Who's responsible for the end of Stargate?

[Overmind One]

Are you sure you have your sources correct? If I remember correctly, SG-1 was cancelled because of the ratings. Even Gateworld says it. Though you are correct about atlantis.

Yes, I am sure my sources are correct. At the time, I was working jobs within the industry and I was getting inside information from somebody working at Bridge (not necessarily with the SGU folks). Syfy wanted more Atlantis, and Brad wanted to launch SGU.

 

[Overmind One]

It maybe a dead horse but stargate was made with love.

Yes, at first...later it was made with greed and narcissism.

 

[Lord Ba'al]

Yes, I am sure my sources are correct. At the time, I was working jobs within the industry and I was getting inside information from somebody working at Bridge (not necessarily with the SGU folks). Syfy wanted more Atlantis, and Brad wanted to launch SGU.

That doesn't seem to make sense. SyFy's the one paying for stuff, so in the end I would think that what SyFy says goes, not what Brad Wright wants.

 

[Overmind One]

That doesn't seem to make sense. SyFy's the one paying for stuff, so in the end I would think that what SyFy says goes, not what Brad Wright wants.

Syfy was not paying for the production of Stargate Universe, MGM Television was. Syfy's deal was with MGM Distribution, with exclusive broadcast rights. Syfy wanted to order more Stargate Atlantis, but Brad pulled the right levers at MGM to take it off the table and offer SGU instead (as the only choice). Syfy bought it at a high price, set by Brad's production values, and Brad in turn used the money to buy the sets he built at Bridge in the already leased 5 stages which had been used for SG-1 and Atlantis, as well as the biggest one where the "Medieval villages" were built and standing since SG-1.

 

[PussyGalore]

That doesn't seem to make sense. SyFy's the one paying for stuff, so in the end I would think that what SyFy says goes, not what Brad Wright wants.

As I remember it SyFy was willing to keep at least one Stargate property on the air and BW was the one who pushed for SGU to be it. This was definitely at the expense of SGA. (I think SG-1 had already been put to bed at that point but I assume the sets were still available.)

The problem with BW talking SyFy into taking SGU was that it was a new show with a huge budget. They had to build all new sets and hire a huge new cast. It would have been way more economical of them to keep SG-1 or SGA because they had those sets and they already had established casts that were not as large as the SGU cast. More importantly, these shows had established audiences. SGU only had the illusion of an established audience and we all know how that played out.

So the bottom line is that the SGU budget could easily have kept SG-1 or SGA going at least another couple seasons. And there would have been money left over too. They would not have had to build new sets nor would they have had to bloat the cast nor would they have had to do a ton of location shooting as they did on SGU with all the backstory flashbacks and magic stone scenes. That stuff all costs money, a lot of money.

That's the benefit of having established sets, you can use that money to produce other aspects of the show, which would have been great for SG-1 or SGA and would have kept the accounting numbers in the black.

Quite simply there's no way SyFy could have been the ones to advocate for SGU. How could they possibly have faith in the development of SGU without knowing anything about it? Brad Wright had to be the one to sell them on it at the expense of SG-1/SGA. He's the one (along with Cooper) who pushed to have SGU be the replacement show in the franchise. He's the one who pushed SGU as the future of Stargate. There's no denying this. It's his (and Cooper's) fault, not SyFy's.

 

[YJ02]

Yes, at first...later it was made with greed and narcissism.

it is not that uncommon-though NOT statistically important- for children born of narcissistic reasons of the parent(s) to turn out as sociopaths

so,my take is SGA was the 'love child' and SGU the sociopath runt of the litter

 

[Overmind One]

it is not that uncommon-though NOT statistically important- for children born of narcissistic reasons of the parent(s) to turn out as sociopaths

so,my take is SGA was the 'love child' and SGU the sociopath runt of the litter

One of the things that bothered me most about SGU was the fact that dozens of people went through the Icarus gate to board Destiny, but once we were on the ship, they just disappeared and we never really saw any of them much.

The show was just so ill-planned and thrown together. All in a rush to pick up those recently orphaned BSG fans. Remember that BSG was the kale of the time, and critics were in love with it and it's producers and writers. Brad said that one of them told him he could not write space opera/drama, and told him to "go do your little thing". They were right, and Brad is still not over it.

 

[Tripler]

I completely regretted watching all of bsg . My god it was boring and stupid as hell say we all .

 

[PussyGalore]

I completely regretted watching all of bsg . My god it was boring and stupid as hell say we all .

I thought the first few episodes of season 1 were good and held a lot of promise but it didn't take long for the show to devolve into tedium and lameness. It's a shame because the show could have been really good.