Tuesday, April 8, 2008

Stargate May Have Another Spinoff

When Stargate SG-1 ended after 10 years, I was surprised to find myself feeling abandoned to some degree. I became comfortable following the familiar characters and the evolving conflicts between humanity and its off-world relationships - kind of like going to work every day. Sure, we have Stargate: Atlantis, but it just isn't quite the same as Stargate SG-1. Atlantis is like a new job. Same 'ol, same 'ol, but a new place to do it in.

But if anyone out there wants to see a new twist on Stargate, there may be some hope for you.

A third live-action series is being conceived by Stargate: Atlantis co-creators Brad Wright and Robert C. Cooper called Stargate: Universe and they are looking to make it an independent storyline of the already established Stargate realm.

Instead of a planet or city-bound stargate, the series will take place on a ship that was part of an Ancient experiment probably millions of years ago, but abandoned due to the whole ascension thing.

The background of Stargate Universe is that the Ancients had one unmanned ship go out into the universe placing stargates, and there was a second ship to follow up and explore.

In the Stargate mythos, travelers use a 7-symbol gate address to travel from planet to planet. An eighth chevron allows for travel to different galaxies and by using the proper ninth chevron, travelers will discover the second unmanned Ancient ship.

The pitch for this new show was received well by Sci-Fi Channel but the writers strike was one hurdle that slowed things down. However the bigger hurdle is that the new series would be an expensive show to produce. Wright and Cooper feel they've done the Stargate series right so far and believe they can pull this off, but they don't want to settle for a cheaper version which they don't think would pan out as successfully.

If it does happen, things will go into motion after Atlantis has concluded its run, moving the franchise forward while still holding true to the established background and history.

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