Stargate: The Ark of Truth (2008)

A good science fiction TV show. However the ark is an easy and convenient piece technology. The Ark has never been in the series SG1. YET A Miraculous piece of technology drops into the knowledge base if SG1.I'm very happy that show got the closure it needed.

I'm disappointed that some reviewers here treated this like a Feature Film instead of what it is, one of two SG-1 "Episodes" that deal with loose ends left from the series. This one focuses on The Ori Followers and has a side-trip into Replicatorville.This was not ever intended to be Feature Film Quality. As far as Production Value, it's probably the best SG-1 Episode ever made, along with "Continuum".Like a few other's I stopped watching SG-1 for seasons 9 and 10, so I missed the whole Ori storyline. I came into this without any of the background. Even so, it was not difficult for me to follow the story: And some cleverly placed flashbacks show the history of the Ori's incursion into "our" galaxy and what had transpired in seasons 9 and 10. I had no trouble understanding the main plots, but now that I have gone back and watched seasons 9 and 10, I can really enjoy this.The Fires of Celestos have gone out - Which is the City of the Gods as shown in "Avalon pt II" - The Ori are Gone, but the Followers of the Ori are not. The Ancients had actually thought up a solution, millions of years ago: The Ark of Truth. But they were loathe to use it, as it represented the same kind of coercion which The Ori Followers use. Mainly the Ark is designed to cause followers of the Ori to question their beliefs. At least that is what it is programmed to do by The Ancients. But they built in a safeguard: The Ark can only be programmed to make people believe things which are True, which would effectively prevent the Ori from taking The Ark and using it to make people believe their propaganda.Daniel Jackson sees the Ark in his dreams, as well as a mountain blowing up. Assuming the vision came from Merlin, who helped Jackson create the weapon which killed all of the Ori, SG-1 is led to the ruins of Dakara. As expected, an Ori ship shows up and out pops Vala's "Husband" Tomin (Tim Guinee), some Ori Soldiers, and the Prior who we saw get converted in "Avalon part II" and "Origin" (Greg Anderson, who deserves note for a fine job of creeping us out).We knew that Tomin was starting to question the way his Prior was using the book of Origin to rationalize atrocities done in the Ori's name, and he had already given SG-1 safe passage. But when the Prior tries to revoke that, Tomin cracks and SG-1 skirts certain death once again by the skin of their teeth.So, SG-1 returns to Command with Tomin in tow. Homeworld Command has one advanced ship with an Asgard Core: The Odyssey. Basically the idea is to sneak in to the Ori Galaxy through the Super-Stargate, find the Ark, and turn it on. Then Bring it back to "our" galaxy, and turn it on there, too.But the IOA, the agency which was set up for Homeworld Command Oversight, has a new face to replace Woolsey (Robert Picardo) who went to Atlantis: Merrick, played by Currie Graham. The IOA had created a secondary, secret plan: Which was to release Replicators into the Ori Galaxy! Needless to say, in the Middle of SG-1's mission, Merrick releases a special replicator onto the Odyssey, one which is immune to the anti-replicator weapon Jack created in Season 7. And, he activated the Asgard Core to do it which is an Instant Ori-Magnet! So... Replicators overrun Odyssey, Ori ships chasing them, Daniel, Vala, and Tomin captured, and Teal'c has a new hole blown into his back to match his frontal Symbiote Pouch, what is not to like? The production is superb, almost feature film quality. And it's one last blast for SG-1. Well, Almost one last blast, it depends on which SG-1 Movie you watch first, Continuum or Ark. I chose to watch this one first, then Continuum. Either way, it wraps up all remaining plot lines for SG-1.

I took the time to watch The Arc of Truth a while back and couldn't watch more than a little less than a half an hour of it. The acting was practically non existent.As for the plot line, it seemed interesting enough and I was beginning to get drawn into it... but once I saw the main actors interacting for the first time, I pretty much gave up on the film itself.The secondary actors did a better job than the primary ones did. Both the lines and any jokes that the main characters said fell flat. I don't know why they (the main actors) didn't even bother to show up, so to speak, acting wise, in this entry. It's a real shame, because I was really looking forward to watching this originally.Overall this movie isn't worth the watch, in my opinion.Continuum is the better movie out of the two overall.

So clearly I liked the movie. I gave it an 8/10. Was it really an 8? Probably not, but being a fan of the series I felt that I could not give it any lower. Also, while it won't win any awards, I try to give things ratings for what they were trying to be. This was not trying to be an award winning movie and if you think it should be, from the onset you will probably be disappointed (and don't even think of trying to see it without watching at least seasons 7-10 of the show. You will be lost).That said, does anyone else hate Vala? Nothing against Claudia Black but Vala is the one reason I wanted to stop watching the show. She is the classic "let me be an overall impatient idiot who should be shot and save the team the trouble of her antics" character. Sure Jack O'Neill had his moments but they were offset buy humor and actual redeemable moments. Vala is just an idiot. Can they play out the stealing/treasure of her past in any more lame jokes? She is so out of place they may as well use yet another Farscape actor.Bottom Line: Fine movie, if you go in expecting a made-for-DVD movie, and Vala is annoying as ever (but less so if you make it past the first 20 min of the movie).