Stargate: The Ark of Truth
Encyclopedia
Stargate: The Ark of Truth is a 2008 Canadian-American
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

 military science fiction
Military science fiction
Military science fiction is a subgenre of science fiction in which the principal characters are members of a military service and an armed conflict is taking place, normally in space, or on a planet other than Earth...

 film
Film
A film, also called a movie or motion picture, is a series of still or moving images. It is produced by recording photographic images with cameras, or by creating images using animation techniques or visual effects...

 written and directed by Robert C. Cooper
Robert C. Cooper
Robert C. Cooper is a Canadian writer and producer best known for his work in the Stargate franchise. He was formerly an executive producer of Stargate SG-1 and Stargate Atlantis until both series conclusion and currently holds the same title on the third Stargate series Stargate Universe...

. The film is the conclusion of Stargate SG-1
Stargate SG-1
Stargate SG-1 is a Canadian-American adventure and military science fiction television series and part of Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer's Stargate franchise. The show, created by Brad Wright and Jonathan Glassner, is based on the 1994 feature film Stargate by Dean Devlin and Roland Emmerich...

Ori
Ori (Stargate)
The Ori are fictional characters in the science fiction television series, Stargate SG-1. They are a group of "ascended" beings who use their advanced technology and knowledge of the universe to attempt to trick non-ascended humans into worshipping them as gods.They first appeared in the ninth...

 arc, and picks up after the SG-1 series finale, but takes place before the fourth season of Stargate Atlantis
Stargate Atlantis
Stargate Atlantis is a Canadian-American adventure and military science fiction television series and part of MGM's Stargate franchise. The show was created by Brad Wright and Robert C. Cooper as a spin-off series of Stargate SG-1, which was created by Wright and Jonathan Glassner and was itself...

. The Ark of Truth was released as a Region 1 DVD
DVD
A DVD is an optical disc storage media format, invented and developed by Philips, Sony, Toshiba, and Panasonic in 1995. DVDs offer higher storage capacity than Compact Discs while having the same dimensions....

 on March 11, 2008. Sky One
Sky One
Sky1 is the flagship BSkyB entertainment channel available in the United Kingdom and Ireland.The channel first launched on 26 April 1982 as Satellite Television, and is the fourth-oldest TV channel in the United Kingdom, behind BBC One , ITV and BBC Two...

 has broadcast the film on March 24, 2008, to be followed by the Region 2 DVD release on April 28, 2008 with the Region 4 DVD release on April 9, 2008. SPACE has broadcast the film on September 13, 2008. The SciFi Channel
Syfy
Syfy , formerly known as the Sci-Fi Channel and SCI FI, is an American cable television channel featuring science fiction, supernatural, fantasy, reality, paranormal, wrestling, and horror programming. Launched on September 24, 1992, it is part of the entertainment conglomerate NBCUniversal, a...

 premiered the movie on March 27, 2009.

Plot

The movie covers SG-1's attempt to recover the "Ark of Truth", an Alteran
Ancient (Stargate)
The Ancients are a humanoid race in the fictional Stargate universe. They are called "Ancients" in the Milky Way, but are also known as Lanteans or Ancestors in the Pegasus galaxy and as the Alterans in their home galaxy, and they sometimes call themselves Anquietas in their language...

 device designed to brainwash whoever looks into it. Even though the Ori's promise of Ascension is a lie, the Ancients believe that people should be free to believe it if they wish.

SG-1 discovers a box that they believe contains the Ark while digging on Dakara, but before they can open it, Ori soldiers arrive, led by Tomin. Daniel tricks them into opening the box, but it is revealed to be a fake. When Tomin is ordered by a Prior to kill them, he refuses, and Mitchell
Cameron Mitchell (Stargate)
Cameron "Cam" Mitchell is a fictional character in the Canadian-American military science fiction television series Stargate SG-1, a science fiction show about a military team exploring the galaxy via a network of alien transportation devices...

 kills the Prior, whose powers were being blocked by the Anti-Prior device. Shocked at the death of their Prior, the Ori soldiers surrender.

