As we told you back in January, Stargate Universe co-creator Brad Wright is working hard at finding a way to finish the story of Destiny and her reluctant crew (story). He’s been in talks with MGM about continuing the story in some form, though all the major players have been pretty quiet about those discussions behind closed doors. So where do things stand today?
Fortunately, SGU fans have executive producer Joseph Mallozzi’s blog to let us know that those conversations are still progressing. He revealed last month that the door was pretty much closed on a third season someplace other than Syfy Channel. That doesn’t leave a lot of other possibilities: a wrap-up movie, a series of movies, a mini-series, online webisodes, or cocktail napkin doodles posted on YouTube with the producers doing all the character voices, augmented with special effects from Mark Savela.
This week Mallozzi helped clarify the picture a bit, while fans continue to wait for some announcement from the studio.
“Hopefully, by the time [the season finale, 'Gauntlet'] airs, we’ll have definite word on a potential movie or two,” he said.
“If it’s a go and fans can look forward to a proper end to Destiny‘s mission, then ‘Gauntlet’ will certainly set the stage for a grand conclusion. If, on the other hand, things don’t pan out and ‘Gauntlet’ does turn out to be the bittersweet finale, fans will be thrilled, touched, heartbroken — and left to wonder what could have been.”
Let’s hope for the former.
The studio has had past success with the DVD and Blu-ray releases of Stargate: The Ark of Truth and Continuum, two SG-1 movies that followed the show’s cancellation. The home media market has changed radically since those two were shot in 2007 and released in 2008. MGM may be crunching the numbers to see if it can give a potential series of SGU films a decent budget and still turn a profit from the combination of media sales, online digital downloads, TV broadcast licensing, and the many international markets where Stargate is popular.
Wright and his team have certainly demonstrated over the years that they have the ability to make a modest production budget look like a feature film on the small screen. And in our humble opinion, MGM will need to commit to paying off this story — and make at least one Atlantis film — to keep Stargate‘s existing fan base and win back some disenfranchised viewers.
Stargate Universe returns with its final 10 episodes on Syfy next Monday, March 7 at 10 p.m. (E/P)! That’s a new day and a new time, so set your Tivo and mark your calendar.
Tivo set,DVR set. nachos set, beer.......
