Stargate: Continuum

DVD, Stargate: Continuum (2008) film

This is it, folks. The final mission of SG-1, all back together, plus others, versus the might of the old System Lords. Sort of. Critiquing this second and final film in the 'SG-1' straight-to-DVD spinoff series feels almost impolite since it is the cap on ten years and one other film (not including the original theatrical release that started it all), and is the true successor to the 'Stargate' lore - while 'Ark of Truth' was more of a feature-length conclusion to Season 10, this definitely succeeded in tying all of the series together, going back into its past to provide something of what was missing in the previous film. At the same time I can understand why it wasn't successful enough to warrant further DVD releases. I have no idea what the plan was, whether they only ever expected to make two films or whether they were hoping it would be popular with the mainstream, but judging from the fact there were no more (despite the fact another spinoff series would be shortly forthcoming at that time, while the first spinoff was drawing to a close), suggests it wasn't viable as a business model to continue 'SG-1' adventures. What I would say is that it was an improvement over 'Truth': it's one more mission, there aren't any plots that need tying up, other than the fact Baal is still at large, and they could really go to town. In consequence it does come across as having those missing elements I noticed from 'Truth,' namely less focus on action and more on character and ideas.

Time travel and alternate dimensions - that's classic sci-fi. Bringing everyone back (well, almost - Bra'tac was still an absence felt), that's what you should spend your budget on. But, and I admit I'm being pedantic here, or greedy, or contrary, I found myself wishing we could have one more mission that was more conventional in the sense that we got all four of the team, plus O'Neill, working together, being together, perhaps even reminiscing, reminding us why we love them. In the same way people complained about the multiple endings in 'The Lord of The Rings' and I loved it, I wanted that. I wanted to see them all sat round at the end, maybe hanging out at Jack's fishing pond as we've seen before. Even the sight of the lockers' names lined up together would have been a more appropriate last shot than the photo of Mitchell with his Grandfather (?), which made the final impression more about the latecomer of the last two seasons than the original team. But it is being churlish and nit-picky, I did like seeing these characters again. And yet... I wasn't entirely sure what the timeline was - I think it's supposed to be in parallel with 'Atlantis' Season 5 and yet no mention of Carter having recently returned from being boss there or indication of what their lives are now. Maybe I wasn't listening carefully enough, but I didn't catch what they're all doing at the beginning, though it does make sense they'd be rounded up to see Baal's extraction/execution.

Did Mitchell hang around in the past for ten years since I thought Carter said they could only get as close as 1929, and the Achilles, the ship carrying the Stargate from Africa to America was boarded and sunk by Baal in 1939? If so, then he'd have something in common with Teal'c, who also spent many years waiting for time to catch up in the final episode of the series. But there's only so much time, even in a feature-length production. My big nitpick was how the 'gate could have been activated in the first place when it's in a crate in the hull of a ship with no means of power? I understood Baal, and later the alternate Teal'c, were able to power up a 'gate with that handy portable DHD (smacked a bit of magic tech, though...), but that wasn't there when Baal first used it to get through! And I felt Christopher Judge should really have gone back to his bald look since he was effectively playing the bad guy again as First Prime. He didn't strictly need to for the story to work because it is an alternate timeline, but at the same time it would have placed the character more squarely in that mould. I hope it wasn't simply a vanity issue, like Judge didn't want to have the shaved head look because he'd moved on from it? These are minor things indeed in the face of having Daniel, Sam, Teal'c, Jack, Cam, Vala, Landry, Hammond, all those baddies (hey, Yu! and Camulus, Nirrti, Cronus, Apophis), to compliment Baal, not to mention President Hayes, and even minor roles like Major Davis, Siler, Walter...

