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Apparently a reboot including a film and tv series are being explored at Amazon:

https://deadline.com/2023/04/robocop-stargate-legally-blonde-barbershop-in-works-film-tv-amazon-mgm-ip-1235243057/amp/

Hmm.

I’ve been bingeing Stargate the past few weeks, and it’s a hard show to Get Right.

The central premise remains interesting, but it’s the cast that carry it, particularly where they overlap in terms of specialisation.

Robocop…I’m slightly optimistic. The remake wasn’t great, but it had some interesting ideas in the mix it didn’t quite make shine.

I'm worried. Far too many reboots of shows nowadays end up being soulless. They just lack the "spark" that drove the shows originally.

 AegisGrimm wrote:


I'm worried. Far too many reboots of shows nowadays end up being soulless. They just lack the "spark" that drove the shows originally.

They're written in a boardroom to appeal to as many people as possible, to the point that while they maybe don't outright suck, they're also not all that great either. Or they just outright suck, but the problem is the complete adverse fear of doing anything even remotely seen as risky which also means no one does anything daring either.

Taking all bets!

 LordofHats wrote:

 AegisGrimm wrote:


I'm worried. Far too many reboots of shows nowadays end up being soulless. They just lack the "spark" that drove the shows originally.

They're written in a boardroom to appeal to as many people as possible, to the point that while they maybe don't outright suck, they're also not all that great either. Or they just outright suck, but the problem is the complete adverse fear of doing anything even remotely seen as risky which also means no one does anything daring either.

Taking all bets!

Don't forget the classic "We didn't actually want to make this, but we couldn't get anyone to sign for the project we wanted. So we bought an existing IP, slapped some names on, adjusted a few things and made it."

So you end up with something that, somewhere inside it, is actually a decent show with good actors and all. It's just not the thing its titled nor made after; and what good ideas it does have are hobbled by having to slave back to an IP and story and set of themes that don't quite work.


I'm down for a Stargate reboot, but I do agree getting the formula just right is important and, eh, honestly its make or break on its actors.
Also part of me doesn't want a Stargate remake. I'd rather a "Portal Galaxy" series that takes elements from Stargate and reworks them into a fresh, modern idea that can go to new places without harming the places the old one went too and without tripping over itself getting stuck or such. Something that can do fresh things - say maybe have a team of 5; or bigger events or just loads of things that you can't do with Stargate without changing too much

I think I’d rather a continuation of Stargate SG1, perhaps where knowledge of the SGC is now fairly widespread. I mean, with the Goa’uld, Replicators and Ori functionally extinct, not to mention Atlantis itself in our dirty little tech monkey hands - and all the Asgard knowledge, there’s tales to be told there.

Even the MacGuffin of ZPMs can be solved. Because they were made somewhere. And Atlantis is a City Ship…

All you need is a decent villain to introduce. One which would be a threat to a nascent and expanding human galactic civilisation.

I kinda feel like if you take things too far you lose the magic of Stargate.

Once you've a few spaceships and hyperdrives and such the Stargates stop being essential. You also shift from the small-team format; which is what SG grew on; to larger situations.

It would be really interesting to explore and see; but it wouldn't be pure Stargate.


At its best it could be to Stargate what DS9 was to Startrek.

A Stargate made for the mythical "modern audience"?

Terrifying.

Well, there are plenty of Galaxies left to be explored - Pegasus being but one we know the Ancients visited and seeded with Gates.

The Destiny is thought to have passed through 85 or so Galaxies by the time of SGU.

You're assuming that this would be a continuation of SG-1.

Brad Wright was knocked back on his new Stargate pitch to Amazon months ago.

He even said back in December:

“I am sure MGM and Amazon will do something with the franchise. I am less sure if I will have anything to do with it. A few years ago now, MGM reached out to me and asked me to develop a pilot script for a new series, but so much has changed since then, including all of the players. Amazon is probably deciding what to do with Stargate as a tent-pole franchise and that may take some time. I wish them well.”

And then there's the "Salke Factor"...

There is no way it is going to be a continuation of SG-1. It is a 16 years old series that was quite niche even back then, a continuation is not commercially viable.

It has to be a reboot.

I’m mostly wishlisting.

I’m open to a decent reboot. It’s not like such things cause the existing stuff to disappear from existence,

As far as new villains, you have the drones introduced in Universe, and the evil Asgardians introduced near the end of Atlantis.

