With the release of Stargate: Origins on the Stargate Command platform, MGM has taken the first steps towards exploring fan interest in further Stargate adventures. However, as the first couple of SG:O episodes rolled out, I wondered if there was another way to gauge fan support for a potential new series. There are many, MANY international fans who aren’t able to access Stargate Command to show their love. There are also a lot of North American fans who may not be able to afford a subscription or are simply wary of shelling out this early in the process. I get it. And, for these reasons, I looked for an alternate means of letting MGM know how much support Stargate still enjoys, not only in North America but internationally as well, not simply among paid subscribers but possible viewers who, for whatever reasons, cannot or choose not to subscribe at the moment. Some way to bring together Stargate fans scattered across the globe and throughout the internet in a focused campaign that gives them a unified voice on a dedicated platform at an appointed time.
A unified voice speaks loudest of all while a dedicated platform and time allows fandom to make the most noise in a concentrated and quantifiable burst. Social media has become a crucial component of a show’s success, offering studios accessible and immediate statistics on fan engagement. Letter writing campaigns are a thing of the past. Today’s fan campaigns are fought online. NBC’s Timeless is a good, recent example of online fandom making noise and getting results for their favorite show. Perhaps the greatest precedent though is what was achieved by fans of Longmire who took to twitter, made plenty of NOISE, got noticed, and secured an additional three seasons of their favorite show. Longmire fans were smart, disciplined, and spoke in a unified voice on a dedicated platform at dedicated times. We are going to take a page from their successful campaign (Thanks, Longmire fans, for showing us how it’s done).
Two weeks from now, we will gather on twitter at an appointed time, tag MGM, and get Stargate trending. Big-time. We’ll have two major events – one for North American fans, another for international fans. We’re splitting them up in order to maximize participation and ensure we get the largest turnout for both. All you have to do is show up on twitter at the appointed time, on the appointed day, and interact with us for an hour or so. Tell us what Stargate means to you, maybe what you’d like to see in a new Brad Wright/Robert Cooper series. Share your favorite characters, episodes, moments. @StargateNow, the official voice for the #DriveToRevive, will be posting concept art from all three shows: SG-1, Atlantis, and Universe. I’ll be offering up behind the scene photos and videos from my time on the franchise. And who knows what familiar faces may be dropping by to say hi. It’ll be little effort but a whole lot of fun.
If this all sounds familiar – yes, it’s very similar to the campaign we waged in support of Dark Matter. Alas, while the tweetstorms in support of DM were statistically huge (I still have people in the industry remark on our impressive showing), they, unfortunately, failed to convince Syfy. But there’s a key difference between that campaign and the one we’re about to launch: MGM really does care.
They care about their shows and the people who produce them.
They care about science fiction.
And, most importantly, they care about their fans.
MGM WANTS to give you a new Stargate series. They WANT Stargate to succeed. They just need to know you’re out there and willing to support them when the time comes.
P.S. Thanks to @Thogar and co. for the gifs!
Ready I am.
Hi Joe
Once more into the breach!!!!
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/DW1BP6HXkAErgBf.jpg
Elminster
“MGM WANTS to give you a new Stargate series. They WANT Stargate to succeed. They just need to know you’re out there and willing to support them when the time comes.”-Joe
Okido 🙂
This sounds so encouraging.
We’ve been waiting so long for this, after years of tweeting, posting, calling, writing letters, sending valentines, and despairing of ever seeing the unfinished stories of SGA and SGU! Thank you, Joe, for lending your influence, time and effort!
Count me in x 1000!
You have a go, Stargate fans! Godspeed!!!!!
Ther e is no hazard in life. My wife and I just begin to watch again all 10 seasons of SG1. Jest finish season one and then I see your post. !WOW. I am not a tech-internet-social media-pro. Twitter is bizarre for me but I will try to add my drop of water.
Hopefully a new Stargte show!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
In case you were not aware, the original tweet rules came from the Fringe fan group who actually convinced Fox that the show would never trend as #Fringe. They showed them they knew the secrets of the algorithm and why it wasn’t trending. Fox not only agreed to work with them, the fan group decided on what the hashtag would be for that week AND Fox actually put the selected hashtag in the left bottom corner of the screen while the episode aired. Fringe remained on the air for I believe another 2 seasons for sure and maybe even 3 (can’t remember if this started in season 2 or season 3 of the show). I was not part of the team behind the tweet events at the time, but I was the worker bee who listened to what they asked and just tweeted my heart out. And if I messed up (like starting sooner than the time they asked), they pointed that out to me so I could not repeat the mistake. Fringe’s twitter episodes trended every single week.
