![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
We finally watched, a few days ago. Clearly I wasn't overwhelmed by squee, because it took me a few days to post.
I don't want to rain on anybody's squee, so if you thoroughly enjoyed The Ark of Truth, you might want to go elsewhere. I didn't hate it, but I was a bit disappointed. I guess I expected too much, having waited so long. But what can you get when you condense an entire season's arc into 142 minutes?
The answer: lots of explosions, Cam Mitchell being beaten to a pulp, too many enemies, and not enough character development. The same problems affected Farscape's Peacekeeper Wars, though a little less--they had more hours! Clearly, we needed a mini-series! Um, maybe not.
Here's my major problem: the whole movie hinged on an ethical dilemma that got little more than lip service. Is it right to use coercion to force people to believe the truth? (Who decides? How do we know what truth is?) Daniel does seem deeply troubled by the idea, but even he never really seriously debates it. They simply don't have time. The dilemma is never a real dilemma; what ought to be a central conflict simply doesn't emerge as a conflict at all. We know from the start that they're going to use the Ark. I'd have been shocked (and possibly very pleased!) if they didn't. This problem is symptomatic of my difficulties with later SG-1 and most of SGA: moral dilemmas don't matter. The writers generally nod to them (but occasionally ignore them), but we rarely see a character truly struggle with them as we did in earlier SG-1 (is it wrong to poison all the Goa'uld at the summit, killing their hosts but saving future victims? Can we force an entire race, the Gadmeer, to go or remain extinct, to save a small group of humans?), or show regrets. Lately, they regret when choices aren't effective; they rarely regret doing wrong. (Yes, there are exceptions, for which I am grateful.)
On a much more nit-picky note, I am tired of watching what appears to be the same small patch of woods serve as New Athos, New New Athos, new Atlantea, planet in another galaxy, etc. I suppose I don't have a right to complain, because I remain a fan of Doctor Who and Blake's 7; Paul Darrow swears they really were once on location running around a bend in the quarry when they ran headlong into a DW team running the other way. I'm now waiting for the Torchwood crew to smack into a Doctor Who crew (ow!).
I must also complain that SG-1 should have had ground-penetrating radar that would show the location of the underground chamber (as should previous generations of seekers!). I could handle it if they offered shielding as an excuse: "But the scans were identical to the surrounding areas!" I'm not impressed with the writers' understanding of the tools available to an extraordinarily well-funded (and desperate) archaeologist. I'm also not impressed with how obvious it was once Daniel had his "vision" of Merlin, after we heard how eons' worth of people on both sides had sought the Ark. Take out a few explosions, guys, and put something remotely convincing on the ground there!
Do we need a crazy IOA operative carrying out a crazy IOA directive? I for one did not. Nor did I need to see Replicators yet again. I felt like I'd seen it all before, although non-human-form Replicators taking over a human being added a new level of horror. I felt sympathy for the poor IOA idiot for a little bit, but...it passed.
Do we need to see Cam beaten to a pulp again? Yes, I know Ben Browder singled that out in at least one interview (no, I don't have a link handy; sorry) as Cam's major function. I really could have done with a lot less of it, though. I got the idea pretty early in the fight. I wanted to see something new from Cam, some development. I suppose I've been waiting for that for most of his time on the show, sadly. It's not Ben Browder's fault. They never quite gave the character the depth he needed.
It would have been nice to see Sam doing something new, too, but at least she didn't get beaten up, making her the only one who didn't. Go Sam! They didn't give her a whole lot of initiative, though! Come on! She's going to command Atlantis! Let's see some leadership here!
I like Landry. This seems to put me in the minority. I didn't feel like he really did anything in this movie, though! Letting the Prior through to Earth just seemed dumb. We know the inhibitor that stops Priors' powers doesn't work forever. At least they took his staff away. And I did get to admire Landry's eyebrows yet again.
I did like some elements of the movie!
Tomin was the surprise highlight of the movie for me. Tomin actually has ethical struggles and character development, though his reaction to the Prior's death is rather underwritten. His acceptance of guilt, and his reluctant return to his own galaxy without his wife, whom he still loves, to try to clean up the mess, helped redeem the movie for me. I also like his assertion that the Book of Origin has some good in it. Now there's something interesting!
