New StarGate series Prime Video.

[Christopher]

Likewise, based on the comments from Martin Gero since this news broke that Stargate's appeal is that it takes place in "our world" I'm interpreting that as meaning the Stargate program will still be a secret in this series.

Oh, I hope not. That's just what I hate about the secrecy trope, this absurd need to pretend a work of science fiction or fantasy takes place behind the scenes in the real world. I mean, we all know it isn't real! We're watching it on the bloomin' teevee! And the whole purpose of science fiction is to explore how scientific, technological, and cultural innovations change the world. Keeping it all buried to maintain the absurd pretense of a real-world status quo is squandering the potential of speculative fiction.

I find it far more interesting when genre shows allow the world to be transformed by their speculative premises. The 4400 was a good example of that. So was iZombie in the later seasons where the zombies were outed (although the show changed so much that the lead character became more or less superfluous to the stories). X-Men Evolution was a far more boring show in the first two seasons where mutants were secret than in the latter two seasons where they were exposed to the world.

 

[Gepard]

I mean, we all know it isn't real! We're watching it on the bloomin' teevee!

Ah, but it allows the fantasy that, by watching the show, we're in on the secret. We know what's really under Cheyenne mountain, even though those normies don't. We're special. That's part of the appeal.

 

[Christopher]

Ah, but it allows the fantasy that, by watching the show, we're in on the secret. We know what's really under Cheyenne mountain, even though those normies don't. We're special. That's part of the appeal.

But again, the appeal of science fiction is exploring how innovation changes the world. I find that far more interesting. Stories about secrecy are too limiting, because they're dominated by the need to keep the secret, and the need to keep hitting the reset button to preserve the "realistic" status quo.

And in this day and age, with so many powerful people engaging in constant lies and corruption, I am completely over the plot device of government or military protagonists keeping secrets from the public "for their own good."

 

[Paul Weaver]

I think the main reason they kept it a secret from the public is that from a world building stand-point, it would be an utterly world altering revelation with far reaching societal consequences. Part of the appeal of Stargate has always been the contemporary setting, and you can't really do that credibly anymore if the program is made public.

The problem is as SG1 progressed

It should be lauded for actually seeing the world progress, both in the tactics and equipment the SGC used, but I thought that Moebius had an interesting line. In the gateless world, Daniel's camera as described as

"The technology is somewhat different to what is commercially available today, but we managed to charge the battery"

Which implied there had been progress in the civilian world after 7 years of the stargate progress.

The problem I think SG1 had was Prometheus. Until then I could believe a scrappy sub-basement group with small technical spin-offs and a team of 100 or so that know the truth.

Once you start having massive space ships you’re stretching the realms of credibility.

Russia/China relations as depicted in seasons 4 through 7 (watergate though disclosure) were reasonable for c.2000 politics.

The more I think about it the more I think the right way forward would be a complete reset.

 

[Noname Given]

...Once you start having massive space ships you’re stretching the realms of credibility....

Yeah, even today in the real world everyone believes the UFO incidents are ALL secret Government technology - and the Governments have made the announcement this is so - thus no one still believes they may be Extra Terrestrial in origin... oh, wait...

 

[Gepard]

But again, the appeal of science fiction is exploring how innovation changes the world. I

That's one of the appeals; it's not the only one.

 

[Christopher]

That's one of the appeals; it's not the only one.

I was speaking for myself.