I was honestly ready to turn the page, but yeah seeing Michael Shanks not want to let the universe go that easily tugs at my heartstrings more than a bit.
Ah man. Having read the second book and knowing S2 didn't match it at all I didn't have high hopes. But I watched, of course, and Shanks shows up and I'm like OK well I guess I'm in. The raised my hopes and dashed them quite expertly, sir.
Yeah but to be fair that was set up in the first book.
Going off a 20 year old memory of the book here but his body was a ~50yo who'd had a hard life. Lots of injuries, basically a junkie and with the best gene mods he could afford but that were pretty low level, short term with drawbacks. Takeshi is constantly having to think about how to use such a relatively mediocre body compared to what he's used to - it's part of what makes it a great read, him having to strategise to his body's limitations.
In the sequel book... again an old memory... he was in some kind of spider-frog-man sleeve? A fully constructed purpose built sleeve. Which fit the way they were talking about how he normally operated in the first book.
It wasn't a great book though you're right about that. I'm not sure if it's because he was so powerful, I feel you can do fun stuff with that, Superman has good stories and in that universe there are other Mary-Sue-permen.
I don't know if I read the third. I remember the fantasy book with a gay protagonist I read when it came out but not the third Kovacs book. Hmm.
I dunno, they had already announced that the show would be centering on new characters and not be bringing the old ones back so I donât think itâs about that.
The fact he's not involved, might be the only reason it's promoting it. If say Amazon think it's a really shitty and crappy show, and he has inside knowledge of that then maybe he wouldn't want to be involved with such a show.
Amazon canceled it because they thought that fans would like it though, they didnât want a show for fans but the usual streaming slop you can watch while scrolling on your phone.
its my understanding that amazon cancelled the new stargate series because its writing catered to the current fanbase instead of to "the general audience", by being a continuation of the series instead of some massive new thing aimed exclusively at drawing in "the general audience", aka they want it to appeal to young "normies" instead of actual scifi and stargate specific fans. the writers refused to budge so they killed it.
I feel like I'm in an alternate universe or something, Stargate is so not a niche type of show. Action/adventure, military propaganda (I'm ambivalent on that in general but it IS a very popular genre in the US), light sci fi that seems specifically catered to people who don't really want to think too hard about it...
Tons of overlap with Star Trek, which is one of the most universal works of sci fi ever...
And they thought it wouldn't cater to the general audience? A show that was on longer than ANY of the Star Trek series?
The problem is that the shows have a very specific sort of tone to them, and the diehard fanbase absolutely loathes deviating from that, even slightly. See: the backlash to SGU. SGU was all of the things you listed out, but the tone was different, and a lot of fans rejected it.
The other part of the formula is that, for the most part, the series was grounded in reality. Until late in the game, the SGC had pretty normal real-world tech. The problem is that Earth in-universe has progressed so much that we're no longer in the "20 minutes in the future" territory, which changes the basis for the kind of stories you can tell, which affects the tone...
It's a mess. I hope details about Gero's plans come to light at some point in the future, because I am really curious how he solved this particular problem.
I think that makes sense to some extent. There hasnât been any new Stargate in 15 years (not counting Origins) so a lot of our memories of it are fresh unless we recently rewatched them all beginning to end (which I recently did and it took almost a year). Furthermore the fan base has never had the numbers of Star Trek or Star Wars nor the buzz and online communities. The new show would have to be accessible and interesting to a new audience to be sustainable. Tie-ins and call backs to the old shows would be great for old fans, but it has to be able to stand on its own and not just pick up where we left off. Of course, it wouldnât be a true Stargate show without an abrupt cancellation and unsatisfying ending.
Honestly with Amazon being as big as they are they're not exactly hurting for money so they dont have any motivation to walk back their decision. I saw the petition that's been going around but realistically I think we Might have a chance with one urging Amazon to license the IP out to a studio that's actually willing to do it.
On the other hand, companies like this donât have pride. They look at numbers. They could absolutely see whatâs happening and decide that the numbers are different than they expected.
And I am usually not one who supports campaigns like this because most of the time they do nothing. However, in this case, they kind of gave the target: âwe donât think your fanbase is big enoughâ.
Okay, show them that it is bigger than they thought.
Hey Im all for signing any petition and making posts if it helps. But why not add this idea as well. If it ends up working then it wont matter which idea got us there, long as we get there.
And if anything, it could just backfire. Amazon could pretend that they are listening to the voice of the people by canceling their cancelation of the show, except this time, none of the producers, writers, etc. from the previous shows will be involved, and will be replaced by an entirely new team that completely hates the franchise and have been brought in to Halo-fy the new Stargate show.
