Announcement

**entil2001** · 18 March 2008, 02:17 PM

It has been quite some time since the series finale for “Stargate SG-1”. Since then, an entire season of “Stargate: Atlantis” has aired, a writers’ strike has come and gone, and several new fall shows have been sampled and cancelled. The point is very simply this: only the most devoted fans will come into this DVD with a solid memory of the plot threads leading into the story. This will no doubt limit the mass appeal of the release.

“The Ark of Truth” is the grand finale of the Ori plot arc, which began in the ninth season premiere and ran over the course of two full seasons. The DVD comes with a short but sweet “prelude” covering all the salient points from the series itself, but it covers just enough to remind fans of what they’ve forgotten and thoroughly confuse the uninitiated. I had to watch it twice just to feel prepared for the actual film, and I like to think that I have a fairly good internal geek memory.

The film itself feels like what it is: Season 11 with all the filler taken out, compressed into just under two hours of content. It takes very little time for the story to unfold, and quite often, events seem to happen without much setup, just to make sure the plot dots are connected. This isn’t necessarily a bad thing, because the desire to see a good ending to the Ori arc overrides most of the annoyances.

I’ve always been a fan of the Ori arc, and when the series finale chose to focus on a stand-alone story instead of a grand resolution, I was disappointed. It’s a credit to the writers that they managed to take one of the few key continuity elements of the series finale (the acceptance of the Asgard memory core) and link it into the film script.

The story itself is straightforward enough. SG-1 discovers that the perfect anti-Ori weapon, naturally called the Ark of Truth, may still exist. It is designed to “program”, for lack of a better word, someone into believing whatever the programmer wants someone to believe. The Ancients, losing their battle against the Ori millions of years earlier, conceived of the Ark as a weapon of last resort. They chose not to use it in the end, and thought it destroyed.

While the Ark serves as a rather convenient plot device (because that’s exactly what it is), the writers don’t skimp on the ramifications of its purpose. Daniel in particular has some moral misgivings about resolving the Ori problem by essentially overriding free will. It’s a great question to ask, and the film would have been a bit better if more time had been spent on the debate. Instead, it was a light shading over the bulk of the action.

The writers do show, based on previous continuity, how hearts and minds can be influenced without the use of the Ark. Tomin, Vala’s erstwhile husband from the Ori’s home galaxy, decides to defect and help SG-1 end the war. He helps them track down the likely location of the Ark, which is (of course) the central Ori planet. Thus a mission is prepared to send SG-1 through the Supergate into Ori space.

This brings up two nice bits of continuity. First, there’s the open question of whether or not the Ori survived the anti-Ascended weapon that was tossed through the Supergate in an earlier episode (as seen in the prelude). The answer, surprisingly, is that the weapon was successful; the continued power held by the Priors suggested otherwise. Unfortunately, because the Orisi Adria was allowed to Ascend (again, covered during the series and in the prelude), she gained the full power of all the Ori as accumulated by their worshippers. This is, as one would imagine, not a good thing.

Second, since the end of the war with the System Lords (the end of the eighth season of the series), the IOA had been exerting more and more control over Stargate Command. They assign one of their more forthright agents to the mission. Agent Marrick is the typical IOA pain in the neck, with an agenda all his own, and his true purpose complicates the mission tremendously (and, in effect, takes something away from the focus on the Ori War).

Once arriving at the location of the Ark, the team is split into two intersecting plot threads. Daniel, Teal’c, Vala, and Tomin all hunt down the Ark on the surface, while Carter, Mitchell, and Marrick remain on the Odyssey in orbit. The writers clearly wanted to isolate the ground team to ramp up the tension, so the remaining characters are given quite an ordeal on the Odyssey. The time, however, might have been better spent.

If there is one concept that has been overused within the Stargate franchise, it’s the Replicators. The writers for “Stargate: Atlantis” gave them a new twist as the Asurans, but most of the episodes devoted to the Replicators boil down to the same thing: blow up tinker toys before they kill everyone. It’s a bit tedious by now. While the IOA’s plan to use SG-1’s mission as a pretext for introducing the Replicators as their own anti-Ori weapon was certainly interesting, it was ultimately a distraction.

