The Sci-Fi Channel series Stargate Atlantis, which added Star Trek Voyager’s Robert Picardo as a series regular this season and features recurring roles for a number of other Trek alumni, will end its run after the current fifth season ends next January. But it isn’t all bad news for the SGA team as they will be back in a direct-to-DVD movie.
Regarding the future of SGA, MultiChannel News reports:
After airing on Sci Fi sometime next year, the untitled Atlantis movie will be sold as a home-video title by producer MGM, Sci Fi told Multichannel News on Wednesday.
MGM this year released two financially successful straight-to-DVD movies made after progenitor series Stargate SG-1 ended a 10-year run of first-run cable episodes on Sci Fi. MGM and the show producers are scheduled to make more in DVDs in future. A movie franchise is also envisioned for Stargate Atlantis.
In a statement, show co-creators Robert C. Cooper and Brad Wright stated:
We’re excited to tell ‘Atlantis’ stories on a bigger canvas. The successes of the two original ‘Stargate’ movies, ‘The Ark of Truth’ and ‘Continuum,’ have shown us the opportunities that the movie format offers. We have plans for both ‘SG-1’ and ‘Atlantis’ to remain vital as we expand the franchise.
No cast has been announced for the DVD movie, so it isn’t known if Picardo will be on board as Richard Woolsey. In addition to Picardo, Atlantis has also featured Star Trek Enterprise’s Conner Trinneer and Star Trek Deep Space Nine’s Colm Meaney in recurring roles. Also Paul McGillion, who was an Atlantis regular and now has recurring role, has a small role in JJ Abrams Star Trek.
Although Atlantis had seen its ratings decline over its first four seasons, the current season had seen a turnaround. However the cancellation is no surprise to show producer Joe Mallozzi who wrote on his blog before season five premiered that it was "highly unlikely" the show could last ten seasons, like SG-1 did, noting:
…as a show moves past its fifth season, the odds are stacked against it. Ultimately, it comes down to the numbers – less the ratings and more the bottom line. The longer a show is on the air, the more expensive it is to produce. Throw in the resurgence of the Canadian dollar, once pegged at 63 cents to the U.S. greenback, it now hovers at par, an approximate 37 cent bump which adds a significant hit to the production budget.
SGA airs Fridays at 10PM on the Sci-Fi channel. More info at Sci-Fi.com.
So much for the Doc’s new show!
Smart move consdiering the series had no direction
I like SGA. I am only watching it through downloads and I am almost through season 3.
The show has heart. And I really think they made a big mistake by removing Torri Higgison from the cast. I do like A Tapping but…Torri was Atlantis’ leader.
Flanagan is awesome. And the cast has a great repore (sp?).
So after cancelling Farscape, moving two lead actors over to SG1, then canceling that, moving everyone over to Atlantis, SciFi now cancels Atlantis.
Wow, that’s even retarded on SciFi’s scale.
What about the third Stargate show that’s been rumored for a few months now though? I take it once we get used to that they’ll cancel that one too?
And they wonder why we get pissy…
that’s probably one reason why. They want to start with the whole Stargate Universe series. Atlantis fans will not be happy. I can see them getting pretty fired up over on the scifi forums.
This is the first time I’m actually happy seeing a favourite show cancelled! DVD movies are so much better than those 40 minute episodes could ever be. I’d definitely prefer 2-3 SG movies a year over 20 medicre episodes a season, including at least 4 fill-in bottled shows!
Individual movies are much more impressive than any TV show. You get indiviual DVDs instead of box sets, you get a soundtrack release, an entry at IMDB and and and…it’s so much more presence than those puny little episodes and if well done, they could go on and on for years that way!
I’m quite happy those two SG movies did well. This is the way to go for every SciFi franchise! I’ve been saying that again and again. Bring back DS9, VOY and especially ENTERPRISE that way, too. Continue Farscape, Firefly or Galactica with DVD movies! Do the same with B5 (not crapisodes like Lost Tales of course, but big budget, high profile B5 flicks!) or any other classic genre show…
Way to go Stargate…this truly is a good day to die for a TV show…
“Throw in the resurgence of the Canadian dollar, once pegged at 63 cents to the U.S. greenback, it now hovers at par, an approximate 37 cent bump which adds a significant hit to the production budget.”
Wow.
Ok, what about “Stargate Sweatshop”…or maybe “Stargate Goldfarmer” (for those of you MMO players). Every week, we follow a team of gold farmers into a new MMO as they farm gold, avoiding being reported by the player base, and trying to return with their virtual gold. Use all local crews and actors, probably wouldn’t have to pay them all that much.
