Stargate: Universe

WarPig · Post by **WarPig** » Wed Nov 17, 2010 1:54 pm

Rush also proved that nerdliness and strategery win!

While ultimately his actions may not endear him to the higher ups who wanted the information, I wonder if there will be a tighter bond between Rush and Eli.

Spoiler:

Buatha · Post by **Buatha** » Tue Dec 21, 2010 1:46 am

...and it's freakin' cancelled. I'm sorry, but I really liked this show and all I heard about was how much this show wasn't Atlantis or SG-1. Now, I'm sure SyFy will come up with some other mediocre shit to replace it.

Doomboy · Post by **Doomboy** » Tue Dec 21, 2010 4:37 am

Wow. What an excellent point to cancel it too. Makes me eager to watch whatever they come up with next. Because if it is any good at all, they'll cancel it at an extremely inopportune moment.

dbt1949 · Post by **dbt1949** » Tue Dec 21, 2010 7:02 am

Odin · Post by **Odin** » Tue Dec 21, 2010 9:12 am

I'm neither thrilled nor torn up about this cancellation, but it is worth noting that the remaining ten episodes will be aired in the spring. Be upset if you want (I certainly don't blame you - I've had shows that I REALLY liked get canceled out from under me), but be upset for the right reasons.

Kelric · Post by **Kelric** » Tue Dec 21, 2010 9:16 am

That's aggravating.

WarPig · Post by **WarPig** » Tue Dec 21, 2010 11:08 am

Having ridden the SyFy Stargate roller coaster for the past 10 years or so, the mythology has become quite familiar and is missed when absent. Sure, there were some stretches in this particular series, but that didn't make it uninteresting. Did I hear something about an Atlantis full-length feature at one point?

Doomboy · Post by **Doomboy** » Tue Dec 21, 2010 1:53 pm

Odin wrote:I'm neither thrilled nor torn up about this cancellation, but it is worth noting that the remaining ten episodes will be aired in the spring. Be upset if you want (I certainly don't blame you - I've had shows that I REALLY liked get canceled out from under me), but be upset for the right reasons.

I'm just guessing here, but I bet that tenth episode also ends on a major cliffhanger, which will never be resolved. I seriously doubt they gave the show's producers warning and time enough to make an adequate ending out of these last 10 shows coming up.

Odin · Post by **Odin** » Tue Dec 21, 2010 2:06 pm

Doomboy wrote:
Odin wrote:I'm neither thrilled nor torn up about this cancellation, but it is worth noting that the remaining ten episodes will be aired in the spring. Be upset if you want (I certainly don't blame you - I've had shows that I REALLY liked get canceled out from under me), but be upset for the right reasons.
I'm just guessing here, but I bet that tenth episode also ends on a major cliffhanger, which will never be resolved. I seriously doubt they gave the show's producers warning and time enough to make an adequate ending out of these last 10 shows coming up.

Dunno, could be. It rather sounds like you're prepared to be upset about it either way, so have at it. I just thought you might like to know that things weren't as immediately dire as you seemed to think. Carry on.

Buatha · Post by **Buatha** » Tue Dec 21, 2010 2:17 pm

Odin wrote: I just thought you might like to know that things weren't as immediately dire as you seemed to think. Carry on.

Immediately dire as in we thinking they weren't going to finish the 10 episode run? I'm not sure I follow you. I figure that they will finish the run with episodes that have been produced.

Odin · Post by **Odin** » Tue Dec 21, 2010 2:44 pm

Buatha wrote:
Odin wrote: I just thought you might like to know that things weren't as immediately dire as you seemed to think. Carry on.
Immediately dire as in we thinking they weren't going to finish the 10 episode run? I'm not sure I follow you. I figure that they will finish the run with episodes that have been produced.

Yes, my impression of Doomboy's original post was exactly that - that he believed that what had already aired was all there was going to be and that it had ended at a particularly inopportune place. In fact, re-reading the post and his subsequent one, I stand by that initial take.

dbt1949 · Post by **dbt1949** » Tue Dec 21, 2010 2:56 pm

I thought the last new one aired was the last one too.
I liked the show but it's no Firefly.

Doomboy · Post by **Doomboy** » Tue Dec 21, 2010 2:56 pm

Yes, I had thought it was immediately canceled. But then even after hearing that they are going to air the remaining episodes I still don't think it will end without a cliffhanger. If they don't, and they give the series some sort of resolution at the end of those 10 episodes, I will be amazed, and probably satisfied.

