Mallozzi's Mailbag & More II

[mzzz]

Spoiler: space

So I was reading up on JM's blog and came across this rather interesting dichotomy:

BoltBait writes: “Any comment on this? http://www.gateworld.net/news/2011/05/an-open-letter-to-stargate-fans-%20%20from-syfy/“

Answer: Back in the last few years of Stargate, I took to giving the network notes on their notes. Essentially, I would go through the notes, address the concerns I could, then specifically respond to ones I couldn’t do or felt I shouldn’t do. As I read this article, I felt like responding in similar fashion. A lot of good points are raised. On the other hand, a lot of baffling points are made as well. For starters, I don’t think an official explanation on the part of SyFy is necessary. While I can empathize with fans who object to the abruptness of the cancellation after ten years on the network, one has to understand that television is a business. If SyFy has alternate scripted programming that performs better on Mondays or Tuesdays in the fall, then it’s understandable why they would choose those shows over a third season of SGU. That said, certain statements in the article had me scratching my head…
“When MGM decided to bring Stargate Atlantis to an end after five seasons…”
Hmmmm. Not to belabor the point (because I have discussed this in past entries) but, at the time, when we asked the studio whether or not there was any interest on their part in producing a sixth season of Atlantis, I was told that, while the increased budget made a season six less attractive for them, there were other reasons to do it (ie. as a lead-in to the new series). I wasn’t privy to the final decision-making process so it’s possible that the studio had an 11th hour change of heart – but I’m not sure why they would have.




Joe Cool writes: “if we gathered fans to donate money and started a project on kickstarter.com for you guys to be able to continue some form of production on the stargate canon (whether it be a movie or a comic book or webisodes or what have you) do you think that could be beneficial at all?”
Answer: Afraid not. MGM owns Stargate and the final decision on what gets produced and when rests with them.


Am I the only one seeing a problem here?

*jedi mind trick, waves hand* These are not the contradictions you are looking for.

 

[Inara]

I wasn’t privy to the final decision-making process so it’s possible that the studio had an 11th hour change of heart – but I’m not sure why they would have.

I think a huge factor would be MGM was on the verge of bankruptcy at the time. Thanks to Wright convincing them the new series was going to be the greatest thing since sliced bread, they sank more money into it, thinking they were going to get a greater return on it than by running two separate series that would cost more.

Wright said more than once he asked the studio for more money to "do it right" [which is rage inducing, but whatevs) so it's highly likely they couldn't justify paying for a sixth season of SGA when it also meant the cost for it was going up, due to the age of the show and contract negotiations that would happen at that time. He gambled, the studio backed him, and he lost his job and we lost any chance of further Stargate as we know it.

 

[THX1138]

Yoshi
On one hand he and alot of the pro SGU peeps are blaming Syfy for the "cancellation" of SGA/SGU yet he admits himself that ONLY MGM has the power to cancel anything. He also can be seen as saying that Syfy did have some interest in continuing SGA, "Something happened" in those last talks to stop that option. If Syfy was at least open to the concept originally, that leaves either Brad or MGM "on the hook" for the events that came to pass. (RCC was not involved either, so for this he gets a pass). None of us were there, so it is pure speculation on our behalf true, but ask yourself, who, out of any of the 3 parties got what they wanted??

Where did you get the idea that RCC was not involved? Brad and Robert were in there together.

 

[Gatefan1976]

Where did you get the idea that RCC was not involved? Brad and Robert were in there together.

IIRC in one interview Rob states he was elsewhere when the decision to end SGA was made and left it to BW to do. In the same interview I think they say it was decided via a conference call. OM1 may know the interview I mean.

 

[OMNI]

personally ive been enjoying the blog during the past weeks especially the reminicing about SG1 and the lil things one learns about them.
i also quite enjoyed the what could have been post about sgus potential s3 as it offered som insight but most reavilng of all to me was the lack of any real planning and story concept for it already thought out and it just served to prove what ive thought all along ie TPTB doesnt have a friggin clue on were to go next so they just wing it and hope for the best while the viewer namly me gets stuck with tonnes and tonnes of pointless crap.

im also looking forward to the promised reveal about the SG1 and SGA movies were all about and im really looking forward to reading that when te mozz gets to it.

 

[Overmind One]

IIRC in one interview Rob states he was elsewhere when the decision to end SGA was made and left it to BW to do. In the same interview I think they say it was decided via a conference call. OM1 may know the interview I mean.

I do indeed. And Joe backed that up by saying on his blog that Brad came out of the office to tell Joe that Atlantis had been cancelled after he got off the phone with MGM. Rob was not involved with that. Joe then told the rest of the production staff. I am CERTAIN that Brad noodged SGA off the cliff so he could soap up SGU full time.

