Closing the Gate
In the beginning there was the Stargate, and it was a pretty neat flick- but the producers could'st not afford Kurt Russell for the TV series and thus they brought in Richard Dean Anderson and Michael Shanks, and verily the ladies did'st swoon about them, and the producers did remember that there were indeed many many boys in their target audience, and thus they brought in Amanda Tapping who looked hotter in a jumpsuit than the Star Trek skanks in those ridiculous painted-on catsuits...
Stargate: SG-1 had a good run; after several years on Showtime it was saved from premature cancellation by the SciFi Channel. In the tradition of modern TV programming, the producers didn't want their heroes to spin their wheels, always returning to the same old status quo. So, over the years we saw the battle against the Goa'uld System Lords advance, slowly (and sometimes stumbling along the way) turning the tide against the ancient and far more advanced society.
And they finally won... but there was a catch: The show was still too popular to cancel. While there are still a (very) few individual Goa'uld still hiding out, it would seem a waste for Our Heroes to hunt down the remaining stragglers. Simply exploring Brave New Worlds apparently wasn't in the cards, either- Star Trek was withering away at the time (though to be fair, their exploratory themes were the very least of their problems).
The solution, of course, was to invent a whole new enemy for Our Heroes to struggle against. Thus last season we were introduced to the Ori. The Ori were ascended Beings, who live in a whole different galaxy, and who can directly affect reality without needing to use technology like the Goa'uld. There was some effort put into making the Ori a new and even more dire enemy.
But... in the end they wound up as just another group of super-aliens who pretend to be Gods. Granted the Ori can actually harvest some form of energy from the 'faithful' who worship them, but after years of Our Heroes valiantly struggling against evil false Gods, somehow it seemed a letdown to find them almost immediately up against yet another bunch of evil false Gods.
I doubt I'm the only one who felt this way; SciFi has announced that the current season will be the last. Apparently the ratings have slipped, and I doubt it was all due to Anderson's retirement. Still, they had a great run through the Gate- ten years is a record for an American-produced sci fi series. Fare thee well, Sarcastic Col. O'Neal, insightful Dr. Jackson,drop-dead-babe-o-licious brilliant Col. Carter, laid-back Col. Mitchell, restrained First Prime Teal'c... you'll be missed. And remembered.
And forever immortal on DVD.
Stargate: SG-1 had a good run; after several years on Showtime it was saved from premature cancellation by the SciFi Channel. In the tradition of modern TV programming, the producers didn't want their heroes to spin their wheels, always returning to the same old status quo. So, over the years we saw the battle against the Goa'uld System Lords advance, slowly (and sometimes stumbling along the way) turning the tide against the ancient and far more advanced society.
And they finally won... but there was a catch: The show was still too popular to cancel. While there are still a (very) few individual Goa'uld still hiding out, it would seem a waste for Our Heroes to hunt down the remaining stragglers. Simply exploring Brave New Worlds apparently wasn't in the cards, either- Star Trek was withering away at the time (though to be fair, their exploratory themes were the very least of their problems).
The solution, of course, was to invent a whole new enemy for Our Heroes to struggle against. Thus last season we were introduced to the Ori. The Ori were ascended Beings, who live in a whole different galaxy, and who can directly affect reality without needing to use technology like the Goa'uld. There was some effort put into making the Ori a new and even more dire enemy.
But... in the end they wound up as just another group of super-aliens who pretend to be Gods. Granted the Ori can actually harvest some form of energy from the 'faithful' who worship them, but after years of Our Heroes valiantly struggling against evil false Gods, somehow it seemed a letdown to find them almost immediately up against yet another bunch of evil false Gods.
I doubt I'm the only one who felt this way; SciFi has announced that the current season will be the last. Apparently the ratings have slipped, and I doubt it was all due to Anderson's retirement. Still, they had a great run through the Gate- ten years is a record for an American-produced sci fi series. Fare thee well, Sarcastic Col. O'Neal, insightful Dr. Jackson,
And forever immortal on DVD.
Fun Facts
You know the first movie date I had with my now husband just over 12 years ago was the Stargate movie.
He fell asleep before it was halfway through.
He tried again with his best mate - same result.
The 3rd time, his mate and I both took him - prodded him all night and forced him to stay awake and watch it.
And he still married me! ; )