Will that provide enough margin for Chaz McMarketing’s Hummer?
repore = rapport
(a cup of coffee helps. )
I really enjoyed SGA’s first season. The characters, even the secondary ones, really clicked, and the writing was pretty sharp. Then either the producers had lobotomies or the network imposed changes on SGA, and it went downhill enormously. They killed off one secondary character in the Season 1 finale (Grodin), and wrote out one of the stars (Ford) who was a major part of the show’s comic relief, thereafter depending way too much on Shepard and McKay. They brought in a Teal’C clone to replace Ford, but they hired some bodybuilder who had the personality of an organgutan but not as much acting skill. Then they brought in the Replicators, which no one really liked as the villain on SG-1 and were even less successful on SGA. Then they killed off Beckett and Weir. The show just became a jumbled mess. Carter’s replacing Weir didn’t really help, because by then the show had lost its identity and the writing was going from bad to worse. Woolsey’s arrival was too little, too late. Put the show out of its (and our) misery already.
This is bad news for those of us who prefer a weekly dose of something decent on the tube. I enjoy a good movie along with the rest of the fans but its just not the same. As we have seen with some of the Trek movies, not all of them are great hits. I’d rather see a good episode or two than a mediocre movie once every two years. For someone who hated waiting all summer for the next season to start the wait for a movie is almost painful.
The show was incredibly entertaining. Groups formed to identify which parts of which scripts were lifted from TOS, TNG, Lost in Space, and Time Tunnel.
“Wow, that’s even retarded on SciFi’s scale.”
…The problem with SciFi is that for the past decade they’ve been run by a bunch of complete and utter idiots who don’t understand that the cable channel was designed for a niche market. The marketing goons want it to be a full-blown all-access network, which means catering to the lowest common denominator of viewer. Problem with that is that this particular target audience is already owned by the Inbred Network – AKA Turner Network Television. The Skiffy suits want the Joe Punchclocks and Ethyl Soapsjunkies who love watching brainless swill like Wrestling – which they’ve degenerated from a fun sport into a bunch of steroid junkies molesting each other in drag – and are willing to dumb down their programs in hopes of attracting them like files. Of course, if that trick had worked, Crusade would still be on the air. Inbreds will *not* embrace Sci-Fi no matter how dumb the shows are, and the sooner the Skiffy suits realize this the better off the channel and its viewers will be.
…The good thing is that Bonnie “Bimbo” Hamner is no longer running the show there. Had she gotten her way, the BSG relaunch would have been nothing more than a knockoff of The Starlost. The bad thing is that she was fired *upwards*, and now has a bigger job at NBC/Universal. No telling what she’s screwed up since she got moved into that spot.
I like the show, and understand some of the changes.
Getting rid of Ford was simply because they couldn’t service the large stable of characters properly. They needed to cut down the cast a bit.
Ms. Higgenson just wanted to leave the show. She didn’t want to do it anymore.
I liked Dr. Beckett and was sad to see the character leave the show. But, I like Jewel Staite and was glad to see her join the cast.
I also like Robert Picardo, and I think that Woolsey is being fleshed out from being a PIA Bureaucrat into a warm, caring leader who tries to stay “by the book”, and be cautious/intelligent about his leadership.
I’ll miss the show when it ends, but I’ll certainly buy the DVD’s as I have been the two SG-1 DVD’s that came out.
The recent Daedaulus episode probably is the set up for Stargate Universe, as it only made sense as a “bottle” show to save money otherwise.
If the cost of the show is a problem, they should cut the cost of the show by making it less SFX intensive and more story/plot/character intensive.
Just within Atlantis itself, there are a lot of stories to tell as they explore the city and find all sorts of things. We don’t need expensive SFX and Makeup to tell a good story.
6. Smike van Dyke – August 21, 2008
“This is the first time I’m actually happy seeing a favourite show cancelled! DVD movies are so much better than those 40 minute episodes could ever be. I’d definitely prefer 2-3 SG movies a year over 20 medicre episodes a season, including at least 4 fill-in bottled shows!”
I’m in agreement with another poster up above. Having a 20 episode season with a couple or so stinkers in it still means that we had 15+ *wonderful* episodes. Get 2-3 movies a year means a bigger chance of getting a stinker flick, and therefore as a result of the increased exposure and risk, we get budget cuts to the next movie, or possible non-renewals of the license to create more.
I understand the reasoning behind the cancellation – being financial – but that happens with a whole lot of programs. There’s far more to it than that, and I have a theory on that.
