’ve said before, above all else I admire your honesty. Something I always find refreshing.
I was saddened when I learned that BrianJ was stepping away from Twitter and equally saddened that Sherry was stopping visiting here.
As an interested fan of the SG franchise, and one lucky to have visited set, and met with many of the cast and crew, I have nothing but admiration for the whole production. That said, I don’t always agree with story direction or character lines etc. However, I don’t like beetroot much either….I don’t however rail against the beetroot manufacturers or call them names. (Maybe THAT’s why there’ll still in production?)
I (as only one fan) can continue my support of the franchise, marvel at the great story telling, and continue to voice my enthusiasm for all things SG. As for the vocal minority who descend to name-calling to make their point…well….*shrugs shoulders*.
Keep up the great work all! And know that, to the informed, intelligent and appreciative fan, your efforts are not only admired but also greatly anticipated week in, week out.
Best (as always) from Ireland.
Paul
At what point do you just have to say It’s a TV show, shuddup and watch it? I mean, It’s a very good TV show, but C’mon lads….
I’m quite enjoying SGU for the most part. I loved and still love SG-1 to this day. I used to like SGA but I became so bitter and disillusioned by it in the end that I still can’t watch any episodes. But I have my excitement back with SGU which I’ve been missing.I have no problem with change as long as the show is good quality. As thus far I think SGU has good potential to be a good show. I love dark and gritty shows which IS probably why I liked Star Trek DS9 more than any other Trek show. If SGU is even half as good as that show I’ll be happy. Sure SGU hasn’t got the action (thus far) and humour of SG-1 but It does have the potential to be up there with SG-1.
I haven’t seen the ep Water yet cause us Brits don’t get it till Tiesday but I watch it on Wednesday at 9pm, Tuesdays ep gets edited if there’s anything “inappropriate” in it because it’s on at 8pm, before the 9pm watershed :rolleyes:
But from what I’ve caught on GW, TJ gets more to do this week. I’m looking forward to that, I wasn’t sure about her at first but after what she done to Telford in Young’s body, sedating him gave me an appreciation for her, she seems like a no nonsense kind of person when It comes to medical things 🙂 I hope we see more of Young though in the coming weeks 😀
All this verbal attack on the actors is shocking, I mean they’re only doing a job, it’s not their fault what went on before so why blame them 🙁 Please tell the guys they do have some support 😀
1. Do you play computer games? My favourite console is the Playstation 😀
2. Is Louis Ferreira really so mad? :p I like guys like that. RDA was a tad mad too :p
@Twiceborn: “Also, I didn’t watch Water and I’m not planning on watching any more SGU. I’d like to make sure you guys lose at least one viewer while I’m spreading bad publicity about the show. I’ve seen and heard from you enough to know that this show is not worth my time.”
I wonder what you have to gain from spreading bad publicity about the show. Will you be taking out a full-page ad in the New York Times? Does anyone actually listen to you? I find your comment mean-spirited and immature, and can’t imagine why you would even bother to write it. Can somebody really be this angry with a tv show?
Good morning, Joe. No wonder you’ve had problems sleeping!
Inasmuch as I love this blog and the friends I’ve made here, I wouldn’t blame you a bit for shutting it down. I’m so sorry that anybody has gotten hurt or angered over it (especially Brian’s mom) – it’s simply not worth it. However, I think that most of the fans commenting on this blog are mature, respectful people. Hopefully, the ones causing all the unnecessary strife will simply fade like a bad memory. Please invite Brian’s mom back, there of those of us that appreciate her son’s work and would love to hear from her.
I’m sure you know that many of us really do appreciate and thank you for the opportunity to be a part of this, whether it be to praise or kvetch, tell you about our day, our dogs and whatever else we want to share. I sincerely hope something good comes out of your rant, and that we’ll all continue to be here for a long time to come 🙂
On the other hand maybe I won’t read the other posts, i just spotted one that made my blood boil…grrr!
@Robert McLaws
It’s a very strange sense of loyalty that posts threats, promises of abandonment and expectations of misery.
You go Joe. Like I said you have the patience of a saint to deal with… well … all these comments.
I’m still not hating SGU and resolve to watch it recorded to get thru the ads.
If it wasn’t for the artistry and talent of the crew, i.e. writers, producers, directors, designers, coordinators,production assistants (Ashleigh), etc. – I don’t think I would be watching SGU. And after watching the actors, hey, yeah, they are great actors. They all must be doing their job if everyone is feeling so passionate about how much they either hate or love a character and the writers must be doing a their job if they can drive the character in the direction they want them to go. (does that make sense?) It is a character driven show.
But if some viewers think the sex is offensive on SGU… then they should refrain from from Shakespeare if they don’t want to be offended by sex and bawdiness.
I think it’s great that we do have an opportunity to let you know Joe, how we feel. I don’t want to see this blog end it’s more than just about SGU and the franchise – it’s weird food purchases, comment contests – what happened to them??? Behind the scene vids, pug pics and vids, oh and yeah BOTMC. Tho I don’t get a chance to read the books but I am introduced to them and read about them.
So if you have to do more filtering and sensor the comments more…please don’t end the blog. I would miss Carl’s expressive photos and Ashleigh’s devious antics.
My heart was broken when SGA was canceled, sniff , sniff,
please don’t end the blog. please keep it going. pretty please.
