The summer of 2006 was a pivotal moment for the Stargate franchise.
As production continued on the record-setting tenth season of Stargate SG-1, fans around
the world celebrated the landmark 200th episode.
The new Ori storyline had rejuvenated the series.
And new cast members Ben Browder, Claudia Black, and Beau Bridges made it look as though
SG-1 might go on for years to come.
But on August 21 the news broke: The SCI FI Channel had cancelled Stargate SG-1.
While the team would keep gating by means of two direct-to-DVD movies, it was the end
of an era.
But what you might not know is that Season 11 of SG-1 very nearly came to be ...
Stargate SG-1 aired for five years on Showtime in the United States before SCI FI picked
it up and produced another five great seasons.
We saw the rise and fall of Anubis, the evolution of human-form Replicators, and the downfall
of the Goa’uld System Lords.
The team even finally got a chance to go fishing!
Things changed after Season Eight.
Leading man Richard Dean Anderson exited the popular series, and the show’s Vancouver-based
creators considered resetting the board in dramatic fashion: SG-1 would end, and the
first season of a show called Stargate Command would take its place.
It would add some flexibility in storytelling and in behind-the-scenes contracts, but still
make use of the standing sets and beloved characters.
Eventually it was decided that it was better to stick with “SG-1” as an established
brand.
A soft reset came with Season Nine, with a new base commander and a new team leader.
When Colonel Cameron Mitchell stepped inside Level 28 he made it his first task to reassemble
SG-1.
Season Nine also brought a new bad guy in the Ori, ascended beings from the Ancients’
home galaxy, who feed on the worship of lower beings.
It was sort of the Goa’uld writ large: instead of pretending to have godlike powers, the
Ori actually did.
And instead of merely liberating enslaved humans from Goa’uld oppression, SG-1 would
have to actually convince true believers that their faith was misplaced.
Executive producer Robert C. Cooper’s plans for the Ori ran long past the two seasons
that we eventually got.
And while the DVD movie The Ark of Truth did manage to wrap up the storyline in a satisfying
way, the evolution of the Ori story was intended to be less perfunctory.
Producers were optimistic about an eleventh-season renewal, and shocked by the network’s decision
to cancel.
Imagine how the story that would eventually be The Ark of Truth might have unfolded as
a slow-burn, over 20 episodes.
The team learns of a lost piece of Ancient technology that could expose the lie of the
Ori, and begin to search for it.
Over several episodes they learn that the Ancients – who used to be called Alterans
– left it behind in their home galaxy millions of years ago.
Meanwhile the ascended Adria is wreaking havoc as her forces continue to subjugate the planets
of the Milky Way.
The other ascended Ori are gone, making her alone the super-powered beneficiary of their
worship.
Defeat after defeat follows, and eventually SG-1 concludes that they cannot turn back
the invading armies.
The galaxy’s only hope is to go behind enemy lines, traveling through the Supergate to
the Ori home galaxy on a desperate mission to find the one thing that can expose the
lie and end the war.
Perhaps they even spend several episodes scouring the alien galaxy, visiting different planets,
and uncertain if they will ever make it home.
Season 11 sounds pretty awesome.
The Ark of Truth definitely had enough story to tell over 10 or 20 episodes.
When the cancellation news came down, The Powers That Be sprang into action: Could Stargate
SG-1 go somewhere else, just like it had after Showtime cancelled it?
Could MGM’s deal-makers convince a different broadcast outlet to pick up Season 11?
In fact, they did just that.
The new home for Stargate SG-1 was going to be Apple, which was just starting to explore
the idea of original content for its iTunes video and music service.
One of the executives at Apple was a huge fan of the show, and loved the idea of saving
it from cancellation.
He said, “We discussed it, and we would love to pick up SG-1 for an eleventh and final
season.
It would be great.
It would be an Apple original series.”
So why didn’t it happen?
Ultimately it was SCI FI Channel that stood in the way.
When they picked up the series from Showtime five years earlier their contract included
a noncompete clause: the show couldn’t move to another broadcaster without SCI FI’s
approval … which they were unwilling to give.
Apparently the rule extended off the TV screen to digital platforms like iTunes – where
in 2008 original scripted content was still in its infancy.
Executive producer Joseph Mallozzi later recounted the story of SG-1’s near save: “We were
so close,” he said.
“We were so, so close.”
Thanks everyone for watching!
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