I read this article and had to chuckle to myself. Then I read the comments and laughed… I don’t know much about the TV business, but I know what sour grapes sound like. I have been a fan of Stargate since the movie and have always loved what the Stargate represented in terms of unlimited possibilities and stories… but to listen to a spoiled actor cry about why the show was cancelled and to carry on that if SGU is successful it won’t bode well for actors… that’s a shame, and if you can’t read between the line, you are simply a blind fanboy/girl. Joe is actually telling people not to watch the show because he feels slighted. Stargate is what Stargate is because of great stories, and the STARGATE. Oh, and he is ‘reluctant to get involved in other TV projects’ – only to say below that he is a guest star on Warehouse 13. Bring on SGU… When does it starting airing… I for one can’t wait.

:( Ah, man. I want to say, “this reminds me of Walter Koenig, how he hoped that ST:TNG would fail because otherwise, TOS fans were discarding the old characters as relics,” but this seems different, somehow.

SGA has been a science fiction series among many, whereas Star Trek was virtually alone, and (correct me if I’m wrong, here) SGA accumulated most of its fanbase during its original run.

So I think that I might also want SGU to do poorly. Frankly, outside of Star Trek, I never even gave scifi a chance until I saw the great characters in Atlantis. Until I realized that science fiction isn’t limited to cerebral social commentaries or gimmicky special effect shows. Stargate Atlantis is unique because its characters really hit home. The sheer amount of fanfiction about them is an attest to that.

Granted, SG1 is extremely popular, so maybe producers think that any spinoff has the potential to do well, but… I think Atlantis would have eventually become more popular than SG1 if IT had run for ten years instead of 5. And like Joe said, he could have done it.

I really miss Atlantis. Not a day goes by that something doesn’t have me say “oh, God, doesn’t that remind you of that line in ‘Doppleganger’?” ((insert random episode title here))

This show seems to have become the under-appreciated brother or something. At the risk of showing my bordering-on-extreme fanboy colors, my love for this cast rivals that of my love for Batman.

I wonder if I’ll watch SGU… If I’ll hate it or boycott it intentionally, if I’ll see a few episodes during some rerun marathon a few years down the road and get into it despite myself…

To fill the void that SGA’s cancellation has gauged out of my chest, I’ve been watching every show and film that its actors have been in over the years. It’s awful, because it’s not like they’re old friends I can call every couple of years and find out how they’re doing or say “I miss your face.”

SciFi producers never fail to surprise me. These franchises are valuable *because* of their longevity. Even when they don’t run to their natural conclusions, the fandoms will keep them alive for decades. Stargate Atlantis isn’t Warehouse 13 or Sanctuary. It was doing so well, and there was no reason to ruin it. Maybe if it had been advertised more aggressively, more people would have watched it and the ratings would have done better, I don’t know. I was often surprised at how hard they were hitting with the Battlestar Galactica adverts when new episodes of SGA were also coming up, because it felt like they were favoring one show over the other.

And really, if USA can lure me into watching Burn Notice and Royal Pains with their ads, they could have turned people on to SGA with theirs.

This is lengthy… I think about the death of this show like, “I keep wishing this wasn’t Atlantis. That it was Clayface again.” Like maybe I’ll wake up one day and they’ll be like “ha–psych! Got you. Don’t worry, there’s a new episode on Friday.” The pleasant relief we all felt when Futurama wasn’t really dead for good or the Venture Bros. finally got renewed for another season.

;_; I wish I were wealthy and could have supported this show’s production indefinitely.

And am I the only one who sees a dark sort of irony in calling the movie “Extinction”?

They didn’t need to cancel SGA and create SGU, they needed to stop de-valuing what they already had. When I talk to old friends and inevitably have to explain why I’m gabbing on about Robert Picardo seemingly out of nowhere, I typically find that they’ve seen a season or two of Atlantis, but didn’t know it was still running (*when* it was still running). Like they would have watched it, save for the fact that they don’t watch much television anymore and really didn’t know it was on. I mean, the same people were all still very aware of BG, so I think that SGA was just really underrepresented.

And unlike shows like Battlestar Galactica and Lost, which started out interesting but grew worse with time, Atlantis was awesome because it kept getting better. Even with all the re-casting!

When I was younger and feeling listless and unhappy with my life (incidentally, the first time I really had the chance to sit down long enough to watch something on television), Stargate Atlantis actually motivated me to live up to my potential and apply to a University, and I even earned scholarships. High school had made me grow so tired of the “gifted” Mensa crowd that I thought I’d have to be insane to subject myself to more if it by going to college–and it took *actors* like David Hewlett, David Nykl, and Joe Flanigan to remind me that (a) everyone is not an asshole, and (b) that someone has to discover and develop all the cool stuff, so I might as well be one of those people.

End rant.

Interesting.

I love how Gateworld has chosen to show only the comments that can cause a little controversy.

The interveiw had many fun and interesting comments and these snippets are only a few that could have been reprinted. But I guess ‘fun and interesting’ won’t cause as much discussion as controversial.

