No one has ever claimed that Stargate fans aren’t vocal. Trapped between the cultural monoliths of Star Wars and Star Trek—and forced to navigate more critically beloved, flashy rivals like Battlestar Galactica or The Expanse—the Gaters have made up for their sometimes smaller numbers with volume over the decades, reminding people that 17 seasons of television and a handful of movies split across multiple networks, spin-offs, and casts isn’t, like, nothing. And for their dedication, they’ve largely gotten the short end of the stick—including news earlier this month that Amazon was dumping plans for a revival of the chevron-heavy science fiction franchise because it was only going to appeal to, well, Stargate fans.
In response, those same fans have now crafted a new petition that’s currently sporting 100,000 signatures, demanding that Amazon give that particular version of the show—created by long-time series writer Martin Gero—a fair shake in the court of public opinion. And, sure, some of this rhetoric might be a little overblown—the intro video for the campaign begins with a Gandhi quote—but it does seem to be generating a fair amount of support, including from franchise stars like Michael Shanks and Christopher Judge. (Also, somewhat weirdly, Robert Patrick, who was only in the first two episodes of Stargate Atlantis before getting snacked on by a space vampire, but who’s apparently stayed a friend and supporter of the franchise ever since.)
Of course, none of this is going to defeat the tautological idea that only Stargate fans care about Stargate—but it does emphasize that these fans exist, or at least exist enough to put a name on a digital petition in fairly significant numbers. Gero himself (whose other recent work includes the short-lived Quantum Leap reboot and, probably most relevant to Amazon’s desire to keep playing ball with him, long-term showrunning duties on the successful Blindspot) is still under an overall deal with the streamer; he was active on social media back when the new Stargate series was announced by Amazon about seven months ago, but hasn’t made any public comments since the series was canceled back at the start of June.
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