So now that Stargate: Universe is dead, and those SG1 and SGA movies are unlikely to get made, and the glory days are behind us, the question becomes one of "What happens next?" I mean, is this the *end* of Stargate, or just a wrong turn that they can recover from? Is this Star Trek: Enterprise, or Galactica 1980, or is it merely Doctor Who under Collin Baker, waiting desperately for a Sylvester McCoy? And how long until we find out?

I got no answers for you, of course, but since it's a slow news day and it seemed vaguely pertinent, I thought I'd rerun this "Create your own spinoff" thing from a bit ago.

Note to MGM and SyFy: If you like any of the ideas on here, I *can* be bought. Cheaply. And unlike Brad Wright and Mr. Mallozzi, I won't deliberately antagonize the fans and call them idiots. Instead, I promise I'll give them a show they'll like. I'll also clean up around the office after hours, provided there's no heavy lifting. I've got a bad back, y'see...

And should MGM or SyFy decide to hire me, I think my first act would be to do a show that resolves all the dangling threads from the previous shows in satisfying fashion, while telling their own original story. Can I get an "Amen?"

In the last three or four episodes this show has *FINALLY* come into its own. Ratings are even up by more than 100,000 viewers. Word of mouth is spreading. All this is good news, which, of course, makes me fear that slapping a mid-season cliffhanger/finale this close into its stride will kill all its momentum, the same way it killed Caprica. (Well, to be fair, it was that *and* a whole lot of incomprehensible writing that killed Caprica.

PLAY BY PLAY

A slight uptick on the ratings, about 100.000 more viewers last week than the week before, but only up 62,000 from Cloverdale, and down 148,000 from the season high (“Awakening,” episode 3). Let’s face it, kids, ratings are in the crapper for this show. The producers were hoping for “At least three seasons,” they’ll be lucky to get past two.

God bless Stargate. Seriously: after about 335 episodes and 3 movies, they’re still coming up with new things that touch me. Conversely, most other SF series basically bang the same two or three gongs over and over and over again. The underlying plot of the episode wasn’t spectacularly new, but the meaning and feel and cleverness and the final sequence pretty much declare everything I love about this franchise.

PLAY BY PLAY