I have seen the Ark of Truth...
... and it is exactly like a two-hour episode of SG-1, only with far fewer character moments.
Obviously, the film's main agenda was to tie up all the loose threads of the Ori plot. However, based on the fact that they felt the need to spend a good 50% of the time in the Ori galaxy throwing everything but the kitchen sink at Cam--or at least the trifecta of Those Darn Bureaucrats in Washington, replicators, and a zombie (ZOMBIE!)--there weren't really that many loose threads to tie up. But there were precious few fun or revealing character moments, and that was a disappointment. I don't know if it was a side-effect of the film's main agenda, or if the lack of guaranteed screentime to flesh out actual character arcs has hamstrung the writing. But for the love of all that is holy, Stargate writers, please realize that if you are relying on your mad plotting skillz to carry this franchise in DVD-only format, you are in some serious dren. We roll our eyes at the plots; we stay for the team.
That said, there were a few nice character moments. I loved the opening, Vala's kvetching, Daniel's uncharacteristically patient explanations, and the way he got caught up short by his own patience, and Teal'c in the background the entire time, grimacing with impatience. It felt like a continuation of "Unending," an acknowledgment that all of them are slightly different because of that future that didn't end up happening. Merrick was an extremely cartoonish villain: his sneering arrogance and the outright stupidity of reintroducing a replicator into this universe anywhere, for any reason, overrode any allegedly gray motives, and had the side effect of making the continued IOA leadership of the Stargate program after such an overwhelming blunder seem really implausible. After all, it's not like the replicators can't traverse galaxies. (It is , however, consistent with Woolsey's eagerness to see what Anubis's hybrid could do in "Prototype," and with the IOA's general apparent lack of understanding of the toys they're playing with.)
I think Teal'c came out best; I loved his conversation with Tomin, and the way he reached out to him because he understands exactly what it's like to have that kind of blood on your hands. I especially liked that Teal'c didn't have any easy answers, that he has accepted that he will never forgive himself, that there isn't really a path to redemption, just a fight to carry on for others, a way of living with themselves and forging some meaning out of what they had become. The great trek across the landscape was fairly random, and I kept expecting him to run into a party of dwarves, elves, hobbits and men carrying a special ring, but whatever. Vala's dress on the Ori planet where they make contact with the underground was another rather random touch, but if you have any interest in seeing Claudia Black's cleavage, there it is.
I thought Daniel's conversation with Morgan actually had some interesting potential, because his frustration with the Ancients and their unwillingness to intervene, their convenient and sometimes arbitrary application of a mysterious set of rules, had finally come to a head. But I think it would have been more effective if the captured-and-tortured-by-the-Ori sequences hadn't passed by so quickly, because the setup felt rushed and as a result, his desperation didn't have quite the weight I think it should have.
I give them points for making all the thrashing Cam endured at the hands of the zombie replicator zombie replicator actually hurt, with his heartfelt "Ow!" when it was all over and he could finally slide down the wall in peace. And the scene between him and Sam in the infirmary was adorable with a side of cute sauce; Ben Browder and Amanda Tapping have such nice chemistry, as teammates and as people who genuinely are fond of each other, however you want to view that fondness.
asta77 bheerfan pointed out that after all of the ripoffs homages to the Terminator franchise, LotR, etc., they missed a golden opportunity to show the Ark of Truth being boxed up and stuck on a warehouse shelf in Area 51 to gather dust. Ah well.
So it was fun, and plotty, in an intensely straightforward and uncomplicated way, but it did not bowl me over. I didn't really expect it to. Oh show, you are so you. Most importantly, everyone looks really pretty because they finally fixed whatever they were doing with the lighting that made everyone look so haggard in Seasons 9 and 10. I do hope that Continuum has more character emphasis, though I think they're really going to try to make these things episodic, so I'm not overwhelmingly hopeful.
In other news, I've been having some really elaborate, fully-plotted-out dreams lately. Last night I had a dream about Benton Fraser and Ray Kowalski and the heritage of the 1911 Armenian genocide. Yeah, I don't know either. Don't even ask about the one I had a couple of weeks ago that involved an alien invasion and the home mortgage crisis.
