Stargate: The Ark of Truth, while being undoubtedly stunning from a visual point of view, had a very disappointing plot. And this criticism of mine is leveled not only against this concluding movie in the Ori arc of the Stargate adventure, but is also directed against the very false premise that the Ori (who are supposedly evolutionarily advanced, several million years old, ascended and super intelligent beings), could be exterminated by the feeble efforts of lower life forms; such as Vala Maldoran and the rest of SG1. Faithful fans of the Stargate universe like me, who also happen to have a keen interest in the study of human history, mythology, mysticism, and the various religious philosophies of this planet, know very well that the concept of immortality, presupposes the attribute of “indestructibility”.

Thus even though Satan and his Demons (at least in the thinking of most monotheistic religions) are rightly considered evil, degenerate, and fallen, since they are immortal (and therefore indestructible), God (or whatever you call the supreme universal power) defeats or neutralizes, and punishes them, by condemning them to an eternity in a place of banishment and/or punishment, such as; Hellfire, “The Lake Of Sulfur And Brimstone”, Hades, etc. The supreme creative power in the universe however, does not kill them (since they are immortal), and are therefore ‘un-killable.’

When the semi divine ascended beings were first introduced into the Stargate universe in the episode titled “Maternal Instinct,” many fans with both my interest and background in ancient mythology, immediately recognized the similarity of Oma Desala to other major mythological and immortal characters, and heartily welcomed this sophisticated addition to the pantheon of characters in the Stargate universe. We recognized their similarity to ancient (and if I may say so yet again, immortal) Greek goddesses like Athena, Hera, Aphrodite, etc, sublime Biblical angels/arch angels like Michael, Gabriel, Raphael, and even the not so sublime (but still immortal) fallen angels like Lucifer and Asmodeus, the Japanese goddess Amateresu, and Buddhist/Hindu Bodhisattvas and enlightened Sages like Narayana, Sankaracharya, Patanjali, and other enlightened sages; who are said to have attained nirvana/Samadhi, and thus ascended to a higher (and immortal) plane of existence.

These people are said in mythology and mysticism to have conquered death, and mortal limitations, so it really stretches credulity to introduce them into the Stargate universe, film several episodes in which their great power, knowledge, and wisdom (yes, even inclusive of the mean and wicked Ori) are displayed, only to later conclude their magnificent story, by showing them to be so weak, clueless, and foolish that mere mortals like Valla and the rest of SG1, could wipe them out of existence with the use of a weapon, called the Saangral. What part of the words immortal, indestructible, supremely knowledgeable, and incredibly wise, do Robert Cooper and the other stargate screenwriters not understand? By ending the Ori storyline this way, you have just made complete nonsense out of the very concepts of ascension/ascended beings. If they are so feeble, mortal, and deceivable, then what makes their plane of existence so much higher than ours? How come you can say that they have ascended to a higher state of existence, if it is so easy to make them fall? Robert Cooper and the other writers of the Stargate TV series and DVDs cannot have it both ways.

Either these characters are highly evolved, super powerful, super intelligent immortals (who as such are deathless), or they are not! I don’t see how when the mere mortals of Stargate command, can show enough intelligence to protect their Stargate with an iris and armed guards, the so-called ascended and highly militaristic Ori, would leave their own Supergate both unshielded and unguarded, such that any human enemy can ship in lethal weapons and personnel in and out at will. Even the late Saddam Hussein of Iraq was not that militarily dumb! It is also absolutely impossible for me to believe that an ascended, angry, vengeful, and very intelligent Ori like Adria would allow both SG1 and “The Ark of Truth” to exist for one second in her domain, after she had already personally witnessed and experienced how dangerous and lethal SG1 could be in their actions against the Ori. Hello? Anyone remember their previous use of another deadly Alteran invented weapon called the Saangral, as well as the anti-prior device against the Ori and their followers. It is a well known fact that in real life, enemies adapt to one another’s battlefield tactics. Yet in these episodes, we see Adria, the Priors, the Ori, and the soldiers/monks of the Ori galaxy falling again and again to the same old SG1 tricks. Wow! If only all enemies we face in battle were so stupid, wouldn’t we win all wars?

The viewer has to stretch his/her credulity to the point of utter stupidity, in order to believe that million year old ascended beings, like the Ori (regardless of how evil they might be), would simply look away, and ignore the danger posed by allowing a weapon like the Saangral exist. Especially when Adria fully realized and even stated so to SG1 and Daniel Jackson several times that it is a weapon that was designed by Merlin to wipe out the Ori. Is it likely that either she or any of the rest of the ascended Ori would have allowed their dire enemies SG1, to both build and deploy this genocidal device against their ascended selves? Even George Bush (who isn’t exactly considered America’s brightest president), is smart enough to realize that even crude atomic weapons in the hands of backward third world dictators like Saddam Hussein, Ahmahdinejad, and Kim Jung Yu pose a threat to the mighty Hydrogen Bomb armed US, and feared this potential threat enough to wage pre-emptive war against Iraq in 2003.

