SGU Continuation/Stargate DTV's a No-Go

[Lonestar]

:sigh:

It could have been epic.

Especially since the show already showed us a world where that happened, and how America had to become a virtual dictatorship to control the resulting riots, with implied heavy censure from other nations and/or outright conflict. IIRC there was a shot of F-302's bombing an Irish village for "harboring terrorists."

They'd have had to address that, possibly by revealing that they've been planning how best to go public for years.

AND the NID/Trust conspiracy was the greatest opponent of publicity, since it would anhiliate their plans to exploit the Gate for their own ends. So you could conceivably use the film to bring that particular plot thread to it's overdue conclusion, possibly as a last-gasp effort to suppress the information?

"Ladies and Gentlemen, President Obama will be making a special message from the White House at 10:30 tonight, EST."

[JME2]

:sigh:

It could have been epic.

Especially since the show already showed us a world where that happened, and how America had to become a virtual dictatorship to control the resulting riots, with implied heavy censure from other nations and/or outright conflict. IIRC there was a shot of F-302's bombing an Irish village for "harboring terrorists."

They'd have had to address that, possibly by revealing that they've been planning how best to go public for years.

AND the NID/Trust conspiracy was the greatest opponent of publicity, since it would anhiliate their plans to exploit the Gate for their own ends. So you could conceivably use the film to bring that particular plot thread to it's overdue conclusion, possibly as a last-gasp effort to suppress the information?

"Ladies and Gentlemen, President Obama will be making a special message from the White House at 10:30 tonight, EST."

Prboably. It would have been nice to see Hayes one more time.

[JME2]

After weeks of promising, Mallozzi's released the first tidbits on what the SGA DTV would have detailed:

The movie would have picked up not long after the events of the season 5 finale, Enemy at the Gates. In the opening scene, two astronauts (who turn out to be a couple of familiar faces – Amelia Banks and Major Lorne) take a walk on the surface of the moon, their lunar stroll ending with a reveal of the city of Atlantis. A shuttle carrying Sam Carter and a group of dignitaries sweeps overhead and lands.

Within the city’s atmospherically shielded confines, Carter and her guests meet up with the science team headed by – who else? – Rodney McKay. Frustrated by the interruption to his ongoing research, McKay demonstrates a certain impatience with the whole dog-and-pony show, running through standards explanations, overviews, questions, and answers until – an alarm suddenly sounds. The bewildered dignitaries are ushered out, leaving McKay, Carter, and Zelenka to investigate.

An examination of the city’s systems reveal the worst. A self-destruct has been initiated – a safeguard, Rodney surmises, put in place by the Ancients in the event Atlantis was ever removed from the Pegasus Galaxy. And, once triggered, it cannot be disabled. Nothing short of a return to the Pegasus Galaxy will save the city from certain destruction.

Of course, getting it there is easier said than done…

Anyway, that was the basic premise: A seeming new beginning. A threat to the city. And a desperate bid to outrace a deadly countdown.

But who would join the journey? How would they get back to Pegasus? And what challenges would they face along the way?

More on that in the coming days.

[Alyeska]

A Self Destruct that destroys the City if it Leaves, but it visited at least two planets in Pegasus. Atlantis was at Earth at some point but still triggers a self destruct. Riiight. Stupid premise.

[JME2]

Yeah, I'm not really impressed either.

[Zac Naloen]

A Self Destruct that destroys the City if it Leaves, but it visited at least two planets in Pegasus. Atlantis was at Earth at some point but still triggers a self destruct. Riiight. Stupid premise.

An examination of the city’s systems reveal the worst. A self-destruct has been initiated – a safeguard, Rodney surmises, put in place by the Ancients in the event Atlantis was ever removed from the Pegasus Galaxy

Clearly it's one of those things put in after the ancients moved the ship, and could have been edited out if they ever wanted to leave themselves.

[Crazedwraith]

It's a plot device to get Atlantis back to Pegasus and restore the status quo. Were you expecting anything different?

[Eternal_Freedom]

I was expecting a plot device, but seriously, the city blowing up if it doesn't return? That's pretty fucking retarded.

