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Stargate Atlantis CANCELLED

********so this marks another step towards the END OF THE SCIFI CHANNEL! (hurray!)

Sorry, fans have declared SCIFI dead or dying since about three months after it started transmitting. Ain't happening any time soon - they'll generate more programming of one kind or another as they always have.
 
Oh My Dears, just got back online from my move, and this is the first thread I see :(

Well, to be quite honest with you I am by no means surprised, on the one hand SGA has been sucking lately, on the other hand SCIFI is managed by idiots. Still, it is sad news as it was just about the only good thing left on SCIFI.

The Stargate franchise seriously needs a break, like Star Trek. SG-1 was great, but started getting bad in the last few seasons. SGA had a lot of potential, but it was never executed that well and had no real goal.

IMO SGA should have never been made, they should have stuck to finishing out SG-1 with quality, and then moved into movie land. It really makes me concerned about Stargate Universe.
 
I'll be honest with you guys. I'm not very sorry to see this show go. I'm not very happy, but not too sorry either. In my opinion, this show has been going downhill since they got rid of Weir. The only REALLY good episode Season 4 had to offer was "All My Sins Be Remember'd". I haven't really been watching Season 5, but from what I can tell it looks like a bunch of really average type episodes.

Anyway, look at the bright side - they get to continue with DVD movies so it's not a total loss.
 
Can't say I'll be sad to see it go. Here's hoping that Joe Flanigan, Connor Trinneer and Robert Picardo can get on better sf/f shows quickly.

There are too damn many really excellent genre actors who aren't on good shows. :mad:


Mallozzi, the "Atlantis" show runner, has stated in his blog that five years may be the limit for franchise shows in the future. He cited the fact that the rising Canadian dollar versus the U.S. dollar is becoming an expensive way to make Vancouver-produced shows like those in the "Stargate" family.
The ratings were decent, so it must be the exchange rate that was the nail in the coffin. This will start impacting other sf/f shows in Vancouver. Maybe they can get some decent credits in New Mexico or other inexpensive places? How about Utah, that's some stunning scenery and it can't be that pricey.


wait, so it's actually cheaper to make shows in the USA now?

So instead of "the new Canada" being New Zealand or something.....the "new Canada" is....the USA? :(
 
^ What, did Sanctuary spawn out of nowhere?

What was that, seven or eight fifteen-minute webisodes that no one but some "Stargate" fans watched? Certainly not a breakthrough as a "successful continuing series." In fact, their own measure of success seems to have been to sell the series to basic cable rather than continue to focus on new media.


Well, it was successful enough to get Sci Fi to take notice and grab an FX-heavy web series and bring it to TV.

Yeah, it's not a long-running web series, but considering how long that opportunity has really been viable, it's about as close to a long-running successful web series as you can get right now.

Sell the series to basic cable, get the exposure for the web series, and perhaps it'll get more response and more copycats. Anything's possible, except Amanda Tapping using a British accent that doesn't crimp my spine.
 
********so this marks another step towards the END OF THE SCIFI CHANNEL! (hurray!)

Sorry, fans have declared SCIFI dead or dying since about three months after it started transmitting. Ain't happening any time soon - they'll generate more programming of one kind or another as they always have.

In fact, by cutting this series and its expensive licensing fees they'll probably be saving money that can be spent on more profitable movies of the week and/or ECW-like programming.

Hey, there's no accounting for taste, is there?

Oh, sadness.
 
wait, so it's actually cheaper to make shows in the USA now?

So instead of "the new Canada" being New Zealand or something.....the "new Canada" is....the USA? :(

Well, folks who've just had a tv series cancelled often have rather creative explanations of how the business end of all this works. :lol:

Setting a five-year limit on these series and planning for that is not such a bad idea, though.
 
********so this marks another step towards the END OF THE SCIFI CHANNEL! (hurray!)

Sorry, fans have declared SCIFI dead or dying since about three months after it started transmitting. Ain't happening any time soon - they'll generate more programming of one kind or another as they always have.

you make a fine point

I mean we did declare it "dead" after Farscape tanked, but then again, at the time they had SG-1 to fall back on

they don't have anything to fall back on NOW

*****but what I'm really doing is comparing it to the Fall of UPN that happened when Enterprise was dying in seasons 3 and 4: within two years, UPN *itself*, after airing "dumb reality shows and one-season schlock-shows", ultimately tanked

So what I'm directly saying is "I hope/want/predict Scifi Channel to go the way of UPN"

I mean they act like they're "the channel for scifi" and have you ever seen those e-mail questionares they send out? "Do you like science fiction?" "yes", "Do you subscribe to the Scifi Channel?" and I'm like....NO, why would I do that? To watch Ghost Hunters and wrestling? **Cartoon Network literally has better "Science fiction" than scifi channel!" What with Venture Bros, Death Note, Ghost in the Shell the series, etc. etc.

They didn't live up to the dream that Asimov set for the Scifi Channel: a whole channel devoted to good scifi: It came close during the Farscape years, and I thought they rebounded with BSG seasons 1 and 2 during 2005, but then they pulled a Farscape season 4 on BSG season 3 ("the ratings are down: drop the running storylines that people love, in order to hook new viewers with standalones")

they have NOTHING!
 
but I absolutely hate the fluff of Eureka (literally every episode the plot is "town of geniuses can't solve a problem that Joe Sixpack sheriff can, thus making redneck viewers happy and confident that they're really superior to "Smart people")

"Smart people", as you call them, often cannot solve problems requiring people skills. Carter has those.

even that wouldn't be too bad, (TOO bad) but its utterly formulaic and repetitious; every episode is basically the same and the overarcing storylines are non-existent

It's not as serialized as some shows, true, but there are character arcs in place. Frankly I think you're overstating the case.
 
wait, so it's actually cheaper to make shows in the USA now?

