Star Gate Origins

[Jito463]

I enjoyed SG-1, mostly enjoyed SGA and even liked SGU.  The biggest drawback with SGU - in my opinion (obviously) - was the communication stones.  If they had cut off all communication and were on their own, it would have made for a more interesting show.  As it was, there was too much tied back to SG-1.  While it was nice seeing some of the old gang again, I feel that the show should have been permitted to succeed or fail on its own merits.

 

This, however, I'm not sure about.  It's messing with established story lines, which is a recipe for disaster in a favored sci-fi series.  Look at Enterprise, they got a lot of flack for messing with some story lines that were already canon from TOS (amongst others).  I know that wasn't the only issue with it, but that certainly didn't help.

 

I might watch this if I can do so for cheap (or preferably free), but I'm not going out of my way to do so.

[dalekphalm]

8 hours ago, Jito463 said:

I enjoyed SG-1, mostly enjoyed SGA and even liked SGU.  The biggest drawback with SGU - in my opinion (obviously) - was the communication stones.  If they had cut off all communication and were on their own, it would have made for a more interesting show.  As it was, there was too much tied back to SG-1.  While it was nice seeing some of the old gang again, I feel that the show should have been permitted to succeed or fail on its own merits.

 

This, however, I'm not sure about.  It's messing with established story lines, which is a recipe for disaster in a favored sci-fi series.  Look at Enterprise, they got a lot of flack for messing with some story lines that were already canon from TOS (amongst others).  I know that wasn't the only issue with it, but that certainly didn't help.

 

I might watch this if I can do so for cheap (or preferably free), but I'm not going out of my way to do so.

Enterprise is highly underrated. Season 3 and 4 were pretty kickass, with some excellent multi-episode arcs. Season 1 was meh. It wasn't terrible or anything, but it had some promise.

 

But compare that against Season 1 of TNG? Or DS9? Or Voyager?

 

People forget how fucking goddamn terrible the early seasons of pretty much any Star Trek show were. And I love Star Trek. But I can objectively say that Season 1 of TNG and DS9 were utter garbage, for the most part.

 

There definitely was some retconning, but that happens in every trek series.

[Urishima]

Yeah, Trek always took a while to get off the ground, didn't it?

 

Atlantis never really worked for me, I just didn't like most of the characters. All I ever saw was the 'Not O'Neil', 'Not Teal'c', etc.

 

What I saw of SG:U I actually liked.

[SansVarnic]

17 hours ago, dalekphalm said:

Atlantis had it's moments. When it was great, it was great, but it never matched SG-1's best. It did have some excellent space battles though.

 

I actually liked Universe. The story was kinda meh, but I enjoyed the tone and the characters, mostly.

Agree 100%

[AshleyAshes]

5 hours ago, dalekphalm said:

Or Voyager?

Voyager has a lot of problems mind you.  The whole premise was this long journey home but the series ultimately is 'home is so far away but maybe we'll find a short cut!' for every episode until the finale where 'STUFF HAPPENED AND EARTH, YAY!'

 

Not to mention what that show did to the Borg where having ONE liberated Borg with individuality was all they needed to counter the ENTIRE Borg threat that was an unstoppable killing machine in the franchise until then.  Between TNG, DS9 and VOY, VOY is for sure the weakest series.

[dalekphalm]

1 minute ago, AshleyAshes said:

Voyager has a lot of problems mind you.  The whole premise was this long journey home but the series ultimately is 'home is so far away but maybe we'll find a short cut!' for every episode until the finale where 'STUFF HAPPENED AND EARTH, YAY!'

 

Not to mention what that show did to the Borg where having ONE liberated Borg with individuality was all they needed to counter the ENTIRE Borg threat that was an unstoppable killing machine in the franchise until then.  Between TNG, DS9 and VOY, VOY is for sure the weakest series.

Agreed - I've read that there was too much studio interference. Hell, they made Ron D. Moore quit because he got so frustrated. Fortunately, he went on to make BSG.

 

Voyager certainly had it's moments, but overall, it's probably my second least favourite (with TOS being the least). Yes. I rate Enterprise as a better show.

[dalekphalm]

So I'm 4 minutes into Episode 1 (sooo... about halfway through the episode  lol), and:

 

1. The opening was literally stock footage of the Egypt gate uncovering Scene from the beginning of Stargate the movie.

2. Paul Langford, the father of Catherine, is played by Connor Tinneer - who was "Trip" from Enterprise, and "Michael" from Atlantis. It's quite distracting.

3. Well, 4 minutes isn't much to go on, but the extremely small amount of acting has been serviceable, if nothing exceptional yet.

 

I'm going to watch all 3 available episodes and report back.

 

EDIT: Should have waited another minute... Nazi's!

 

EDIT 2: Episode 1 finished... uhm.. okay. So there's a "cliff hanger", and if it's what I think it is, then it's about to break all established canon in Episode 2.

 

Also, wtf, it ends with this really bizarre camera spin (literally, the last shot is the camera spinning a bunch of times while looking at the gate).