Teal'c shares what he has learned from his own journey with Tomin. Was his speech to Tomin not the longest speech Teal'c has ever given? He has been waiting years to share his burden. Jack and Sam wouldn't quite understand, and he can't say these things to Daniel (part of it amounts to "you forgive me to make yourself feel better", which may be true, but not something one says to the person who has graciously forgiven you). Teal'c doesn't go easy on Tomin, and his anger at Tomin surely reflects some lingering anger at himself. They both seem the better for the talk, though.
Then, of course, we get Teal'c the Persevering, who will doubtless be a figure of Jaffa legend for centuries to come, as he should be.
I liked the final scene between Cam and Sam (that was a friendly kiss such as she might have given Teal'c or Daniel, and you'll never convince me otherwise!). I knew the moment we saw Cam in the infirmary that she'd bring macaroons.
It was nice to get a little closure on Morgan, though I'm curious about whether she overcame Adria or they are simply locked in eternal combat as Anubis and Oma were (last we knew). I was glad to see Daniel's visions weren't really "visions," as that would be a little too supernatural and convenient (whereas I'm happy to accept that an interfering Ancient continues to be an interfering ancient).
Daniel hasn't finished his journey. He gives up; haven't we been expecting this for years? As he bounced back from trauma after trauma, death after death (is it![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
aurora_novarum who says he has a Weeble gene?), I have to admit I finally began to disengage from the character. It wasn't so much the increasing snark (which I could mostly understand) or even his increasing willingness to use violent and fatal means. Daniel seemed to have stopped developing. That's a problem in long-running shows, but in life, and in good fiction, one always has more to do, further to go. People who stop growing aren't interesting. Daniel became interesting again in the movie. Though I wish more than lip service had been paid to the problem of using the Ark, I liked the depth of concern that Daniel showed, even as he used it.
Most of all, I enjoyed seeing the team again, especially with each other, all together and in various combinations. I was happy to see them going off again at the end. There are other adventures to be had. And I may write some of them, if I ever get time again.
I don't want to rain on anybody's squee, so if you thoroughly enjoyed The Ark of Truth, you might want to go elsewhere. I didn't hate it, but I was a bit disappointed. I guess I expected too much, having waited so long. But what can you get when you condense an entire season's arc into 142 minutes?
The answer: lots of explosions, Cam Mitchell being beaten to a pulp, too many enemies, and not enough character development. The same problems affected Farscape's Peacekeeper Wars, though a little less--they had more hours! Clearly, we needed a mini-series! Um, maybe not.
Here's my major problem: the whole movie hinged on an ethical dilemma that got little more than lip service. Is it right to use coercion to force people to believe the truth? (Who decides? How do we know what truth is?) Daniel does seem deeply troubled by the idea, but even he never really seriously debates it. They simply don't have time. The dilemma is never a real dilemma; what ought to be a central conflict simply doesn't emerge as a conflict at all. We know from the start that they're going to use the Ark. I'd have been shocked (and possibly very pleased!) if they didn't. This problem is symptomatic of my difficulties with later SG-1 and most of SGA: moral dilemmas don't matter. The writers generally nod to them (but occasionally ignore them), but we rarely see a character truly struggle with them as we did in earlier SG-1 (is it wrong to poison all the Goa'uld at the summit, killing their hosts but saving future victims? Can we force an entire race, the Gadmeer, to go or remain extinct, to save a small group of humans?), or show regrets. Lately, they regret when choices aren't effective; they rarely regret doing wrong. (Yes, there are exceptions, for which I am grateful.)
On a much more nit-picky note, I am tired of watching what appears to be the same small patch of woods serve as New Athos, New New Athos, new Atlantea, planet in another galaxy, etc. I suppose I don't have a right to complain, because I remain a fan of Doctor Who and Blake's 7; Paul Darrow swears they really were once on location running around a bend in the quarry when they ran headlong into a DW team running the other way. I'm now waiting for the Torchwood crew to smack into a Doctor Who crew (ow!).
I must also complain that SG-1 should have had ground-penetrating radar that would show the location of the underground chamber (as should previous generations of seekers!). I could handle it if they offered shielding as an excuse: "But the scans were identical to the surrounding areas!" I'm not impressed with the writers' understanding of the tools available to an extraordinarily well-funded (and desperate) archaeologist. I'm also not impressed with how obvious it was once Daniel had his "vision" of Merlin, after we heard how eons' worth of people on both sides had sought the Ark. Take out a few explosions, guys, and put something remotely convincing on the ground there!
