Stargate Continuum is the ultimate Stargate SG-1 adventure; it has everything you could ever have loved about the popular series. Not only is the team of Daniel Jackson, Cameron Mitchell, Samantha Carter, Teal’c, Vala and General Landry back together since we last saw them in The Ark of Truth, but they are joined by a great many surprise appearances. General O’Neill, Walter, Major Davis, George Hammond, President Henry Hayes, Ba’al, Apophis, Yu, Cronus, and Nirrti all make either supporting roles (Ba’al) or cameo appearances (everyone else). Really, all we were missing was Bra’tac, Skaara, Jonas, Anubis and Janet Fraiser (who I was really hoping would make an appearance), maybe a few others.
Continuum features a really good story. Throughout the years, the writers of SG-1 (and Atlantis) have loved time-travel and alternate reality storylines. This film is the time-travel story told about as good as they can ever expect to tell. SG-1’s world literally disappears around them, and they are tossed into an alternate timeline. Ba’al has changed everything and used his knowledge of how events originally played out to completely dominate the galaxy and become the supreme System Lord, whom the others follow. He’s got Vala as Qetesh as his queen, and he’s got Teal’c as his First Prime. There is no Stargate program, and Jackson, Mitchell and Carter are forbidden to contact one another by the United States government in the alternate timeline. Ba’al and his MASSIVE fleet have arrived, and Earth has finally run out of time.
Stargate Continuum was filmed for $7 million dollars, and it shows. The Ark of Truth, while very good, looked and felt like a glorified 2-3 part episode of the show. Continuum looks and feels like a movie, a movie that looks far better than the average direct-to-DVD action/sci-fi film. The movie is loaded with some really amazing visuals. I know, SG-1 always featured visual effects that were awesome for a TV show, especially on their bigger episodes, but Continuum really blows all that out of the water. Superb visuals throughout, be it real stuff (like the Arctic scenes) or the CGI stuff, it’s all beautifully done.
If this is the to be the final adventure of SG-1, and it sadly appears that it will be, then the the series couldn’t have ended any better (well it could’ve, but you get the point). It literally features something for everyone. If you were even a casual fan of Stargate SG-1, you’ll probably love this movie. If you’ve never see a Stargate episode before, there’s enough in this movie for you to enjoy and probably even make you a fan of Stargate.
Continuum features great performances by the cast, great surprises, some chilling moments, a lot of homage to previous SG-1 events, and again the amazing visuals. This is the definitive SG-1 event. Fan of the series or not, if you enjoy science-fiction and a good action film, Stargate Continuum is a must have for your DVD collection. Hell, support the SG-1 crew and buy two.
Stargate Continuum gets a four out of five: GREAT.