The difference between Fringe and Longmire is that Fringe was still on the air when this was all going on. Longmire had to put in tremendous amount of extra effort to tweet, and I’d have to go back (and look at the email the campaign sent me) for MONTHS every single time they planned the tweetstorm. That plus a passionate plea from the producer is what eventually got more seasons for them on Netflix. The Killing on their platform and The Killing was the same network as Longmire.
For Dark Matter we were more in the category of what the Longmire group had to do but with a much shorter window of opportunity.
Since the Fringe movement we discovered some things have changed with the algorithm and adjusted accordingly on the DarkMatterFTL tweetups.
We need to be one voice, doing the same thing, moving in the same direction, even if one doesn’t agree with what they are being asked to do—for at least just one hour. As we found out with DarkMatter we were having such a blast we just continued for hours and the trend continued. That was definitely a bonus.
And we are ready to rock Twitter all over again! :: fist bump ::
I feel pretty good because we learned so much running those Dark Matter campaigns. It’s exciting!
Probably obviously since it’s 1am and I’m running around on twitter and Instagram instead of sleeping.
The twenty dollars an episode was unexpected, and if you have Hulu! Just saying. The world is starving for more stargate! So we will be their at the time and send out reminders often.
While I agree that paying to see the episodes was unexpected, just so you know, it’s not $20 per episode… it’s $20 to watch ALL of them..PLUS, you can watch behind the scenes interviews, ALL of the other Stargate series & movies are also available on demand for you to watch…plus a T-Shirt…you get all of that for the one time $20 fee. My Hubby and I are HUGE fans, so we definitely skipped a dinner date to use the $20 to watch the new Origins and have all if the other Stargates to watch on demand 🙂 I really hope they come out with a new series! 💕
I will help all I can, including consulting a friend who’s an expert in social media to get some ideas on how to make the campaign viral. #StargateForever!
Let’s roll!
You absolutely hit the nail on the head with this post. I love your work and want to fill the void that Dark Matter left. I signed up for Stargate Command and liked the first 3 episodes I watched. I am extremely curious about a new Stargate show, having never watched any of the previous iterations. However, shelling out over $20 for something that ends May 15 doesn’t quite work for me. A tweet storm, however, is right up my alley. Having sent out upward of a 100 tweets for Dark Matter, I am ready and willing to jump on this latest challenge and do I all I can to help. When you said there could be a chance of a DM mini series, I got all wobbly and can’t tell you how much that would mean.
As another great scifi hero said before charging into open field “I hope this works!”
Honestly it’s amazing we dont have a dedicated science fiction platform yet, there are so many scifi fans, from all branches of life, all over the globe. Probably the genre with most potential to truly propel a platform to new gigantic heights.
This is 2018. We dont need TV. We need affordable on demand video!
It’s $20 for the series and I believe it’s also for a set time period, giving full access to all SG content during that period. The $20 definitely covers the entire 1st webseries.
While on the subject, I’m pretty impressed with the prequel. Considering the budget constraints and trying to walk the line with the SG fandom. I’ve really enjoyed the first 4. I’m glad that they decided to release 2 at a time, tho.
It’s really good to hear that MGM has some good scifi people at the helm these days. I predict that the fans will come through big time in the upcoming twitter storm!
ok, sounds good, what about those of us who don’t do twitter?
I only do twitter for Joe, Stargate and Dark Matter. Really. And it’s easy to set up an account. Give it a try! For the team.
Oh i love the show oh i miss everyone so much please bring it back on tv thank u a very big fan love ya all!!!
I love Target in Stargate Atlantis I’m glad to hear that you guys will be bringing back the series I think I’ve watched every one of them just too bad you cannot bring back some of the original characters because that’s what made the movie the characters try not to stray too far from the original version cuz I think if you do that you will lose the audience try to pick up where you left off and then people will be able to follow it enjoyed the series very much big sci-fi fan
Sorry my last post it said Target I was trying to say I love Stargate and Stargate Atlantis can’t wait for the shows to return
Honestly the series was a hit due to cast/character chemistry. SG-1 Seasons 1-7.2 and SG:A Seasons 1-5. They were fun because we liked the characters and they made us smile. One of the reasons Orville is doing so well is that it is both action/adventure and silly. The character Chemistry isn’t bad either. So if you can find that again, I think a new show will do well.
Count me in and many at CIA,NRO,NGA, UCDMO, and NSA.
I’m ready!!!
I’d be happy to participate by interacting on twitter, but I don’t know how. I have a mostly unused twitter acct, I think I opened it because of the Dark Matter thing, but I don’t remember how it works. It has something to do with #, right?
Could someone explain, very simply, what I should do to interact? I remember I could retweet things — which was pointless because I have no followers, and possibly “like” other tweets.
Thanks in advance.
Is there a set time yet? I’m strongly considering making a Twitter account for this
Could someone who tweets a lot, like Thogar, give a brief seminar in hashtags and @ and the basics of using twitter for the benefit of those who want to join in but are inexperienced in the mysteries of Twitter?
