Stargate: Continuum

The general attitude going into this movie is half-skeptical, half-excited: on the one hand, direct-to-DVD rarely bodes well and Ark of Truth, while not bad on the whole, could have been a lot better; on the other hand, it's a new SG movie, it's got Jack, Goa'uld instead of Ori, whohoo! The verdict? Two words, people.

It's Good!

Continuum redeems the whole "SG1 movies" idea. True, Ark of Truth wasn't such a hard act to follow, but this goes above and beyond the "better than the first film" label. It's a true SG1 story, like we used to get'em in the first seasons. Plenty of adventure (they can't seem to get a break throughout the whole film), interspersed with the small moments we loved throughout the series: the one-liners (yes, Jack's got some lines, but most come from Mitchell), the technobabble (Sam still doesn't get to finish a phrase w/o being interrupted), the hard choices. And a taste of the good old Goa'uld arrogance we all know and love, to boot.

The characters each get their spotlight moment. Mitchell shines throughout, indeed this seemed to be a movie made to show he well and truly belongs to SG1 outside the Ori arc, as well. Daniel gets his moments, as well as Sam, and we get to see both of them interact with Jack once again! On the Goa'uld front, we are treated to a whole parade of former system lords, pretty much anyone you can think of. Baal, of course, is his usual charming evil self. And we get a great new villain in the person of Quetesh, who personifies the perfect Goa'uld queen: subservient, double-faced, deadly. Almost wish she'd been there for the first seasons of the show!

The quality is very good, most scenes would have done very well on a big screen. Effects, great, but then that's nothing new. In short, this movie delivers what it promised: an epic SG1 adventure and a great character show. I'd originally given it 8 stars, but by comparison to Ark of Truth, it gets an extra one. Totally worth the money, can't wait to own the DVD.

I'm writing this because I just today read that Cliff Simon died earlier this year in a kite-boarding accident. He always turned in a great performance as Ba'al, and I regret we will no longer see him in any role on screen. He was, indeed, excellent in this movie. Dead at age 58, he left us too soon.

"Continuum" is one of the few motion pictures that fulfills every hope that even a reluctant SG1 fan like me has. I saw the motion picture "Stargate" and enjoyed it moderately. The TV series sort of wormed its way into my heart despite myself. Richard Dean Anderson managed to make his character over from Kurt Russell's tortured officer to the lighter character we now know and in that first season he did a remarkable job. The bonus material with "Continuum" is great fun too. And perhaps that is the secret: I have become used to the cast members over the years and it was a treat to see what seemed like every one of them in this movie. There is a bittersweet joy to see the late Don S. Davis for the last time. That we also get to see so many of the System Lords speaks well for the friendly personal relationships that the makers of SG1 must have with the actors. Yes, it is a simple story of good versus evil but so are all stories in which many of us have any interest. I was very surprised to find myself thinking of how important Cam Mitchell became to SG1; he seems to be indispensable. I hope that the producers will continue to make these movies; if they hit the high mark of "Continuum" I will happily fork over the price of the DVD.

The latest episode of Stargate involves SG-1 trying to prevent System Lord Ba'al from permanently changing history so he can conquer the Earth. Given a bigger budget for this made for DVD movie, this movie has quality production values and well done visual effects. Unlike many Stargate SG-1 episodes, there are no scenes set in the forests of British Columbia, as I recall.

Stargate: Continuum is almost all fast paced action. But the movie gives the audience what it wants, explosions, evil people and Earth in danger. Nothing wrong with that, unless you were expecting Shakespearean prose.

STARGATE is the freaking greatest TV-series I've seen my whole life.

It all started when a friend of mine forced me to watch two episodes with him. It was actually interesting :)

Within the following 3 months I had bought and seen all of Stargate up to date. 10 seasons of Stargate SG-1 containing 214 episodes, 5 seasons of Stargate Atlantis containing 100 episodes and 2 seasons of Stargate Universe.

Besides that I've seen the two Stargate movies: Stargate: Continuum and Stargate: The Ark of Truth

Well, my point is that this is a freaking awesome TV-series. Worth watching! Maybe you shouldn't do it like me(watching 16 seasons and 2 movies within 3 months), but at least watch it:) Its so damn worth it.