Still Waiting for News about new Stargate TV Show

[Michael]

Several weeks ago Brad Wright, former showrunner for Stargate SG-1, revealed that he has been talking with MGM about starting up a new Stargate show, according to SyFy Wire.

There were 200 episodes of Stargate SG-1 and 100 episodes of Stargate: Atlantis, the two most successful shows of the series. Stargate: Universe only ran for 2 seasons and could have gone longer, but MGM went through a restructuring at the time and funding for the show vanished. According to Wright, everyone at MGM who had any connection to the franchise was let go.

MGM launched the Stargate Command Website for fans, and for about $20 a year you can stream all three series. If you are a member of Amazon Prime you can watch Stargate SG-1 and Stargate: Atlantis.

They also recently produced a Web series, Stargate: Origins, which followed the adventures of a young Catherine Langford. It was Catherine who, as a much older woman, recruited Dr. Daniel Jackson into the Stargate program in the original movie, "Stargate", starring James Spader as Jackson and Kurt Russell as Colonel O'Neal.

STARGATE HAS SOME SERIOUS 'CANON' ISSUES

Originally created by Dean Devlin and Roland Emmerich, the movie was supposed to launch a 3-film trilogy. But MGM turned it into a made-for-cable TV show and brought in Jonathan Glassner and Brad Wright to run the series. The Glassner/Wright version of the Stargate universe changed some of the concepts, including the nature of the alien species from which Ra (the bad guy in the movie) came and their history. In the movie, Ra's species was dying and he had a humanoid form, so he took a young human boy as a host to save his own life. In the TV show, Ra was just one of many snake-like creatures called Goa'uld who could inhabit many different species. The show eventually provided a deep backstory for the Goa'uld.

It's hard to guess where a new Stargate franchise could go. The SG-1 franchise defeated the Goa'uld and freed their Jaffa warrior slaves, as well as millions of humans on many worlds throughout the Milky Way galaxy. The Goa'uld were then replaced as galaxy-threatening villains by the Ori, ascended beings who wanted to dominate as much of the universe as possible by sucking power from humans bred to worship them. SG-1 managed to defeat the Ori, too.

Eventually, the Stargate program sent an expedition to the Pegasus galaxy, where they encountered the Wraith. The Wraith had defeated the Ancients, the last remnants of the Alterra race from which the Ori had diverged millions of years ago. Some of the Alterra ascended like the Ori, but unlike the Ori they adopted a "hands off" policy, punishing those of their kind who interfered with "Lowers", as non-ascended beings were called.

The Atlantis expedition eventually weakened the Wraith but returned to Earth, leaving the issue of whether the Wraith could be fully defeated open.

And finally an expedition to a third galaxy stranded a group of Stargate personnel on a very old Ancient/Alterran ship sent to a more distant galaxy. This ship seeds galaxies with stargate and was obviously intended to allow the Alterra to explore other parts of the universe. After they died out or ascended the forgotten seed ship continued its mission. The Stargate: Universe show was still just working out its basic ideas when it ended.

LOOKING TO THE FUTURE OF STARGATE
So where could a new Stargate show take us? They could wage a war with the Lucian Alliance, who rose up to replace the Goa'uld on some worlds of the Milky Way. The Alliance became a threat in SGU. Or they could go back to the Pegasus galaxy and resume the war with the Wraith.

They could also bring back the Replicators, deadly self-reproducing machines that were "created" several times, including once in the post Stargate SG-1 direct-to-DvD movie "Stargate: Ark of Truth".

Or they could bring in an entirely new villainous species.

I really enjoyed the Stargate universe in its various forms, although I have not yet watched the "Origins" episodes. Not sure I want to, but I may. I'd like to see the franchise come back.

Of course, they would have to start over with new characters. Maybe Amanda Tapping could be brought in as General Samantha Carter/O'Neill (she and Jack O'Neill, the TV show version of Kurt Russell's character, had finally formed some sort of romantic relationship). They could also bring back some other characters in more senior positions.

Presumably if something happens it won't start until 2022 or maybe 2023. I am only guessing wildly because if they did announce a show today they would have to spend time developing the concept and hiring production staff.

[Boomstick]

I'd like to see more, but something more along the lines of the original film or SG-1. I haven't given much a chance to Atlantis and Universe, but what I did see did not grab me the way the film and SG-1 did.

[Michael]

Roland Emmerich directed "Stargate: Origins" (aka Stargate: Origins) so it is probably much closer to the original vision he and Dean Devlin had for the franchise. I don't know of any plans to turn it into a new movie or series. I haven't watched it, yet.

[Boomstick]

Roland Emmerich directed "Stargate: Origins" (aka Stargate: Origins) so it is probably much closer to the original vision he and Dean Devlin had for the franchise. I don't know of any plans to turn it into a new movie or series. I haven't watched it, yet.