I am glad he talked openly about his feelings and I respect that but

Atlantis was going downhill as a show, there were very few serious arks, just random episodes every week, asgard totally disappeared. Plus It was one of the shows on sci fi that was beaten by almost every other show in the ratings. I can understand why the show was cancled, however, WHERES THE FREAKIN movie. I mean really, I do not like the fact that it took TPTB 1 1/2 year to get 1, and only 1 movie out. It should have been out this month at least( I remember when atlantis was cancled there was supposed to be a movie out in the summer of 09). THAT IS WHAT TICKS ME OFF!!!!! Plus we have to wait till 2010 to even find out if more atlantis is on the way!!, which will probably only arive 2011/2012. TOTAL BS!!!!

“Nobody that spends time at this site will boycott SG:U, say what you want.”

I’m on this site and I have no interest in watching SG:U. In my opinion, the Stargate shows aren’t well written, in general. They have a great premise, but most episodes are derivative schlock sci-fi. I got hooked on SGA despite the writing. It was the actors who drew me in.

Joe Flanigan’s remarks are pretty common sense really. The possibilities for a Stargate show are wide open. Atlantis could fly anywhere and do anything; there’s nothing in the premise of SG:U that couldn’t have been done just as easily with Atlantis. They never explored a fraction of what the city could do. The only reason to close one show and start another is to clear the slate and get a new cast.

Though the quotes above aren’t really representative of Mr. Flanigan’s full views on the matter, since he said in the past that he respects Robert Carlyle as a great actor and wishes him well.

My comment above sounds harsh, so I’ll explain. To me what makes Stargate shows fun to watch is the talent that goes into them: interesting production design and special effects, and most of all, acting that brings the characters to life.

IMO, the Stargate formula is basically to run through some science fiction adventure cliches while allowing the characters to joke about the absurdity of their situations. What makes that formula work is the skill and charisma of the actors. They have to be able to play off a lot of tired material in a light, fun way, and still gear down and make you care about what happens to the characters when the plot takes a more serious turn.

Joe Flanigan, David Hewlett, Rachel Luttrell, Jason Momoa, David Nykl, and Torri Higginson brought Atlantis to life for me and hooked me on the show. To me, the series has suffered since they killed off Weir. The 2nd/3rd season lineup had wonderful chemistry. It’s a shame that was lost.

First off, everyone is entitled to their opinion. I watched SGA for the characters and actor portrayal first, then for the storylines. Given what the writers and producers have said about SG:U I won’t be watching – they keep praising the story arcs, character backgrounds, and plots – the same things fans requested for SGA, and we didn’t seem to get. Now they decide to do it?

Mallozzi’s hints that is was a clean slate they wanted in creating SGU makes perfect sense, some of the SGA cast were coming up on their 6th year contract negotiations and the 6th year was to be a very lucrative year with bonuses for them. Television is all about profits to be made and the fact is that SGU has a cast that won’t cost as much. Business is business and the producers can’t be faulted for making that decision.

I don’t see that JF is being too critical of the producers and writers, and I do not see him saying he wants SGU to fail, he’s merely expression his thoughts about what it’s success might mean to him. Some fans are too touchy IMO. They seem to want all the actors to be dripping with honey all the time. (Honey..Lol..yep I am aware of Flanigans new business enterprise.)

As for passing up work opertunities and then taking up a oneshot…I’m pretty sure he stated only a month or so ago that he was in no rush to get back into working fuul on, that 5yrs on SGA and being away from his family was difficult and he wasn’t in a rush to return to that despite his agent wanting him to. I don’t think thats PR talking, thats just JF. He’s certainly not hard up for cash, he’s staring out on a new business venture/hobby and spending time with his family.

Some of his comments certainly sounded…arrogant isn’t the right word, petulant might fit better, but he does seem to have a bit of an attitude. Which is fine, though it seems to me that when you’re a relatively small time actor, like he is, biting the hands that feeds in a bad idea.

Then again, he is right in some ways. Atlantis never really got the respect/recognition that SG-1 did, whether you think the show deserved it or not, and I can understand being upset about it. There are just more diplomatic ways to go about voicing your opinion.

Heh, some of the actors were the only good part about SGA. The writers were incredibly bad. I often wondered how JF could stomach the scripts.

I think the theory that actors are dispensable has been disproved rather well with how the writers poorly integrated Amanda Tapping’s character into SGA. She’s a great actress, and really helped make SG-1 into a strong series. On SGA, she was handled poorly, and seemed like an after though. They essentially replaced Torry with Amanda, and did minimal changes to the character.

Janette, it depends on what contract they’re attached to, and if they’re part of the Actor’s Guild. Additionally, some contracts have a sunset clause in it, where after a certain amount of years or a certain amount of syndication, the checks stop coming to the actors, but the studio still gets paid. For example, I don’t think Mario Lopez is still being paid for his work on Save by the Bell.