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8 of 9 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
More slavery, more death, 16 Jan 2009
The ending of the "Stargate SG-1" TV show left some threads dangling -- the last Goa'uld System Lord was still in hiding, and the Ori were still threatening the world.
Fortunately those threads are more or less tied up in the two direct-to-DVD movies that followed: "Stargate: The Ark of Truth" and "Stargate: Continuum." While they don't quite have the unique flavour of the TV series, these movies do bring back all the favorite characters (and some departed villains) in a double finale to its winding stories.
"The Ark of Truth" is an Ancient device that brainwashes people -- and SG-1 is searching for it, where they run into Vala's ex-hubby Tomin (who ends up teaming up with them). But soon they have a lead on where the Ark might be, and head for Celestis in the hopes of finding a bloodless method of stopping the Ori once and for all.
Unfortunately they have a slew of new problems -- Ori motherships are approaching Earth with the intent to convert or destroy, a nasty IOA rep has created and loosed a very familiar enemy on the Odyssey, and Vala's malevolent daughter Adria has gained godlike power. Fortunately SG-1 has a powerful ally of their own.
And once again, there is time-twisting with "Continuum." SG-1 and General Jack O'Neill (Richard Dean Anderson) are watching the execution and extraction of Ba'al... but unfortunately, it's not the real Ba'al. The real Ba'al has time-traveled and altered the timeline, causing Teal'c (Christopher Judge), Vala (Claudia Black) and the Tok'ra to vanish, and resulting in Jack's death.
Unfortunately, this alternate timeline becomes more perilous after a year -- Earth is being threatened by the supreme System Lord Ba'al, his queen Qetesh (in Vala's body) and his First Prime Teal'c. But when Qetesh and Ba'al clash over his past on Earth, the altered SG-1 must band together to find and destroy Ba'al's time machine, and somehow restore the timeline to what it once was.
"Stargate: The Ark of Truth" and "Stargate: Continuum" are basically intended to wrap up loose ends, and as such they're not quite as satisfying as the television show was. "Ark of Truth" sometimes feels rather rushed and has a somewhat out-of-the-blue solition, and "Continuum" may need multiple viewings to keep up with the time-bouncing plotline.
But as finales they're solid pieces of work -- lots of action, space battles, mysterious artifacts, and a way bigger budget that a TV episode would ever have allowed. And they both have everything that you'd expect from "Stargate SG-1" -- pop culture homages ("Star Wars"!), some recurring characters (Apophis!), and alien nasties with overwhelming power. There's even some subtle moral dilemmas about belief and fighting the Ori followers.
It also has excellent scripting: plot threads drawn from the TV series, witty dialogue ("That is, after all, why we've come. Why we had to endure all of that singing. Get rid of the last bad guy and then there's cake"), and some nice quiet moments, such as Teal'c talking with Tomin about their bloodstained pasts. And they manage to throw some interesting twists at the audience, such as a shocking revelation about the Ori.
And seeing the actors as their SG-1 characters is like putting on a comfortable old shoe. Amanda Tapping and Michael Shanks are suitably brilliant and courageous, and Ben Browder gets to shine especially in "Continuum" as a strong, slightly quirky soldier. Christopher Judge gets to shine in "Ark of Truth" as a powerful, wise warrior, and Black gets to be both funny and emotional.
And of course, Richard Dean Anderson utterly steals the show whenever he appears ("Hey, have you ever tried to find a bathroom in a pyramid?") and Tim Guinee has a good smallish role as Tomin.
It's a little sad to see the main storylines of the Stargate universe end, but "Stargate: The Ark of Truth" and "Stargate: Continuum" are well worth seeing. Nice finales.
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