Lower Decks » Stargate: Universe

Dynamite Entertainment to Publish Stargate Comics

forst — Mon, 20 Jul 2009 20:30:16 +0000

ICv2 is reporting that Dynamite Entertainment has acquired the rights to publish comic books based on the various Stargate television shows (Stargate: SG-1, Stargate: Atlantis, Stargate: Universe). Three ongoing titles, one based on each show, are planned. The Stargate: Universe series will be a prequel while the Stargate: SG-1 and Stargate: Atlantis series will apparently be continuations of the television shows (Season Eleven and Season Six, respectively).

Dynamite will kick things off with a special $1 introductory comic but no release date has been announced yet. Apparently, comics based on Stargate: SG-1 and Stargate: Atlantis were published in the past by Avatar, with the last issue(s) coming out in July of 2007. I had no idea.

Stargate: Universe to Premiere October 2nd

forst — Mon, 20 Jul 2009 18:38:20 +0000

Syfy has announced its fall premiere dates; you read the official press release at the futon critic). The latest entry in the Stargate franchise, Stargate: Universe, will premiere on Friday, October 2nd with a two-hour installment running from 9-11PM ET. The following week it will settle into its regular 9-10PM time slot. It will be be followed by Sanctuary in its second season. Personally, I’m much more excited about new episodes of Sanctuary than the premiere of Stargate: Universe. Still, I’ll give it three or four episodes to impress me.

Stargate: Universe Looking Less and Less Like Stargate

forst — Sun, 07 Jun 2009 22:27:09 +0000

The latest teaser trailer for SCI FI Channel’s upcoming Stargate Universe series makes the show look less like the third installment in the Stargate franchise and more like a Battlestar Galactica wannabe. Which could very easily be the case. The 50-second spot, titled “Survival,” features brief comments from members of the cast, including Robert Carlyle, Ming-Na and Elyse Levesque. Says Lou Diamond Phillips:

These are real stories and real people with real concerns.

We get it, Lou, it’s going to be REAL. Perhaps the most telling comment comes from Brian J. Smith:

“It’s gonna have a different look, it’s gonna have a different feel, it’s gonna be written differently.

In other words, it won’t be anything like Stargate: SG-1 or Stargate: Atlantis.

Of course, that’s not necessarily a bad thing. I’ll admit that by the third season of Stargate: Atlantis I was sensing a little stagnation on the part of the writers. Shaking things up for Stargate: Universe may be just what the franchise needs. Except for the pesky fact that Stargate: Atlantis apparently wasn’t cancelled because of low ratings. SCI FI just didn’t want it anymore. The same could be said for Stargate: SG-1, though.

Apparently, what SCI FI (which will be going by the name SY FY by the time the new show gets on the air this fall) wants is a Battlestar Galactica clone. Having the Battlestar Galactica prequel — Caprica — on the air just won’t be enough. It needs, in the words of Lou Diamond Phillips, a “sexier, grittier” Stargate series. Judging from the various teasers that have been released so far, that’s just what Stargate: Universe will deliver.

Whether it will deliver viewers is a question that won’t be answered until sometime this fall when the series premieres. I’ll be watching the three-hour (!) premiere and there’s always the chance it will surprise me. But I’m not hopeful.