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SDCC: SGU cast on how it will be something different
The Stargate franchise has some seriously passionate fans—hardly a surprise after so many, many years—so when Syfy showed the trailer for the newest installment, Stargate Universe, at San Diego Comic-Con today, the fans screamed their delight. And when they revealed Richard Dean Anderson at the end of the trailer, the place exploded in applause.
Creators of SGU, Brad Wright and Robert Cooper, introduced the cast, including Jamil Walker Smith, Alaina Kalanj (Huffman), David Blue, Robert Carlyle, Elyse Levesque, Brian J. Smith and Ming-Na, who walked in filming us with a hand-held camera. Cooper and Wright told the crowd that they are really excited about the show.
"We worked really really hard to keep the franchise going and make sure people who love Stargate have something to watch," Cooper said. They promised the crowd that, even though they were going to re-explain the Stargate mythology and that newbies would be able to watch without doing homework, this was also for the fans. They didn't reveal much about the plot, but Cooper told us that "things are going to happen very quickly," especially in the first 10 episodes. He warned that if you miss a week, you really could miss something big.
The creators outed the cast as Comic-Con virgins. Smith and Levesque told us about their adventure at the SGU booth. They apparently walked over to take their picture next to the Stargate (and if you're here, I guarantee you've done it, too), where a booth worker came over and offered them a chance to register for a special appearance on SGU.
They opened it up to audience questions very quickly. You can tell a show has devoted fans when most of the questions are for the creators, not the actors. The exception here was Carlyle. He told the crowd that he originally asked the creators why they wanted him. He was told that he could make very unlikable things really likable. "I'm your man for that," he said.
The women in the cast talked about how each Stargate provided "strong, intelligent and beautiful female role models." Ming-Na revealed that her character will be a lesbian. She also said that working with Richard Dean Anderson (who will be making periodic appearances) was "a hoot."
David Blue, who has a bit of a cult following, admitted to being a huge sci-fi fan and said that he'd watched every episode of both Stargate SG-1 and Stargate Atlantis. Wright said that with Blue, they were not only getting an actor, but also a technical advisor.
The creators gave us a few more details in response to audience questions. They were asked, "Will we see non-Jaffa, non-English-speaking aliens?" Cooper replied, "We made a blood pact to not have rubber-faced, English-speaking aliens." They are exploring the universe, however, and they will definitely meet other species. When asked if we'd get any more information about the Furlings, Wright said, "No." Cooper said, "Maybe." Stargate Universe idebuts on Friday, Oct. 2, at 9 p.m. ET/PT.
By cylonphoenix at 4:25 PM ON 07/24/09
Yay! Yay! and more YAY!!!!!!
By Crazy snail at 4:57 PM ON 07/24/09
This trailer really, really looks different from other Stargate productions. Not that this is a bad thing. I'm more than curious to see where this different feel of things leads to. In the beginning, based on its premise, I thought that Stargate Universe could be one of only two things: a disaster or something really, really awesome. Now I know Stargate is in good hands.
By RatzMilk at 5:58 PM ON 07/24/09
Ahh, Stargate. The model for a long running, successful SciFi series the networks can be proud of.
One dimensional stereotype characters.
Simply Good guys V Bad Guys plot lines.
Never show the true horror of gunshot wounds.
Good guys always win in the end.
Their superiors in Washington never "get it" but always come around by the end of the episode.
Bad guys are always purely evil with no redeeming values.
There are never any grey areas, every situation is always black and white.
Good guys only ever have the best intentions.
Good guys never have corruption, greed or malice in their ranks.
Bad guys always have corruption, greed and malice in their ranks.
Etc., etc., etc.
By kryche at 6:25 PM ON 07/24/09
^^^ Pretty much sums up my feelings on Stargate. Generic Scifi at it's best (or worst depending on how you look at it I suppose).
By Serena at 7:43 PM ON 07/24/09
I am so not interested in this. They took every cliche they could think of, put in some fancy explosions and sex and then tagged it with a Stargate label and hope the preferred demo is taken in by the hype.
Whatever happened to the SGA and SG1 movies we were promised?
I kinda hate you guys a little at the moment, and that makes me very sad....
By Tichiba at 8:12 PM ON 07/24/09
Can you say "20 Somethings in Space" (of course with the token older guy)
By PBMom at 8:31 PM ON 07/24/09
Poor Serena. She apparently is on all the stories out here leaving comments about how much she hates the show. If you hate it that much, why do you continue to watch for it, look for new things posted about it and then comment about how much you hate it. Sounds like an old Battlestar Galactica (original version) fan to me, but look how many of THOSE people were won over after the miniseries aired, even Richard Hatch himself. I can't wait to see a new life and new perspective on the show. The cast and staff have been greatly accessible to the fans on Twitter, and we love them for it. October 2 can't come fast enough.
By Tarc at 8:34 PM ON 07/24/09
Sorry, I hate the name Siffy (and yes, I'll be adding that to posts as long as it's Siffy), but I LOVED the new trailer. The filmwork was spectacular, and it made the series look much more Battlestar Galactica than Stargate SG1 (which is an excellent thing). My major concern is that with a tiny cast and no hope of reinforcements, they're not going to last long. Unlike Voyager with it's superior technology and evolved humans, this ship seems to offers little to entice replacement crew.
By scifire at 10:11 PM ON 07/24/09
Lets give it a chance guys. We can always turn off the TV if it doesn't go well.
By nate9111 at 7:47 AM ON 07/25/09
BSG much?????? If you dont know what I'm typing about then look at the trailer.
