Stargate Series (SG-1 & Atlantis)

[ravaged_warrior]

...oh...and about the comment about 'purring furry balls'... You know what a Tribble is, don't you? We all do!

Using just a little bit of fluff and some sound effects, the makers of StarTrek created one of the most memorable alien critters in sci-fi history.

Of course it's memorable! It's so ridiculous, how could it not be? To be honest, I don't find the tribble parts of that episode to be as entertaining as the Klingon parts. Hell, they're not even really anything more than a subplot until the end. It's kind of odd that the episode is named after them.

Tribbles > Goa'uld ... FTW!

I'd have agreed if you had said Klingons, Vulcans, or Romulans, but tribbles? Nah...

As for the episodes you've seen... Well, since there aren't very many in that category, maybe you've just had bad luck with them? Even Star Trek had its off days.

[Vuldari]

As for the episodes you've seen... Well, since there aren't very many in that category, maybe you've just had bad luck with them? Even Star Trek had its off days.

Even the strangest story can be made entertaining if interesting, memorable and lovable characters are involved.

SG1 and SGA don't even have that. Really...what is there to watch the show for, besides the StarGate itself?

[Fenrir]

....in both series you've watched only 3 episodes.....and you're judging....so if i went and randomly watched three episodes of Star Treck, and said I didn't like it what would you say?

[Vuldari]

....in both series you've watched only 3 episodes.....and you're judging....so if i went and randomly watched three episodes of Star Treck, and said I didn't like it what would you say?

From open to close...but I've seen part of more than a dozen at least, (minus a few minutes).

Low production values, an utter lack of standout characters...what are you defending? What beloved character am I dissing?

I know plenty of people who don't like StarTrek. Sci-Fi just isn't everyones thing. Sci-Fi IS 'My Thing', but I don't just watch anything sci-fi related. It has to be good. I will happily watch a so-so show if it has at least one really great character that I love to see, (Like Hiro from "Heroes"), or a show with generic characters that is full of really great stories, (Like Classic 'Twilight Zone'), but BOTH, (Like ST:TNG, or I Love Lucy, or Friends, or Amazing Stories or the early seasons of ER, or M.A.S.H.) is best.

From what I've seen, SG1 and SGA have neither.


If you think my perception of this show is so distorted, then name one of the best episodes that you think I should watch, and a character that is worth caring about and I'll have to give it a look, and remember to pay attention to that character the next time I see them.


If there are no best episodes, and no characters worth noting then I don't see what we are arguing about.

[Fenrir]

I like the show, though I miss Jack O'neill who was played by the same guy who did McGyver, he was what made the show, and I'am defending it because I like it, it's like saying why do you like potato chips, there's no real taste they're cheap, but hell americans eat more then 10 tons of them a year. I watch it because I like it, I've gotten into the characters, I challange you to watch the entire first season of SG1 before you make any uncalled for accusations.

I would like to know though what episodes you have seen, because I shall admit there are a good number of completely boring episodes.....like 99% of SGA series. Though, because it's lasted 10 years what series wouldn't have a couple bad episodes I meen come on.

[Vuldari]

... I challange you to watch the entire first season of SG1 before you make any uncalled for accusations.

What a waste of a week/month/year of my time THAT would be (depending on the rate at which I watched it)...

I have better things to do with my life than watch a decades worth of a show that isn't very good. No one else told me not to like the show. I'm not going by word of mouth of someone else telling me it's bad and just assuming it is true. I try to make myself watch the show on occasion because I hear people say they like it, and I assumed (at first) that I was in for something good when I first tried to watch it...but everything I've seen has failed to draw any interest from me at all.


Out of curiosity, I looked up a list of the 100 best TV shows for examples to use as references (refresh my memory), and I was suprised to see that Babylon 5 (which I thought was overrated as well, but was at least as good as DS9) and even 'Knight Rider' (which suprised me, even though I loved the show in the 80's) made it on to the last page of the list, but "StarGate" was nowhere to be seen.


I would recommend that everyone look at a list like that and find a high ranked show you have never seen and make a note of watching it.

...see what REAL good TV is like...

[ravaged_warrior]

... I challange you to watch the entire first season of SG1 before you make any uncalled for accusations.

What a waste of a week/month/year of my time THAT would be (depending on the rate at which I watched it)...

I have better things to do with my life than watch a decades worth of a show that isn't very good. No one else told me not to like the show. I'm not going by word of mouth of someone else telling me it's bad and just assuming it is true. I try to make myself watch the show on occasion because I hear people say they like it, and I assumed (at first) that I was in for something good when I first tried to watch it...but everything I've seen has failed to draw any interest from me at all.


Out of curiosity, I looked up a list of the 100 best TV shows for examples to use as references (refresh my memory), and I was suprised to see that Babylon 5 (which I thought was overrated as well, but was at least as good as DS9) and even 'Knight Rider' (which suprised me, even though I loved the show in the 80's) made it on to the last page of the list, but "StarGate" was nowhere to be seen.


I would recommend that everyone look at a list like that and find a high ranked show you have never seen and make a note of watching it.

...see what REAL good TV is like...

I just looked up such a list (quite possibly the one you mentioned). Quite frankly, the list was crap. It seemed to list shows at random, and to move past the point of mockery, it listed the original Batman series starring Adam West.

