Vote for why you think it jumped
Never Jumped
Exit...Stage Left (Jack O'Neill)
Vala Malduran
Ben Browder and Claudia Black Join the Cast
NBC takes over SciFi
Shark Bytes
josh: True, but if one made their bases on saying that more seasons means it's better, then you might as well say American Idol is superior.
All it means is more braindead people are willing to watch it or it has better sponsers.
TV shows like Deep Space Nine, Babylon 5 or Farscape have way better characters and development and great continuing storyline.
Stargate SG-1 has tons of stand alones and filler episodes with no character development... the characters acts the same from season 1 to 10.
I liked SG-1 but it should have ended much sooner than it did. Season 6 or 7 I'd say. One of the producers, when asked about the possibility of more SG-1 DVDs, said, "you keep buying them and we'll keep making them." That's the reality of it.
They made SG-1 because SG-1 made MONEY. Other shows like Farscape didn't. Quality didn't come into it. There are many elements of SG-1 that were atrocious - it was sci-fi lite and they very quickly descended into self-parody and the classic mistakes of humanising all the aliens and making everything more convoluted.
It was never highbrow stuff, it was just relatively light, above average television with some great ideas behind it.
The problem is size and backing of studio and production company. Stargate turns out to be a lame crappy franchise but was backed by MGM. Star Trek it sunk but it is still one of the flagships of Paramount.
Star Wars turned into a children's drek but it has backing of Lucas Films. Firefly was OK but when Fox cancelled it, Universal had no option but to stop the production but at least they did Serenity as finale.
These are production giants. They intend to milk cash from fanboys of these franchises until they die from old age no matter how awful they become in writing, acting and production values because they can not come up with something new.
At the other hand a show like Farscape for example was produced by Henson Co., a medium sized production company and no matter how creative and inventive they are, they remain a small company (that's why they were so good in fact. They do not bother with lowest common demeanor to increase their profits etc) compared to other studios I mentioned above.
All it means is more braindead people are willing to watch it or it has better sponsers.
TV shows like Deep Space Nine, Babylon 5 or Farscape have way better characters and development and great continuing storyline.
Stargate SG-1 has tons of stand alones and filler episodes with no character development... the characters acts the same from season 1 to 10.
I liked SG-1 but it should have ended much sooner than it did. Season 6 or 7 I'd say. One of the producers, when asked about the possibility of more SG-1 DVDs, said, "you keep buying them and we'll keep making them." That's the reality of it.
They made SG-1 because SG-1 made MONEY. Other shows like Farscape didn't. Quality didn't come into it. There are many elements of SG-1 that were atrocious - it was sci-fi lite and they very quickly descended into self-parody and the classic mistakes of humanising all the aliens and making everything more convoluted.
It was never highbrow stuff, it was just relatively light, above average television with some great ideas behind it.
The problem is size and backing of studio and production company. Stargate turns out to be a lame crappy franchise but was backed by MGM. Star Trek it sunk but it is still one of the flagships of Paramount.
Star Wars turned into a children's drek but it has backing of Lucas Films. Firefly was OK but when Fox cancelled it, Universal had no option but to stop the production but at least they did Serenity as finale.
These are production giants. They intend to milk cash from fanboys of these franchises until they die from old age no matter how awful they become in writing, acting and production values because they can not come up with something new.
At the other hand a show like Farscape for example was produced by Henson Co., a medium sized production company and no matter how creative and inventive they are, they remain a small company (that's why they were so good in fact. They do not bother with lowest common demeanor to increase their profits etc) compared to other studios I mentioned above.
I was able to watch the show religiously up until the 9th season.
At that point the show officially 'jumped the shark' for me. I think it was due in large part to the departure of RDA, and to the introduction of certain Farscape cast members. I was never a fan of Farscape, and it always seemed to have a fringe feel about it. With Claudia Black's presence on the show I felt that the SG-1 brand cheapened significantly. Not to mention there was an elaborate story arc involving the ORI and Arthurian mythology.