This article came up on my google interest. I LOVE this idea. Im not sure who to add to my Twitter. Im an older mom of 4 and im sure my kids are better at technology than I. But Stargate is something I am super passionate about. I would love to see this work. With that being said could i maybe get some direction for dummies? Lol.
“Two weeks from now, at the right time”. What is that date and time?
Count me in
Joe honestly what did we do to deserve you i wish everyone in the industry were as good the us fans as you are I look forward to letting mgm know that with no uncertainty that we are ready for more Stargate as long as syfy has nothing to do with it.
If it’s done right I’m sure there’s a way to give some closure to all of us burned by being left hanging with SG-U maybe a new enemy encountered along their journey they find some way to get back and warn Stargate command and we take the new show getting to know new engaging characters as the save humanity from this new terrible threat.
I love all the Stargate SG-1 and Stargate Atlantis and Timeless they should all come back we really want to see more of them great television the best sci-fi I’ve seen in a long time I hope it goes on forever and ever thanks…. Mark Torrance … Producer and freelance artist……..marktorranceca@gmail.com
I’M WITH YA 1OO %. Lee.
The reason why Stargate SG-1 is my favorite show of all time was the complexity of the plot, the brilliance of the actors, and the humor that was such a deep part of the show. When in Stargate Universe you attempted to go “dark” like Battlestar Galactica or Game of Thrones, you lost the heart of Stargate. Please make any new Stargate with the same infectious enthusiasm and humor of the original.
Don’t nerf the Goa’uld, make them actually bear resemblances to the race of the Original Ra from the 1994 original movie and have their troops look like the movie or varied depending on each God’s mythology and the culture. Please don’t have Jaffa dress in chain-mail medieval knights who have the stupidity and bad aim of the stormtroopers from the OT from Star Wars. And no more damned Mary Sues like Sammantha Carter who always pulls a plan to save the day out of her ass. Follow the movie, I don’t want the series rebooted. I do not want Wraith, or Ori. What I want are badass Goa’uld villains and I want each pantheon to try to look like their mythology and not on a budget. If you want to make newer villains Alongsides the False Gods, please think of something original.
As one of the international fans who can’t use Stargate Command, I really appreciate this. Thanks a lot!
Ready!!! 🙂
I want more Star Gate!
Yeah, not going to Shell out more cash when I’m already paying Comcast , so to some it up. WTF mgm, not cool
Count me in. I’ve paid my $20 and joined Stargate Command.
When exactly??
We want EmeraldCitySeason2 there are so unknown answers that we know about the the Land of Oz and we want to learn more so please give it a season 2 it deserves it same cast and crew everything
I don’t have the extra money
If u could air on tv like the previous series I love to watch it
I am a stargate fan
I would love to see new
Plus please make a Stargate Atlantis movie
To end it right u left it in Limbo
Thank u have a grt day
Absoultey right, that fee to watch 10 minute clips is crazy, MGM may feel its only 20 bucks but for their fans, that will be home at night watching them they are home for a reason, 20 bucks is a lot of money for so many.
Please it was one best shows ever. Especially the applied sciences behind. Where normal person can make difference without powers. Or having younger specific genre.
A new series with throw backs to previous series would be wonderful indeed!
Stargate: Origins is terrible and a great way to kill the franchise if you ask me. It’s so amateurish and low-budget that I’d rather have been without it.
Hurry up and get the ball rolling please….
Sg1 needs a new mission…
The wraith in Atlantis are still out there
And SGU hasn’t made it across the void yet
Hello…quit leaving the fans hanging
And for “god’s” sakes don’t be like star wars and kill off the Stars in the first episodes….hellooooo!!!
Just say when – I’m in!
And we’re walking… 😁
I remember watching this when I was growing up.
Chevron one encoded!!!
Lets get a lock!
This is really exciting. I loved the movie, but loved the TV show more, along with its spinoffs. Stargate became a force unto itself, a fully realized universe and I miss it. But I already pay for two streaming services plus a lot of cable channels. I don’t know that I can afford yet another service. This is a golden age of TV with so many choices/offerings, but that’s a curse as well as a blessing. Due to the financial issues, it’s impractical to pay for all of them that have one or two shows I want to see.
As a huge Star Gate fan and watching from the very begining. The only reason my family had Shotime service. My family only ask the new Star Gate not to be rushed and created with the since of good writing, great charactor development, and of course a great acting cast. Rock on we love you guys.
Only a true fan is able to tolerate 10 10 min. episodes. The test of the series is so conservative as to really bias the result. I guess they want it negatively biased so that, if it succeeds, they will almost be guaranteed a winning series.
Let’s do this
ALRIGHT