I just hate investing myself in a TV series and having absolutely no ending at all. Even a crappy ending like the one in Terriers (also canceled) is better than it ending with them facing down a fleet of ships (or whatever crappy cliffhanger they decided on for the end of season 2 coming up in 10 more episodes).

Daehawk · Post by **Daehawk** » Tue Dec 21, 2010 3:18 pm

Now Im glad I only watched the first ep. They should have kept Atlantis and maybe even SG1

Kraken · Post by **Kraken** » Tue Dec 21, 2010 4:49 pm

Shrug.

It wasn't a bad show, but it wasn't great either. I do not feel a void in my life. Well, not a new one, anyway.

I never got invested in any of the characters (or even knew most of their names) and thought the communication stones were a very weak narrative device. Apart from that it was entertaining enough. I hope it gets some kind of resolution.

Odin · Post by **Odin** » Tue Dec 21, 2010 4:58 pm

Doomboy wrote:I just hate investing myself in a TV series and having absolutely no ending at all. Even a crappy ending like the one in Terriers (also canceled) is better than it ending with them facing down a fleet of ships (or whatever crappy cliffhanger they decided on for the end of season 2 coming up in 10 more episodes).

Honestly, I can't think of very many shows that DID have satisfying conclusions. BSG's sucked (though, I suppose I'd lump everything after the first or second season into "conclusion" in that instance). I didn't watch LOST, but most people seemed pretty unimpressed with how it ended. The endings of SG1 and Atlantis couldn't have been too fantastic - I don't even remember them.

There are some standouts, of course - M*A*S*H and Bob Newhart are probably the most notable. Star Trek: The Next Generation had a pretty good ending. I don't remember DS9 or Voyager's. Babylon 5's ending was pretty good.

Given how spotty SG:U has been in terms of show quality, I wouldn't have given them much chance of pulling off a brilliant conclusion even if given the chance.

Kraken · Post by **Kraken** » Tue Dec 21, 2010 5:10 pm

Odin wrote: BSG's sucked (though, I suppose I'd lump everything after the first or second season into "conclusion" in that instance). I didn't watch LOST, but most people seemed pretty unimpressed with how it ended. The endings of SG1 and Atlantis couldn't have been too fantastic - I don't even remember them.

There are some standouts, of course - M*A*S*H and Bob Newhart are probably the most notable. Star Trek: The Next Generation had a pretty good ending. I don't remember DS9 or Voyager's. Babylon 5's ending was pretty good.

Of course it's just opinion, but I thought BSG's ending was OK whereas B5's dragged on for too long. The last 4 or 5 episodes were spent saying goodbye to the characters. I was very disappointed by LOST, but they'd written themselves into a corner that was impossible to escape without the cornball gimmick they took.

Oddly, I don't remember any of the ST series endings.

I don't think SGU could pull off a satisfying conclusion even if they could reshoot their last 10 episodes. They were just starting to pose their Big Questions.

Odin · Post by **Odin** » Tue Dec 21, 2010 5:23 pm

Well, the whole 5th season of B5 paled in comparison to the prior 4, but the actual last episode was pretty good. I'm not a good judge of BSG's last episode because the series as a whole pissed me off so much, but it seemed a lot of other people weren't fond of it either, even when they liked the rest of the show, so I took that as an indication that it wasn't just my bias.

I totally agree about SGU - they took so long to get moving, there's probably no good resolution to come, regardless. You never know, though, they might do a direct-to-DVD. Seems pretty unlikely, though. The show just never seemed to inspire that volume of enthusiasm.

Doomboy · Post by **Doomboy** » Tue Dec 21, 2010 6:34 pm

I'm pretty sure any kind of an ending is better than the inevitable cliffhanger at the end of the 10th episode. Good or bad, I like things ending instead of just trailing off. I never read a book and just stop at an exciting moment. That is what happens when they cancel shows I am watching without any warning.

I'll get over it. It isn't like my life depends on it. But I find it very irritating. Irritating enough that I probably won't watch their next "big" series they replace it with, knowing that it is almost bound to get canceled.

On the other hand, with the other new series that SyFy is airing, I don't even know if they are capable of making a decent show any more. I tried watching Haven, it was terrible. Same thing with Sanctuary. I am pretty sure I don't care at all about the American version of Being Human either. So I'll be skipping that.

Odin · Post by **Odin** » Tue Dec 21, 2010 8:34 pm

I'm actually looking forward to the American Being Human because it had already been running on the BBC for a year or more before I heard about it. I hate starting shows in the middle and I'm not willing to put any effort into catching up.