Do we need a crazy IOA operative carrying out a crazy IOA directive? I for one did not. Nor did I need to see Replicators yet again. I felt like I'd seen it all before, although non-human-form Replicators taking over a human being added a new level of horror. I felt sympathy for the poor IOA idiot for a little bit, but...it passed.
Do we need to see Cam beaten to a pulp again? Yes, I know Ben Browder singled that out in at least one interview (no, I don't have a link handy; sorry) as Cam's major function. I really could have done with a lot less of it, though. I got the idea pretty early in the fight. I wanted to see something new from Cam, some development. I suppose I've been waiting for that for most of his time on the show, sadly. It's not Ben Browder's fault. They never quite gave the character the depth he needed.
It would have been nice to see Sam doing something new, too, but at least she didn't get beaten up, making her the only one who didn't. Go Sam! They didn't give her a whole lot of initiative, though! Come on! She's going to command Atlantis! Let's see some leadership here!
I like Landry. This seems to put me in the minority. I didn't feel like he really did anything in this movie, though! Letting the Prior through to Earth just seemed dumb. We know the inhibitor that stops Priors' powers doesn't work forever. At least they took his staff away. And I did get to admire Landry's eyebrows yet again.
I did like some elements of the movie!
Tomin was the surprise highlight of the movie for me. Tomin actually has ethical struggles and character development, though his reaction to the Prior's death is rather underwritten. His acceptance of guilt, and his reluctant return to his own galaxy without his wife, whom he still loves, to try to clean up the mess, helped redeem the movie for me. I also like his assertion that the Book of Origin has some good in it. Now there's something interesting!
Teal'c shares what he has learned from his own journey with Tomin. Was his speech to Tomin not the longest speech Teal'c has ever given? He has been waiting years to share his burden. Jack and Sam wouldn't quite understand, and he can't say these things to Daniel (part of it amounts to "you forgive me to make yourself feel better", which may be true, but not something one says to the person who has graciously forgiven you). Teal'c doesn't go easy on Tomin, and his anger at Tomin surely reflects some lingering anger at himself. They both seem the better for the talk, though.
Then, of course, we get Teal'c the Persevering, who will doubtless be a figure of Jaffa legend for centuries to come, as he should be.
I liked the final scene between Cam and Sam (that was a friendly kiss such as she might have given Teal'c or Daniel, and you'll never convince me otherwise!). I knew the moment we saw Cam in the infirmary that she'd bring macaroons.
It was nice to get a little closure on Morgan, though I'm curious about whether she overcame Adria or they are simply locked in eternal combat as Anubis and Oma were (last we knew). I was glad to see Daniel's visions weren't really "visions," as that would be a little too supernatural and convenient (whereas I'm happy to accept that an interfering Ancient continues to be an interfering ancient).
Daniel hasn't finished his journey. He gives up; haven't we been expecting this for years? As he bounced back from trauma after trauma, death after death (is it
aurora_novarum who says he has a Weeble gene?), I have to admit I finally began to disengage from the character. It wasn't so much the increasing snark (which I could mostly understand) or even his increasing willingness to use violent and fatal means. Daniel seemed to have stopped developing. That's a problem in long-running shows, but in life, and in good fiction, one always has more to do, further to go. People who stop growing aren't interesting. Daniel became interesting again in the movie. Though I wish more than lip service had been paid to the problem of using the Ark, I liked the depth of concern that Daniel showed, even as he used it. Most of all, I enjoyed seeing the team again, especially with each other, all together and in various combinations. I was happy to see them going off again at the end. There are other adventures to be had. And I may write some of them, if I ever get time again.
Tags:
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
From:
no subject
Overall, I am satisfied with the movie. It was WAY too fast, skipped over some important points for the sake of brevity (the moral implications, Daniel's "giving up", etc.), but it does tie up the Ori storyline. More importantly, it paves the way for some new adventures. Bring on Continuum!
From:
no subject
Yes! Every time we cut back to the Adventures of Sam and Cam I got frustrated.
I'm game for new adventures, though!