The multi-platform-overlapping-inhouse-competition Star Trek Syndrome.
Trek got burned by having too many series so close to each other of varying degrees so much that fans got selective of which one to watch. Trek competed with *itself* for viewers, which got progressively worse which each series. Enterprise couldn’t live up to the standards set by the previous series, as we see from the rabid defenders of each one. “DS9 is the best!” “I stopped watching after TNG” “Voyager got back to the exploration roots” – piles and piles of excuses – and *competition* for fans.
I think Sci-Fi wants to avoid that with an impending third series, and instead fill in seasonal Universe breaks and holidays with original DVD movies of the other two franchises. No competition on television, and increased profit from DVD sales. It’s a smart move, even if I personally am saddened with it.
Who knows? Maybe Paramount will be watching and see that Trek (Excelsior anyone?) can have a successful Direct-to-DVD market too. Support the SG DVD sales, harass Paramount Famous to get on the bandwagon, and maybe… just maybe… we varied Trek fans can see how our favorite series crews are doing.
I always had it in for Stargate since it went up against Generations in 1994. But Stargate was a better movie. At least they didn’t kill Kirk and destroy the Enterprise.
Always harbored a meaningless grudge against the Stargate franchise, though. Never watched an episode all the way through. And now it’s going to be leaving us.
Stargate, I hardly knew ye.
I’d like to see Frakes on a few Direct-To-DVD Excelsior films; hopefully the new movie will give the franchise the kick in the pants it needs and maybe something like that will come to fruition.
#13
“Ms. Higgenson just wanted to leave the show. She didn’t want to do it anymore.”
I read an article yesterday about Torri. In the begining she was “flabbergasted” and taken totally off guard. After the casting change that brought A Tapping back…she lost interest in the recurring role position within the cast. After having assimlated her relationship with show, she decided to move forward with her career. Indeed she said she had a five year contract.
I believe that she should not have been removed from SGA.
MGM, NBC, Sci-Fi… they all suck balls!!! How can they do this when Atlantis was at its prime?! DVD movies are alright, but not when SGA has so much more stories to tell! With the economy the way it is, Stargate was my only indulgence when it came to DVDs and staying in Friday nights instead of going out with my friends. Seriously, who puts Wrestling on a science fiction channel and counts viewership for it against a science fiction show?? And ‘Bird Flu Horror’ and ‘Mansquito’?? Even the worst of Stargate’s episodes had better titles at least. SciFi channel, come January, I will no longer be watching your channel. I might keep your channel going only for the SGA movies, but that’s a BIG maybe and it will be my choice, not yours. You suck.
Blame Canada !
13… “Getting rid of Ford was simply because they couldn’t service the large stable of characters properly. They needed to cut down the cast a bit.”
No, they didn’t. They fired the guy who played Ford and hired the guy who played Ronin at almost the same moment. That just reaked of network suits saying “we need another Teal’C!”
“I’d like to see Frakes on a few Direct-To-DVD Excelsior films; hopefully the new movie will give the franchise the kick in the pants it needs and maybe something like that will come to fruition.”
Be careful what you wish for, Danpaine. With no existing sets, Direct-to-DVD is a pricey proposition. You might easily wind up with a single backdrop for the bridge and a whole lot of costumed characters running around 2009 Southern California chasing space Nazis on flying mopeds.
#21
“Be careful what you wish for, Danpaine. With no existing sets, Direct-to-DVD is a pricey proposition. You might easily wind up with a single backdrop for the bridge and a whole lot of costumed characters running around 2009 Southern California chasing space Nazis on flying mopeds.”
And it was thus that the latest fan film was born. Or Sci-Fi channel’s next movie.
Jessica Steen saw the writing on the wall before SGA got underway.
It’s always been somewhat stillborn due to the non-ending ending of SG1 that was supposed to have happened with the beginning of SGA.
I think a previous poster’s Star Trek Series Fatigue theory is accurate. Unlike Dr Who with its daughter series Torchwood and Sarah Jane Adventures and K9… with only 13 episodes to a “series” (i.e., season), they can run one after the other. If SGA and SG1 hadn’t overlapped, and ran *less* (as Skiffy is doing with BSG), there might have been more bang for the buck.
Well. The scifi Channel just likes to mess things up. But It was a grewt move to get Sg1 to dvd and the same with Atlantis. I seen both the Dvds that sg1 did and I loved them both. Great acting and a great story and great Fx. I hope the same for Atlantis and At least the Franchise will continue.But the Sci fi channel is not what it used to be and they are losing me as a regular watcher. I used to love fridays on scifi and now All Ill have is wwe Smackdown to watch. At least that will continue.But Scifi. You are losing your Audience.