Hi Joe,
I have been an avid reader of your blog for quite some time now but have never left a comment as i have found most of your entries and/or associated comments have usually articulated my view (that and i am lazy). Your entry today – and if i’m honest some of the comments on your blog from recent weeks – have motivated me (finally) to post a comment. While i have watched Atlantis, i was never a huge fan, i loved SG1 and after only a handful of SGU episodes i can say that i am completely and utterly hooked (in fact i wish the season was over so i could go out and buy the DVD boxset and watch all of the episodes together, because waiting a week between shows is torture).
Now, regardless of whether I like or dislike individual stories, character arcs, plots or swirling sandstorm aliens, any abuse that is targeted at the actors on the series is absolutely and totally uncalled for. These people have made a huge effort to engage with viewers and for ‘fans’ to shower these people with spiteful remarks just because SGU is not exactly like the previous shows in the franchise or because Brian J. Smith (or others) have the audacity to portray fully rounded flawed individuals is, frankly, ridiculous.
I can only say that i truly enjoy the show (and so far every coworker i have introduced to the show has had only good things to say), and that all of you involved in the show deserve great credit for taking risks and not simply providing another uncomplicated clone of SG1. i cant wait for the next episode (and being in Ireland we are a few days behind) and I truly hope that spiteful comments by a few faceless eejits on the internet are seen for what they really are, unimportant background noise.
Sean
Now look what you have done, sitting there complaining about stuff which in no way didnt need to be complained about, if you dont like it because it insults your views either stop being so prudish and ignor it or stop watching and boring the rest of us and getting people who take time out of their lives to talk to the fans to feel like they shouldnt.
To Carl, Brian, his Mother and anyone and everyone else connected with SGU – dont let the morons get you down and I hope someday in the future you reconsider stepping back from those who really want to connect with you and support what your doing! Really enjoying the first season and look forward to you all coming back to make the next season as you deserve to do!
Hi Joe
It’s been a while since I’ve made a comment but just had to come here after hearing what’s been going on.
After the first ep I thought…that was pretty good. Now after Light, I’m hooked… I don’t want to miss an episode…and really love it.
For my sins, I go on GW everyday and have been reading quite a bit about the show there…very carefully though as here in the UK the eps run a week behind and I’m trying not to be spoilered too much.
On the whole, there’s a huge positive reaction to the show. Many new fans coming on…so many in fact the site crashed a few times and has since been upgraded to allow for the incoming hordes.
There’s a small and very focal few who really enjoy attacking every little thing…stuff which makes me wonder about their sanity. There’s no point trying to reason with them and I never bother.
As for the ‘sex’ scenes…I’ve seen very few negative comments from anyone in the UK or Europe about it and I can see why….very mild and nothing remotely bad about them.
If that means we’re a bunch of bleedin’ liberals well then Yay!
Anyhow, as for the characters, they’re a motley bunch….all the better for that I reckon and I’m enjoying getting to know them. And Rush is bloody fantastic. I’m looking forward to seeing where you’re taking the show… and him. 🙂
Oh yeah how could I forget, Joe. This blog has brought together a group of people here in Florida and it reaches many other fans in way that we all can’t imagine. Please don’t end blog.
Thank you, I have been feeling the same way about how some people choose to word their comments. Unfortunately, I have partly stopped reading the comments section and some forums due to this. You and the production staff have been saying that this is a completely different show from the very start and still some people are surprised that this is a completely different show…go figure.
Bravo, Joe, for your rant.
Just want to say that I’ve generally liked what I’ve seen on the show and probably haven’t spoken up enough about that. My one “nit” has been that the female characters haven’t been given the chance to shine as much as the male characters. But, the emphasis on TJ in “Water” really helped address that. I hope we can find out more about her in the way we have with the men.
Another poster asked the following:
“Uhm. Isn’t that what pollsters and focus group studies do? How else do you figure the opinions of the general viewership?”
There a marked difference. Pollsters make every attempt to get a random sample of the population. Focus groups are recruited in the same way.
People making comments on a forum are not random. They are selecting themselves to speak.
Nielsen is a random sample of the U.S. viewing population. TV shows have been know to plummet in the ratings if the public doesn’t like them and it happens quickly. There are a hundred channels to watch and the typical viewer just isn’t that patient. Last time I looked, SGU was holding up rather well.
I think you will find that there are a lot more people who enjoy the show as is compared to the ones who complain about it.
It is truely a shame that a rant such as this is needed. It is sad that so many people have no filter, no sense of moderating their own comments. Feeling entitled to spew whatever venom they want with no regards to anyone else’s feelings. These same folks who stand up and scream that they have a right to their opinion and to state it loudly would be singing a different tune if someone were attacking them in the way they are so smug and self assuredly attacking folks they have never met.
Yes, everyone is entitiled to their own opinion. You do not have to like SGU. You can even state, that you don’t like it. I’ll freely admit so far I’m still on the fence. I dont’ hate it, but it hasn’t grabbed me the was other shows have. So what? Does that make the show and its cast evil? Some folks like chocolate, some like vanilla. Its an opinion people, not facts. What you think doesn’t translate to the masses. Yes, there may be a lot of like minded folks out there posting away making you think you are a genius, but doesn’t mean everyone is of the same mind. The show is not your creation. You are just a viewer and if you don’t like the direction it takes, use your remote and change the channel.
