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On a very special all-voicemail installment of the GateWorld Podcast, this week we open up the mic to let YOU have your say about the cancellation of Stargate Universe. After the news was announced in December we asked listeners to call into the Podcast Hotline during our holiday hiatus. We were overwhelmed with so many thoughtful and passionate responses that we’re dedicating an entire show to them.
We’ll hear from fans from all over the world and talk about things like ratings, Syfy Channel and its programming decisions, issues with SGU itself, and questions about (and hopes for) the future of the Stargate franchise. Will the Powers That Be find a way to deliver a third season? Or DVD movies? Or something else entirely?
Join our conversation! On our next show we’ll talk about the science elements of the new season of Stargate Universe. Call in now and record your thoughts and theories.
SHOW NOTES
Discussion – SGU Cancellation Shout-Back!
- Related Episodes:
“Time” (Universe Season One)
“Human” (Universe Season One)
“Family” (SG-1 Season Two)
“The Tok’ra” (SG-1 Season Two)
“The Fifth Race” (SG-1 Season Two)
“Solitudes” (SG-1 Season One)
“Cor-ai” (SG-1 Season One)
“In the Line of Duty” (SG-1 Season Two)
“The Lost Boys” (Atlantis Season Two)
“Gauntlet” (Universe Season Two)
Leave us a voicemail on the GateWorld Podcast Hotline any time, day or night!
(951) 262-1647
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Listeners outside the U.S. can use Skype to call for just 2 cents per minute. Or, record a brief message on your computer and e-mail the MP3 or WAV file to us.
You can also leave a comment below, or post on the Podcast Feedback thread at the forum.
Next Episode: The Science of SGU (Part 2). Real-world science expert Diane Turnshek returns to talk about cosmic background radiation, Destiny‘s mental projections, and more!
SGA’s premiere got 4.2 million viewers. :-)
http://www.variety.com/article/VR1117907989?refCatId=14
Enjoyed the podcast again. I did notice that the more critical of the comments came from the female viewers, which was, perhaps, part of the problem with SGU and its ratings. Re saying that SG1 and SGA had more time for people to become invested in the characters, I think it is folly to have a show take 30 episodes and people are still waiting for this. They needed to hook viewers quick so they don’t bleed away like they did. There was MUCH more fanfic and posting on the character/relationship threads in the first 2 seasons of Atlantis (wasn’t… Read more »
It ain’t over until they destroy the sets.
I think the difference between seeing a resolutions of the Goa’uld and Wraith is with the Goa’uld you could see significant victories. You can see movement, where big Goa’ulds were taken out. Like Cronus, Apophis, Hathor, etc… You could see that the odds of wining was insurmountable, but there was movement. In contrast to the Wraith, there was no real big baddy. It was an amalgam of random Wraith villain, and the war with them was essentially a war of attrition. Had the Wraith been given names, had they been organized in a different way, it would feel that there… Read more »
@Sylvia, I emphasize. In fact I think that *the* reason for SGU’s failure to keep viewers is that the characters were almost impossible to relate to. They were just *too* flawed, almost unrealistically flawed. This was, unfortunately, by design (i.e., the writers created it this way on purpose). I honestly fail to see how someone can relate to / identify with / admire and tune in to characters who whine, bicker, lie pathologically or are otherwise negative and annoying on a regular basis. To top this, SGU was a show that actually wanted to *focus* on characters, be a character… Read more »
@wingsabre, if I understand the way things happened, Syfy would have aired SGA and SGU together in that first season of SGU but MGM/TBTB did not offer that to them. They offered Syfy the promise of an SGA Movie instead. And Syfy agreed. They all thought this would work out and the movie would be a good continuation for SGA, but it just didn’t happen.
@general grevious, like one of the podcast callers said, they’d follow Jack or Sheppard or Ronon or Teal’c into battle but would be afraid if they were with any of the SGU characters in a similar situation.
People keep bringing up the fact what happened to SyFy, and it seems that ever since Disney bought SciFi, it became SyFy….things changed…..hmmm… :)
@Hallnavy- Dude, get your facts straight. Disney never bought SyFy, its always been the property of NBC/Universal. You want a corporate baddie to blame, then blame them. Next time, try and do proper research before posting unfounded comments.