[dalekphalm]

Okay so, I finished the available 3 episodes.

 

Thoughts: Not terrible. Not great, but not terrible.

 

First thing's first. This is a web series, where each episode is 10 minutes long. The entire season is essentially a "movie", if you will.

 

Major Spoilers:

Spoiler

So, in Episode 2, the Nazi's figure out (quite easily) how to turn on the Stargate, using electricity from a truck engine. The Nazi doctor already had the gate coordinates.

 

The plot is very rushed, due to the short episode length.

 

The Nazi's and Paul Langford go through the gate. They arrive in a Goa'uld throne room of sorts, with Egyptian style architecture. What appears to be a desert-like planet is outside, but we don't get a good look.

 

This doesn't appear to be Abydos though. There's a Goa'uld, but she's female. Not a recognizable Goa'uld, but she only says a few lines, and doesn't identify herself. She one shots a Nazi soldier with a hand device.

 

Episode 3: Catherine Langford, along with "Captain James Beal", who is a British Soldier of some sort (I thought this was Earnest Littlefield at first, but he's American, and because the episodes are so quick, I missed his name), easily figure out how to replicate what the Nazi's did, and are able to turn on the gate. The episode ends with them going through the gate.

 

So, Catherine, before meeting Daniel Jackson, or working on the Stargate project in the 1990's, has already gone through the gate at least once, and knows generally how it works (7 symbols, lock into position, activate the gate with electricity). She also knows at least one set of coordinates - though the series could end with the gate on the other side being destroyed or buried, etc, making these coordinates useless in the 90's.

So I put some spoiler thoughts together above.

 

So far, it doesn't technically break canon that I recall, since Catherine never explicitly says anything to the contrary, but it's highly improbable. She would have mentioned these things in Stargate the movie, or during the TV series - I think knowing that she had first hand experience going through the gate would have been useful information.

 

Also, in Torment of Tantalus, it's extremely heavily implied that this is the first time she's been through the gate.

 

Also, in 1969 (SG-1 S02E21), it's implied that she had very little knowledge of what was actually happening during her father's research.

 

So, I haven't ruled it out yet. But it's fairly low budget, and that shows.

 

However, if this does well, and it's not terrible, this could mean a larger budget return to the franchise in the future.

 

Personally, I'd like to see a prequel series set in the ancient past. There are several options:

1. Ancient Egypt era with the Goa'uld

2. The Lantean war against the Wraith (could make a decent mini series, but I wouldn't want a full TV show about this - maybe a movie at best)

3. Lantean/Alterans in the Milky Way galaxy

 

I think a good story would be the rise of the Goa'uld Anubis, and his eventual ascension.

 

Anyway - for those hoping for a return to the glory of SG-1, don't hold your breath. But I've seen a hell of a lot worse, so I'll likely keep watching.

[aezakmi]

11 hours ago, dalekphalm said:

Okay so, I finished the available 3 episodes.

 

Thoughts: Not terrible. Not great, but not terrible.

 

First thing's first. This is a web series, where each episode is 10 minutes long. The entire season is essentially a "movie", if you will.

 

Major Spoilers:

  Hide contents

So, in Episode 2, the Nazi's figure out (quite easily) how to turn on the Stargate, using electricity from a truck engine. The Nazi doctor already had the gate coordinates.

 

The plot is very rushed, due to the short episode length.

 

The Nazi's and Paul Langford go through the gate. They arrive in a Goa'uld throne room of sorts, with Egyptian style architecture. What appears to be a desert-like planet is outside, but we don't get a good look.

 

This doesn't appear to be Abydos though. There's a Goa'uld, but she's female. Not a recognizable Goa'uld, but she only says a few lines, and doesn't identify herself. She one shots a Nazi soldier with a hand device.

 

Episode 3: Catherine Langford, along with "Captain James Beal", who is a British Soldier of some sort (I thought this was Earnest Littlefield at first, but he's American, and because the episodes are so quick, I missed his name), easily figure out how to replicate what the Nazi's did, and are able to turn on the gate. The episode ends with them going through the gate.

 

So, Catherine, before meeting Daniel Jackson, or working on the Stargate project in the 1990's, has already gone through the gate at least once, and knows generally how it works (7 symbols, lock into position, activate the gate with electricity). She also knows at least one set of coordinates - though the series could end with the gate on the other side being destroyed or buried, etc, making these coordinates useless in the 90's.

So I put some spoiler thoughts together above.

 

So far, it doesn't technically break canon that I recall, since Catherine never explicitly says anything to the contrary, but it's highly improbable. She would have mentioned these things in Stargate the movie, or during the TV series - I think knowing that she had first hand experience going through the gate would have been useful information.

 

Also, in Torment of Tantalus, it's extremely heavily implied that this is the first time she's been through the gate.

 

Also, in 1969 (SG-1 S02E21), it's implied that she had very little knowledge of what was actually happening during her father's research.

 

So, I haven't ruled it out yet. But it's fairly low budget, and that shows.