Teal’c’s hair was also a game changer in this season. Prior to season nine the sudden appearance of hair in season 8 was the subject of amusement for many a veteran fan used to seeing Teal'c bald for the previous 7 years. The hair growth was also somehow indicative of the evolution of Teal'c as a character. Generally speaking, the appearance of hair on a bald character might itself qualify as a shark jumping moment (not for me in this case, however).
But when they decided to generously slather on the pomade for season nine, I didn’t get it. It was like they needed his hair to be shiny and straight for some reason and depending on the camera angle you can see the amount of product needed to accomplish this truly shark jumping feat.
I think overall SG-1 was a good show. What I liked about it was how the characters continuously made reference to contemporary culture (as the show itself was set in present day, also a plus), and that the cast and characters never took themselves or their franchise too seriously. That’s probably why the show lasted 10 seasons.
At that point the show officially 'jumped the shark' for me. I think it was due in large part to the departure of RDA, and to the introduction of certain Farscape cast members. I was never a fan of Farscape, and it always seemed to have a fringe feel about it. With Claudia Black's presence on the show I felt that the SG-1 brand cheapened significantly. Not to mention there was an elaborate story arc involving the ORI and Arthurian mythology.
Teal’c’s hair was also a game changer in this season. Prior to season nine the sudden appearance of hair in season 8 was the subject of amusement for many a veteran fan used to seeing Teal'c bald for the previous 7 years. The hair growth was also somehow indicative of the evolution of Teal'c as a character. Generally speaking, the appearance of hair on a bald character might itself qualify as a shark jumping moment (not for me in this case, however).
But when they decided to generously slather on the pomade for season nine, I didn’t get it. It was like they needed his hair to be shiny and straight for some reason and depending on the camera angle you can see the amount of product needed to accomplish this truly shark jumping feat.
I think overall SG-1 was a good show. What I liked about it was how the characters continuously made reference to contemporary culture (as the show itself was set in present day, also a plus), and that the cast and characters never took themselves or their franchise too seriously. That’s probably why the show lasted 10 seasons.
Response to John Stuart:
Interesting theory. And yet... the show went on for 7 seasons after Jonathon Glassner left
Interesting theory. And yet... the show went on for 7 seasons after Jonathon Glassner left
The first seasons of Stargate SG-1 were good; after Season 3 when the co-creator of the show Jonathan Glassner left and took the most of the writing talent with him, the show became CRAP. Brad Wright (co-creator) and Robert C. Cooper were left in charge, and while proving themselves as capable writers in the previous seasons, didn't have any FRACKING idea at all how to run a show.
They hired writers Joseph Malozzi and Paul Mullie that have absolutely no FRACKING idea what the hell they were doing. If you look at their records (IMDB), they have absolutely no relevant writing experience. In any one episode written by those two you can find more plot holes than the number of Go'aulds they killed off so far. No personal attack against the writer's intended, however, only against their WRITING SKILLS, which they have none of.
Other writers, although displaying slightly more skill, are LAZY ASSES who don't even try except at the season finales/openers, which are only shadows of what season finales were in seasons 1-3.
Stargate SG-1 turned into a rehash of old stuff, which they did over and over, because it only survived on the cool stuff that came before. That's because the new stuff they come up with was **** in comparison.
The dumbasses at MGM (who turned down Star Trek, btw) keeped this s*hit going because they wanted their own franchise to kick Trek's ass ... but that didn't happened because they keep producing CRAP. Stargate Atlantis is what happens when you make a spinoff of CRAP, with the same writers. It just does not work.
Enough fracking torture already, get capable people to take over the Stargate franchise because it is too fracking cool to be left in charge of these morons.
They hired writers Joseph Malozzi and Paul Mullie that have absolutely no FRACKING idea what the hell they were doing. If you look at their records (IMDB), they have absolutely no relevant writing experience. In any one episode written by those two you can find more plot holes than the number of Go'aulds they killed off so far. No personal attack against the writer's intended, however, only against their WRITING SKILLS, which they have none of.