Not only that, but it was a poorly conceived distraction. RepliMarrick was inconsistently depicted and the idea of a human controlled by a Replicator seemed like something out of a bad Saturday night Sci-Fi Channel production. The faux-Terminator moment at the end of the nigh-interminable fight was not at all impressive, and it’s hard to imagine that Mitchell could take that kind of punishment and live.

The same applies to Teal’c and his injury, though his tenacity has been seen on several occasions. His survival, however, relies on Morgan LeFey, who becomes (like the Ark itself) a story convenience. She also helps Daniel through his torture at the hands of the Priors, and takes on Adria when her power source is broken. Thankfully her involvement in the situation was already established, or her intervention would have been even more unusual.

With a bit more time (perhaps a mini-series), the writers could have developed a resolution to the Ori arc that relied less on convenience and familiar trappings. There might also have been more time for the delicate morality of the Ark’s intended use to be explored. Most of the characters get sufficient screen time, in keeping with their strengths, but the Replicator plot thread took something away from Mitchell’s overall portion.

Now that the Ori arc is complete, however, the “SG-1” DVD films can move on to cover other dangling plot elements, such as the Lucien Alliance or Ba’al’s control of the Trust. For that matter, given time, a strong stand-alone concept could be developed. The trick will be making it all seem distinct and necessary, especially with “Stargate: Atlantis” still on the air. On the other hand, given the longevity of the franchise, it shouldn’t be too much of a challenge.

John Keegan
Reprinted with permission
Original source: c. Critical Myth, 2008
All rights reserved
Link: http://www.criticalmyth.com

**Smiley4554** · 21 March 2008, 02:14 PM

With 10 Seasons and a Movie, fans would have preferred an eleventh season. Morality has always been the driving force of the Stargate SG-1. Simplistic in its design, it is no less in the “Ark of Truth”, and the actors continue to portray this in an exceptional manner. The haste of the pace of the movie is lessened by the immediate familiarity of the characters, the actors, the special effects, the writing, producing and directing of the film. The special effects, while first rate were secondary only to the actors and their portrayal of morality, while minor continuity is not an important consideration or aspect of the film, and the symbols representing these moral dilemmas.

In the first few minutes, the Alterans (Merlin) struggle between the right to know the truth and Morgan who refuses to compromise her beliefs to destroy others. When the first “ark” is found at Dakara, Daniel Jackson and Vala Maldoran exhibit this same moral question whether or not to open the ark followed by Tomin who is faced with the moral dilemma of whether to obey the Prior and kill SG-1.

The most powerful of these moral delimmas is portrayed by Christopher Judge and Tim Guinee as Teal’c and Tomin. Tomin, in Season Ten, after Vala challenges him about the Book of Origin, began to question the Prior on the Book of Origins, citing discrepancies in the destruction of innocent human beings using Vala’s point. We find this question of morality at its best with the conversation between Teal’c and Tomin. For the first time, his admission about his feelings is expressed with the silent yet painful conversation between the two which cuts into the soul of the viewer. Tomin’s question how to forget combined with Teal’c’s reply that Tomin will never forgive himself is a testament to a torture deep in one’s soul coupling a hope that he can live by serving others which is a time-honored way of going on in one’s life. For a show to put two together for such a poignant moment that have not acted opposite each other much, was truly soul rendering. It shows the true morality of man’s struggling with self. Teal’c’s lone walk is a testament to one who must walk alone with his past, and either one lands on his face or gets back up, and continues on.

Michael Shanks also delivers another powerful performance during Daniel Jackson’s torture. Daniel Jackson has been the heart, soul, and morality center over the entire Ten years. He sees everything in almost black and white being the rock and anchor of SG-1. In Season Nine, Daniel Jackson makes a statement to O’Neill that for the first time, he is truly frightened by the Ori which continues in Season Ten into the film. His torture by the Doci completely disables his mind and soul, and the torture of the mind is far worse than torture of the body. He is the symbol of all innocents who have been tortured and killed at the hands of the Ori, and other villains with no morality. His subsequent vulnerability at giving up can happen to the best of people.

The similar tortures of Vala and Tomin symbolize those who have destroyed others while adhering to a belief, and that their torture will go on forever without retribution. While Mitchell suffers his own torture at the hands of a replicator, and like Jackson, his giving up to let the replicator destroy him. The morality, in itself, of giving up can be soul wrenching. No one wants to give up, but in the face of torture, what would we do?

