Ark of Truth

[tenaya]

I'm not gonna review it at the moment because I had a somewhat negative and disappointed feelings about it and everyone else was full of squee. But, this other guy reviewed it and I found myself going, "right, right, oh you hit that one of the head, and right, right, too right."

http://www.ultimatedisney.com/dvdizzy/stargate-arkoftruth-755.html

I basically think what didn't work for me was all Cooper's pretentiousness and ego.

Anyway, consider it reviewed.

Comments

[gategrrl.livejournal.com]

That reviewer seems to think that Browder and Tapping are the best members of the cast?

Other than that it reads well.

[aurora-novarum.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I read that review the other day and was agreeing with a lot of it. (Except the gratuitous slam on CJ's writing was a tad harsh, IMHO)

I've only caught one superly squeeful person on my flist. I...kinda enjoyed it. I loved moments (Teal'c), was meh on some others, and hated others (Marrick). I still haven't watched it all the way through a second time. (Though I've watched the first half meticulously for the Solutions transcript, heh. Like/dislike have no place in my ocd Stargate tendancies).

I totally agree. RCC wearing all the hats was a big mistake. Just from a story telling perspective, he had no oversight to check his plot hole/continuity mistakes, and the story suffered. But...I've gone on enough.

[tenaya.livejournal.com]

Hmmm...I missed that first and second time around. I think I interpreted it as members of the team rather than Mitchell and Carter are primo. I think you're right though.

I kinda thought all the team members were tied up and ineffectual for what they should have been fighting. :::sigh:::

[tenaya.livejournal.com]

I had to read that CJ comment about five times because I couldn't believe he pulled those as his examples. CJ's writing must be a button for him and he is eager to slam it on any occasion.

I guess I was hoping for more, like a really good SG1 episode. The dialogue had a lot of quipping. There was way too much stuffed into it, causing a compression that made everything very superficial. I like replicators but they had no business being in this film. The torture of Tomin and Daniel...I didn't understand how they were being tortured. Also, my model of Daniel has him being stubborn and not giving up. I was gobsmacked to see him crying and giving up. I would have liked to see what happened that broke him. Wouldn't that have taken days/weeks? Judging by what was happening on board ship, it was hours. That just didn't make sense for me.

And if my flist was full of love and squee, it's the least I can do to be low profile on my disappointment.

[aurora-novarum.livejournal.com]

Yeah, the CJ thing was out of left field. Well, we all have our issues.

I was able to buy Daniel breaking. The timeframe is strange. If you go by what's on the ship...it was hours. If you go by Teal'c's walking through the mountains and the two minute helicopter shot of the beginning of distance from tidal plain/ocean to Ortus Mallum, it could be days! Which is one example of RCC's sloppiness in story telling for the movie.

I bought Daniel breaking. The torture was terrible and may have had a mental component. This was kinda one of their last ideas. Teal'c was dead. Mitchell and Carter were suddenly dealing with Replicators (which...it took him being ascended and the dakara weapon to get rid of them last time), and Vala and Tomin were in the same boat as him. And stranded in an alien galaxy where the element of surprise was their only advantage. Plus the constant bizarro torture he was going through. I can see Daniel going enough is enough, especially when he realized Morgan had led him on this farcical quest (again) to begin with. I saw it as a weak moment of despair with a species/entity he kept hoping would help out even when all evidence was to the contrary. Not necessarily a renunciation of his "never give up, even when dead" attitude.

abyssinia4077 recently wrote some fics for her birthday, and she wrote one about Jonas (I know, but it's good!) and Daniel, set in S10 (sometime just before "the Shroud". And I thought her description of the torture was kinda intriguing.

I didn't mind *moments* in the Replicator sequence, but I agree that whole plotline was out of place. It pulled "half" the main cast out of the storyline. Shortchanged time spent for the Ori arc (that was needed), and never seemed to mesh with the rest of the movie. It just struck me an "ep idea" that RCC didn't want to let go of when they got stuck with doing Ark of Truth instead of Season 11.

Hmmm. I know better than to comment late at night. I get way too babbly. Sorry. :-)

[tenaya.livejournal.com]

Definitely the Teal'c storyline in the mountains is worth days, as was Daniel, Vala and Tomin's imprisonment. It was just another point that threw me out of the movie.

Maybe they gave Daniel drugs that made him more emotional??

I think Cooper decided that the Ori battle would be with visions, plot devices and Morgan. So, to have the big shoot 'em up battle he dearly loves to film, he brought in the Replicators because you can waste a lot of ammo on them and it's action, not violence.

Yeah, Cooper needed a team of writers to do justice for a SG1 film. And a better director would have helped, too.

And babbly is good. :)

[gateruner.livejournal.com]

I'm glad to see I wasn't the only one who wasn't all squee over the movie either. I was rather disappointed myself and had this, "that's it?" kind of feeling about it.

