Stargate: The Ark of Truth, 24 January 2021, streamed via Hulu
This takes place between the final episode of SG-1, but before the third season of Stargate Atlantis--by that time Sam is put in charge of the expedition there. I mean, I’m guessing.
Tomin is such a great character: Vala’s husband (they’re...separated, I guess) who grew up super-fundamentalist and threw himself into the Ori’s holy war, but still reveres the Book of Ori enough that he points out when the army’s leaders are misreading it. Like, dude actually captures SG-1, then upon finding his prior’s power is fallible, surrenders to SG-1 and asks to join their next mission. Whew. And then Teal’c has a heart-to-heart with him about formerly serving false gods, which is perfect. Affirming, hey, you will never, ever forgive yourself for committing atrocities; the least you can do is keep fighting for those you may have harmed before. (Something, ha, I’ve also been applying to frickin’ Kylo Ren. Redemption isn’t actually a thing.)
I continue to be boggled that Ben Browder and Claudia Black can go from intense romance in Farscape to buddy comedy in Stargate. Actors, man.
There was enough intrigue and conflict with the whole Ori and Adria thing--that they decided to bring in the Replicators YET AGAIN fills me with rage. We could have used that time for delightful team bonding! Morgan and Adria having angry philosophical discussions! Weird family drama! Daniel and Vala bickering while ignoring all common understandings of personal space! YOU MONSTERS. (Also, turning Marrick into a terminator goes against pretty much everything we know about Replicators, so, UGH.) (ALSO also the solution to the problem was on the other side of the crystal? There is no universe or reality where Sam Carter would miss that, people.)
Teal’c crossing an entire mountain range while fatally wounded is pretty quintessential Teal’c.
Morgan taking on Adria in a false-god-fight is the exact same thing they did to solve the Anubis problem. I imagine Oma and Anubis are still wrestling out there somewhere.
While it’s cool that the Doci was shown the truth about the Ori and then transmitted it to all the Priors, which led to the cessation of all hostilities, guys. Guys. That’s not how fundamentalism works.
I wonder what Tomin thinks when he watches Daniel and Vala deep in the second act of their three-act love story. I honestly expected Teal’c to walk up to him, put his hand on his shoulder, and shake his head wryly. I’m glad they had one last scene where Tomin, knowing the answer already, asks Vala if she’ll go back with him. It’s evident that she cares for him, but he seems to grok it isn’t the same as when they were married-married.
Sam baking stuff for recovering team members is such a wonderful running thing. It’s still extremely unclear if she’s good at it or not. And ending with the team bantering as they walk up to the gate is pretty much always perfect.
Stargate: Continuum, 26 January 2021, streamed via Hulu
That they kick off this time travel adventure by disappearing Vala and Teal’c and killing Jack off is goddamn cruel. (Carter almost melting down in the aftermath was an excellent touch, though.) We had so many opportunities for pre-massacre hijinks! Alternate timeline folks are always fun, though.
(Watching Carter in SG-1 scientist-soldier mode makes her persona when she’s in Atlantis even more bizarre. Like, every episode of SGA should be Carter arguing with McKay and Zelenka in some random lab.)
I am AGOG that it took Daniel an entire year to try calling his alternate self. But the entire witness protection sequence enrages me. ALSO, why did it take the Goa’uld a whole year to attack? C’mon, guys. You’re better than that. And how is Ba’al taking over? Wouldn’t, like, Anubis be dominating everything by now? Oh, alternate history, I don’t understand you.
I quite enjoy that, in the absence of Jack AND Vala, Daniel has taken on all the snark responsibilities for the team. Sassing the President, Daniel? My, my.
Anyway: QETESH. Just as sneak vicious as Vala is, obvs. Ba’al making the same mistake all dudes make: Thinking she’s harmless because she chooses to act that way. (Am I super sad that the team didn’t get to see Qetesh in all her glory? Yes, yes I am.) And even though I love her, that last scene with Teal’c, my dudes. “I. DIE. FREE.”
Was all of this trouble worth getting to see Cam in a cable-knit sweater and a beard? Yeah. Yeah, I think so. But what happened to that Cam? Did he...did he poof into smoke? Or did he just live the rest of his life in mid-century America? I HAVE QUESTIONS.
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Stargate, 28 January 2021, streamed via YouTube
I don’t remember why I didn’t watch this movie before my full rewatch. Probably eager to get to the real O’Neil(l) and Daniel Jackson, I suppose.
Nope. NOPE.
Ah, that’s better.
Things that are pretty neat, watching this now:
- Katherine Langford is HBIC and nobody can say differently.
- It’s easy enough to transpose Michael Shanks’s Jackson over Spader’s. Like, I can almost hear how the cadence changes. I can only do that with RDA and Russell about half of the time. Maybe the beret is throwing me off.
- Getting a close-up look at Jack in the wake of Charlie’s death is...oof. (Show O’Neill is goofy and brusque enough to let us forget that whole well of despair that’s inside him.)
- Man, seeing Jackson dragged along the desert by an alien camel, then remembering that ten years later, dude’ll be double-fisting P90s like a boss.
- Skaara! Kasuf! I like that they kept those to actors through the show, too. And oh, right Sha’re (Shau’ri in the movie) is actually a badass who learned how to read and write even though it was forbidden by, y’know. Ra. (Also, given that Jack was able to exert enough influence on his temporary Tok’ra that it actually shifted in character? We could take it to mean that Sha’re influenced Amaunet enough to get her to hide the baby harcesis. We knew you not, Sha’re. Not enough, anyway.)
- I’d forgotten Daniel had his very first death and resurrection in the movie!
- For whatever reason, the streaming version of this movie has zero subtitles for the Abydonian and Goa’uld. Somehow I prefer it without? It’s, like, a full half-hour in the middle where there is no English at all and I love it.
- I love a climax where the colonizers get the crap kicked out of them.
Sooooo, I guess I’m just going to circle around and rewatch SG-1 from the beginning, then. “Children of the Gods,” here I come!
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