I'm also interested in Alphas, even though I know nothing at all about it, because its showrunner, Ira Stephen Behr, has worked on other shows I liked. Of course, so had Ron Moore, and that didn't work out so well for me, but if the premise sounds interesting I'll give it a chance.

Here's the thing - there isn't that much sci-fi on TV. It's mostly reality, dramas, and cop shows. So if you bail on SyFy for ditching Stargate and Fox for ditching Firefly and ABC for ditching Flashforward, etc., etc,. it doesn't take long before you're out of channels to watch and out of sci-fi shows to enjoy.

I still get ticked off when the shows I like get the axe, of course, and I blame the networks that

a) didn't promote them well enough
b) put them on the shittiest night possible
c) meddled with the creative vision until the show was a big mess
and then
d) canceled them when (surprise!) nobody watched them

but I don't really have a good tool in my toolkit to properly punish them so I grumble and I complain and then I watch the next interesting-looking show regardless of what channel it's on.

Kyosho · Post by **Kyosho** » Wed Dec 22, 2010 9:08 pm

Small spoiler for the upcoming last episode of SGU in the spring:

Spoiler:

If you want to keep up on the stuff that's going on, Gateworld is the best place. They do a really great podcast too, and just did an episode on the cancellation.

WarPig wrote:Did I hear something about an Atlantis full-length feature at one point?

Yes, and at least one more SG-1 movie. Apparently the direct-to-DVD market has started to crash, which is why they haven't been made yet. Who knows if those will ever see the light of day.

Daehawk · Post by **Daehawk** » Thu Dec 23, 2010 1:12 am

Atlantis was a very good show. The only reason i can see they canceled it for SG:U was because Atlantis started costing too much to make. Then again this IS the SyFy channel. God forbid they make a show that's a hit. they have to kill it then to make room for their $75 to make movie of the week.

Odin · Post by **Odin** » Thu Dec 23, 2010 7:08 am

The only reason to cancel a TV show is lack of advertisers, which usually, but not always, corresponds to low ratings.

JSHAW · Post by **JSHAW** » Thu Dec 23, 2010 8:00 am

Is Stargate-Universe that good of a series that it deserves 8 pages worth of responses here?

I recently saw 5 minutes of the show and the acting was so bad it didn't get a 6th minute.

I guess bad sci-fi is better than no sci-fi.

Odin · Post by **Odin** » Thu Dec 23, 2010 8:07 am

JSHAW wrote:Is Stargate-Universe that good of a series that it deserves 8 pages worth of responses here?

What's "deserve" ever had to do with anything around here?

JSHAW · Post by **JSHAW** » Thu Dec 23, 2010 8:22 am

I didn't take the time to read all 8 pages of responses, so if it was 8 pages of slamming
it for being such a huge stinking pile then I could understand that.

Odin · Post by **Odin** » Thu Dec 23, 2010 10:12 am

JSHAW wrote:I didn't take the time to read all 8 pages of responses, so if it was 8 pages of slamming
it for being such a huge stinking pile then I could understand that.

Ah, well as long as you made an effort toward meaningful contribution, it's all good.

JSHAW · Post by **JSHAW** » Thu Dec 23, 2010 1:08 pm

If you can't beat em', join em'.

Maybe we can get this thread over 20 pages.

Since I'm a fan of the first Stargate movie with Spader, someone fill me in on the premise of the following:

There was Stargate SG1, then SG-Atlantis, and SG-Universe...

What happened that caused SG1 to move to an Atlantis based show, then Universe...

Explain in smallest amount of words, or largest if you feel up to it where they discovered Atlantis at, and why they moved
to the Universe based show. What takes place on the Universe show that couldn't be done with the first Sg1 show?

rshetts2 · Post by **rshetts2** » Thu Dec 23, 2010 3:36 pm

Odin wrote:The only reason to cancel a TV show is lack of advertisers, which usually, but not always, corresponds to low ratings.

This is not true. When they cancelled Atlantis, the main reason listed was that the series had reached the point where there would be diminishing returns based on cost of continued production vs syndication earnings. In other words they cancelled it because it had reached its peak earning potential. The ratings for Atlantis was actually pretty good for SyFy fare and better than SGU has managed.