Obviously, the film's main agenda was to tie up all the loose threads of the Ori plot. However, based on the fact that they felt the need to spend a good 50% of the time in the Ori galaxy throwing everything but the kitchen sink at Cam--or at least the trifecta of Those Darn Bureaucrats in Washington, replicators, and a zombie (ZOMBIE!)--there weren't really that many loose threads to tie up. But there were precious few fun or revealing character moments, and that was a disappointment. I don't know if it was a side-effect of the film's main agenda, or if the lack of guaranteed screentime to flesh out actual character arcs has hamstrung the writing. But for the love of all that is holy, Stargate writers, please realize that if you are relying on your mad plotting skillz to carry this franchise in DVD-only format, you are in some serious dren. We roll our eyes at the plots; we stay for the team.
That said, there were a few nice character moments. I loved the opening, Vala's kvetching, Daniel's uncharacteristically patient explanations, and the way he got caught up short by his own patience, and Teal'c in the background the entire time, grimacing with impatience. It felt like a continuation of "Unending," an acknowledgment that all of them are slightly different because of that future that didn't end up happening. Merrick was an extremely cartoonish villain: his sneering arrogance and the outright stupidity of reintroducing a replicator into this universe anywhere, for any reason, overrode any allegedly gray motives, and had the side effect of making the continued IOA leadership of the Stargate program after such an overwhelming blunder seem really implausible. After all, it's not like the replicators can't traverse galaxies. (It is , however, consistent with Woolsey's eagerness to see what Anubis's hybrid could do in "Prototype," and with the IOA's general apparent lack of understanding of the toys they're playing with.)
I think Teal'c came out best; I loved his conversation with Tomin, and the way he reached out to him because he understands exactly what it's like to have that kind of blood on your hands. I especially liked that Teal'c didn't have any easy answers, that he has accepted that he will never forgive himself, that there isn't really a path to redemption, just a fight to carry on for others, a way of living with themselves and forging some meaning out of what they had become. The great trek across the landscape was fairly random, and I kept expecting him to run into a party of dwarves, elves, hobbits and men carrying a special ring, but whatever. Vala's dress on the Ori planet where they make contact with the underground was another rather random touch, but if you have any interest in seeing Claudia Black's cleavage, there it is.
I thought Daniel's conversation with Morgan actually had some interesting potential, because his frustration with the Ancients and their unwillingness to intervene, their convenient and sometimes arbitrary application of a mysterious set of rules, had finally come to a head. But I think it would have been more effective if the captured-and-tortured-by-the-Ori sequences hadn't passed by so quickly, because the setup felt rushed and as a result, his desperation didn't have quite the weight I think it should have.
I give them points for making all the thrashing Cam endured at the hands of the zombie replicator zombie replicator actually hurt, with his heartfelt "Ow!" when it was all over and he could finally slide down the wall in peace. And the scene between him and Sam in the infirmary was adorable with a side of cute sauce; Ben Browder and Amanda Tapping have such nice chemistry, as teammates and as people who genuinely are fond of each other, however you want to view that fondness.
asta77 bheerfan pointed out that after all of the ripoffs homages to the Terminator franchise, LotR, etc., they missed a golden opportunity to show the Ark of Truth being boxed up and stuck on a warehouse shelf in Area 51 to gather dust. Ah well.
So it was fun, and plotty, in an intensely straightforward and uncomplicated way, but it did not bowl me over. I didn't really expect it to. Oh show, you are so you. Most importantly, everyone looks really pretty because they finally fixed whatever they were doing with the lighting that made everyone look so haggard in Seasons 9 and 10. I do hope that Continuum has more character emphasis, though I think they're really going to try to make these things episodic, so I'm not overwhelmingly hopeful.
In other news, I've been having some really elaborate, fully-plotted-out dreams lately. Last night I had a dream about Benton Fraser and Ray Kowalski and the heritage of the 1911 Armenian genocide. Yeah, I don't know either. Don't even ask about the one I had a couple of weeks ago that involved an alien invasion and the home mortgage crisis.