SGU’s cancellation was a Syfy decision. It wasn’t pulling in enough viewers, so I’d be surprised if another outlet was willing to try again at this point.
Man, I probably sound like a petulant fan boy who just can’t let go but I would argue that SyFy cancelled Universe but had it been season 7 of Atlantis or 15 of SG-1, who knows. Universe was a huge departure from the status quo as well as almost two years after the last episode from the previous series. I’m not sure anyone will ever agree why Universe had such poor ratings compared to previous shows but I can say with relative confidence that those two issues as well as SyFy’s handling of the show (moving it from off-season to prime season, moving it to Tuesday against the #1 show on TV, etc…) played a significant role. SyFy was moving away from true sci-fi well before Universe’s premier, while Atlantis and SG-1 were still on by some accounts, but they had a contract to adhere to, but if the show went away on it’s own…
I believe that there is still an audience out there if the show is done right and handled with respect and I think MGM personnel with more expertise than I have do too. Or maybe I’m a petulant fan boy who can’t let go. 
This. Especially Season 1.0. They found a good balance between character drama and Stargate action after that, especially in the last half season. Most people who were already skeptical but gave it a shot probably used that first half season to make their decision.
I know TPTB didn’t want to do 2 shows at the same time again, but if SGU had a 6th and final season of SGA as a lead in, it would have had time to find its footing before having to stand on its own. Heck, even if they hadn’t announced Atlantis being cancelled (with a wrap up movie they never delivered on), then announced SGU the next day it might have made a difference.
Heck, even if they hadn’t announced Atlantis being cancelled (with a wrap up movie they never delivered on), then announced SGU the next day it might have made a difference.
Agreed. Since I was never that big of an Atlantis fan, and was really interested in seeing a new Stargate show, I didn’t really care. Now that something very similar has happened to me in Caprica being cancelled the day after Blood and Chrome was announced, I know exactly how they felt. Good thing Syfy learned their lesson in not alienating their audience. :oops:
I’m sad to see the Stargate franchise go (as far as we know). Found here a clip collection of the most funniest scenes in all three series.
As unhappy to see SGA go as I was, I understood that people who had devoted years, in some cases a decade, to the franchise might want to move on or do something different and I didn’t begrudge them at all, it is after all their job where to us it’s simply entertainment. The issue was the poor handling of the announcements as stated above cancelling SGA and then in the wake of BSG’s final season announcement suddenly a new show with a similar premise and similar style is announced to take it’s place? Whether they were influenced by BSG or not, it certainly looked suspect and I know I’m not the only who noticed. Personally, I can believe them when they said the show’s concept existed pre-BSG, but concept can be a pretty vague term and could have referred to the 9th chevron, the exploration of other galaxies by an Ancient ship or any number of features that made Universe different from SG-1 and SGA, it doesn’t necessarily explain the obvious and possibly overt similarities to BSG.
Either way, in the end I really enjoyed the show and though my wife isn’t a fan she watched the show with me and was really interested in whether or not they would ever get home and was just as angry as I about the so-called “finale”.
The only thing I can hope is, in real-time, 3 years from now we get to see the Universe crew wake up in another galaxy, Woolsy and McKay have successfully secured the use of an appropriate planet and in the intervening years they’ve found a way to power the gate on the Destiny’s end to send everyone home so we can get people like Rodney (Rodney and Rush butting heads every day, can you imagine!?), Zelenka, Mitchell and Daniel on board for three more seasons. Of course I might as well start the fan-fic myself considering the likelihood of that.
An Open Letter regarding Stargate SGU cancellation from Syfy bigwig
http://www.gateworld.net/news/2011/05/an-open-letter-to-stargate-fans-from-syfy/
I skimmed through it because while I’m glad they decided to address the tragedy, I still believe they’re partially to blame for it and I’ve grown cynical to the point I take everything SyFy says with a grain of salt.
As was mentioned in the comments of the letter, the ratings system we use today is flawed and until we find another way to measure ratings, I’m afraid many good shows on television will get cancelled. What’s more, while the move from Fridays was explained well, the move to Tuesdays wasn’t addressed where it was competing directly with the number one show on television. The move from the off season to prime season was also not addressed.