Regarding SGU, I think they made a big mistake with the show from its inception. The previous StarGate series have been basically space operas, like classic 40's and 50's sci-fi. Larger than life heroes and villians, cool technology and massive galactic threats, where the little guys eventually persevere. They also tended to be a bit lighter in tone, with a decent amount of humor mixed in. SGU was more soap opera than space opera. There was basically 1 likeable character in the entire cast. The whole idea was more ripped from Lost in Space than Star Gate and they totally warped the tone of the show. It would stood a better chance at survival IMHO, if they hadnt tied it to the StarGate franchise. Seriously, why do that and then change everything that made StarGate successful? The stargates were pretty much pointless in SGU and they would have been able to easily made the series work with out them. Its once thing to take a 70's tv series and totally reboot it like BSG but taking the longest running sci-fi series ever, one that had just recently ended its run, and completely change its tone seemed destine to fail.

Odin · Post by **Odin** » Thu Dec 23, 2010 4:41 pm

rshetts2 wrote:
Odin wrote:The only reason to cancel a TV show is lack of advertisers, which usually, but not always, corresponds to low ratings.
This is not true. When they cancelled Atlantis, the main reason listed was that the series had reached the point where there would be diminishing returns based on cost of continued production vs syndication earnings. In other words they cancelled it because it had reached its peak earning potential. The ratings for Atlantis was actually pretty good for SyFy fare and better than SGU has managed.

But look at your qualifiers - "for SyFy fare" and "better than SGU," etc. In other words, lack of advertisers ("willing to pay enough for the series to continue to be profitable," which I realize I didn't outright state, but I thought it was implied). It all comes down to money, and the money comes from the advertisers. Period.

I pretty much agree with everything else you said after that, however.

Daveman · Post by **Daveman** » Fri Dec 24, 2010 1:01 am

JSHAW wrote:Since I'm a fan of the first Stargate movie with Spader, someone fill me in on the premise of the following:

There was Stargate SG1, then SG-Atlantis, and SG-Universe...

What happened that caused SG1 to move to an Atlantis based show, then Universe...

Explain in smallest amount of words, or largest if you feel up to it where they discovered Atlantis at, and why they moved
to the Universe based show. What takes place on the Universe show that couldn't be done with the first Sg1 show?

I don't know, why does any show that spawns a spin-off do so?

SG-1 and Stargate: Atlantis co-existed for a few seasons, so it's not like they dropped one series for the other. In story terms, in SG-1 they find all sorts of old world myths and legend references that turn out to be alien-related. In the hope of finding some way to help defend the Earth from the big bad guy at the time, they came upon info that led them to believe the city of Atlantis might have been an Ancient facility on Earth. In SG-speak, the Ancients were a race of strikingly human-like people from a loooong time ago who among other things built the Stargate network across the galaxy. They find an Ancient facility on Earth but it turns out not to be Atlantis. Later they *do* find a way to use the Stargate network to leave their own galaxy to a whole other network of Stargates in another galaxy. To do so required a bunch of power and they wind up only able to send a team through on a one-way mission. Their destination turns out to be the city of Atlantis, but it's this complete Ancient city that had long been abandoned. SG: Atlantis follows the story of the team that's sent there, their attempts to find a way to reconnect back to Earth, etc.

SG: Universe started out with a very similar plot device... the discovery of another way to use Stargates to get to somewhere even farther away then was thought possible. A team is sent on what turns out to be a one-way ticket to an Ancient space ship, several galaxies away. It follows the story of the team that's sent there, their attempts to find a way to reconnect back to Earth, etc

The major difference was that SG:U had a more gritty, "character based" approach that was much less sci-fi "space opera" stuff and more simple drama.

Suffice to say I'm sad to hear the show has gotten the axe. I realize television, like any business, is a business out to make money. But just what sort of ratings are they hoping to get with science fiction? Either make a network that's going to make... I don't know, whatever the big mainstream "hit" shows are or try and cater to a select audience and be the "destination" for shows of that type. SyFy's not doing that with Ghost Hunters, pro wrestling and horrible monster of the week movies.

Kelric · Post by **Kelric** » Fri Dec 24, 2010 1:15 am

Daveman wrote:SG: Universe started out with a very similar plot device... the discovery of another way to use Stargates to get to somewhere even farther away then was thought possible. A team is sent on what turns out to be a one-way ticket to an Ancient space ship, several galaxies away. It follows the story of the team that's sent there, their attempts to find a way to reconnect back to Earth, etc The major difference was that SG:U had a more gritty, "character based" approach that was much less sci-fi "space opera" stuff and more simple drama.