I cannot understand (as a non-US viewer of SGU), why a so called science fiction based channel would want to cancelled a show that has won a screenwriting award, been nominated for many awards including best scifi show of 2009 in the constellation awards and outstanding special effects for a series in the emmys. Also, a show that won numerous LEO awards as well. I know that SyFy changed it’s name to try and accomodate other shows, but wrestling? Come on! Is the population so unintelligent that all we are allowed to watch is someone throwing someone else through a… Read more »
The thing is Universe change massively in feel during its first season. It’s easy to forget that the first half of the first season was a sort of 90210 teen drama knock-off. Long, slow conversations about nothing even remotely sci-fi related and “poignant” (but actually just boring) 8 minute chats with Kinos, were the order of the day. This started changing rapidly during the 2nd half of season 1 and such scenes (thankfully) became an appropriately timed rarity in season 2. I guess the damage had already been done. I would love to know what could have been had they… Read more »
I keep meaning to call the show but fortunately my opinion is always represented. It’s nice to know that I’m not the only one who thinks SGU was the best of the franchise. Funny thing is I agree with the woman who never watched SGU out of anger at the SGA cancellation because now I’m in the same boat because I won’t be watching anything on Syfy because of the SGU cancellation. It helps that I’m not really into the more campy shows and that the BSG ending kind of killed my interest in future BSG titles.
@wingsabre: a) SyFy didn’t cancel SGA. They wanted SGA to continue in any way possible – see the Comic Con panel of 2008, out of the mouth of the VP of SyFy’s programing. They wanted both, SGA and SGU. TPTB said no, we won’t do two shows but we offer you a new show with much longer life span ahead AND an SGA movie – SyFy already OWNS the airing right for said movie that was never delivered to them, so NO, NOT SYFY’S FAULT. b) “they could have moved Ghost Hunters to Tuesdays, and have SGU and Caprica on… Read more »
@janet99 Oh yes, I totally forgot those first episodes. Or maybe suppressed my memory of them is more accurate.
However I did watch the entire show (all 1.5 seasons). The show did get somewhat better (most importantly, had a bit less of the petty negative tone) but still not enough to engage in my opinion.
Personally, I think what happened with SGU is the natural course of what happens to a boring, non engaging show.
katikatnik: SGA was on it’s way out back in season 3. Most SG fans are so pissed that they haven’t given SGU the same chance they gave SGA when it started. Added to the fact that General Grevious is right about the character flaws done by the witers and you’ve go a recipe for disaster. EVERY side has had a finger in the pudding of sabotage and yet its only us fans who really end up suffering as the actors and writers find other jobs, and the studios and TPTB find other programming. It’s really a shame as if we… Read more »
To me I think a lot of people IMO miss the point of SGU. 50% of the complaints I see about the characters (at least 50%) are how there’s no heroes we can love like Jack O’Neill or John Shepphard. If fans remember correctly, said characters did not start out the heroes we wound up loving. Both John and Jack had their own trials by fire to turn them into the heroes that we love – Jack in the original movie wanted to kill himself! So far I haven’t seen ANY SGU characters become suicidal – Young got pretty close… Read more »
@The Admiral NBC-Universal has only owned Syfy since 2004. Now things are coming into focus, aren’t they? NBC taking over Syfy worked just like a Goa’uld symbiote taking over a human host, but for real. Suddenly the host body begins doing all manner of bizarre things the original person would never have imagined, and would never do even if they had imagined them. NBC’s corporate culture has never known how to handle sci-fi programming. This goes all the way back to the original Star Trek series in the 1960s. Acquiring an entire sci-fi network did not cure this disability. Instead… Read more »
@katikatnik. 1. ok, not SyFy’s fault for SGA, but you can’t say there was no blame for the SGA backlash that did damage SGU. It created bad blood, that is in many ways similar to the bad blood that was created between star trek fans, and the producers of enterprise. 2. It’s done all the time on network television. They move all their schedules around based on what they think will maximize viewers. The problem with having both Caprica and SGU on Tuesdays is it’s not one of those shows that’s made for Tuesdays. Not so much a family show,… Read more »
@wingsabre: What created the most bad blood was the way the cancellation was handled, especially by BW and Co. If they expected loyalty from viewers whom they explicitly told they weren’t their target group, then they were nuts. Discontent SGA fans were told that there wasn’t enough of them to hurt SGU, by BW personally – a year later, SGU’s drop is blamed (among other things) on discontent SGA fans. BW canNOT have it both ways. Either he underestimated the rift they caused in the fandom or he’s making excuses. And I think that neither Caprica, nor SGU were made… Read more »
@katikatnik: A point that many pro-SGU fans fail to realize.