I get feeling a sense of ownership. You find a show you love or a franchise and you feel invested, but in reality its not yours. The writers and creators are going to do whatever they want. Its their baby not yours. Its okay to not like the show, but its not okay to insult and ridicule people, real people that have been kind enough to open themselves up to you. If you are invited into someones home and you hate the decor do you tell them that? Wow, that is one butt ugly sofa, what were you thinking when you bought that thing. Somehow I don’t think you would say that. Would you tell a co-worker that you think their girlfriend is a whore because of her outfit? I hope not. We all have thoughts that go through our head, but we don’t need to state them out loud or type them for all the world to read.
Joe doesn’t have to have a blog and he doesn’t have to be so free with allowing all the comments to be viewed. Brian didn’t need to have a twitter account. They allowed us a peek at the inside and we abused it. We went into their virtual homes and insulted them. Bad guests, bad manners and we should feel shame. Sadly while I am seeing some apologies here I am seeing way too many entitled comments here. I am sorry for Brian’s mother, as a mother I completely understand her feelings. I am sorry for Brian. I loved his Q & A here and his tweets. It was nice of him to interact with the fans and I truely understand his desire to back away. Clearly he wasn’t prepared for the ugly side of fandom. Please send our apologies to any and all that were offended and let them know we aren’t all idiots.
I love the SG franchise. I’ve had the pleasure to meet some of the actors and they are all full of class. I enjoy reading this blog and feeling a sense of involvement. Sadly for the most part I can’t speak as highly for the fandom. Some really scary vocal folks out there. I have met some outstanding people as well but its not a fandom I would ever want to immerse myself in because its so steeped in negativity.
Interesting rant and reactions. Having worked as an actor doing wee bit parts and lots of BG, I’ve had a first hand glimpse of the craziness that the industry engenders in the public. It is an unfortunate fact that some of the viewers are unable to separate the actor from the character. A franchise with the depth and history of the Stargate universe (as opposed to the nascent Stargate Universe) will tend to draw a far more emotional response from an audience that is highly invested. Strangely enough, it is a mark of the success of the Stargate brand.
Television is a writer/producer’s medium and the cast have a very limited amount of time per episode to get their character across on the screen and in production. They are also limited to what they are given in the script, how they are directed on the day and what remains after the editing and posting process. I’ve seen what I thought were brilliant, moving performances on set only later to watch a finished show and find that all of what was so good in those moments has disappeared. It might have been due to time constraints, technical glitches, editorial decisions or any of a number of other factors. The actor’s fate lies in the hands of others and a personal attack on the performer isn’t fair. Which isn’t to say that there aren’t bad performances but that is a whole other kettle of fish.
I’m a Stargate fan as the 15 box sets and two TV movies on my shelf will attest. The two prior series were different from one another and I recall it took a while for people to accept Stargate Atlantis. SGU is quite a different show from either of the prior series. I had great hopes for a more adult Stargate and I’ll admit that so far I’ve found the shows disappointing, though I’m hanging in to see if the cast and the writing gel. I’m willing to give the series a fairly long leash if for nothing but the selfish hope that there’ll be some decent science fiction of TV.
My main complaint is that the writing hasn’t been up to the standards I’ve come to expect from Stargate. I felt the Kino-cam was a lazy device that smacked of ‘telling and not showing’ the characters, it reminded me of Big Brother and that is not a compliment. I understand that there was a need to deliver some exposition in a hurry and establish some of the ensemble players. That it dragged out over two episodes was surprising, though it did reveal the first character that I really took to, the awesome ‘earthquake girl’ speech was the high point of that show. I have no problem with interpersonal/sexual relationships, I just find that I don’t care for or about the characters involved in them. There is no substantive story justification for Chloe’s prominence in the show as anything other than the attractive leading lady. Her character is decorative and there isn’t necessarily anything wrong with that but she’s brought nothing else to the table. She’s pretty, she kisses or she cries, the writers haven’t established any other abilities or traits for her and that certainly is not the fault of the actor.
For some reason I find that the characters I enjoy are the ones I suspect I should be less attracted to from the writer’s viewpoint (which I am making leaps of assumption about), Rush is the main protagonist so far for me. He’s the rational man surrounded by irrationality. He’s willing to look at the hard truths and act accordingly. The commander has struck me not as flawed but as incompetent and unfit for command. His appalling decision making and paranoid suspicion of Rush makes little sense since Rush has pulled his bacon out of the fire time and again. Greer is the morally ambiguous character with a past yet he has quickly become the one character in the military that I actually believe in, his portrayal has been top notch. The Scott character is supposed to be a protagonist, the trusted second in command. Yet his decisions both personally and professionally are highly suspect. And in terms of performance, I’m sorry but the actor is lacking in charisma, generic if you will.
And then there’s Eli. I’m sorry but the Eli character is so transparent and forced that he sets my teeth on edge. The character has no charm, what my mom would have called gormless. The crappy pop culture jokes and references don’t work, the cliche that the dumpy boy genius saves the day isn’t working for me. Eli is the embodiment of what some call ‘fan service’ a character created to fit a set of relatable stereotypes, someone for the geeks in the audience to relate to. In many ways Eli is the character around whom the show has revolved and it is a bad sign that he is just such a goober. I’ve taken to think of him Eli Crusher, Wil Wheaton is an awesome guy but his most noted role was reviled in the Star Trek community for good reason. I sincerely hope that the characters and writing settle into a better groove over the rest of the season. As with any creative work, there will be criticism and I also hope that it can contribute to the understanding of the show for and from both the fans and the production.
