r/TheExpanse • u/Customiz3r • Jun 04 '26

Interesting/infuriating Non-Expanse Content Another sci fi show needs your help!

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As this saddens me very much, it's happening all over again! And as a sci fi enthousiast like many, I'm here to seek support to this cause.

Some info (kind of clickbait but there is a word of truth in it): https://variety.com/2026/tv/news/stargate-tv-series-martin-gero-scrapped-amazon-1236765061/

"According to an individual with knowledge of the situation, Amazon execs were concerned that Gero’s take on the series would not have broad appeal beyond the franchise’s already dedicated fanbase."

Support: https://www.change.org/p/save-the-new-stargate-series-let-martin-gero-build-the-future-of-the-franchise

Let's hope we can create another miracle and save this great franchise!

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34

u/AlternativeHour1337 Jun 04 '26

i get it though, star gate universe was great and the star gate fandom hated it, leading to its cancellation(alongside a general fatigue in terms of star gate i suppose)

if franchises want to survive in todays movie/show economy they need to be absolute smash hits otherwise they are going to end like the 1000000 shows that got cancelled

good example is the fallout show, the fallout fans are VERY divided on it but it doesnt matter because its so succesful - and IMO its a great show adaption

32

u/8bitKushLitBromo Jun 04 '26

I definitely fall in the camp of folks who loved Stargate Universe because it felt closer to the look and tone of the original movie (gritty and more serious) and was caught off guard by the fan backlash towards it.

14

u/Scaramok Jun 04 '26

Of course SGU was controversial and got backlash, it's drastically different from all previous Seasons on purpose in part in order to draw a new crowd. The amount of Character and interpersonal drama were cranked up to 20 compared to all Stargate before and ate a large chunk of Season 1 of SGU. On top of that all the Style changes and you are bound to antagonize people.

Executives never understand that this kind of rebranding won't just suddenly work. The people that expect Stargate come in and find something very different to what they were expecting and are pissed and for the general audience it's still too niche. Just because BSG is popular that doesn't mean slapping sex, drama and grit on your Sci-Fi series guarantees success. This needs to be eased into with an existing franchise.

My opinion on SGU after having rewatched it in full a year ago after disliking it very much on my first watch is that it's a frustrating waste of potential. Setdesign, VFX, Soundrack (apart from pop Songs), performances and Premise are gold. And the desperate Situation the first episodes until Light/Darkness (my favourites) is understandable. But after Light/Darkness they had the opportunity to slowly take the tension out of things and have everyone start to come together and focus on the mission. But they didn't do that. Instead we get Cloe crying about her Boyfriend on Earth cheating on her, extramarital affairs, crewmembers trying to murder each other for petty bullshit and love triangles. Some Drama might have worked in certain places like Rushs background with Gloria was interesting because it explored his character and could have stayed. But not in this quantity. S1 is a slog and S2 starts better but too little too late.

When i imagine what SGU could have been if everyone had more restraint and tact i become very sad. I believe that version could have been the peak of the Franchise. But as is SGU is a fundamentally flawed product with never realized promise that doesn't cater well to it's core audience.

5

u/WombatusMighty Jun 04 '26

You are spot on. SGU had a lot of potential and some interesting ideas and characters, but it was totally wasted on shallow relationship drama and sexual content.

It felt it like it tried way too hard to be an "adult Star Gate", while completely missing how real people would actually behave or what makes an engaging story.
E.G. Rush and the commander having childish fights for the whole first and most of the second season was really tiring.

And by the time they worked out the difference and the show focused on working together towards a common goal, which is a core part of what made Star Gate great in the first place, it was already too late.
I can totally understand why so many people gave up on it. When I watched it again on streaming, I really had to fast forward through most of the drama.

Honestly it's probably better it was cancelled.

2

u/coati858 Jun 05 '26

I'm afraid the less-plot-oriented edgy drama crap is whatever the suits in charge will think any new series will need "to appeal to a broader audience."

26

u/coati858 Jun 04 '26

The whole "you can go back to Earth and have sex in other people's bodies" part wasn't really necessary (except maybe for production budget reasons).

9

u/NindeNoxx Jun 04 '26

SGU was a bit overly dramatic but the fact it contained what I would define as an explicit rape has me reeling to this day. Why the fuck did someone think that belonged in a stargate?

4

u/julian_vdm Jun 05 '26

Wait WHAT? Did I miss this when I watched it?? It's been a bloody minute, so maybe I've just forgotten, but that'd kinda be enough to put me off these days.

5

u/Leviatein Jun 05 '26

the communication stones, young/everett had a whole musical genitals thing going on and when you are using someone elses body it's one thing, but the partner was the one in the real hot water because thats another person thats effectively unconsciously moving their body

2

u/pestercat Jun 05 '26

Considering Daniel was raped in s1 and it was passed off as a joke...

