Official Stargate franchise thread

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kayone73
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Official Stargate franchise thread

On the suggestion of the kind moderators, I'm starting this thread as an open forum to discuss anything relating to the Stargate tv/film franchise from the original Roland Emmerich film that started it all, to any of the successive tv series, SG-1, Atlantis, Universe and even that short live *cough* animated series Stargate: Infinity.

I'll just start off by saying I grew up watching the original movie and thought it was cool but not timeless and all I remembered was it had Kurt Russel and that 'Crying Game' guy playing the main villain (Jaye Davidson).

Didn't start watching any of the tv series until right after SG:A got cancelled and replaced with SG:U. I started watching SG:U on tv to fill the void left behind by Battlestar and got quickly drawn into the whole mythos of the Stargate 'Universe' and quickly went back and watched the entire back catalogue of SG-1 and SG:A to understand what was going on. Been a fan ever since.
FordR
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Re: Official Stargate franchise thread

I'm currently re-watching all of SG1 right now actually.

I myself don't recall precisely how or where I started, but fairly sure it was with SG1 and not the original movie. From there I've seen pretty much everything stargate released. I must say I personally hated SG:U but supremely enjoyed both Atlantis and SG1.
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kayone73
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Re: Official Stargate franchise thread

I think what makes the SG franchise so great is also what makes it difficult to get into if youre not there from the start: the serialized style storytelling, strict adherence to continuity in universe and constant self-referencing. I didn't watch SG-1 when it originally aired and didn't have cable TV at the time. SG:A I didn't originally watch because I didn't watch SG-1 so the random eps I caught looked interesting, but I had no clue what was going on so it didn't hold my interest. Only after I was able to watch everything in bulk on DVD and netflix streaming, did I really eat up the shows. Once I started it was hard to stop.
FordR
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Re: Official Stargate franchise thread

Another thing that makes it rather enjoyable to watch is the dynamic among the central cast. You really do get sort of a family vibe from them all and that can hinder or boost your enjoyment of it.

To SG:A's credit, they did sorta try to explain it with the first episode or two so you didn't theoretically need to have watched SG-1 but it was a huge boon if you did.

I'm curious as to what precisely behind SG:U drew you in? (What part of the mythos) Because to me it seemed fairly bland and it's the only show in the trio that I can accuse of violating stargate continuity. But that is from the perspective of someone who's seen all of the other shows when it came to that. It also doesn't have the aforementioned family vibe with the lack of a main team. (Though Dr. Rush being a huge expletive was most entertaining to watch.)
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Apsalas
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Re: Official Stargate franchise thread

Just finished Atlantis on Sky +. Good but could have done with a 6th season or at least the movie that was cancelled. Sheppard and Ronin (the Barbarian) were always good fun.
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FordR
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Re: Official Stargate franchise thread

Yeah Atlantis did come out rather rushed. But at least it got some semblance of an ending unlike SG:U, unfortunately. :/
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kayone73
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Re: Official Stargate franchise thread

Apsalas wrote:Just finished Atlantis on Sky +. Good but could have done with a 6th season or at least the movie that was cancelled. Sheppard and Ronin (the Barbarian) were always good fun.
Ronon was alright and definitely had his moments, esp the ep with him and Teal'c, that was good times. I still think Sheppard and McKay were the 'heart and soul' of that show, and incidentally on wiki, those two actors are the only ones to have appeared in EVERY EP of Atlantis. David Hewlitt is a brilliant actor, as the one where he gets Alzheimers, shows.

FordR: SG:U drew me in only because I never really watched SG other than the original movie and I needed something to fill that BSG void. I liked it from the start despite the clunky start and the references to the SG mythos was enough to keep me intrigued. But I agree if I was already an existing SG-1 or SGA fan I would have been turned off.

Question; who was your favorite expedition commander from Atlantis. I have to say despite his late entrance, Woolsey was my fave by far, esp because his character evolved so much from his origins in SG-1. Weir always came across as a bit dull too me, much like Capt Janeway of Voyager, and her heavy handed conscience I felt made the story drag. I really wanted to like Sam Carter in the expedition leader role, but I felt like she was just 'phoning in' her performance that season w a few exceptional moments and I heard she was really distracted with pre production business for Sanctuary.
FordR
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Re: Official Stargate franchise thread

I agree, Sheppard and Mckay were a pretty defining pair for me as well.

No what I was asking is, what specifically about SG:U drew you in? I'm curious.

Favorite expedition commander, hm...Well I felt Weir didn't do a bad job, wasn't fantastic or anything, but a good job. I would still agree with Woolsey even if he's only there for such a short time in comparison. His character did really evolve from just a guest character to a good commander.

Also, what are your thoughts on SG:U as a whole?

Like I myself stated, on the whole I felt it was a pretty terrible show, even if some episodes did become good or proceed in a good direction, the next or the one after that pretty much crashed it back down again. This is the only show out of the three where, instead of being forced to search for characters I didn't like, I had to search for characters I could tolerate or gain enjoyment out of. (For myself this was pretty much relegated to Dr. Rush and Greer, with everyone else just being annoying or, in the case of Chloe, entirely pointless.) I also didn't like how it violated stargate continuity, the major example of this being where three characters *I don't recall exactly who, I think Eli, Scott, and Chloe, whoever* were left in another galaxy, and at the start of the next episode they just gate back to Destiny even though they're not supposed to be able to do that because of lack of power.

I also didn't like how the crew of the ship was split into factions, it shifted more focus away from exploration and more on the sheer lack of camaraderie or co-operation presented in both of the previous shows.

What did you think?
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kayone73
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Re: Official Stargate franchise thread

What drew me into SG:U was the dark atmosphere and the occasional references to the expanded Stargate mythos and legend of the Ancients, stuff that I did not know very well, so I was very intrigued. I was not turned off by the factionalism at all because it made sense in the context of the show: none of the characters were there by choice and forced into a situation that brought out the very worst in people. I understand why fans complain because they want more of the same, but fan wishes tend to want to keep a winning formula the same and they are not beneficial for the continued evolution of a franchise, so despite the early death of the series I am glad they went w that formula and not just retread what has been done before. Sound familiar when pertaining to the Gundam frnachise?
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