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Pathogen ratings. Its the End!

This is very dissapointing news! What I don't understand is that last weeks episode was pretty good aswell, I could understand it if it where one of those stone episodes. Where did all the viewers go?
 
This is very dissapointing news! What I don't understand is that last weeks episode was pretty good aswell, I could understand it if it where one of those stone episodes. Where did all the viewers go?

"SGU is so bad it forces the nerds to leave their basement go out on a date!"
 
This is very dissapointing news! What I don't understand is that last weeks episode was pretty good aswell, I could understand it if it where one of those stone episodes. Where did all the viewers go?

It's not that complicated. Baseball playoffs started. These past two weeks have competed with Baseball and saw ratings decline as a result.

There are no more Tuesday night games so look for ratings to pick up next week. If they don't pick up, then its time to be concerned.
 
I'd been hoping that the change in tone of SGU might actually draw new viewers in though, which I suppose remains to be seen. I think a built-in flaw of science fiction franchises is that the fans tend to be dedicated to a very particular vision - whatever was the exact form the franchise took when said fan first fell in love with it. Nerds tend to be myopic and a bit obsessive. (Or more than a bit, depending.) Quality concerns aside, I always felt one reason Star Trek went downhill was because each successive series automatically lost a chunk of viewers /before/ it had a chance to drive them away with just plain bad episodes... because each new show wasn't precisely the same as the last show.

With Stargate, it's particularly bad because SG-1 is even more iconic for fans than any particular "crew" is in Trek; Trek always emphasized its expansive universe. SG-1 was a character drama about a single group of four people taking on the universe. Whether they'd admit it or not, I wonder if most Stargate fans will never be happy with anything other than SG-1.

I don't know that this is the reason fans are bailing...I watched SG-1 for all but the last season and SG:A for all the seasons but couldn't stomach SG:U. Which raises a larger question: is there any space opera series that could survive on TV, and if so, what are its characteristics? What channel should it air on?

Sad that space scifi is down to SGU and the Clone Wars.

I've been enjoying Clone Wars but I wonder how much of that enjoyment is desperation? :rommie:
 
Clone Wars is hit and miss. Sometimes they do a really cool episode that can even be a bit poignant, other time they have a nauseatingly bloated action fest.

All things considered it's easily the best North American produced sci-fi show currently in production.
 
All things considered it's easily the best North American produced sci-fi show currently in production.

Yeah, I'd have to strongly disagree with that assessment. Relative opinions and all not withstanding, Fringe has turned into a consistent, excellent sci-fi hour of TV. (Unless your comments were limited to shows airing on the SyFy network in which case I can't argue with you there)
 
All things considered it's easily the best North American produced sci-fi show currently in production.

Yeah, I'd have to strongly disagree with that assessment. Relative opinions and all not withstanding, Fringe has turned into a consistent, excellent sci-fi hour of TV. (Unless your comments were limited to shows airing on the SyFy network in which case I can't argue with you there)

Except Clone Wars airs on Cartoon Network. What he probably means is best "space based sci-fi show".
 
Good.

The franchise really needs to take a break.

Also it needs to be moved off of SyFy, I saw return to Showtime and make a syndication deal too, that way everyone can watch.
 
Good.

The franchise really needs to take a break.

Also it needs to be moved off of SyFy, I saw return to Showtime and make a syndication deal too, that way everyone can watch.

If this gets cancelled then we won't see any Stargate again. People said Trek needed a break yes we have the new films but Trek on tv is probably not going to happen again.
 
Good.

The franchise really needs to take a break.

Also it needs to be moved off of SyFy, I saw return to Showtime and make a syndication deal too, that way everyone can watch.

If this gets cancelled then we won't see any Stargate again. People said Trek needed a break yes we have the new films but Trek on tv is probably not going to happen again.

Star Trek and Stargate are nothing alike.

One was decades ago, was canceled, then had a movie a decade later. There were 3 seasons of a TV shows and a few movies before TNG. Sure there was Phase 2, and they went with movies, but then they did decide to go with 4 more shows afterwards.

Stargate was only one movie, it started with a movie which they used to launch a TV franchise. They could have made the original trilogy, they didn't, they wanted the TV show. The TV show was a HUGE hit on Showtime and after a few episodes they had an 88 episode order. There wasn't talk of a spinoff until the third season, and never talk of another movie.

