![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
Yes, I know it's almost 2 a.m. Just go with the fannish flow, okay?
So, Continuum. A lot better than Ark of Truth!
Random spoilers, squees, and supposedly thoughtful comments ahead...
I congratulate the writers on their brilliance in making the first two minutes of the movie a love letter to the fans. Teams coming back from exploring, full of camaraderie! The SGC clearly busy and populated by competent people! Walter chatting in the Gate Room, and calling out the chevrons as the Gate dials up! Siler being deadpan snarky! Paul Davis! (Is that a star on his shoulder?!)
Happy sigh. Seriously, it puts you in a very positive frame of mind for the rest of the movie!
Joel Goldsmith's gorgeous music doesn't hurt, either...
There were plot holes and bits of grandstanding, of course. How many of us knew that hapless seaman would be vaporized in the kawoosh? (looks at forest of hands) And while I'm quite pleased to know that the Jaffa and the Tok'ra have reconciled to the point where the Tok'ra actually permit a Jaffa fleet around their homeworld, where are the tunnels, and their beige leather uniforms? Where are the Tok'ra touches? Where's Garshaw? And good grief, how do they expect us to accept the idea of suctioning out a symbiote via the host's forehead?
(Baal was such a wimp, too. Compare the lack of fangs and wings on that little sucker with the honkin' big snake that Hathor implanted in Jack.)
If the stuff in there is so deadly that it kills Jack in moments (and seriously, OW for Baal killing Jack again), how could it possibly be used in a ceremony that's supposed to keep the host alive afterwards?
If the timeline was first changed on Earth, why is everything off of Earth affected first? Logically, the Tau'ri should've vanished before the rest of the galaxy was altered.
Would it have killed them to give us back the original wormhole effect? The warping of spacetime would have been infinitely cooler, as opposed to the bland difference in shading.
I didn't realize it was BB playing the captain the first time round, because I really tend to focus on the story.
I loved that long debriefing scene. Although bringing up kassa, of all things, really did Mitchell a disservice - it highlighted (to me, at least) how very marginal Mitchell's contribution has been in the grand scheme of things.
Look, I know Daniel has died umpteen times and takes everything in stride. But I would've liked to see just a leetle bit of struggle with his disability. I know that there is amazing work done with prosthetics, yes, but we're given only a year's timeframe for him to get used to it, and he's much too casual about it at the end.
And of course he died first. :)
I was very interested to see that the writers chose to make life in this alternate timeline better for everyone except SG-1. Mitchell was literally grandfather paradoxed out of existence. Sam got into NASA, as she'd always dreamed, but she was dead. Daniel was in his usual alternate timeline straits - reviled with no way of redemption. On the other hand, Charlie was alive. (more on this later.) Landry (who I really can't bring myself to like, but was actually pretty good when he challenged SG-1 on their pride and hubris on insisting that their timeline was the only option) was still married. I wonder if Sam's parents were still alive, too.
Why didn't Sam or Daniel bother to mention in their debriefing that the Russians, in their timeline, had a DHD?
I loved the callback to 2010, but why did it take so much longer with all the stars in the galaxy than it did when they were working only with Earth's sun to find a solar flare? Although maybe it was just a matter of finding a flare that would work right now, whereas the 2010 one gave them a few days to work out the execution of the plan.
I've never pretended to like Vala. I can't reconcile her actions in Prometheus Unbound and the first episodes of S9 with the character we're supposed to like in S10 and accept as a member of SG-1. On the other hand, I have often stated that I very much admire Claudia Black - even if I think she has superb chemistry with everyone on SG-1 except MS. ;)
And now I will squee loudly enough to register on the Richter Scale, because oh, Claudia Black as Qetesh was beyond fantastic. She was the Goa'uld personified - cool and ruthless, cunning, manipulative, intelligent. The scene where she stabbed Baal and then forced the truth out of him was one of my favorites. I adored her and if we'd gotten CB as Qetesh instead of Vala on the show, I would be shamelessly fangirling her character the way so many fans out there adore Baal.
And speaking of Baal, it was a pleasure to see a return to the evil and crafty villain that we first met properly in Abyss. I despised the clone storyline, but he was fantastic here. It makes sense for a Goa'uld to possess patience and a tendency towards long and elaborate plans that demand decades to achieve fruition - after all, they've literally got all the time they need.
And again, a delightful roll call of so many of the villains - Apophis, Nirrti, Cronus, Yu, Camulus. I would've liked an explanation for how Baal managed to get rid of Ra and Anubis, but never mind...
Baal's persistent fascination with all things human, though. That cell phone. I love the irony that it ultimately proved his undoing.
