Stargate Universe.
What happened?
Well I wish I could say I didn't see it coming, but I did. Stargate Universe is dead and there's no chance of resurrection. With it the Stargate franchise has ended. Rather than let it sail into the sunset I'm going to pick it apart like our butchered Christmas Turkey when looking for parts to make a new years curry So if you'll indulge me let's see why:-
First of all, the production company was owned by MGM. MGM has been in financial trouble for years, cancelling production on James Bond and any number of other projects, including SG-1 and Atlantis. Looking for low cost, high income projects. Hence the SG-1 TV movies and suggested Atlantis movie. It's all because MGM didn't have the the money they needed.
Well not quite. MGM was in trouble when it commissioned Universe so there must have been the chance somewhere. SGU had a lot on its shoulders, it was pretty much carrying MGM's entire TV output. Which it turns out was a bad idea.
How about the Voyager problem. After twelve years the same creative team burns out, it needed fresh blood and ideas. Atlantis scraped by because it was a different beast. While it shared a lot of ideas with the original show there was a lot of fresh angles involved. In the end it was more action than comedy, opposed to SG-1 which was comedy over action. In spite of several flaws Atlantis was a good show.
That was part of it, but they did try to get around it by pulling a Voyager. Stranding the show in a distant part of the universe, with a dysfunctional crew and a unstable command structure. Sci-fi fans, well known for their laid back attitude and lack of anything resembling continuity knowledge completely missed that. Oh wait, no they didn't, and Science fiction fans are usually an intelligent and observant bunch. Idiots.
Finally Voyager wasn't the only show SGU stole ideas from. They took the overly moronic and soap Opera like "characters" from Battlestar Galactica, Hell they even stole the abbreviation. Originally it was SG-A and SG-1 with the hyphen involved All of a sudden it vanished. Along with the humour, wit and originality SG-1 had.
Back in the day SG-1 wasn't the best show on, but it was fun. They had a laugh and enjoyed themselves. What I hated about Battlestar was the lack of humour, no one had fun. It was too dark.
This is what killed the show in my opinion. The compete absence of anything resembling Stargate. If we wanted crappy soap opera like people doing things that not only morally repulse us, but drive us to drinking lighter fluid I'll stick to Battlestar. Universe was pointless and dull, there was nothing likeable from the characters. No goodness or promise. We have open rebellions, affaires, social isolation, wilful ignorance and an unwillingness to listen to other people's points of view.
I don't watch Science fiction to watch unlikeable people, I watch escapist fiction to escape from petty minded small people and hope that one day fools and madmen like those shown here are gone for good. The reason I accept outlandish successes from small specialised bands, like the SG-1 team, is that they work together. They compliment each others strengths and weakness and don't have to spend half an hour ranting about the heart of the cards or what not.
When you reinvent a series you can't just throw everything you had out of the window. with more than Ten years of backstory and building up a die hard fan base you don't just ignore them for the sake of a few ideas you think might work in a different show.
Stargate Universe was a failure, and should be ignored. I join my voice with the fans that want more Atlantis episodes.
Alright this seems to be picking up a lot of comments, after some thought I made a fairer overview of the show here:- http://mountainscrapbook.blogspot.com/2011/05/stargate-universe-continued.html
