On the SciTrek Youtube channel we have been able to drop exclusives about Stargate plans over and over again. Thanks to our sources working in the offices we have been able to find out a lot about what is going on behind the iron curtain at Amazon. We found out first that they were not planning to bring the original creators back… We found out first Bad Robot had pitched and failed to get the show… We found first that Mark Fergus, part of the team that brought us the Expanse, pitched too and was asked to complete much of the early development work for Amazon. And much much more.
But the sources were always pretty low level employees. They were the admin team, the worker bees, never the queen.
Well on Friday we got an email from, well not quite a queen bee but one of her trusted staff contacting us on their behalf. The email said they were interested in contacting us to clarify plans Amazon has for Stargate. Well to be honest I thought… bulls**t!
You see we get quite a few emails from random people sharing very random opinions about Stargate, Star Trek, Star wars etc. as if they were fact. We ignore much of it but from time to time we get something a little more interesting. So I checked it out.
- Was the email from a genuine MGM email address?
- Was the person contacting me employed by MGM?
- Was the person they were contacting us on behalf of real too?
I was able to check some of this on line but I was also able to check with other sources that the person was genuine and it turned out, to my surprise, they were!
MGM had reached out to my little Youtube channel
So I was able to quickly arrange a chat and on Sunday we had a video meeting… and it was very enlightening.
Now before you get too excited I am not allowed to say quite a lot… I am not allowed to reveal the name or position of the person contacting me or the person that had authorised it. This is very much a back channel communication but I am allowed to say this person is a senior executive at MGM.
Why reach out to SciTrek?
Well as I say we have been on the front line of this for 2 years now and we have been noticed. A source once told me that a memo went around the offices of MGM during the sale process saying “whoever is talking to SciTrek… STOP IT”. I am paraphrasing but that was the jist of it. So our little channel has been noticed and the person on the other side of the video call said they were planning to reach out to other influencers too before announcing their Stargate plans.
I am an influencer apparently… who knew?
So what were they able to confirm? Well the source did say that an awful lot of what they had seen us reporting was true but one report in particular was not true and had caused a chuckle in the office, even though she added that I said on the video I didn’t think it was true anyway.. Animated Stargate Universe movie perhaps? They did not confirm nor deny that.. something they did a few times.
Amazon and MGM are very keen to get a few of the Youtubers that talk about Stargate on board early on obviously and have said that if we play ball, they will happily keep this line of communication open and who knows, we may even be able to get the odd exclusive along the way. The tease.
So what was confirmed?
- Amazon/MGM are planning a movie to kickstart the return of Stargate
- Amazon MGM are planning this to be followed quickly by a series related to the movie
- No decision has been made on whether this will be a cinema movie or not but is seriously being considered.
- They have a script for this project, it is complete.
- They know who the director will be.
- They were going to announce the intention to make a Stargate movie at San Diego Comic Con.
So I had questions!
Who wrote the script? Was it Mark Fergus… “They could not confirm nor deny.”
Who is the Director? Is it Jordan Peele as was reported to us? They answered “No even though he was considered”.
Can you tell me who the Director is? “No” was the answer.
Will some or all of the original cast be returning? “They can neither confirm nor deny”. Teasing me again.
Can I please be an extra in the movie? Come on I deserve it after all this? They did not answer at all.. harsh 🙂
So reading between the lines what is going on? I have been told by other sources that the studios have known for a few weeks that the Strikes would be coming to an end in October and that they would be able to get back to work. I think it is safe to assume that if they were ready to announce their intentions a couple of months ago but decided not to due to the Strikes, deciding it would not be received well by fans if they had done, then we can assume plans to announce now may not be too far way.
So Amazon seem to be on a charm offensive, trying to get Gaters on side early.
At SciTrek we have to thank MGM for thinking of us and for letting us tell you as much as they have. If they keep up this kind of engagement with fans (because I am not an influencer, I’m a fan), then I have real hopes for Stargate future.
Open the gate!