is Stargate dead for good?

[Quinton O'Connor]

I think there are a few reasons why an SGU movie would be a priority, firstly it's what the producers are pushing for, and Brad Wright is very pally with the higher ups at MGM,

This much I agree with.

then there's the fact that there's still fan interest there which means less money needs to be spent promoting,

This is where I start to sway, though. Yes, there's fan interest in an SGU conclusion. Yes, that might well mean less needs to be spent promoting. And yes, before I say this, I'm aware that internet opinions only amount to a fraction of the viewing public.

But the fact is, there's more interest in at least SG-1 than SGU overall. While there's nothing concrete sales-wise to point at lately, the fact that not only did a significant number of overall franchise fans drop off during SGU's run but SG-1 (and SGA to a point) DVD sales continue to move tend to point to this. The fact that franchise mega-sites like GateWorld are consistently 'stocked' with SG-1 (and again, SGA to a lesser extent) fans while heavy bickering seems the eternal topic regarding SGU is another method by which to arrive at my conclusion.

Not to mention, SG-1 especially just has a bigger place in pop culture. No series in the franchise will ever reach the iconic places of 'Kirk's show' or 'Picard's show' but I can tell you most genre fans I've ever met can see Richard Dean Anderson's face (so long as he's got gray hair!) and think of Stargate SG-1. SGU just isn't up to that level, especially with its ratings as they are.

So a bit more money spent promoting notwithstanding, I have a strong feeling MGM would still prefer to do SG-1 than anything else.

plus all the sets are still up so money is saved there, and finally all of the actors are presumably still under contract and cheaper than their SG-1/Atlantis counterparts.

And I'm back to agreeing with you... virtual sets are a lot easier to do these days, though. Just sayin'.

Also if they look at AoT and Continuum sales, it was the movie that resolved the series that generated the most revenue, not the stand alone.

True that. But Continuum had the misfortune of coming out when the recession was beginning whereas AoT didn't. Even still, I think either of the two films will have done better than an SGU completion tale.

Please don't misunderstand me. I might not watch SGU anymore but if for no other reason than the huge gap in continuity it would cause, I'd love to see the show get a proper finale. I'd also hate to see the actors ditched the way they were, too. It's just that I've been a huge fan of the franchise for a long time and I really do believe SG-1 remains a more profitable brand.

 

[Sindatur]

I think an important consideration for the Studio is what will DVD sales be like for SGU long term, (if it ends on a cliff hanger, versus if they were to do an arc completion movie)? Measure that against the expense of making it, to get the real benefit/drain estimation.

Also, if SGU is given a proper ending, it won't leave as bad a taste in fans' mouths for the Franchise if/when they try another series.

Caprica's Coda ending gives Blood and Chrome a much better chance coming out of the gate, then it would've had if fans were cheezed off that Caprica ended with a "Farscape S4 cliffhanger" (IE: Eh, with the way they did us on Caprica, I'm certainly not investing my time in another unresolved spinoff)

 

[Quinton O'Connor]

Ah, the old Farscape S4 ending. I spent countless hours on the campaign trail after that, both on the net and in public! It would be interesting if SGU were given the miniseries ending treatment, wouldn't it?

 

[Robert Maxwell]

I think the best of all worlds would be a movie/miniseries that brings together elements of SG-1, SGA, and SGU. That would (hypothetically) bring in the fans of all three... and most likely satisfy none of them, but hopefully no one would notice until after MGM's sold a shit-ton of DVDs.

 

[Quinton O'Connor]

I think the best of all worlds would be a movie/miniseries that brings together elements of SG-1, SGA, and SGU. That would (hypothetically) bring in the fans of all three... and most likely satisfy none of them, but hopefully no one would notice until after MGM's sold a shit-ton of DVDs.

Yeah, I've thought the same thing for a while now. Give the fans a two-part, four-hour treatment with cast members from across all three at a modest overall budget.

 

[Noname Given]

More from Mallozzi:

"Speaking of buzz – I exchanged emails with Brad today and he reports another major hurdle has been cleared. Almost there, Stargate fans. Again, this is show business, so even the most promising of scenarios can go sideways fast (and dead-end scenarios turn around just as quickly). Nothing is written in stone but things are looking MUCH better now than they did last week when things looked much better than they did the week before. Meetings are still ongoing and I, like most of you, am really beginning to feel antsy. Hopefully, by the time we head back into the office for the Day 1 Mix of Blockade, we’ll have something more substantial to discuss."

http://josephmallozzi.wordpress.com...mistic-things-i-made-recommend-me-a-bat-book/

Reminds me of the shenanigans after ENT ended. All the fruitless campaigning, shopping around, alternative media, etc. I just don't see anything coming from all of this.

