Stargate and Stargate SG-1 Discussion- "Children of the Gods: Final Cut" out now on DVD!

Ark of Truth's definitely not as good as Lost City or Reckoning, but it was pretty good I thought, only a couple complaints:

-The use of the Replicators (while avoiding the sensation it's another overuse of them, as their introduction is a pretty good "holy ****!" moment) does overwhelm the Ori storyline, which is a shame- I'd have rather had more with the Doci, Adria and the Ori forces- we don't get a sense of their threat like we did in Season 9 & 10, and this should have been their time to shine, not the Replicators.
-Sort of a continuation of the above, there's some great setup for the Ori assault on Earth, but nothing ever happens- I wanted to at least have the Ancient outpost and some battlecruisers take down an Ori ship or two, then start losing to cause some desperation for SG-1 to get the Ark back to Earth in time.
-Also, tying into the above a bit, the Season 10 finale made a big deal about the Asgard weapons and tech upgrade, and while Atlantis has started using them effectively, they play no part in the win against the Ori.

Beyond that, there were some great scenes (the Landry/Prior discussion being my personal favorite- "Feel free to burst into flames." ) and the characters came across well.


Also wanted to make note of the musical score for TAOT- it's very well done, and Goldsmith blends in themes from the original movie with stuff from the series. Of particular interest is the opening title music, which starts off as it does in the movie, but then blends into the Ori theme instead of the Goa'uld theme.


And to those wondering- this really isn't a standalone movie for casual viewers who didn't follow the later seasons, it's definitely a movie for the fans, wrapping up Seasons 9 & 10. Though the DVD does include a Prelude montage (which can be viewed separately or with the movie) which summarizes the events and components of Seasons 9 & 10 relevant to TAOT's story. Still, it seems like Continuum is being positioned to be a more standalone story for broader audiences.


EDIT- Looking through the extra features, it's interesting that Cooper claims the story of TAOT is essentially the story of the Season 10/11 cliffhanger, had they not been cancelled...which raises the question of just what the heck the rest of Season 11 would cover- though I'm thinking only part of this statement is true- perhaps the acquisition/Replicator battle story line would have been the cliffhanger 2-parter, but the actual use of it wouldn't have happened until later in the season?

 

Looks like it's a choice between going with Universe or doing more SG-1 movies, as long as Atlantis keeps going.


Gateworld; Wright: Stargate Universe news may be close

Stargate fans may not have to wait much longer to find out when the franchise's third live-action series is coming to television. Series co-creator Brad Wright told Newsarama.com that he expects to hear word from the network soon.

The series, Stargate Universe, was first revealed to GateWorld in 2007 (story) and pitched to SCI FI Channel last fall (story). The decision was delayed by the writer's strike, but is also complicated by the on-going success of Stargate Atlantis (renewed and now in production for Season Five) and SG-1's direct-to-DVD movies.

"Stargate Universe is very much something we have been discussing with SCI FI and MGM for a long time ... too long actually," Wright told the site. "They need to make some decisions. I think we are at the point of finding out soon. We know what we are doing and what we want to do."

The writing staff and production crew managed to produce both Stargate SG-1 and Stargate Atlantis simultaneously for three years, though 40 hours of television proved to be a very difficult task. In 2007, one series and two DVD movies was a more manageable work load.

"Making one or two [films] a year would be a damn fine thing to do, honestly," Wright told GateWorld in a recent interview. It takes up a big chunk of time writing it, a big chunk of time making it, and the post [production] on a movie is more than twice as complicated as post on the biggest episodes. It's not like you can just knock one off while you're making a television show. It's just too much."

Thus two television shows and an SG-1 movie seems out of the question. Either the next movie would have to wait, or Universe can't get going until Stargate Atlantis ends. That is the decision that MGM and SCI FI have been wrestling with.

"We are excited about the prospect but as long as Atlantis is going strong and as long as there are prospects for new movies, it doesn't matter to me if my next project is two more movies for next year," Wright told Newsarama. "Essentially, we would put a third series off another year, but MGM wants one. They know the franchise is still strong."

Does that mean that MGM believes the third TV series is a higher priority than the third DVD movie? Only time will tell. Stargate's production schedule runs from February to October -- leaving plenty of time to gear up for a 2009 premiere of the third series, should it be given the go-ahead soon.

 

Ah, so your journey has come to an end after a couple years, Drew, eh? I keep forgetting just how long it takes to go through this series due to it's length.