Cheers.
Well, i totally agree with you. SGU is a different show then Stargate SG1 or Atlantis.
That’s way it’s called SGU NOT Stargate next door.
If the badmouths don’t understand this I’d recommend some sopes to them, there’s almost the same storyline every time.
NB! My heart only longs for more episodes, can’t wait for the next one!
“I wanted to like it, I tried to like it. I just don’t.”
I think that is where a lot of the resentment is routed. Normally when folks watch a show they don’t like, they just change the channel. But the Stargate franchise brings a lot of fans with it who want and expect to like the new sheep in the fold just as much as the older ones. But SGU is really different from the other SG shows and this puts some fans in a position where they keep strenuously complaining but are unable to just let go.
Personally, I very much appreciate the new direction, because I think the other SG shows really had run their course. SGU is as different as it needed to be for the franchise to live on.
@Joe – Well, I agree with most of what you said. However, there was one thing that caught my attention. To give an example, you said:
“ … but if, in the body of your comment or any subsequent comment, you refer to the James character as Lieutenant Rack or McBoobs, then you’re a hypocrite who has successfully undermined their argument by demonstrating you can’t be taken seriously. Also, you’re an idiot.”
I agree with the point that you are making here, but not so much with how it is being made. I noticed that while you were asking people to consider their words and the impact that words can have on others, things like “ … these same morons…” and “idiot” were words that you chose to describe or potentially describe others. For me, that took away from the argument that you were making – an argument that I agree with. And this is not lip-service, I really do agree with your point here.
I also understand how you were using these words – I really do. And, I mean no disrespect in mentioning this; it’s just kind of what bothered me about an otherwise pretty good blog entry.
I read through all of the comments after your entry and was surprised by some of the nastiness and name-calling that was pouring out of some, not all but some, of the people that are supposed to be the positive ones. This lead me to notice that some people have been positive in their disagreement, while others have been negative in their agreement.
From my stance, your point was that it is not so much the agreeing or disagreeing that is the problem, but the way in which we do it. I hope people that agree and disagree can take this to heart. Calling people and/or their statements derogatory names is not really necessary, at least not to me.
The most I have ever said to someone that I severely disagreed with was that I didn’t appreciate their post, or any of the links that they attached to it. And even with some of their word choice afterwards, I understand the meaning behind what they say. This of course is something I accept as we all have our own views.
Anyway, I am not asking anyone to change what they say or how they say it. Honestly, I don’t even expect it. I’m only adding that it would be nice if we could get past all of the name-calling. Like you said, it hurts people and/or can be offensive. I understand that you may not approve this post, and it’s fine with me if you don’t. I know it’s long this time, but it’s what I have to say.
Peace & Love,
j
P.S. Still hope Max is doing fine
IAWT rant.
My partner and I liked SG1 and SGA very much, but we *love* SGU. It’s darker, grittier, the characters are complex and morally ambiguous – it’s a mature show for grown-ups, with an engaging visual style, and bags of character development. After watching the pilot and telling each other how much we loved it, we both guessed that many SG1/SGA fans would be critical of it because of the darker feel, and greater level of character conflict (which are the very things I love most about it, personally).
While the critics are entitled to their opinions, a lot of the criticisms seem to amount to “the characters aren’t behaving the way *I* (my friends, my family) would in this situation, so they’re rubbish/immoral/unrealistic/etc”. This, to me, makes no sense at all. Essentially they’re grumbling that the characters aren’t predictable *enough*? They’re complex characters. As with real people, one isn’t supposed to instantly understand their every motivation. That’s what makes them good characters – that you have to get to know them slowly, that they don’t always act in a way you expect, or approve of. A character who behaves exactly the way you expect, whose every action is completely explicable, isn’t necessarily a better/more consistent character – just a more simplistic one.
Even worse is when people bash the actors/creators because they don’t like the show. Criticising the characters is one thing; belittling the efforts of real people (who are doing their best to entertain us, here) is mean-spirited and ungrateful. If you have strong feelings of any kind about a character – including strongly negative ones – it means the actor is probably doing a *good* job. Don’t blame the actors if the characters have traits you don’t personally approve of.
SGU is a darker show, with less happy-fluffy characters than the previous SG incarnations. IMO, it’s preferable to its predecessors for that reason. Clearly not everyone agrees, but guys – that it’s not to your taste doesn’t mean it’s not a good show. If you don’t like it you don’t have to watch it. If you like it, but have specific criticisms, great, but be courteous and constructive when you voice them. Please don’t make us all look like a bunch of petulant, childish asshats!
Dear JoeM
When you quote me in your little self-congratulatory blog (which by the way I don’t read but was linked to) here’s a few things to think about :
– When you’ve just accused people of being bad because they made personal attacks on your cast and crew (something I agree with incidentally), then you sound like an asshole when a few paragraphs later you attack ME personally.
– You then go on and call me a “one grade school narrow-minded poster”. Just for the info, that means nothing to me, we have different school grades where I live, but I still assume it’s an insult. Mind you I don’t really care one way or the other being insulted by a hypocrit, so go on, insult my intelligence, it’s not like I’ve ever though I was smart anyway, you can hardly smack me harder than I daily do so myself.
– You insult me although I was not talking to you. I was not even posting in your blog.
