MGM and Warner Brothers to Reboot "Stargate"

[Yoda]

Not that I didn't like the TV show at all, but I liked the Egyptian focus of the film.

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.

Yeah, RDA phoning in one-liners to a Canadian forest 200 times in a row at people who have been isolated on other planets that for some reason speak English. Really cutting edge stuff right there.

The movie had a good menacing villain in Ra, along with a sense of tension, which is more than the TV show could muster after maybe the first few seasons. As for ancient alien pyramids being rubbish. Yeah. Ok. Wow that's a great point. The TV show doesn't have any nonsense along those lines. Boy you got me there.

 

[Nerroth]

Even if this new setup is to be in an alternate timeline, I wonder if any of the material from the TV shows might end up getting picked up and re-purposed if the new/old creators wish to do so?

For example, might this new incarnation have its own take on, say, the Ori or Wraith, or some of the more esoteric alien factions encountered by the Destiny?

Or is it more likely that we may see entirely new aliens used, with a point made not to draw from the SG-1/Atlantis/Universe toolbox?

 

[Hound of UIster]

Not that I didn't like the TV show at all, but I liked the Egyptian focus of the film.

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.

Yeah, RDA phoning in one-liners to a Canadian forest 200 times in a row at people who have been isolated on other planets that for some reason speak English. Really cutting edge stuff right there.

The movie had a good menacing villain in Ra, along with a sense of tension, which is more than the TV show could muster after maybe the first few seasons. As for ancient alien pyramids being rubbish. Yeah. Ok. Wow that's a great point. The TV show doesn't have any nonsense along those lines. Boy you got me there.

Couldn't have said it better.

 

[The Wormhole]

Even if this new setup is to be in an alternate timeline, I wonder if any of the material from the TV shows might end up getting picked up and re-purposed if the new/old creators wish to do so?

For example, might this new incarnation have its own take on, say, the Ori or Wraith, or some of the more esoteric alien factions encountered by the Destiny?

Or is it more likely that we may see entirely new aliens used, with a point made not to draw from the SG-1/Atlantis/Universe toolbox?

I think there's a possibility they might borrow from the Goa'uld and Jaffa stuff from SG-1, at least as far as Ra being a human controlled by an alien symbiote (which the movie kind of hints at) with an army of genetically modified soldiers enforcing their will. And they might reuse some character names for military characters (like Samantha Carter, General Hammond, maybe even Cameron Mitchell). There definitely won't be anything about the Ori or anything to do with SGA or SGU, aside from maybe a crack about "what's on the other side, Atlantis?" Actually, wasn't there a similar joke in the movie, or am I misremembering things?

 

[Asbo Zaprudder]

I doubt there'll be any gratuitous nudity in the reboot.

 

[The Wormhole]

I doubt there'll be any gratuitous nudity in the reboot.

Obviously, the movie is presumably aiming for a PG rating, maybe PG-13.

 

[Christopher]

As I said, since it's Devlin & Emmerich making this, I doubt they'll have any interest in referring to the TV franchise. If you set something in motion and had a plan for how it should be done, and then you weren't allowed to continue your plan and saw your creation handed over to other people who spent over a dozen years doing it in a way you thought was wrong, and then you were finally given back full control of your creation, would you want to keep the changes that were made by those other people? Or would you want to ignore them altogether and do it the way you always thought it should be done?

Besides, there may be a question of rights and residuals. If the filmmakers used some version of Carter or Teal'c or General Hammond or the Jaffa or anything created for SG-1, then they'd have to pay Jonathan Glassner and Brad Wright residuals for the use of those characters or species. Not out of the question for a big-budget movie trilogy, and they could do it if they really wanted to, but since I doubt they would want to, the rights/money issue is a further disincentive.

 

[sojourner]

I still think that one episode of SG1 where all the alternate reality teams were showing up would have been so much more awesome if they'd managed to get the movie cast to cameo.

 

[Hound of UIster]

I can't remember if the 1990s Stargate novels were supposed to be based on what D&E wanted to do in the sequels.

Wikipedia says "McCay used the official notes by Emmerich to write his books." Although the footnote on that sentence leads to a dead link.

If we are talking about the Scifi Wire article, it's saved at Archive and there is nothing in the article about the novels having borrowed from Emmerich's notes.

Devlin Develops New Stargates

Dean Devlin, co-writer and producer of the original Stargate movie, told SCI FI Wire that he has struck a production deal with MGM and is developing the long-delayed sequel feature films that will pick up the story from the 1994 original—but not the mythology subsequently elaborated on in the SCI FI Channel original series Stargate SG-1 and Stargate Atlantis. Devlin added that he hopes to enlist original stars Kurt Russell (Jack O'Neill) and James Spader (Dr. Daniel Jackson), who have expressed an interest.

"When we created the original Stargate, we always envisioned it as a trilogy, and, unfortunately, the way in which the movie got made, we didn't really have control over [it]," Devlin (The Triangle) said in an interview at Comic-Con International in San Diego on July 20. "We didn't have the ability to do two and three. MGM had then made a big commitment to doing the [SG-1] series, and they were worried that the movie could interfere with the series. Well, now that the series has run so successfully for so long and spawned a second series, and there's a whole new regime at MGM, they're not really worried about [it]. The series is running great on its own. And they think there is an audience out there who would like to see what parts two and ... three were intended to be. Because there was a larger story arc that we had in mind, and we never got to explore it so I think it will be very exciting to actually get to go do parts two and three."

