2008 Science Fiction Year in Review
It’s 10pm Dec 31st, 2008, and I’m a little tipsy on a shot of whiskey, but stuck in bed, sick with a tummy ache. Since I’m not able to attend any New Years Eve parties, why not invest a moment in reflecting on the past year in science fiction?
The following list of events is not exhaustive and is based only on what’s at the forefront of my thoughts at this particular moment. If you have any additions to make to my list, please feel free to add them in the comments section.
Books
The single biggest news in the world of science fiction books was death of the final old school Grand Master of SF, Sir Arthur C. Clarke. Along with Asimov and Heinlein, Clarke was one of the pioneers of skiffy in the so-called golden age of the 1950s. Clarke was not just a leader in this genre, but also a societal thought leader. He is credited by many as the philosophical inventor of the communications satellite, and certainly was a driving inspiration in the development of Project Spaceguard, a programme for the detection of near-Earth asteroids that could prove possibly dangerous to our planet.
Clarke’s biggest contribution to popular culture was, of course, his penning of the screenplay for the movie, 2001: A Space Odyssey, which was in turn based on his short story, “The Sentinel.”
Clarke’s additional masterpieces included Rendezvous With Rama and the various sequels to 2001. I was particularly pleased that Clarke was able to give us a trilogy of so-called “orthoquels” to 2001 before he died: Time’s Eye, Sunstorm and Firstborn, all part of a series he called “A Time Odyssey.”
Sunstorm in particular was a fitting conclusion to Clarke’s career, as it told a very exciting and believable –and inspirational– tale of mankind preparing itself for a storm of Apocalyptic solar flares.
My personal Clarke favourite remains Songs of Distant Earth. I recommend that all true skiffy fans find a moment to peruse it spages.
Movies
It was not a particularly exciting year for skiffy in movies. No, I do not include The Dark Knight as a science fiction title, though the audiences for both comic books and science fiction products often overlap. Thus, Ironman also does not qualify.
Possibly the best skiffy title this year was Hellboy II: The Golden Army. I’m hesitant to include it, since it’s more fantasy than science fiction
While I hated the movie, I must admit that the latest M. Night Shyamalan, The Happening, presented an interesting science fiction premise: that plants could be made so “upset” by ecological degradation that they would emit a substance that reduces animals’ inhibition against self-harm.
Television
It was in television that the skiffy genre really flew this year. I am a fan of Heroes, but its science is laughable. Lost, the finest show on network American television, finally revealed itself to be a pure science fiction show with the addition of time travel. And the champion of the space operas continued to be Battlestar Galactica, whose climax this coming year will be the reveal of the so-called “final cylon.” I’m willing to put money on that cylon being Felix Gaeta.
Other big news included the cancellation of Stargate: Atlantis and the successful transfer of Stargate:SG1 from TV to dvd movies. But the big triumph in TV skiffy this year was the further maturation of the modern incarnation of Britain’s Doctor Who.
David Tennant is, for my money, the finest Doctor ever. Yes, the show is still cheesy at times, and doesn’t engender the same gravitas as American offerings of the same genre. But remember that the Doctor saves the galaxy every week without ever wielding a weapon or uttering a foul word; he’s a timeless hero.
The brilliance of the Who writing this year was in the realization that the show is called Doctor WHO. Who is this man? Why do we care? Transforming the decades old vehicle from a campy kids show into a character drama was brilliance.
I don’t know what to expect from 2009, but I’m pretty sure there will be plenty of skiffy for us all.
The Andromeda Strain (Part 1)
The Andromeda Strain (2008)
Released as a miniseries by A&E in the spring of 2008, The Andromeda Strain is based on Michael Crichton’s classic 1969 science fiction novel of the same name. TAS-08 is written by Robert Schenkken (who played David Deaver in the 1990 film Pump up the Volume), and is directed by Denmark’s Mikael Salomon, more famously known as the cinematographer on several Oscar winning films (Far and Away, Back Draft, Arachnophobia).