Back on Earth, General Landry and Mitchell meet James Marrick, an IOA representative sent to interrogate Tomin. When Daniel Jackson realizes that the Ark is still in the Ori galaxy, Marrick is assigned to accompany them on board the Odyssey through the Supergate. In the Ori galaxy, a member of the anti-Ori resistance tells the team that according to legend, the Ark is on Celestis, the Ori capital. When SG-1 beams down to the planet, Marrick activates the Asgard
Asgard (Stargate)
The Asgard are a fictional highly advanced race in the science fiction series Stargate SG-1 and Stargate Atlantis. They are first mentioned in the episode , and first seen in . In the series, the Asgard gave rise to Norse mythology on Earth, as well as accounts of the Roswell "Greys"...

 computer core which alerts the Ori to the ship's location.

Mitchell and Carter
Samantha Carter
Samantha "Sam" Carter is a fictional character in the Canadian-American military science fiction Stargate franchise, appearing in television series Stargate SG-1, Stargate Atlantis, and Stargate Universe. SG-1 and Atlantis are both about a military team exploring the galaxy via a network of alien...

 beam back to the Odyssey and discover that Marrick has used the core to build a Replicator
Replicator (Stargate)
In the military science fiction series Stargate SG-1, the Replicators are antagonistic self-replicating machines that propagate by ingesting the metals that make up civilizations and use them to create either blocks that form the bug-like version or smaller cells that compose the human-form...

, intending to plant it on an Ori ship and let it spread to their entire fleet. When Mitchell attempts to destroy it with an anti-Replicator Gun, the replicator escapes, and Marrick reveals that the IOA removed that weakness from the design, although conventional weapons are sufficient to destroy individual replicators. Marrick implies that a shutdown code has been included as a failsafe, but claims he does not know what it is. He is placed in the ship's brig. With several Ori ships approaching, Mitchell attempts to beam Daniel, Teal'c
Teal'c
Teal'c is a fictional character in the military science fiction television series Stargate SG-1. Played by Christopher Judge, Teal'c is a Jaffa warrior from the planet Chulak. As a Jaffa, Teal'c is a genetically modified human with an abdominal pouch that serves as an incubator for a larval Goa'uld...

, Vala
Vala Mal Doran
Vala Mal Doran is a fictional character in the American military science fiction television series Stargate SG-1, a science fiction show about a military team exploring the galaxy via a network of alien transportation devices. Played by former Farscape actress Claudia Black, Vala was created by...

, and Tomin up from the planet, but the replicator takes over the system and keeps Mitchell from doing so. With no other option, the Odyssey jumps to hyperspace to escape, leaving the others on the planet.

Daniel finds the Ark in a set of catacombs, and after several ground tremors, brings it to the surface. When the team emerges, they are ambushed by Ori warriors, and Teal'c is shot in the back while the others are captured. When they are brought to the city, Vala discovers that the Ori were indeed killed by the Sangraal during the events of The Shroud. Adria has ascended and taken over all of their power. Teal'c, who has been walking toward the city of Celestis since he was shot, collapses due to his wound within sight of the city. He is subsequently revived by Morgan le Fay and continues on to free Daniel. Morgan then arrives in Daniel's cell (initially in the guise of Merlin) and tells him if he can expose one Prior to the Ark, the others will be turned by a link in their staffs. This will weaken Adria enough for Morgan to stalemate her.

In the meantime, a Prior arrives on Earth, offering a last chance to convert to Origin. When General Landry refuses to even listen to him, the Apollo detects a fleet of Ori motherships waiting on the edge of the solar system
Solar System
The Solar System consists of the Sun and the astronomical objects gravitationally bound in orbit around it, all of which formed from the collapse of a giant molecular cloud approximately 4.6 billion years ago. The vast majority of the system's mass is in the Sun...

. On the Odyssey, Marrick is attacked by Replicators who infest his body. In the ensuing battle, Mitchell is able to briefly disable the Replicator connection to Marrick's brain who then informs Mitchell the shut down code for the Replicators is located on the other side of the crystal used to create them. Mitchell activates an explosive charge which kills Marrick. Mitchell informs Carter who activates the self-destruct, destroying the Replicators.

When the Ark is activated and opened, the Doci is caught by the beam and made to see that the Ori are not gods and spreads this belief to all of the Priors in the Ori galaxy and through them their followers. With Adria now in a weakened state, Morgan is able to engage her in an eternal battle. SG-1 exposes the Prior on Earth to the Ark, transmitting the knowledge about the Ori to all of the Priors in the Milky Way, and thus turning all known Priors in the Universe.

In the aftermath, Tomin departs for the Ori galaxy as the new leader of his people, he and Vala agreeing that, while the Ori themselves were liars, Origin itself has a worthwhile message. Tomin asks Vala to come with him, but Vala apologizes and says that she feels her place is with the SGC. Over Daniel's objections the Ark is taken to Area 51 for study.

