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New Stargate Movies on Stand By

Paul Young — Fri, 28 Aug 2009 10:31:23 +0000

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.

The reason Stargate Universe executive producer Robert C. Cooper gives for the delay is the recent downturn I the economy. In an exclusive interview with SCI FI Wire, Cooper had this to say:

“We’re ready to go. We’re just waiting for the right opportunity. We want to be successful with it. The studio wants to be successful, and we really don’t want to proceed with something in the wrong climate, which I think financially it is right now.”

By “ready to go” he means the scripts for both films have been written but it could be some time before we see any movement on them. Cooper blames a recent drop in DVD sales as the major reason behind delaying both films. Cooper explains:

“Since [the release of the first two films], the economics have changed a little bit. DVDs aren’t selling the same way they were when we released those even just a year, and a year and a half ago.”

According to The Numbers website, Stargate: Continuum had sold over 450,000 units as of July 29, 2008 and Stargate: The Ark of Truth did better than that with over 530,000 units sold as of March 11, 2008. Those are fairly respectable numbers for a straight-to-DVD movie from a TV show. I don’t know if I totally agree with Cooper about it being the wrong economic time to produce another DVD movie. I would think fans are more apt to purchase straight to DVD movies because they haven’t been on television and buying or renting it would be the only way to see it.

Either way, I’m saddened to hear we will have to wait a little longer to see SG-1 back in action, but until then, we at least have Stargate Universe to keep us entertained.

Do you agree that now is a bad time to release straight-to-DVD movies and how pumped are you for Stargate Universe?

Stargate Universe’s two-hour premiere is October 2, 2009 at 9 p.m. ET/PT and on Fridays at 9 p.m. after that, all on SyFy.

Source: Cinema Static, Scifi Wire

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Weekly TV Wrap Up – Jan 15 2009

Bruce Simmons — Thu, 15 Jan 2009 13:00:58 +0000

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

2. Some of the biggest news this last week was the Golden Globes awards. Here’s a list of Television Series wins that came away with some of that award glitter:

Madmen beat out Dexter, House, In Treatment and True Blood for Best Series
Anna Paquin (True Blood) took Best Performance by an Actress - Drama
Gabriel Byrne (In Treatment) won Best Performance by an Actor – Drama
30 Rock (NBC) beat out Californication (SHOWTIME), Entourage (HBO), The Office (NBC) and Weeds (SHOWTIME) for Best – Musical Or Comedy
Tina Fey (30 Rock) took away the Best Performance by an Actress – Musical Or Comedy award.
Alec Baldwin (30 Rock) won the complimentary award for Best Performance by an Actor – Musical Or Comedy
John Adams (HBO) won the Best Mini-Series Or Motion Picture Made for Television award.
Laura Linney (John Adams) won it for Best Performance by an Actress In A Mini-series or Motion Picture
Best Performance in a Supporting Role in a Series, Mini-Series or Motion Picture Made for Television:
Actress: Laura Dern (Recount on HBO)
Actor: Paul Giamatti (John Adams on HBO)

Source: GoldenGlobes.org

3. If you’re a Faye Dunaway fan, keep an eye out. Dunaway is making a guest appearance on Grey’s Anatomy in February. Source: EW.com

4. Speaking of Grey’s Anatomy: Melissa George who played the rambunctious, self destructive Sadie has left the show. Tuesday was her last day as she is off to “Do something else”. Rumor on the street says it was a mutual decision between her and ABC. Some think the character was too flamboyant. Source: EW.com

5. Stephanie March will be reprising her role of Assistant District Attorney Alexandra Cabot on the popular crime drama show, Law & Order: SVU. Right now, she’s slated for 6 episodes. If her return is a success, will they consider keeping her on? Source: NBC

6. Pushing Daisies star Swoosie Kurtz is slated to make an appearance on NBC’s Hero’s this spring. Her character, Millie, will be on at least one episode. What’s not known is whether Kurtz’s role will become a recurring role. Depends on audience reaction I guess. Source: TV Guide

7. Remember Laura Vandervoort who played Kara on Smallville? I thought I’d follow up (Not stalking, really) on what she’s been up to since her Kara days. She’s had roles in The Jazzman, due out this year; she played Marcie Cutler in Out of Control, due out this year; Frankie in Damage that is due out in 2010 and presently she’s working on her latest project: Into the Blue 2, also due out in 2010. She keeps everyone apprised of her whereabouts on her website, lauravandervoort.net. She has a surprising versatility to her photo portfolio. Sources: IMDB,

