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I've seen various specials, but this is the only one I really, really liked... Only up to a point. But thanks, guys, for crystallizing some latent feelings for me!
Spoilers ahead, for both the show and elements of S9-10.
Hope I get the chance to sit down to The Quest, part II sometime today! There was a spoiler or two in the special, I think. At least, there were a few seconds of footage I didn't recognize. We'll see.
Spoilers ahead, for both the show and elements of S9-10.
Michael Shanks and Christopher Judge hosted this, and they were great choices for the role. MS was looking - er. Extra pretty? I really prefer the Daniel Jackson persona to the Michael Shanks actor, but he looked wonderful here.
The discussions on mythology and the way they chose to define it - Where did we come from, and where are we going? - seemed intelligent and interesting. They did a nice job of interposing clips to highlight the points they were making, including the evolution of Stargate's own mythologies and the creation of new ones...
And that's where things disappointed me, because I realized why I dislike the Ori storyline so much: it's not based on mythology. There's no classic resonance there, because the writers basically made them up on their own. And when they chose to define the contrast between the Ancients and the Ori as scientific humanists vs. religious fundamentalists, that really irritated me. I've never seen the Ancients/Ori divide as science vs. religion; I've seen it as non-interference vs. interference for their own benefit. Their choosing to cloak their intentions through religious fundamentalism doesn't make their motives religious or fundamentalist, any more than it does the Goa'uld's motives, who essentially did the same exact thing on their own level with the Jaffa and the people they enslaved. So to me, that definition comes across as the writers not understanding their own story themes - or, at worst, reducing the last two seasons to the writers' thinly veiled statement about today's world politics.
The Replicators, in contrast, were also a new construct (excuse the pun), and worked very well - until Fifth et al were introduced, anyway. [I know a lot of people think that it served the Replicators well to be given human faces. I'm not one of them. Although I suppose Reckoning made it worth it.] But they also represented a classic mythological theme: man's creation getting out of hand, the triumph of man over soulless machine, and so forth. The Ori? Not so much.
So I enjoyed the first thirty minutes of the special a lot, and spent the last ten minutes making faces. That's not all that bad, I suppose.
Two other things that I disliked: They gave us a nice, quick rundown of SG-1, starting from classic team and ending with Mitchell and Vala. However - and this is the woman who has only seen four S6 episodes to date writing this - where is Jonas?! He was part of the show for nearly as many episodes as Vala - one in S5, all of S6, and three in S7 - and yet he isn't even mentioned. Whether or not you care for Jonas Quinn, he was definitely a member of SG-1 and deserves to be credited as such. I thought that they might need to avoid showing him onscreen, so they wouldn't have to pay him, or something; but they included a clip of Full Circle, including some dialogue, so it can't be that. The writers did the same thing in Counterstrike, with a casual reference to Langara falling to the Ori - but not a word about Jonas Quinn. So much for "we don't leave our people behind." (Unless you read![[profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
6beforelunch's fix of that.)
And my perennial grumble: They ended with the wormhole effect, which is lovely and appropriate. Unfortunately, it was the one from Atlantis. I don't know why it bothers me as much as it does, but... ::shrugs:: I want my old mind-melting wormhole effect back!
The discussions on mythology and the way they chose to define it - Where did we come from, and where are we going? - seemed intelligent and interesting. They did a nice job of interposing clips to highlight the points they were making, including the evolution of Stargate's own mythologies and the creation of new ones...
And that's where things disappointed me, because I realized why I dislike the Ori storyline so much: it's not based on mythology. There's no classic resonance there, because the writers basically made them up on their own. And when they chose to define the contrast between the Ancients and the Ori as scientific humanists vs. religious fundamentalists, that really irritated me. I've never seen the Ancients/Ori divide as science vs. religion; I've seen it as non-interference vs. interference for their own benefit. Their choosing to cloak their intentions through religious fundamentalism doesn't make their motives religious or fundamentalist, any more than it does the Goa'uld's motives, who essentially did the same exact thing on their own level with the Jaffa and the people they enslaved. So to me, that definition comes across as the writers not understanding their own story themes - or, at worst, reducing the last two seasons to the writers' thinly veiled statement about today's world politics.
The Replicators, in contrast, were also a new construct (excuse the pun), and worked very well - until Fifth et al were introduced, anyway. [I know a lot of people think that it served the Replicators well to be given human faces. I'm not one of them. Although I suppose Reckoning made it worth it.] But they also represented a classic mythological theme: man's creation getting out of hand, the triumph of man over soulless machine, and so forth. The Ori? Not so much.
So I enjoyed the first thirty minutes of the special a lot, and spent the last ten minutes making faces. That's not all that bad, I suppose.
