After the final tenth season of Stargate SG-1 several years ago, our intergalactic heroes hit the screen with their first feature length movie. Released March 11, 2008, the first SG-1 direct-to-DVD movie wraps up the Ori storyline from seasons nine and ten.
The crew believe they have killed all the ascended-Ori in season 10, thanks to Merlin’s device. However, the Ori’s human followers, unaware of their gods death, remain a problem in the Milky Way galaxy… and yes, they are planning a full on assault against Earth. Knowing the SGC and the countries of Earth are no match for possibly dozens of Ori ships, SG1 sets out on a mission to find a secret and lost device known as The Ark of Truth.
This device does just what you figure it will, hit people with the undeniable truth… it literally shows you the light. And of course this just happens to be the only way to defeat the many followers of the Ori, by showing them that their gods are false gods, and therefore not really gods, and that they’re dead anyway. Needless to say, the team, with the help of Ori soldier (and Vala’s husband), find the ancient device on a planet in the Ori home galaxy.
But it wouldn’t be Stargate SG-1 if the team didn’t face serious trouble and mounting odds, which is exactly what happens.
As per usual, a moronic I.O.A. stooge goes into business for himself to secure some secret I.O.A. mission. In the process, the guy turns on the season ten finale acquired Asgard core to create a Replicator… ON an Earth ship, IN the Ori galaxy. The Replicator gets loose and does what the mechanical bugs do best, replicate and threaten the integrity of the ship… which is getting demolished at this point by three Ori ships. This scene gives way to one of the cooler SG1 scenes in recent memory, a Replicator-human skeleton..
To make matters worse, the ascended Adria (Vala’s daughter, played by the beautiful Morena Baccarin) has become the sole Ori, meaning she has all the power the Ori once had to share amongst themselves… making her super powerful. Which is where the Ark comes in, plus a little help from an Ancient whom who’ll recognize if you watched season ten’s The Pegasus Project. If you didn’t watch it, it’s the ascended being Morgan Le Fey… played once again by the oh so lovely Sarah Strange.
If you are a casual fan of Stargate SG-1 or the franchise as a whole, you’ll definitely enjoy this flick. If you’re a diehard fan of the series, like me, you may be a tad disappointed with the Ori conclusion, given that it was such an awesome storyline. In a way, this seems more like a real season ten finale than it does the first real SG1 movie. As usual though, the visual effects are stunning and there are numerous throwbacks to the original Stargate movie that will make things seem a little familiar to fans of the Russell/Spader movie that haven’t watched the series.
Whether you watched the series or not, you’ll likely enjoy this often humorous, action-packed, sci-fi adventure.
Stargate The Ark of Truth gets a three out of five: GOOD.