– You insult me when I expressed anger at being told to accept whether or not something was sexist. Let me tell you in a few words where than anger comes from : Years (say about 30) of being abused physically and mentally (daily) by men, that creates some serious PTSD. So when I think something is sexist and I’m being told by MEN that “no, it’s not, you’re wrong, your views of the world are wrong”, then I deserved to be seriously pissed off and I deserve to express that anger. How does it feel to insult a survivor with PTSD ?
– You insult me although nowhere in my little and yet very angered comment did I even say the word SGU or your name or the name of anybody else for that matter.
– Should I have posted that angered comment out there ? Probably not, I agree. One should never post when they feel anger. Do I regret that I did ? No, because I assume the fact that years of abuse have made me an angry person sometimes, especially where men are trying to tell me what to think or how to behave. I will not apologise for being angry over those issues, my anger is valid, it has anchor in reality.
Seriously, I don’t even know why I clicked on that link I was given, call it morbid curiosity, same thing for that link to your blog, completely morbid, knowing that you will say something that will insult me one way or another (usually it’s not personal though, you’ve stepped it up since I last read you almost two years ago).
Sincerely,
Me.
*doesn’t read spoilers, just scrolls to the bottom*
Wtg, Joe. I so understand you – idiotic and negative comments/posts made me leave GateWorld. There are a lot of new member, who joined Oct 2009 (hmm, wonder why :D) and they’re great. The majority is the existing fans.
All levelheaded people are respected by me, whether they like the new approach of Stargate or not. It’s just not their cup of tea and they move on.
I’m so in love with SGU and can’t understand what makes some people type in capitals that SGU IS BOOOORING. But I don’t start insulting them. Some have even said if you like SGU then you have never seen Stargate or you’re blind.
Dammit, I’ve seen all of SG-1 multiple times, all of SGA and I love SGU to bits and they say I have never seen Stargate?!
I better stop now. Otherwise it’s gonna take some time to calm down. And a lot of ice cream.
I’m so with you, whatever you decide to do. Even if it means closing down the comments. Maybe it doesn’t make the bashers go away, but their talk is so pointless anyway, there’s nothing to miss. Only the sensitive and reasonable fans, who enjoy the mailbag, will suffer.
You do know that there are a lot of fans, who enjoy the show, right? Not all are about making idiot comments. They just don’t spread their ideas all over the web, like bashers like to do.
Like me. I keep my distance from here, from GW, from Twitter, from MGM’s site… just to avoid spoilers and get the most from new episodes. Because I like SGU too much. 😀
Nice rant, very civilized.
I do like SGU; thank you, and everyone associated with the show.
I see some Idiots are oblivious, and have far too much time on their hands. I am amazed. As this is your blog, I do not take others to task over their comments often, the most virulent was not SG related. I was a bit surprised you allowed it. But if I were to cross a line, I’d like to know. I trust the others who post here would say something. I’m itching to have at a few folks this moment … I think we each have our idiot list on the mental back burner. But picking apart posts line by line is not my thing, far too OCD and self-righteous for my tastes.
I think I will begin sending handwritten notes of appreciation and thanks. Now I simply have to get off my lazy virtual arse and find the studio address… I’ve seen ot posted before but neglected to jot it down.
i will find you!
and punch your face
joe
Good morning, Joe! I hope you slept better last night.
On my first trip to Japan I was with a tour sponsored by the Art Institute of Chicago. I realize that people travel for different reasons and, for some in this group, they were in Japan not so much because they wanted to experience the culture and and food and art, but because it was a place they hadn’t been to yet. One woman (who was in the second category) bitched and moaned constantly, “the people here are polite, but they are just not friendly; nothing like the people in China” and “well, in China they don’t make you take your shoes off all the time” and so on ad nauseum. One day as we returned to the bus, she was at it again and ended with “… this is nothing like China!” to which my companion answered, “That’s why they call it JAPAN!”
The same applies to Stargate: Universe!
Have a great time on your vacation, Joe. Have some wild mushrooms and duck soba and I’ll enjoy it vicariously.
@Trish(aka Whovian)
“floridiots” really? After Joe gave his view on this, being from Florida, that verbage is just wrong.
I admit that I do not like SGU and no longer watch it. I tried to get interested, but there is just no spark between the show and me. Normally, I scan your blog but do not read the individual comments, so I was somewhat surprised by your latest rant.
With so many modes of instantaneous, and anonymous, communications available to viewers to vent their speens, it is hardly surprising that a great deal of vitriolic criticism gets through. And while I do not condone some of the more outrangeous comments on your blog, GW forums, Twitter, etc., I cannot believe that you and other members of TPTB, as well as the actors, have not been able to develop thicker hides by now. Certainly, the actors have gone for auditions and been turned down for parts before, and if anyone connected with SGU was even partially aware of SGA fan sentiment after the show was cancelled, they should have anticipated some backlash, although I am uncertain that the comments are coming solely from disaffected SGA fans. (For the sake of fairness, you, Joe, have resorted to snarky comments about one SGA actor (NOT the character) more than once. For example, I refer you to your blog of 2 June 2009. You may have set a standard you would now prefer to forget?)