Cast

  • Ben Browder
    Ben Browder
    Robert Benedic "Ben" Browder is an American actor and writer, best known for his roles as John Crichton in Farscape and Cameron Mitchell in Stargate SG-1.-Early life:...

     as Lieutenant Colonel
    Lieutenant Colonel (United States)
    In the United States Army, United States Air Force, and United States Marine Corps, a lieutenant colonel is a field grade military officer rank just above the rank of major and just below the rank of colonel. It is equivalent to the naval rank of commander in the other uniformed services.The pay...

     Cameron Mitchell
    Cameron Mitchell (Stargate)
    Cameron "Cam" Mitchell is a fictional character in the Canadian-American military science fiction television series Stargate SG-1, a science fiction show about a military team exploring the galaxy via a network of alien transportation devices...

  • Amanda Tapping
    Amanda Tapping
    Amanda Tapping is an English-born Canadian actress, producer and director. She is best known for portraying Samantha Carter in the Canadian-American military science fiction television series Stargate SG-1 and Stargate Atlantis...

     as Lieutenant Colonel
    Lieutenant Colonel (United States)
    In the United States Army, United States Air Force, and United States Marine Corps, a lieutenant colonel is a field grade military officer rank just above the rank of major and just below the rank of colonel. It is equivalent to the naval rank of commander in the other uniformed services.The pay...

     Samantha Carter
    Samantha Carter
    Samantha "Sam" Carter is a fictional character in the Canadian-American military science fiction Stargate franchise, appearing in television series Stargate SG-1, Stargate Atlantis, and Stargate Universe. SG-1 and Atlantis are both about a military team exploring the galaxy via a network of alien...

  • Christopher Judge
    Christopher Judge
    Douglas Christopher Judge is an American actor best known for playing Teal'c in the Canadian-American military science fiction television series Stargate SG-1. He attended the University of Oregon on a football scholarship and was a Pacific Ten Conference player.-Early life:Christopher Judge was...

     as Teal'c
    Teal'c
    Teal'c is a fictional character in the military science fiction television series Stargate SG-1. Played by Christopher Judge, Teal'c is a Jaffa warrior from the planet Chulak. As a Jaffa, Teal'c is a genetically modified human with an abdominal pouch that serves as an incubator for a larval Goa'uld...

  • Michael Shanks
    Michael Shanks
    Michael Garrett Shanks is a Canadian actor who achieved fame for his role as Dr. Daniel Jackson in the long-running Canadian-American military science fiction television series Stargate SG-1.-Early life:...

     as Dr. Daniel Jackson
  • Beau Bridges
    Beau Bridges
    Lloyd Vernet "Beau" Bridges III is an American actor and director.- Early life :Bridges was born in Los Angeles, the son of actor Lloyd Bridges and his college sweetheart, Dorothy Bridges . He was nicknamed "Beau" by his mother and father after Ashley Wilkes's son in Gone with the Wind, the book...

     as Major General
    Major general (United States)
    In the United States Army, United States Marine Corps, and United States Air Force, major general is a two-star general-officer rank, with the pay grade of O-8. Major general ranks above brigadier general and below lieutenant general...

     Henry “Hank” Landry
  • Claudia Black
    Claudia Black
    Claudia Lee Black is an Australian actress and voice actor, known for her portrayals of Aeryn Sun in the science fiction television series Farscape, Vala Mal Doran in the science fiction series Stargate SG-1, Chloe Frazer in the Uncharted series, the witch Morrigan in Dragon Age: Origins and...

     as Vala Mal Doran
    Vala Mal Doran
    Vala Mal Doran is a fictional character in the American military science fiction television series Stargate SG-1, a science fiction show about a military team exploring the galaxy via a network of alien transportation devices. Played by former Farscape actress Claudia Black, Vala was created by...

