sholio | SG-1 Continuum

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SG-1 Continuum

Finally saw it, and ... I had a problem.

Was I the only one who was left feeling very, well, let down at the end of the movie?

I really enjoyed it while it was going on -- actually, there was some awesome stuff while it was going on. But then it got to the end, and everything was put back the way it was (as far as we know) and no one remembered anything or had been affected by any of the events in the movie, and it left me just feeling emotionally flat.

I'm totally on board with AU/change-the-timeline stories as long as they have some impact on the people we know -- as long as someone remembers to be affected by it. "Unending" had Teal'c, "Last Man" had John, "Road Not Taken" had Sam. I think "Moebius" worked for me where it otherwise wouldn't have because it was just so goofy and fun. But "Continuum" ... it had a lot of great scenes and then at the end, they all add up to -- nothing, really. If it's going to be about the AU team, then the lasting impact of the episode needs to be on the AU team (which was kind of how I felt about both "Moebius" and "Road Not Taken") but in this case, everyone *died* and Cam apparently lived out his life in the past without touching any other lives, and the canon team is back to normal with no clue that anything happened, and ... I just don't really know how to feel about it.

(Plus, I know nothing good ever comes of trying to figure out the science in Stargate, but I really had trouble understanding why Teal'c, Vala and the Tok'ra vanished -- or reverted to their AU selves, or something -- when the timeline changed, while the other four SG-1 members stayed the same with their memories of the original timeline intact. Hubby and I speculated at first that it had something to do with Teal'c and Vala's opposite numbers being alive where the others' were dead, but then we realized that Daniel and Jack's AU selves were still alive. So we didn't get to see "our" Teal'c and Vala react to the alternate timeline like everybody else, and that bothered me.)

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Yeah... me too.

It was an awesome movie, and we had team, and Russian linguistics, and Ba'al(!), and a lot of people we hadn't seen for years, and some really cool action! But the end, I felt a little let-down too. I mean, we have Mitchell 1.0 who apparently became best buddies with his grandpappy, but that's about it... maybe the ending was a little too light-hearted after seeing our team die? It wasn't exactly anti-climactic, but I kind of left with the same feeling.

And yes, trying to figure out the science in Stargate can really break your brain. The closest I can even begin to get to an explanation for why Teal'c and Vala disappeared first is that Ba'al's meddling directly interfered with their lives first (and I guess the Tok'ra ) but if I think for that too long, I really can't wrap my head around it, and the "we were travelling via wormhole theory" doesn't really cut it for me.

(Snipped spoiler in case we're going spoiler free in the comments.)

The time-travel science was weak. They clarified at some point that there could be two Carters/Daniels/Cams at the same time because they had been traveling through the stargate when the timeline change happened. (lol don't stare at the science too hard- it's migraine inducing)

I think the reason changes sort of happened 1,2,3 was supposed to be because that was the order in which Ba'al actually made the changes. Again though - huge logic holes (because if SG-1 didn't have Teal'c they most likely would never have been in that ceremony room to begin with)

If you don't dwell on the time travel inconsistences, I liked the flow of the movie and the idea that it was episody in that it was a nice neat "save the universe" plot. I loved the sharp edged Daniel snark, it was priceless. And Mitchell was great (stuff like this makes me wish he had had a better storyline than the Ori for his seasons on SG-1). And BA'AL - lol so scrumptious.

I was really let down by Sam's reaction to Jack's death, and the fact that they just left him there. It just didn't sit right with me.

And speaking of Jack - what was THAT? That really wasn't a special appearance, it was more of a cameo. And um, he was Colonel ten+ years ago when we first met him, why do I doubt that he wouldn't have advanced futher than that?

And not for nothing, Landry is THE most annoying person in the entire SG franchise. I really despise the character.

All and all I enjoyed Continuum. I think the trick is just taking it at face value and not dissecting it too much.

I haven't seen it yet, waiting on a library copy. But...I agree with this:

I'm totally on board with AU/change-the-timeline stories as long as they have some impact on the people we know -- as long as someone remembers to be affected by it.

The series is over, they don't need to do a Canon Reset To Normal. They can change things now, so why wouldn't they?

I will say that I enjoyed this 1000 times more than AoT. And I hadn't considered the points you bring up. I did wonder if family lore passed along to Mitchell what had happened since he had that pic in his locker. In my happy place, the man with Mitchell's grandfather (Mitchell, obviously) sat a young Cameron down one day and told him a whopper of a tale. And young Cameron grew up knowing.

