Ok, I’m gonna throw my geek card down on the table and state something that not a whole lot of my friends probably know: I own all ten seasons of Stargate SG-1 on DVD. This isn’t some retro-active re-discovering of the show long after it started, like Supernatural or Lost. Where I binged through 9 seasons of Supernatural on Netflix, and picked up all six seasons of Lost on DVD for cheap, I was with Stargate SG-1 from the day season 3 aired on Sci-Fi. I immediately got my hands on the previous two seasons (they were originally a Showtime original series) and I was hooked from there. I watched SG-1 weekly, (this was before DVR, kids) and waited impatiently until the seasons released on video. Each year, I was at Best Buy on day one to get my box of Stargate.
I followed the mythology of the show, I had a serious nerd crush on Amanda Tapping, and was bummed when the video game turned into vaporware. Sure, the series had its ups and downs. There were some cool nods to Star Trek, Star Wars, a few Twilight Zone homages, and as is the usual case with a show that lasts for a decade, the spoof episodes. If there was one thing that was great about SG-1, it’s that it never took itself too serious. The writers knew that sometimes the ex-machina was a bit too convenient, or that a certain situation was just a bit cliche, and it was never lost on them. See? I’m geeking out all over again, and as I type this I’m thinking about pulling my DVD collection out of the closet and binging it old-school.
So imagine my glee when I learned there was going to be series focusing on the discovery of the Stargate in Egypt back at the advent of World War II. It’s all very Indiana Jones-esque and looks like it could be pretty cool, if they don’t ruin the canon between the movie and the SG-1 series. But there’s a caviat; The show will only be available through Stargate Command, a website streaming service that Universal runs for all things Stargate.
In a world where we have Netflix, Hulu, Amazon Prime, HBO Go, and a host of other streaming services, Universal expects us to pay a monthly fee for one show? I get it, HBO Go essentially was the “Game of Thrones app” but HBO has other things on offer besides that. Other streaming websites are network driven. CBS has the All Access subscription which is being bankrolled by Star Trek Discovery, but CBS also has a buttload of other great television shows to watch as well. I can understand the appeal of “a la carte” website subs, especially in this day and age of “cutting the cord.” Basic cable packages suck now more than ever. But if a service wants to compete for my attention, and money, it’s going to have to offer more than one show.
Now, Stargate Command also offers its backlog of television shows as well. You can watch all of the previous Stargate shows. But really, those things have been on Netflix before; they’ve been on Amazon Prime, etc. This is a show that’s been available for over a decade, unlike other networks that will let you stream yesterday’s episodes of your favorite show. In short, I just can’t see the value in it.
The irony is that the Stargate franchise has always felt mis-handled, like they had a huge successful property on their hands, will near-limitless potential, but had no idea what to do with it. And here again, they are attempting to re-launch the franchise but are locking it away behind a paywall on an obscure streaming service. It will attract the hardcore fanbase for sure, but will fail to gain the attention of the widespread consumers. This doesn’t have the pull that a show like Star Trek does. It should definitely have been a network television show.
I will be keeping a close eye on this as it releases. I’m hoping, for the sake of all those involved, that it finds a wider audience. I myself would love to see it. But as it stands right now, I’ll have to pass, and I’m sure many others will too, and that sucks.