Teal'c, oh, Teal'c, how can you be so awesome? Baal using foreknowledge and intelligence, again, to draw Teal'c to him. Competence and professionalism, because even as Baal's First Prime, Teal'c can't help but be superb at what he does. His acceptance of his once and future teammates, and oh oh oh when he died free - Teal'c. (The only thing more perfect would've been dal shakka mel, but no complaints.) There is nothing ever as amazing and fantastic as Teal'c. And I can't help but squee a little at how, after his failure to connect with Jack (more on that later), Daniel managed to make a real connection with Teal'c almost without trying - his matter-of-fact knowledge and insight into how Teal'c's mind must be working that kept Teal'c blinking and realizing that yes, there is something about these three Tau'ri. I loved that bit to pieces.
Sam, dear Sam. Struggling to keep walking, after she's left Daniel behind. I ached most for her when she was given that long list of professions that she wasn't allowed to touch. Emotionlessly shutting the door on one dream after another... Such cruelty. "Miss Carter" instead of "Colonel Doctor."
The writers, for a change, got the shippiness just right - her despair at Jack's death, her wincing at Fruit Loops. Easily interpreted as friendship or relationship. Well done.
I loved how she got through to Teal'c after they went through the Gate. Her competence, and the team's unhesitating support. Ah, Sam.
On a purely shallow note, how does Amanda Tapping get more beautiful every year? I loved her with short hair and while I didn't care for the messy look of early S4, she is stunning with long hair. And with glasses!
I could've personally done without the upgrade in swearing, although I know I'm in the minority there. But Daniel made me laugh and then he broke my heart, which is kinda par for the course for the guy, so why am I surprised?
Kneeling at Jack's side when he died. Having the courage to send the others away. Loopy on drugs (his facial expressions were priceless) and trying to convince Jack, and I absolutely adored "I'm the closest thing you have to a best friend," because no way could anyone define Jack and Daniel's friendship by the usual words in the dictionary.
Part of me cringed at his choice of Charlie - I flashed on Moebius, so why not mention the cabin and no fish and Jack's fondness for college football? - but then I flashed back a lot further to TBFTGOG, when Charlie was the key to breaking through to AU Jack. So, not such a mistake. Especially when loopy on drugs.
On the subject of Jack (because including his name in an LJ cut wouldn't be fair), why was Colonel Jack so much more fantastic than General Jack? Loved him, loved him, loved him. Loved his dialogue, his reactions to Sam and Daniel, his fury at Daniel daring to suggest that Charlie is dead. I'm only sorry we didn't get more of him.
And on that note, too... Aw, Hammond! ::sniffs:: So glad we had that fleeting glimpse of the SGC's best general ever. And Hayes, too, is a fun president (I laughed when he snarked that they didn't call SG-1 every time they needed to make a decision). And - hm. Apparently, another good thing about this timeline - no Kinsey. ;)
Back to Daniel, though - I ached for him when he found the book his alternate self had wrote and then called him in the middle of the night to try and give his other self validation and hope. And AU Daniel hung up on him. Oh, Daniel. (Was he drunk? Was that an empty bottle at the foot of the bed? I couldn't tell.)
On the other hand, Daniel speaking Russian in a panic? "What did you just say?" "We're Americans, please shoot the people chasing us!" Hee hee hee. That's my boy. :)
I'm even less of a Mitchell fan than a Vala fan, but it was great to see him back in a fighter jet again.
Is there some kind of rule that someone has to be left behind to carry the burden of fixing the timeline? Sam did it in 2010, although she died pretty quickly in the end. Daniel (oh Daniel) got the cruelest whumping ever when he was left behind to fix things in Moebius. And now Mitchell has to spend ten years trying to manipulate events to be there at just the right moment to short-circuit disaster.
I double-checked to make sure the woman who flirts with him wasn't the old high-school girlfriend, because that would've been a fun touch. Alas, no.
Any suggestions on why he screamed "Carter!" instead of "Sam" when she died, when he's been calling her by her first name throughout the movie?
Final analysis: despite some missteps and weak points, a very likeable movie. Thanks, guys. :)
So, Continuum. A lot better than Ark of Truth!
Random spoilers, squees, and supposedly thoughtful comments ahead...
I congratulate the writers on their brilliance in making the first two minutes of the movie a love letter to the fans. Teams coming back from exploring, full of camaraderie! The SGC clearly busy and populated by competent people! Walter chatting in the Gate Room, and calling out the chevrons as the Gate dials up! Siler being deadpan snarky! Paul Davis! (Is that a star on his shoulder?!)
