"Continuum" takes place on the Tok'ra home planet, where SG-1 has traveled to witness the extraction from its human host of the last system lord Goa'uld larva, Ba'al (Cliff Simon). The team is joined at the ceremony by Major General Jack O'Neill (Richard Dean Anderson), who with the help of SG-3 escorted the prisoner to the planet to ensure nothing goes awry, but of course something goes wrong.
After Tok'ra elders read an extensive list of Ba'al's offenses, he tells the SG-1 team they made a terrible mistake. The arrogant system lord says the Ba'al from which he was cloned is still at large, and that he is about to enact a fail-safe plan that will change everything. Vala Mal Doran (Claudia Black) and several Tok'ra begin to disappear into thin air. O'Neill, who is stabbed in the heart by Ba'al after he demands an explanation, orders SG-1 to immediately go home.
Lt. Colonel Cameron Mitchell (Ben Browder), Colonel Samantha Carter (Amanda Tapping) and Dr. Daniel Jackson (Michael Shanks) end up gating to the cargo hold of the shipwrecked Achilles, the freighter ship that in 1939 transported the stargate from Egypt to prevent the possibility that the Nazis might find and use it as a weapon. But the original Ba'al traveled back to this time period and slaughtered the crew before they could get the gate back to America. This means The U.S. Air Force never started a secret program that resulted in a flagship team of space explorers defeating The Goa'uld System Lords.
"Stargate: Continuum" tells the story of how what remains of the SG-1 team tries to once again restore an altered timeline.
"Stargate: Continuum" tells the story of how what remains of the SG-1 team tries to once again restore an altered timeline.
While "Stargate" cannon shows that all Mitchell, Carter and Daniel have to do accomplish their mission is travel through the gate when a solar flare passes through an established wormhole, U.S. government officials will not let them.
Major General Hank Landry (Beau Bridges) says it is unlikely that Ba'al will attack Earth 70 years after he changed history. He also takes issue with SG-1's intent to change billions of people's lives, so they are relocated to live separately as private citizens.
What detracts from "Continuum" is that a lot of the 99-minute movie is devoted to introducing the conflict, and a roadblock in the way of its resolution, before more exciting events take place.
How the long setup works is that it creates the sense that the timeline will not be restored and that The Navy, which recovers the gate located in Antarctica, will take charge of creating a stargate program with entirely different people. Some of the setup also explains why Mitchell is literally a "grandfather paradox," a successful attempt at a joke and to closer associate the character with the history of the stargate.
Ba'al finally show ups in Earth's orbit after having defeated the rest of The Goa'uld System Lords and made them his minions with the help of the Jaffa, who are loyal, not obedient, to him.
Though their new sovereign has an ingenious plan to stifle the fighting spirit of his opponents on the planet, Ba'al regrettably does not cause havoc for very long because someone more ambitious at his side intercedes, but that is a surprise.
Another surprise is the appearance of one of the SG-1 team's enemies from the show's past.
"Stargate SG-1" was a show produced by a crew that did not take itself too seriously, and they continue this tradition in "Continuum."
Though it is brief, O'Neill and Ba'al share some lighthearted dialogue before what would normally be a grim, serious extraction ceremony at the beginning of the movie.
In another scene, Daniel walks into a bookstore with the use of both his legs even though he earlier lost a leg because of frostbite. Inside the store, Daniel finds a book, "Mysteries of the Pyramids," the jacket of which shows an amusing photo of what appears to be a paranoid crackpot version of his other self in that timeline.
At the end of the movie, Carter jokes with O'Neill about reviewing with him design plans for the new moon base, though it is not clear whether she is joking.
"History May Never Repeat Itself Again," a tag line on the DVD cover, also pokes fun at the show because the movie marks the fifth time SG-1 has time-traveled.
They journeyed to or found themselves in a different time in the "Stargate SG-1" episodes "1969," "Window of Opportunity," "2010" and the two-part episode "Moebius."
With "Moebius," the team accomplishes its standing order to procure advanced technology to help in the defense of the planet from Goa'uld attack. This would have sufficed as an appropriate bookend to the science fiction series if it ended after the eighth season, but it did not.
"Continuum" serves as a decent end to the SG-1 story after the 10th season simply because the team attends the execution of the last of The Goa'uld System Lords, their primary nemesis. It is basically an above average three-part episode that ties up one last loose end, Ba'al.
In another scene, Daniel walks into a bookstore with the use of both his legs even though he earlier lost a leg because of frostbite. Inside the store, Daniel finds a book, "Mysteries of the Pyramids," the jacket of which shows an amusing photo of what appears to be a paranoid crackpot version of his other self in that timeline.
At the end of the movie, Carter jokes with O'Neill about reviewing with him design plans for the new moon base, though it is not clear whether she is joking.
"History May Never Repeat Itself Again," a tag line on the DVD cover, also pokes fun at the show because the movie marks the fifth time SG-1 has time-traveled.
They journeyed to or found themselves in a different time in the "Stargate SG-1" episodes "1969," "Window of Opportunity," "2010" and the two-part episode "Moebius."
With "Moebius," the team accomplishes its standing order to procure advanced technology to help in the defense of the planet from Goa'uld attack. This would have sufficed as an appropriate bookend to the science fiction series if it ended after the eighth season, but it did not.
"Continuum" serves as a decent end to the SG-1 story after the 10th season simply because the team attends the execution of the last of The Goa'uld System Lords, their primary nemesis. It is basically an above average three-part episode that ties up one last loose end, Ba'al.
Popcorn rating:(4 out of 5 pieces)
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