  • Currie Graham
    Currie Graham
    Currie Graham is a Canadian stage, film and television actor. He studied at the American Academy of Dramatic Arts in New York City....

     as James Marrick
  • Morena Baccarin
    Morena Baccarin
    Morena Baccarin is a Brazilian-born American actress most widely known for roles in several American science fiction television shows: as Inara Serra in the series Firefly; as Adria in the series Stargate SG-1; and as Anna in the 2009 version of the series V...

     as Adria
  • Tim Guinee
    Tim Guinee
    Timothy S. "Tim" Guinee is an American stage, television, and feature film actor.-Life and career:Guinee, who has two brothers and two sisters, was born in Los Angeles, California and raised in Illinois and Texas....

     as Tomin
  • Julian Sands
    Julian Sands
    Julian M. Sands is an English actor, known for his roles in the Best Picture nominee The Killing Fields, the cult film Warlock, A Room with a View, Arachnophobia, Vatel, the television series 24 and as Jor-El in the television series Smallville.-Career:Sands began his film career appearing in...

     as Doci
  • Sarah Strange
    Sarah Strange
    Sarah Strange is a Canadian actress, known for work in a variety of American and Canadian television and film projects, most notably as Helen in the Canadian drama Da Vinci's Inquest.-Life and career:...

     as Morgan le Fay
  • Michael Beach
    Michael Beach
    -Biography:Beach was born in Roxbury, Massachusetts, of Cape Verdean descent. He attended the prestigious Noble & Greenough School in Dedham, Massachusetts on scholarship from ABC . He was introduced to acting when he was sidelined by a lacrosse injury during high school by a classmate...

     as Colonel
    Colonel (United States)
    In the United States Army, Air Force, and Marine Corps, colonel is a senior field grade military officer rank just above the rank of lieutenant colonel and just below the rank of brigadier general...

     Abe Ellis
  • Gary Jones as Chief Master Sergeant Walter Harriman
  • Martin Christopher as Major
    Major (United States)
    In the United States Army, Air Force, and Marine Corps, major is a field grade military officer rank just above the rank of captain and just below the rank of lieutenant colonel...

     Kevin Marks
  • Chris Gauthier
    Chris Gauthier
    Christopher Gauthier is an English born Canadian actor. He is married with two children and currently resides in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada....

     as Hertis
  • Eric Breker as Colonel
    Colonel (United States)
    In the United States Army, Air Force, and Marine Corps, colonel is a senior field grade military officer rank just above the rank of lieutenant colonel and just below the rank of brigadier general...

     Reynolds
  • Matthew Walker
    Matthew Walker (Canadian actor)
    Matthew Walker is a film and television actor. He appeared in many Canadian television productions in the 1990s and 2000s. He played Father Mac in 22 episodes of the television series Hope Island, and Max Asher in 11 episodes of MythQuest...

     as Merlin
  • Fabrice Grover as Amelius
  • Spencer Maybee as Captain Binder

Production

This movie is the conclusion of Stargate SG-1
Stargate SG-1
Stargate SG-1 is a Canadian-American adventure and military science fiction television series and part of Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer's Stargate franchise. The show, created by Brad Wright and Jonathan Glassner, is based on the 1994 feature film Stargate by Dean Devlin and Roland Emmerich...

Ori
Ori (Stargate)
The Ori are fictional characters in the science fiction television series, Stargate SG-1. They are a group of "ascended" beings who use their advanced technology and knowledge of the universe to attempt to trick non-ascended humans into worshipping them as gods.They first appeared in the ninth...

 arc, which began in the season nine episode . Stargate: The Ark of Truth is the story that Cooper originally planned as a five- or six-episode arc to begin at the end of Season Ten and beginning of Season Eleven, but the series was canceled by the Sci-Fi Channel
Syfy
Syfy , formerly known as the Sci-Fi Channel and SCI FI, is an American cable television channel featuring science fiction, supernatural, fantasy, reality, paranormal, wrestling, and horror programming. Launched on September 24, 1992, it is part of the entertainment conglomerate NBCUniversal, a...

 in August 2006. The intended ending for the Tenth Season was to introduce the concept of the Ark of Truth, an artifact for which SG-1 is searching. As the story progresses, SG-1 would learn that this device is in the Ori galaxy and could be helpful in diverting the Ori warriors from their crusade. The Odyssey would have brought them through the Supergate to the Ori galaxy. However, the Sci Fi Channel wanted the series to be concluded, and the producers neither had the time nor the will to do that and went with the idea of what would become , the SG-1 series finale. The movie's storyline picks up after "Unending", but takes place before the fourth season of Stargate Atlantis
Stargate Atlantis
Stargate Atlantis is a Canadian-American adventure and military science fiction television series and part of MGM's Stargate franchise. The show was created by Brad Wright and Robert C. Cooper as a spin-off series of Stargate SG-1, which was created by Wright and Jonathan Glassner and was itself...

.