In stark contrast, the Ori and the Replicators represent no morality whatsoever. I’d even include the Ancients in this one (along with the other villains in the past). None have a moral compass, and therefore, don’t care. Morality is caring while immorality does not. Therein lays the difference between the Ori and the human world. They all want to dominate the galaxy, make slaves and worshippers out of the humans, and kill any who do not acquiesce to their rules.

The IOA must also be included in the immorality fight, because they don’t care how they destroy the Ori, even if they have to kill others. While their claim is to save Earth at any cost, the truth is they care nothing for humans save themselves. Merrick is the perfect example of no morality at all, being a puppet first of the IOA, and then, of the Replicators, only to discover at the last the truth.

The final moral argument comes in the form of Adria who has ascended. She is much as all rulers in that she wants all to worship her, and she doesn’t care how she does it. The symbolism of the fiery Adria is one that is the culmination of all the evil SG-1 has encountered.

Truth is always a beacon of light, and the opening of the Ark with the key being the evil is classically ironic. But, the largest irony of all is that Morgan who stopped the Ark from being used, once the truth was revealed, is the one who defeats the evil Adria – at least we hope so. But, with Stargate SG-1, one never knows what will happen next.

With eagerness, true Stargate SG-1 fans await the next chapter in the exploration of the galaxies and the continuing battle of right and wrong, good and evil, and the morality of both. Whether they decide to continue with our old adversaries the Goa’uld, the Lucien Alliance (a mosquito), another “bad guy”, or Adria and the Ancients returning, it will interesting to see if they can top themselves. I have no doubt that they can give Ten Years of outstanding writing, producing, performances, and all that go with Stargate SG-1.

**Rachel500** · 25 March 2008, 04:32 AM

The Ark of Truth delivers a slice of Stargate entertainment as SG1 get back to saving the galaxy. Drama, action and special effects abound in a tightly written script which succeeds in wrapping up the Ori story. It is not without its flaws; the pacing is off, the story rarely attempts depth, and only Teal’c truly gets showcased as a character. Indeed, while on one level I found myself enjoying the movie immensely, on another I find that it embodies much of what I disliked about the last two seasons of Stargate SG1.

Where the movie succeeded in spades was in delivering entertainment. Slow to set-up, when it got going, it was easy to get swept along in its wake. There is little doubt that much of that came from the action and special effects. The realisation of the Replicator battle on the Odyssey was wonderfully done – the RepliSkeleton a fantastically scary invention even if it did remind me of the original Terminator movie. Adria constantly aflame was stunning, and the clash between the Ascended beings also visually very effective, (although I did find Morgan slightly reminiscent of Casper the Ghost at times).

The movie also succeeded in concluding the Ori arc. The quest for the never-before-heard-of-but-answer-to-everything Ark means at the end the universe has reset with all major enemies defeated, leaving the slate wide open for further movies to be more stand alone in nature. Robert Cooper does deserve credit for writing a script that picks up all the dangling threads and provides answers. Yet it is also within the script that the flaws start to seep in. Given the compressed time, it seems strange to me that the whole story isn’t mostly given over to the main plot. Instead, the action is split between the quest for the Ark, a Replicator sub-plot and the invasion of Earth mini-plot. The mish-mash ruins the pacing at times and the overall result is that the Ori arc skims the surface.

The issue of a technology that can effectively remove free will is never truly explored and little time is spent on the mythology and the Ancients beyond the set-up of the Ark and Daniel’s short scene with Morgan. The arc had previously attempted a more ambiguous framework around good and evil which is abandoned. What we end up with is a story with very little substance beyond the tying up of loose ends. As a result, the characters miss out. When Vala is given scenes, they lack drama. The confrontation with Adria comes nowhere close to those in S10’s Dominion and Vala’s relationship with Tomin lacks the previous conflict and emotional connection. Claudia Black does a good job in trying to convey the emotions that should be in the scene but she can only do so much with so little provided by the script.

Michael Shanks fares little better with Daniel. Daniel, at least, is given a central role as he’s the one having visions about the Ark and the one intent on its discovery. The story arc allows his past to be explored – although never in depth – and his continuing disillusionment with the Ancients. Most of the meat of it is distilled into one scene with Morgan (wonderfully acted by Shanks) and the final denouement. Disappointingly his role in beginning the chain of events is swept aside as though unimportant where it should have been shown to have had an impact as it did in Origin.

