Abbas Karimjee's Weblog

Indeed the Stargate franchise is approaching its new era and with drastic changes to its face, we feel that its time to reflect on the past  and look ahead to the future.

 ITS TIME TO LOOK BACK AT THE PAST TO UNDERSTAND THE FUTURE

With Stargate Atlantis’cancellation announced by Science Fiction Channel on August 22 2008,  many fans of the show  were outraged.Many have expressed frustration with respects to their viewpoint which is that Team Atlantis was left in isolation for the new upcoming Stargate series,Stargate Universe.While others believe that ratings were a factor.Staff of the Atlantis production indicated that they had expected to the  program to complete its anticipated six year run as per the contracts.Indeed , it is our  interpretation that Stargate Atlantis was cancelled for  a  reinvention of the franchise to being viewers new exciting sorts of stories.This need was based on the lower ratings which were scored during the final  half of the show.While ratings were generally lower during the second half of the show,the fifth season scored  considerably better than the final half of third and the entire fourth season.Stargate Atlantis was also awarded with the People”s Choice Award for its fourth season.Indeed the show still entertained it viewers and therefore it was unanimously agreeed that Stargate Atlantis will continue nthe form of movies .A two hour stand alone direct to DVD  movie will be set for  release in spring 2010.The film will first appear on Sci Fi Channel for USA residents  before being released into  a DVD format.The reasoning behind Atlantis’ cancellation was to  transfer the series to a  more exciting  movie format[with better graphics] now than in a few years when the demand and ratings for the show further declines.

 We look forward to  joining team Atlantis in more of their exciting adventures and keeping them alive in  our lives for  hopefully years to come.Although movies will not  fully replace the enjoyment of a weekly 45 ,minute episode, we are appreciative for this opportunity.

Meanwhile Stargate productions is preparing for its next series, Stargate Universe.Universe stares Robert Carlyle as David Rush.The show  will be geared towards a slightly younger audience that of its two sister series,  Stargate SG1  and Stargate Atlantis.This new target is apart of the initiative to reinvent Stargate to provide new  forms of entertaintment while still maintaining the  continuity of  adventure and humour which have made Stargate what it is.In order to  establish this initiative the  setting of this new exciting series will take  place on an ancient ship destiny where a new  group of explorers accidentally  end up.The actors are also slightly younger than that of  the previous series .Being  trapped on the  ship  with no wayhome they must all work  together to survive.All ofthese new  characters are indeed un experienced and thus we can expect some amusing moments.Stargate Universe is expected to  be more story arc based   with a central focus on character relationships.Sci Fi mythology will also play a much less important role  in Universe than in its previous series.Universe will be designed to welcome both long time Stargate Fans back to the screens while also  attracting a large new audience community to the table.

Fan reaction   to this new series as briefly outlined further above  has been generally negative.Many fans have assumed that the series will  be more of teenage soap opera .However,  creators of the show Brad Wright and Robert C  Cooper, who  also sered as creators for the previous  two series have assured the online  fan community that this is not the  case.There has also been concern with regards to the maintenance of the intellectuality which  Stargate brings to its fanbase.Indeed fans have no desire to let  a younger audience dominate the intellectual complexity  of Stargate.Certain fans have communicated that their frustration is with respects t0 what they  believe is a replacement of series-from Atlantis to Universe!

We shall have to wait and see the show on October 2 2009  when its first episode, Air Part 1 debuts on the Sci Fi Channel.

Meanwhile  a third Stargate SG1 film is being scripted .The film was recently approved by MGM and  is for a spring 2010 release.It is expected to  be Jack O’Neil  centric.Michael Shanks[Daniel Jackson],[Amanda Tapping][Samantha Carter] and of course Richard  Dean Anderson have all confirmed their involvememt  in the film.Actor Christopher Jude[Tealc] has not yet issued  any official statement on his  involvement in the film, however based on previous  general indications his involvementis expected.Although the involvement of Beau Bridges  and Ben Browder is unknown  for the film, we have received acknowledgement  that Claudia Black will not appear  in the film as  Vala Maldurin.Black’s future in subsequent SG1 movies has not been communicated, however we  are taking a  moment to wish best of luck to the address as she continues to move forward in her career.The writer of the film is none ther than SG1′s creater and executive producer, Brad Wright.Indeed this film was only possible because of the success of the previous two SG1 films,  Stargate Ark of Truth and  Stargate Continuum.

The much anticipated Stargate Worlds video game where Stargate gamers could partake in missions previously practiced by teams including SG1  faced financial trouble last December.It seems that the Cheyenne Mountain Entertainment  studious was suffering through severe financial difficulties which resulted in lack of employee payment.Further developments have not been provided since December and we are consequemtly assuming that the video game will berelased later this year as scheduled.Lets keep our hopes up!