 Tyran wrote:
It is a 16 years old series...

Given everything else that gets a continuation these days, that's a young show in comparison.

 Tyran wrote:
There is no way it is going to be a continuation of SG-1. It is a 16 years old series that was quite niche even back then, a continuation is not commercially viable.

It has to be a reboot.

A continuation isn't viable because they spent the last 2 seasons burning everything in the galaxy to the ground for basically no reason. Allies, enemies, rocks fell, almost everyone died.
The execs just went 'feth the premise' and burned it all down with dumber and dumber crap. In some cases there wasn't even a reason, the aliens just got tired and offed themselves.

Urgh.. are there not enough original sci-fi concepts that they have to keep rebooting older series?

What made Stargate Sg-1 (and Atlantis) for me was the light-hearted approach, the characters, the sense of humour and I'll be honest the amount of cheese. And of course the forests of Canada. It was Saturday afternoon TV given a prime-time slot, but after a long day at work it was often the most enjoyable thing to watch.

I don't get the purpose of rebooting it. The chances are that it won't share the character of the original two series, so why not just create something new?

'You have not seen what I have seen'
- Tealc, probably

 Pacific wrote:
Urgh.. are there not enough original sci-fi concepts that they have to keep rebooting older series?

To be honest, my broader cultural sense is that Sci-fi has been hitting a rut as enthusiasm for technology and 'the future' has started running headlong into growing skepticism and cynicism that technological advancement can solve our problems.

Instead, fantasy has seen widespread resurgence and I could talk a lot about my opinions that there's reasons fundamental to the genres for why this is.

Or we could ditch my hairbrained theories and recall that scifi is expensive due to its SFX needs and Stargate was one of the concepts that managed to both be wildly adventurous sci-fi but on a budget since it didn't require complex sets of effects constantly.

 Overread wrote:
Also part of me doesn't want a Stargate remake. I'd rather a "Portal Galaxy" series that takes elements from Stargate and reworks them into a fresh, modern idea that can go to new places without harming the places the old one went too and without tripping over itself getting stuck or such. Something that can do fresh things - say maybe have a team of 5; or bigger events or just loads of things that you can't do with Stargate without changing too much

I don't know where to begin expressing my disappointment that you called it Portal Galaxy and not Wormhole X-Treme.

Aside from that, at least the setting has an elegant solution for that. Alternate dimensions have been in it since the first season. They could set the reboot on an alternate earth and change things around as needed, start fresh or with a Stargate program as far along as needed to get the story going, and go with different themes and factions if they really have to. At least that avoids wrecking the original until alternate McKay starts drawing zero point energy from our dimension. Whoops.

Would I want to see that? Tough one. Star Trek didn't fare well in that regard, but unless they bring in J.J. Abrams to wreck another franchise it may not be that bad. As has been stated multiple times already, it's all about getting the factors right that made SG-1 and Atlantis work so well. No idea if they can.

 Geifer wrote:

 Overread wrote:
Also part of me doesn't want a Stargate remake. I'd rather a "Portal Galaxy" series that takes elements from Stargate and reworks them into a fresh, modern idea that can go to new places without harming the places the old one went too and without tripping over itself getting stuck or such. Something that can do fresh things - say maybe have a team of 5; or bigger events or just loads of things that you can't do with Stargate without changing too much

I don't know where to begin expressing my disappointment that you called it Portal Galaxy and not Wormhole X-Treme.

Aside from that, at least the setting has an elegant solution for that. Alternate dimensions have been in it since the first season. They could set the reboot on an alternate earth and change things around as needed, start fresh or with a Stargate program as far along as needed to get the story going, and go with different themes and factions if they really have to. At least that avoids wrecking the original until alternate McKay starts drawing zero point energy from our dimension. Whoops.

Would I want to see that? Tough one. Star Trek didn't fare well in that regard, but unless they bring in J.J. Abrams to wreck another franchise it may not be that bad. As has been stated multiple times already, it's all about getting the factors right that made SG-1 and Atlantis work so well. No idea if they can.

They should go the alternate universe route and have the story take place in the early 20th century, where you can have all sorts of pseudo-Indiana-Jones adventures with appropriate weird science / ancient aliens undertones, it's what the original movie and series were an hommage to after all. Also, that way you can have the baddies be actual Nazis/Commies/Klan members that get delusional about their 'gods' being real in space etc., which should avoid some of the points of the setting that probably would not fly today or need to be substantially altered anyway to conform to today's sensibilities.

