It is the 20th anniversary of Stargate: SG-1, and MGM had a surprise for fans of the show at SDCC–they are working on a brand new series starring the daughter of the archaeologist who unearthed the first of Earth’s Stargates, young Catherine Langford.
Fans of the show recall that little Catherine was on the site of the archaeological dig where her father found the gate, and she remained its guardian over the years as various groups decided what to do with it. But it turns out that Catherine had a few secret adventures of her own….
Of course, there will have to be an explanation as to how the gate became viable back then without the help of Daniel Jackson’s translation and a DHD, but that’s a problem for the show to unravel in earnest. And the idea of Catherine Langford having her own Stargate adventure is pretty neat. According to the information released at SDCC, Catherine must “go on an adventure in order to save the Earth from terrifying darkness.”
Stargate Origins will be be offered via a dedicated MGM streaming service called Stargate Command, a brand new platform set to showcase all Stargate-related content, including behind-the-scenes material. Official word from Kevin Conroy, president of digital platforms at MGM, brings more information:
“We’ve been eager to revisit the ‘Stargate’ franchise, and create an all-new story that honors the founding mythos and gives loyal fans more mystery and adventure. We view ‘Stargate Origins’ as a thank you to fans who have been keeping the spirit of the franchise alive for nearly 25 years. With the increasing popularity of digitally native content that can be streamed to any device, MGM is committed to the production of premium linear mid-form content and are proud to launch with ‘Stargate Origins.’”
Stargate Command will be available as a streaming service starting this fall. Stargate Origins is set to be a ten-episode series, written by Mark Ilvedson and Justin Michael Terry and directed by Mercedes Bryce Morgan. No word yet on who will be playing Catherine Langford, or what over-arching plot of the show will entail.
I’ll definitely check this out. Here’s hoping it can help revive the franchise.
“Dedicated streaming service” Aaaand there it goes.
Bring Back SGU
I still want know what happened to the people in Stargate Universe. I know I should read the comic
Argh prequels. But I’ll give it a chance, I have missed Stargate.
Its only 10 ten-minute episodes, so I think it is literally a single “adventure”. Hopefully the entire series will be available for free; the dedicated service thing is a ridiculous medium to deliver content, and requiring payment for digital content is a good way to push viewers away rather than bring in more. I’m happy to watch ads on TV to avoid pay-per-view charges.
Ehh, I don’t like this, it changes the idea that she believed her love interest was dead and the gate never worked before the first Stargate mission. I suppose MAYBE you could work it in if you assume at the end of her adventures her memory’s wiped, but… bleh.
I’m all for new Stargate stuff but don’t do prequels, they’re always tricky to work in. I’d rather see something new. Hell, I’d even take a Stargate: The Next Generation with Young Jack O’Neil (who’s probably an adult now), Cassandra, Ry’ac (or maybe his wife, Kar’yn), and some new character forming a new team to deal with new issues. It’s a little cheesy but I’d stomach it a lot better than a dumb prequel series that doesn’t really fit into continuity and can’t break out of its box and do anything different (unless time travel/alternate universes are involved which potentially makes things worse).
Not that they’ll ever listen to me, especially with it already in production, but gah, why do people keep making the prequel mistake?
So, will the other Stargate series disappear from Hulu? Hmmm? As a huge Stargate fan, I’m personally not very interested in this new series that reminds me of Star Trek: Enterprise, and I’m not interesting in paying for a dedicated streaming platform. I already own the DVDs, but having the series on Hulu is so much more convenient…
Wow. Yet another pre-teen fanfic writer has had their documents folder robbed for tv. Are execs just visiting FF.net and picking up the most stereotypical and generic summaries to make shows out of? If this was the synopsis of a fanfic then I would have no hesitation in skipping over it as a beginner Mary Sue SI fic and thus worth only a sporking, not a read.
This is the problem with SF right now, all the bloody fanboys and fangirls in the production teams. It is an inward spiral of awfulness.
I wait and see once it’s available. God I’m getting older everyday if Stargate SG-1 is 20 years old already.
Well, I’m certainly up for “premium linear mid-form content.” Whatever that is. (Is that the nicer-sounding TV version of “extruded fantasy product”?)
(Though it does make me wonder what non-linear mid-form content might be.)
@10 I can’t get over the top secret briefings on VHS.
Why does Stargate: Infinity always get implicitly snubbed? :(
To me they are missing their mark with the ORIGINS story…They should take it back to the Ancients
13: Probably because explicitly snubbing it would seem cruel. “Stargate Origins would be the fourth Stargate series, because nobody counts the awful short-lived cartoon Stargate Infinity.”
Sounds promising. Imagine the possibilities of Gate travel in the 1930s, WW2, and the Cold War.
@12 – noblehunter: I was rewatching SG1 with my kid, and I couldn’t get over the fact that the amazing hi-tech SGC base which repurposes alien technology has CRT monitors.