Stargate: Universe Canceled

Television, Movies Games and Books Stargate Universe
#21

You know, I figured they would cancel Caprica, or maybe the would cancel Universe, but I never thought they would cancel both. So how did moving your shows to Tuesday work out for ya Syfy?
Universe was the only space opera on TV, and the last real big budget science fiction show, not set on Earth. Sadly, it may be the last one for a long time. Eureka, Warehouse 13, Sanctuary, Heaven… I’m sure they are fine shows, but that is not really what gets me excited to watch TV. Universe, Caprica - those are show which bring you into their world. They’re like movies every week. Cable TV is supposed to be a medium which you can do things that are a little outside of the mainstream, have more complex and arc story telling while still keeping high quality production values. But I guess Syfy wants to stick to the old style of cable; cheap shit that some people might kinda enjoy, and lots of re-runs of actual good shows, with extra commercials thrown in.

Goodbye Syfy, I guess I’m no longer part of your desired audience.
(Except for Blood and Chrome, that sounds badass.)

#22

Awww… I finally got caught up (well, almost - just started SGU). Hopefully they will at least find a way to wrap it up nicely, and not leave us with a nasty cliffhanger (Lookin’ at you, Farscape… The movie was nice, but man…)

#23

I think they were already wrapped for the season.

From what I understand, some of the cast even found out about the cancelation on Twitter. And not just the recurring actors (Park, James, etc) either.

At least we’ll get to see

[SPOILER]
Eli and McKay interact
[/spoiler]

#24

Thanks so much for the welcome! I have been meaning to post in here for some time but have found it in the past hard to wedge yourself into large, already established communities.

Although I agree producers have it harder these days, the comments made were uncalled for, especially for a show that was hinging on its already established audience before it was able to create one of its own. It wasn’t the first time the creators of an SG show opened their mouths and inserted their foots, but to me it seemed liked the last straw to many who were just fed up with them. It is sad to see Stargate go, but here is to hoping that sometime in the future it will be given another chance, hopefully with a fresh pair of hands at the helm.

#25

Lt. James

drool

They really needed to reveal more of her…um…characters. IYKWIM.

#26

Those are some major characters…IYKWIM

But I’ll bet they can be quite a handful to deal with…IYKWIM
…
…I’ll be in my bunk…

#27

figures… the very first time i really got into a Stargate series and they kill it

but on the plus side its pretty much the last show, i wanted to get the enhanced cable package. I can bring it down to basic and save some coin. Later i guess i’ll see if blood and chrome is worth the re-up, not surprised i mean brand it what you will SYFY is just nbc.

#28

So why do shows like SGU get cancelled, but a snore fest like The Ev3nt gets picked up for the rest of the season? Makes no sense to me.

Yes, I can see the effects being expensive. But, shows like B5 managed to make it work.

And, Blood and Chrome will prolly be more heavy on the effects. I hope it gets a Friday time slot and not the mark of doom that is Tuesday night.

#29

Wow. SF does it again. I’m not really too much a fan of SGU (I think someone mentioned that it felt like a bad BSG knockoff in a post earlier, and I think that explains exactly why I never took to it), but as someone who’s just experienced the lethal blow of Caprica’s cancellation, I feel y’all! big hugs

And with SGU’s cancellation, it’s a bit of an indication of where SF is heading, and it’s kind of disappointing. Where am I supposed to find new scifi shows that are a bit more ‘meaty’ than stuff like Warehouse 13/Eureka now that SF doesn’t seem to be interested in making those types of shows anymore? There’s Blood and Chrome, but after those two cancellations, I worry that it’ll be a strictly action based sci fi show - which, don’t get me wrong, could be awesome, but I want something meaty like BSG or Caprica - to ‘fit’ better with SF’s new identity. I guess Fringe is it for now! As long as it does all right on fridays, and it has a better shot of making it than the then new Dollhouse and Firefly, since it’s on its third season and already has a built in fanbase and viewers (and good thing this season has been fantastic too), I think Fox will keep it.

I don’t know whether The Event is any good (haven’t watched it, and probably not going to), but I think the biggest reason why The Event got its back X number of episodes for the season has little to do with quality but the fact that NBC just doesn’t have a lot of shows, period. It needs to keep some of the new if not too successful shows this year around just to fill the holes in the schedule that were left from the idiot Jay Leno experiment (which basically stripped the network of any hour long dramas, and on top of it, they didn’t have a lot of new programming last fall because they didn’t think they needed it because Leno filled the week), and that the Law and Order franchise got axed too.

It’s the same reason why (thankfully) Chuck went from ‘almost cancelled’ pretty much at the end of every season to ‘pretty much definitely getting a 5th season’ and shockingly, show anchor (Chuck doesn’t have the best ratings, but it’s solid), and why (thankfully) awesome low rated comedies like Community and Parks got their second and third seasons respectively (and hopefully, both get renewed because NBC is so weak).

#30

well said.

#31

Good article on Gateworld about the cancellation:
Six Reasons SGU Was Cancelled

#32

Just a quick thot on the whole Wrestling thing. I don’t have a problem with Wrestling. I don’t watch it. I don’t even think about it. If it pays the bills for SyFy, so be it. The problem I have is the cancelling. Most of these shows are barely given a chance before they are replaced with a different show. I really don’t get the business sense there. Aren’t they spending the same money for the new show as the old show?