 

However, if this does well, and it's not terrible, this could mean a larger budget return to the franchise in the future.

 

Personally, I'd like to see a prequel series set in the ancient past. There are several options:

1. Ancient Egypt era with the Goa'uld

2. The Lantean war against the Wraith (could make a decent mini series, but I wouldn't want a full TV show about this - maybe a movie at best)

3. Lantean/Alterans in the Milky Way galaxy

 

I think a good story would be the rise of the Goa'uld Anubis, and his eventual ascension.

 

Anyway - for those hoping for a return to the glory of SG-1, don't hold your breath. But I've seen a hell of a lot worse, so I'll likely keep watching.

 

 

Spoiler

So this implies that the Lanteans built an extremely complex device that can open wormholes to different worlds and galaxies and some nazis just powered it with a truck engine? seriously what the... does the gate use 12VDC or what? I remember in the movie or series someone says that the gate uses a huge amount of energy so this wouldn't be making sense

It'd be nice to see how the Goa'uld developed -or stole from other races- their technology, the story of Anubis would be good too, he tricked Oma Desala but then he was descended, what happened to the Unas, Atok, Apep, Ptah and the other first Goa'ulds

Thanks for the report

[dalekphalm]

1 hour ago, aezakmi said:

 

 

  Hide contents

So this implies that the Lanteans built an extremely complex device that can open wormholes to different worlds and galaxies and some nazis just powered it with a truck engine? seriously what the... does the gate use 12VDC or what? I remember in the movie or series someone says that the gate uses a huge amount of energy so this wouldn't be making sense

It'd be nice to see how the Goa'uld developed -or stole from other races- their technology, the story of Anubis would be good too, he tricked Oma Desala but then he was descended, what happened to the Unas, Atok, Apep, Ptah and the other first Goa'ulds

Thanks for the report

SG-1 Spoilers in response to your spoilers:

Spoiler

There's actually established Canon precedent for what the Nazi's did. It's just ridiculous that the Nazi's knew how to do it.

 

There are multiple instances on the show, specifically the S02E21 episode 1969, where they use a Diesel Truck engine (Actually multiple engines, I think, but I don't remember the specifics) to power up the gate enough for a single wormhole to be established.

 

So my biggest gripe with the series isn't that they used a truck engine to power the gate, as we've seen before that this is possible. My gripe is due to the short format (10 minute episodes), we don't get the backstory and other exposition needed to make the Nazi knowledge feel believable. The Nazi's literally just walk up and "know" how to do everything.

 

Part of what made Stargate the Movie so good was that the first 3rd of the movie, was Daniel and co figuring out how to make shit work. It just feels cheap.

 

I agree - all of those would be interesting stories to explore. I'd like to know more about Oma Desala, and Morgana, in particular, from the Lanteans.

[Nicnac]

I loved SG1 when I was a kid and Atlantis was my favourite series after that. Haven't watched SGU yet because you can't get it anywhere in germany  

How much is the "all acces pass" actually? (before I create an account there...)

[aezakmi]

18 minutes ago, Nicnac said:

I loved SG1 when I was a kid and Atlantis was my favourite series after that. Haven't watched SGU yet because you can't get it anywhere in germany  

How much is the "all acces pass" actually? (before I create an account there...)

I think it was around $25, didn't went for it since I already have all seasons SG1 and Atlantis on DVD, I wonder if they replaced the SS symbols for Germany, I know some games like Wolfenstein have different stuff like eagles and the W logo

[Nicnac]

1 minute ago, aezakmi said:

I think it was around $25, didn't went for it since I already have all seasons SG1 and Atlantis on DVD, I wonder if they replaced the SS symbols for Germany, I know some games like Wolfenstein have different stuff like eagles and the W logo

as far as I know only swastikas aren't allowed.

[dalekphalm]

2 hours ago, Nicnac said:

I loved SG1 when I was a kid and Atlantis was my favourite series after that. Haven't watched SGU yet because you can't get it anywhere in germany  

How much is the "all acces pass" actually? (before I create an account there...)

So to watch the series, you need to sign up for "Stargate Command", which is MGM's Stargate centric online streaming service. You then need to buy an All-Access pass, which is a one time fee of $20. Presumably $20 USD.

[Nicnac]

14 hours ago, dalekphalm said:

So to watch the series, you need to sign up for "Stargate Command", which is MGM's Stargate centric online streaming service. You then need to buy an All-Access pass, which is a one time fee of $20. Presumably $20 USD.

that sounds surprisingly cheap.... where's the catch? ^^

[dalekphalm]

5 hours ago, Nicnac said:

that sounds surprisingly cheap.... where's the catch? ^^

Well, the Show isn't a multi-million dollar normal "TV" production.

 

It's a 10-episode "Web Series", where each episode is 10 minutes long.

 

I've watched the first 3 episodes, and I get the impression that all 10 episodes will essentially form a 100 minute (1h:40m) "movie".

 

Anyway, point being, Origins very obviously didn't have a large production budget.

 

There might be ads as well on the platform - I don't know.