According to Robert C. Cooper, the film has higher production values than episodes of the television series. The production budget was $7 million. The film was shot in a 16:9 aspect ratio
Aspect ratio (image)
The aspect ratio of an image is the ratio of the width of the image to its height, expressed as two numbers separated by a colon. That is, for an x:y aspect ratio, no matter how big or small the image is, if the width is divided into x units of equal length and the height is measured using this...

 on 35 mm film
35 mm film
35 mm film is the film gauge most commonly used for chemical still photography and motion pictures. The name of the gauge refers to the width of the photographic film, which consists of strips 35 millimeters in width...

. Joel Goldsmith
Joel Goldsmith
Joel Goldsmith is a composer of film, television, and video game music. He is the son of renowned composer Jerry Goldsmith. He was the main composer for the TV series Stargate SG-1, although the main titles were written by David Arnold...

 produced an orchestra
Orchestra
An orchestra is a sizable instrumental ensemble that contains sections of string, brass, woodwind, and percussion instruments. The term orchestra derives from the Greek ορχήστρα, the name for the area in front of an ancient Greek stage reserved for the Greek chorus...

l score for the film, rather than a synthetic score as he did for episodes of the series.

In addition to wrapping up the Ori storyline, this film is also intended as a transition into an ongoing series of films centered around the SG-1 characters. Certain scenes were shot concurrently with that of the second film, Stargate: Continuum
Stargate: Continuum
Stargate: Continuum is a Canadian-American military science fiction film released through MGM Home Entertainment , written by Brad Wright and directed by Martin Wood. The film is a time-travel adventure and is the second sequel to Stargate SG-1, after Stargate: The Ark of Truth...

. According to the DVD commentary, a tease leading into that film was planned to be included at the end of Stargate: The Ark of Truth, but was ultimately dropped as it was felt that this film had "too many endings."

The movie went into production in April 2007.

Release and reception

A pre-release (workprint
Workprint
A workprint is a rough version of a motion picture, used by the film editor during the editing process. Such copies generally contain original recorded sound that will later be re-dubbed, stock footage as placeholders for missing shots or special effects, and animation tests for in-production...

) version of the film with unfinished special effects, no credits and recorded in cropped 16:9 was leaked onto the Internet in mid-December 2007.

The Ark of Truth was released as a Region 1 DVD
DVD
A DVD is an optical disc storage media format, invented and developed by Philips, Sony, Toshiba, and Panasonic in 1995. DVDs offer higher storage capacity than Compact Discs while having the same dimensions....

 release on March 11, 2008. Sky One
Sky One
Sky1 is the flagship BSkyB entertainment channel available in the United Kingdom and Ireland.The channel first launched on 26 April 1982 as Satellite Television, and is the fourth-oldest TV channel in the United Kingdom, behind BBC One , ITV and BBC Two...

 broadcast the film on March 24, 2008, to be followed by the Region 2 DVD release on April 14, 2008. The DVD was released in Australia on April 9, 2008. The DVD includes an audio commentary with Robert C. Cooper
Robert C. Cooper
Robert C. Cooper is a Canadian writer and producer best known for his work in the Stargate franchise. He was formerly an executive producer of Stargate SG-1 and Stargate Atlantis until both series conclusion and currently holds the same title on the third Stargate series Stargate Universe...

, Peter Woeste
Peter Woeste
Peter Woeste is a German/Canadian TV director, cinematographer and camera operator. Woeste is best known for his work on Stargate SG-1 as a director and director of photography. Along with Jim Menard, Woeste was one of Stargate SG-1's main cinematographers during its ten year series run, starting...

 and Christopher Judge
Christopher Judge
Douglas Christopher Judge is an American actor best known for playing Teal'c in the Canadian-American military science fiction television series Stargate SG-1. He attended the University of Oregon on a football scholarship and was a Pacific Ten Conference player.-Early life:Christopher Judge was...

, a 30-minute behind-the-scenes program, highlights from the 2007 Comic-Con Stargate panel and a nine-minute summary of the Ori storyline from seasons nine and 10.

The DVD release of Stargate:The Ark of Truth in the U.S. earned MGM/Fox US $1.59 million in rentals in the first week after the release, and another US $1.38 million in rentals in the second week. In its third week it earned US $1.19 million in rentals totaling US $4.16 million. The DVD has also earned US $9.0 million in sales.

External links

at mgm.com
The source of this article is wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.  The text of this article is licensed under the GFDL.
 
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