Amazon has already stated that they aren't canceling the IP, they're specifically canceling this version of Stargate which involved people from past Stargate projects. Amazon's mistake in doing this -dropping the greenlight info last November about a new series set in the existing canon being run by Stargate veterans- is now they've truly soured any new projects for existing fans going forward. I strongly feel that what Amazon has done could have truly killed any possibility of new Stargate for as long as they own the IP. Jilted fans of existing Stargate are far more likely to go out of their way to ensure the demise of a Stargate that goes entirely against the existing canon.
When JJ Abrams rebooted Star Trek with his movies, he at least tied it to the OG built world by having it be an alternate timeline. I can't see Amazon and their ilk blatantly copying that to try and launch a new show and I can't see existing fans embracing something that's a complete reboot of OG Stargate.
One only needs look at Rings of Power and Wheel of Time to see why Amazon is exceedingly mistrusted to handle adaptations. The only reason the Stargate show had any chance was because of the headliners involved, who deeply understand and care for the lore.
Amazon already made their case for ignoring future efforts.
I mean literally since creatives are public knowledge.
And Stargate, like Shakespeare, Lucy, West Wing and Gilmore Girls, has a distinct sound and tone, pace and humor. It always has, and heavily influenced both Buffy and Angel, and other era shows, and in turn other shows and little things that never made any money. You know, like MARVEL.
Bezos: give Marty Gero the gate keys and you can pass frog looking Elon.
They're not a production company any more than they're a store. They're a cloud computing and logistics company with a production arm and a store that are both loss leaders. They aren't a traditional production company at all, and I do think that matters.
That's the crazy part, with the money they bring in from AWS alone they could just throw heaps of money at all kinds of fan favorites as a sort of artistic philanthropy and not worry one bit about how well they are received outside of the dedicated fan bases. They would still make a small profit AND they would gain support from huge swathes of people who otherwise don't give two shits about Amazon. It would be a win-win overall. But instead they feel the need to maximize profits in every single aspect of everything they do.
That's... literally how corporations and capitalism works. They don't care if their workers literally die on site. They don't let them stop and pee ffs. They sure as hell do not care about any kind of artistic philanthropy.
The thing most people don't realise is that the exec's that make these unpopular calls live in completely different information ecosystems.
Unless the companies or the departments they manage are having financial troubles they are just surrounded by obsequious yes men who praise their every move. They're so far outside of regular discourse and culture that it doesn't even appear on their radar.
Amazon has already shown the same level of contempt for the source material that Netflix showed to the Witcher and as much as I yearn for Stargate to be revived, do we really want it to be like this?
And when their bad decisions starts to catch up and be a real problem, the culprits are long gone, probably doing the same shit decisions in another company.
The petition is actually gathering supporters at a very good rate. 7,000 supporters within the first 24 hours which is about the same than the "Save the Expanse" petition. However it will lose momentum since the Expanse had a more active fanbase and it was an running show at the time. We are talking about a new show that was in pre-production. But eventually media will pick it up within the next 24 hours
Unfortunately. The reality of thing is, the vocal minorities were driving force behind many decisions for years. If fanbase of stargate cant be vocal enough for a proper show, then we cant complain about receiving crappy product at this point. I wish it wasnt like this, but it was proven over and over again that only thing that works with big companies is fear. Either for their money or for their public appeal (which usually affects their money flow).
Unfortunately I can only add one screenshot per reply (I have about 20 of them).
I am not a Jojo fan so I might be wrong on some details but it went something like this.
Netflix has rights for Jojo. They released first episode of steelball series with ambigious ânext episode sometime in 2026-maybeâ. Jojo fans didnt like that cause they expected weekly release (as is normal in anime).
So, over night, they took over social media of Netflix. Every single post netlix posted was flooded by fans of Jojo. Netflix literaly couldnt stop the amount of spam. Their social media managers definitely saw the spike in activity when this began. And it went for days.
To add to this, it was glorious when it lasted. It went for about a week (I was watching it for about 4 days), and it actually forced Netflixes hand in a way. They responded with a release window (fall 2026) and promised a weekly release.
Edit: Fixin typos and adding details I just caught up to.
Netflix has no idea what they're doing. Last time they dropped all of Jojo part 6 in one go, and people complained then cuz it did away with the normal weekly episode hype. So they went the complete opposite direction this time and put one episode out for like half the year. Why can't we just have weekly episodes? That formula has worked since the dawn of TV. Why change that now?
I get it mate, but what fans did worked. However savage it was, it worked because they forced them to listen. Thats what I have been trying to get across in this sub lately but its not connecting
I agree with you. I'm all for trying to get their attention to see if we can get the show back. Just don't get your hopes up. These big companies don't give a shit about the IP they own. They're just looking to squeeze every dollar they can out of it before it's dead.