This is like watching a bunch of bloody amateurs.
@The Tenth Doctor: Are you watching us? You sick twisted man!
@The Tenth Doctor: But seriously, we are amateurs. Are you somesort of “professional fan”? What do you mean with your comment anyway?
@katikatnik. In all honesty, SGA was starting to be rather bipolar. There was quick fix, they did very little introduction of something like the wormhole drive only to quicken plots. From a critical perspective, it looked like SGA was simply running out of ideas. They didn’t say that, but I think the lack of imagination for that series led to it not being perused for another series. Plus, we all knew that they were working on SGU before SGA was canceled. They were talking about SGU after SG-1 was canceled. Plus, it doesn’t matter if the audience for Smackdown is… Read more »
@wingsabre: I agree that these writers have the imagination of a gnat – but don’t forget it’s the same writers who work on SGU now! – but it didn’t really matter because the show was still delivering ratings. You can have as imaginative show as you want, but that doesn’t mean it’ll be popular with the viewers. Something in SGA obvously clicked for people, ratings wise SGA S5 = SGU S1 (the difference was like 50k people on average). And it’s really bad when a show in its 1st year can’t beat the ratings of a show in its 5th.
I don’t care what anyone says SG1 still had some life left in it. Yes the writing had become a little stale but with the additional new characters towards the end all it needed was a bit of fresh blood in the writing pool and you could have easy gotten another couple of seasons out of it!! SGA also had more life left in it, the characters were fantastic, as per SG1. Again, it suffered from the same slightly stale repetitive writing issues but again with a little fresh blood in the writing pool it could have gone on for… Read more »
@katikatnik, I disagree with the ratings though. SGA S5 performed worst than SGU S1 in terms of ratings, b/c there was simply less sources of DVR, illegal downloading, etc… The criteria for success was much higher b/c they had a larger share of the market then. The way the approached SGU was different from SGA. In SGA, we jumped into the action, and many of the character background was left to a later date, or never even addressed. To this day, we still knew very little about John Sheppard. Way less than Jack from SG-1, and he’s the team leader.… Read more »
@steffarella. I think SG1 was really canceled not just b/c of it’s ratings, but b/c the syndicated ratings weren’t that good. Before on Sci-Fi, the syndicated ratings were fairly stable and from what I heard, it didn’t do well and was trending down to the point that producing new shows for syndication wouldn’t really make sense. SG1 was still good towards the end, but in all honesty it was a different series after season 8. They did a lot of good with the Ori plot, but 10 seasons and a movie to resolve the plot seemed good enough. Now the… Read more »
@wingsabre: You’re telling me that between 2008 and 2009, the illegal market had some secret boom? That’s grasping at straws, buddy. SGA has always been one of the most illegaly downloaded series out there, always in the top 10, its downloads on just the BT went into scores of thousands. But whereas SGA’s ratings went up between 501 and 520, SGU’s went down hard. That’s why: SGU S1 1.684 mil. vs. SGA S5 1.610 mil. Also, character backgrounds – the way SGU did it? It always, always, ALWAYS fails! See FlashForward, Eastwick etc. The writers just thought, IMHO, that they… Read more »
@katikatnik, you clearly haven’t paid attention to things these few years. There hasn’t been a boom in the illegal downloading field, however there has been a significant move towards non-live viewings. Between 2008 and 2009 was the switch to the digital standard in the US, and many individuals took that opportunity to upgrade their systems to include DVRs. Others like many of the people I know have simply abandoned cable or dish subscription all together, because they can now have access to contents on hulu, netflix, Amazon, iTunes, Apple TV, and xbox360 for a fraction of the cost or for… Read more »
One thing I am really struggling to understand is how anyone could actually say that SGU was a character based show?!!! I can see that it was maybe meant to be, but seriously does anyone think they actually succeeded in that? Can anyone honestly say that after watching season one that they knew anything about the characters at all. All they showed us was a bunch of annoying, self-obsessed and completely unlikeable people that kept getting in the way of the story that you kept hoping was going to be told to you. I get that they were meant to… Read more »
@wingsabre: Its not just the illegal downloading, but the legal downloading that might have contributed to the failings in ratings. Not sure about cable but most networks dont pay too much attention to the DVR viewership and since MGM own stargate and not syfy and itunes or amazon downloads of episodes would generate revenue for MGM at the cost of potential ratings for SGU.