(Snipped spoiler in case we're going spoiler free in the comments.)

Spoilers in the comments are fine as far as I'm concerned -- I presume that no one would be reading the thread if they hadn't seen the movie or at least don't mind spoilers -- and yes, I was right with you on that one. *g* I went around the whole movie halfway wondering what the alt-SGA bunch were up to in this 'verse, and hoping that we might get a McKay cameo (no such luck, oh well). Perhaps I have a one-track mind!

You might be right about the light-heartedness being part of what felt off at the end. It just felt like we didn't get *closure*. Mitchell 1.0 just vanished after seeing his entire team die, lived ten years in the past (without changing anything?), resurfaced on the ship and then vanished again. (I joked to the hubby that maybe they put him off the ship onto a life raft and he spent the rest of his life on a desert island -- but, seriously, what did he DO with himself? He couldn't contact his family, couldn't get married and have kids without causing major timeline changes ... wow.)

I felt the same way. I enjoyed it (to a degree) but there were a lot of unanswered questions. I though I missed stuff because I'm not as up on SG1 but this opinion seems to be the consensus.

I just finished watching it, and I'm still on a buzz from how much more I enjoyed it than I did The Ark of Truth, but - yeah. It's... *scratches head*

It's kind of what I've come to expect from SG time travel, though? And I'm happy enough making up stories about how the rest of the team do find out about it, and Cam's life did matter, and all that. Because it was just that good a movie (I think), that it was enjoyable for what it was and then I was happy that they weren't all horribly dead! Not horribly dead is a good ending!

Mmmm. They need to meet the aliens who can hook them up with an AU-oscope, so that they can see this particular timeline unfolding, in great detail. Maybe even download the memories of their AU selves. Yep. (Meanwhile, I want to know what John and Rodney were doing as the world was ending!)

The one thing I kind of missed about the movie, despite being a huge fan of AUs, was the team. I mean, okay, yes. There were a lot of nice moments between the three who did go back to Earth together, but - Teal'c! Vala! First Prime Teal'c and Quetesh (err, dunno how her name is spelled) just aren't the same! And Jack walking out on them was sad.

I did mention I'm buzzed, though? Wheee, dogfights! I have a huge weakness for aerial combat on screen. It always looks so cool. And I did love (in a weird, twisted way, I guess) Earth being back to a we're so screwed level of technology. And ice! Lots of ice! Actual Arctic ice! And a submarine! Eeee~! \o/ (Wow. I'm so easy. But it's been over a week since I had any new Stargate of any kind... what do you expect?)

I was left a little flat, too, and I couldn't figure out why, and I think you've hit it exactly on the head. No one knew what had happened. Time travel always gives me a headache, but I also wondered why at least Sam didn't disappear when Teal'c and Vala did because she was dead in the other timeline. I could maybe buy that Daniel and Cam would still be there because they were at least alive in the alternate timeline. Or maybe Sam was the only one who should have been left? See - headache!

Yep.

I haven't actually written up my reaction but overall...I loved the movie (not trying to think hard about the parts that makes sense because Stargate has no clue how to do AU's or time travel) but the ending...

It felt like "build, build, build, build, OMG HOLY CRAP END NOW" - like the climax came much too fast and too easily after the build-up and then, yeah, it had this ultimate feeling of "so what?"

At least with Moebius they had the video recording so they *knew* something had happened, even if they didn't remember.

Didn't make me not love it, just felt like they were getting so good and then the writers got lazy at the end.

Actually, the pic in Cam's locker at the end made me all thinky (the one that had changed to include other!Cam as well as his grandad). It made me wonder if the reason our Cam is such a fanboy of SG-1 is because when he was growing up he was told all these crazy stories by That Weird Guy Grandad Brought Home From The Arctic. Not likely, but a nice thought

The lack of team -- yes, exactly! I mean, I know I'm kind of biased here, because my favorite character is Teal'c, my second-favorite is Vala, and as much as I enjoyed everything with Cam, Sam and Daniel, I felt kind of cheated that I didn't get to see my characters reacting to the AU 'verse as well. But even aside from that, I missed the whole team being teamy together. I think that for me, Ark of Truth wins over this one, because even though this was probably a better movie, and had better individual moments, Ark gave me the whole team pulling together and fighting together (as opposed to fighting with each other). Jack turning his back on them, Vala still possessed by Qetesh to the end, and Teal'c dying without ever being free ... I'm sad!