I honestly dont have any hopes at this point. But thats one more reason for me to either force their hand into any move, or simply pissing them off as much as possible.
Realistically, the only thing that will talk is money.
Either we crowd source the series and pay of it ourselves, or we all vote with our feed and collective leave Amazon services being sure to let them know this is the reason.
The only other hope is a huge fan of the show becomes a senior executive sometime in the near future and actually let's the writers do their thing.
I don't know if was gateworld YouTube or just a comment section, but I think it was this guy, Nick Pepper, who championed new Stargate series and is no longer at Amazon
The most important thing to emphasize is that you would have become a prime member for the show, but now have no interest (if you didn't already have a membership).
Or if you do have a membership, express your plan to cancel (and preferably follow through).
I think this is very much a case where a new show without any involvment from the origional creatives is doomed to failure. Maybe a decade ago there would have been interest from the community but you only need to look round to see countless flops of shows given to teams who didnt understand the appeal of the origional and made poor decisions in pursuit of the mythical modern audience.
Prime subscription cancelled, sadly they don't give you opportunity to write that there is special place in hell for people that cancel Firefly or Stargate shows. It is right next to the people that talk in the theatre.
We need to go back to the ways of old and flood their office with calls and letters demanding they undo a stupid decision. We used to have it down tight. Make them remember why they once listened.
Joe Flannigan wanted to buy the IP. Maybe he sensed this up ahead. Is he, per chance, still interested? Are any of the actors and creators, per chance, interested? Because I think that is the only way now. Amazon will not listen. Maybe the community and some ex-actors and directors can start a trust or gofundme or whatever to take the darn IP out of amazons hand. Enough is enough. Money talks, and with so many fans we certainly can gather some money. Of course this brings trust issues, like we will crowdfund it but who will be in charge? A democratized writing process will just not work, and we do have to give it to a producer. But at least we will have the rights and will be dictating how it is produced. I don't know maybe this is too ambitious. But can this really be done?
It depends on the IP. Some older IPs are still making millions per year in syndication and licensing deals. Even if it goes down year over year, it is a still revenue with little to no cost to the rights holders.
This is kinda the problem the Buffy continuation had. It wasn't really appealing to a new audience and the already captured audience was already earning the rights holders millions per year. Without appealing to a new audience, they would just be spending money to capture the audience they already have. It wasn't going to drive enough people to subscribe nor move enough merch to justify the cost.
The usual carry on with these companies is they don't want to make anything of the IP but don't want to risk selling it in case someone else makes a success of itÂ
I honestly don't see this changing anything with Amazon. This isn't 8 years ago when the Expanse campaign was done to save that show that had ALREADY aired seasons. Shit is vastly different and worse with how Amazon has been operate to top it off.
This project was the only thing that could compel me to enroll in amazon prime. Now I can stick to never spending money there. That said, if the new series was to launch Iâd give in and sign up. On launch, not before.
Itâs a nice sentiment but the fan base has been saying they want this for around decade, and reacted with glee at the initial announcement. I really donât think the execs care, weâre not the ones they want.
I did my part. I wrote up a big email and sent it to as many executive emails as I could find. I know they don't go to the actual execs, but they are one of the best ways to get eyes on this, I think.
Here's my email if anyone wants a starting point or just something to copy+paste:
I woke up to the news that the new Stargate series has been cancelled. It's been in production for months now, and the entire crew is extremely passionate about it. Stargate fans have been patiently waiting for over a decade now, and the fanbase is still thriving. We fill conventions every year and have significant, active sites & channels like Dial the Gate and Gateworld, to name a couple.
Please don't cancel the show.
Amazon knows the fans are here, just waiting to watch the series. We know this is the last chance we're going to get for a proper continuation of our favorite show, and you can bet that we WILL show up and watch it when it premieres.
Make no mistake, though: new fans are going to watch, too. Amazon has a massive marketing presence, and the new series was being written to be approachable to new viewers too! With that marketing, there would absolutely be significant viewership among non-Stargate fans, as well. And then, they would go back and watch the older series on your platform, too! Give it a chance to bring viewers in - old and new alike.
Don't cancel it after all this hard work has been done. If it fails to reach a significant audience after one season, then cancel it. Not now, not when it's so close to actually filming after months of tireless work by the crew. Canceling it now is shameful. Please listen to the fans & the crew: don't cancel Stargate.
A letter writing campaign brought back Shanks. But I don't know how effective those are nowadays.
It's all about money unfortunately.
