Mild Profanity, Intense Battle Scenes, Some Intense Scenes
102 Minutes
Written By: Brad Wright and Jonathan Glassner
Directed By: Robert C. Cooper
Staring: Amanda Tapping, Ben Browder, Christopher Judge, Michael Shanks, Beau Bridges, Claudia Black, Gary Jones, Currie Graham, Tim Guinee, Morena Baccarin, Sarah Strange, Micheal Beach, and Julian Sands
Yeah, that’s how we felt when we defeated the Goa’uld. And The Replicators. The first time… -Samantha Carter
Review
Whew! Season Ten finally feels finished now, and the film still ends with everyone walking threw the Gate onto another mission. Though this part of their story is over, the journey continues. That is true Stargate form. I really enjoyed Season Ten’s finale episode though it was popular among most fans, but this really gives the viewers a closure that they needed and desired.
The Asgard have left Earth as the Fifth race. While they have diminished, they’ve given Earth all of their knowledge and technology. The humans contain this information solely on the ship The Odyssey where the Asgard Core resides. While Stargate Command has struck a huge Coup in destroying the Ori themselves, they still have their legions to do battle with, and though the Ori are gone, they believe just as fervently in their power. It’s up to SG-1 to find a way to enlighten a Galaxy of people who have worshipped false Gods and committed unnumbered atrocities in their names. It is no easy task as Daniel Jackson is in search of “The Ark Of Truth”. A piece of technology created by the ancients made solely to influence ones mind to hear the truth. In the meantime, Colonel Mitchell and Carter find themselves battling an old foe aboard the Odyssey, and all are helpless to defend Earth which is being surrounded by Ori ships, near it’s wake of destruction.
What separated Ark Of Truth from a regular SG-1 episode weren’t too many details. The biggest was obviously the budget. You could see the special effects team and directer/creator Robert Cooper were kids in a candy store with some of the long drawn out shots of landscapes, and also one pretty amazing trip threw the wormhole into the Ori galaxy. The shots of the Odyssey and the Ori ships were exemplary and was a new and fun way to see the show viewers have been stalking for ten years realized once again. I believe the Replicators were only written into the script so they could use the amazing CGI to really capture them, and it worked.
There were a few moments where the show was confused as to whether or not it was a full scale film or a two part episode and so there met a few awkward scenes that seemed to lose sight of the massive scale of the movie. The very cool CGI exoskeleton Replicator was wicked to look at, but the Terminator music in the back round was a bit much for a movie. Actually, bringing the Replicators back again, is becoming a source of irritation for me. We get they are formidable enemies, and it’s easier to relate to a known enemy that create a new one, but let’s not begin to get repetitive and unoriginal. Some of the shows regular tongue in cheek humour does get lost in the spectrum of things and doesn’t fit. These were only a few moments that I think had more to do with adjusting to making a film instead of a show. Also, these guys only had sixteen days to film this. The end result is pretty amazing.
Bringing Sarah Strange, Morena Baccarin, Michael Beech, and Tim Guinee back for this film really gave it an authentic Stargate feel. Not only did we have our regular cast but the character’s that helped build the point of the Ark to it’s finale were there as well. Having the Asgard core and it’s technology to go along with added to the already built excitement. The interaction of Vala and anyone had it’s same witty bite to it, Mitchell’s excessive bravado that ends humbly, the connection between Tomin and Teal’C, and the vague suggestion of Carter letting Mitchell take over SG-1 entirely, as she was shortly on her way to command Atlantis. There strength of all these relationships and the dedication to their character’s core is what really makes Stargate.
The cast of SG-1 easily slip back into their character’s, but Claudia Black in particular was really nailing her performance as Vala. She once again has a cluster of different emotions and reactions to display and does them like the brilliant chameleon she is. Outside of her performance I enjoyed Tim Guinee as Tomin. He plays Tomin so subtly and so genuinely and this movie his character goes through a massive change, though very similar to the one Teal’C did in the Pilot for the show. Showing how his character has come full circle in that period of time was very poetic, and it gave Tomin even more conflict to his character. Excellent character work for both of them.
Stargate fans are going to love this and though it gave some necessary closure, they are going to want more of it. With Continuum just around the bend, I’m hoping this is going to be a familiar trend starting. Brad Wright and Robert Cooper have created something that just isn’t ready to end. I agree it was time for the show to end, but this is a different animal entirely, something fresh and different for a universe that still has infinite possibilities. For folks that aren’t die hard SG-1 fans, a lot will be missed on you in this film, but it’s still a TON of fun, and I implore you to at least give it a rental, you may be surprised and find yourself compelled to check the show out as well. There’s a good reason it lasted for Ten Seasons. This was an excellent end to an amazing series. I give the Ark of Truth a fairly biased Three out of Four Stars.
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i am a huge stargate dork. i have watched every movie, episode and show. I’m re watching season 7 of sg1. I dont know how i feel about SGU yet though. definitely not enjoying it.
I didn’t like SGU from the beginning- the characters all had too much baggage and Robert Carlyle was so over-the-top devious he could have worn a t-shirt saying ‘I’m the conflicted mad scientist-slash-bad guy’ and saved the writers a lot of time on pointless dialogue. I watched it enough times to realize I didn’t care enough to remember any of the characters’ names- except for Eli. At first I thought he was going to be the first gay character on Stargate, but then they contrived a ridiculous subplot about him pining away for some one dimensional female character. Then to give the ship the preposterous name ‘Destiny’, impying that this situation was put into play millions of years ago by the Ancients and these bickering, self-absorbed characters in search of a plot were part of some great design. Please. I loved the original movie and the subsequent series- even Atlantis was entertaining, except for the Wraith (where do I begin?). When the brough Atlantis back to earth, it seemed like the series could have taken an amazing turn. But, no- somebody came up with Stargate Universe. Yawn. I didn’t watch the last season, but went online out of curiosity and read the recap. The last episode sounded good, then read that there are some diehard geeks hoping for a movie…… No thanks- really!