Mr Awe

The difference is:

Paramount DID NOT want to 'shop' Enterprise around; and the Producers of the show were not directly involved with any revival effort. (there were actually two interested cable outlets).

MGM DOES seem to want to shop SGU and the producers of the show itself are involved in the effort itself.

Not saying anything will ultimately come of it, but the situation at this point is quite different then the ENT revival effort.

 

[The Wormhole]

^^I think he's just hoping since an SGU movie would mean work and a paycheck for him.

Maybe. But it's weird how he lurched from "I know the guys are working on getting a movie made" to "I've heard nothing at all about an SGU movie".

Nothing weird at all. Knowing his first comment could be misleading and result in all sorts of inappropriate speculation on the internet, he decided to remind everyone of the official position that at the moment there is officially no SGU movie. No hidden agenda, no messages within messages, just simple undeniable facts.

 

[BlobVanDam]

I think the best of all worlds would be a movie/miniseries that brings together elements of SG-1, SGA, and SGU. That would (hypothetically) bring in the fans of all three... and most likely satisfy none of them, but hopefully no one would notice until after MGM's sold a shit-ton of DVDs.

Combining all three into one show seems a bit fanwanky to me, and besides, they already have the next SG-1 and SGA movies written. I'd like to see those eventually go ahead as planned, rather than them rush together something that ultimately makes nobody happy.

 

[Skywalker]

I agree. Besides, if they did a big event film featuring the casts of all three shows, it'd just end with Carter, McKay, Rush, and Eli pulling some ridiculous technobabble out of their collective asses at the last second to resolve the climactic event at the end.

 

[AJ86]

This is where I start to sway, though. Yes, there's fan interest in an SGU conclusion. Yes, that might well mean less needs to be spent promoting. And yes, before I say this, I'm aware that internet opinions only amount to a fraction of the viewing public.

But the fact is, there's more interest in at least SG-1 than SGU overall.

I doubt that very much, the average viewer is done with a show once it's finished, casual fans are sat around pining for an SG-1 movie the way some fans are. People will be actively searching out the fate of SGU after season 2, while that won't be the case for SG-1 at this point, MGM would have to spend big to get the word out.

While there's nothing concrete sales-wise to point at lately, the fact that not only did a significant number of overall franchise fans drop off during SGU's run but SG-1 (and SGA to a point) DVD sales continue to move tend to point to this. The fact that franchise mega-sites like GateWorld are consistently 'stocked' with SG-1 (and again, SGA to a lesser extent) fans while heavy bickering seems the eternal topic regarding SGU is another method by which to arrive at my conclusion.

We don't have any sales data for SGU, so it's difficult to speculate. One thing I would mention though, is that AoT sales beat Continuum ones quite comfortably despite having RDA and being more 'classic' SG-1. This leads me to believe that fans are willing to pull their wallet out to see a story resolved. Also, the SG-1 movies didn't just sell well, they surpassed all of MGM and the producers expectations, even if SGU has a smaller fan base I don't think that means a movie for it can't turn a tidy profit.

So a bit more money spent promoting notwithstanding, I have a strong feeling MGM would still prefer to do SG-1 than anything else.

It's possible. But the SGU sets are where the SG-1 sets used to be, so if they want to do both, they'll probably do the SGU one first, especially while it's still fresh in the mind.

Please don't misunderstand me. I might not watch SGU anymore but if for no other reason than the huge gap in continuity it would cause, I'd love to see the show get a proper finale. I'd also hate to see the actors ditched the way they were, too. It's just that I've been a huge fan of the franchise for a long time and I really do believe SG-1 remains a more profitable brand.

I don't necessarily disagree, I just think there are plenty of reasons why they'd go with an SGU movie before an SG-1 one at this point.

Nothing weird at all. Knowing his first comment could be misleading and result in all sorts of inappropriate speculation on the internet, he decided to remind everyone of the official position that at the moment there is officially no SGU movie. No hidden agenda, no messages within messages, just simple undeniable facts.