Both Russell and Spader have expressed interest, Devlin added. "They've always said they wanted to do it. ... The irony is actually because it was 12 years ago that we made Stargate, [and] part two was actually supposed to take place about 12 years later. We were just going to kind of age them up as actors. So it actually works out really nicely."

The sequels would steer clear of the TV show mythologies, Devlin added. "That's right," he said. "We would just continue the mythology of the movie and finish that out. I think the series could still live at the end of the third sequel. So we're going to try to not tread on their stories."

Roland Emmerich directed the first film. "Roland wants to be involved in the development of it, and he wants the first opportunity to decide if he gets to direct it," Devlin said. "I think a lot of it will depend on what it costs to make. Roland now, he's making some pretty big pictures, so a lot of it will depend upon how much money I can raise to [do] parts two and three. But he definitely is interested in it. He's always loved the story arc, and the second and third parts are really interesting, and so it would be fun, it would be fun to explore."

Devlin was at Comic-Con to promote his upcoming World War I drama Flyboys, starring James Franco, a movie based on the famed Lafayette Escadrille of fighter pilots. It opens Sept. 29. —Patrick Lee, News Editor

 

[Christopher]

Well, I did find some other pages claiming the books were developed from Devlin & Emmerich's sequel notes, but I couldn't find their sources for the claim either.

 

[Jax]

Can't say am too excited, Stargate was the TV universe to me and not the movie. Plus I remember reading about their ideas in the past for sequel movies, MEH!

 

[Relayer1]

I came late to the TV show, so SG as a movie was the main thing - I've even got the film sequel novels.

Having said that, when I did get into SG1 I did like it. Although I didn't like Atlantis quite as much, I liked Universe very much.

Given a choice I'd go with a continuation of Universe, but more films are good too...

 

[Out Of My Vulcan Mind]

Obviously, the movie is presumably aiming for a PG rating, maybe PG-13.

Definitely PG-13.

 

[dansigal]

The ONLY way that any elements from the tv universe are used in the new trilogy is if it's mandated by the studio as a way to appeal to the tv show fan base, because there's no way Emmerich or Devlin would do it. And even then, I would imagine that all we would get would be little easter eggs the way the two new Star Trek movies have done a lot of little shout outs.

 

[The Wormhole]

I am kind of curious how they'll handle the issue of distances. In the movie, Abydos (or was it named that in the movie?) was located in another galaxy, while the TV continuity makes it a Milky Way planet and that dialling another galaxy requires an eighth chevron. One wonders if they'll stick with the planet being in another galaxy or stick it in the Milky Way. Even in the context of the movie itself, another galaxy seems kind of unnecessary. Abydos could very easily be in the Milky Way and still be too far for Ra to reach Earth by ship.

For that matter, the movie doesn't quite explain how they dial the Abydos gate at the end. It's just activated in the final scene. The series provides us the DHDs. That may be one thing from the series that does end up in the new movie, otherwise you have the same glaring plot hole the original has, how did they activate the Abydos gate?

 

[Christopher]

^Again, I don't expect this to respect the TV continuity much. I mean, they're saying it's a reboot, right? So they might reinvent anything, make it different from the original movie as well as the series.

And no, Abydos was not named in the movie; the name first appeared in the novel Stargate: Rebellion by Bill McCay. It might've been from the film's script or background material, but the name wasn't given onscreen.

 

[Snick27]

So question is if the movies do well, will they do a tv show spin off?

Stargate DE lol.

Really look forward to it as I know we wont ever get anymore SG1 movies or anything related to the tv shows. Just wish I knew how Stargate Universe was suppose to end.
Guess we can say the ending of Universe was rebooting the universe which is the universe the new movies take place in.

 

[The Wormhole]

So question is if the movies do well, will they do a tv show spin off?

You never know, but I doubt it. Not unless D&E want to try their hand at this "transmedia" nonsense and do a TV show that runs concurrently with the movies. Which I hope they don't do.

 

[-Brett-]

The TV continuity had become an unsalvageable mess too badly tainted by too many bad spin offs and mediocre made for TV movies, but it still doesn't sit right with me for a reboot to completely ignore the incarnation that made the reboot possible in the first place.

Reboot incarnations of Carter, Teal'c and Hammond are as essential to me as O'Neil(l) and Jackson. They can stuff every other major TV character (in fact, please do).

 

[kirk55555]

I doubt there'll be any gratuitous nudity in the reboot.

I would hope not. I remember watching the SG1 pilot on DVD, after only having seen it on normal TV. I quickly started wondering what the hell was going on I'm definately glad that the weird, unneeded nudity didn't really go past that one episode. It was distracting, and I still have no idea why they did that besides just "because we can".

Reboot incarnations of Carter, Teal'c and Hammond are as essential to me as O'Neil(l) and Jackson. They can stuff every other major TV character (in fact, please do).

I'm willing to give this movie a chance, but as its own thing. No one can do Teal'c or Carter better than the original actors, and Shanks/Anderson were the best versions of O'Niel and Jackson. Just leave them alone and make a reboot movie using the concept of the Stargate by itself.

Also, why no love for Vala and Mitchell? I thought they were awesome. I wouldn't want to see those characters rebooted either, but honestly, even if they were only on a few seasons, I thought they were grewat characters and did well on the show.