Even more importantly is that you can't really trust a Top 100 list. No way in hell did a person watch every show ever, and there's also the fact that it's subjective. What if I said I didn't like Knight Rider, and said that your taste in TV was crap despite having only seen one episode? Doesn't make much sense, now, does it? Yeah, you saw three, but that isn't very much more than one... And don't say it's only three that you watched all of, the others don't count because it sounds to me like you weren't paying much attention, I think you admitted to switching channels in the middle, I don't remember, and watching a few out of context minutes of something isn't really enough to judge the episode. My mom did the same thing with Shaun of the Dead. I showed it to her, she was talking on the phone not paying attention talking crap about it for about twenty minutes, another fifteen she watched some more, and decided right then that it was a poorly made film and had me turn it off. When I try to explain why I don't think that's how a movie should be judged (out of context, not paying enough attention, and going in deciding to hate it), she just interrupts me and tells me that I'm just mad that she doesn't like it. You seem to be doing the same thing, kinda, except that you expected to like it. The fifteen(?) episode you say you watched part of should be ignored, those don't count, and you have to take into account that the ones you saw through their entirety might just have been the bottom of the barrel. Maybe you should find out what episode is considered one of the better ones instead of deciding for everyone else that they wouldn't be able to think of any, check it out, and decide then? If you still don't like it, then you have the right to your opinion, but basing your opinion on three random episodes and fifteen(?) unfinished ones seems unfair.

As an added note, PLEASE stop criticizing our taste in TV. Here's some of the shows from that list that I like:

1. I Love Lucy
3. Star Trek
9. The Twilight Zone
15. The Simpsons
19. Seinfeld
43. Married... With Children
47. Star Trek: The Next Generation

Now, that doesn't seem like a lot out of a list of 100, but I haven't seen a lot of those shows, and the ones I have seen that I didn't list I thought were merely okay (like Home Improvement) or shouldn't have been there (I mean, seriously, BATMAN STARRING ADAM WEST? WTF?). One more point about a Top 100 list. What about number 101? What about 101-200? There have been a LOT of TV shows over the years, only a small percentage will make it on there. Not to mention that it was only American shows, I mean where the hell was Monty Python's Flying Circus?

[Kaebora]

Then you should also ask yourself, who compiled these top 100 lists, and why do they think they are entitled to judge TV shows at all? I look at the numbers. If a TV show has an extreme production cost vs profit ratio, the show did well. Ratings should be considered too. SG-1's ratings are huge, and it has enormous revenue. They must be doing something right.

[Scott Gardener]

Whether it's great or it's crappy, either way, it's noticably absent! I know the Sci Fi channel cancelled SG-1, but they went on to show the series right up to the last episode, leaving it off on a cliffhanger. Really annoying to have a "to be continued" without a continued--it's too much like some D&D campaigns I played back in college. It was my understanding they'd continue Atlantis. So far, nothing.

I agree that it's a bit of a bubble gum compared to the new Battlestar or Dr. Who. Yes, they get carried away with space battles, fighting bad guys, and formulaic space opera. But, it's fun to watch. It's a pleasant diversion. Still, I agree, I would like to see more intellectual premises, getting away from fighting the conquering evil army and more into philosophical issues, like Trek's "A Taste of Armageddon," Dr. Who's recent "The Empty Child / The Doctor Dances" two parter, or the emotionally intense New Caprica story arc of the third season of the new Battlestar Galactica. Cathey just brought up, sitting here beside me, another point--good stories are harder to write. It's easy to crank out a whole season around fighting off the Ori, the Wraith, or the Goa'uld. It's a lot harder to come up with just two or three really timeless, thought-provoking original stories, which is why even Dr. Who has to have Daleks and Trek Klingons and Romulans.

Cathey is also just now bringing up the marketing dogma of the 18-34 male as the target audience, and the assumption that all they want to see is explosions and girls in sexy outfits. If network execs considered targeting sci-fi to an older crowd, rather than assuming the only people interested in sci-fi are Generation X&Y bungee-jumpers, we could get some good material out of concept and into production. We don't mind the sex or explosions--it's the lack of anything else that bugs us.

[Spongy]

Holy moly.

This ended up as quite the debate! I can't read what Vuldari said though, ah well.

I still say Stargate rocks.

[Vuldari]

Holy moly.

This ended up as quite the debate! I can't read what Vuldari said though, ah well.

I still say Stargate rocks.

You can copy and paste the text if you really need to know, (or read the quotes from others responses), but it's really not important. This was a thread for people who LIKE the SG franchise shows...not a place to bash it. I should have just kept my opinions to myself in this case.

It's just...when shows that I feel are poorly made are popular, it pisses me off, because that means I will have to put up with more stuff like it in the future instead of something, (I feel is), better.

I don't think some of the characters are played very well, and those that are happen to be the more generic 'support' character personalities that would normally compliment the more distinctive members of the cast.

...if only some of them were just better at playing the type of character they are supposed to be, (like that dark haired woman, Vala, who is supposed to be a "fish out of water" warrior, deceitful Bad@** who is trying to turn over a new leaf and be one of the good guys...which in Concept could be cool... but she doesn't pull it off AT ALL).

...And Teal'C seems to have never grown beyond a character stereotype ('Hard Case') personality. ...which is too bad, because the actor himself has a good deal of natural charisma, but he seems to do NOTHING with it. (And that gold thing in his forehead is just so stupid looking. They should have ditched that for something better, or got rid of it a LONG time ago. It's impossible to take him seriously with something that looks like a plastic toy part glued to his brow.)

If I have one GOOD thing to say about the show...the prop and set design of the 'Alien' technology is pretty cool looking.

The StarGate itself is one of my favorite Sci-Fi tech devices ever, and the alien space ships and weapons and stuff are very stylistic and usually well crafted. The pseudo Alien/Egyptian style just looks groovy. Even if it is stupid that they carry these weird snake talisman laser blasters instead of more practical weapons...at least they are COOL-LOOKING stupid snake blasters.