 

Yeah- there's definitely times where I want to pop in a few episodes...then of course I have to watch a few others that I'm reminded of after watching the first few. Season Finale/Premieres are particularly susceptible

 

Picked up Continuum today and it's pretty good. I really enjoyed most of it. It has a mix of 2010, Lost City & Moebius, but an added dash of realism lacking in the latter. Almost every non-Tok'ra character you can think of shows up if only for a lineless cameo too (including a might-miss-it-if-you-dont-know-to-look-for-it appearance by Ra). Only one missing was Kowalski.

Some people will be dissapointed in the degree Jack is involved in the story, though (he's only in 4 or 5 scenes).

The only thing I was really dissapointed in was I realy would have liked the Jackson/Jackson subplot to have added up to something other than a character moment. It would have been fantastic if that had contributed to the main plot.

Also, the one use of age makeup didn't seem necessary to me (they could have used another actor)- and I wish they'd stop trying to use it as it hardly ever works. It's not bad here, but it's still a tad distracting.

I definitely liked this one better than AOT. It's resolution is more satisfying than rushed like AOT's was. Great music too.

 

It was a satisfying moment, though, i must say. Just a "how is this possible" expression for a micro-second, then BAM!. The end.

Also, one fun thing to look out for: pay attention to what kind of cereal (albeit a store-brand version) Carter buys at the supermarket

 

Stargate at Comic-Con

Wright reportedly told the crowd that MGM wants both a third DVD movie and the third television series, Stargate Universe, to move forward. Deals are reportedly very close, but nothing has yet been made official.

"We're very close," Wright told GateWorld when we contacted him for further comment. "[That's] all I can tell ya."

 

Gateworld article

In a recent post at his blog, the producer also noted that the number of Stargate movies produced each year will depend in part on scheduling. "I think that we could produce as many as three Stargate (either SG-1 or Atlantis) movies a year," he said. "Four is a long-shot, but very possible."

 

As a heads up- the SG-1 Episode tournament has finally been continued over in SFAF as we head into the first bracket of the semi finals- go vote! http://boards.theforce.net/science_fiction_and_fantasy_films_and_television/b10748/26354214/

 

So I picked up COTG: Final Cut earlier (then had to return it to Best Buy and buy it from Borders since that best Buy's batch was apparently all bad- make sure to test your copies within a return policy period, as even my functional copy had a similar discolloration bubble to the non-functional ones). And, overall, it's definitely an improvement over the original cut.

Judge's rerecorded vocal performance really helps the film, and the new score is less distracting by not using the movie theme as often ad blatantly (though I do miss it in certain moments).

The new FX work very well- they've redone the gate FX to be uniform, created new establishing shots of the pyramid (to eliminate recycled movie footage) and Chu'lak (witha cargo ship flying over it) and have a new opening credits sequence of Earth from orbit before panning down through the clouds/ground into the gate room.

A CGI symbiote is added to Teal'c reveal of Junior. The wormhole FX are the modern blue one, too (which makes sense for this inidvidual production but is a bit weird given Seasons 1-8 will still have the old one before the new one shows up again).

Most notably they've done away with that strange death-cargo-glider that carried rings and replaced it with a cargo ship escorted by two Death Gliders, and integrated that second Death Glider into the forest battle (it takes fire from Teal'c's staff and peels off trailing smoke). They also replaced the film stock footage of the gliders.

There are a few smaller scenes added back in (Daniel talking about how they used part of a post-movie probe as dinnerware, Daniel and Sam talking about Sha'ra in the dungeon, extended explaination of why Teal'c did what he did, etc), the mudity is cut out, as is Sam's awful feminazi introductory dialogue, which makes her introduction much better.

They cut out Samuels (or was it Hammond?)'s comment about how they couldn't figure out how to work the staff weapon (so now they look less like morons for not being able to figure out that using the little switch might do something)- it just goes right to Jack showing off that he knows how to sue one.

Kowalsky being impreganted by a symbiote is also cut out, alongside the cliffhanger ending, to make the movie more standalone (the movie ends on a lighter note with "We find them.").

The re-editing of a few scenes imrpoves them too- the big shootout at the end is mor effective (and I think you get a little more of the caveman throwing rocks alongside Jack's approving "nice!" after he hits a Jaffa with one).

The one editing change I didn't like as much as the original was Kowalsky's missle saving the day- in the original, he pops outta nowhere as a surprise, starting with the shot of the bazooka firing. In the new version, we see him up on the hill, setting up his shot. That and they changed the Macguyver line to "gerryrig", which I do not approve of.

Also ended with a dedication to Davis as well.

I also came up with some great ideas while watching this of how I'm gonna do my super-edit (why include a montage of the movie's events in the middle, when I can impose the footage under all the dialogue & conversations describing what happened in the movie? ).


Gateworld has a list of changes w/some pics.