The SciFi channel has decided not to renew Stargate Atlantis after the show ends its fifth season. A variety of reasons have been proffered at the various places on the interweb where opinions are usually proferred. The favorites are declining ratings, continuing cast shakeups and SciFi Execs' bizarre desire to 'move away from science fiction in order to appeal to a broader demographic"...
Which, as one astute associate of mine put it, means daytime soaps. Along with Eureka, Wrestling and 79 plus hours of Lost reruns, I guess.
Atlantis is apparently not completely gone, however. As with the also cancelled Stargate SG-1, Atlantis will be transitioning to the realm of Direct to DVD features, with the first planned movie to wrap up the cliffhanger that ends season five. Beyond that, who can say?
Truth be told, Atlantis was starting to get a little stale - no disrespect intended towards the cast. But many of the stand alone episodes had begun to feel like SG-1 episodes from nine years ago with the serial numbers filed off and the long term plot was hampered by a character that wore out his welcome two seasons ago. And it was something of a retread itself.
While I think the 'series reboot' concept has been overused the last few years (Reimagined Knight Riders and Bionic Women? Really?) I'd be willing to make an exception for the Stargate universe. It occupies a unique niche in modern science fiction television, and I'd like to see a production that maybe goes in for less of an 'adventure romp' atmosphere. The fate of the galaxy doesn't have to be at stake every season.
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In game news, the 360 demo of Star Wars: The Force Unleashed became available today. It's pretty short, and the controls might take a while to get used to (I kept missing with my Force Levitated blunt objects of death) but it's certainly pretty.
I'm not sure how thrilled I am with this uber-powerful Secret Apprentice, though. All the previews have featured reassurances from the developers about how the Apprentice totally fits into existing lore and how George Lucas provided tons of advice about how to tell the story of the Force Unleashed.
Which doesn't really inspire as much confidence as it used to, actually.
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