They need to meet the aliens who can hook them up with an AU-oscope, so that they can see this particular timeline unfolding, in great detail. Maybe even download the memories of their AU selves. Yep. (Meanwhile, I want to know what John and Rodney were doing as the world was ending!)

AU-oscope! Hee! Yes, you're not the only one who wondered about John and Rodney, too. *g* I was actually hoping for a Hewlett cameo -- as usual, I didn't peek at the guest stars, so I had no idea if he would be in there or not -- but, in the absence of information, it's fun to speculate on where they might have been through it all.

The Arctic scenes were filmed on the actual Arctic ocean. I'd been eager to see the movie just for that; it was in the papers here when they flew up to film north of Barrow.

There were some really fantastic moments, don't get me wrong. On the other hand, nothing about the way they handled the time travel stuff really made sense to me. I think my tolerance for that sort of thing goes in direct proportion to how much I liked the episode (or movie, as the case may be) and in this case, since I had difficulty with the emotional impact of the ending, the rest of it seems all the weaker to me for that.

The series is over, they don't need to do a Canon Reset To Normal. They can change things now, so why wouldn't they?

You know, that's an excellent point, and I hadn't even thought about it! Even while the series was running, they weren't afraid to change it up from time to time, sometimes in major ways -- killing Daniel, taking off Jack.

It seemed like I'd seen a lot more squee than otherwise on my f'list; on the other hand, most people saw it weeks before I did, so I missed most of the discussion the first time around.

That's an interesting possibility about young Cam! And this isn't quite "our" timeline anymore, is it? Like in "Moebius", things have been changed up a bit now, and it's possible that we don't quite know as much about the canon team as we thought we did.

Someone else brought up that possibility too. It's certainly possible. I still wince to think of Cam stranded in the past, unable to tell anyone his story for fear of changing the future.

Headaches indeed. I also just realized, thinking about it, that I'd always gotten the idea from other AU episodes that new timelines branch off from the old ones, not that they *overwrite* the old one (which is how it appears from this episode). But if they overwrite rather than branching, then doesn't that create a paradox with Cam in the past, now that the future he came from no longer exists? *brain hurts*

I did enjoy it, don't get me wrong. There was lots to love about it. And I've realized that a little of my dissatisfaction was purely on a fannish level (Teal'c is my favorite character; I wanted canon!Teal'c and I hardly got any). But I think I would've been okay with that if the ending hadn't been a letdown.

It really did feel like we were cranking along and then the ending was hastily slapped on.

I'm trying really hard not to think about the time travel; the more I think about it, the more I realize that they've not only contradicted themselves within this movie, but I think they've contradicted other episodes as well. WILL NOT THINK ABOUT IT. I'll concentrate on the squee! bits instead.

Well, I like to go with that because otherwise my brain insists Cam would've just shot himself, to negate any possibility of contaminating the timeline further. I must cling to the happy!

Hubby and I came up with the idea that maybe he had boat-captain Mitchell put him off in a life raft and lived out the rest of his life on a desert island. Which would be monumentally depressing! But no matter what he did with himself, what a hard life to live -- unable to interact with his friends (most of whom wouldn't be born yet anyway) and trying not to give away anything that would jeopardize the development of the Stargate program.

Yep.

Hee :) The back of the DVD promises a special feature telling how to tell a time travel story and I LAUGHED and LAUGHED and LAUGHED because Stargate has proven over and over and over again that they are terrible at getting that even remotely right.

Hm. But both killing Daniel and Jack leaving the team for Homeworld Security were both influenced by Behind The Scenes stuff with the actors...it wasn't exactly a bold artistic choice.

There needs to be an AU-scope in every show! (I am maybe just a little overly fond of canon AUs.) And not a Quantum Mirror, either - we're talking a full DVD-R setup, here. Yep.

The Arctic scenes were AWESOME. Worth the price of admission! It's so rare to see scenes like that that aren't filmed in giant studios, with white puffs for breaths added as CGI...

My thoughts exactly, pretty much - I don't have a problem with cosmic reset switches as long as someone's not reset, but if no one remembers, what's the point? Unless Cam did pass something down, as evidenced by the picture, but...there were a lot of good moments in the movie (gotta love a good apocalypse! Also, Ba'al makes everything better) but the end frustrated...

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SG-1 Continuum

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