Yet in this movie, the mighty, ascended, super intelligent, and supposedly galaxy conquering Ori, are portrayed as absolutely nincompoops; who fold their hands, and tamely watch from the sidelines, while mere corporeal mortals like SG1 in alliance with an old, ailing, de-ascended Alteran like Merlin, not only build, but deploy a weapon of galactic destruction, against their immensely superior and powerful selves? Give me a break! Are we to believe that the mighty Ori would not have been smart enough to take care of this very clear existential threat? No race with even the poorest military skills, not to talk of the ancient, technologically advanced, and highly evolved Ori, would hesitate for a second, before taking prompt and very aggressive action to eradicate such a threat. In any real world situation, SG1 would definitely have been blown out of the skies, long before they ever set a foot in the Ori galaxy.

Next we are also expected to believe that an ascended (and now super powerful and intelligent being; since she supposedly possesses all the collective power previously possessed by her exterminated former evil ascended companions) Ori like Adria, could be so easily distracted by the very simple lies and distractions of Vala Maldoran (who openly winks at Daniel Jackson, before proceeding to distract Adria by saying she is “…very sorry…would you kill me now…” while Dr. Jackson quickly primes the Ark of Truth, and Teal’c uses a staff weapon to blast the leg of the table it is sitting on, so that the powerful Doci is caught in a full blast of its radiance, and the powerful Doci is converted to a new found disbelief in the Ori? Give me a break! In the episode “Maternal Instinct,” Oma Desala was supposed to be so powerful and wise that she single-handedly wiped out a battalion of Apophis’s best Jaffa and a squadron of his Death Gliders, while at the same time gamely and skillfully protecting all of the then SG1 team and Bratac, from the staff blasts of Apophis’s hostile Jaffa.

Yet in “The Ark of Truth,” we see a silly, arrogant, talkative, and foolish ascended Adria (even though she had just recently escaped being killed by the rest of SG1 and Vala, and who is now supposed to be the most powerful ascended being in the universe, because she had inherited all the collective power, wisdom, and intelligence of the exterminated Ori race), remain clueless as to the real nature of the threat she was facing in the presence of SG1, Vala, Tomin, plus The Ark of Truth, and stand by talking foolishly, while her enemies distract her, prime, and then deploy their ultimate weapon against her and her rule. Can anyone really believe Adria would have been so stupid? Do you really believe both an ascended Adria, and a powerful faithful Doci, would have been unable to handle five mere mortals, and one vastly weaker, ascended Morgan Le Fey, who only appeared on the scene after the ark had been activated? I think not!

Additionally, even if we were to suspend all critical thinking for a moment, and believe that SG1 would have actually succeeded in distracting a telepathic Adria (who should have been able to read all truly hostile their thoughts and plans), and that they would have eventually succeeded in deploying the ark against the Doci, thus neutralizing all the other priors in the galaxy through the so-called “Telepathic Link in Prior Staffs), and thus causing her to lose some of her power, how is it that she also lost all the power available to her from the worship of ordinary people in the Ori galaxy, who are not priors, and therefore would not been connected to Prior Staff Link, or affected by the conversion of the Doci? Ordinary human worshippers vastly outnumber the priors at least 1 to 100 in the Ori galaxy, so Adria should still have had access to plenty of power from their continuing worship, i.e. enough power to deal with SG1, Morgan Le Fey, and that pesky Ark of Truth. The facts as presented in this movie just don’t add up, and this plot is definitely not credible.

Also why did they writers start this movie in a very lame and clichéd way, by quoting directly from the fourth movie in the Star Wars Series, Remember the “…Ark of Truth” starts with the words; “…in a far away galaxy, millions of years ago.” This is a direct quote from the beginning of Star Wars: Episode IV. Are we to believe that the writers of “…Ark of Truth” could not come up with a unique opening statement of their own? This movie is riddled with too many storyline errors in my view. Therefore even though I have been a faithful fan of the stargate series all these years, I must say that the storyline in “The Ark of Truth” really, really, SUCKS! And the writers of the stargate series really need to do a lot better than this if they are to continue holding the interest of serious minded fans like me!

Second of all- it’s a review – did you think I wouldn’t talk about the plot. That should have been warning enough.

What kind of a fan are you? Apparently not much of one at all.