As to the possibility of Robert Carlyle being berated on Twitter by “morons”, I would pay to read HIS replies! I know enough Brits to know that they are more than capable of taking one’s hide off with their scathing — and usually articulate — retorts.
cancelled the sgu
Regarding spoiler space….for those of us in the UK, we don’t get to see the new episodes for 4 days after the US…sometimes spoiler spaces are useful for those that don’t want to miss out on more than half a week of Joe’s blog and the comments…….just a small request/thought…
Dr. Suess break!
“Then ONE day, it seems…while the Plain-belly Sneetches
Were moping and doping alone on the beaches,
Just sitting there wishing their bellies had stars…
A stranger zipped up in the strangest of cars!”
My husband and I have been loving SGU so far. As previously said, it’s darker and feels more grown up, but that’s what has made it compelling to watch.
Looking forward to what the rest of the season will bring.
I really want to love SGU. I don’t. I don’t blame the actors; they can only work with the framework they are given. As I’ve said before, we can only address specifics we see on the screne. There are loyal audience members saying that the product doesn’t match the intention.
I do want excellence. I don’t think, given the track record of this franchise, that this is a reach. SGU doesn’t have to look like, smell like, sound like the previous shows. But I expect it to achieve the same narrative integrity and excellence. I don’t think it has.
That’s all I’m saying. Make it better.
I really don’t understand poeple who are not able to express their opinion without hurting someone else.
Unfortunalty, I not surprised it happened here too. I had a similar problem on my website. Well, not exactly the same problem, because they know that I and some others won’t allow them to be unrespectful, but we had some members who won’t watch the show because they are still mad about Atlantis.
I understand that people get mad because of the end of SGA (hell, I wanted it to be on a season 6 too!) but I don’t understand when they are punishing the cast who have nothing to do with any decision made concerning Atlantis or the movies!
Concerning the crew, well, I thing you know better than everybody else what you are doing with your shows and I think we have to trust you all. I least I will. I mean, you did a great job for 15 seasons, why will it change now?
I just wanted to post this comment to show some support. Not every fans are jerks (sorry if I’m offending someone but I really think some deserves it!). I’m really ashamed to be considering as a fan like them, because I don’t think they deserve to be call like that. Being a fan is not just liking a show, I think it’s also supporting a cast and a crew, it’s a passion. I don’t think poeple are still fans when they don’t enjoy all the work done. We can desagree with some dessisions of course, we’re not stupid robots, but their is a line poeple can’t cross.
Anyway, this really piss me of. I really don’t understand.
I just hope that both the cast and crew won’t get hurt to much because of those commants. I believe everything will cool off with some time. Poeple who don’t like the show will stop watch it, poeple who like it will follow SGU and everything will be back to normal eventualy. Some of us really enjoy your work and love SGU already. I hope you’ll be alble to forgot about thos morons and move on. Ignoring them is the best to do.
Love.
H
PS : sorry if I made gramar mistakes of anything.
Wow! What a response!!! If that rant made you feel good as much as me, I must have made you feel pretty good.
I can’t start to figure out, in the 21st Century, after having experienced 50+ years of television, that some people cannot still make the difference between an actor and a character her plays. Do these people still run out of theatres if they see an oncoming train rushing toward the camera?
But you know, on the side, that should mean that Brian J Smith does a hell of a good job at acting. So much anger ought to earn him an Emmy for best supporting character. He deserves it.
Hi Joe,
Long time lurker here who never reads the comments just the blog. Sorry people are getting so pissy about SGU. Its only a show and has only started. It is different to what has come before and it may just take people to come round. I think its made a very promising start.
As for poor Carl, give him a (manly) hug. My wee boy likes Pochahontas a lot. I will go and hire it out for him. Does Carl still get royalties? 😉
@Joe:
Well said and bravo. I feel the need to briefly point out that I’m one of those fans of SGU who has a few lingering issues with it, but doesn’t get involved in such actions as labeling characters ‘whores’ or attacking actors for their characters’ attributes. In fact, I praise them all for their hard work and dedication and strongly believe you have a real winner of a cast on your hands.
Please pass this on. Not my comment, necessarily. I’m not that arrogant and there isn’t much to it, anyway. What I meant was, please remind them — everyone — that there are thousands upon thousands of better-natured folks in the fandom, eagerly looking forward to seeing them again next year. And please tell Carl and anyone else on the production side of things that they definitely have their fans. Like I said, I do have a few lingering issues with the show right now, but that doesn’t change the fact that for twelve years now the team behind the camera has been doing something with extraordinarily high hit-to-miss ratio. I’m proud to have been witnessing this firsthand for the past six years of it.
It breaks me a little that Ms. Smith had to go through that, too. If you get around to it, could you let her know that a few of us are truly sorry she had to see that?
@das:
Your position on romance in entertainment mirrors mine. I hope we’re both wrong and an increased focus on it doesn’t kill the show for either of us, but in any case I found it amusing sifting through all those lines up there in which you basically stated where I stand. I wish there were more of us out there with similar footing on the issue. Mr. Das and yourself doubtlessly have many other things in common to make up for it, but one thing I’m so grateful my girlfriend agrees with me on is the necessity for subtlety in romance, if indeed romance is to be covered in the first place. And oftentimes it’s preferable for us that it isn’t.
“I just don’t give a damn about love! I’m one of those ‘if it happens, it happens’ types – no need to talk about it. Well…except to complain about it if/when it becomes a focal point of a tv show.”
Seriously, you and I must now go off and make a television show. It’s so comforting to know there’s another ‘me’ out there when it comes to this sort of stuff.