Now, I also realize that SyFy isn’t solely to blame, as I’ve already mentioned in previous posts, there were many things done differently on MGM’s part that are just as responsible.
The letter could have said, “We made our decisions based on the only data we had and our priorities as an entertainment provider; if these results displeased you that is disappointing but we cannot please everyone. We hope you don’t hold the SyFy network solely responsible for handling of the show and the franchise as it was a joint effort.”
Instead the letter cites evidence they want us to consider in their defense, absolving them of all blame and sugarcoating the reasoning for cancellation. I don’t blame SyFy for making a business decision in their interest, but the name change from SciFi to SyFy isn’t insignificant.
Well, that’s certainly a big problem now. Nobody can agree on how to rate things like second day viewing, etc. Nonetheless, there’s increasing interest in web series, podcasts, et. al. We’re just in a weird transitional period, and the **AAs aren’t making it any easier.
I’ll never understand how the people who accept “37 Neilson families watched this show, so that means 28 million people watched” (or whatever) but won’t accept “20 million people streamed this in the first week, so 20 million people watched.”
I know it’s a moot point, but did you make up that 20 million number, or have you seen that many view counts on an SGU episode???
I all but literally pulled all 3 of those numbers out of my FEO*. I don’t know offhand how many people watched a particular episode of any show online or on TV, nor how many Neilsen** families did. I also don’t know how many actual viewers a single Neilsen** family represents.
I guess you could say it was not intended to be a factual statement. 
The numbers don’t matter; it’s the methodology I don’t understand.
*Fecal Extraction Orifice
**Nor do I apparently know how to spell “Nielsen” as I misspelled it in the previous post
I once read that Nielsen boxes actually had an input where punched in the number of people watching when you turned on the TV but I don’t know if it’s still that way or not. Obviously that doesn’t count online and DVR viewings either or the people who pirate because Hulu or some other online outlet doesn’t show it same day. It’s funny because they Hulu to supplement the live airing but if Hulu doesn’t air the most recent episode until after the next episode airs, it’s impossible to catch up. I realize that Hulu shows are dictated contracts with the studios who produced the show which isn’t always owned by the network and such, but that’s just another problem.
Personally I think releasing seasons in halves like they started doing with BSG is a bad idea but I don’t know the sales numbers on things like that so maybe it’s a better idea than I realize. I understand getting episodes to market while they’re still fresh probably has a better chance of selling more, but personally I’m not cool with shelling out $30-$40 twice a year, $40-$50 if I want Blu-Ray, just for a complete season. Then the complete season is released a month after the season ends for two-thirds the price of buying the two separate entities, plus more bonus content. With such a glut of product to buy, no wonder they’re losing money, they’re producing more product than they can sell. It probaby explains why I was able to get the last 4 seasons of Atlantis for $15 apiece.
Atlantis was never released half & half. They did re-release with new thinner cases earlier this year or late last year though.
As a renter I quite like it. Makes it a bit easier to catch up to a current show so I can watch the next season live.
I crammed in Season 3 of Chuck on DVD from Netflix so I could watch Season 4 “live” on Hulu. I watched them as quickly as I possibly could and still didn’t finish before Episode 1 of Season 4 had expired. If they’d released Season 3 in 2 halves, I’d have made it through no problem.
Oh, yeah that was when their DVD distributor changed, I think they moved from Sony to Fox, I know Fox picked up the distribution. I was referring to Universe though with the half & half seasons, I bought the full seasons of Atlantis for $15 apiece.
Well there you have it, there is a market for that, it just ain’t me. lol
Video interview: Producer talks movie sequels:
http://collider.com/dean-devlin-independence-day-sequel-stargate-sequels/98467/
I have nothing but respect for Dean Devlin, and he has made some fine movies. But making more Stargate that is not related to the 17 seasons of TV that came in between that movie and now is a touch sell. I’m an open minded fan who loved the movie, and likes Dean Devlin and Roland Emmerich films. And I am hesitant to see that movie if it gets made.
To be fair, it is pretty unlikely, they have been talking about this for a while.
I reckon it’s time for a reboot
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A reboot back to the original series? You know what, I’d probably watch it just for the uniqueness, but if the next Stargate movie doesn’t tell us what happens to Atlantis after the series finale, I’m not going to be a happy camper.