8. Survivor castaways have been announced and the new trick this year is they will be split up into 2 teams immediately and 2 folk will be left behind before anyone even gets to know each other. Ouch. The kid who was always picked last for kick ball will probably be left behind again! The motley rice eating, bug crunching bunch ranges in age from 19 to 53. Source: CBS

9. Supernatural and Smallville kick off the 2nd half of their seasons on January 15th.

10. Stargate: Atlantis generated some great numbers for the Sci-Fi Channel, bringing in an estimated 1.15 million adults between the ages of 25 and 54. The highest rating since their season 4 finale. Source: SyFy Portal

11. John Glover (You may remember him as Lionel Luthor on Smallville) is joining the cast of Heroes. He’ll be playing the part of Sylar’s biological father. He’ll show up about 5 episodes into the 2nd half of the season. Source: E Online

12. Everyone is reporting the hottest news this week that Prison Break will be canceled, or more to the point, be allowed to run its course and end gracefully. For whatever reason, they may add an additional hour or two to fully complete the endless story of the chain gang constantly having to escape something. Of course, if you’re a faithful Screen Rant follower, you knew this already since we reported it back in November. Stick with us… we’ll keep you on top of things.

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SR’s Inaugural Weekly TV Wrap Up

Bruce Simmons — Sat, 10 Jan 2009 01:21:15 +0000

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!

1. Sci-Fi’s Eureka has a new character coming on board in the form of Tess Fontana (Jamie Ray Newman), who’s joining Global Dynamics. The 2nd half season will debut later this year. Source: SCI FI Wire

2. Sci-Fi Channel has ordered a second season of Ghost Hunters International and a sixth season for Ghost Hunters. Additionally, their new college based series, Ghost Hunters: Next Generation is headed at us with a 2010 premiere. Source: Sci-Fi Wire

3. In case you didn’t notice, Pushing Daisies has been dropped before it got to finish its run. (Is it that bad?) And at this time, there is no set air date for the remaining episodes of the brightly colored show. Sorry gang. Source: EW.com

4. The green-screen based Sci-Fi show Sanctuary has done well enough to be picked up for season number 2 with 13 episodes. Source: ENEWSI.com

5. Here’s a list of People’s Choice Awards winners from TV

TV Drama: House M.D.
TV Comedy: Two and a Half Men
TV Animated Comedy: The Simpsons
Sci-fi/Fantasy Show: Heroes
Reality Show: Dancing With the Stars (Bruce admits… great eye candy if you have to sit through it)
Game Show: Deal or No Deal (Why does everyone blow it on this show?)
Male TV Star: Hugh Laurie (He’s the man! A sarcastically honest man.)
Female TV Star: Christina Applegate
Scene-Stealing Guest Star: Robin Williams, Law & Order: Special Victims Unit
TV Drama Diva: Kyra Sedgwick as Brenda Johnson, The Closer
New TV Comedy: Gary Unmarried
New TV Drama: The Mentalist
Online Sensation: Dr. Horrible’s Sing-Along Blog (OK, it’s not TV, but I could get this on my TV… does that count?)

Source: pcavote.com

6. REMINDER: Friday Night Lights is back on NBC on January 16th!

7. Eleventh Hour will have a new agent for a few episodes. FBI trainee Felix will be joining Agent Young, played by Omar Benson Miller. Source: EW.com

8. The Unit (One of Bruce’s favs) is getting a new team member in the form of Wes Chatham playing a recurring role of Sam. He’ll show up sometime in March in a real whopper of an action packed episode. Hmm… when aren’t they? Source: EW.com

9. Don’t forget, in case you’ve missed any of the 1,000 ads that The Sci-Fi Channel has been running, tonight is the series finale of Stargate: Atlantis, and the season finale of Sanctuary.

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‘Stargate: Atlantis’ Is Coming To A Close

Bruce Simmons — Tue, 06 Jan 2009 04:28:13 +0000

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.

