Be advised: this thread is not for serious in-depth discussion of weighty topics (we have a link for that), this thread is not for anything Culture War related. This thread is for Fun. You got jokes? Share 'em. You got silly questions? Ask 'em.
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Material for the 1990s revival, here we go:
Nerd angle: X-files, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Babylon 5? Anime was breaking through to Western consciousness, upscale productions like Ghibli movies got better international release through Disney.
In mainstream, we have: Jurassic Park. Saving Private Ryan. Titanic, movies with Leonardo DiCaprio. Disney was pumping out successful traditionally animated movies with relatively traditional plotline, one after another every year. Perhaps Disney can make a nostalgia trip back and start making mvies that are earnest again.
In cinema: Lots of golden darlings of movie buffs, moody but not necessarily bleak European movies by directors with unpronounceable names like The Three Colours. On the darker and edgier side, we have Reservoir Dogs, Pulp Fiction, ... actually I am not sure if metafictional post-modernism has ever ceased, so how can it make a comeback? As a case in point, Coen brothers are still making Coen brothers kind of movies, Fargo turned from one movie with interesting takes into a overtly long tv show with 5 seasons of 10 years that just finished. The Matrix has the same issue. Family / kid friendly space, the 2nd* best known cultural media icon from Bristol, Wallace and Gromit debuted, though Aardman is still here.
Fashion: I think we are already there?
(* the best known cultural media icon from Bristol is Banksy, the UK graffeurist laureate who indubitably will be declared British national treasure alongside Stephen Fry sooner or later )
At what point does Stargate (particularly SG-1) rotate back into consciousness?
For me, about five years ago.
Love me some SG1.
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Honestly Stargate still has a lot of fans. It's just not a critical darling and there's not a whole company built around endlessly reiterated spinoffs like some other franchises I could name.
Yeah I agree with you and the two siblings that it's still a good show and very enjoyable to watch. The franchise had its spinoffs and its run and then died, but now Amazon MGM is attempting to revive it. What I'm asking is more: at what point does it become a referent in the nostalgia cycle whose 'memberberries can be harvested? It doesn't seem as ready to go as classic 90's conspiracy theory stuff (which would absolutely be part of 90s!Stranger Things), X-Files, etc.
Speaking as someone who used to watch Stargate with his parents and siblings every week as a teenager, I think it's probably there now. You just need clever enough writers who can work some references in without it feeling too forced. It is about a secret government program after all, albeit a benevolent one.
That's the rub, writers and the fanbase they interact with (ie: the reddit crowd) are not in the mood for optimistic sci-fi, Star Trek writers had to be dragged screaming into making Strange New Worlds, otherwise we'd still be stuck with nothing "actually, Star Trek has always been about opposing Trump and Brexit".
Stargate is inherently optimistic, but not blind either, about humanity. Not a hypothetical future humanity like Star Trek, but humanity as it currently is. The government and military are not perfect, but mostly act in the interest of the people. As you say, benevolent conspiracy. Even with a big technological disadvantage, humanity is able to more than pull its weight on the galactic scene. And its not foreign values that makes humanity powerful, it's deeply human ones. Even our flaws are cast as advantages, frequent wars on earth made humans good at fighting, at making weapons, better in many ways than warrior races (Mass Effect put this idea too in its lore).
If they were to try making it now, the writers would have to write it while thinking "if it were real, Trump would be the highest authority in charge of the Stargate program". Their own biases made it easy to ignore when it was Clinton, and they did push more evil politician stories during the Bush era, but that was after establishing the program as benevolent. But I don't think they would be able to do it now.
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For me, it never left
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Babylon 5 is a core memory for me, X-Files and Buffy were both super popular, arguably some of the first SF media to hit mainstream recognition. I actually only watched Wallace and Gromit as an adult with my kids, and was shocked to realize how little of it there actually was, cuz you're right, it was everywhere for a while.
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