Dean Devlin Still Wants to Make 'Stargate' Sequels, from the "Give it up already" department Options

[mithwriter]

My prediction is that it is UNLIKELY Devlin will be able to do his version of the sequels and that if by the graces of the Fates he IS able to make them, they will do poorly at the box office.

Why?

For the same reason most book, comic book, video game, etc, based movies have a history of not doing too well (with the few notable exceptions): Audience expectations. Most of the time, these films don't live up to what the audience is expecting out of these already established characters.

Harry Potter
Batman
Superman
X-Men
Blade
Star Trek
Spiderman...

..shall I continue with the number of successfull films from other media?

SG-1 has spent nearly a decade making these characters thier own and have done so quite successfully. People going to see a Devlin sequel after all this time are probably going to expect (even if sub-conciously)an O'Niell that's funny. Not like the Kurt Russell O'Niel. They'll be wondering where the Carter is, or the General Hammond.

People going to see a Devlin sequel will be looking for Kurt Russell and James Spader, not RDA. Most people don't even know that RDA was in Stargate SG-1. If they did, they wouldn't have made that Master Card commercial with him as MacGyver, now would they?

Stargate could probably be considered one of the most successful Science-fiction franchises out there. In my opinion, it surpasses even Star Trek or the X-Files. They've been able to do this because SG-1 has utilized a very successful formula (Charmed, great and successful as it was could have been even better by applying the Stargate formula).

Stargate SG-1 has never passed more than..what 2 million, not more than 3 million viewers in a country with a population of 275 million. It has never been been nominated for any Emmys other than effects or technical categories. Star Trek:TNG was nommed for a Best Drama Emmy the last year it was on the air. The X-Files has won and been nommed for Best Drama, Best Actor, Best Actress, Outstanding Writing. Both of these shows are much more critically acclaimed than SG-1 has ever been.

Bottom line is, movie studios know that you don't fix something that isn't broken. They're not going to even take the chance of breaking thier best piece of work. All they have to do is look at George Lucas and the Star Wars prequels, or Joel Schumaker (spelling) and his two Batman films.

A sequel as Devlin wants it to be just isn't feasible from a business standpoint. No matter how much he might claim it will stand apart from the SG-1 mythos, it will still interfere.

Elan

Sorry, not true.

[Bignes]

It would have been awesome if on last seasons multiple stargates they had Kurt Russel, Spader, all the old cast come back as an alternative reality Stargate team.

If that had happened it would draw a line, on saying this is differant reality. I thought they might even have Kurt Russel in the 200th episode to play a character based on Jack O'Neil. Again it would be a nice little twist to the show.

In regards to the movies, imagine of they do attack earth, u'll be screaming for the Daedelus, Odyssey, help from the Asgaard. It will have to very well done to be a seperate entity.

Also, i hope they choose shanks over spader, they looked identical from stargate and the old seasons. And im sure he could revert to the orginal characther base.

As for Atlantis ending etc, the first series was very good, they have seemed to loose there way in the last 2 series. Mainly due to Teyla and Ronan not being strong enough charchters. They might as well make the team, Sheppard, Mckay, Weir and Beckett. Personally they should drop Teyla, Ronan and bring in some new guys, introduce them via sg-1/ Atlantis for a while, like they did with Vala and see if they stick.

[Elan_Morin]

Harry Potter
Batman
Superman
X-Men
Blade
Star Trek
Spiderman...

Hmmm.....let's see......

Harry Potter: Remained as true as possible to the characters from the books, so there wasn't a whole lot of infringement on what the characters were established as in transition to the movies. In addition, they made the movies at the height of the book's popularity. We could possibly be looking at a different situation had they been made ten years from now.

Batman: I can't believe you even mentioned this one. JOEL SCHUMACHER!!! Need I say more?

Superman: The jury is still out on this one in my mind, though the newest film hasn't completely lived up to expections. No doubt from the hype it was given.

X-Men: One of the few exceptions. They stayed true to the characters and thier established personalities.

Blade: First film did great, the subsequent two didn't. One out of three doesn't qualify as a success in my world.

Star Trek: You can't even really classify it with these others. It was a filmed medium from the beginning and there's never been any attempt to create the characters outside of those who originally played them. In other words, the films always used the originals and were merely extentions of the original television series.

Spider-man: Again, one of the few exceptions and again, for the same reason the X-Men films did well. There wasn't really a whole lot of deviation of the attitudes and personalities of the characters in the comic books.

Basically, those films based upon other media that do well, they don't play around with the characters and what they have been established as already. Those that do tend to fail. This doesn't mean there aren't exceptions, though. But those exceptions are few and far between.

The situation is quite different with Stargate. The two O'Neill's are distinctly different. RDA's O'Neill has had much longer to establish itself as a personality and so was able to absorb the Russell version. People are not going to like seeing a sour-puss and serious O'Neill.

Think of it this way; the movie was a foundation and the series was the building built on of that foundation. Now the concrete pourers want to build their own building on that foundation, despite the fact that a building is already there. The chances of success are remote.

..shall I continue with the number of successfull films from other media?

Please do.

People going to see a Devlin sequel will be looking for Kurt Russell and James Spader, not RDA.

Sorry, but I have to disagree with this. They will be going to see the movie for Jack O'Neill and Dr. Daniel Jackson. No successful sequel is based upon who plays the characters, but rather, the characters themselves. If your analysis was correct, then by your logic, Joel Schumacher's two bat-films would have done much better.