I remember when UPN was starting up and they were promoting Star Trek: Voyager around shows like The Sentinel, Nowhere Man, and Legend. Then all of a sudden, a huge shift. Voyager stayed around but was bookmarked with Moesha and Wrestling. They even had an episode of Voyager where Seven wrestles The Rock called Tsunkatse. I mean, don’t get me wrong, but isn’t that slumming? This is frakkin Star Trek. That’s like Richard Burton doing an info-mercial!

By the time Star Trek: Enterprise showed up, it was the only SF/Fantasy show on that channel. When a commercial came on to promote the show it was so strange. You had sitcom after sitcom, wrestling, and teen dramas. Then you’d see this ad for Enterprise. Total WTF moment.

In a perfect world, The Event, No Ordinary Family, V, etc would all be on the SyFy channel. That’s the way it should be. In fact, it might even make those shows better because they wouldn’t be trying to grab different demographics. When I go to the SF section of the book store, I don’t want to see self-help or trashy novels mixed in. I want SF!

#33

Take a gander at what syfy DMed me on twitter when I made a snide comment about not being able to watch 1 maybe 2 seasons of Being Human before it was cancelled.

Syfy It all depends on how many viewers watch & enjoy it. We can only keep successful show because TV is so expensive to make.

#34

I neither surprised or upset by the cancelation of SG-U. I was for Caprica, but not this one. I’m newer to the SG universe, so I was thrilled to have a new series to watch, but I never really liked it. Now I LOVED SG-A and the more SG-1 I watch, the more I love it. SG-U was a complete disconnect for me. I watched mainly to be supportive of the genre and show SyFy that viewers want sci-fi content of some kind on that channel.

I really hate the wrestling, though I understand the business side of it. I just worry that it will push away more series creation time and energy.

#35

I loved SG-1 but never got into SG-A. Thus I figured I’d skip SG-U. But a bad cold left me laid up on the couch watching Netflix and I decided to give it a try. I was hooked by about episode 3. I even spent $$ to buy the first half of S2 on iTunes so I could be caught up in time to start watching live in January.

I 100% agree with you! Eli is a fantastic character because he’s so complex. He’s neither a straight geek-boy-genius like Wesley Crusher nor an archetypal fish out of water, despite being the one person with zero preparation for the Stargate mission. I have loved watching his character development.

I think Chloe is a total waste of a character who has a lot of potential. TJ, though, I really enjoy. She’s starting to be much, much more than the medic who stupidly slept with her CO and regrets it, or the woman grieving for a lost pregnancy. She’s starting to have more depth.

Camille, though, is so frakking awesome. She’s crafty, smart, self-assured and understands herself in a way that characters like her often don’t seem to. Also, I love what the show has done with her relationship. A gay character who is not defined by her sexuality is rare. Rarer still is a gay character whose romantic relationship is also not defined by issues related to her sexuality. I was looking forward to seeing more of Camille–much more than just 10 more eps :frowning:

#36

I’ve begun to wonder if the change was the build up to her eventual departure, a more long term narrative than say Kes on Voyager. Chloe was from the get the go the “relationship” focus of the show but being so young perhaps always a little less interesting than the older characters for the demographic SGU was probably aiming for. It may sound sexist but Eli a similar age with slightly different issues always came across better and Scott slightly older despite being well the “needs to grow up” soldier boy got a pass perhaps because of varying social standards from the viewers perspective. TJ despite being rather a cliché has grown but her role onboard demanded it, Chloe had nothing similar in the first 30 episodes and that’s no fault of the actress.

Camille has been interesting, she was written to be disliked and the worse example of the IOA oversight we’ve (well some of us) have experienced via SG1 and Atlantis. However both her own experiences on board and on Earth (via the stones) has produced a rounded mature character and maybe the most balanced one in the show and who wasn’t impressed with her solution for Eli and his mother whilst at the same time denying herself that avenue because it was the right thing to do.
For all my love of SG1 and to a slightly lesser extent SGA that is what SGU has brought us and I think reflects the demands of the more modern audience, however there just wasn’t enough to justify the costs involved. Cheap and cheerful is the sat/cable way and before anyone say Walking Dead or Spartacus the former was just 6 eps and the latter uber green screen, both of which would not have served the SG franchise.

The sad fact is that if we want a scifi show you know with aliens and space ships then it may be a while, the viewing public has made it’s desires known even if the ratings system doesn’t tell the whole story but does highlight the crumbling business model of linear ad driven television.

#37

The sad fact is that if we want a scifi show you know with aliens and space ships then it may be a while, the viewing public has made it’s desires known even if the ratings system doesn’t tell the whole story but does highlight the crumbling business model of linear ad driven television.

Exactly. And it’s not just Science Fiction or the Syfy channel. Pay cable stations like HBO and Showtime may be the only place left for actual serious dramas in a few years. Science Fiction get hit the worst though, since Sci-Fi is almost always very expensive to make.

And lets face it, while SGU was a complex drama with a fairly large cast, I don’t think it was much harder to follow then other non-sci-fi dramatic series (such as House, 24, most Legal Dramas). I think all of that is going to be going away on cable.

//youtu.be/hj7c0J_V1L8

#38

A funny yet depressing movie.