They can’t reboot Stargate yet. First of all they need to reboot MacGyver. Then they need to let it stew for a decade or so, and then they can reboot Stargate.

 Flinty wrote:
They can’t reboot Stargate yet. First of all they need to reboot MacGyver. Then they need to let it stew for a decade or so, and then they can reboot Stargate.

The MacGyver reboot is currently 7 years old

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MacGyver_(2016_TV_series)

So they can start Stargate soon...

Excellent! Has Mr Till been approached yet?

Tsagualsa wrote:

 Geifer wrote:

 Overread wrote:
Also part of me doesn't want a Stargate remake. I'd rather a "Portal Galaxy" series that takes elements from Stargate and reworks them into a fresh, modern idea that can go to new places without harming the places the old one went too and without tripping over itself getting stuck or such. Something that can do fresh things - say maybe have a team of 5; or bigger events or just loads of things that you can't do with Stargate without changing too much

I don't know where to begin expressing my disappointment that you called it Portal Galaxy and not Wormhole X-Treme.

Aside from that, at least the setting has an elegant solution for that. Alternate dimensions have been in it since the first season. They could set the reboot on an alternate earth and change things around as needed, start fresh or with a Stargate program as far along as needed to get the story going, and go with different themes and factions if they really have to. At least that avoids wrecking the original until alternate McKay starts drawing zero point energy from our dimension. Whoops.

Would I want to see that? Tough one. Star Trek didn't fare well in that regard, but unless they bring in J.J. Abrams to wreck another franchise it may not be that bad. As has been stated multiple times already, it's all about getting the factors right that made SG-1 and Atlantis work so well. No idea if they can.

They should go the alternate universe route and have the story take place in the early 20th century, where you can have all sorts of pseudo-Indiana-Jones adventures with appropriate weird science / ancient aliens undertones, it's what the original movie and series were an hommage to after all. Also, that way you can have the baddies be actual Nazis/Commies/Klan members that get delusional about their 'gods' being real in space etc., which should avoid some of the points of the setting that probably would not fly today or need to be substantially altered anyway to conform to today's sensibilities.

I like that as a concept (but I’m a sucker for art deco sci-fi pulp), but that does get rid of some of the “cheap and easy to make” stuff. Although, with Volume tech a show based on a small team could work. Alternatively, Lower Decks shows that you can make a successful sequel/continuation, providing you love and respect the original (which is much less certain).

 Jadenim wrote:

Tsagualsa wrote:

 Geifer wrote:

 Overread wrote:
Also part of me doesn't want a Stargate remake. I'd rather a "Portal Galaxy" series that takes elements from Stargate and reworks them into a fresh, modern idea that can go to new places without harming the places the old one went too and without tripping over itself getting stuck or such. Something that can do fresh things - say maybe have a team of 5; or bigger events or just loads of things that you can't do with Stargate without changing too much

I don't know where to begin expressing my disappointment that you called it Portal Galaxy and not Wormhole X-Treme.

Aside from that, at least the setting has an elegant solution for that. Alternate dimensions have been in it since the first season. They could set the reboot on an alternate earth and change things around as needed, start fresh or with a Stargate program as far along as needed to get the story going, and go with different themes and factions if they really have to. At least that avoids wrecking the original until alternate McKay starts drawing zero point energy from our dimension. Whoops.

Would I want to see that? Tough one. Star Trek didn't fare well in that regard, but unless they bring in J.J. Abrams to wreck another franchise it may not be that bad. As has been stated multiple times already, it's all about getting the factors right that made SG-1 and Atlantis work so well. No idea if they can.

They should go the alternate universe route and have the story take place in the early 20th century, where you can have all sorts of pseudo-Indiana-Jones adventures with appropriate weird science / ancient aliens undertones, it's what the original movie and series were an hommage to after all. Also, that way you can have the baddies be actual Nazis/Commies/Klan members that get delusional about their 'gods' being real in space etc., which should avoid some of the points of the setting that probably would not fly today or need to be substantially altered anyway to conform to today's sensibilities.

I like that as a concept (but I’m a sucker for art deco sci-fi pulp), but that does get rid of some of the “cheap and easy to make” stuff. Although, with Volume tech a show based on a small team could work. Alternatively, Lower Decks shows that you can make a successful sequel/continuation, providing you love and respect the original (which is much less certain).

