After ten seasons and two networks (Showtime/Sci Fi) Stargate SG-1 ended on March of 2007.  On that day many SG-1 fans were sadden by the series end, but we went on knowing that two direct DVD and sequel’s to the series was on the way.  First of those movies, Stargate: The Ark Of Truth, has now been released.  With a $7 Million dollar budget The Ark of Truth reunites Ben Browder (Lt. Col. Cameron Mitchell), Michael Shanks (Dr. Daniel Jackson), Amanda Tapping (Lt. Col Samantha Carter), Christopher Judge (Teal’c), Claudia Black (Vala Mal Doran) and Beau Bridges (Major General Hank Landry).  Also reprising their recurring character roles are Morena Baccarin (Adria) and Tim Guinee (Tomin).  Ark Of Truth follows SG-1 on a journey to recover the Ancient device, the Ark of Truth: a device capable of ending the Ori threat and saving our very own galaxy.

The Ark of Truth strengthens the core soul of SG-1 by making the experience more exciting in cinematic fashion.

That statement alone should explain what an enjoyable film this is, proving to us as fans that the adventure’s of SG-1 are far from over.  Now it should be very clear that although this film comes out only just a few days after the end of Stargate Atlantis season four finale, The Ark Of Truth takes place before Atlantis season 4.

Right from the start of the film with the Stargate score playing and with the beautiful visuals on screen gave me the feeling that this isn’t your typical SG-1 episode.  This was in fact a feature film.  Many film’s that are direct to DVD and direct TV movies are usually given to us with horrible visual effects that totally hurts the outcome and experience of it.  Thankfully The Ark of Truth is far from that conclusion.  Just like in the television series the visual effects are done masterfully.  On a $7 million budget that is extremely impressive given the fact that some movies that have far more the amount of money have terrible visual effects and are considered laughable. 

That said, the visual effects are not what makes SG-1 so great in story.  Its the core characters and an impressive supporting cast.  One of the most impressive is Ben Browder, who of course is from another highly regarded Sci Fi series, Farscape.  When Ben Browder was introduced during season nine one of my fears was, will he bring the typecasting of Farscape to SG-1.  Although I like Browder a lot, I was afraid that his character on Farscape would interffere with the quality of Stargate.  All it took was about twenty minutes of Cameron Mitchell being on screen and that fear I had was gone.  Not only is Browder a great actor, his character had so much depth that any reservations I had about him was stupid and totally unnecessary.  Out of all of that, Ark Of Truth was probably his best and most exciting performance he ever did on both SG-1 & Farscape… sorry Farscape fans. He was awesome in this!  In the simplest terms he was a complete bad ass basically making it clear on what a great character he is.  He also had some of the best dialog in the movie.  Even the now added curse words brought out the excitement in some of the scenes.

Next to Ben Browder with the best dialog was Christopher Judge.  His performance not only in this film but the entire series is summed up in one scene he shares with Tim Guinee.  The scene that I’m referring to is when they talked with each other in the mess hall of the Oddessy.  Teal’c was brutal laying it all down for Tomin, basically summing up all of his emotions and motives through-out the series.

Of course the rest of the cast is excellent in their roles but I think its safe to say that they basically had the same stuff to do as they do in the series.

With out giving away major spoilers to The Ark Of Truth, this is probably the best story we’ve seen or I’ve seen, depending on opinion, since The Lost City two part episode.  The overall outcome of Ark Of Truth I thought was very cleaver and emotional at the same time.  The richness in story and characters is what makes Stargate such an enjoyable show and the writers and producers continue to prove that they’ll continue with great story’s.  Now with the end of the Ori, it opens up a whole new world for them.  It now gives them the chance to create stand alone films with no major story ark to follow.

Its very difficult to find things that I didn’t like, mainly because I love the series so much.  Critical reviews are difficult when it comes to something you love.  As I like to say, my main concern is opinions more then critical stuff.  So going with that motivation there are a couple of things that I did dislike.  As much as I like Morena Baccarin and as great as she is as Adria, she could have seriously been in it more.  She didn’t get enough screen time to put it simple.  The reason why I think she needed more screen time has nothing to do with the fact that shes hot and shes eye candy, its the fact that Adria is the evil in which SG-1 fights.  That title alone could have got her on screen just a little longer.  The other issue I have is the ending.  Its not that its a bad ending, I just feel that it could have been more exciting.  Take the ending to the Stargate movie with Kurt Russel and James Spader.  That for instance is a climax ending in which I thought was amazing, referring to when Russell steps throught the Gate at the end of the film.  Now that I look back on it, I see that scene and say to myself, that’s the beginning of this adventure.  SG-1 needs that in their films.  This is the third or fourth time, I lost count, that they ended off standing in front of the gate saying a couple of lines and it just didn’t work for me.  Maybe because the music is also wrong.  Again, I look back at Stargate with Russell and the ending theme is just huge and exciting.  Lastly, no Richard Dean Anderson…  At least he’ll be in the next film, continuum.

Overall, Ark Of Truth is a really great addition to the franchise.  Right now, as I write this, Ark Of Truth is at number 1 on Amazon, so I think we can expect more films after this and Continuum.  Continuum, is a SG-1 film that I’m very much looking forward to and I have a feeling that its going to be better then Ark Of Truth.  On a scale from 1 to 10 Ark Of Truth gets a very very VERY solid 8.5.  If this gets an 8.5, I’m expecting Continuum to get a 9 or 9.5… hell even a 10.  Before you go, keep also in mind that I love Stargate and it might actually impair my judgment, so I look forward t reading other reviews as they come out.

Remember to check out the Ark Of Truth Gallery.

-Phil