Happy sigh. Seriously, it puts you in a very positive frame of mind for the rest of the movie!
Joel Goldsmith's gorgeous music doesn't hurt, either...
There were plot holes and bits of grandstanding, of course. How many of us knew that hapless seaman would be vaporized in the kawoosh? (looks at forest of hands) And while I'm quite pleased to know that the Jaffa and the Tok'ra have reconciled to the point where the Tok'ra actually permit a Jaffa fleet around their homeworld, where are the tunnels, and their beige leather uniforms? Where are the Tok'ra touches? Where's Garshaw? And good grief, how do they expect us to accept the idea of suctioning out a symbiote via the host's forehead?
(Baal was such a wimp, too. Compare the lack of fangs and wings on that little sucker with the honkin' big snake that Hathor implanted in Jack.)
If the stuff in there is so deadly that it kills Jack in moments (and seriously, OW for Baal killing Jack again), how could it possibly be used in a ceremony that's supposed to keep the host alive afterwards?
If the timeline was first changed on Earth, why is everything off of Earth affected first? Logically, the Tau'ri should've vanished before the rest of the galaxy was altered.
Would it have killed them to give us back the original wormhole effect? The warping of spacetime would have been infinitely cooler, as opposed to the bland difference in shading.
I didn't realize it was BB playing the captain the first time round, because I really tend to focus on the story.
I loved that long debriefing scene. Although bringing up kassa, of all things, really did Mitchell a disservice - it highlighted (to me, at least) how very marginal Mitchell's contribution has been in the grand scheme of things.
Look, I know Daniel has died umpteen times and takes everything in stride. But I would've liked to see just a leetle bit of struggle with his disability. I know that there is amazing work done with prosthetics, yes, but we're given only a year's timeframe for him to get used to it, and he's much too casual about it at the end.
And of course he died first. :)
I was very interested to see that the writers chose to make life in this alternate timeline better for everyone except SG-1. Mitchell was literally grandfather paradoxed out of existence. Sam got into NASA, as she'd always dreamed, but she was dead. Daniel was in his usual alternate timeline straits - reviled with no way of redemption. On the other hand, Charlie was alive. (more on this later.) Landry (who I really can't bring myself to like, but was actually pretty good when he challenged SG-1 on their pride and hubris on insisting that their timeline was the only option) was still married. I wonder if Sam's parents were still alive, too.
Why didn't Sam or Daniel bother to mention in their debriefing that the Russians, in their timeline, had a DHD?
I loved the callback to 2010, but why did it take so much longer with all the stars in the galaxy than it did when they were working only with Earth's sun to find a solar flare? Although maybe it was just a matter of finding a flare that would work right now, whereas the 2010 one gave them a few days to work out the execution of the plan.
I've never pretended to like Vala. I can't reconcile her actions in Prometheus Unbound and the first episodes of S9 with the character we're supposed to like in S10 and accept as a member of SG-1. On the other hand, I have often stated that I very much admire Claudia Black - even if I think she has superb chemistry with everyone on SG-1 except MS. ;)
And now I will squee loudly enough to register on the Richter Scale, because oh, Claudia Black as Qetesh was beyond fantastic. She was the Goa'uld personified - cool and ruthless, cunning, manipulative, intelligent. The scene where she stabbed Baal and then forced the truth out of him was one of my favorites. I adored her and if we'd gotten CB as Qetesh instead of Vala on the show, I would be shamelessly fangirling her character the way so many fans out there adore Baal.
And speaking of Baal, it was a pleasure to see a return to the evil and crafty villain that we first met properly in Abyss. I despised the clone storyline, but he was fantastic here. It makes sense for a Goa'uld to possess patience and a tendency towards long and elaborate plans that demand decades to achieve fruition - after all, they've literally got all the time they need.
And again, a delightful roll call of so many of the villains - Apophis, Nirrti, Cronus, Yu, Camulus. I would've liked an explanation for how Baal managed to get rid of Ra and Anubis, but never mind...
Baal's persistent fascination with all things human, though. That cell phone. I love the irony that it ultimately proved his undoing.
Teal'c, oh, Teal'c, how can you be so awesome? Baal using foreknowledge and intelligence, again, to draw Teal'c to him. Competence and professionalism, because even as Baal's First Prime, Teal'c can't help but be superb at what he does. His acceptance of his once and future teammates, and oh oh oh when he died free - Teal'c. (The only thing more perfect would've been dal shakka mel, but no complaints.) There is nothing ever as amazing and fantastic as Teal'c. And I can't help but squee a little at how, after his failure to connect with Jack (more on that later), Daniel managed to make a real connection with Teal'c almost without trying - his matter-of-fact knowledge and insight into how Teal'c's mind must be working that kept Teal'c blinking and realizing that yes, there is something about these three Tau'ri. I loved that bit to pieces.