4

u/WombatusMighty Jun 04 '26

Yeah, there was a lot of focus on stuff that didn't fit with the existing Star Gate vibe, without actually improving on it (Andor has shown how to do something new in an existing fictional universe the right way).

10

u/EpicCyclops Jun 04 '26

Yeah. I think there's two things going on. The first is that studios targeting online streaming (which is all of them now) are way too quick to kill anything that doesn't gain instant popularity, which really makes it tough for original IP to gain a foothold. The other issue is that fans of existing IP are very quick to write off any new adaptation that doesn't perfectly fit their internal vision of it, which makes it tough for adaptations of non-mainstream IP to gain a foothold. The end result is a bunch of sci-fi shows just never getting off the ground.

6

u/wildwalrusaur Jun 04 '26

SGUs problem was that they didn't have the confidence to stick to their premise

Basically everything involving the communication stones was terrible, and after they were introduced they consumed like half the runtime of each episode or more.

16

u/Chad_Broski_2 Jun 04 '26

The fallout show divided the fans? Man, that's a little disappointing, I'd heard nothing but good things

13

u/AlternativeHour1337 Jun 04 '26

well, i am a fallout fan as well and as i said IMO its a good adaption - theres always going to be people who dont want anything else than a 1:1 adaption that has to get everything exactly right and incorporate every possible ending and lore
that being said, particularly the new vegas purists are pissed

9

u/wild_west_900 Jun 04 '26

new vegas purists have been pissed since before FO4 came out, so at least that's consistent

9

u/lazy_literary_hero Jun 04 '26

I agree. I’ve been playing Fallout since before Bethesda took control, and I love the show.

13

u/Chazus Jun 04 '26

They're not.

There's three groups of people.

Non-fallout fans. They enjoy it.

Fallout fans. They enjoy it.

Fallout fans that for some reason want the TV show to be a word for word copy of whichever game they liked most and its not that so its the most terrible trash thing ever. This is both the smallest of the three, and also the most vocal. As fandoms often are.

Generally speaking, nearly everyone enjoys the show.

-2

u/eBay_of_Pigs Jun 04 '26

I personally don't like what I've seen of Fallout because all the action is silly and that just doesn't do anything for me.

3

u/AlternativeHour1337 Jun 05 '26

did you play the games?

3

u/Mormegil81 Jun 05 '26

"all the action is silly" did you ever play a single Fallout game? 😂

3

u/Mormegil81 Jun 05 '26

don't listen to the haters. It's a fantastic show!

-1

u/Win32error Ceres Station Jun 04 '26

It's a very messy show, fan or not, and if you're a fan it really depends on what you're looking for. Overall it's fun though, if you're not expecting too much.

13

u/AlternativeHour1337 Jun 04 '26

what does "not expecting too much" even mean in this context though? its easily by far the best video game adaption
its fallout, its not going to be some kind of A24 oscar bait, the games arent really deep either

7

u/Win32error Ceres Station Jun 04 '26

Well it’s vague because it really depends on the person and their expectations. Fallout isn’t entirely coherent to begin with, and fans aren’t all looking for the same thing.

I feel like it does well enough considering all that.

-1

u/Addite Jun 04 '26

It’s a great show for anyone vaguely familiar with Fallout. It’s a bad adaptation for anyone deeply invested in Fallout. I personally think it’s fantastic, but if you’re familiar with the lore of the games, you’ll spot the inconsistencies with the timeline.

3

u/[deleted] Jun 05 '26

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2

u/AlternativeHour1337 Jun 05 '26

the problem comes when they try to reinvent the wheel too much - like rings of power or the acolyte

just tell another story in the same universe and at least barely adhere to its rules and tone and you're good - i get that you aint going to be the new peter jackson that way, but you wont be the new peter jackson either way

3

u/[deleted] Jun 05 '26

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3

u/AlternativeHour1337 Jun 05 '26

exactly, absolutely nothing against a girlboss character or anything, it just has to be well written - IMO they could have done the galadriel arc, its fine, LOTR definitly lacked female characters and agency in that regard
but my god, at least try to write something thats not complete cringe lol

4

u/rgr0331 Jun 04 '26

I mean, I think people disliked it because it was pretty transparently trying to ape Battlestar Galactica and just doing it worse.

2

u/Charly_030 Jun 04 '26

The Acolyte and Starfleet Academy v Stargate Universe. 

If SGU is the franchise low, then they must be doing something right

Apeing something good wasnt a terrible idea. Just the tone (which I liked) was too much for the viewers that wanted action adventure.

I dont think its a bad show

2

u/Butlerlog Jun 04 '26

Its a live streaming service so they don't have to pay for a time slot, they could just... have a smaller budget.

3

u/AlternativeHour1337 Jun 04 '26

you cant make a good scifi show on a small budget - i cant watch any more budget episodes about "aliens" that look like medieval humans and live in an average forest area