Most people don't even know that RDA was in Stargate SG-1. If they did, they wouldn't have made that Master Card commercial with him as MacGyver, now would they?

MacGyver is the role that propelled RDA to fame. Inevitably, when this happens, many people tend to be forever linked to that role. Most people are going to associate him with MacGyver because of this, just as most people tend to think of Bela Lugosi as Count Dracula or William Shatner as Captain Kirk when hearing thier names.

Stargate SG-1 has never passed more than..what 2 million, not more than 3 million viewers in a country with a population of 275 million. It has never been been nominated for any Emmys other than effects or technical categories. Star Trek:TNG was nommed for a Best Drama Emmy the last year it was on the air. The X-Files has won and been nommed for Best Drama, Best Actor, Best Actress, Outstanding Writing. Both of these shows are much more critically acclaimed than SG-1 has ever been.

Whether or not it has been nominated or won any awards is actually quite irrelevant. Viewer percentage is largely irrelevant, too. The fact that SG-1 is on season ten and probably will get an eleventh pretty much speaks for itself.

Sorry, not true.

....great rebuttal. I should quit debating with you for this reason alone. How can I compete?

Please, if you are going to tell me I'm wrong, at least support your arguements.


Elan

[hockey_player]

I can assure you , any script written (and/or) tweaked from so many years ago, will not look the same when it comes time to shoot it. As others have said, the business is all about money - that's the driver. What's the target aud? Existing fans...

Oh yes - Dean D. - can you say "Who Killed the Electric Car?"

This post has been edited by hockey_player: Aug 13th 2006, 5:01 PM

[Labrat]

I'm a fan of the series because of the film. So if they do another film, I'll watch it. Doesn't mean I'll like it, but I'll watch it all the same. In one of the Devlin interviews mentioned earlier in this thread, Devlin hints that another series spin-off is possibly in the pipeline at MGM. Remember when Atlantis was going to be that long awaited sequel to the original film? It ended up being one hell of a season finale for SG1 and spinning off into the great series it's becoming now. Maybe all the renewed talk of movie sequels now, is the spin for that new spin-off Devlin hinted at.

[First Praetor]

i don't think i could watch KR as Jack O'Neil, Jack O'Neill played by RDA is much better. Kurt Russel is nowhere near that level. I'd rather they didn't create this because if they did i think i would likely be disappointed by the lack of emotion that goes along with a Kurt Russel film...

KR needs to stick with playing androids and cyborgs that do not show emotion... His character would be unbelievable if he was still as miserable as in the first film... He had a family at one point so he cant of always been a zombie so sooner or later he'd have to snap out of it!... But i'm afraid that KR cannot do anything but the whole i have no emotion routine

[Dafmeister]

i don't think i could watch KR as Jack O'Neil, Jack O'Neill played by RDA is much better. Kurt Russel is nowhere near that level. I'd rather they didn't create this because if they did i think i would likely be disappointed by the lack of emotion that goes along with a Kurt Russel film...

KR needs to stick with playing androids and cyborgs that do not show emotion... His character would be unbelievable if he was still as miserable as in the first film... He had a family at one point so he cant of always been a zombie so sooner or later he'd have to snap out of it!... But i'm afraid that KR cannot do anything but the whole i have no emotion routine

One of the conditions that RDA made before he played O'Neill was that the character was changed from Russell's version to the one that RDA played hence the change from Jack O'Neil to Jack O'Neill. There are a couple of references to it in the show when Jack says "That is Colonel O'Neill, with two 'l's" and the line "There is another Colonel O'Neil with one L but he has no sense of humour".

[IndyJan]

One of the conditions that RDA made before he played O'Neill was that the character was changed from Russell's version to the one that RDA played hence the change from Jack O'Neil to Jack O'Neill. There are a couple of references to it in the show when Jack says "That is Colonel O'Neill, with two 'l's" and the line "There is another Colonel O'Neil with one L but he has no sense of humour".

Having a sense of humor was the one stipulation that RDA had for his character and the show. It worked for Jack O'Neill and for SG1. In numerous interviews both on dvds, and behind the scenes, RDA says this. I think he even mentioned it again on the intro special to the 200th episode.

[Apis]

In my opinion the cancellation of SG1 would probably make this sequel feel more appropriate. Now, there's no risk of damaging SG1's reputation or hurting its ratings.

I personally really like the idea of this sequel and I would definitely go see it.

[Dafmeister]

In my opinion the cancellation of SG1 would probably make this sequel feel more appropriate. Now, there's no risk of damaging SG1's reputation or hurting its ratings.

MGM haven't given up on SG-1 yet, only their contract with Sci-Fi has stopped them finding another network to air the show. I don't see a sequel to Stargate ever happening.

[First Praetor]

One of the conditions that RDA made before he played O'Neill was that the character was changed from Russell's version to the one that RDA played hence the change from Jack O'Neil to Jack O'Neill. There are a couple of references to it in the show when Jack says "That is Colonel O'Neill, with two 'l's" and the line "There is another Colonel O'Neil with one L but he has no sense of humour".

I'm aware of these differences, but i still say that another stargate with KR will be far too boring... I think that Stargate 2 would be a mistake and most of the SG-1 fans will not enjoy the film

[cosmos]

I like the idea of a trilogy for Stargate but only if they shape the story to fit with the series and if the series actors are being casted for the films.

Although is not likely for that to happen I often thought it would be great if they were to re-make the original movie to fit the introduction and all details associated with the series including RDA and MS.