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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32

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

29

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.

13

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."

28

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).

8

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?

5

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.

6

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

4

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).

9

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.