The narrative opens with a botched recovery of a NASA satellite that has unexpectedly fallen from orbit and crashed to earth near Piedmont, Utah in the present day United States. Curious Piedmontians discover the satellite before the arrival of a US Army recovery team and decide to look inside; releasing a toxin of unknown origin on unsuspecting townsfolk. While moving quickly to quarantine Piedmont, the Department of BioDefence scrambles Wildfire – an elite team of scientists providing the evidence in The President’s evidence-based decisions on biological crises (talk about your science fiction…). Operating under the indirect supervision of General George W. Mancheck (Andre Braugher); Dr. Jeremy Stone (Benjamin Bratt), Dr. Angela Noyce (Christa Miller), Dr. Tsi Chou (Daniel Dae Kim), Dr. Charlene Barton (Viola Davis) and Major Bill Keane MD (Rick Schroder) retrieve data from the contaminated area and are seconded to a top secret, underground government laboratory. On the outside, all this secret/not-so-secret activity draws the attention of journalist Jack Nash (Eric McCormack) who tries to figure out what is really going on.
As the first of a two disk release, disk one is almost completely context; introducing characters, new technology, and describing the cultural and political environment the plot unfolds in. The story is portrayed using five different perspectives – the scientific team sequestered in the underground lab, the decision-maker president and his white house staff who while being decisive have to run everything through the “how-will-this-play-out-in-the-election” filter, the US Army, the ultra-secretive National Security Agency (NSA), and (of course) the media.
Schenkken taps into real world events and popular culture by drawing repeatedly from the endless list of individual and institutional failures that lead to the war in Iraq – primarily the dysfunction surrounding the US Military, intelligence agencies and the Oval Office – with a sideways reference to rogue nations, economic greed, the environment and “Area-51.” All of this is presented through the use of short vignettes that introduce characters, outline personal relationships and establish institutional dynamics; effectively creating a patchwork of information that may or may not allow the viewer to grasp what is going on.
Some of the reviews I have read have been critical of the cast, the story and the interpretation of the novel. As I am reviewing this in a bubble so to speak – having not seen the first theatrical release, nor having read the book – I’m inclined to disagree with this criticism in a state of blissful ignorance. The cast comes across as reasonably real – I found the performances to be authentic. No one steals the show, and at no point did any of the actors’ performances remind me of a previous role.
The story has a very current feel to it – contentious ideologies, hot-button issues, public cynicism for those in charge. At its heart is the portrayal of competing bureaucratic entities in the face of a serious crisis – can these bodies be trusted to set aside their partisan nature when decisions need to be made; or will they be constantly distracted from the real issues while playing an obtuse game of perception manipulation?
Technically, the special effects are well done and used relatively sparingly. I did find the medical computer in the Wildfire lab to be a little far-fetched for a story that is supposed to be contemporary. I’m all for voice-directed, diagnostic tools that can provide real-time patient data (right down to hematology results) in addition to performing all kinds of medical tests at the verbal request of a doctor – I’m just not sure if it exists yet!
One thing I wished the writers had done is explain the animosity between some of the main characters. This history is referred to abstractly in dialogue, but has an impact on the plot development. Perhaps more will be revealed in part 2.
Taking part one of The Andromeda Strain at face value, and not comparing it to the original or other interpretations – I recommend it. Nothing exists in a vacuum however, so once having seen part 2, reading Crichton’s original and checking out the 1971 movie this opinion could change.
Review: Stargate Continuum
The following is a review of the direct-to-dvd movie, Stargate: Continuum. Beware that spoilers abound!
I am an unabashed fan of all things Stargate. This site has in the past featured reviews of the final Sg-1 episode, Unending , and of the first Sg-1 direct-to-dvd movie, The Ark of Truth. Stargate was the true succesor to the Star Trek crown, a beloved and long-lived franchise embodying the best of (North) American science fiction. It was thus with love and anticipation that I viewed the latest, and perhaps final, SG-1 movie, Continuum.
