Very few TV shows make it to the magical tenth season; especially those of the sci-fi genre. So, when Stargate SG-1 called it quits after their tenth season, I, along with thousands of fans worldwide, were very disappointed. We don’t even have Stargate: Atlantis to whet our wormhole whistle any more – but the spin offs are hardly ever as good as the originals – notable exception is Torchwood from Doctor Who.

That’s why even though Sony Picture Television and MGM decided to cancel the series after 214 episodes, they knew the sci-fi cash cow wasn’t finished delivering some prime time space milk. To continue pleasing fans and to keep the franchise viable, it was announced that three full length movies would be released. Stargate: Continuum and Stargate: The Ark of Truth have already come and gone and both were fantastic extensions of the franchise. But we were suppose to get a third film and even a fourth based on the Atlantis series but alas, that may not happen anytime soon.

All kinds of goodies took place this last week. Let’s get on with the tidbits of TV!

1. Bruce’s Public Service Announcement: Be aware that the season premiere of season 4.5 (Is that just not the most ridiculous thing ever?) of Battlestar Galactica that is airing this Friday on January 16th will run over by 3 1/2 minutes. That means you need to make the appropriate changes to whatever recording device you may employ, if that is indeed what you are doing. Me, I’m gonna be there live! Despite in-laws crawling all over my place, they’ve been warned. Back off when my show comes on. Go to sleep, go for a walk, go for a drive, or watch it with me, but git out of my way and don’t talk during my show! I take my BSG serious! Source: SciFi Wire

Welcome! This is the first rendition of Screen Rants Weekly TV Wrap Up. This is where we pass on some of the TV news we come across, keeping you on the edge of news and updates. Our regularly scheduled day will be Thursday mornings, so be sure to check in every week with us.

When there’s TV news, it will be here!

Stargate: Atlantis is coming to a close – it’s been a great ride. The show took a bit to adjust to, but after a while the characters and new location grew on me because it had the same feel to the writing that we’ve come to enjoy from the Stargate franchise.

It was hard not to know that last week’s episode was the next to last episode for Atlantis. I went into the episode, titled “Vegas” (written and directed by Robert Cooper), not really looking forward to it. I was coming into it with a bit of a dour perspective because it was some alternate timeline story. My thought? “Why would they do this to us in the next to last episode of the series?”

WARNING: If you DVR’d the episode, a bit of an outline spoiler follows the break.

Yes, that sounds confusing.  It was weird to write also.  Even though we watch Stargate on the Sci-Fi Channel, Sci-Fi does not own the rights to the franchise.  They are allowed to telecast the shows, but they don’t own them.  MGM owns the rights to do with the franchise as they wish.

One of the many theories of why Stargate: Atlantis is ending is that it’s so MGM can take advantage of the potential profits in moving Atlantis to the DVD medium.

Well Bite me.

Just when I get comfortable with Stargate Atlantis after losing Stargate SG-1, they go and pull the plug on it. Yep, it’s been announced today that this, the fifth season of Stargate Atlantis, is its final season on television.

The panel for Stargate: Atlantis was lighthearted and fun to watch.  The actors in the panel were Joe Flanigan, Jewel Staite, Robert Picardo and show scribe Brad Wright and Chris Sanagustin, the VP of Original Programming from the Sci-Fi Channel.

The crowd was pretty animated with the introductions and when Jewel Staite was introduced the energy of the crowd easily tripled.  The Firefly demographic was well represented.

I didn’t make it to the Warner Bros. panel, but did get to sit in on the presentation for the upcoming direct to DVD Stargate SG-1 movies. On hand was the cast including Amanda Tapping, Christopher Judge, and Ben Browder along with director Martin Wood and producer Robert Cooper.

There wasn’t too much in regards to new info in these panels… mainly they answered questions from the audience.

Gary Jones who played gate operator “Walter” acted as moderator. He was quite engaging and introduced a trailer for Stargate: The Ark of Truth, the DVD movie that will complete the Ori storyline. It looked pretty epic and like they pulled out all the stops.