Good Ol’ Stargate SG-1

So I started rewatching Stargate SG-1 (its not on netflix so I had to bust out the DVDs, which is fine since I have the whole series). I wanted to remember why I consider is my favorite live action tv series, and now I remember! Its writing is consistently smart and hilarious! Even over 10 years, I loved the show straight into its final season, and I even dug the DVD movie followups, especially Ark of Truth! The whole show reinvented itself for season’s 9 and 10, and despite my initial  skepticism at replacing the irreplaceable O’neil and introducing a new seemingly unstoppable nemesis, it actually worked wonderfully. Startgate was a big franchise, but I feel like it never did hit the main stream. Sure, it has a massive fan base, but it’s certainly not Star Trek of Star Wars. Still, for me, it consistently delivered the most entertainment value out of the three Star**** franchises! I’m still probably more of a Star Wars fanboy, but it sure as heck doesn’t deliver as consistent a level of entertainment as Stargate did…

I loved Stargate Atlantis, too, but its constantly shifting cast circa season 4 and 5 gave it a disjointed feel that I wasn’t so keen on. And then UGH Stargate Universe!! It’s like they were doing everything they could to make a series I couldn’t stand! Hard to believe it was the same creators as the other two series. Still better than the Star Wars prequels, though.

Published on by | 5 Comments on Good Ol’ Stargate SG-1

  • jagerninja

    See, when I look at Stargate Universe, I remember that Battlestar Galactica ended at approximately the same time, and I don’t think that’s coincidence. The channel’s best received show ever had just ended, and they were trying to make lightning strike twice by producing another gritty, political sci-fi drama, throwing it in the same universe as one of their most popular franchises for good measure.

    It ended up being a colossal failure, exactly because they shoehorned Stargate into a story that was decidedly not Stargate.

    • http://www.nn4b.com suburban_samurai

      Yeah I would’ve preferred a story that centered more on episodic gate exploration. Incorporating the concept of an intelligent signal embedded in the big bang noise is a COOL IDEA, but the series took forever to introduce it, and since everyone was so preoccupied with their silly Battlestar Galactica style survival antics, what could’ve been an amazing, driving purpose to the series was completely overshadowed by nonsensical ‘surviving by the skin of our teeth’ storylines. I mean, if they could communicate with earth using the stones, you’re telling me that all those brilliant minds back on earth couldn’t come up with a solution??? Nuts to that! They should’ve just been completely cut off from earth entirely if they wan’t the ‘just trying to survive’ plot to work.

      But in the end, the biggest problem with that series, for me, at least, was a serious lack of likable characters. Everyone, minus Eli, came off as contrite, petty, obnoxious, brooding, or whiny. Also, all the silly relationships that kept forming and falling apart had me really scratching my head! There was so little chemistry between characters. And I can’t believe they didn’t toss Rush out an airlock immediately. That’s a character I can’t say I love to hate, he’s just a character I hate. OKAY, I’m going to stop complaining about SGU now! I could probably go on all day.

  • slogra

    Judging by Alex’s excited reactions, things are about to calm up.

  • Dorje

    My thought when I saw SGU pilot was, “oh god it’s season 1 Atlantis again, this could be bad” followed by “no it’s worse, it’s Voyageur”, ending with “how much more contrived can this get” and “where are my MST3K sock puppets.”

    I take jagerninja’s point about Battlestar Galactica ending, but that was kinda the point. It was over and time to move on. 4.5 years of grim-dark sci-fi survival is often well more than enough.

    I think what held Stargate back from the mainstream is that is was a show you followed and not lived. Star Trek and Star Wars have room in them for head canon, stories of the fanbase. You picture yourself there in those universes, being a member of Star Fleet, a Klingon, a scoundrel on the fringe, a Jedi or Sith. Stargate was actually a rather a full experience. It was kinda hard to say “I’m going to be a member of a gate-team” and so forth. It’s an awesome show and story, but as written there isn’t really much room for ones own Mary Sue.

    Conversely I think that’s what got George Lucas into trouble with Star Wars. It was left so open for so long it got filled with everyone else’s head canon and he lost control of his story. Too the point he couldn’t accept it.

  • bbo

    SGU’s pilot was really interesting, but the series was a low cost fat-gamer-fart-meets-cute-girl-teenie-drama. When it turned around and got interesting, they aborted it post-natal.