I had to look it up, because I haven't watched it yet, either, but he had nothing to do with it, other than getting a "Based on..." credit. There was talk of a new film (a reboot with an eye to a trilogy, apparently) from Emmerich, but I think the reception to the new Independence Day put any chance of that to rest.

From what I'm seeing, Origins was directed by a Mercedes Bryce Morgan. If you see a Stargate Origins: Catherine, that's apparently the feature length cut of the series (there were ten 10-minute episodes, apparently). That version is available on Amazon, and probably other digital stores now, too.

Scanning through the people involved as producers and writers, they're all relatively young, and no one had anything to do with Stargate in any capacity before. You'd think they would have looked to Joseph Mallozzi, who was involved with all the shows, to head it up. Or some of the other longstanding producers/execs. The fact that they did not suggests to me that this was MGM trying to gauge current interest in the franchise, but on the cheap. And then going the CBS route, and locking it all behind a pay wall.

All bad decisions, which have probably done more harm than good. Stargate Command, the hub they created for the franchise, is still being updated, but it's clearly a pretty bare-bones affair. Given that this year is the 25th anniversary of the franchise, you'd think there would be a more of an organized push to generate and capitalize on hype and nostalgia.

I also see they've licensed Atlantis and SGU to comic book publisher American Mythology Productions. The quality seems to range from just ok to embarrassingly cheap. Of course, even back in the days of SG-1, they had partnered with Avatar Press which is an extremely trashy publisher. So they've never had much sense in who they partner up with as far as comic books go.

It seems like Stargate is currently a franchise with no one at the helm. The people at MGM know it could be a money maker, but they've got no idea how to get from point A to point B. Someone should be looking at Star Trek, and instead of trying to replicate what they're doing, do the exact opposite. Don't reinvent the wheel. Don't lock it behind a paywall on a new streaming service. Give the fans what they want. Simple.

[Boomstick]

So it turns out Stargate Origins: Catherine is currently available to stream free for Amazon Prime members. I don't have Prime video access, and you can't rent Origins on Vudu, only buy it for 20 bucks. For the same price, I figured I could get a year of Stargate Command. I'll watch Atlantis, and Universe, too, and it'll be well worth the money. Supporting Stargate is good, although I don't like that I'm supporting pay walls for everything. Ah, well. They say they're going to add digital versions of the novels and comic books from over the years, so I'll be interested to read those, too.

I've watched 30 minutes of Origins so far. It's ok. It's obviously much lower budget than what we're used to. The acting is pretty bad, in my opinion. It's nice to see Connor Trinneer, and he's done a good job so far. He and the guy playing the German SS commander are really the only two decent actors at this point. It's fun to see Connor cross over into Stargate, just as Robert Picardo, Ben Browder, and Claudia Black did.

Unfortunately, Catherine herself is thus far another annoying Mary Sue. She takes out an SS soldier with ease, not once, but twice. She pushes two men, one of them her love interest, through the Stargate like it's no big deal (not before mocking them for cowardice, of course) then only tentatively enters it herself. Yet another "strong female character" that you'd have to be a sociopath to relate to. It's pretty sad, especially come from Stargate, which has a great character like Sam Carter.

Anyhow, so far this does not seem like the person that becomes the nice old lady we see later on in the movie or SG-1 episodes. I'm not sure about some of the continuity stuff, either. If I remember right, in the movie and SG-1, they never used the Gate before until Daniel Jackson figured it out. Here they've used it, and of course Catherine's got the dialing all figured out immediately. They also power the gate with a freaking WWII era Volkswagen. I'm pretty sure it required a lot more power than that, for them to get it up and running in the movie, but maybe I'm remembering it wrong.

[Boomstick]

Finished watching Origins. They do resolve the continuity issues at the very end. Catherine does become slightly more balanced as a character as the film wraps up. Overall, my initial criticism stands: she's a Mary Sue.

The tone is inconsistent, there's really no drama or weight to anything until the very end, and by that point I didn't care. I don't think anyone involved liked Stargate, or was even familiar with it. It seemed like maybe they watched the movie, but were indifferent to it, and really wished they were working on Doctor Who instead. Because that's what the writing and interactions between the main characters throughout most of it reminded me of.

In short, if you're a Stargate fan, you'll probably be able to get through it. It's not the worst thing I've watched, but it's a poor effort for Stargate. I wouldn't advise paying for it, as I think you'd be disappointed with your purchase if you did. My favorite part remains Connor Trinneer, and seeing some of the cool costumes from the original film resurface at the end of this one.

[Michael]

I don't know why I thought Roland Emmerich directed the "Origins" Web series. I guess I have read so many articles about the franchise lately they all sort of ran together in my mind. There is darned little news coming out and everyone kind of regurgitates the same small tidbits.