Whereas The Ark of Truth was mean to provide closure for the loose ends of plot left unaddressed due the unforseen cancellation of Stargate SG-1, Continuum was unburdened with such responsibilties, and thus was able to be a stand-alone, self-contained motion picture. Featuring the talents of now seasoned big- and small-screen veterans, like Christopher Judge, Ben Browder, Beau Bridges and Richard Dean Anderson, and benefitting from a budget large enough to pay for such talent and some state-of-the-art special effects, as well, Continuum unsurprisingly has a big screen feel to it. Unfortunately, the writing is still very much small-screen, with profound character explorations pushed aside in favour of cute TV-style moments.
Inasmuch as The Ark Of Truth was meant to close out the Ori storyline that dominated the final two seasons of SG-1, Continuum brings closure to the story of the Goa’uld, the original villains of the Stargate universe. The final Goa’uld system lord, Ba’al, is to be executed. But Ba’al has a final plan to salvage his life and empire: he goes back in time to prevent the humans from developing a Stargate programme, and uses his knowledge of the future to build an impregnable galactic Goa’uld empire. Of course, the core of SG-1 –Mitchell (Ben Browder), Carter (Amanda Tapping) and Jackson (Michael Shanks)– manage to avoid being affected by the changed timeline and must convince the leaders of the modified Earth to help them re-set the timeline to its proper continuity.
The science fiction aspects of this story are old hat. The idea of repairing an altered time continuity has been plumbed in pretty much every SF series of note, and by Stargate itself on more than one occasion. What’s new here are three things: (1) Continuum’s movie length allows it to explore the premise with a tad more depth than a mere TV show could; (2) in this version, someone finally mentions the ethical problem with resetting the timeline, specifically that it means affecting the lives –and sometimes preventing the lives– of billions of people who have only known the new timeline; and (3) at one point, the government of the new timeline forced Mitchell, Carter and Jackson to assimilate into the new world, which they do for a whole year. I wish this last bit was more fully fleshed out. Ultimately, watching these beloved characters function in such an emotionally and trying environment is more rewarding and interesting than watching them save the universe –yet again– with guns and space planes.
As alluded to earlier, the writing gets jerky at times. Stargate spent 10 years alluding to a complicated, and possibly romantic, relationship between Jack O’Neill and Sam Cater. But in a scene in which Jack is shot, Carter shouts, “Sir!” instead of “Jack!”, which is what the other team members shout. It seemed odd and cold. In general, emotional depth was missing, and I’m not sure whether to blame the actors, the Director or the writing. The saving graces in this respect were Richard Dean Anderson, Claudia Black and Willian Devane. In a fantastic moment, Anderson effectively conveyed the wounded father beneath his smirking, joking facade; Black was warm and nervous as Vala, yet cold and scary as the Goa’uld Kitesh; and DeVane always steals the scene with his simultaneous gravity and charm.
Continuum feels like yet another love letter to the fans, with cameos aplenty. It features the return of a really aged Richard Dean Anderson (whose rapidly maturing features are in contrast to Ben Browder’s remarkable timelessness), the final performance of the late Don S. Davis (General Hammond), and the return of many of SG-1’s greatest Goa’uld villains: Camulus, Nirrthi, Yu and even Apophis. There is a feeling that this will be the final SG-1 movie, which makes it all the more bittersweet.
As an extended tv show, Continuum is really quite good. As a standalone movie, it falls short of an exciting, epic feel. The most memorable part, for me, is watching Ben Browder hold a gun. He’s the only actor I’ve ever seen on TV or in the movies who seems to know how to cradle a shotgun or assault rifle. It’s actually so noticeable that it’s distracting.