It really delved into the series' history when a lot of that (other than Baal as the last surviving System Lord), had been left behind in the final few seasons as it tried to reinvent itself to some degree. That's what made it a more enjoyable film, but also that they did something interesting. But I wanted Jack along for the ride when we mostly get alternate Jack, and then he's gone. I was starting to feel the real horror and isolation and sadness of Carter, Jackson and Mitchell being held prisoner in their own country, yet in another timeline. Forbidden from contacting each other they're given new lives that they live for a year. You really start to feel for their existence, as lonely and separate as could be in this completely other world that is yet still torturously close to what they left behind, and they can't even talk to each other, just try to live a new life. For me, that was the most fascinating part of the film and one I wished had been explored more. I so wanted Daniel to meet this world's version of himself, the only one of the three to be alive, but when he does call him, he's rejected as a crank or a mocker, this Daniel has been so long on the fringe of society he doesn't even believe anyone would sympathise with his ideas. We don't even hear the conversation and yet you can tell from our Jackson's side how it's playing out. Mitchell is still feeling the tug of a past that no longer exists and Carter is trying to keep on going, but there wasn't enough of that for my liking.

Sure, we've seen similar tales where they've been in other realities, or had to persuade other versions of themselves to help them escape or reset the timeline or whatever, but with an episode being half the length of the time you have in one of these they could have spent more on that. But the needs of a production that has to hit certain points means even with more space there's still too little time to fully explore ideas. While I'm stating dissatisfaction I can also point out the lower standards from the series in terms of more gore and swearing, as if that brings more to the table. It doesn't. There's also another big gaffe I should point out regarding alternate Teal'c: he comes to trust the trio far too easily. Daniel 'gives him their word' that the Jaffa will be free again if Teal'c helps them. Why would he trust them? He's been working for Apophis and now Baal, there was no good reason for him to believe what they said and to come around to their point of view so easily. But it uses the series' lore very well, not just in bringing back so many faces, but also in remembering where and how many Stargates are on Earth, the Ancients' chair that fended off the weapon on our Earth, even little details like transporting the 'gate to America, which fills in a little more history, or Daniel mentioning Jack's son's death (not the best idea in this case, especially when they knew this was an alternate timeline so things weren't necessarily going to be as they knew them to be), prompting his anger when they needed an ally.

I think more than anything that's what I was missing in this particular adventure: more of the camaraderie. I wanted to see alternate Jack, Landry and Hammond trust these people that know a version of them so well, and come to support them. I know that may sound a little hypocritical when I've just been complaining about how Teal'c was too quick to assist them, but he was on the baddies' side and these were fellow humans so it would have made more sense. I would have loved it to be some kind of crossover with the Atlantis team, too, if that were possible, because obviously the humans at least would still be on Earth, so Sheppard and McKay could have joined in. But again, it's pure greed just wanting more of the things you like, and to be fair we'd get cameos from a few characters from both 'SG-1' and 'Atlantis' in 'Universe,' but perhaps a third film, if it'd happened might have been a massive crossover. And you have to be true to your story - it doesn't make something better just to chuck people in for the sake of it, and that's why I was quite impressed with how many people they did get back in their roles, long gone from the series itself (like the System Lords all lined up like that, or Apophis, back from the 'dead' yet again).

I must admit, I did wonder if both Teal'c and Jackson would make it out alive, despite the fact that there was time travel involved, mainly because Teal'c wouldn't show up again (unless he comes back one last time in 'Atlantis' which I don't know for sure yet, but seems unlikely since they gave him a good, round sendoff there), and I have the impression Daniel's only in some training videos on 'Universe.' But once Carter got killed on Baal's time travel platform I realised things were safe and of course there was no need for any of them to die since they were repairing the timeline! Which does have the advantage of making the story 'all a dream,' when perhaps more grounding would have been preferred as the final ever story proper. When viewed on its own I can't imagine it would make a great deal of sense for someone who'd never seen any 'Stargate' before, but if you know the characters it was good enough to stand as a reasonable adventure. It didn't have enough inherent qualities that I'd be quick to fling it on again, unlike some episodes, but I would easily concede it has the superiority over its immediate predecessor. So there was progress made, and perhaps if it had gone to more films they might have kept improving, but as it is it remains a nice ending to the series, without being an ending, and more like another episode, though one that didn't have as much power as 'Unending,' the series finale, which, while not being a masterpiece, was a fine, fine story and use of the characters. I miss there being a title sequence, but you can't do the one from the series without it seeming a bit cheap, but something more than the names coming up would have been preferable. If this is the last of 'SG-1' (and you never know in today's nostalgia-obsessed world), it could have been a lot worse, and I'm glad I had this little extra time with those people I'd spent so much time with over the last twenty years.

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