Nuff said.
By Fanboy79 at 10:20 AM ON 07/25/09
I'll give it a chance but I'm not really impressed by their casting choices.
By MaryAnn254 at 10:34 AM ON 07/25/09
What I've seen so far of the SGU previews doesn't in the least remind me of SG-1. (I tuned out the ridiculous SGA after the first couple of episodes.) What it DOES look like is something new and quite promising. I will definitely tune into the first few episodes and take a further look. It doesn't have to be directly related to SG-1 to be good, although it would have been nice if their premise had been open to cameo guest shots from the original team.
By TVDIVA at 1:42 PM ON 07/25/09
I am going to give it a chance, but geez. First a young nubile cast in space (Stargate 90210 anyone?), then they announce some singer is going to guest start in an episode (like that will really make viewers watch), and then it looks like it is trying to be a BSG wannabe. Like I said I will DVR the pilot and watch and see what happens.
By MOMFAN at 9:29 PM ON 07/25/09
What is wrong with some of you? If you do not like it then turn it off. I personally am looking forward to a new twist on the Stargate series.
By shroudedwolf at 10:23 PM ON 07/25/09
RatzMilk: Clearly you haven't watched the show. Stop trolling.
MaryAnn: Just because SGA wasn't SG-1 doesn't mean it was ridiculous. The story-telling was as good as SG-1 and only got better as the seasons progressed.
Overall, I'm worried about SGU. I mean, MGM and Scifi killed both of the other shows for no reason other than they were scared their most successful series might eventually run out of steam before they could do anything about it. They were wrong of course. I think the story-telling in SGU will be great as any SG episodes, but the hot asian les-doctor reeks of executive meddling. Sure, she's strong and intelligent, she's also a huge demographic draw (teen boys). I don't want the franchise to devolve to cheap cliches to get new viewers who won't care after the initial novelty has worn off.
By Shepsgirl4ever at 11:18 AM ON 07/28/09
BSG was CRAP hated it from the 1st show, WAS NEVER won over SGU is a BSG wanna be. Sorry I liked an do like SGA ITS THE BEST. This just looks rubbish an could be it anymore aimed at the little boys. WOW I hate Brad Wright an dont care what THAT MAN is doing he canceled SGA for this CRAP! NOT WATCHING DONT CARE, NOT GONNA CHANGE MIND bcause Brad Wright names on it.
Well I can flip a coin 2, SGU SUCKS!!!!! Atlantis was axed for THIS piece of sh#t
By Jedi Master at 11:30 AM ON 07/28/09
Wheres the SGA movie or the SG1 movie, nowhere in sight, its so nice they have given us a choice NOT!
SGU is not for me, its looks crap, it may be visually stunnig I give it that, ONLY THAT.
A choice thats what I want a choice dark crap or entertainment, an entertainment that doesnt need sex to hold it up! Read on some of the forums that this is just what the boys want an you know what couldnt agree more.
Well they can have it, I certainly will not be letting my kids watch this, not that they want to anyway, they have tast . Yeah its quite obvious now actually what demographic they are aiming this at. Stargate really isnt worth the effect anymore well at least SGU isnt. Hopefully they will eventually realise that we are fans of SGA/SG1 an make a SGA movie, but then again most likley not you need to be a bit clued up for that an these guys are frankly idiots IMHO
By jeff at 2:14 AM ON 07/29/09
I am going to watch the hell out of this.
I just got into SG1 recently. I found the complete series for around $50 and bought it on a whim without having seen an episode. Really good investment. some people have been saying that it's generic sci-fi and that the lines between good and evil are unrealistic and to clear-cut, but that's one of the things I like about it. A show doesn't necessarily need to be edgy for me to enjoy it.
That said, SGU seems like a pretty major departure. It looks like an entirely different show with the words "Stargate" tacked on to it to take advantage of a built in audience. I'm okay with that. I'm enjoying SG-1 (I'm up to season 8), but there's TONs of it. Just because I like something doesn't mean I want to see it dragged out until all the characters are so damaged I don't like them anymore.
I guess my point is you can like different shows for different reasons. The SGU trailer got me hooked. I'm looking forward to seeing where they take it, even though it's a different direction.
By TUT at 1:27 AM ON 10/03/09
SGU SUCKS SG1 MEETS BATTLESTAR GALLACTICA,, WHICH SUCKED. I GUESS I DON'T NEED SI FI CHANNEL ANY MORE
By equals42 at 6:56 PM ON 11/01/09
i really had high hopes for this series but after watching the first four episodes either the writing staff must go or the series should just go away as fast as possible. maybe the scifi sorry syfy network should just focus on more wrestling and reality shows and give up on science fiction/fantasy. how about another name change from scyfy to the B movie network aka BM network.
By Brian at 2:50 AM ON 12/01/09
SGU is actually turning out to be promising. I'm a big BSG fan and naturally my concern was with all the similarities, but I've been following SGU since the premiere, and it's really unique and the story is compelling. My only complain is their overuse of the Communication Stones. Just as the show was getting to be exciting, they spent 2 back-to-back episodes using the Communication Stones to visit Earth and say emotional goodbyes/I miss you's to their families and loved ones. A lot of SGU fans are begging the writers/producers to get rid of the Communication Stones and get back to the storyline. Hopefully they listen. SGU can be a unique and amazing show, better than SG-1 actually. As long as they dump the frakking Communication Stones and get back to character/plot development!
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Brian:
SGU is actually turning out to be promising. I'm a big BSG fan and naturally my concern was with all the similarit...More »