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Trouble at Stargate SG-1
jonerik writes "Salon has this article today about the troubles behind the scenes for Showtime's "Stargate SG-1." Since Michael Shanks left the show in October (a result of his unhappiness with the show's change in focus to "X-Files"-influenced government conspiracy plotlines), women have been abandoning the show in droves. The problems come at a bad time. MGM, which produces the show, is looking to be bought out by a sugar daddy. And the Sci-Fi Channel, which is taking the program over from Showtime for its sixth and final season, can't be happy at the prospect of ending up with a troubled show with plummeting ratings and a fanbase in revolt. "
I have yet to see the more recent episodes, but several of the episodes
I have seen have been quite excellent (and some others well... weren't)
but I know a lot of people who consider SG1 among the best SciFi on TV.
Personally I'll take Lexx & Farscape over it, but its not bad.
The Sci-Fi Channel's original television programs rarely air for more than one season before being cancelled.
There has to be a reason why Showtime is selling them ownership of the series, too; my guess is that they had anticipated this.
I've watched it a few times late at night (reruns); it didn't seem to be "the best of Sci-Fi," but it's certainly watchable and occasionally exhibits signs of intelligence among the writers.
Do you like German cars?
It's light entertainment, people. Get a grip.
Stargate SG1 was a great series. I can't understand why everytime they get a great thing going, they try to imitate something else and end up a failed ripoff of another show's concept. Seems like everytime I find a show I like, they change it or cancel it. Meanwhile usless garbage like Crossing Over with John Edward is STILL on. I didn't buy it the first season. Who is watching that con man?
"Da ist ein Technölüst in mein Unterpanten!"
StarTrek has done it, Stargate should give it a go as well.
I am sure that people will find there is a lot of money in this sort of thing. I am sure you could have Stargate-AOL or something else. The possibilities are endless - Stargate Credit Card, Bank. You could even have a special log on for your favourite online services eg amazon, ebay, google?
Go out and get sailing!
Taco proposes marriage on valentines day, 12 hours later, hes posting stories on slashdot, rather than out spening a romantic evening with his new fiancee.
This, my frineds, is the alpha geek. Aspire to this, and learn from the master.
No!!!
CmdrTaco: I have yet to see the more recent episodes, but several of the episodes I have seen have been quite excellent...
She's gotten to you already! And you just officially became non-single at, like, 9:45am this morning!
First, it's "No, honey, instead of watching Stargate or X-Files or whatever TV show that is, let's go to the new arts & crafts show at the mall".
Next, it'll be "Oh, Robby, could you be a doll and clean up the entire house? I'm not feeling too good this week. Don't forget the toilet and the shower."
Then, she'll be saying "Hey sweetie, don't go with Hemos to that Linux show again. You go every single year and I grow so lonely when you're away. Abandon your friends and let's go rent another movie from Blockbuster!
Finally, it may come to "Rob, quit it with that damn Slashdot crap already. And why haven't you changed your vulgar and perverted username yet?!"
;-)
My Slashdot Research
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I was amused that the Salon article makes such a big deal about women liking Michael Shanks's character (the archeologist) because of his intelligence and sensitivity.
Really, this is just an example of the old stick-glasses-on-a-really-good-looking-guy routine, and then tell the audience that the guy is unpopular/sensitive/etc. When Michelle Pfeiffer plays dowdy characters, they stick glasses on her too, and the audience is supposed to believe that no one in the movie notices how beautiful she is.
So, Salon spends pages concocting a complicated explanation for why women find an attractive man attractive. Nice.
Check out my blog: My Galaxy is Milky Way Adjacent
Hello? Earth to CmdrTaco? You just proposed today. She said yes. WTF are you doing posting a story tonight?
Woops, sorry I've to go. My g.f. wants to know WTF I'm doing on the computer right now. (Actually, she asked me this 20 minutes ago; just answering e-mail, dear).
Oh shit, this is too weird. Now I really have to go. She just asked me again just before I could hit the submit button. Sheesh, they *do* have a sixth sense.