The surprise character in this final Ori arc story is actually Teal’c. The arc had previously attempted to use the Jaffa to draw parallels with the fight against the Goa’uld but unsuccessfully. Here it manages to do so by paralleling Tomin’s defection with Teal’c’s. The scene in the mess is incredibly powerful as Teal’c opens up to Tomin; excellent acting by both Chris Judge and Tim Guinee. Additionally, the rest of Teal’c’s story is just wonderful.

It’s a stark contrast to Sam and Mitchell who get relegated to the sub-plot, and Landry even more isolated with the mini-plot. The Ori arc never attempted to emotionally connect any of the military characters to events so perhaps it’s unsurprising that it failed to do so again. Landry’s plot is nonsensical; an invasion of seven ships who simply wait instead of attacking even though apparently the Ark only works one galaxy at a time? No drama, no tension. The mini-plot was poorly executed.

The Replicator sub-plot isn’t as badly executed although the fact that it is there at all casts doubt on whether Cooper believes his original Ori concept had the strength to stand alone. The set-up of the sub-plot with Merrick (very well played by Currie Graham) is done well and it delivered tension, drama and action. Unfortunately, that very tension is down to the simplistic shoot ‘em up scenario it degenerated into with Sam stuck to the computer and Mitchell to battling a RepliMerrick Zombie. Browder and Tapping are fantastic actors but here, the word wasted comes to mind. For me, this was the embodiment of all that was bad from a characterisation perspective in Season 9; Sam demoted to science exposition and Mitchell going it alone. Maybe having Mitchell battling a Zombie single-handedly was meant to be an ironic humorous nod to fans; I wasn’t impressed.

At least, the teaminess so well developed in Season 10 emerges unscathed with multiple scenes of the team backing each other up from Sam backing up Mitchell with Merrick to Daniel gaining hope when Teal’c appears and the final walk up to the Stargate of the whole team.

Ultimately, this team feeling, the epic battles and the overall quality production of the movie delivers an entertaining finale to the Ori arc. I might wish for a better story with more substance and character development, one that acknowledges the very missed Jack O’Neill, but if I got the worst of the previous Seasons’ flaws, I also got its best success; a reformed SG1 teaminess that seeps from the screen as SG1 save the galaxy again.

**Dr. Michael Benjamin** · 02 April 2008, 07:19 PM

Hi. This was my review of AoT from another thread. I thought it might come in handy here. Thanks.

After watching the entire movie on youtube I'd like to share my opinion. Maybe I'm crazy but one of the expectations I had prior to seeing it was that at some point in the film SG-1 would oh I don't know..actually USE the stargate. I don't want to give anything away here but the only gate travel SG-1 does is with the supergate....once. The rest of the movie is a random assortment of sequences that appeared to be a mix created from the cutting room floor from the last two seasons of the series. It starts out promising enough with a feel of an episode of SG-1 with Daniel doing his best Indiana Jones archeologist and humorous banter ala Valla. However things quickly devolve into a Star Trek rip off. Why, when you have a fantastic plot device such as a stargate, do you opt for the tired "shields up" sci-fi standby? I cannot understand this. Perhaps in a brilliant attempt to remind the viewer that this is indeed Stargate, the writers continue to dismantle the wonder that was SG-1 by lifting a plot from an episode of the original Star Trek. More accurately maybe the film should have been named Stargate: The Trouble with Tribbles....umm....Replicators. Replete with our stalwart heroes beaming all over, locking horns with Ori ships and a shallow, flaming ubervillaness who acts more like a spoiled trust fund baby rather than an all powerful semi-omnipotent force of evil. Ark of Truth seems to be not a grand send off to the Ori story but a eulogy to a once marvelous and creative TV series. I won't spoil the movie for anyone else but the film focuses more on the Replicator issue than with the Ark itself. Its a shame because there seemed to be a very interesting backstory to the device and could have brought a very nice element of continuity to the story but, again, the writers chose to stick with the flashy sci-fi aspect (as though they want the viewer to truly understand that the FX budget is bigger because we're watching a straight to DVD concoction rather than an SG-1 episode) instead of reaching back to the events of remote antiquity that separated Stargate from the rest of the pack. I sat at the end and was expecting more. If you are a fan of neat and cohesive endings that answer your questions or even give you a sense of closure this won't do it. Many things may remain for you to ponder after you've watched the movie. For example: What exactly happens to Adria? (seeing her get her comeuppance from the Ascended would have been especially sweet), how exactly does the Ark work? (again.....could have been a really fascinating point), or why did we spend nearly half the movie watching our heroes trying to figure out a way to defeat an enemy that had supposedly already been defeated? I'm sorry to say this film is a real dissappointment. It almost seemed like the writers were rolling their collective eyes at fans who had the audacity to be dissatisfied when SG-1 was suddenly (and abruptly) ended. I could imagine what their brainstorming meetings entailed...the PTB sitting around a big table: "How can we shut these people up and how can we do it as quickly as possible? Ahh I know how about a stright-to-DVD B flick? There you go...heres a few dollars, sign up the actors and lets have this done with. After all we here at Sci-Fi have better jems to worry about....such as Flash Gordon and ECW." Despite its downfalls Ark of Truth still (even if its in name only) is Stargate, for that I have to give it 2 out of 5 stars. I don't really see anything in this film that makes me want to watch it again. Maybe others will like it.....I certainly do not.