I think the general, pretty formulaic setup of the early seasons of SG1 would work well as a streaming series: you can have your 'monster of the week' episodes that are just exploring a random world and have no plot relevance other than giving you opportunities to characterize your main cast, some plot-relevant multi-episode arcs (which nowadays just could be longer episodes) and if audiences like what they see you can go full-on seasons plot or metaplot. Since you have no real obligation to do anything specifici in the '... of the week' episodes, you can get the budget down by doing 'chamber plays' where you don't really need a lot of extras, effects or even all the actors. SG1 had a lot of episodes where the main cast was locked inside some random building, or that happened almost entirely within some rooms in the Cheyenne Mountain Complex. Stargate is very conductive to non-combat drama coming from the gate mechanics and the fact that for most of the early seasons, humans understood feth-all about how any of it really works - you can have some very dramatic episodes without a lot of action and shooting, and these are low-risk and dirt-cheap to produce with a halfway solid script.

I fear it would be unlikely to fare well. If you want to watch SG1 then watch SG1

reboots of modern (ish) shows have not been great (remember Charmed v2.0)

but if by some miracle it was decent i'd watch it,

Thoughts on why I really enjoyed SG1 on its first run - separate to thoughts on why I still love watching it.

First and foremost? It was genuinely new SciFi. We the audience learned about the Goa’uld, Replicators, Tokea, Asgard, Ori et al at exactly the same pace as our heroes. It was working pretty much solely within its own developing framework, and not beholden to a Show From Another Decade.

That for me allowed it to remain fresh. Atlantis more or less worked, but never quite hit the heights of SG1, and sometimes felt recycled (Replicators! But like, Different Replicators!).

That’s a big hurdle for any reboot to cross, as it’s automatically subject to restraints and expectations SG1 just wasn’t.

So when SG1 took the piss out of itself and its premise (Wormhole X-Treme) it didn’t feel forced, but more comedic introspection and acknowledgement of the sillier side of its premise. And indeed demonstrates just how well the writers understood that. That in turn gave me as the viewer an appreciation for just how good the scripts and stories were, as they balanced the tone quite nicely.

Can a remake or latter day sequel series maintain that? Who knows.

SGU I feel was just a bit ahead of its time. In terms of tone, it just wasn’t what fans of the setting were expecting, and I think that kneecapped it to some extent. Particularly when a few of the early episodes involved some kind of panic about a failing system or failing power, only to learn “don’t worry, Destiny has it covered”. It just made the crew feel a wee bit redundant. It definitely had good points once I settled in - indeed the change of tone, whilst initially jarring turned out to be welcome, at least in my book. I think had that been a latter day sequel, people might’ve taken to it a bit stronger.


Automatically Appended Next Post:
As for why I keep watching it? I love the interplay between the team members.

Col O’Neill is of course the military guy. But that includes negotiation and the softer skills a military commander must have.

Dr Jackson is the boffin, with knowledge in his area well beyond anyone else in the team.

Teal’c is of course the native. The one most familiar with the Goa’uld and the wider galaxy.

Maj. Carter is the science clever clogs, the one able to MacGuyver solutions.

But that’s just their particular specialisations. We see a great deal of cross over and collab between the team members.

Carter and Jackson, between them, can do more than either alone. In fact any combination of team members becomes greater than the sum of its parts because the characters are well developed.

One of my highlights will always be the look on O’Neill’s face when he’s left baffled by scientific gobbledigook coming from Teal’c, Carter and Jackson. I couldn’t tell you which episode, but the best quote for me is….

Col O’Neill wrote:If I have to say “huh?” once more, I’m going to shoot one of you

We also see friction between the team members, as competing solutions are discussed and explored, and nobody gets their way 100% of the time, indeed none of them are Just Magically Correct Because The Script Requires It.

That isn’t easy to recreate, because so much of it relies on the actors having chemistry. Which is why I didn’t enjoy Jonas replacing Jackson. Granted he wasn’t around for long, but the team just didn’t feel the same.

Not a criticism of the actor like. He can’t help being parachuted in to join a Main Cast that had worked together for years by that point. But I think it does highlight chemistry can take a while. Compare to when Mitchell and Vala joined the main cast. They’d worked together on Farscape, so the actors had a friendship and chemistry already which ported over nicely.