In any case there is much more non TV ways to watch shows now (legally) than their used to be and that wont help a network when they dont get revenue from those streams of viewers
@steffarella I have to say I agree with you.Those shows you mentioned are perfect examples of a character driven shows,that were also great sci-fi.And I am positive SGU tried to be that.But somwhere around the late SGA and the beginning of SGU,the writers obviously dropped the ball.That is why they literally ruined the SGA,forcing it’s end to completely immerse themselves with the work on SGU and thus had created bad blood,as people are saying. At the same time they really failed to deliver SGU wise. So yes,even I am a fan,I understand how the pace of the first season and… Read more »
A few Gateworld members had very good/smart ideas about how to save SGU(but i think that those ideas could save more than just SGU, i think that they could also save SG-1 & SG-A, in a way…) Jim quote “As for the ending of the SGU story,someone had already mentioned..the way Farscape has been dealt with..there was no petitions and such stuff,but people got together,raised the money and an ecxellent miniseries..The Peacekeeper Wars was filmed as a great conclusion. If I knew whom to give the money and new it would end up in the right hands..I’d donate 10000$ and… Read more »
I think that Jim idea is a great one – each SG-1/SG-A & SGU fans could donate to either get a series of Blu Ray movies &/or a third season of SGU – I think that the only person that we would all thrust with our money is Mr.Darren Sumner – He is obviously devoted to the SG franchise (shown by working on this very website for more than 10 years) & as Brad Wright & others important PTB contacts It seems like Mr.Darren Sumner did a poll to see which SG-Atlantis characters gateworld members would like to see the… Read more »
Also when i said that “each SG-1/SG-A & SGU fans could donate to either get a series of Blu Ray movies &/or a third season of SGU”, it, of course imply that TPTB would make some modifications to the show. – Continue Destiny journey, only this time, with some modifications – Bring back a few SG-1 team members (& a few more as guests) & you will have all of the SG-1 fans supports – Bring back a few SG-A team members (& a few more as guests) & you will have all of the SG-A fans supports – Keep… Read more »
That leave, convincing MGM
– Give all SG-1, SG-A & SGU fans what they want & watch the downloads on Itunes & hulu skyrocket, so as the Blu Rays sells.
– Add all of the SG-1, SG-A & SGU fans donations(if we can get this project going)
– Add the fact that if this works, a lot of networks are going to be interested in this SGU
well done & you will have a show that will be very profitable
Let me all know what do you think of this project I really think that if everybody would support it (SG-1 fans, SG-A fans, SGU fans, gateworld members across the world, The SG PTB, the gateworld PTB,SG Unite,etc…)it would be successfull. If the save SGU petition as over 3500 digital signatures, just imagine how many it would gained if you added all of the SG-1 & SG-A fans worldwide, + all of the would-be-SGU-fans that just didn’t take to SGU, but would if it contained more of what makes SG SG. P.S.I think that sometimes great ideas are just not… Read more »
Not to put a damper on things and correct me if I’m wrong, but based on what I’ve been able to find, didn’t the farscape fans only fund a commercial asking the showrunners to give the show an ending? I don’t think the fans actually had anything to do with funding the actual miniseries itself. But the commercial made the network decide there was value in the idea.
@Jago77, from Canada I must say that is an awesome idea! I’m a teen, and I love SG-1 and SGA, but didn’t like SGU. If we had some of their characters return and better writing and plot, SGU would definitely have my support! :) Great ideas!
