Stargate Origins Free Preview Starts Now

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• @Darren, what is your point regarding the subscription limits?

  I mean, instead of the current 2 levels, there could be 3. The free, and two premium. One for people in the US, Germany and the other few countries, and one for all the countries outside of the current restriction. I understand why they can't stream the old stuff to everyone, but we should still be able to access Origins and the Dialing Home series. Even for half the price, it would mean more money than nothing. They had months to make it work, and they did not.

• If it's the presence of the other shows and films that is preventing MGM from offering All-Access to every country in the world, I'm really not sure why they wouldn't simply offer a discounted subscription rate that excludes that content in those territories. I suppose it could introduce more problems -- confusion over too many tiers, why the other shows weren't available, etc. And if you're in one of the eight countries currently covered, would you then want to have the option of an Origins-only pass for half the cost? In that case the studio might think it would lose money.

  I'm really not sure what's gone into the strategy here and what restrictions might be on Stargate Command that we are unaware of.

• Spoilers ahead:
  It is baffling to me that MGM and the people behind this are funding this like it is an unknown story instead of a franchise with decades of multiple profitable shows and legions of fans. This format reminds me of what they did to star Wars in the early 80's, trying to cash in on the movies with cheap animated series and cheesy Christmas specials. The idea behind this show is great, with a great Indiana Jones vibe, but the acting (especially the boyfriend and sidekick) seems very inexperienced at the least, and the budget must be laughably small, considering the compact sized "throne room". Also the 10 min format is really a bad idea, as the only stories you can tell are short skits, which rules out good stories, unless the writing is way better than is typical for tv. Even Sanctuary which was an unknown story with just a couple of known actors, felt way more committed than this, and it was a web series too. At least they made good use of CG sets to make a larger world. The thing that is really puzzling to me is: What do they hope to get out of this? They can't be looking to see if there is a audience, as the multiple successful previous shows have already proven that. The only thing I can figure is they want to see how little money they can spend and still have people willing to watch it.
  They just need to start again, preferably with at least 3 previous cast members and some writers from the previous series, and go big, not small, maybe starting with a 2 hour movie to kick it off.

• @MichaelAC

  I don't think profit is an issue here. I don't know how many subscribers they have (@Darren, any info?), but I think it's only enough to cover the costs of Origins and the new web portal. Continuum and AoT was made from 7 million each, with roughly the same length, and the quality is well, not the same. I would say Origins was made from around or under one million, props and sets included. I would say 50 thousand subscribers (for 20 dollars) is a good guess. And then, I can be completely wrong. This is purely speculation, but still, one thing is clearly visible: Origins won't bring BIG money, even on the long run.

  What is more important IMHO, is the social media buzz. Reddit has exploded, GateWorld has been reborn, online magazines have started to write about the franchise. People talk about Stargate. Basically for free.

  I think this is what's behind the 10 minute format as well. A movie is a one shot opportunity. Releasing the third or fourth of the movie every week is a month long event. More talk, more buzz, more time to decide in the office what to do next. If they really want to do another full length series, they have to make people talking about the franchise for a long time.

  And the quality may be low, but I am still optimistic, that the story will turn out to be great. If it does, there will be a huge hype. If not, the guys at MGM can still say "sorry, the next one will be better".

• I think that's more or less right. I don't have any intel on how many subscribers Stargate Command has, but if I had to wager I would guess that MGM won't be making any money as an immediate return-on-investment. When you add the costs of developing the Web site, maintaining it, and running a publicity campaign, it would not surprise me to learn that what MGM is doing here is investing money in Stargate with an eye toward the long term.

  Let's look at the timing here: In the fall of 2016 it became public knowledge that the Devlin-Emmerich film reboot wasn't going to happen. MGM would then have had the "OK, what's next?" discussion internally. It's just not realistic to expect them to put $50 million into rebuilding the Atlantis or Destiny sets and shopping a finale movie or continuation to other outlets. Those ships sailed when the shows were cancelled; studios have a narrow window of time when the sets are still standing and the actors are under contract. Once that time has passed it is nearly impossible (Serenity) to put the pieces back together.

  I think that the choice MGM faced in early 2017 was between doing something and doing nothing, i.e. letting the Stargate IP sit on the shelf until someone approached them to pitch a financially viable idea. That could have put the franchise's return 2, or 5, or 10 years out. So instead they chose to do something now.

  In 2018 the quickest and most affordable way to get something out is to cut out broadcasters and co-financiers and just do it yourself. Make your own platform, and start with a modest budget. (Remember, when the three shows aired on cable the production costs were paid for up-front by licensing fees paid to MGM. That's how you can afford $1-2 million per episode. They didn't require $50 million from MGM to get started.)

  Is this all the Stargate we'll get from now on, because it is easy and inexpensive? Certainly not. But from a business standpoint it's totally logical to me why they went this route first. In the wake of the reboot falling through it's a decision to give us eager fans something rather than nothing.

• I agree. This is a very logical explanation of what's happening.

  And I will quote your comment on Reddit, with your permission, because many people still don't want to see the big picture.

• Yeah, that's fine, so long as it's clear that this isn't intel but my own speculation based on a bit of armchair knowledge of how the industry usually works.

  IMO Origins opens a window. What MGM chooses to do next is crucial.

• Of course. It's my opinion, you have just reinforced it.

  By the way, what do you think about Mr. Mallozzi's recent campaign? Do you think it would be best to bring in the old team or hire someone else with a fresh mind? I think the old team could make wonders with some fresh blood in the writer's room.

• Brad is in the middle of another show that is trying to get renewed, so it may be a little premature to be lobbying for him to come back to Stargate just now. But in principle I'd love to see it happen (along with Rob).

  However there is the little issue of SGU being as divisive as it was within fandom; that was in part because it was so tonally different than SG-1 and SGA -- and that was because the writers had expressed a bit of fatigue with 1997-2009 era Stargate. If they were to come back to head the franchise again, would they even want to write the show that we need today?

  It all comes down to the idea. The franchise and its fandom need a show that unites rather than divides, IMHO.