Die-hard fans will love Continuum. Casual fans with some knowledge of the series and its characters will find it mildly entertaining. Newbies will be completely lost. Here’s hoping there’s a third Stargate SG-1 movie. This die-hard fan sure enjoys them.
Review: Star Trek – Of Gods and Men
Official Movie Poster
Fan-made movies/installments/episodes of any show are the ultimate expression of both love and hardcore geekery. And no franchise in the history of science fiction has inspired more such productions than Star Trek; not just any version of Star Trek, either, but the mothership– James Kirk’s original vehicle. There’s something about that pioneering show that continues to inspire enormous dedication and passion from thousands of fans, nearly five decades later.
Prime among such fan efforts is the New Voyages series, which in many ways was a philosophical precursor to the upcoming new “official” Star Trek movie, in that both visions have re-imagined the original iconic characters with new actors, something unthinkable a few years ago. But New Voyages, despite its admirable efforts, good stories and impressive special effects, was always an amateurish fan production. Simply put, the acting sucks and the dialogue and direction are highschoolish. I still heartily recommend all the New Voyages episodes to anyone who adores the orginal Shatner/Nimoy series, but beware that this is just well funded fan fiction.
Enter something called Star Trek: Of Gods and Men. It’s a genuine fan-made full-length Star Trek motion picture, supported by the New Voyages cast and crew, but driven by hardened industry professionals, including actors from all four official Trek series: Star Trek, Deep Space Nine, Voyager and Enterprise. It’s even directed by Tim Russ, who played the Vulcan Tuvok in Star Trek: Voyager.
My understanding of the legalities of such production is limited. But I believe that Paramount lets fans get away with making these video love letters so long as no one tries to disrespect the core material or, more importantly, make any money off of the effort. Therefore, both the New Voyages episodes and this epic Of Gods and Men movie are completely free of charge. To view the latter, just visit the production’s official website, download a bittorrent, or watch the streaming content on Youtube. I recommend the latter. You can begin here:
http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=wEl0vq0CCLU
Now, I am very pleased to report that the movie is good. In fact, I found it more enjoyable that the last couple of official Paramount Star Trek movies (Nemesis and Insurrection)… That is, if you keep reminding yourself that this is a free production put out by mostly amateurs in their free time. Be prepared to forgive some sloppy writing, cheap special effects, sometimes problematic acting and odd pacing and you will be presently surprised by the quality of your overall viewing experience.
The story is set 12 years after Captain Kirk has presumably been killed on the Enterprise B (see Star Trek: Generations), even though we all know he was actually sucked into the Nexus, and would not be killed until Malcolm Mcdowell gets his hands on him 80 years into the future. Suddenly there arrives a mysterious man from the past, a man with strange godlike powers, who is looking menacingly for Kirk. It’s not too much of a spoiler to reveal that this man is the now sexagenarian Charlie Evans from the original series episode Charlie X, in a role played by William Wellman, Jr., who looks eerily like a grown-up Robert Walker, Jr, the original actor who filled Charlie’s shoes.
Charlie lures Uhura, Chekhov and Captain John Harriman (Allan Ruck from Star Trek: Generations) to the planet where still stands the Guardian on the Edge of Forever, that weird time-travelling structure that first wowed us in the best ever Star Trek episode, City on the Edge of Forever. There, Charlie goes back 70 years into the past and murders James Kirk’s pregnant mother, thus preventing the birth of our hero.
Fans of science fiction know what happens next. One pivotal individual, if removed from the soup of factors that establishes causality, can be the difference between the Utopia of the Federation and the nightmare tyranny of the so-called “Galactic Order”, an evil empire led by a mysterious, godlike being whose identity will please and thrill hardcore fans of the original series.
Garret Wang as a tough guy
The movie is driven by a handful of main characters: All Ruck (Harriman), Nichelle Nichols (Uhura), Walter Koenig (Chekhov), Gary Graham (from Enterprise) and to a lesser extent Tim Russ. Also contributing important scenes are Garret Wang (Harry Kim from Star Trek: Voyager), the babe-tastic Chase Masterson (Leeta from Deep Space Nine) and J.G. Hertzler (also from DS9). For the dedicated fanboy, there is literally an armada of cameos from other Trek actors, and part of the fun of this movie is trying to identify the various random aged faces.