Hey Joe. Although I do feel you are rather thin-skinned when it comes to criticism sometimes, I do see your point clearly. In fact, I’d already concluded that you are very protective, not only of your cast (which is good) but also of your characters (which is quirky but cute) before you said it in today’s rant. I’m glad you finally published your rant, and I hope people take your words to heart and think about how what they are saying sounds.
On a much happier note…. I’ve been reading your blog for many years now, and am finally responding… not because of any of the series, but because of your dogs. I am a dog person too. I have three of my own, Junebug, a Rhodesian Ridgeback mix, Threeofhardts, a golden retriever mix, and Duct Tape, a purebred Rhodesian Ridgeback but the runt of the litter. I do agility with Junebug, she’s awesome and has more ribbons than I have wall space for. Duct Tape is just now old enough to compete and she has incredible promise. I also from time to time have a foster, Meddy, who just happens to be Junebug’s littermate and belongs to my neighbor who often needs a good place for him to stay for indeterminate periods. He’s a good dog dad, but doesn’t really understand dogs, but he undoubtedly loves that dog and the dog, of course, loves him back, although he loves his Auntie Jean too and the highlight of his day is coming here to play.
I really love reading about your babies. They are very sweet. It just amazes me what wonderful creatures dogs are and how incredibly blessed we are to have their love and loyalty! I have fibromyalgia and a couple other health problems, and my dogs give me a reason to get up in the morning and not sit around being depressed ’cause I don’t feel well. They are lifesavers!
What? Someone complained about the second Chloe/pb (prettyboy, he is pretty, its not sexist, & I can not remember the char. name)? [Add to that the lighting was/is awesome.]
The first was fair game though when its the premiere and you are watching it your young’uns. Whoa! What?
Whoa! This is at 240 comments as I write.
Joe, this IS certainly your blog and I am grateful for it and to you for the time & effort you invest in it. It may have started out as a way to keep your writing skills sharp, but it has grown into much more for you AND for us. Being careful of one’s word choice is always good practice, easily forgotten, alas.
To Sherry and Brian,
Please do not let the harshness penned by some commenting here ruin your experience and enjoyment of a truly wonderful blog, host and community of devoted SGU fans. There are far more of us who truly appreciate the entire SGU production’s efforts, skill and talent than do not. Please don’t give up on all of us.
Of course SGU is different and edgier than what went before. If it were a clone, I’d be disappointed. Do I still hope and desire an SGA DVD movie or two or three… yes. But, I am absolutely enjoying SGU, more and more each week. I admit to being hesitant at first, but SGU is growing on me and I’m happy that it is.
@Elminster and Gilder
Joe M. Vancouver, Canada
Gilder Texas, USA
PBMom Texas, USA
Susan the Tartan Turtle Scotland
SG-1lover Scotland
Dasndanger New Jersey, USA
Charlie’s Angel Southern USA
Pastrygirl Arizona, USA
Montrealer Montreal, Canada?
Rose/OhioAnne Ohio, USA?
Sparrow_Hawk Midwest USA
deeinsouthafrica South Africa
Elminster Oshawa, Ontario, Canada
2cats, New Jersey (shore), USA
Following instructions, I have copy/pasted the location list and added myself to the end.
Happy Sunday… long live Stargate Universe, cast, crew, et.al.
Huzzah!
2cats
Well put, Sir!
@Gilder and Elminster. Put me down as being from Virginia in the USA.
I like SGU.
Just sayin’.
If the ancient stone devices can be used to temporarily transport people from earth to Destiny, then why wouldn’t they bring over more scientists/Ancient experts like Carter, McKay or Dr. Jackson to help solve some of the problems rather than relying totally on Eli and Dr. Rush? I would automatically assume that they’d want to bring over additional geniuses to help.
Maybe if the show was better people wouldn’t attack the cast so much just an FYI
Hey Joe, I really like the pallet of color used on the show. The planet in Water looked incredible. Kudos!
I think that was very well put, and I’m quite glad that it was not super ranty, for, as you put it, it’d be quite easy for others to just ignore what you said, which is something that had to be said. I think it’s unfortunate that people feel that they can hide behind a computer to degrade someone in ways they would never even think of doing in person. I’ve seen the increase in this too, in fact I haven’t been posting/going through the comments here partly because of that. I’ve stopped reading most of the threads over at Gateworld too.
And like you said as well, the vocal minority is just that – a small minority, while most of us support the cast, crew, and show. But hopefully the offenders can move on, and allow the rest of us to enjoy the wonderful piece of television that you, Brian, and the rest of the SGU cast and crew have created.
Can I applaud you here?
I’ve not always seen eye to eye with you on many issues, Joe. Actually, in the past, I have often thought you were trying to stir up the fandom for fun.
But this is one of those posts where you’ve used your brand of self-assurance to do something that was long needed.
I, personally, haven’t yet warmed to SGU. It’s enough to keep me watching week on week, but I’m not convinced yet. But it’s early in the season and characters and arcs need time to develop. So I’m not writing it off yet.
But the people who constantly gripe about sexism really grate on me. And we seem to get a lot of that at the moment, particularly amongst people who were fans of previous female SG characters and expect these new ones to live up to preconceived ideas.
Apparently, sci-fi should be a utopia where all women are as brave and strong as the men. If this is not the case in reality, why should it in TV? Because the strength of sci-fi lies in the real person, those very identifiable characters living through the extra-ordinary.