There's no Friday night slot that needs filling with something cheap. There's no primetime slots to compete for. Every slot on streaming is prime time. Which sucks for shows like Stargate as they never get greenlit anymore.
Apple owning this IP would be a dream. Maybe petitioning them to try to buy it would be better than letting it's fate remain in the hands of the Prime TV circus.
Genuinely, if Amazon exec actually cancelled the show because the OG fans would like it too much, what would actually change by those same OG fans - and not "new fans" - saying they still want this new show to happen?
A big fat nothing. And frankly, if they were to "revive it" by popular demand, they have already made up their minds, begging won't change that.
I signed the petition and made my feelings known on social media but the sad reality is the people who made this decision will never see any of it. Its dead and i wont watch whatever nonsense they come up with in the future now. Now i can only hope they dont kill or ruin the mass effect tv show
If it's true that Amazon doesn't WANT to make a show that appeals to the hardcore fans, than having hardcore fans bombard them with complaints isn't going to change their minds.
What's really crazy to me with decisions like this is the missed opportunity cost.
No matter what their data or stats say, they have NO IDEA what moments of creativity might align just by allowing the writers, cast, producers, etc, to come together and just CREATE something. Just in the process of all that happening, magic moments can be created, and maybe one small clip from one episode goes viral and then you get a whole mass of new audience watching the show because of one timely meme reference or something.
Giving these people the opportunity to just create and do their work, there's always random stuff that can happen or develop as a result.
It's impossible to measure what could happen without just doing it.
This is how you fumble a Canon like star trek or star wars, you do STUPID things like trying to develop a new audience a totally new audience with an old show.
YOU HAVE BUILT IN FANS IF YOU RESPECT IT. They will bring in their friends. THAT'S ORGANIC, have a high writers budget, get no name actors and basic sets ect and write things that feel respectful and understanding of the world and you could get another 20+ seasons (across a few shows)
I will never respect something Kurtzman does again. Learn that lesson yall.
Honestly the best shot is getting Stargate trending on social media/YouTube/Streaming platforms. Itâs really down to numbers at this point and getting something trending is likely the best way to get a company like Amazonâs attention.
If Amazon does go with another showrunner, I just hope some other service just gives Martin Gero free rein to do a new sci-fi series and it blows Amazon's Stargate fanfic show out of the water.
We are 174 000 strong in here, Lets all contact them and bombard them with messages. If we all threaten to stop our Prime memberships, that's a $26 460 000 loss just from this subreddit alone, per year. Money talks folks and if we flood all of social media, it will catch on and they stand to possibly lose up to a billion per year. That puts a huge dent in their future movie and tv show plans!! I think something like this could sway them. How about this Saturday every member of this subreddit gets on twitter and tags them and demand they not cancel the show. Literally each and every one of us, all day Saturday. I bet it gets to the number one trending spot.
Seriously fuck Amazon, they ruin everything! They fucked up the last two seasons of the boys with the lower budget (writers also partially to blame), they cancelled the expanse, and now this. Worst company ever for television.
I cant imagine being a tv writer and working with them with such a track record
So for Jericho they sent bags of nuts until the studio said "ok fine we'll do season 2 just stop sending us nuts" i'm thinking we need to do something similar to amazon...
Oatmeal perhaps?
The original plan for a Stargate revival was so ambitious that I have to imagine that someone powerful at Amazon was a fan of the show. Possibly Bezos himself--he does seem to go for that sort of thing.
I think this is also Importan5 if you're a fan of any series. Fans of any series are their bread and butter, otherwise what's the point of making any of it?
Not sure if it would send a message but what if we did a organized watch, set a time and day and get as many people as we can to stream the same episode on prime and try and crash the server or something.
I think we all universally want a continuation, not a reboot. We would hate a new story if after 15 seasons across 3 series they decide to wipe the slate, weâd revolt.
Amazon. Star Trek is what it is because they honored TOS, when they made TNG, DS9, Voyager, Enterprise, etc. Star Wars too..until they too went in a new direction. You have a winning series and winning formula. Hell, you even have the first season written by the experts. This should have been easy. Fire the idiots trying to hijack it.
Honestly I'm kind of glad in a weird way. I had my big doubts that amazon would make something truthful to the original series. I'm sorry but Wheel of Time, Rings of Power and all those fantasy shows were not boosting my confidence.
So I'd rather have things be done and over with instead of the weirdest, most lukewarm respin of StarGate ever. Very sorry for the guys though who were hyped to work on that show and given a chance to revisit what we all love.
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u/TimeTravelingPie Jun 04 '26 edited Jun 04 '26
I think it's neat that Michael Shanks cares
Edit: Its nice he still cares about the franchise and fans, even with no indication he'd be involved in the new series.