Stargate: The Ark of Truth

July 24, 2008

Rated: Not Rated Runtime: 102 min Rating: 3 out of 5 stars

STARGATE SG-1, a pretty good TV series spinoff of the rather mediocre movie STARGATE, went on for 10 seasons, a record for science fiction TV shows. But it was cancelled abruptly and the last episode aired in June 2007. The producers of the show didn’t have time to wrap up the Ori storyline, so this straight-to-DVD movie came out in March 2008.

STARGATE: THE ARK OF TRUTHWhen we last tuned in to the ongoing struggle against the Ori, ascended beings from another galaxy trying to get everybody in our galaxy to believe in their religion or die, our heroes had unleashed a weapon that (they think) wiped out all the Ori. Unfortunately, the human minions of the Ori, the Priors (basically fanatical priests who make the Spanish Inquisition look like a pack of playground bullies), are still around.

This time, Daniel Jackson, Samantha Carter, Teal’c, Cameron Mitchell, and Vala try to locate an ancient secret weapon: One that will brainwash the Ori Priors into learning the truth. That is, it’ll make them get on the side of The Good Guys.

This seems a little morally ambiguous, and they touch on that briefly, but onward. For the first time, the Stargate team flies a ship through the Supergate into the Ori galaxy.

Once there, everybody but Mitchell beams down to another planet that looks like forest around Vancouver to look for this weapon. Meanwhile, Mitchell’s ship in orbit is threatened by an overzealous Earth bureaucrat, and, eventually, an old enemy.

This is a good wrapup to the Ori storyline. At about 2-1/2 times the length of a regular episode, it doesn’t feel like just another episode either. And the production values are higher (as we see with a lot of shots of Teal’c striding majestically over a mountain range).

Either you’re a fan of STARGATE SG-1 or you’re not; if you’ve never seen the TV series, this probably isn’t going to wow you, but if you did watch it, this is a nice wrapup of loose ends.

DVD Extras: They did a good job with these (unlike the bare-bones DVD for FARSCAPE: THE PEACEKEEPER WARS). There’s a commentary track with the director, the director of photography, and Christopher Judge. A 9-minute PRELUDE which gives a synopsis of seasons 9 and 10 of STARGATE SG-1, in case you missed some of it or have forgotten details. A 20-minute Q&A filmed at the 2007 San Diego Comic-Con with the cast. And a 30-minute Making Of documentary (Uncovering The Ark of Truth).

Posted by Mack Guffin | Filed Under Action, Amanda Tapping, Beau Bridges, Ben Browder, Christopher Judge, Claudia Black, DVD, Michael Shanks, Morena Baccarin, SciFi 

Seen it? How many stars do you give it?

1 Star2 Stars3 Stars4 Stars5 Stars (No Ratings Yet)
Loading ... Loading ...

Comments

One Response to “Stargate: The Ark of Truth”

  1. Mack Guffin on July 24th, 2008 6:21 pm

    And on Tuesday, July 29th the second straight-to-DVD STARGATE SG-1 movie comes out, STARGATE: CONTINUUM.

    Since the Ori storyline was wrapped up in STARGATE: THE ARK OF TRUTH, this one is a stand-alone time-travel tale.

    Richard Dean Anderson returns.

    Scenes were filmed in the Arctic.

    YouTube trailer.

Got something to say?

You must be logged in to post a comment.