Nichols and Koenig are famous not only for their iconic roles, but also for never having been given starring vehicles. Nichols’s timing is a bit off in some of the dialogue, but she does an admirable job nonetheless, and it’s great to see a strong, older, black woman be given something meaty to do on screen, as well as a complete back story. But the real standouts are Koenig and Ruck. These two could, in my opinion, carry their own big budget, cerebral action movie. As Of Gods and Men shows us, you don’t need to be young and spry to be an action star. Both Nichols and Koenig are in their 70s, while Ruck is just under 60. Their dynamic is believable and sometimes even touching.
It’s difficult to put a finger on exactly why I found this admittedly cheap and sloppy production so engaging. Maybe because it was cheap and sloppy? You can only do so much with volunteer labour and private funding, with no expectation of profit or even of recouping your investment. I think that a big part of the movie’s appeal is that it’s not trying to steal our cash; it doesn’t care about attracting viewers or sponsors. There will be no one trying to hock models of the spaceships designed for the film. There is no Burger King tie-in or on-screen product placement. There are no superfluous characters who have been added in the background only because they “look cool” and thus can be marketed as an action figure. There is no focus-group casting or test audience re-editing. This is a pure, though flawed, artistic effort with a singular intent: to express love for the core material and to share that love with the fans.
If you need to see $10 million on the screen, you will not enjoy this film. If you need your acting and dialogue to have been workshopped and test marketed, you will not enjoy this film. If you’ve only seen a couple of the original Star Trek episodes, you will not enjoy this film. But if you are over 25 years old (preferably over 40!) and have spent a goodly chunk of your life watching and re-watching the various incarnations of Roddenberry’s greatest brainchild, then I strongly suspect that Star Trek: Of Gods and Men will be an enjoyable experience for you, and may even bring you some closure for the lesser characters on whom the major motion pictures could not afford to waste valuable screen time.
I, for one, hope there’s a sequel.
Indiana Jones And The Kingdom of the Crystal Turd
This article was originally a blog post.
The following contains spoilers for the movie, Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull…
About four years ago I was horrified when my girlfriend at the time mentioned casually how she did not care for any of the Indiana Jones movies. Instead, she preferred the piece of steaming crap we had just finished seeing: Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow. I knew then that the relationship was doomed to failure.
For a generation of sofa-bound adventure types, the Jones movies are the pinnacle of laddish delights. Through them, we travel to a time and place where intellect and two-fisted bravado can coexist, where the good guys are really good, and the bad guys are the worst of the worst. It’s a place where clues are solved with both your brain and your testicles, and where mind, heart and spirit conjoin to produce heroism in its most profound form.
Thus, the twenty year wait between the 3rd movie (Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade) and this fourth one promised a return to the purity of that form. In the interim, some of us inspired by Indy have ourselves become adventuring professors who trek through jungles, savannahs and mountaintops in search of strangeness, romance and exotic infections.
Well, I’m here to report that the new movie is very enjoyable. But it’s also a great disappointment.
Where to start? Yes, Ford (and thus Indy) are now 66 years old. That’s okay. The film even makes a few aging jokes. But given that he’s 66, maybe it’s not so convincing that he’s beating up tough Red Army soldiers half his age? I would have much preferred to have seen an emeritus adventurer directing his little young proteges about.
Karen Allen, while ten years younger than Ford, has aged well for an average woman, but poorly for a Hollywood starlet. Sharing a screen with 39 year old Cate Blanchett, who looks fan-freaking-tastic, doesn’t help her much either. But Allen’s role doesn’t call for her to be the hot young thing anymore; it calls for her to be spunky and worthy of Indy’s heroics to save her. Sadly, their supposed re-budding romance just looked more like an episode of the Love Boat. Eww.
