New StarGate series Prime Video.

[DarthTimon]

Kinda gutted about this news, since I really enjoyed Stargate. The shows were good fun, and I thought they did a good job with internal consistency, story-telling and the characters. Seems a shame if internal politics nixed a potentially thought-out revivial before it could even get going.

 

[BillJ]

Kinda gutted about this news, since I really enjoyed Stargate. The shows were good fun, and I thought they did a good job with internal consistency, story-telling and the characters. Seems a shame if internal politics nixed a potentially thought-out revivial before it could even get going.

More than anything, the juice probably isn't worth the squeeze.

 

[137th Gebirg]

You're probably already aware of it, but there was yet another (recent) attempt to reboot Battlestar that is -- you guessed it -- dead.

‘Battlestar Galactica’ Reboot No Longer In Development At Peacock, Will Be Shopped

The long-gestating reboot of the popular sci-fi franchise Battlestar Galactica, from Sam Esmail's Esmail Corp., is no longer set up at Peacock.

deadline.com

Sadly, yes. Rinse and repeat. There are around 7 other reboot attempts of BSG in various forms (+/-) that I can recall, starting with Richard Hatch's "Second Coming" effort, and not including RDM's version - the only one that actually got made. Of the more well-known ones were the Desanto/Singer continuation/soft reboot series and the Glen Larson continuation film. I think there was also a "Battlestar Pegasus" project as well, that died a quick and quiet death.

 

[Jedman67]

The writers would have to be creative, which doesn't seem to happen much in the current world. Stargate, as a franchise, has the issue of being late to the nostalgia party that has been in full swing the last decade. It decides to show up when people are about full of nostalgia.

A decade ago, this probably gets made. Now? People are moving on from "See! See! Look it is just like what you remembered!"

You could just wipe the slate clean and restart SG1 from S1:E1 and call it "Stargate"
Great way to piss off an existing fanbase.

Without the relatively recent movie to hook viewers in, it'd have to be damn compelling to get off the ground.

For arguments sake, if the first announcement last year had been "hard reboot, brand new show, brand new characters, maybe some familiar lore" i think i'd have been ok with it. Not like thrilled, but open to it.

 

[Christopher]

Without the relatively recent movie to hook viewers in, it'd have to be damn compelling to get off the ground.

I didn't watch SG-1 because the movie had "hooked" me. On the contrary, I found the movie cliched and unimaginative, a waste of the endless potential of its premise on a tired ancient-astronaut plot, and if anything I avoided the series for years because I'd disliked the movie. But when I finally saw an episode, I liked it, and I kept watching.

So if I could become a fan of the show despite the movie prejudicing me against the premise, surely that proves that you don't need a movie as a "hook" for the series to attract an audience. It's nonsense to assume a project can only succeed if it depends on pre-existing interest; if that were so, how could any series ever have become popular in the first place? A hook can help, but it's erroneous to mistake that for a necessity.

 

[Samurai8472]

That’s gotta sting for Joe Flanagan. He’s been wanting to buy the franchise and go into a co ownership of it with Jason Momoa but Momoa isn’t interested

 

[AnotherGalaxys]

There's an ongoing online petition asking Amazon to reconsider its decision. It's already over 4.5k signs. Please sign and share. Let's take a hand to the Stargate fandom fellas.

Signez la pétition

Save the New Stargate Series: Let Martin Gero Build the Future of the Franchise!

c.org

 

[BillJ]

There's an ongoing online petition asking Amazon to reconsider its decision. It's already over 4.5k signs. Please sign and share. Let's take a hand to the Stargate fandom fellas.

Signez la pétition

Save the New Stargate Series: Let Martin Gero Build the Future of the Franchise!

c.org

If the future is just regurgitating the past, I’ll pass.

 

[Ray Hardgrit]

Nice to see a fan petition for something positive, though I have to wonder how many million people it would take to convince an Amazon executive to say they were wrong.

 

[Tuskin38]

Great way to piss off an existing fanbase.

They'll get over it.

 

[137th Gebirg]

Do these petitions ever actually work?

 

[Verteron]

Do these petitions ever actually work?

We got Serenity, the Peacekeeper Wars and Expanse S4, 5 and 6 out of fan campaigns, not to mention saving Star Trek TOS (different era though), but asking for a whole series to be greenlit might be a bit of a stretch alas.