 

[Terran77]

Not sure if this has been posted earlier or elsewhere, but Malozzi writes in his blog about the ending of SGU. Also some bits on how they considered alternate endings, and potential season openers had there been a season 3:

http://josephmallozzi.wordpress.com...niverse-beyond-season-2-what-might-have-been/

Honestly, reading this today, it sounds like they had no fracking clue where the series was going or why. Even more than ever, I don't believe they had a 5-year plan, or any idea why the Destiny was planting gates or what the "mission" was supposed to be. Yeesh.

I mean seriously... I would've hated any of the retarded plots they would've advanced in a season 3. Chloe brain-dead and her mind replaced with Ginn's? Oh teh dramahs! TJ "dealing with her ALS" and Park living with her blindness? And the movie ideas? SG-1 comes to save the Destiny? WTF is that?

And Franklin merged with and -became- the Destiny's AI? I have no words...

Who left their creative team such that it devolved into soap writers? I don't even remotely believe that Brad Wright had an "amazing idea" for the final reveal about Destiny's mission.

FFS!

 

[Gatefan1976]

Not sure if this has been posted earlier or elsewhere, but Malozzi writes in his blog about the ending of SGU. Also some bits on how they considered alternate endings, and potential season openers had there been a season 3:

http://josephmallozzi.wordpress.com...niverse-beyond-season-2-what-might-have-been/

Honestly, reading this today, it sounds like they had no fracking clue where the series was going or why. Even more than ever, I don't believe they had a 5-year plan, or any idea why the Destiny was planting gates or what the "mission" was supposed to be. Yeesh.

There there Terran, we have councillers availiable 24/7 to help those who have just recieved

​

 

[OMNI]

Not sure if this has been posted earlier or elsewhere, but Malozzi writes in his blog about the ending of SGU. Also some bits on how they considered alternate endings, and potential season openers had there been a season 3:

http://josephmallozzi.wordpress.com...niverse-beyond-season-2-what-might-have-been/

Honestly, reading this today, it sounds like they had no fracking clue where the series was going or why. Even more than ever, I don't believe they had a 5-year plan, or any idea why the Destiny was planting gates or what the "mission" was supposed to be. Yeesh.

I mean seriously... I would've hated any of the retarded plots they would've advanced in a season 3. Chloe brain-dead and her mind replaced with Ginn's? Oh teh dramahs! TJ "dealing with her ALS" and Park living with her blindness? And the movie ideas? SG-1 comes to save the Destiny? WTF is that?

And Franklin merged with and -became- the Destiny's AI? I have no words...

Who left their creative team such that it devolved into soap writers? I don't even remotely believe that Brad Wright had an "amazing idea" for the final reveal about Destiny's mission.

FFS!

old news by now but i do agree with you on that they had no clue on what they were doing or where they were going as it has allways been with BW's Stargate.

 

[Terran77]

No friggin' joke. If this were World of Warcraft, it would've been this:

 

[shavedape]

Not sure if this has been posted earlier or elsewhere, but Malozzi writes in his blog about the ending of SGU. Also some bits on how they considered alternate endings, and potential season openers had there been a season 3:

http://josephmallozzi.wordpress.com...niverse-beyond-season-2-what-might-have-been/

Honestly, reading this today, it sounds like they had no fracking clue where the series was going or why. Even more than ever, I don't believe they had a 5-year plan, or any idea why the Destiny was planting gates or what the "mission" was supposed to be. Yeesh.

I mean seriously... I would've hated any of the retarded plots they would've advanced in a season 3. Chloe brain-dead (How could any of us tell?) and her mind replaced with Ginn's? Oh teh dramahs! TJ "dealing with her ALS" and Park living with her blindness? And the movie ideas? SG-1 comes to save the Destiny? WTF is that?

And Franklin merged with and -became- the Destiny's AI? I have no words...

Who left their creative team such that it devolved into soap writers? I don't even remotely believe that Brad Wright had an "amazing idea" for the final reveal about Destiny's mission.

FFS!

True true, all true. What gets me is they managed to BS SyFy and MGM enough to get two whole seasons out of this directionless idea for a show. Was there no oversight from the people holding the purse strings? Didn't anyone ever say 'Hey, show us the outline for the 5 season run.'??? Unbelievable.

 

[Tropicana]

Of course Mallozzi & Co. never had a 5 year plan, it was just a poor attempt to get suckers in and make them believe that SGU had a viable purpose. But as you read on about what they may have considered, the so-called "5 year plan" funny enough takes a back row seat for some reason.

 

[Gatefan1976]

Of course Mallozzi & Co. never had a 5 year plan, it was just a poor attempt to get suckers in and make them believe that SGU had a viable purpose. But as you read on about what they may have considered, the so-called "5 year plan" funny enough takes a back row seat for some reason.