[graculus.livejournal.com]

I decided a while back I wasn't going to bother with the movie(s) even if Sky are currently running them on a regular basis, because for me the show ended in s10 (actually, Dominion was the last episode ever made, as I reject utterly the so-called season finale) and I have yet to hear anything which would make me want to see it/them. Exactly the opposite, in fact. *sigh*

[princessofg.livejournal.com]

thank you!

reading this, i agreed too... it makes me realize that i'm very willing to lower my standards for this canon. i am happy with whatever i get, and i basically use my special fannish highlighter paints to make it what i want.

i am captivated by the underlying religious themes, as this reviewer is, and i, too, have been sad that they have not fully exploited them because these big themes are really important, especially nowadays.

i bought daniel breaking at that point in canon. i think the torture was all mental and had something to do with the chanting we heard, but it was not ever fully explained.

i'll have to reread the review one more time, because i thought he was highlighting the slower character exploration moments that CJ wrote, not slamming them. Buh? Serve me write for reading too fast.

anyway. thanks again. you're not harshing my squee! apparently not even canon can do that. :).

but i love the characters SO MUCH that i'll forgive more than i should about the canon? dunno.

i am watching canon with low expectations. which is a good thing to know.

but i do think the reviewer is expecting something from Continuum that has not been promised: A full wrapup of the series and the universe. Everything I've read says it will not be that.

thanks again for posting this. i would never have seen it otherwise.

[xochiquetzl]

Yeah, I saw this recently, too, and... meh. I enjoyed the beginning, although the Star-Wars-esque opening title card made me groan and there was a bit of over-earnestness to the dialog in places. But as it went on, well... it felt to much like replaying their greatest hits, only they weren't adding much to it. The stuff that wasn't resting on their laurels was derivative and boring. The low point of the movie was the Replimator.

On the up side, I liked Carter's hair, and Daniel was lovely as ever.

[xochiquetzl]

Oh, let me add that it wasn't a total loss. I liked seeing the cast again.

The problems for me were pacing and glib writing, I think. Which is sad, because I know Cooper can do better. We've seen him do it.

[tenaya.livejournal.com]

Yep. It looks pretty but I didn't get the feeling that the team did much to solve the Ori thing. Daniel's loveliness encourages another female Ascended being to fight to...eternity?...to save him, and Mitchell got the crap beaten out of him. There were some lovely aerial shots of Teal'c. It's was very "that's it?"

[tenaya.livejournal.com]

I can say you aren't missing anything that you haven't already seen. And since Cooper did the same writting/directing job he did on Unending, again, same shit, different day.

[tenaya.livejournal.com]

Carter had long hair in that, didn't she? Not regulation but the show's over.

Daniel. :::sigh:::

Hi, My name is Tenaya and I'm addicted to Daniel. *g*

[tenaya.livejournal.com]

Glib is a good word. He has done better but I'm thinking it was when he was a worker bee and not the head honcho. I think he has gotten an inflated ego and no one is in the position to smack a little reality into him.

[tenaya.livejournal.com]

I wanted to say I'm enjoying your comments on your lj about SG1. Can't say I always agree with them, but I enjoy your enthusiasm and insight.

Also, I'm taking Memphis with me to Vancouver to read. Looking forward to it. :)

There was so much potential for really great stuff, including the religious themes, but Cooper avoided it all. I think he's both lazy and pretentious at this point in his career. He's capable of a lot better than this.

If they had said how they were being tortured, that would have helped a lot. Daniel is very strong so I was gobsmacked he'd given up so easily. And it didn't seem to affect him afterwards. It was action instead of drama.

"In summary, Ark of Truth lacks the sense of urgency of the best "Stargate SG-1" episodes but excels over the many meandering installments from the past, particularly those written by actor Christopher Judge." I had to reread it, but I think he's slamming Chris. There are over 200 eps; let's face it, SG1 isn't a big arc and there are meandering eps all over the place. I didn't get his point at all.

Squee is good. I liked that so many were squeeing. I enjoyed their enjoyment and will notice a few more things when I rewatch it.

As for Continuum, that reviewer has set his expectations all wrong. I think it's a stand alone adventure. I'm sure that guy will be grumpy again on that review. *g*

Thanks for your comments. :)

[princessofg.livejournal.com]

thanks for pulling out the quote; his apparent misuse of the verb "excels" is what confused me. Yes, I agree now: He is going out of his way to slam CJ's writing. Buh????

thanks again.

I have no problem with people agreeing to disagree; it doesn't have to be all about the squee for me and I enjoy discussing various points of view on this show I love.

Thanks so much for letting me know you are going to read Memphis now that it's done; I'd be delighted to get any fb you are moved to share.

have a wonderful trip and thanks again for the thinky.

[xochiquetzl]

Yeah. I think they all wrote better under Glassner. Maybe his mutant superpower was to smack people and tell them to rewrite.

[xochiquetzl]

Yeah, she had a ponytail. Not regulation, but off her collar and cute.

Daniel!!!!! :D