Every time a good story is successful it happens, or so it seems. The story is good as a story and besides, and the people love it. So the secularizers pounce. They can't have that. Like culture police, they seize it, detain it, until they can corrupt it and release the trashed but compliant version upon the people. Folk culture, American culture, cannot be tolerated. Theirs must be imposed. God made humans a certain way, but things like nature and His vision can’t get in the way of their re-imagining of humanity, nor can the Christianized American culture. So good stories of good values get shelved until they can be hijacked, rebooted, or reframed… until they preach a secular story, a godless worldview. See: Disney.
Well, another good story may well be captured. A fourth iteration of Stargate was underway. Concerns that it was going to get the same corrupting treatment are well-founded. Previous attempts at reviving the story have had woke aspects. Also, Amazon has it now, and we saw what Amazon did to Wheel of Time and the Lord of the Rings. So shenanigans were anticipated, but such concerns were mitigated by word that members of the old crew were in charge of the new project and contributing besides. That included Martin Gero whose baby the new Stargate was. Maybe their fidelity to a pre-woke recipe would help keep this story awesome.
Then the hammer came down. Gero’s concept was deemed as “no longer” what Amazon wanted. How so? They didn’t elaborate officially. Word is they called it too oriented to what came before, not enough to new audiences, but the creators themselves have long expressed and addressed that concern. So, what's really going on? Was the show not woke enough? Was the new executive in charge wanting only his stuff to get credit for any success to come? Both?
Well, Amazon shelved the fourth Stargate show, indefinitely, and it doesn’t look like another opportunity will be along any time in the near future. Michael Shanks (who played Daniel Jackson) posted, “I’m gonna simply say this: if you are at all interested in a Stargate show with ANY of the original creators/performers involved, now is the time to say something. Otherwise it really will be the end of that chapter forever. Let them know you are THERE,” and Michael has been wonderfully vocal about all this.
My heart goes out to the creators. Their efforts got axed well into the development process. A writers’ room had been assembled and at it for months. Other efforts were underway as well. Also, apparently, the creators had a great deal with Amazon, financially, one that would have allowed the story to flourish amazingly instead of starving on the vine. To suddenly lose all that must be devastating. And, originally to me, it felt sinister, like the executives always had this in mind as an escape hatch. They’d learn how to make a Stargate series from Gero and his team, and then go with someone else if the results weren’t to their messed-up liking. And even worse, Gero is still under contract with them. Imagine your boss savagely destroying your beloved pet project, the one you signed on for, and now you still have to work for the guy, every day on not-your project. Yikes! Prayers for Martin.
What are the fans to do? We want more good Stargate, and we definitely don’t have the production studios for it. For one, there’s the legal IP stuff, currently being used as chains to strangle good franchises. It makes ya lose sympathy for production studios as AI threatens the industry. Maybe such AI tools mean the audience can make reasonably good movies itself, and with better storytelling, movies these cultural manipulators can’t ruin. If so, I won’t shed a tear for the studios.
We can protest. That is being done. And maybe a legal alternative to Stargate can be made. Also (and bear with me), we still have books. The written word was democratized a long time ago, and it is usually better than the movie. It’s not the same, but it is something. While IP is still in the way, nothing is stopping people from making their own good stories or even spinning and legally sharing good fan fiction. (And, yes, Stargate does have some good fan fic.)
I'll be remembering the creators in my prayers. (I can't imagine how that sudden shut down must have felt.) AND I'll enjoy good art, done for art's sake.
Penjammin grew up in a labyrinthine cavern. Later he ran with the wolves and lived every moment marinated in the sweet scent of his game, until pirates landed and… See About for full story, and get his eletter at penjams.com/subscribe.
