Stargate Reinvented

Back to: Stargate Universe

Back to: Stargate Blog

STARGATE UNIVERSE
STARGATE REINVENTED

WHAT DO YOU THINK ABOUT THE NEW DIRECTION OF STARGATE? VOTE IN THE POLL AND LEAVE A COMMENT!

Hello!

This is the first in a series of (hopefully weekly) entries about the upcoming Stargate series, SG-1, SG-A and other sci-fi TV series. Weigh in below!

Stargate Reinvented or The Battlestarificaton of Stargate

I’ve been having the same conversation with a few of my sci-fi friends. The general theme that’s coming from them is hesitation towards the forthcoming chapter in the Stargate Series. Some have called it Stargate Battlestar, others Stargate Voyager, some of the more skeptical have reduced it to Battlestar Voyager. They wonder why after 15 seasons of Stargate SG-1 and Atlantis they have decided to switch the formula completely.

stargate universe blog - denkiva jyunbi

Perhaps the darker trend of sci-fi has affected the direction of the next series. Lighter franchises have rebooted into darker ones, and successfully so. The light cheese 80’s series Battlestar Galactica was rebooted into perhaps the darkest, grittiest and in my opinion the best sci-fi TV series to date. Suddenly main characters became expendable, the stakes got higher, nothing and no one was sacred and I was hooked week after week desperately hoping and completely in the dark whether the characters I grew to care about would make it to the end of the episode.

The first preview of SGU aired during the final episodes (or episode, I don’t quite remember) of Battlestar Galactica. Expecting the Stargate I knew so well, I was quite surprised by the shadowed hues and the chaos on the screen. Desperation was the theme of the preview. The trailer was dubbed "Frantic" and the tag line read: “The only mission is survival”. That brief peek into SGU showed us very clearly that we weren't in the safety of Cheyenne Mountain anymore.

stargate universe blog - denkiva jyunbi

What I loved about Stargate was the balance. Dark and sometimes brutal was always pulled back into the light and often sometimes ridiculous. Who can forget Wormhole X-Treme! Characters were introduced and episodes written sometimes purely to be comedic, and even when our heroes faced the greatest odds, we always knew that in the end they would prevail. There was some comfort in the predictability that the good guys won out in the end. Even death didn’t keep some characters from turning up again (albeit one ended up as a clone) but anyway…

So now, why the drastic change? Why take a much loved formula that has created a devoted following and turn it on its head? Why potentially alienate the fan base? Are they trying to repeat the ratings success and the gap that Battlestar left behind? Or are they just simply, looking at Stargate in a different light and trying something new? Personally, I am open for the change. I’ve been a Stargate fan, since Kurt Russel played Jack O’Neill on the big screen and 15 years later I’m still a Stargate fan. It will be great to see Daniel and Jack in the context of this reinvention, if only for one episode. In a way it a passing of the torch to the third generation of Stargate and I’m excited to see where Robert Cooper will take us this time around. Who knows, if this doesn't work, perhaps they'll finally green-light Wormhole X-Treme!

denkiva
Sunday 6/21/09 - 2:00AM

WHAT DO YOU THINK?
VOTE HERE!

What do YOU think about the new direction of Stargate?
Sound off here!

denkiva	Latest page update: made by denkiva , Jun 21 2009, 6:46 AM EDT (about this update About This Update Edited by denkiva 10 words added 8 words deleted view changes - complete history)
	Keyword tags: None More Info: links to this page

Threads for this page

denkiva

What do YOU think about the new direction of Stargate? Sound off here (page: 1 2 3)

Jun 11 2010, 11:34 PM EDT by bluew679

Thread started: Jun 21 2009, 6:44 AM EDT Watch

So what do you think about the new look and feel of Stargate Universe? Why do you think the franchise has been changed?

Check out the new Stargate blog and sound off here!

http://stargateuniversetvshow.wetpaint.com/page/Stargate+Reinvented

Do you find this valuable?

Keyword tags:

Post reply

Show Last Reply

Post a new thread

Showing 1 of 1 featured threads for this page