But that's not what he said. He didn't say that there was officially no movie, he said that he hadn't heard anything about a movie, after previously saying he knew they were trying to get one made. It could be nothing, but it does seem strange IMO.

 

[Robert Maxwell]

I think the best of all worlds would be a movie/miniseries that brings together elements of SG-1, SGA, and SGU. That would (hypothetically) bring in the fans of all three... and most likely satisfy none of them, but hopefully no one would notice until after MGM's sold a shit-ton of DVDs.

Combining all three into one show seems a bit fanwanky to me, and besides, they already have the next SG-1 and SGA movies written. I'd like to see those eventually go ahead as planned, rather than them rush together something that ultimately makes nobody happy.

It's completely fanwanky, which is also why it's the most likely to sell.

 

[The Wormhole]

But that's not what he said. He didn't say that there was officially no movie, he said that he hadn't heard anything about a movie, after previously saying he knew they were trying to get one made. It could be nothing, but it does seem strange IMO.

It's been a well known fact since the cancellation was announced that Brad Wright and the gang want a movie, which is probably what he meant when he said he knew they were trying. Realizing that this could be taken out of context and not wanting to hear about headlines proclaiming "Brian J. Smith says SGU movie is go" he decided to remind us all that officially, there is no SGU movie to speak of.

 

[bigdaddy]

Brad Wright is very pally with the higher ups at MGM

I don't agree with anything you said, but didn't MGM go bankrupt and sold to some new people?

And obviously their aren't that many fans of SGU, otherwise it wouldn't have been canceled after 2 seasons.

 

[AJ86]

Brad Wright is very pally with the higher ups at MGM

I don't agree with anything you said, but didn't MGM go bankrupt and sold to some new people?

Yes, but Charlie Cohen survived. He's an MGM exec and a massive fan of the franchise.

And obviously their aren't that many fans of SGU, otherwise it wouldn't have been canceled after 2 seasons.

I'm not sure if that's in reference to the big-wigs at MGM, or the strength of the series. If the former, then MGM didn't cancel SGU, Syfy just chose not to renew. If the latter, then you need to keep in mind that Syfy's decision was based purely on US ratings, not worldwide DVD sales.

 

[AJ86]

It's been a well known fact since the cancellation was announced that Brad Wright and the gang want a movie,

No it hasn't, we still have no idea what Brad has been pushing for. There's been plenty of fan speculation that it's a movie, which of course could be the reason he said what he did, but there's been no word from the producers on what it is.

 

[SG-17]

I agree. Besides, if they did a big event film featuring the casts of all three shows, it'd just end with Carter, McKay, Rush, and Eli pulling some ridiculous technobabble out of their collective asses at the last second to resolve the climactic event at the end.

So nothing new?

 

[Skywalker]

Well, this is Stargate we're talking about. It's not exactly the place to look for new ideas.

 

[AJ86]

Still no definite word on the Stargate front. Following a flurry of promising developments, things have gone unbearably quiet. Not a bad sign just… no sign. There’s an anticipation that good news could break any day now – but the longer the wait, the greater the challenge when the time comes. To those holding out hope that this could mean a third season pick-up – alas, this isn’t one of the scenarios in play. Nevertheless, as I said in a previous entry, if and when we finally do get the green light, Brad has some wonderful surprises in store for fans of SGU (as well as fans of the Stargate franchise in general). I’ve got my fingers crossed for all involved, even though it’s looking more and more like I won’t be among them.

Word is you’ll all get to finally see the back half, surprisingly sooner than later. Official announcement to come.

http://josephmallozzi.wordpress.com...ou-leave-remember-to-bring-the-keys-with-you/

 

[BlobVanDam]

Well I am glad we won't have to wait so long for the rest of SGU. The season 1 mid-season break was 3 months or so, wasn't it? Something ridiculous.

I'm getting the impression that they're trying to get some kind of deal for all 3 franchise movies going in some form. Which I hope is the case.

 

[The Wormhole]

I am starting to get tired of this meaningless double-talk which says nothing. "Something is in development and might happen." Bah, it's been the same song ever since the cancellation was announced. How about not telling us anything until if/when there's something definitive to tell?

Well I am glad we won't have to wait so long for the rest of SGU. The season 1 mid-season break was 3 months or so, wasn't it? Something ridiculous.

Four months exactly. Which is still pretty quick considering this is SyFy we're talking about, and they've been known for giving some shows a six month mid-season hiatus.