Then there’s Shia LaBoeuf as Indy’s son. Yes, his son. Why does Indy need a son? Why does Superman need a son? What is with Hollywood and its recent celebration of the absentee father? It’s too cute, too convenient, too trite.
The action was way over the top. This was more a video game than an Indy movie. The old Indy crawled under moving vehicles and was bruised and beaten for his efforts. The modern Indy –and his son– straddle speeding jeeps while rapier-dueling, and neither emerges with a bruise. All too convenient.
See, there’s a line between campy and stupid, and this movie crosses that line often. Here are three examples: Indy survives a nuclear explosion by hiding in a refrigerator. Read that again. Then his son swings from tree vines like Tarzan, leading his own army of monkeys. Seriously. And –get this– Indy gets pulled out of a sandpit, using a live python as a rope. Stupidity abounds.
And lastly….. aliens? Haven’t Lucas and Spielberg given us enough aliens already? Indy has always been about ancient cultures and their connections to indefinable deities. By defining the deities as space aliens, the movie is dragged from mysterious to hokey. Me not like. And don’t get me started on how ridiculously fake that crystal skull looked. Geez Louise.
Anyway, colour me disappointed. This could have been a tremendous film, an opportunity to really show how an aging adventurer could hold his own mentally instead of physically, in a changing world that no longer appreciates his style. But no. Instead, we get the Love Boat.
At least I still have the terrific TV series, Young Indiana Jones. No aliens show up in that one.
The Greatest Science Fiction Films
This article was originally a blog post, published Aug 7, 2007
In this searing heat, I can’t seem to sustain a consistent high-level thought. So today instead of sociopolitical analyses, you get more entertainment news dithering. I saw a slew of new movies this past week. Here’s the rundown:
The Simpsons – passable for kids and for non-longterm fans. For the rest of us, though, this was shallow disappointment.
Sunshine – looks great, sounds great; first 2/3 were really compelling. But it fell apart in the final 20 minutes. Ecch.
The Bourne Ultimatum – perhaps the perfect action movie. Doesn’t talk down to you in any way.
Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix – the 2nd best of the series so far (after The Prisoner of Azkaban). Stunning images.
Somewhere in this process, I decided to list the greatest science fiction films of all time. To do so, I had to decide upon a definition of “science fiction”. I decided that something is science fiction if it employs speculative science as a core element in its narrative. Star Wars does not qualify, for example, because its story could have taken place anywhere and anytime; the robots and spaceships were mere accessories not critical to the narrative.
So here’s my top 5. Feel free to add your own in the comments section.
5. Gattaca – Elegant, intellectual and moody, this film explores the meaning of humanity in a world in which we can select and design the biological trappings of humanity.
4. The Day The Earth Stood Still – How would humans react to an alien… really?
3. Planet Of The Apes – It’s got it all: spaceships, time travel, strange evolution… the ultimate hodgepodge of 1970s sci-fi ideas.
2. Blade Runner – Again, an exploration of what it means to be human, when humans can now be grown in vats.
1. 2001: A Space Odyssey – This was the first book I read cover-to-cover in one sitting. It’s a rare film that embraces grand ideas that inspire, challenge and uplift, and doesn’t bother to dumb it down.
Did I miss any?
2001
Blade Runner
Planet of the Apes
The Day The Earth Stood Still
GattacaReview: Stargate Sg-1 – “The Ark of Truth”
A long time ago, there was this great movie called Stargate, which surprised everyone by presenting a smart, well-acted, science-fiction adventure that was accessible to the slobbering masses. It successfully plumbed the tired old Erik von Daniken theories… you know, the ones about aliens visiting ancient cultures on Earth and helping our forebears to build such things as the Pyramids of Egypt (because, obviously, they were too dumb to do it without extraterrestrial help).