Two other things that I disliked: They gave us a nice, quick rundown of SG-1, starting from classic team and ending with Mitchell and Vala. However - and this is the woman who has only seen four S6 episodes to date writing this - where is Jonas?! He was part of the show for nearly as many episodes as Vala - one in S5, all of S6, and three in S7 - and yet he isn't even mentioned. Whether or not you care for Jonas Quinn, he was definitely a member of SG-1 and deserves to be credited as such. I thought that they might need to avoid showing him onscreen, so they wouldn't have to pay him, or something; but they included a clip of Full Circle, including some dialogue, so it can't be that. The writers did the same thing in Counterstrike, with a casual reference to Langara falling to the Ori - but not a word about Jonas Quinn. So much for "we don't leave our people behind." (Unless you read
6beforelunch's fix of that.)And my perennial grumble: They ended with the wormhole effect, which is lovely and appropriate. Unfortunately, it was the one from Atlantis. I don't know why it bothers me as much as it does, but... ::shrugs:: I want my old mind-melting wormhole effect back!
Hope I get the chance to sit down to The Quest, part II sometime today! There was a spoiler or two in the special, I think. At least, there were a few seconds of footage I didn't recognize. We'll see.
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The Pri are just not as as interesting as the Goa'uld. And I miss the ancietn cultures, but I do like the politics between the Ancients and the Ori. I just wish they were exploring them in different ways.
The Jonas thing is the first thing I picked up on. I squeed when I saw the rundown of the SG-1 members and then was like hey...they ditched Jonas. My guess is that TPTB and the actor might have somne bad blood between them because they drop him every change they get. No one ever mentions the guy. We had that brief throw away line in Counterstrike. And even in interviews, TPTB sort of shy away from any Jonas questions. It's a shame. He should be listed there.
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*cries at all the typos* I just get so excited.
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I don't care much for Jonas, but really, he deserves mention. It's annoying, and whether or not your surmise about why is correct, the character - and the actor, too - deserves better.
And don't worry about the typos! Someday, LJ will actually let us ::gasp:: edit comments.
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Yes! That's it exactly. Fans have the right to grouse and grumble if they don't like the direction a show takes. They even have the right to bash the character (but not, I hope, the actor or actress). But they're FANS; their only real voice is the button on their remote. For the writers and producers to be so petty? It only reflects badly on them.
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What the special crystallized for me is that the shiny, new, exciting villains are just as scary as the Wraith - as in NOT - and they're just retreads of what we already had in the Goa'uld:
1. They assume the roles of gods,
2. They have hordes of worshippers who do their bidding,
3. They're bent on galactic domination,
4. They keep their followers in technologically-stunted,(what we are to perceive as) "backwards" cultures -- except for the weaponry which is freely handed out like candy. (Nobody has yet explained to my satisfaction how people who otherwise live in early agricultural subsistence societies adapt so easily to piloting space ships and fighter craft.)
Only, now we don't have the mythological background or the horror of losing control of your own body or even the occasionally amusing pomp of the goa'uld. Now we have the drab and the flat spouting Origin.
I want both my wormhole AND my villains back. I've seen the pilot episode probably 975613289721357 times by now and I STILL get goosebumps every single time Amaunet crawls over the naked Sha're and then burrows into her neck. The pure menace and horror of that scene works for me in a way that all the burning special effects and pasty priors never will. :(
This is mostly "I totally agree" post, too, because I never saw this as science vs. fundamentalism but as non-intervention vs. intervention. I've been craving a story where we learn why the Ancients are so wedded to non-intervention; something like the Tollan story about the neighboring planet blowing itself up only much, much bigger. Or something like the story of Absolute Power about the best of intentions and where they lead so I was trying to give the Ori storyline a chance. I saw this as possibly the hole-filler I'd wanted. But...not so much and now it sounds as if they never saw the last couple of seasons the way I did. Huh.
I couldn't agree more about the exclusion of Jonas; it was flat out wrong. My feelings for the character aside, he WAS a team member and should have been listed.
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You've carried my problem a step further, I think. You're right - it's not just that the Ori are essentially pulling the same shtick as the Goa'uld. They're pulling the same shtick without giving us any visceral jolt of horror or fear.
Nobody has yet explained to my satisfaction how people who otherwise live in early agricultural subsistence societies adapt so easily to piloting space ships and fighter craft.
Even if all they have to do is manipulate a joystick and press a button, that doesn't explain the ability to navigate in three dimensions, calculate vectors, and so on. Unless the Ori shot the knowledge pre-digested into their brains... but that would give them too much awareness, wouldn't it? As you say. Mindless foot-soldiers is one thing. Space fighters is quite different. I think they were wise to use that aspect only twice so far on the show, but I think it was twice too many!
I want both my wormhole AND my villains back.
Yes! The new and "shiny" versions just aren't the same!
My feelings for the character aside
Heh. I'm also too much of a Daniel fan to care for Jonas, but he definitely deserved a mention! Silly writers.