I’m sorry, but women are NOT all strong, intelligent, brave, heroic and all the rest of it. There are a hell of a lot of women out there who are scared, who do defer to the men around them, who don’t like to lead, who are happy with the gender roles that society gives them. So why shouldn’t THESE women be represented on television as well?
Then your comments about the online fandom being a niche whose ideas don’t necessarily match those of the majority. That was the moment I genuinely wanted to high five you.
I’m a huge fan of Sanctuary and recent developments in the show have sparked one of these “Save Character X” campaigns. They’re saying they will stop watching if she doesn’t return and that it will kill the show… much like they did when Daniel / Janet / Carson / Weir et al left. If every fan in online fandom stopped watching a show, there would barely be a dent in the figures. Just because they’re the most vocal doesn’t mean they are the majority.
And it doesn’t mean that they should bully the production staff, cast or anyone else. It is not their show. It is the property of the creators who have a story to tell and have to do what they need to facilitate that story. Whether that be Chloe and Scott’s sex scene or killing this character in Sanctuary.
The problem with online fandom and interaction with production staff etc is that instead of just allowing feedback and the chance to interact, it seems to have given a large number of fans this completely ridiculous sense of ownership.
Anyway, I will finish my rant at this point. It seems that I felt just as strongly as you did on this subject. Well done for standing up to them and protecting your cast and crew.
This is quite possibly the best blog addressing fan/enemy idiocy I’ve ever read. It’s something you find in every medium and it always elicits instant anger from me. There are few good qualities to be found in someone who is narrow minded, overly opinionated and love the sound of their own “voice”.
It’s a shame that people can’t separate an actor from a character and would lash out at a person because of qualities their counterpart has (and, dammit, I follow all of SGU’s cast and crew on twitter… I miss people when they feel the need to leave). It’s even worse that they have no consideration for the fact that their statements hurt others.
But the greatest disappointment lies in the revelation that they actually expect changes in a show that was 80% shot when the pilot aired…
There’s a great solution for anyone who is dislikes a show. Don’t watch it. Go back to your happy place of fan fiction and daydreaming. If enough people agree with you, it will fall into obscurity. If you are the minority, then the show goes on and everyone can be happy.
Again, great blog. Everyone should read it.
“Trust me when I say that there’s no better way to guarantee a character’s long and fruitful stay on a show than to insist we get rid of them.”
Now I understand how Beckett got killed off. He was just so likable that no one was demanding he be killed off.
Oh, now I’m officially demanding that Col. Young be killed off ;).
So what you’re basically saying is that you only want fans who praise SGU and as usual are not interested in any critique or criticism of SGU. Sorry but you can’t just squash peoples opinions because they don’t agree with you and if actors can’t cope with their CHARACTER being critizised then maybe they are in the wrong business.
If you are offended about a character being labled a whore which I do agree is a pretty strong term, then why set up this character in this way. Scott was humping someone in the very first episode and he can’t seem to go for very long periods of time without sex. If this is what you deem character development then I’m not really interested. You continue to insist this new show is Stargate but yet it has NOTHING of the appeal of the former shows. You insist we will all love this new and grittier Stargate but yet when fans still insist they don’t like it you get pissy. The actors are happy to speak to the fans when they are praising their work but yet get upset when some fans don’t like it.
I didnt see you running to defend Joe Flanigans character when he was labled a man-whore because he flirted with one or two women. Outspoken fans are not new to fandom or to forums and SGA received their fair share of them but again I didnt see you jumping to defend the actors because some namelss fan had said something mean. I find it odd though that you expect fans to just blindly accept anything you throw at them and the ironic thing is that its the fans who thought they were going to love SGU are the ones that are complaining about the overuse of the meaningless sex scenes.
I think the fans that are not interested in SGU have moved on and its the ones who are trying to give it a chance are the ones that are posting on GW and here on your blog, but as you can see many are thoroughly disappointed at what they are getting, but each time they voice their opinion you act ourtraged because they don’t share your opinion of the show. I think everyone is aware by now its not like SG1 or SGA, you dont need to keep pointing that out but that doesn’t mean that even though it’s nothing like the previous shows many fans thought they would enjoy it, but alas are finding very little to enjoy about the bickering shallow characters and the complete lack of any plot. So I guess my opinion will probably annoy you as well but thats what TV and entertainment is all about, some will love what you do and some will hate it and there is no need to take any of it personally.
When you change everything about what made Stargate so popular, don’t expect everyone to be happy but don’t keep asuming that fans don’t like SGU just because its different to the previous shows, most don’t like it because it just doesnt appeal and I could list a dozen reasons as to why it doesn’t appeal to me but I’ll refrain.
Well said. It ticks me off that people expect the show to be exactly the way they want it, and are quick to condemn it without viewing the full picture. I’m curious how many of the people condemning it now are the same ones that condemned it before it was even out. I’m sure it’s a substantial number, so what that proves to me is that they are looking for things to complain about because they were never happy anyway.
To me, there are so many more things in life to complain about than a television show. What about the starving children all over the world, or even the horrible economy. Why waste time complaining about a TV show when you could be complaining about the rest of the world’s problems, and doing something to try and help solve them?
SGU is my favorite show on TV right now. It seems like most of the rest of shows on TV are all doing the same things, so I applaud the writers, the cast, and the crew of SGU for thinking outside of the box.