My feelings exactly.
MGM and Warner Brothers to Reboot "Stargate"
- Thread starter Admiral_Young
- Start date
I love SG-1, but I don't really care about this. If its a sequel type movie, I'll see it eventually and judge it then. If its a reboot, I intend to ignore it. I'm fed up with reboots. SG-1 had a pretty good ending, and any "Stargate" universe without SG-1 is just a random sci fi universe I have no interest in. I didn't even really like the original movie, SG-1 is the only reason I like Stargate. Without it, I have no reason to watch anything with the name.
There used to be an internet rumor that ID4 was the retooled script for a sequel of Stargate. Turned out not to be true, but it's easy to see where the similarities were drawn.
Now don't go giving them ideas, they could just as easily turn Jack in to a Jane.
If there's a reboot, I'd prefer Lovecraftian Old Ones as the bad guys this time. Maybe throw in a few Shoggoths as well, while they're at it. However, I suspect we'll get the same old "aliens built the pyramids" shtick.
ETA: I might also like to see Tin Tin rebooted in a Lovecraftian setting: http://www.ccdblog.com/2011/08/herge-lovecraft-win.html
ETA: I might also like to see Tin Tin rebooted in a Lovecraftian setting: http://www.ccdblog.com/2011/08/herge-lovecraft-win.html
SG1 was something special. It would be hard to ever really recreate what they did on that show with the characters and the mythology (which is one reason I'm so impressed with how good Atlantis ended up being). It was truly one of my favorite shows growing up. This isn't ideal. I'd much rather MGM team up with those responsible for the show and continue something in that continuity.
All that said, I learned long ago, I have no control over what a studio is going to do. Just because this isn't my preference doesn't mean it can't end up being good. I'll be first in line no matter what they do.
All that said, I learned long ago, I have no control over what a studio is going to do. Just because this isn't my preference doesn't mean it can't end up being good. I'll be first in line no matter what they do.
When Emmerich spoke last year about the pitch they were making to MGM it was in terms of a reboot with new actors that would lead to a new trilogy. He said Russell and Spader wouldn't return as they "look totally different... it would not work."
Wow, that was what I hated most about it. They come up with this concept that has limitless potential -- a portal to anywhere in the universe -- and the only place they bother to take us is a copy of a culture we already had on Earth? That's like being given an unlimited line of credit but then being told that you can only use it to buy things you already own -- crushing disappointment. And that whole ancient-astronauts-built-the-pyramids rubbish was a warmed-over '70s cliche. The film was deeply lacking in imagination. There were more ideas packed into the first act of a typical SG-1 episode than there were in the entire bloated, tedious running time of the movie.
I guess that makes sense. The sequels they wanted to make would presumably have been set just a few years after the original, so if they want to make that trilogy now, they'd need to redo the original.
I suppose a total reboot would help divorce it from the series continuity -- which does, after all, approximately incorporate the existing movie. So it would be easier to treat them as separate. But I don't expect this to be a popular decision with the series' fans. Normally I try to keep an open mind about reboots and reinventions, but Devlin & Emmerich's track record with Stargate and with movies in general does not give me cause for optimism here. Frankly I'm bewildered why MGM would give this lucrative property back to the people who failed to make it work the first time instead of sticking with the people who made it the biggest American SF franchise since Star Trek.
I'm not too thrilled. I'm a bigger fan of the current continuity than I am the stargate concept itself. We got a story that started with the discovery of a gate and then over 15 years we saw the building of a small Earth empire. Now all that will be wiped away and I think it's a shame. Count me in as one of the many who would have preferred a continuation of the TV shows.
I could see Kurt Russell returning, but not James Spader. Spader's been rather negative towards Stargate for years, claiming he believed upon first reading the script it would be crap but he took it because he really needed the money. So unless he's having financial troubles, I doubt he'd want anything to do with this.
It would have been nice to see the more confident and mature Daniel Jackson as portrayed by James Spader.
Partly because those peoples' track record with the franchise hasn't been terrific lately, either, I imagine.
Anyway, D&E have a good number of blockbusters under their respective and collective belts (even if they don't know the meaning of "quality"!
). They just waited a few years for the most recent disappointments to fade. After that, MGM would be more likely to listen to their pitch.This has nothing to do with whether it succeeds, of course. And that also has nothing to do with whether it's any good. (I don't have much optimism either.)
Obviously it did work to some degree or else MGM and Showtime wouldn't have turned it into a TV series and copied the feature film for the pilot episode. Stargate did better worldwide box office than either Star Trek: Generations or Star Trek: First Contact.
As far as its TV run goes, it was a mid-range hit on cable. It may have been "the biggest American SF franchise since Star Trek" but that is damning it with faint praise.
Yeah, it was a successful film. It was the 13th highest grossing movie of 1994. It grossed 3.5 times its production budget. Box office and budget levels in 1994 were very different to those of today.
I can't remember if the 1990s Stargate novels were supposed to be based on what D&E wanted to do in the sequels. I don't remember them being all that good, but then again I'm a big fan of SG-1 et. al.
Mark
Mark
Wikipedia says "McCay used the official notes by Emmerich to write his books." Although the footnote on that sentence leads to a dead link.
Yeah, I'm interested in them. I think the SG-1 saga played out as much of its story as it could (other than full disclosure to Earth which I don't think ever happened). Even if they stuck with SG-1 I would think they'd need to be rebooted.
The movie played differently enough to me that I don't have a problem with it being its own thing. I hope they keep that sense of alien wonder that the movie had.
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