The size of the fanbase is not the issue. Franchises aren't revived based on their fan base, if that was healthy then they wouldn't have died in the first place. It's brand recognition that matters, and I think more people, of this generation especially, have at least heard of Stargate. Probably more so than many of the other franchises that get a reboot in fact.
I think people who generally frown on sci-fi were more likely to watch SG-1, because of the real-military aspects that gave it some grounding in present-day reality. I know a few who saw it as cheesy fun. All subsequent shows stepped away from that formula, and even SG-1 went overboard with Earth obtaining a starfleet and so on.
The thing about SG-1 throughout the first 8 seasons was that it was just as much a military drama as it was sci-fi. And that worked, those years delivered some of the finest TV within the science fiction drama. The final two seasons the show was much more of a space opera, which I think was a mistake for the series, but that's neither here nor there. Atlantis was more of a space opera from the beginning and that worked for that series. It made sense for them to be different from SG-1 and watching the first season reminded me of Star Trek in its better days. Later seasons suffered from ideas running out and unnecessary cast changes. SGU tried to be "about the characters" but forgot that such a show needs characters who are compelling or interesting in some manner.
I don't think it's that, it's just that Stargate doesn't have quite the same nerdy connotations that Star Trek does. The Stargate writers always had a decent handle on what comes across as bit camp and cliché, and either used humour to offset it, or else just shamelessly hung a lantern on it. With Trek by comparison, it was always sort of a nerd series written for people with nerd sensibilities, who would chuckle along with the bland humour and suspend their disbelief for the ridiculous looking aliens and action scenes (minus the space battles) that always looked like crap. In the UK at least, I've always felt Stargate was a more mainstream cult show, even if Star Trek's brand was much more well-known and recognisable. You can admit to enjoying Stargate in casual conversation, Star Trek not so much, not unless you want to have the piss ripped out of you.
I hated how they left Stargate Universe hanging. It would be nice if they could do movie to finish the story.
I actually didn't mind the way they left Universe. I had decided early on that the crew of the Destiny would never get back home, and that finale solidifies that for me. That said, I wouldn't mind to see more.
Given the circumstances, I think the finale was about as good as could have been expected. It was filmed long before the cancellation notice, though I'm sure they had their suspicions.
I think it was a shame that both Caprica and SGU ended when they did, just as they were really becoming good, and would've really looked forward to new seasons for both of them, but, I think they both had good finales with good closure, so, I'm not nearly as wounded by those Series finales as with many other 1 or 2 season shows that were cancelled (Sarah Connor, Space Above and Beyond, Crusade, Firefly - though Serenity rectified that one)
I have to somewhat disagree with that. At least the ratings part. Voyager and Enterprise had the same format as TOS/TNG, and the ratings continued to decline. Trek's decline, I believe, had less to do with how the show was being presented and more to do with Trek burnout. This will likely be what happens (if anything happens), although, they would likely incorporate elements of SG-1 into the mix.
I think Trek (until JJ) just didn't move with the times. A modern mainstream audience just isn't going to accept men with American accents and rubber faces pretending to be aliens. Either the franchise has to settle for less and become a Syfy level show, or modernize and lose some of the corny stuff - but it did neither. All they did was try and sex it up a bit, but the scenes were just gratuitous and arbitrary, the Hoshi topless scene in particular was just cringe-inducingly tacky, and an embarrassment to the franchise, frankly.
Well, there is that too, but that has little to do with the format, as Abrams's recent movie demonstrated. Kinda like in the movie when Kirk, Uhura, and Galia were all in their underwear for no reason other than a cheap laugh and to show off some skin. Wait...I think I missed an episode!
Bingo. There's nothing stopping Stargate or Star Trek from returning to TV, except that the folks in charge probably have other projects taking up their time that seem to them to be easier routes to making money. The fact that space opera has died on TV has got to be a huge disincentive to attempting that particular format. Which is not the same as saying space opera can't be made to work, just that there are business and institutional barriers to anyone trying. And what worked for TOS or TNG is completely irrelevant now. Neither show would survive on broadcast if launched now, because the TV business has changed. One day, Star Trek will be back on TV (with a well known movie franchise keeping the brand name buoyant right now, that's more likely than the return of Stargate, which I wouldn't rule out either) and when it returns - on cable, because it won't survive on broadcast anymore - it's going to have to reinvent itself even more than JJ Abrams did for the movies. If it's on SyFy (please God no), it will be like Stargate. If it's on TNT, it will be the most like traditional Trek we could expect to see - more like DS9 than any of the others. If it's on FX, it will be more brutal, complicated and sexy than we're used to. If it's on AMC, it will brutal, complicated, sexy and maybe a bit smarter and arty than FX's version. If it's on HBO or Showtime, it will take all those elements and amp them up even more. If it's on Starz, it will be like HBO or Showtime, but more graphically sexy and violent and also stupider and more crass. If it's on The Cartoon Network, it will be animated of course, and a lot like The Clone Wars. If it's on the CW, it will be about angsty teenage space cadet vampires and we'll all want to slit our wrists. So as long as it doesn't end up on SyFy or the CW, Star Trek on TV could be very interesting and leave the franchise to date in the dust. And the fights that break out around here will make all the squawking about Abrams' Trek look like a playground scuffle. Personally, I can't wait.
I would love to see Stargate return in the future. It's just impossible to even guess what will happen though, as the entertainment industry in general seems to be rather fickle. All you have to do is look at reality tv and shows like Jersey Shore to see the evidence there! Even SyFy has changed so much with wrestling and ghost hunting (though I will be honest and admit it, I kind of enjoy Ghost Hunters. It's entertaining and at times cracks me up..) There's far too many films and tv series lately which are a reboot of something else which has already been done. I feel like I'm the 'odd man out' for wanting something new, something different, not a remake of something I've already seen. If they go for a new Stargate series one day, I sincerely hope that they try to give it a new spin on the premise and characters.
[YT]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U8pJhi1kB80[/YT] And then they go against the parody and do SG:U "scratches head"