But, rewatching the original movie, I was reminded again as to who the real central character of this story used to be. And what it used to be about.
It's very disappointing to see how far this series has strayed from the things that made it great. Dr. Daniel Jackson was the embodiment of everything that was great about Stargate. The rest of the characters were expendable. Granted, it wouldn't have been the same without them, especially Teal'c, but it could have stayed true to Stargate. Stargate without Daniel Jackson just isn't Stargate...
I'm very sorry to see this series go...
"Convictions are more dangerous enemies of truth than lies."
Jokes about CT being married became old at exactly 09:29AM.
autopr0n is like, down and stuff.
'cause I watch (and love) SG-1 on Fox (or is it CBS? I dunno, but god I love that my TiVo does) instead of Cinemax, and therefore am running a year or two behind the production episodes, I still have a year or two of good episodes left! Nyah, nyah!
And since none of my friends have Cinemax either (at least not ones who are SG-1 fans) I don't have to hear spoilers two years in advance...
Kevin Fox
"We had Gilgamesh, Ulysses, Beowulf, Don Quixote, David Copperfield and now Daniel Jackson,"
I liked the show, but if you want to experience fully developed characters that are complex, go read a book. Having read the books quoted, I don't consider the character "Danial Jackson" on the same level. How about read the Upanisad, baghavadghita, Ramayana, the Iliad, the Odyssey, the old testament, No exit, Faerie Queen, Cantebury tales, Don Juan, Hildebrant and Hadubrant (old german epic) or Frankenstein? I love TV, but people should read the "classics" and know where TV draws from.
I think Stargate is great, if usually somewhat light, entertainment. They hit many of the standard SF stories, but put good twists on them. E.g. in the typical episode where some of the characters are caught in a time loop, eventually they just get tired of living the same day over and over, and start having some fun -- hitting golf balls through the stargate, punching people, kissing people, etc. Or when about halfway through the episode they finally revealed that at the beginning of each time loop, Teal'c was getting hit in the face by a door, and was getting seriously sick of that. Ok, getting hit in the face by a door isn't the funniest thing in the world, but they stuck it into an episode that "should have" been very serious, but which started turning quite silly.
That's also what I like about Farscape. Often when I'm watching it, I think I know where the episode is going (having seen it on Star Trek, or Outer Limits, etc.), but then they end up turning in a direction I didn't expect. Sometimes funny, sometimes not.
Macgyver will always be better in Macgyver.
Some points on this article...
There've been something like 10-20 conspiracy themed episodes out of the 109 they've shown. (I know, I have them ALL on DivX. Seriously, I'm an addict.) And conspiracy-heavy eps tend to have other themes mixed in with them, so its not just a complete X-Files rip-off. (Though I will admit the show became more 'political' than 'exploratory'.)
The latex-clad babe (I think they're referring to Anise) showed up in all of three episodes back in the middle of the 4th season. In general I've been happy with their limited use of sex symbols. At least Anise had some realistic premise for being sexy, unlike, say, Seven of Nine.
They killed off the Daniel Jackson character on the 2nd last ep of the 5th season. That's the season that just finished. So there's been all of one episode without Michael Shanks in it. Not quite a lot of time for anyone to abandon the show.
The character they're planning on replacing him with (Jonas Quinn, played by Corin Nemic) is almost like Jackson. Not the 'hunk' that the Wired article suggests. He's intelligent, moral, with sense of wonder... They may have some trouble making him different from Daniel.
Yes, Daniel has been under-used as of late. Though he has had episodes where he's focused, in the others he tends to be sidelined. And him leaving will be a hard hit. Jonas/Corin has big shoes to fill. But I think the article's exagerating the situation just a little.
In conclusion... I think they're mostly banging on about nothing.
The opinons expressed are those of the voices in the author's head and are not necessarily those of the author.
He did? What role did he play in the movie? I don't remember seeing him in it. Perhaps you're thinking of James Spader...
"Convictions are more dangerous enemies of truth than lies."
Now that he's getting married, I believe he'll be hearing more about periods than he wants to.