 

[David cgc]

Though in most of those cases, there were multiple companies involved that could be played off each other. Like, Alcon still wanted to make The Expanse, they just needed someone to pay them to show the episodes after SyFy dropped out. Serenity was made by Universal, not 20th Century Fox, and definitely not the Fox TV network. In this case, it seems to be an entirely internal decision, MGM/Amazon were making the show to be distributed by Amazon Prime, and it was the production arm that killed the show, not the distribution arm.

I don't see a way the business side can walk this one back without making it worse for themselves. Frankly, they already look kind of stupid for selling this as a sure thing to the fans then cancelling it for (ostensibly) being too fan-focused. Uncancelling it will just make it look like they really have no idea what they're doing.

 

[NCC-73515]

Either begin and then see it through, or don't even start if you have concerns. But don't announce it, make people excited, start working and then drop it because of vague concerns that could've been cleared up before any decision and press hype even began. /rant

 

[BillJ]

I don't see a way the business side can walk this one back without making it worse for themselves.

Worse for themselves than spending probably a hundred million dollars for something that has very limited interest. Star Trek is niche. Stargate is a niche of a niche.

 

[oktay]

Worse for themselves than spending probably a hundred million dollars for something that has very limited interest. Star Trek is niche. Stargate is a niche of a niche.

Maybe something related to Stargate will be made as a theatrical film in the future. If a movie is made (which would mean completely resetting the universe and rebooting it), real success would require a genuinely good film capable of attracting the interest of a general audience, much like Project Hail Mary. Otherwise, if no film is made, the universe might continue through low-budget animated projects, or the franchise could be shelved entirely.

 

[bdub76]

Worse for themselves than spending probably a hundred million dollars for something that has very limited interest. Star Trek is niche. Stargate is a niche of a niche.

I do wonder how big the fandom actually is for Stargate.

 

[Christopher]

We got Serenity, the Peacekeeper Wars and Expanse S4, 5 and 6 out of fan campaigns, not to mention saving Star Trek TOS (different era though)

Myth. TOS wasn't saved by the letter campaign; it was on the bubble for a third-season renewal, and it got renewed for the same reason most struggling shows get renewed: because its producer agreed to reduce the budget for the new season, cutting the number of episodes and having fewer guest stars and fewer location shoots. The network announcement regarding the renewal and the fan letters wasn't saying "Okay, you convinced us to change our minds," but just "Look, we're renewing the show anyway, so please stop flooding our mail room."

Really, I don't think any letter campaign or petition has ever led to a show getting renewed in and of itself. The primary determining factor in whether a show gets renewed or a revival gets made or whatever is whether someone with decision-making power inside the studio or network wants it to happen, and is able to make a convincing case for it. Strong fan response can help reinforce such a case, but it won't change the minds of powers-that-be who don't already want to do what the fans are asking.

For instance, the 1989 FOX TV series Alien Nation had a strongly loyal (if not huge) fan following and critical acclaim, and almost everybody at the network and its affiliate stations supported the show and wanted it to continue. When FOX president Barry Diller decided to cancel it and redirect its budget toward making more half-hour comedies (because The Simpsons had just become a breakout hit and he saw sitcoms as the future, and because you could make 3-4 sitcoms for the cost of Alien Nation alone), others inside the network strove to find a way to continue the series, and a couple of TV movie scripts ended up getting commissioned. But Diller rejected the scripts without even reading them, because he just didn't care for the show. All the urgings of fans, critics, and fellow network decision-makers couldn't overcome Diller's opposition. Yet once Diller left a few years later, he was replaced by someone who was a big Alien Nation fan, which is why the shelved TV movies finally got made and three more followed.

 

[The Wormhole]

We got Serenity, the Peacekeeper Wars and Expanse S4, 5 and 6 out of fan campaigns

The later seasons of The Expanse happened because Jeff Bezos was a fan and arranged for the show to be bought by the television production company he owned. Serenity happened because of Firefly's strong DVD sales. I'm not sure the story behind The Peacekeeper Wars, but there's probably more to it than a fan campaign.

 

[bdub76]

The later seasons of The Expanse happened because Jeff Bezos was a fan and arranged for the show to be bought by the television production company he owned. Serenity happened because of Firefly's strong DVD sales. I'm not sure the story behind The Peacekeeper Wars, but there's probably more to it than a fan campaign.

I expect very little happens because of fan campaigns. You might get another season if you're lucky. Jericho comes to mind.

And we did get a Veronica Mars film from a Kickstarter.

I do remember Netflix saving shows when it was still in its early years.

It's like protesting. At the end of the day, it gets TV coverage, but it never really changes anything.

What we actually need is new IP. I'd prefer new fandoms than rebooting or refreshing old ones. I can't really think of any over the last decade.