Of course there was a 5 year plan

Continued Employment

 

[Tropicana]

 

[OMNI]

mallozzi reveals the premis of the atlantis movie ie Stargate extinction.

http://josephmallozzi.wordpress.com...-design-stargate-extinction-secrets-revealed/

and imo im glad it didnt get made as it would have SUUUUUUUUUCKED there i said it... seriously FRAK STARGATE as TPTW cant write for shit.

 

[SciphonicStranger]

mallozzi reveals the premis of the atlantis movie ie Stargate extinction.

http://josephmallozzi.wordpress.com...-design-stargate-extinction-secrets-revealed/

and imo im glad it didnt get made as it would have SUUUUUUUUUCKED there i said it... seriously FRAK STARGATE as TPTW cant write for shit.

I don't know. I think I need to see more of the story before making a final judgement.

 

[shavedape]

Possible spoiler alert

With that pile of hokum it's probably better that SGA died when it did. I mean really, talk about a LAME excuse to get Atlantis back to the Pegasus galaxy.

So let me get this straight, the city of Atlantis has the ability for inter-galactic travel but if that feature is used then it will blow up? Hmm...yeah...lame.

Can someone tell me again why JM was getting a paycheck?

 

[OMNI]

With that pile of hokum it's probably better that SGA died when it did. I mean really, talk about a LAME excuse to get Atlantis back to the Pegasus galaxy.

So let me get this straight, the city of Atlantis has the ability for inter-galactic travel but if that feature is used then it will blow up? Hmm...yeah...lame.

Can someone tell me again why JM was getting a paycheck?

completly and utterly agree.

and yeah why the hell was that guy even paid? seriously he is a terrible writer just awfull.

 

[Illiterati]

With that pile of hokum it's probably better that SGA died when it did. I mean really, talk about a LAME excuse to get Atlantis back to the Pegasus galaxy.

So let me get this straight, the city of Atlantis has the ability for inter-galactic travel but if that feature is used then it will blow up? Hmm...yeah...lame.

Can someone tell me again why JM was getting a paycheck?

My first thought was "didn't they do something like that with 'Speed'?

I'm not kidding.

 

[Overmind One]

I think it should be printed so people here can see what he had planned.

Here it is:

http://josephmallozzi.wordpress.com...-design-stargate-extinction-secrets-revealed/

Finally – by now, I had hoped to hear back on the ultimate faith of Stargate: Extinction (Novel? Comic book? Radio play? Performance art piece?) but, alas, it’s been very quiet. I will say that when Paul and I set out to write the script for the proposed Stargate: Atlantis movie, we did so in the hopes that, ultimately, it wouldn’t be produced as a movie at all but as the first two episodes of SGA’s sixth season. Codenamed “Project Twilight”, it would have focused on the city of Atlantis, its personnel, and the journey back to home to the Pegasus Galaxy. Ideally, that would set the stage for the thrilling 18 episodes to follow – or, at the very least, the jumping off point for future SGA movies.​

​

The movie would have picked up not long after the events of the season 5 finale, Enemy at the Gates. In the opening scene, two astronauts (who turn out to be a couple of familiar faces – Amelia Banks and Major Lorne) take a walk on the surface of the moon, their lunar stroll ending with a reveal of the city of Atlantis. A shuttle carrying Sam Carter and a group of dignitaries sweeps overhead and lands.​

Within the city’s atmospherically shielded confines, Carter and her guests meet up with the science team headed by – who else? – Rodney McKay. Frustrated by the interruption to his ongoing research, McKay demonstrates a certain impatience with the whole dog-and-pony show, running through standards explanations, overviews, questions, and answers until – an alarm suddenly sounds. The bewildered dignitaries are ushered out, leaving McKay, Carter, and Zelenka to investigate.​

An examination of the city’s systems reveal the worst. A self-destruct has been initiated – a safeguard, Rodney surmises, put in place by the Ancients in the event Atlantis was ever removed from the Pegasus Galaxy. And, once triggered, it cannot be disabled. Nothing short of a return to the Pegasus Galaxy will save the city from certain destruction.​

Of course, getting it there is easier said than done…​

Anyway, that was the basic premise: A seeming new beginning. A threat to the city. And a desperate bid to outrace a deadly countdown.​

But who would join the journey? How would they get back to Pegasus? And what challenges would they face along the way?​

More on that in the coming days.​

This was probably better NOT made, after seeing what he had planned. But now I see that he is going to pimp out that unpublished, unmade script as tidbits posted on his blog to draw readers from the Stargate fanbase. He would have been more magnanimous to give those "releases" to Gateworld. I personally dont care to read what he had planned in the Extinction script after reading this.