I am dissappointed with the direction SG-1 apparently has taken. I see mostly the syndicated version on the local UPN, which apparently was the first several seasons. I liked many of the planetary expedition episodes. They had a slight star-trek feel without always the crappy technical solution.
I could never get into the X-Files. Frankly, the constant plot of a government conspiracy became tiresome. Occasionally (maybe once per season), it works ok, but I'm not surprised they too it too far.
Yes, Daniel Jackson was the best character on the show. Definately not for the "sensistive" reasons given, but that he was the most intelligenct and logical character. Anyone who liked the Spock/Data/Tuvok character sees that Jackson is the Stargate equivalent. And, of course, being a geek I can relate to how the character is portrayed. It is weird that shows are portrayeing the geeks as the sex symbols now (just look at the Vulcan on Enterprise).
"The universe seems neither benign nor hostile, merely indifferent." --Carl Sagan
It's not just women who are pissed at the change in the series, and it's not just because a character was killed off.
The conspiracy angle has seriously polluted most of the recent shows. As an exercise on another board we've been reframing some of the recent "non-conspiracy" stories without the adolescent confrontation that's become so common recently. Without exception, everyone agreed that these modified story lines were better drama and closer to the original feel of the episode.
To be blunt, the series was interesting to adults. But now, dude, you diss'd my man and I gotta cut you! There's nothing wrong with shows directed at teenage males who want to see a righteous ass-kicking, but that's not what Stargate SG-1 has been. This change is as unwanted as if ER became a horror story with at least one vampire victim every week, or the Friends storyline suddenly focused on Monica beating the crap out of Chandler every week and all of his friends abandoned him because they couldn't deal with the spousal abuse.
For every complex problem there is an answer that is clear, simple, and wrong. -- H L Mencken
Scene: Patty and Selma's loungeroom. In the corner sits a robot Pierce Brosnan with a coat over the top and a sign reading "out of order". The television is on.
Patty: MacGyver is quitting stargate! He's abandoning us!
Selma: I'll never watch this program again!
Patty: Thank god for our collectors edition of MacGyver on DVD (fetches a disk and slaps it in).
Patty and Selma (lighting up): Aaaaaaaaah
Send lawyers, guns, and money!
That "big boobed chick" has a name - Vanessa Angel. She was the genie in the Weird Science series.
Her character is human, but has a Goa'uld symbiot. Except they call themselves Tok'ra and are good guys. O'Neill was tempted, but he has strong reasons to distrust the Goa'uld and doesn't fully trust the Tok'ra.
It's no crime to "knock off" Enemy Mine because that story predated that movie by a long time. It wouldn't surprise me to learn that the story dates to the ancient Greeks.
Finally, it was Col. O'Neill and Major Carter who were locked up. Daniel and Teal'c were 'clean.'
For every complex problem there is an answer that is clear, simple, and wrong. -- H L Mencken
What are you talking about!? I'd pay good money to see that happen.
Hey,that's not true. There are the ones where:
1. Main characters use Stargate to go to strange world.
2. Something bad comes back with them (person/device/unexpected change/etc.) that wreaks havoc in the base.
3. Just before something bad becomes something worse (that destroys the world/takes over the base/makes MacGyver's eyes permanently glow/etc.) they come up witha solution.
4. Something bad is destroyed or sent back through the gate.
more than 1,000 protests had been phoned into Cohen's office.
I knew these women were out there! CmdrTaco won't be the only one!!!
I wonder if Cohen kept any phone numbers...
I stole this Sig
Showtime may change one or two things about the show before passing it on to the Sci-Fi Channel, as evidenced by this recently leaked image.
---
"Sic 'em up, little buddy."
[PowerPoint] is a tool for capitalist presentation
Obviously he found the Stargate that had been buried in ancient Egypt, repurposed it into a tim emachine using duct tape and a ballpoint pen, and teleported himself into the series.
For those of you who can read Portuguese (or its sibling language Spanish), a short overview of MGM's decadence by Ruy Castro.