So instead of "the new Canada" being New Zealand or something.....the "new Canada" is....the USA? :(

Well, folks who've just had a tv series cancelled often have rather creative explanations of how the business end of all this works. :lol:

Setting a five-year limit on these series and planning for that is not such a bad idea, though.

Oh yes "creative explanations": remember what Bermanga said, I mean literally said when Enterprise was failing around the end of season 2? I do:

"well, Fantasy is just much bigger than Scifi now; that's an audience trend that we can't control; I mean, look how big "The Lord of the Rings" and "Harry Potter" are now in 2002-03; it's not our fault for writing "bad scifi", it's just that people want Fantasy more now"

UGH

***Yes, Stargate: Atlantis (and the last 3 SG-1 seasons, 8 to 10, which they "phoned in") really gives me the same "vibe" that I got during the last seasons of Voyager and for Enterprise: "you beat the horse to death" and "you need to give the franchise a rest" "you ran out of ideas and you're just cranking out stuff now as filler rather than because its a good product" etc.

Same feeling as the Enterprise years: if you want Stargate to continue as a franchise (and personally I don't really feel a need for that, but for hardcore Gate-verse fans).........as like "Stargate: Universe" or something, it really needs time to rest.

Heck, I'd advise not even immediately starting on "Stargate Universe" but waiting a few years
 
but I absolutely hate the fluff of Eureka (literally every episode the plot is "town of geniuses can't solve a problem that Joe Sixpack sheriff can, thus making redneck viewers happy and confident that they're really superior to "Smart people")

"Smart people", as you call them, often cannot solve problems requiring people skills. Carter has those.

No. You see it would make sense if it were "he solves the people-problems" or personal relationship things, or like, he knows "people" so he can solve crimes committed by "people" etc. etc.

What I'm talking about is when he's the one who finds *technological solutions* to things the super-scientists can't, which is really stretching credibility

it's as if every instance of Super-Science can be broken down into a simple layman's analogy like plumbing, which Carter then uses to fix the problem!

as if....

"what did they do on Star Trek?"
"well, someone would usually summarize the problem in a simplistic way, then they'd solve it"
"Wait! Melllvar's energy source can be overloaded if we fire our energy cannons at him full blast, overloading his proton count!"
"Like putting too much air into a balloon!" --Futurama
 
Sorry, fans have declared SCIFI dead or dying since about three months after it started transmitting. Ain't happening any time soon - they'll generate more programming of one kind or another as they always have.

Sci-Fi Channel = the COBOL of television programming.
 
What I'm talking about is when he's the one who finds *technological solutions* to things the super-scientists can't, which is really stretching credibility

it's as if every instance of Super-Science can be broken down into a simple layman's analogy like plumbing, which Carter then uses to fix the problem!

If the science were more plausible to begin with, I'd have more of an issue with that. But most of it isn't, so I guess I just don't care how they try to justify it.
 
SciFi does have something to fall back on. Eureka is doing well in the ratings. Their new shows sound interesting (IMO). Ghosthunters, Ghosthunters International, and Scare Tactics are cheap to make and do well in the ratings. I know people bash the Saturday night movies, but they are campy fun. Yes, some of them are truly awful, but people, like myself, watch them. Skiffy makes money off of them.

I'm assuming Atlantis didn't make the money MGM was hoping it was going to make in S4/S5. Prior to SG1's cancellation, SGA was doing well in the ratings, at times topping big brother. On its own, the ratings plummeted for whatever reason. It's rebounded, but only with the addition of DVR ratings. MGM and Skiffy make money on the first run eps. Not on eps watched within a 7 day period. It's all about the moolah.
 
Three, effectively, as there won't be an actual season of Doctor Who next year, just four specials. Unless I'm missing something, that leaves Sci-Fi with Eureka... and the new stuff (which hasn;t been its strong point for several years now).

You misunderstand me. Those who know me a bit on here know that I am gradually getting fed up with TV drama. Television is, in my opinion, becoming a female orientated medium that is not serving male viewers adequately. That is a decision the executives running American television have taken in favour of their shareholders and I cannot change it. I may very well be because female viewers are less likely to DVR or download television shows or it may be because they wish to target more advertising towards women who have an increasing amount of disposable income. I do not know.

As a result, I have taken the decision to severely limit the new programming I watch. I would watch spin-offs of my favourite shows (Stargate Universe, Caprica or a new Star Trek series for instance) but I will not watch anything else new.

I currently watch Heroes, 24, Lost, Smallville, Stargate: Atlantis and Battlestar Galactica. Two of those shows are being canceled and Lost has a definite end date. That leaves me with three weekly scripted dramas that do not have a definitive end date.
 
I'm surprised because of the ratings, they were up.

But now I see they want to do the DVD movies and that sucks. Atlantis needs to end. They either should've given it a season six or told the creators at the start that season five would be the end. This keeping the franchise alive (barely) with the tv movies is pathetic. Just give us a proper send off.
 
I am sorry to see that the show has been cancelled.
I just hope that all the running storylines are resolved in the movie.
 
^ What, did Sanctuary spawn out of nowhere?

What was that, seven or eight fifteen-minute webisodes that no one but some "Stargate" fans watched? Certainly not a breakthrough as a "successful continuing series." In fact, their own measure of success seems to have been to sell the series to basic cable rather than continue to focus on new media.

I'll be warming up the "Sanctuary CANCELLED" thread
 
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