A better plot device would have been something like, oh I don't know, the Wraith becoming even more desperate for food and launching an all-out attack on the human worlds of Pegasus. And Atlantis, with her fancy new wormhole drive and/or super-fast stardrive, is the only ship that can make it there in time to help with a reasonable chance of success.

OR

Have them discover another of those Naquadria planets in Pegasus, and have Rodney figure out that they can safely use it regularly to dial Destiny IF they have Atlantis there.

Or SOMETHING. Better than a "oh dear, we activated another secret hiterto unknown self destruct!"

[Revy]

Maybe have the Asgard Lost Tribe gate to the city and fly it back in order to use it to fight the Wraith or something.

... oh! Better yet, have a nuclear explosion that blasts the moon out of Earth orbit, knocks it into a black hole and then pops it out the other side in the Pegasus Galaxy. With jazzy music playing in the background.

[Eternal_Freedom]

No no no...the nuclear explosion and blasting the Moon out or orbit is fine, but have Rodney concoct a plan to use the wormhole drive to move the moon back to where it was, and have that send it back to Pegasus.

Just so the wormhole drive isn't a one-shot wonder.

[Alyeska]

I like the idea of using the Asgard Lost Tribe. They have the capability. Have them gate to Atlantis and hijack it back to Pegasus for their purposes. They are desperate enough. The movie than involves dealing with the Wraith and attempting to recover Atlantis.

[Themightytom]

Maybe have the Asgard Lost Tribe gate to the city and fly it back in order to use it to fight the Wraith or something.

I feel like they would just use it to leave Pegasus. BUT you could tell a damn good story with your premise, as their species faces extinction as do the wraith, given what happened to the Asgard, maybe even have the lost tribe defrost the Weirbot in order to figure out how to gate to and storm Atlantis, for the cameo win.

Leaving Atlantis in the Pacific could easily trigger the events of disclosure like... I don't know... a frigging city flying up and over San Francisco? They could even draw it out. O'Neill could receive orders that under no circumstances is Atlantis leaving so he is forced to scramble F302's or even the 304's for a very public air battle over San Francisco.

The US would undoubtedly reactivate the SGC immediately, while the IOA attempted to blame the US for losing Atlantis out of it's space in the first place. Easy subplot that could include Daniel, O'Neill and Woolsey. Shepherd and his team could already be in Pegasus at an Alpha site, and would logically be tapped to lead a recovery effort.

The Wraith would literally face extinction at this point, having just a few hives left and the Lost Tribe deciding to use Atlantis go on the offensive because having learned their cousins are dead, they decided it was them or the wraith.

They could pretty easily have made a single movie dealing with disclosure, Atlantis and setting up for SG:U if they abandoned their pet characters and stuck to a story. Having Lorne and Amelia Banks is a bad sign that this would never have happened though, they'd have blown all the time they had on long drawn out scenes with lead actors to keep them relevant, a la Ben Browders entire role in Ark of Truth, UNDER presented snapshots of characters doing something awesome...like Teal'c crossing middle Earth in like an hour... with a wound... kind of made Frodo look stupid there.. OR a completely unexplained event mentioned offscreen that is critical to the plot, aka Daniel's Merlin Dreams.
And Walter would be present. because.

[CaptJodan]

God, do I really WANT to hear more about what Mallozzi had in store for more the movie. That premise is terrible. It continues the long tradition of the Ancients really seeming like douche bags. What's the possible logic behind them doing this, exactly? The council clearly never cared whether or not the humans successfully took Atlantis. They left believing that the expedition would die and the city would be destroyed as Weir told them on the first go around, so they weren't thinking about keeping the city as a beachhead in the fight against the Wraith.

The SGA movie sounds like it would have been plagued with the same problems SGA had all along. An overabundance DEMs that make no sense. Using the Lost Tribe as the catalyst would have been a much better idea.

I'd rather he (or the others he cited) would get to explaining how SGU would have panned out.