The episode surprised me. It started out with the feel of a CSI episode as LVPD Detective John Sheppard investigated a case involving dessicated corpses. His investigation led him to an “odd” looking man who was more than he appeared. It’s about halfway into the episode when we meet the SGC from Area 51, in the form of FBI Agent Woolsey. We meet other characters from the SGC (All in a stuffy suit-wearing environment… we wouldn’t have liked this reality in our show) and in the end, after Woolsey fills Sheppard in on the Stargate, Sheppard puts it all together and figures out where the “odd” looking man, a Wraith who’s on Earth, could be hiding. Before they can stop the Wraith, he sends a homing signal that the SGC figured did not reach the Pegasus Galaxy… in their reality. But they surmised that the signal may have reached the Wraith in different realities.

I ended up liking this almost stand-alone episode. I was expecting it to wrap up in a way that righted the alternate time line to our own, but instead, it only referenced it and it looked like a lead-in to the final episode, titled “Enemy At The Gate” as previews indicate that a Wraith ship ends up at Earth. I surmise that it gets to Earth because of the signal sent from “Vegas.”

We’ll see.

I’ll be bummed to see the series go. We have Stargate: Universe coming at us but we’ll have to adapt to a whole new group, learn all new backgrounds and get a whole new grasp on the show.

We also have a Stargate: Atlantis movie coming at us somewhere down the road.

As we head into the final episode of Stargate: Atlantis, I leave you with a few behind the scenes images above and a few sneak-peek images from next week’s episode below. Yep, you read right. NEXT WEEK’S EPISODE. It’s nothing big, but it’s what all I can do for those of us patiently waiting.

The final episode of Stargate: Atlantis airs on January 9, 2009.

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Stargate Movies Coming To Sci-Fi Channel

Bruce Simmons — Tue, 18 Nov 2008 19:29:07 +0000

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.

So if the confusion is clearing up a little bit, would now be a good time to mention that the Sci-Fi Channel has purchased the U.S. television rights to televise the made-for-DVD movies? Yep. That’s what they did. This purchase also includes rights to the new upcoming series, Stargate: Universe.

With the rights under their belts, the Sci-Fi Channel is planning to air the DVD movies next season as Sunday night movie events.

The senior VP of programming for Sci-Fi, Thomas Vitale, says their plans are to show Stargate: Ark of Truth, in early spring, and Stargate: Continuum, late in the spring.

Tentative plans are for Stargate: Universe to air in July 2009.

Additionally, Sci-Fi ordered from MGM an SG: Atlantis TV movie to follow up after Atlantis‘ 100th and final episode. We probably won’t see that movie until near the end of next year and it will most likely be a filler for when Universe takes a mid-season break.

There are also plans in motion for a third SG-1 movie. I look forward to that.

If you don’t recall, Ark of Truth concluded the Arthurian storyline of SG-1’s final season.

And Stargate: Continuum, which is being considered for inclusion to the Guinness Book of World Records for the “Most Northerly Filmed Shoot,” is a stand alone movie episode.

When I saw Continuum, I really enjoyed it. Of course, watching it on the deck of an aircraft carrier might have had something to do with it… or watching it with the stars of the movie might have juiced the event up for me too. Nahhh… it was a good movie.

It sounds like Sci-Fi Channel is putting their focus into one of their more robust franchises and keeping their fanbase alive with ongoing developments and plans. It’s good to hear they’re tying to keep the electricity alive for the fan who are still energized about the franchise.

Source: MultiChannel News, Image: SciFi.com

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Stargate Atlantis IS In Its Final Season Now

Bruce Simmons — Fri, 22 Aug 2008 13:41:43 +0000

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.

With the culmination of this fifth season, Stargate Atlantis will air it’s 100th episode titled “Enemy at the Gate.” The 100th episode will air in January of 2009.

They’ve added to the cancellation message that the Sci-Fi Channel has green-lit a two-hour movie based on the series. It has yet to to be titled, but the film will be written by executive producers Joseph Mallozzi and Paul Mullie.

The movie will follow up on the final season of the series.

The successes of the previous two Stargate movies, The Ark of Truth and Continuum have been successful enough to generate additional plans to continue to expand on the SG-1 and Atlantis franchises.

Despite this being the last season of the folk we’ve started to get used to following, like Rodney McKay getting braver, Woolsey developing into a better base leader and what not, we have to start bidding farewell.

Oh no, with Ronon going away, my wife is going to get very grumpy.