To expand on that, the SG:U folks weren't quite planning on winding up where they did. They were attacked and had no other place to escape to at the last moment.

JSHAW · Post by **JSHAW** » Fri Dec 24, 2010 10:44 am

Thanks Daveman!, good job in summing it all up into a simple to understand package for me. I appreciate it.

Odin · Post by **Odin** » Fri Dec 24, 2010 12:14 pm

Daveman wrote:Suffice to say I'm sad to hear the show has gotten the axe. I realize television, like any business, is a business out to make money. But just what sort of ratings are they hoping to get with science fiction?

Enough to pay for the utilities, infrastructure, operating expenses and salaries of everybody who works there, plus (presumably) turn a profit.

Either make a network that's going to make... I don't know, whatever the big mainstream "hit" shows are or try and cater to a select audience and be the "destination" for shows of that type. SyFy's not doing that with Ghost Hunters, pro wrestling and horrible monster of the week movies.

I can't speak to the decisions that SyFy has made over the years, but they'd have gone out of business if they weren't making enough money to pay the bills. I have to figure that their move away from actual sci-fi to crap that's at best tangentially related to genre fiction was because they determined that

a) they weren't making enough money with the original genre-focused format.
or
b) they figured they could make more money with the other stuff.

Or both.

I don't have to like it (and I don't), but from a business standpoint, I can only figure that there's just not a big enough market for sci-fi shows. And they're expensive as hell, particularly as compared to cop dramas. Which people seem to really like, too. Probably explains why there's 50 different spinoffs of CSI and Law & Order.

It's weird, considering that many, many of biggest moneymaking movies of all time were genre films, you'd think that would translate to television in some way. But somehow while it's okay for the football team to go see Star Wars, they'd still be a bunch of nerds if they admitted to watching Star Trek: The Next Generation on television. So they don't.

dbt1949 · Post by **dbt1949** » Fri Dec 24, 2010 2:16 pm

A nerd by any other name............

Daveman · Post by **Daveman** » Fri Mar 11, 2011 12:36 am

Seems I haven't been watching Syfy much anymore, so it came as a complete surprise when I noticed TiVO recorded a new episode of SG:U this monday. I suppose the final 1/2 season has started up.

Anyone still care? I thought it was an OK episode. I wonder if they were able to write up a proper end to the show or if it'll simply end.

Kraken · Post by **Kraken** » Fri Mar 11, 2011 1:54 am

I watched it. I think it's just going to end unresolved. It wasn't great, but it was good enough to deserve a better end than that.

Daehawk · Post by **Daehawk** » Fri Mar 11, 2011 1:59 am

As a big Stargate fan I can happily say I only watched the pilot. Thanks for killing ATlantis to make this train wreck. now go pay RDA to come back and make new eps. Or revive Farscape. Do something right you pos network.

Doomboy · Post by **Doomboy** » Fri Mar 11, 2011 4:29 am

I think they have moved on from making decent stuff. When they start putting "reality" shows on about the family psychic, people selling junk, people putting on makeup, and cooking weird food, they have officially moved away from science fiction.

Sure, some of it is tangentially related to science fiction in some way, if you look at it the right way and squint real hard. But I'm not going to watch it.

I suppose we all guessed the reason for the channel's name change correctly when it happened. In retrospect the addition of wrestling was probably also a sign of things to come.

Now the only sci fi type shows they have are (let me know if I forget any) Warehouse 13 (okay, not great), Eureka (okay, not great), Being Human (no interest in it, so I have no idea), Sanctuary (crap), Haven (crap). Oh, I nearly forgot the numerous cheaply made crap movies that get increasingly worse as time goes by.

I don't know, maybe they are making tons of money from this new business plan. Maybe it makes sense to someone. I suppose it might make sense to me if I were a TV exec.

Odin · Post by **Odin** » Fri Mar 11, 2011 8:20 am

Different strokes, I suppose. I'm not a huge fan of ScyFy's overall line-up, however

Doomboy wrote:Warehouse 13 (okay, not great), Eureka (okay, not great), Being Human (no interest in it, so I have no idea), Sanctuary (crap), Haven (crap).

For me it's: Warehouse 13 (like it), Eureka (like it), Being Human (love it), Sanctuary (didn't like it), Haven (never watched it).

The problem seems to be that there just aren't enough people who want to watch most genre TV shows. Cable has diluted TV viewing to such an extent that shows that might have been successful if they were one of only three options on NBC, ABC, CBS are instead marginal at best.