**Thunderbird 2** · 02 May 2008, 02:11 PM

I haven't done an "offical" review for Gateworld before so please bear with me....

I have been a Stargate fan since I saw Children Of The Gods, the first episode of SG1. I saw the original film after that (Eh?) and have followed SG1 over the last 10 years and got into Atlantis for the first two years. (You never bump off your best characters!!) - Does Ark Of Truth tick all the relivent boxes? Well, lets see...

To end a tv series in a way to close the storylines and make everyone happy ain't easy, as Babylon 5 and Star Trek have shown. Ark Of Truth has to conclude SG1's Ori storyline (which in itself could have kept the series going for another two years?) as well as provide some character resolution and a sense of finality. - This is where the series really ends after all.

AOT has many things in its favour. To begin with, everyone in the cast hits their marks. The regular cast are clearly happy to be closing this chapter of SG1's life in a meaningful way and each actor suceeds in putting their all into it. This is esspecially true of Ben Browder who gets to really show how much pressure (both emotional and physical) Col Mitchell can take. You forget this actor is in his mid forties! Michael Shanks and Claudia Black also get some good scenes with feeling and gravitas. Chris Judge reminds us Teal'c is an enigma on many levels - we learn as much about him as Tomin does when he confesses to Tomin how to deal with the atrocities he has commited.
Only Amanda Tapping suffers as Colonel Carter, getting the technobabble routine, but its the nature of how her character has to work in this particular story. - Plus Carter was about to do a year in command of Atlantis, so she does well out of it! There can't be room for everyone, and Ms Tapping makes good with the pieces she is given. Only Beau Bridges as General Landry seems a little shortchanged, but if he is on Earth while SG1 are in the Ori Galaxy, that cannot be helped. Appearances by Major Marks, Walter, and Colonel Reynolds are pleasing to long term fans, and although Atlantis's "First Strike" will establish Colonel Ellis as a thoroughly unlikeable guy, (that episode is set after this) his brief cameo here reminds us Altantis is sitting only just offstage.
The higher budget, which could have been squandered in lesser hands is used nicely here. Particular favorite scenes include the Odyssey entering the Supergate, a subtle reference to the orginal film there, and shots of Tealc running around the mountains, as well as the final confrontation in Celestus. This is also reflected in Joel Goldsmiths score, which helps emphasise the scale of the stakes, and has pleasing occasional references to David Armold's original Stargate score.