I never liked the medical emergeny episodes instead of doing more with the show.
…the hell?
No, really. What? The show finally stops sucking horribly and they cancel it? That’s just… just…
Just like Enterprise.
Dammit.
#26: It ain’t like Enterprise at all. Enterprise never got DTV-movies! I cried for ENT almost three months back in 2005.
This time I’m more than happy with the prospect of new movies! If there had been DTV movies for ENT, we could have ended up with 5-6 ENT based DTV productions so far!
Can you imagine that? SIX MOVIES??? In my book, that’s better than those craptastic lseasons 1 and 2 on ENT or season 4 on SGA! And it is FAR better than getting nothing at all. Bottom line, I’m gonna celebrate this cancellation! It’s not SGA’s death, it’s its ASCENSION! *pun intended*
man, sci fi must really be loosing money.
Well, I’m not happy about this decision as I enjoyed Stargate far more than I ever did BSG. Stargate is my 3rd favorite sci-fi franchise after B5 and Star Trek, Star Trek being my favorite of course, and BSG is nowhere even close. I have “Ark of the Truth” and “Continuuim” and am saving up to buy the series (something I don’t plan to do for BSG). Hopefully Stargate Universe will bring back the popularity of Stargate. I also hope this doesn’t affect “Stargate Worlds” the Stargate MMORPG. I hope SGA has a great series finale that will launch the movie DVDs.
BSG is popular now and should be commended for ending it on their own terms but I never really got into the show. It started off great but the soap-opera relationships, the constant lack of morality (i.e. the support of genocide, etc.), the backstabbing, etc. made me turn away from the show.
Stargate always found the proper balance of light and dark stories, imo, as did B5, although that was darker than Trek or SG but they didn’t have soap-opera relationships and the Minbari/human characters always had strong morality, and Trek found that balance in most of the series. The one thing that ST, B5, and SG all had in common was the strong morality of the main characters, with the few exceptions, and the willingness to do what it takes to do the right thing and even the willingness to give up their lives for their morality. BSG is sorely lacking morality and the only thing they’re concerned with is survival. To quote both 7 of 9 and the Doctor from VOY “survival is insufficient.” SG will be sorely missed.
I digressed a bit in that previous post but I wanted to convey why I liked SGA better than BSG and why I think that it’s a mistake to cancel SGA.
I also forgot to say that I hope they keep Robert Picardo for the SGA direct-to-DVD movies.
I always liked the concept of a made for TV mini series using the Trek universe; introducing different ships and crews of the federation with each one made. What generation doesn’t matter, for me I love’em all! Would anyone want to ban together and pester the networks for such idea, Trekmovie.com could our voice!!!. As an example we could use Abrams Trek as catalyst to begin this series of made for TV movies / DVD’s — I would love to see Sean Connery as a Klingon, facing an aging Capt Sulu!
I dont think sean connery would do a direct to DVD movie
Too bad about SGA, but at least it will live on in some fashion as straight to DVD movies. I hear that they cannot do theatrical releases due to licensing issues from the original creators of the Star Gate movie.
why not about star trek enterprise on dvd movie after season 4 huh? i thin k not fair
It was obvious that the show was on its last leg. The Woolsey character put in command was stupid and the stories are getting weaker each week.
With SGA and BSG leaving SciFi Channel there is nothing worth a damn on that network. I can’t stand their stupid monster movies (Manquito anyone?) and I hate the Ghost Hunters crap. Wrestling? No thanks.
SciFi Channel blows.
Sci Fi Channel. REST IN PEACE. You Were a Great Channel.
You know. For me friday Nights Were Great Nights for watching. Or recording Tv. I mean. There was WWE smackdown and then THE Great show Las vegas. Which NBC in repeating a Mistake in canceling The great show like that. Then the Stargates were on the scifi channel. My Tivo would always work overtime on fridays. Now IM left With Just WWE Smackdown. This is so not fair!.
36 said: “With SGA and BSG leaving SciFi Channel there is nothing worth a damn on that network. I can’t stand their stupid monster movies (Manquito anyone?) and I hate the Ghost Hunters crap. Wrestling? No thanks.”
The reruns of Star Trek are always good but if you look at their schedule for coming weeks you will notice that they show Trek less and less. I have to agree that there is nothing on SciFi for me anymore (again other than the Trek reruns and the upcoming ENT and TNG marathons.) It’s a shame.