Leandro Guimarães Faria Corcete DUTRA
DA, DBA, SysAdmin, Data Modeller
GNU Project, Debian GNU/Lin
When is this show on anyway? I used to watch it every week, but I've reset my VCR 4 times based on the TV listings and it's never on when it's supposed to be.
This was only one of two shows that I ever watched regularly, but I didn't even know Shanks had left the cast - I think I got half of that episode on tape, but they must have screwed with the schedule then too because it got cut off just after the opening credits...
Anyway, the meandering point I was coming to is: for a show that is (was?) produced in Vancouver, it's impossible to find it here even if you're looking for it. I don't doubt that ratings have dropped with that sort of thing going on.
One more excellent show swirling in the bowl because somebody had to make changes for the sake of change, rather than to make things better... the need to "put one's mark" on something to justify their position/existence will be the end of us all.
sig fault
There *is* a televised version of H2G2 and it wasn't too great. Although I have a soft spot for it because it introduced me to H2G2.
I've never seen Lexx so I've no idea how good it is.
Read the article a little more closely. Women find him emotionally and intellectually attractive, not just physically attractive.
He's not just good looking, he has personality traits that make him attractive, and last time I checked, looks != everything.
--Dan
Really, this is just an example of the old stick-glasses-on-a-really-good-looking-guy routine, and then tell the audience that the guy is unpopular/sensitive/etc. When Michelle Pfeiffer plays dowdy characters, they stick glasses on her too, and the audience is supposed to believe that no one in the movie notices how beautiful she is.
It's true. For example, I wear glasses, but I'm really a hairy-bellied, testosterone-fuelled Neanderthal sadist.
Anyway, back on topic. I use to love SG1, but I knew it was all going downhill the moment they brought in the actor who plays Q to play some Pentagon conspirator. It was a real Fonz-jumping-the-shark moment. I just hope they don't go all Babylonn-5, spend half a series building up to a huge climax, then it's over in a single episode, the two major forces in the galaxy make up and go off together and Sheridan becomes President of the Universe. That would have been a natural close to the story, where do you go after that? But they had to keep milking the franchise. It's getting worse than Police Academy.
Welcome to Global incompetance.
Stargate plays, or played, on Global. I don't know if it still does because I've got fed up with this conspiracy crap mixed in with repeats, but it used to be on Monday at 8 or 9 PM on Global TV here in BC.
The problem that I've always had is that the shows are never in the right order. Picture this: Show A, with preview for Show B next week. Show B, with preview for C. E with preview for F. F with preview for G. C for D, D for E, G for H, and so on. My guess is, Global gets the unlabelled tapes in boxes of 6 at a time and doesn't have time to watch them first.
Oh well. I'll buy the DVD box-sets, and that'll be that. I've been watching since the second half of the first episode (I've never seen the first hour, but I've tuned in an hour late for it five times), and lately, it's just not worth the hassle. Either MGM is screwing up (well, they are for sure now), or Global is screwing up (which I can easily see happening), or everyone's screwing up and no one knows wtf is going on.
Either way, DVDs are nice. Mmm, director commentary.
--Dan
I have to agree. I prefer my science fiction to be portrayed as such - not masquarade as fact (War of the Worlds aside).
I suppose John Edwards is simply the latest testimate to mankinds desperation to believe in something (be it the desire to witness the supernatural, or the need to deal with grief). Its the same desire that blinds the masses to the constant abuse of organized religion (be it cults or more established faiths).
Of course - one might be able to argue that this same desire is the subject of the movie Trekkers.
Jeez man! Get digital! You just missed Buffy the Musical as well.
It is a shame that MGM tried to add elements from Star Trek or X files into Stargate. IMHO Stargate was / is better, the people seem real, the threading was getting better as well.
/.
If MGM have any sense then they might read this on
"Because we are not employing at entry level, offshoring will kill our industry stone dead."
I have always maintained that the Sci-Fi channel is where great Sci-fi shows go to DIE...and I knew as soon as I heard about Stargate going there that its fate was sealed. They do have some good Original series on sci-fi, although even then they have staying power problems...however when a show makes the switch to sci-fi its all over....pity, I was actually looking forward to seeing the 6th season at the same time as everyone else, instead of a year behind like on fox...Now who knows...:
Power Corrupts,Absolute Power Corrupts Absolutely, leaving one person(group)in charge is absolutely corrupt.