The film does have some inevitable problems. Adria and The Doci make minimal appearances, considering the nature of who they are, and what they have established. This tunred out to be unavoidable. - The actors were available for a very short period of time, and the story had to dance around that scheduling. Unfortunately it shows. The Ancients we see briefly at the start seem dislocated fro the main story, unlike the ancients that evacuated Atlantis from Earth to the Pegasus galaxy at the start of that series. Clearly establishihg the full backstory was impossible, but many aspects were left off screen which created greater effect. - The Ori fleet threatening Earth for example. It might have been an idea to refer to origins of the Ark and its creators offscreen too, or use Dr Jackson to speculate the history. - Another troubling aspect is the use of the Replicators. Although a clever idea, reminicent of the Star Trek movie First Contact, would the IOA really have been that stupid? After all, they have access to all the history of the Stargate programme. It feels like an extra idea thrown in to keep the shipboard characters busy. - It couldn't have been easy to cram so much into an hour and a half. Some questions could do with addressing in the future, such as what happens to the ark (Indian Jones there, hmm?) does the Supergate get destroyed in the end as originally planned, or left for connecting to the Ori Galaxy or indeed other galaxies, in the future? Was Adria destroyed, or locked in battle for all time with Morgan, a'la Oma Desalla and Anubis? How does the end of Origin as well as the Ori themselves, effect the peoples of our Galaxy? (The Tok'ra, The Jaffa, etc etc.) - If you are introducing family or friends to Stargate, don't use AOT. This is a story for the established audience who know their Goa'uld from their Tollan and have watched reguaraly. Anyone unfamilair with Stargate will be completely lost. Especially if they watch "The Road Taken" recap, rather than in spite of it! Finally the last scene. I was glad that they (in a sense) redid the final scene from the series final episode "Unending," and directly acknowledge that the exploration of our Galaxy via the stargates has barely begun. But it would have been nice to see the Earth gate, or an offworld gate used once. (Kawoosh and all!)

Does Ark Of Truth tick all the relivent boxes to close the series? = Yes it does!

AOT is not about the new DVD movie era of SG1. - I have no doubt Continuum will carry that task. AOT is about the end of SG1 as a tv series, and it does it well, hence my high score below. If the original Stargate move is the opening chapter of the book, this is the closing one. - And you can't expect one chapter to carry the whole book!

= 7 out of 9 Chevrons.

Here's hoping Continuum is the start of another book!

**Deathby** · 28 June 2008, 03:30 PM

How well did the Ark of Truth live up to the Stargate name? As a Stargate episode/film we expect a rollicking good time, and we certainly got one. But that doesn’t quite answer the question- did it live up to the high standards we expect from the Stargate SG-1 franchise, or does it fall to the low standards of an Atlantis episode?

Although it maintained the light tone so characteristic of Stargate, I felt there was an extra bit of oomph missing. There weren’t those burst out laughing scenes, although there were plenty of quiet smile scenes (like Cam’s Star Trek impersonations- “take us there” and “set weapons to maximum”). Actually a good analogy is the way the phrase lol turned from indicating something was truly “laugh out loud” funny to “ho ho, how mildly amusing” in the space of a few years. And I think that tiny omission made a big difference. To me, a great deal of Stargate’s appeal came from that fact that it laughed in the face of danger.

On other fronts, I felt AoT held up quite well. Teal’c was superb as always, especially the scene with Tomin: “you will never find retribution”. Perfection. It just summed up the situation so well. Now that is what Stargate is about, the moral dilemnas and the well-defined characters. It’s been what’s missing from Atlantis, and from some of the newer episodes in my mind. The only thing missing from Teal’c was one of those dead-pan humour scenes where Teal’c says something outrageous with an absolutely straight face, and you’re not sure if he knows he’s said something weird or not. There was even a repeat of my favourite Teal’c one-liner “undomesticated equines couldn’t drag me away.”

The other characters were also well-done, though Teal’c has always been my favourite. Daniel’s brush with surrender at the very end, was excellent. Vala facing off against her daughter is always an interesting sight. Even Mitchell, who I’ve always thought of as a ‘generic soldier/adventurer/leader’ type with not much behind him was developed through his command of the Odyssey and his handling of Merrick.

There have been some criticisms of the plot. Let’s face it- the Ark itself is clearly a giant MacGuffin, and a deus ex machina rolled into one. But let me say, this is possibly the best Macguffin I’ve ever seen. The moral landscape is brilliantly rendered in the short space of time they had, through the Lanteans’ debating at the beginning, the contrast with Tomin’s conversion in the middle and then Daniel’s hesitation at the very end. Also, this is possibly the only deus ex machina which actually came from a deus (in the form of Morgan La Fey, Merlin and the various other gods the Ancients have impersonated at one point or another).