@Jago77 I am against any idea that ties the hands of the writers and asks them to change anything they were planning. The show was fine the way it was and your ideas of which characters worked and which didn’t are only your own. Greer and some of the “other scientists” Park, Volker, Brody are actually some of my favorite characters. Also bringing in characters from the other stargates apart from limited guest roles is a bad idea. SGU stands on it’s own. It’s nice that you want to save the show but you shouldn’t inject your own agenda about… Read more »
@wingsabre: Yes, the trend is to time-shift. Live+7 remained similar if not the same between SGA and SGU. iTunes? Amazon? SGA used to be one of the most downloaded sci-fi show over there, just like SGU. Illegal downloads? The same. Critical praise is necessary for purchasing online? I don’t think so. Look at where SGA S5 is on Amazon after three years and where SGU S1 – over 1000 ranks are between them. And that’s just one venue. You say that SGU was hurt by time-shifting – but look at other shows on the SyFy channel, weren’t they hurt the… Read more »
@Skiznot: Yes, SGU does a good job standing on its own.
*cough*cancelled*cough*
*cough*bad ratings*cough*
*cough*the least liked by fans, tears fanbase in two*cough*
Just face, SGU didn’t stand on on its own. We need the support of ALL SG fans to make any difference, not just the pro-SGU section. I myself am thrillerd by this idea, but like someone said, it needs a lot of organization to work.
@katikatnik: Agree with all your points 100%. SGU was struggling even before the slot shift and only a flood of signatures could make a difference.
@jonah1956 – Thanks for the feedback, unfortunately it seems like we thought of this project at the end of this(& the last)thread so we will have to wait to really see what kind of feedback we will be getting.
@Jim – Thanks, i really think that all SG fans should stop fighting among themselves & unite…for the greater good. – SGU News – – Joseph Mallozzi Weblog quote – “Speaking of buzz – I exchanged emails with Brad today and he reports another major hurdle has been cleared. Almost there, Stargate fans. Again, this is show business, so even the most promising of scenarios can go sideways fast (and dead-end scenarios turn around just as quickly). Nothing is written in stone but things are looking MUCH better now than they did last week when things looked much better than… Read more »
In any case, this TV series should not be closed. There will come a time when such television series as Stargate Universe and Caprica, will attain to the level as the classics of the genre. To them we will return again and again because of an ingenious concept. If they will be closed, the loss will be irreparable.
In the end, if my son, watching Stargate universe, with me, this show deserves support, even at the state level. People like Lucas and Spielberg, who could easily help to creators of the show. If you would just talk to them … There are ways that I even can not imagine.
What state level @flickshtain?Are you seriously suggesting that the state should support a tv show!?Why,on Earth would that happen..ok maybe in North Korea,or ex USSR and even then if it had it’s political intersest in it.I am sorry for this show and even more sorry that the last space sci-fi show is being canceled,but that is a matter of a supply and demand in a free market society..and unfortunately demand hasn’t been significant enough. And I know I will return to Stargate SG-1 again and again,as well as to some other sci-fi shows,like BSG,Star Trek,Farscape,Firefly…SGU..,not so much! Why,well as many… Read more »
I can not agree with you. States do not always subsidize only profitable thing. Following your logic, the disabled and pensioners more profitable to kill. And education is generally very risky form of investment. However, all advanced countries spend money on it. I think Stargate, a great way to educate young people, if not in scientific terms, at least in the moral.
The successful execution or not, it’s a debatable question. You’d better ask realistic or not. I would say yes. However, if the creators had more money … Use your imagination …
@flickenshtain No,following my logic definitely doesn’t lead to conclusion that disabled and retired people would be more profitable to kill.Not on any level of logic!First off there is a thing called a retirement fond and payments are being put down there regularily,so pensioners are living of of the money they have earned throughout their lifetime careers,secondly,sorry,but a statement that the education is very risky form of investment is one of the most absurd things I have ever heard!Because it is exactly the opposite,a motor of advancement and development for any country that cares for it’s future! And thirdly,comparing a sci-ff… Read more »