Hallowed Are The Ori!

When Stargate the movie came out, I thought that it was a most interesting concept. Of course, the movie didn't do very well at the box office because it had a bad plot. I was amazed when they decided to create a Stargate series. This series based itself on the plot of the original movie and expanded upon it. Creating more worlds and more storylines for us to enjoy.

Fast forward to 9 seasons later. Stargate SG-1 is hailed as the longest running sci-fi series ever to hit the television. The characters and storylines are fantastic and after about 7 or 8 seasons later, they've finally found a way to topple the Goa'uld system lords who were based on the Egyptian Gods. However, with season 9, they've moved into the realm of the Arthurian legends, and have made it even more interesting to realise that all mythology on Earth were influenced by aliens, sounds almost like Scientology doesn't it?

In season 9, a new thread is introduced, one that transcend the Goa'ulds. This thread comes from that of the Ancients. The Ancients are a group of possibly humans who ascended beyond the physical to another plane of existence. They are extremely powerful and advance. Of course, before they ascended, they left behind quite a lot of undiscovered knowledge and artifacts that SG-1 has been gathering and using. For everything in this universe, there's a good and bad, right and wrong, ying and yang, call it balance if you must. For the Ancients are the good ones, while their evil ones are called the Ori (pronounced Or-eye).

This sounds like a sort of parallel between the TV series and real life, except not so extreme. With their Book of Origin, rejection of free will, and goal of subduing all heretics and unbelievers, the Ori resemble extreme fundamentalists of various stripes. On the other hand, when the U.S. military talks about crusades and "ridding the galaxy of evildoers," parallels to the Bush administration's war on terror are obvious and unavoidable.

Problem is, while we know that the Ori are relentless, devious, and bloated with the pride that always attaches itself to false gods, we can't actually see them. They have semi-human apostles, called Priors, who spread "enlightenment" and bad mojo (not to mention plagues of carnivorous bugs) all over the universe. They have mighty ships that that leave the good guys in dire straits in the climactic battle that ends the season (typically, little is resolved, leaving viewers to salivate for Season 10). But the Ori themselves are kin to the all-knowing Ancients, who exist not in recognizable physical form but as energy; unlike previous villains, from the Goa'uld to the Replicators to Stargate Atlantis' Wraith, when it comes to the Ori, there's no there there. Meanwhile, the writers' replacement of the ancient Egyptian iconography used in earlier seasons with various aspects of Arthurian legend (Merlin, Knights of the Round Table, sword in the stone) is sometimes cool, sometimes merely hokey.

The series has introduced Ben Browder as Lt. Col Cameron Mitchell and Claudia Black as Vala Mal Doran, both formerly from Farscape. They both bring such life and comedy to the series that it will have you in stitches. Vala is the vixen, her alliances shift back and forth and you never know whether or not you can trust her. Ben Browder brings the kind of fun akin to Richard Dean Anderson when he's acting and their on-screen chemistry with the other cast is amazing, it almost feels like Ben Browder has been on the series since the beginning. In season 9, she appears in the first 4 or 5 episodes in the beginning and last few episodes at the end. Both actors are a most welcome addition to the Stargate series. Of course, I almost forgot Beau Bridges, who plays Major General Hank Landry. He also adds his own bout of humour into this series. Honestly though, I prefer him to General Hammond, the other bald, fat General who was in charge of SG1 from season 1 through 8.

In the middle of the series, we learn the truth about the Ori. The Ori do not ascend their followers and only need worshippers from which to draw their powers. In some way, they draw on the worshipping itself that gives them more and more power, in effect, using everything and everyone, twisted for their own agenda. Sort of like how Bush draws power from all the people he lied to in order for them to vote for him.

I particularly love the way they made fun of the religion of Origin and how false Gods shouldn't be worshipped. There are no Gods in the universe, looking down at us and protecting us, and that human beings bow to no one. Hopefully this series drives this message into the thick skulls of the people of Earth.

Another thing I noticed about this season is that they have created something like a flowing story arc, which spans across all the episodes. Usually Stargate has a story arc, but usually the episodes are rather self-contained, with adventures here and there.

I recently found out that Stargate has been cancelled after 10 seasons of running and that 2 telemovies straight to DVD will be created to end the Ori storyline and another time travel tele-movie. I don't know if it will do as well, but I'm just enjoying the storylines in the meantime. Let's hope that some of the characters get to jump over to their spin-off Stargate: Atlantis and perhaps make a more permanent appearance over there.

Overall, season 9 is a pretty good prelude-cum-interlude to the final season 10. I wish it would go on, but they would just find more and more things to say, more and more legends and myths to write from. It will never end, it should never end, but all good things should end while they're ahead.

I highly recommend this series to anyone who's a sci-fi buff, looking for a TV series with a great adventure and good cast of characters and character development.

9 out of 10 stars