I felt most of the criticisms of plotholes were not because of bad scriptwriting but because they crammed an entire season’s worth of plot into one and a half hours. Where did the Ark come from? Oh an Ancient built it. That was my biggest problem, we leap straight into this Ark, without any associated plot details. The Marrick character (IOA stooge and CIA operative rolled into one) could have been a brilliant character if strung out over a season or two. Woolsey was getting old, and he was getting too friendly to the SGC. Unfortunately, he too was crammed into one and a half hours and disposed of. The rest of the alleged plotholes, weren’t plotholes as such, but rather a combination of people not paying close enough attention and the script having insufficient time to explain.

Take for instance the question- how could Adria be defeated by a mere Ancient? The answer is that one entity, even one with the power of all the Ori, cannot patrol an entire galaxy. This can be seen from two crucial pieces of evidence: the Plains of Celestis were initially shown as glowing water stretching in all directions, but when Teal’c crosses them they have turned into pools of mud. When Adria talks with Vala in the flame room, she is constantly disappearing and reappearing. Some may think of that as a stylistic thing- ooh mummy look what I can do. I think it indicates that she has to constantly pop in and out to take care of business elsewhere in the galaxy.

The only plot featured I actively disliked, was the return of the replicators which seemed a bit forced. I’m actually confused as to why they introduced it (unless they want to make the IOA even more evil in the future). But even so, you cannot deny the rush of enjoyment at seeing those little *******s coming back in their original (and IMO even scarier) form as they remind us what it means to “replicate”. The Merrick replicator did not impress me, firstly because it destroyed what could have been a great character and secondly because it seemed forced and didn’t extend anyone’s character or advance the plot.

It might be said that the sun will never set on the Stargate world with all its many and continuing manifestations. With every season since the 9th possibly being “the last”, and 3 more movies concluding plotlines, I think it would be better to say that it is a binary or trinary system (whatever it is, it’s a bloody crowded solar system). There is always that lovely release of tension as yet along story arc is neatly tucked away. So why, when we know the Ark of Truth isn’t the last does it feel like a “final episode”? We already had a fairly brilliant one in Unending. With two more feature movies to come, it will be difficult to fight the feeling of an anti-climax as increasingly minor plot lines are tucked away. By now, most of us have already forgotten the salient details of the Baal subplot, but then we’ll be propelled back into it by the second movie.

So how did the Ark of Truth fare? In truth, I rather liked it. As I said, it missed the light banter which characterised a lot of Stargate, and it felt a bit crammed. But it brought me back to the glory days of Stargate, and that is an experience worth reliving.

**Teal'c_PI** · 07 March 2009, 06:11 PM

The Ark of Truth both elaborates on and resolves the Ori story arc, sending SG-1 on a journey across galaxies and of course putting them in quite a lot of danger. Even if the movie was too short to fully close the show, I enjoyed it tremendously and thought it did an impressive job of ending the show.

The storyline, aside from a few points that I believe could have been dealt with differently, is well-written by Robert C. Cooper. When I heard that there would be Replicators in TAoT, I mentally groaned—Replicators aren’t my favorite villain, after all. But after watching the movie, I realized that the entire Replicator angle was inserted into the main story very well. Their creation makes a lot of sense and the suspenseful, edge-of-your-seat danger that they cause is very well done. Otherwise, the Ark of Truth itself is explained plausibly, with a helpful flashback at the beginning of the movie; also, the different scenes are linked together understandably and not choppily.

All of the characters are, well, perfectly in character. One of the things I enjoyed the most about TAoT is the fact that every character, from Mitchell the leader to Vala the tagalong, gets a chance to shine. I won’t divulge the parts they play to those who haven’t seen the movie, but suffice it to say that all of their diverse talents are used in different ways. It helps to give a strong sense of friendship and camaraderie to the movie.

The dialogue, just like the story, is well-written. None of it is clichéd, contrived, foolish, or stupid in the slightest. Some of the more comedic parts made me chuckle or at the very least smile. The Priors have the usual Dickensian flair to their dialogue, which adds a lot to their credibility.

Just as in every season of the show, the acting is superb. Sci-fi acting, to me, must be hard—not every actor can react to things that aren’t there! None of the actors have lost their touch, and each of them—no matter how small the part—puts their own signature spin on their characters. The acting is a large factor of movie quality, and here it’s stellar. No matter what standout lines they get, all of the actors do their very best.