[NecronLord]

God, do I really WANT to hear more about what Mallozzi had in store for more the movie. That premise is terrible. It continues the long tradition of the Ancients really seeming like douche bags. What's the possible logic behind them doing this, exactly?

I can only imagine that the coding for their hyperdrives was rigged so that if the Wraith ever got hold of them, or duplicated them without understanding the code, and tried to make an intergalactic journey, they'd go boom before making it anywhere they could hurt anyone.

Such a notion would be sustained by the hyperdrive cutting out before they get to their destination in Enemy at the Gate.

ZELENKA: We dropped out of hyperspace.

WOOLSEY: Don't tell me we're there already?

McKAY: We're not even close. We're on the edge of the Milky Way.

WOOLSEY: So then why did we drop out?

McKAY: Well, obviously we ...

(He looks at Radek, who throws up his hands, clueless.)

McKAY: ... We're not sure.

WOOLSEY: Doctor.

McKAY: Look, the hyperdrive hasn't been operated at full power in over ten thousand years. It's not surprising there are a few glitches.

WOOLSEY: But you can fix it?

McKAY: Gotta figure out what's wrong first, don't I?

It's dickish, but if it's dickishness directed at the wraith, well, that's good.

The council clearly never cared whether or not the humans successfully took Atlantis. They left believing that the expedition would die and the city would be destroyed as Weir told them on the first go around, so they weren't thinking about keeping the city as a beachhead in the fight against the Wraith.

They offered to lock the stargate so the Expedition couldn't dial in. Weir stridently argued that they would rather die than not make the attempt!

Of course, I too would prefer an assgard plot. It could even go hand in hand with nullifying the Asgard cores that they seemed to regret giving them. I can just imagine them preparing to shoot an Asgard ship and then all the shiny new weapons shutting down.

[Revy]

Or better yet, have the Lost Tribe steal the Asgard core and use it to put themselves on par with what the main Asgard society had, tech wise. And then you can forget all about fighting Wraith, because you'll have a force of evil Asgard on the loose with the same tech level your old Asgard pals had. Yup, shit just hit the fan.

[Ahriman238]

Or better yet, have the Lost Tribe steal the Asgard core and use it to put themselves on par with what the main Asgard society had, tech wise. And then you can forget all about fighting Wraith, because you'll have a force of evil Asgard on the loose with the same tech level your old Asgard pals had. Yup, shit just hit the fan.

Ooh, I like it! The evil Asgard and the Wraith war over control of Pegasus, with all the primitive human residents getting screwed over as collateral. Didn't at least one group of aliens try to defeat the Goa'uld by wiping out the humans they (the Goa'uld, not the Ree'tou) used as hosts? Asgard technology and the Wraith's greater dependance on the human population could make this a viable strategy. Meanwhile, our heroes are trying to rescue the Pegasus humans and stop both advanced races, only to discover they still don't know as much about Asgard Science as the Asgard.

My only complaint is that it would feel a bit too much like Babylon 5, towards the end of the Shadow War.

[CaptJodan]

Such a notion would be sustained by the hyperdrive cutting out before they get to their destination in Enemy at the Gate.

Eh, not really. There's a big difference between shutting down the hyperdrive and blowing up the station. It's a stretch to think the two are related. I'd like to see how Mallozzi intends to get the city back (easier said than done) to see if that carries any weight. If they get back via the hyperdrive, this doesn't hold up. If they use the wormhole drive, it has more credibility.

Still, it's obvious from what we're seeing here that the expedition had, if nothing else, days to figure out that there was a self destruct active. Atlantis reached Earth, landed, then when sufficiently repaired enough, apparently went flying off to the moon (this, to me, is stupid as well. Someone unplugs your ZPM(s) and everyone dies instantly). THEN, after what is at least days after EatG, the auto destruct is activated.

If Atlantis (or its drives) had been corrupted by the Wraith, this would have given them more than ample time to drop out at Earth and invade, or drop out somewhere else and gate to a world and start culling. It's an incredibly lame security feature if it allows you to be days/weeks (who knows) outside of Pegasus before it kicks in.