Other writers, although displaying slightly more skill, are LAZY ASSES who don't even try except at the season finales/openers, which are only shadows of what season finales were in seasons 1-3.
Stargate SG-1 turned into a rehash of old stuff, which they did over and over, because it only survived on the cool stuff that came before. That's because the new stuff they come up with was **** in comparison.
The dumbasses at MGM (who turned down Star Trek, btw) keeped this s*hit going because they wanted their own franchise to kick Trek's ass ... but that didn't happened because they keep producing CRAP. Stargate Atlantis is what happens when you make a spinoff of CRAP, with the same writers. It just does not work.
Enough fracking torture already, get capable people to take over the Stargate franchise because it is too fracking cool to be left in charge of these morons.
One other point. This show suffered greatly in later seasons from Bad Guy Inflation syndrome: Writers present a "big bad". Writers drag out the drama inherent in the threat from "big bad" as long as they can. Eventually you need a climax or the whole thing becomes boring. Writers supply the climax and allow the "big bad" to be defeated. BUT show must go on, what to do now? Invent a BIGGER BAD.
Rinse
Repeat
Rinse
Repeat
When Stargate started it occupied a truly unique position. It was space opera, but it didn't center on the cliche and worn tropes of Star Trek. The humans were relatively low tech. There was no space ship at the center of the action. There was at least a cursory attempt to acknowledge that humanoid aliens are implausible without some overriding reason. There was a sense that this was space opera but more grounded.
Somewhere along the line, this was lost. It became a Star Trek clone. The new show that is supposed to be coming out is just the final step in that process.
Somewhere along the line, this was lost. It became a Star Trek clone. The new show that is supposed to be coming out is just the final step in that process.
This isn't a chat board people. e.e
It jumped for me sometime after O'Neil was 'promoted'... the episode with Claudia Black. Hate. Her. So. Much. She's so... not what Stargate is about. She's obnoxious and just there for looks. Her character is incredibly dull and flat. I could go on and on, but we'll just leave it at the one episode (the first she showed up in?) where she kidnaps Daniel, after which the fight/makeout scene commences. Enough already!
Have to add that Sam and Jack together almost completely makes up for this.
It jumped for me sometime after O'Neil was 'promoted'... the episode with Claudia Black. Hate. Her. So. Much. She's so... not what Stargate is about. She's obnoxious and just there for looks. Her character is incredibly dull and flat. I could go on and on, but we'll just leave it at the one episode (the first she showed up in?) where she kidnaps Daniel, after which the fight/makeout scene commences. Enough already!
Have to add that Sam and Jack together almost completely makes up for this.
The obvious, but not actually stated, sexual attraction between Jack and Daniel also gave the story an interesting aspect.
RDA actually admitted that they meant the close interaction between O'Neill and Jackson was to come across as having homosexual feelings for one another. The 'homosexual tension' (as Michael Shanks called it) of Daniel and Jack's relationship had to be alluded to,of course.
That never happened, in fact, Michael Shanks had to publicly state in several cons that "No... no relationship except friendship." And RDA never gave a statement at all! Where do you get your info?
It was canon though about the relationship between Jack and Sam, and was confirmed by Joe Mallozzi and incorporated into the season 4 SGA ***** extras.
Do you like ruining people's careers? Or embarrassing their families?
RDA actually admitted that they meant the close interaction between O'Neill and Jackson was to come across as having homosexual feelings for one another. The 'homosexual tension' (as Michael Shanks called it) of Daniel and Jack's relationship had to be alluded to,of course.
That never happened, in fact, Michael Shanks had to publicly state in several cons that "No... no relationship except friendship." And RDA never gave a statement at all! Where do you get your info?
It was canon though about the relationship between Jack and Sam, and was confirmed by Joe Mallozzi and incorporated into the season 4 SGA ***** extras.
Do you like ruining people's careers? Or embarrassing their families?
Still appreciated the show in later episodes but it jumped with the Ori. Some things were good and I'm glad I got to see those episodes too but they definitely struggled after RDAnderson left. Just sort of fell apart towards the end.
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