You are mostly correct. Except, Sorbo himself also wanted more guns and fight scenes.
/. article from last month
Here's the
and the slipstream article.
Apparently, that's also how he strong-armed such great ratings for Hercules. (pun intended *ducks*)
Note the following from SS:
One large difference between the changes for the two shows is that all of Andromeda's main characters seem to be staying on board. In fact, it seems that main star Kevin Sorbo will be very influential in the creative tone of the series from now on. Sorbo has always said he had a major hand in the creative success of his former series Hercules, and hopefully that experience will enable him to let Andromeda continue to be a successful show as well.
What I was always disappointed with was that it was on showtime. Well, more accurately I was disappointed that I can't _afford_ showtime. Eventually I just settled for pirating the shows off the net. Really poor quality, and the studios don't get any money, but what choice do I have? Wait over a year for it to get to public TV and then have it stuck in a horrible time slot?
Argh, when will they realize that there are a LOT of people interested in on-demand video!
Travis
SMG actually acquits herself nicely. I was surprised. Amber Benson, Anthony Stewart Head, and Hinton Battle kick ass. Nicholas Brendon and Emma Caulsen are okay. James Marsters is about the same but gets the best song of the show. Michelle Trachtenberg and Allyson Hannigan can't sing worth a damn but they don't get more than a handful of lines.
And there's Willow/Tara sex!
>>When you come up with a good first series that everyone likes, don't EVER change it.
Characters and situations that never change is BORING. And Friends(along with most sitcoms) is a perfect example of that kind of crap.
>>Buffy - Started great, then they moved to college. And please understand this simple fact: Most people who watch Sci-Fi are male geeks. We do NOT like watching dumb footballer/jocks getting with hot girls.
I seriously doubt the demographics match your perception. I think it's safe to say that more women watch Buffy than "male geeks". Of course, women hated Riley too but he was written out of the show over a year ago. And Buffy treated him like crap anyways.
As for Buffy, the 6th season is shaping up to be its best yet. I'm sure the situation with Spike is irking you even more though. I'm sure you'd prefer that Buffy settled down with Jonathan or something.
As a series, Buffy has *always* toyed with developing characters and changing the situations. Angel going evil and killing Jenny Calendar. The revolving door of characters. Spike's relationship with Buffy. Xander and Anya getting engaged. Willow's relationships with Oz and Tara. The inventive villains.
Change is generally a good thing though it's a risk. And change isn't always done intentionally. It just happens. Would you have Buffy still be set in High School this season?
My life has gone through so many changes in the past six years it's not even funny. I've moved six times, lived in five different cities, worked four different jobs in three different industries and had relationships with two women, one of whom I loved.
If I were still in college going down to the game room at the HUB to play Magic, I'd be bored out of my mind and clawing my eyes out in agony. I certainly don't want to watch a TV show that's *less* interesting than my own life.
>>X-Files - Started great, then they suddenly took scully out with some stupid cancer government conspiracy.
That's because the actress was pregnant, moron.
Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Angel are both excellent shows.
Oh, and Survivor, though YMMV.
you've never seen lex so you don't know how good it isn't.
The Kruger Dunning explains most post on
Lexx doesn't make any sense until you know that it's a Canadian-German coproduction. That pretty much says it all.
As for sci-fi on TV these days... thank god for Farscape and Enterprise. Otherwise, it's in a pretty sad state.
---If you can't trust a nerd, who can you trust?
Stargate plays, or played, on Global. I don't know if it still does because I've got fed up with this conspiracy crap mixed in with repeats, but it used to be on Monday at 8 or 9 PM on Global TV here in BC.
I watched it there and then for over a year, then it disappeared... since then, the time has changed every week according to the listings, but has never been on when it was listed.
Don't know if they're trying to kill it or the listings are wrong. It sucks anyway.
sig fault
Huh? Why are there no comments to this story?
-- Ed Avis ed@membled.com