[NecronLord]

Eh, not really. There's a big difference between shutting down the hyperdrive and blowing up the station. It's a stretch to think the two are related.

I'm saying how I'd write it on the 'Ancient self destruct' concept. I'm not saying that I think they must be related. Consequently there is no matter open to dispute; if I, NecronLord, Writer and Executive Producer, want them related, they are.

Still, it's obvious from what we're seeing here that the expedition had, if nothing else, days to figure out that there was a self destruct active. Atlantis reached Earth, landed, then when sufficiently repaired enough, apparently went flying off to the moon (this, to me, is stupid as well. Someone unplugs your ZPM(s) and everyone dies instantly).

Personally, I agree... really don't know what the idea is there.

THEN, after what is at least days after EatG, the auto destruct is activated.

If Atlantis (or its drives) had been corrupted by the Wraith, this would have given them more than ample time to drop out at Earth and invade, or drop out somewhere else and gate to a world and start culling. It's an incredibly lame security feature if it allows you to be days/weeks (who knows) outside of Pegasus before it kicks in.

It would be easy to fudge that.

It was said to be 'on the edge of the milky way' in the episode but you can easily spin that statement so it's months by interstellar hyperdrive away from any nearby system - yeah, they dialed earth but they had three ZPMs, they could have done that from Pegasus too, so it's not an indicator that they were all that close.

Of course, even without linking it to the mysterious drop out of hyperspace, one can easily justify the hyperdrive bomb as being arranged in such a way that it'd only kick in after the Wraith had cloned the hyperdrive and used it to attempt to reach another galaxy, hence the time delay, and only triggering after a very long flight.

[CaptJodan]

I'm saying how I'd write it on the 'Ancient self destruct' concept. I'm not saying that I think they must be related. Consequently there is no matter open to dispute; if I, NecronLord, Writer and Executive Producer, want them related, they are.

We never had these debates with Universe. I find this amusing. SGA is a poison.

It was said to be 'on the edge of the milky way' in the episode but you can easily spin that statement so it's months by interstellar hyperdrive away from any nearby system - yeah, they dialed earth but they had three ZPMs, they could have done that from Pegasus too, so it's not an indicator that they were all that close.

I would think "edge of the milky way" implies them being close.

Even if that isn't the case, however, they, as you say, have 3 ZPMs. Even with 1, they can dial Earth all the way from Pegasus. They can't fly without at least 1, and barely fly at that (can't get off the ground without an assist). If the Wraith took Atlantis, they could get it as close as the humans did, then dial any gate they wanted in the Milky Way. There's absolutely nothing stopping the Wraith from doing what the humans did, and they would have had plenty of time to do it, because it took days/weeks for this auto destruct to even activate.

Of course, even without linking it to the mysterious drop out of hyperspace, one can easily justify the hyperdrive bomb as being arranged in such a way that it'd only kick in after the Wraith had cloned the hyperdrive and used it to attempt to reach another galaxy, hence the time delay, and only triggering after a very long flight.

Not at all. They didn't say it was a hyperdrive bomb, they said it was the self destruct. It even had a countdown! There's nothing to suggest from Malozzi that it was linked to the hyperdrive. For all we know, in fact the most likely explanation, is that the program checks with navigation to see where they are, and activates the self destruct. Probably has nothing to do with the hyperdrive. Makes more sense to use the ZPMs for destruction, as we've seen before.

The other nail in the coffin is Aurora. A late war ship transporting the plans for an intergalactic drive that the Wraith were trying to get their hands on. I doubt the captain would have been quite as worried about the Wraith gaining that knowledge if they had this built in security feature that somehow transferred over when the Wraith reverse engineered it. There was no indication in Aurora of any kind of security feature like this. But it's kinda moot, because it was a self destruct, not a hyperdrive bomb.

[NecronLord]

Jodan. I'm talking fanfic. Your arguments are basically inapplicable because I'm not talking about something canonical here at all. Were I writing it it would be a hyperdrive bomb.

As for Aurora, the Captain didn't know Atlantis had been evacuated. Presumably anything like this would have been devised after his ship was lost.