Roland Emmerich, director and co-writer of the original Stargate movie from 1994, and the director behind Independence Day and White House Down, is talking about rebooting the Stargate franchise as a big-screen trilogy. So far they haven’t even picked the writers or actors, but Roland did say the original cast would not be invited back because: “The actors look totally different… it would not work”.
Digital Spy has more, including an interview with Roland Emmerich about the planned Independence Day sequel.
So who wants to see a Gao’uld ship land on the White House?
Yes, it can. No, it should not.
Okay, I’ll go a bit further.
First, there’s the whole “Hollywood just can’t be original” argument. True, mostly. With all the reboots of TV shows and movies, I’m surprised that money is ever thrown at original content. I’m for certain a lot of the reasons behind reboots is pure money (and greed) because the decision makers and investors probably see a safer bet putting money in a known commodity. They probably figure (correctly) that fans of the older version will flock to the newer one.
Now, as for Stargate specifically? The movie left a big opening for a future sequel. I’m not talking SG-1, but just the fact that Daniel stayed behind and Jack was able to move on with his life. There was never any solid evidence there were other “gods” to terrorize Daniel and the survivors, but a sequel could certainly offer it up. But it’s seems that Emmerich wants a complete and total do-over.
So, no SG-1. He’s pretty clear on that, and the fact that he doesn’t consider the SG-1 team (or any spin-offs) to be canon. That’s fine. But starting up a third canon? Argh.
Enough! Leave it alone! But no… milking that cash cow is what’s going on here. By starting a completely new trilogy it leaves open the option for a new TV show, new spin-offs, Burger King glasses, and video game crossovers.
Will I see it?
Probably. (But not until it hits DVD or Netflix.)
Also, I don’t trust the guy behind Independence Day to give it the reboot it deserves. This should be a reboot of SG1 which is the only reason that franchise is even a franchise. Without SG1 and everything that came after, Stargate is simply a so-so 80s science fiction film. Please make it an SG1 reboot and get a writer who can capture the banter and dialogue of the original four. Then you have something. My second favorite science fiction television series of all time. Babylon 4 (I don’t count the last season) is the best. (People forget that it was stomping DS9 until DS9 decided to imitate its political intrigue.)
Except Stargate was a so-so mid-90’s science fiction film 🙂
And I have to disagree with you about SG1 and Babylon 5 – I would say the only sci fi show I’ve despised MORE than Babylon 5 is SG1. The only reason I liked SG:Universe at all was because it was so far off from the other Stargate shows that it was actually watchable.
I agree with Erik here. It could be done right as a reboot of SG1 with the proper attention to writing, plot and character development. In all likelihood, though, Hollywood will just reboot the latter canon as a pure action flick in hopes of raking in a few bucks.
I am getting really tired of writers getting on massive Ego trips, and rebooting franchises everywhere. Reboots are for the most part irritating, and the only ones that work well are Comic book/ super heroes. Those work because they are taking a single character or group of characters, originally created 50 years ago, and simply modernizing them to the present day.
Most sci-fi has no need for rebooting, as the universe which any sci-fi series creates is rich and can easily continue on, without needing to reboot the story. Create a new cast of characters and continue the story, or they could even create a new series that runs parallel to the previous series, but shows a different side of events.
NO MORE REBOOTS
As a hobby writer, and massive fiction buff, I can tell you that backstory is what makes believable characters, and a believable universe. To simply throw away massive amounts of backstory because you can’t be bothered to make certain you don’t contradict what has already been written, is in my mind the worst kind of lazy writing.