The Stargate franchise is entering the increasingly popular (and, some might say, necessary), world of webisodes, with 30 shorts now in production to accompany the first season of Stargate Universe.
The bonus content will presumably be made available on a weekly basis on either Syfy.com or Stargate.MGM.com in the U.S., and the Web sites of other broadcasters around the world (SPACE in Canada is already confirmed).
But these aren’t just deleted scenes (which SCI FI briefly toyed with for Stargate SG-1 several years ago), or a stand-alone miniseries (such as Battlestar Galactica‘s well-received series “The Resistance” and “The Face of the Enemy”). Instead, the webisodes will tie directly into the episodes seen on screen.
The device tying the two media together is the kino, a softball-sized sphere that floats independently around the halls of the Destiny, the Ancient ship on which SGU is set.
“It’s flying around and spying on people,” series co-creator Brad Wright told the Toronto Star. “They are literally just voyeuristic scenes we’re shooting specifically for the Web.” An entire production unit is dedicated to the task of creating the material.
“It’s an extra way to get a window on our program and gives fans a slice of life look at our ship,” Wright said.
Video captured by the kino will probably also be a part of the unique look of the show itself, bringing a sometimes intense, first-person perspective to the viewer. The team will also utilize the technology to scout planets through the Stargate, much like Stargate Command’s M.A.L.P.
Watch for more on the Stargate Universe webisodes in the weeks ahead, as the show nears its October 2 premiere on Syfy!
Awesome.
Interesting way to do it, I like how it almost sounds malevolent, and the use of a MALP was something I forgot about, now we know how they do it for the show.
I am actually starting to get psyched about this more character driven show. I just hope that all the explosions wont be left behind as well.
This is a fantastic idea! Brilliant! I just hope these webisodes be made available to those of us outside the US. If not, then their inclusion on the “Stargate: Universe” DVD’s would be most welcome.
This sounds like a great idea. I (also) am assuming that the content will make it onto bonus features on DVD? In the past, the DVD content has differed (in varying degrees) from region to region and I hope that TPTB will standardise this! Great news.
Awesome!
I can’t wait for SyFy to deny my access because I don’t live in the US! WOOOOOO!!!!!
Yea… I hope the hell they realize that the USA isn’t the only continent in the world that houses Stargate fans and we in Europe actually get to see these webisodes! Much unlike the BSG ones that I never got to see! D:
How long the webisodes will be? Since the webisodes will tie into the regular episodes, I wonder how the dvd sets will be ordered….. will the webisodes be inserted in chronological order or will they be, as suggested above, bonus features. Personally, I would prefer them to be chronologically inserted between the episodes.
Agree with Orion2 and HBMC …It is so frustrating when you get that annoying sign – this video is not available outside of USA :(
Come on guys, it’s not that hard to enable us to watch it too, isn’t it?
Great idea, though :)
@Gaia It’s not that they don’t enable you to watch it they deliberately block anyone outside the US from watching it. It actually takes time for them to setup a system that will block anyone outside the US from watching it. Which to me seems like discrimination plane and simple, it would be easier from them to let it be available to all but they are actually devoting time and man power to make sure it’s exclusive to only to Americans. There are ways round it but I think it’s perfectly moral to pirate the webisodes if they are going… Read more »
Just to clarify my last comment was about region locking of videos in general, there has been no announcement (that I know of) that these videos will be US only but there is a HIGH probability they will be (everything up until now has).
The only web series TV tie-in (I know) that hasn’t been region locked is the Scrubs one, good on them, so there is a tiny chance this will be the same, I wouldn’t hold out hope though.
Stop complaining….
As soon as they get broadcasted, they’ll be leaked on the web…
I, at least, won’t need to, since I live in Canada!!!
The Reason That the Webisodes (or any other content for that matter) is blocked outside the USA, is Not cause of some malevolent hatred of people outside of the country. It’s because the content was paid for by the ads they show before, during, and after, the show. And Most ads That they might show have no value in other countries. Take a look at hulu, I would love for my Friend in London to watch the first couple of Episodes so she can see how good of a show SG1 is, but She can’t. Free Content and TV is… Read more »
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@Zerothirtyseven True but onces it’s been made it’s already been paid for, there’s no reason not to let anyone watch it, it will only make people in the UK more likely to watch the show when it comes out.
@kzap333. While the Cost to produce the Shows (On Hulu.com anyway) may have already been paid for, And Forget for the moment that Webisodes are not Broadcast on network TV and the Internet ads for thoes ARE it’s only revenue. You still need to take into account the cost of providing the content on the internet, On Demand. File storage and Bandwidth are not cheap. For sites to be able to pay for the bandwidth to provide you with the content with a minimum of buffering is Really important. While I agree with the Region Coding on Video content on… Read more »
Where was the Atlantis version of a kino?!
I think it’s INSANE that you can’t find all 30 “sewn” together, or that there isn’t 1 place where all 30 are ALL listed in numerical order. In order to watch this stiff, you have to search “Kino #” and put the webisode number where the “#” appears above. Sometimes, you are able to get two consecutive webisodes in the list, but most times, you have to visit several pages before you get the one you want (“Kino 1” was on page 4, while “Kino 6” is on page one.) WHO WORKS ON THIS STUFF??? Certainly, production people have staff… Read more »