Sam, dear Sam. Struggling to keep walking, after she's left Daniel behind. I ached most for her when she was given that long list of professions that she wasn't allowed to touch. Emotionlessly shutting the door on one dream after another... Such cruelty. "Miss Carter" instead of "Colonel Doctor."
The writers, for a change, got the shippiness just right - her despair at Jack's death, her wincing at Fruit Loops. Easily interpreted as friendship or relationship. Well done.
I loved how she got through to Teal'c after they went through the Gate. Her competence, and the team's unhesitating support. Ah, Sam.
On a purely shallow note, how does Amanda Tapping get more beautiful every year? I loved her with short hair and while I didn't care for the messy look of early S4, she is stunning with long hair. And with glasses!
I could've personally done without the upgrade in swearing, although I know I'm in the minority there. But Daniel made me laugh and then he broke my heart, which is kinda par for the course for the guy, so why am I surprised?
Kneeling at Jack's side when he died. Having the courage to send the others away. Loopy on drugs (his facial expressions were priceless) and trying to convince Jack, and I absolutely adored "I'm the closest thing you have to a best friend," because no way could anyone define Jack and Daniel's friendship by the usual words in the dictionary.
Part of me cringed at his choice of Charlie - I flashed on Moebius, so why not mention the cabin and no fish and Jack's fondness for college football? - but then I flashed back a lot further to TBFTGOG, when Charlie was the key to breaking through to AU Jack. So, not such a mistake. Especially when loopy on drugs.
On the subject of Jack (because including his name in an LJ cut wouldn't be fair), why was Colonel Jack so much more fantastic than General Jack? Loved him, loved him, loved him. Loved his dialogue, his reactions to Sam and Daniel, his fury at Daniel daring to suggest that Charlie is dead. I'm only sorry we didn't get more of him.
And on that note, too... Aw, Hammond! ::sniffs:: So glad we had that fleeting glimpse of the SGC's best general ever. And Hayes, too, is a fun president (I laughed when he snarked that they didn't call SG-1 every time they needed to make a decision). And - hm. Apparently, another good thing about this timeline - no Kinsey. ;)
Back to Daniel, though - I ached for him when he found the book his alternate self had wrote and then called him in the middle of the night to try and give his other self validation and hope. And AU Daniel hung up on him. Oh, Daniel. (Was he drunk? Was that an empty bottle at the foot of the bed? I couldn't tell.)
On the other hand, Daniel speaking Russian in a panic? "What did you just say?" "We're Americans, please shoot the people chasing us!" Hee hee hee. That's my boy. :)
I'm even less of a Mitchell fan than a Vala fan, but it was great to see him back in a fighter jet again.
Is there some kind of rule that someone has to be left behind to carry the burden of fixing the timeline? Sam did it in 2010, although she died pretty quickly in the end. Daniel (oh Daniel) got the cruelest whumping ever when he was left behind to fix things in Moebius. And now Mitchell has to spend ten years trying to manipulate events to be there at just the right moment to short-circuit disaster.
I double-checked to make sure the woman who flirts with him wasn't the old high-school girlfriend, because that would've been a fun touch. Alas, no.
Any suggestions on why he screamed "Carter!" instead of "Sam" when she died, when he's been calling her by her first name throughout the movie?
Final analysis: despite some missteps and weak points, a very likeable movie. Thanks, guys. :)
Tags:
no subject
On the commentary they said they wanted him (and the others) there to show SGC was still busy, and for the fans, and that it was not part of the original script. I'm so glad they put that part in, it's great.
no subject
If they bothered to include Davis, they must've know we'd know him by sight, whether he's a major or a major general. ;)
no subject
Jennifer Hailey
Dr. Folger
Lt. Simmons (the one who had the crush on Sam, not Col. Simmons)
Dr. Lam
anyone else remember people who could have been in the intro?
no subject
Lam would be pretty recognizable, I'd think. But Hailey and Felger and (hopefully at least captain by now) Simmons, yes! Coombs? Chloe? Mackenzie? Brightman? (I forgot, she's moonlighting as an Ancient now.) Warner?
I confess I was disappointed we didn't get to see Reynolds. And the angst would have gone up by a factor of ten if they'd met a certain petite redhead in the alternate timeline...
no subject
no subject
Sigh. I do miss Janet. Maybe the angst factor would've been too high, if they'd met her and known she was alive and well...
no subject
no subject