ENT Marathon: Fri. Aug. 29th and TNG Marathon: Mon. Sept. 1
Looks like Universe is going the Voyager route.
http://www.thrfeed.com/2008/08/stargate-univer.html
“Universe” introduces a team of explorers who find an ancient unmanned ship called the Destiny. Unable to return to Earth, the crew must fend for themselves aboard the ship, which has a preprogrammed mission taking them to the far reaches of the universe.
After unlocking the mystery of the Stargate’s ninth chevron, a team of explorers travels to an unmanned starship called the Destiny, launched by The Ancients at the height of their civilization as a grand experiment set in motion, but never completed.
What starts as a simple reconnaissance turns into a never ending mission, as the Stargate Universe crew discovers the ship is unable to return to Earth, and they must now fend for themselves aboard the Destiny.
The crew will travel to the far reaches of the universe, connecting with each of the previously launched Stargates, thus fulfilling the Destiny’s original mission.
Challenges will arise though as the ship comes into range of Stargates placed centuries ahead of the Destiny, but only for a brief period of time before carrying on with its pre-programmed navigational schedule. If someone is left behind, there is no way to go back for them, adding to the drama of encountering new races, enemies and adventures.
Sigh.
I could be wrong but this reminds of what happend to Tech Tv when it became G4. Tech Tv had shows people liked then the suits came in and thought hmmm people will like this better with less tech and more models. Like SciFi thinks people will like silly movies and fighting much more then science fiction. Listen suits people watch a cable network called scifi for scifi.
I wonder how the economic factors will affect Caprica! Sounds like a lot of Canadian-based TV shows are in peril!
Pleased to see more shows going to DVD films. I don’t think a lot of TV shows work in the cinema. It’s a shame that The X Files didn’t go down the direct-to-DVD route!
Was sci fi ever really a great channel? 2 or 3 good shows out of the hundreds of X files and crap eighties show reruns don’t count as a good channel. All they have on there right now worth watching is Ghost Hunters.
Time for a reboot on the big screen!
I wonder why Paramount never thought about that Direct-to-DVD idea, after Enterprise’s fourth season. Seems to me, MGM has the more clever managers.
I’m sorry for SGA (especially for Robert Picardo, who’s Whoolsey was a great character and superb acted). Actually I didn’t see it regulary, but I liked the show nearly as much as SG1.
#38….everyone knows that Friday nights are the right field of TV programmers. If you want a slow death you stick a show on Friday nights. Yet most sci-fi is put there because they assume we dont have a date so we’ll watch it. And they’re usually right .lol
I just don’t get the Sci Fi Channel. At one time they had Stargate SG1, Stargate Atlantis and BSG all going at once and they dominated Friday night television. They shutdown the Stargate series, BSG is coming to an end and they are replacing those shows with what??
The made for tv movies that put on Saturday nights are some of the worst pieces of garbage ever.
Why can’t we keep good sci fi weekly series going?
You know, I really like that Universe concept. It doesn’t so much like Voyager to me. It’s more a “Starship Troopers / Space Above and Beyond” meeting “Space: 1999” concept, with the former two refering to space battles and young soldiers, the latter hinting at the idea of an object on an uncontrollable course without a chance of going back. It could be quite a neat concept. If done wright…ahmm..right, it might work better than SGA has done in years.
As for those Gaters out their grieving for their Atlantis series: it is so pathetic. What would I do to be given the opportunity of seeing ONE SINGLE DVD movie based on Enterprise, not even mentioning the prospect of more than one DVD movie! I remember donating 300 bucks to that Tim Brazeal organisation back in 2005 in order to get at least the series finished in style! I would have paid anything for getting another two hours of Enterprise back then…
And now there are these Gaters threating MGM not to by any more DVDs at all just because they decided to continue the show in a different format! Spoiled little brats in my book.
threatening MGM
I’ve recently started watchin’ StarryGate… tha’ first one mostly… and it is fun ta’ watch…
I did see some o’ tha’ one wit’ Picardo and I wuz so distracted by his uniform that I thought I wuz watchin’ Starry Trek… so I drank until I believed it wuz indeed Starry Trek… “DeepWaterStation 9” or some such… watch tha’ station go up and down in tha’ water Wheeeeee!
Saw another one when bad folks shot a disrupter ray down on tha’ station… Oh, no! Shields holdin’!
Tha’ oddest one wuz when these NYC coppers arrested tha’ one gent fur murderin’ a hooker who played fur tha’ city’s orchestra but proved in court her chello really did it… very few SFX in that eppy-sode…
Arrrrr…