Posted in: Movies, Opinion, TV, TV | Tagged: doctor who, marvel, opinion, star wars, stargate

Stargate, Star Wars, Doctor Who & Marvel: Franchise Double Jeopardy?

One thing that long-running franchises like Doctor Who, Marvel's MCU, "Star Wars," and "Stargate" have in common: franchise double jeopardy.

If you're a long-running franchise, you might be feeling a bit nervous these days. We've got Doctor Who fans drowning in rumors and innuendo regarding whether Showrunner Russell T. Davies's upcoming Christmas Special will actually end up in our stockings. We've got Lucasfilm's "Star Wars" universe seemingly stalled, with The Mandalorian and Grogu doing well at the box office but not moving the needle on the franchise's future. Meanwhile, Marvel Studios appears to have something universe-changing planned with Avengers: Doomsday and Avengers: Secret Wars. But the overall MCU has been making as many headlines for its problems as its success over the past few years, though the streaming side has scored some solid wins with shows like Daredevil: Born Again, Wonder Man, X-Men '97, and others. And this week, we learned that Martin Gero (NBC's Blindspot, "Stargate" universe) and consulting producers Brad Wright and Joe Mallozzi's new Stargate series was canned by Amazon, with reports that "Amazon execs were concerned that Gero's take on the series would not have broad appeal beyond the franchise's already dedicated fanbase." And that got us thinking about the one very concerning thing that Doctor Who, "Star Wars," Marvel Studios, "Stargate," and others are beginning to have in common: franchise double jeopardy.

Basically, that means that a lot of long-running franchises find themselves in an increasingly unwinnable situation:

The studios/streamers don't want to green-light projects that lean too heavily on past canon, preferring to go with as much of a "reboot" approach as possible (if not an actual full-on reboot). As they see it, viewers shouldn't have to do a ton of homework to enjoy a show. The obvious problem is that you're pretty much spitting in the eyes of the folks who helped make the franchise what it is. It's more than understandable for the fans who've been ride-or-die to get their favorite franchise on the pop culture front burners would want the adventures they enjoyed to matter – to mean something. It's really not asking a lot. That said…

The studios/streamers know that the longer a franchise has run, the more "passionate" its fanbase can be – and toxic. Unfortunately, the ones on social media tend to be of the "everything I grew up with was great and everything now sucks" variety. It's not that they don't want anything new – it just has to be new and exactly how they remember it. That kind of mindset doesn't exactly encourage trying new things, especially with how weaponized nostalgia has become.

For example, I'm old enough to remember Colin Baker and Sylvester McCoy's respective runs on Doctor Who. So, to see people my age trashing Jodie Whittaker, Ncuti Gatwa, and the writing on their seasons, I can't help but both laugh and throw up a little in my mouth. The vast majority of those Baker and McCoy episodes were embarrassing, with the two leads and their on-screen companions doing the best they could with what they had to work with (which wasn't much).

And that's the puncline here: the gatekeepers don't just make their opinions known and move on. They harass the actors and creative teams on social media. They review-bomb projects to drive down Rotten Tomatoes scores. They determine who can call themselves a "real fan" and geek-shame anyone who doesn't meet their requirements (which usually begin with agreeing with them). That's a whole lot of potential "toxic drama" burden that not many studios/streamers are willing to strap to their backs.

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