As for directing, I believe it was very good. I’m not certain what bad directing does to a movie, other than sometimes make the acting bad, but every one of the scenes is to be pitch-perfect to me. There are certain scenes that are filmed so well as to make the movie feel straight from theaters, especially Teal’c crossing the mountains. (The white stripe on his hair is reversed in the entire scene, but all you need to do is carefully ignore it.)

The score was one of the highlights—Joel Goldsmith rose to the occasion, giving the movie a score that, especially played by a live orchestra, is magnificent. The moment you hear the first action theme marching through your speakers, you know the music will be wonderful! One theme I found especially good is played during Teal’c’s mountain journey. This is a soundtrack I definitely want to buy.

Visual effects in this movie are simply stunning. Adria’s transformation is done flawlessly; I could almost picture it taking place in real life. The space scenes, with the Ori vessels and the Odyssey, are done in a more leisurely and painstaking fashion than the episodes, and it shows—the episode effects were impressive as it was, but the movie effects are theater-quality.

In the end, this movie offers a very good ending to the arc. Although Season 11 of course would have provided much more closure, TAoT manages to give the Ori arc a perfect finish. Of course, the story isn’t absolutely perfect—but what story is? Even with its flaws, drama, comedy, and action abounds. All in all, I give this a 10 out of 10.

Teal'c_PI

**timdalton007** · 08 November 2009, 02:28 PM

Since I'm back out here for the first time in years I guess it's time I posted the review I wrote on IMDB and Amazon out here: (please note this was writtten just after it was released)

Leaving the Ori storyline unresolved at the end of Sg-1's final season, the makers of the show give us this film. The Ark Of Truth lives up the hype of fans hoping for an epic end to the storyline that drove the show's final two seasons. Indeed, The Ark Of Truth proves to be both an epic and fitting end to the Ori storyline.

In fact one might go so far as to assume that the show never ended. From the performances of SG-1's members, it's just like picking up where Unending left off. In particular Michael Shanks and Ben Browder both get to shine in their roles of Daniel Jackson and Cameron Mitchell. That's not to say the rest of cast doesn't, but Shanks and Browder really do stand out in this. The supporting cast does too from Beau Bridges to Sarah Strange, from Sarah Strange to the villainous Julian Sands and the absolutely evil Morena Baccarin. The real stand out of the supporting cast however is Currie Graham as Merrick, the double crossing IOA supervisor.

The rest of the production is also first rate for the film, in both writing and production values, is epic. There is a scope to the film that wasn't possible for the show on television. The story feels epic, taking us from Earth to the Ori galaxy and back again. The story has so much going on though that we don't get to see some of the things fans would like to have seen but we see enough to keep everyone happy. The effects and photography aren't just as good as they were on the show, they're better. They go from mountains in the opening credits, the ruins of Dakarra and the Altaran city, to the Ark itself: something that was hard (if not impossible) for the series to do with even a two-part two of the series. There's also one or two moments that evoke memories of the original movie from years ago and fans should get a smile out of it. There's one other thing to mention: the music. The music by Joel Goldsmith is just as epic as the film, evoking not just the original Stargate theme by David Arnold but the Germanic chants of the Ori themes and heroic themes for the team. But the real treat of the music is that while it may be familiar, you've never heard it played this. Fans of the series won't be disappointed. Everything that made us love the series is still here and thriving.

Not to say the film is perfect, which it isn't. Some parts of the film don't make a lot of sense such as the IOA's actions. They don't make much sense especially when they resurrect an old enemy from the series in the process. I won't spoil it because it makes for a great plot twist, but in retrospect it just feels like padding. There's also the odd flashbacks to the Altarans involving the Ark which, while they add some texture, really might not have been needed. But these are minor flaws, and its hard to find anything without any.

In short, The Ark Of Truth is a good film. It does exactly what it was supposed to do: be both an epic and fitting end to the Ori storyline. It succeeds for the most part, though it does have some flaws to it. While non-fans might want to watch the Prelude on the DVD to catch-up on all the plot lines going on in the film, fans should enjoy it. If this and Continuum, the yet to be released second film, are to be the final end of Stargate SG-1, they will be the fitting end of the series.

timdalton007

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