I noticed that in the press release, they didn’t touch on the issue, maybe hoping to generate more of a sales momentum,

BUT (yeah, isn’t there always a “but” in there somewhere?), back in early April I had reported on a new series being developed called Stargate: Universe. It was created by Stargate: Atlantis co-creators Brad Wright and Robert C. Cooper.

In SG: Universe, the series will take place on a ship that was part of an Ancient experiment that involved two ships. One that automatically populated the universe with Stargates, the other to follow up and explore.

So Stargate will move onward, continuing the mythos. And like I hoped in my other post, I hope they twist it up and make it unique versus the usual story outlines they’ve been presenting to us.

Image and News Source: Gateworld

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Comic-Con ‘08: Stargate Atlantis Panel

Bruce Simmons — Mon, 28 Jul 2008 05:30:55 +0000

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.

From the question and answer session I picked up the following snippets:

Atlantis will be hitting it’s 100th episode this, their fifth season.

Joe Flanigan is the only castmember on the panel that has been on the show for the full five seasons.

Robert Picardo’s humorous observation on the change of Atlantis commanders, to go from the nice-to-look-at Col. Carter (Amanda Tapping) to the bald, middle-aged male demographic alternative.

Jewel quietly grumbled about always being kidnapped in the woods. The message being sent is that she’d rather be kidnapped where there are more public amenities I guess.

Robert Picardo noted that he likes the fact his character is called Richard Woolsey and not Dick. He made the observation that his character is a little bit of a dick and he said his career plans involved being like another dick and be the spokesman for priceline.com. (This is not the first time I’ve heard William Shatner get slammed in a panel. Is it open season on Shatner this year?)

Brad Wright touched on Stargate Universe being real close to happening, and there’s a new Stargate movie in development…

The Sheppard / Teyla relationship will see some screen time but it’s more of a special relationship with a lot of gray area.

Jewel was asked what’s it like playing a medical nerd vs. mechanical nerd. She said there was more shiny stuff in Firefly and it was easier to be a mechanic than learning medical jargon. The audience erupted into a frenzy of applause with the Firefly reference. I almost went deaf it got so loud.

Jewel will have a little bit more control over where her character develops.

When Jewel was asked how this show compares to other sci fi shows… she replied, “This one doesn’t get canceled!”

We were given some insight into Jason Momoa (Ronon) and his decorating tastes. Jewel tossed out for some reason that I can’t remember how Jason’s dressing room / trailer “looks like a pirate ship meets Clan of the Cave Bear” and keeps trying to “help out” with her interior decorating in her trailer.

There are no plans on the horizon for Ben Browder to make any guest appearances on Stargate Atlantis. (As Ben observed in another panel, he’s one of the few SG cast members to not pass through Atlantis.)

We’ve been told that cut scenes will be added to the season 4 boxed set.

At the end, they showed a preview clip of Amanda Tapping’s Sanctuary and it didn’t really get my attention even though I’ve been looking forward to it. It didn’t come across with a lot of energy and did not get me excited about it. We initially touched on Sancutary in January here on Screen Rant.

We’ll see how this web-to-TV show does after it falls into the time slot Stargate Atlantis will vacate when their latest season ends.

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July 27th Comic-Con Report

Vic Holtreman — Fri, 27 Jul 2007 19:06:10 +0000

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.

Then the actors came out to huge applause, the Ben Browder hamming it up for the crowd.

Christopher Judge stated that he will be appearing in the upcoming film Rage of Angels.

Stargate: Continuum did come up in the discussion. Apparently it will have a time-travel theme (which I was not aware of), but Martin Wood wouldn’t divulge anything more than that about it, however Robert Cooper stated the Baal will be the villain on the new stand alone DVD movie.

They said that the production values are much higher on the movies than on the TV series, and that they hope to do more movies beyond these two if they do well.

The Stargate: Atlantis panel included David Hewlett, Joe Flanigan and Jewel Staite (from Serenity).

Someone asked whether the show could go for 10 years, and a rep from Sci Fi channel said that people need to watch the show without using Tivo but watch it as it is broadcast instead. Personal note: Sorry, not gonna happen. Networks need to find a way to track viewership of time-shifting viewers. It’s not like Tivo doesn’t have detailed data on that.

Not much given away about next season and no preview clips of any kind.

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