There have been three TV shows, 17 seasons, and only one movie, the DVD ones don't count. That's completely different than Star Trek.

Plus I think Star Trek will return to the air at some point. Enterprise had 13 million viewers for the pilot, sci-fi on TV isn't dead, it just needs to be retooled to... not suck, be cheaper.

I can see new people coming in and making DVD movies (after the MGM mess is fixed) of Stargate, hopefully different and better than what we have now. 1-2 a year and SyFy then buys the rights to air them and they do well maybe get some new episodes.

Stargate is a TV franchise that started from a movie.

Star Trek is a TV show that became both a TV and movie franchise, they are completely different.
 
All things considered it's easily the best North American produced sci-fi show currently in production.

Yeah, I'd have to strongly disagree with that assessment. Relative opinions and all not withstanding, Fringe has turned into a consistent, excellent sci-fi hour of TV. (Unless your comments were limited to shows airing on the SyFy network in which case I can't argue with you there)

Except Clone Wars airs on Cartoon Network. What he probably means is best "space based sci-fi show".

Well, that is one interpretation. However, I don't really think Fringe is that good a show, but that's a discussion for another time.

Stargate was only one movie, it started with a movie which they used to launch a TV franchise. They could have made the original trilogy, they didn't, they wanted the TV show. The TV show was a HUGE hit on Showtime and after a few episodes they had an 88 episode order. There wasn't talk of a spinoff until the third season, and never talk of another movie.

That's not entirely accurate. The original Stargate movie didn't do well enough at the box office to justify a sequel. It wasn't until a few years later, Brad Wright and Jonathan Glassner felt the Stargate concept had potential as a TV series, pitched the idea to MGM who approved and so on.

And there has frequently been discussion about another movie. Lost City was originally written as a theatrical movie (a fact mentioned several times on the DVD commentary). Also, back in 2006 Dean Devlin tried to get his sequel to the original movie made.
 
STARGATE was the sleeper hit of 1994. Worldwide, it grossed 196.56 million dollars, and it was in the top 20 domestic releases that year (#17). The budget was 55 million dollars. It earned more than enough money to warrant a sequel.

MGM just had other plans, choosing to develop it as a television property. It wasn't until they chose to develop it as a television series that Wright and Glassner (independently) pitched their ideas of what a Stargate television series would be, ultimately leading MGM to ask the two producers to pair up in developing STARGATE SG-1.
 
STARGATE was the sleeper hit of 1994. Worldwide, it grossed 196.56 million dollars, and it was in the top 20 domestic releases that year (#17). The budget was 55 million dollars. It earned more than enough money to warrant a sequel.

MGM just had other plans, choosing to develop it as a television property. It wasn't until they chose to develop it as a television series that Wright and Glassner (independently) pitched their ideas of what a Stargate television series would be, ultimately leading MGM to ask the two producers to pair up in developing STARGATE SG-1.

I'd say Dean Devlin and Rolnad Emmerich weren't that interested at the time in making a sequel instead they ent straight into ID4.
 
It seems so. I suspect that if they had been interested in making a sequel in a short time period, it would have been made and the ideas about a television serious would have been put aside.

But, how could someone with Emmerich's tendencies say no to a project with INDEPENDENCE DAY's incredible production values (basically, the ability to indulge in his every whim)?
 
It seems so. I suspect that if they had been interested in making a sequel in a short time period, it would have been made and the ideas about a television serious would have been put aside.

But, how could someone with Emmerich's tendencies say no to a project with INDEPENDENCE DAY's incredible production values (basically, the ability to indulge in his every whim)?

Supposely they got the idea for ID4 at a press conference for Stargate. They both said they didn't believe in aliens and a reporter asked them if space ships came and hovered over our major cities would they then believe in aliens. Or something like that. And their talk of a sequel to ID4 got messed up after they accepted the offer to do Godzilla.
 
I had heard the press conference anecdote, but I didn't realize the ID4 sequel was killed by GODZILLA. I thought Devlin and Emmerich scrapped the sequel because they couldn't figure out what it would be about?
 
I had heard the press conference anecdote, but I didn't realize the ID4 sequel was killed by GODZILLA. I thought Devlin and Emmerich scrapped the sequel because they couldn't figure out what it would be about?

Well I'm entirely sure Godzilla was the cause, but I do know they had plans for ID4 2.
 
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