Stargate told of US airforce officers travelling to a distant planet by means of a “stargate”, a doorway to a wormhole, to meet a population of humans enslaved by an alien posing as an Egyptian god. For a surprisingly large demographic of viewers who were fascinated by both science fiction and ancient history, Stargate was pure gold.
Interestingly, the movie was successfully translated to the small scene with the creation of Stargate: SG-1, a show whose premise built upon the whole aliens-did-your-grandmother thing by suggesting that the galaxy is teeming with life -human life- brought there by meddling dictatorial aliens. The premise was fantastic and, via the perfect plot device of the stargate itself, allowed for some great adventures.
But Stargate: SG-1 surprised many of us by not just being a Star Trek rip-off or a throwaway weekend adventure show. Stargate was smart and adult. I didn’t discover the show until well into its 3rd season, and was shocked to find stories that were internally consistent and that did not talk down to its audience with meaningless technobabble or “particle of the week”. Facts that we learned about the physics of the stargate were consistently applied and incorporated into actual physics, making the show all the more plausible and exciting.
Stargate quickly became my favourite TV show. I have likened it to “comfort food” because I knew that each week would bring me the intelligence, adventure and good production that I craved in a television show.
Unbelievably, despite repeated threats of cancellation and moves to different networks, Stargate secured a run as the longest continuously broadcast science fiction show in American TV history, capping its 10th and final season with an elegant and intimate finale. Yet many in the mainstream TV-watching audience had never seen an episode or had even heard of the show. Though it was survived by its weaker spin-off, Stargate: Atlantis, the intimacy, quality, respect and intelligence of SG-1 did not resonate with a large enough audience to merit its rescue from the network hitmen.
Clearly, there was a dedicated audience of die-hard fans keeping the show alive all this time. It was to this hardcore group that the first direct-to-dvd post-cancellation SG-1 movie was targeted. Called “The Ark of Truth”, this feature length offering tied up all the loose ends from the last 2 seasons, but wasted no time in filling in a back story for new or casual viewers. This was for dedicated fans only.
Viewed in that context, the movie works fine. The story is simple. The great villains of the last 2 seasons, the Ori, are dead, but their followers persist in their crusade to, of course, invade our galaxy and enslave all humans, etc. The team, minus the beloved and much missed Richard Dean Anderson, must locate the fabled “ark of truth”, which can finally put an end to the Ori threat. This means that they finally get to go to the Ori galaxy, a plot development that allows for some great space visuals.
Shot on 35 mm film and scored beautifully, it has that big screen look and sound. But it still has a small screen feel. And this is a problem. One of my beefs with Stargate is how every alien planet looks like British Columbia, and how every alien society is essentially a bunch of white folks in torn felt, walking around Pioneer Village while speaking without contractions. This was foregiveable in the TV show, with its limited budget and time. But with the new powers granted to a full-length movie, surely some money could have been spared for more believable alien environs? I would have preferred less spectacle and more authenticity.
The story itself is disappointing, complete with my least favourite resolution device, the deus ex machina ending… literally. There were plot holes and lazy elements aplenty, many of which could have been addressed with a bit more screen time. But instead of allowing for that time, there is an extended and pointless scene of one character climbing to the top of a mountain. Yes, it looked great, but didn’t really advance the storyline much.
It pains me to criticize a Stargate offering, but “The Ark of Truth” is lesser than many of the show’s best episodes. But as a two-part episode, it would have functioned well as a broadcast finale on regular television.
Despite its flaws, “The Ark of Truth” accomplishes its goal, to tie up loose ends for dedicated fans. Casual viewers will not find this offering appealing in the least. But this hardcore SG-1 fan was pleased to see these characters flash across my screen once more, and I’m glad I invested the time to enjoy this bit of nostalgia. I have greater faith in the next SG-1 movie, however. Called “Continuum”, I suspect it focuses more on a good story and less on playing with an expanded budget.
