You may have noticed a change in the way that FanaticSpace is structured. I finally got tired of trying to build a decent layout and bought one that I could tweak. I decided to use the magazine version of the Revolution theme for a couple of reasons.
My priorities were multiple layout options and site wide consistency. I even toyed with the idea of switching to a CMS like Drupal that could handle blogs, forums and any kind of page I might need. Another advantage of a CMS would be integration of everything into one account. In the end I decided against the all in one solution. While it does handle everything, it doesn’t handle it in the way that I want.
I decided that I would use the tools I’m familiar with. Now that I have a theme that I like, I can get back to work on content and community building.
A Fannish First Look
Stargate, the Ark of Truth, a Stargate SG1 feature-length adventure, was released March 11, 2008. It should not disappoint die-hard Stargate fans. While it’s definitely not a stand-alone movie…most viewers will not care. Writer-Producer-Director Robert Cooper and the cast made this one for the fans. The Ark completes the Ori story arc, leaving few threads unraveled. There are several Bonus Features.
Before watching the movie, I started with The Road Taken: Prelude to The Ark of Truth. Its nine-minute capsule of brain jogging scenes begins with Cam Mitchell joining the team, and continues with a few germane Vala snippets, such as her spawning of the Orici, Adria. Moving into the Merlin story line, and Adria’s ascension; it concludes with the shared Asgard upgrades, and Cam Mitchell stating that they need a new plan, “a damn good one.” If, as you’re reading this, you say, “what is she talking about,” then don’t bother to watch The Ark of Truth until you’ve seen at least some of the Season 9 & 10 SG1 episodes. This Prelude reminds us how we (SG1 & fans) got here, but certainly won’t do much to enlighten non-series fans. Pardon me if this doesn’t bother me too much. I’ve been waiting for this DVD, and pre-ordered my copy from Amazon. Short and sweet, the Prelude sets the tone for The Ark feature.
Slight Spoilers
Spoilers may be contained from here on: Proceed at your own peril. However, if you want extensive spoilers, go here.
The Ark of Truth opens in an Alteran (aka Ancients) underground meeting long ago, with scientists arguing about, and ultimately deciding not to use, the Ark of Truth. This Ancient device can apparently cause people to believe whatever is programmed into it. The Alterans are considering utilizing it to disabuse the regular folk into believing that the Ori are gods. In the latter part of the movie, Vala seems to reveal that the device can only brainwash people into believing that which is true.
We skip on into present day Dakara, with Michael Shanks returning as Daniel Jackson, Christopher Judge as the inimitable Teal’c, and Claudia Black as Vala Mal Doran, searching for the Ark of Truth. Daniel has been experiencing visions of Merlin, whose non-corporeal appearance is believed to be caused by Daniel-Merlin’s residual memories. Those grail-ish visions provide clues to the Ark’s location. Daniel and Vala are bickering about how to open a chest believed to contain it. Sam
and Cam are guarding the perimeter with an SG contingent. Teal’c says, “Quiet! As Daniel and Vala turn to him in surprise, Tomin and an army of soldiers for the Ori overtake them. With the aid of the Ori dampening device, SG1 prevails, and gains a convert in Tomin. This sets the proverbial stage for the quest for The Ark of Truth.
Beau Bridges smoothly reprises his gruff but lovable SG1 series character, Major General Landry.
Tom Guinee, who portrays Ori commander Tomin as well as Vala’s nearly ex-husband in the series, is key in two intense scenes. The first is an interrogation scene between Tomin and Marrick, Woolsey’s IOA replacement. Marrick is played with fanatic intensity by first-timer Currie Graham. Marrick starts out with an ultra-soft query about Tomin’s position…and ratchets it up to hysterical emotions when he asks Tomin how many innocent people he has been responsible for slaughtering. It’s a little over the top, but without this hysteria, we might not find Marrick’s continued prominent and nefarious role as believable. This scene, in turn, sets up the second emotional scene with Tomin and Teal’c, who, for the first time, tersely addresses living with his own blood-soaked history as Apophis’ First Prime.
The physical quest for The Ark involves taking the Odyssey, souped up with Asgard technology, through the SuperGate to Ortus Mallum, with Marrick in tow. When Cam reluctantly takes the Captain’s chair after a verbal altercation with Marrick, a momentary nod is given to their own SG1 200th episode and to Star Trek Next Gen when Cam says, “Weapons to maximum” and “Make it go.”
Sam (the irreplaceable Amanda Tapping) and Cam (the irrepressible Ben Browder) must leave Daniel, Teal’c, Vala, and Tomin on Ortus Mallum (Place of Origin), while they return to the Odyssey. Marrick has activated the Asgard core, creating a signature the Ori can use to locate them.
Our old friends, the Replicators are back, courtesy of the IOA.
Meanwhile, back on the planet, Teal’c is shot, and the others captured by the Ori and taken to Celestis, creating a two-front crisis for the split team of SG-1. Teal’c has some incredible scenes crossing snowy mountains and arriving at Celestis. Robert Cooper credits Teal’c as being the hero of the story. He does INDEED have a very significant role to play. He also has some interesting assistance from an Ancient.
Julian Sands cameo as the Ori chief Prior Doci in Celestis is small, but Sands is a past master at portraying wickedness in all its varied forms.
“Merlin’s ghost” (ably reprised by Matthew Walker ), Morgan Le Fay (Sarah Strange), and Adria (Morena Baccarin, a favorite Firefly alum) all return in the direct Ark story arc [sic].
IOA idiocy nearly scuttles the quest/mission in a spectacular manner. There are a few surprises here and there in this epic, but IOA’s misjudgement is just business as usual!
A Terminator homage is included, and it’s all really good fun.
More BonusFeatures
The “Uncovering the Ark of Truth” making-of-the-movie video segment is worth the watch. I didn’t get through the additional entire blow-by-blow audio commentary with Robert Cooper, but I will at some point. I know audio commentary has become a staple, but I wish they had compressed it a bit, as there are long moments as each scene comes along and sometimes; there just isn’t a lot to say. The information, when it does come, is fascinating.
We learn that Christopher Judge did his helicopter-shot mountain vista scenes in person, with no stunt double. We hear Cooper talking about the danger they unwittingly created for Judge in their ignorance of the helicopter’s maneuvering to accomplish long camera shots. Ben Browder apparently takes a punch so much better than most, that they structured scenes to cameo it in conjunction with their Terminator moment.
The Ark of Truth, Stargate at Comic-Con is highly amusing, especially for someone like me, who has yet to be able to get into an actual convention panel at DragonCon to see them. (okay, so I don’t like to get up before dawn to stand in line for a panel, my bad). They take questions, and answer them with humor and aplomb.
The soundtrack was impressive. Composer, Joel Goldsmith uses the original Stargate movie theme, by David Arnold, as a familiar springboard into a new epic movie score.
Overall, I thought The Ark of Truth was well done. It was shot in 35 mm, instead of HD, to give a more cinematic feel and texture to the story. It works for me. I can’t be entirely objective, because I have always been a fan of Stargate SG1.
I followed the transition from “old school” with Richard Dean Anderson to “New School” with Ben Browder, Claudia Black, and Beau Bridges. One of the highlights of The Ark of Truth for me: The “new” characters that struggled a bit during SG1 season 9, and who were just getting comfortable in Season 10, were fully realized in this feature. There wasn’t a single moment of “Cam-Crichton” in the entire epic, cross my heart. I say that as a certifiable Farscape fan.
The characters have always been the magic in SG1 for me. I’m glad I stuck it out. In the next feature, “Continuum,” Jack O’Neill returns to rescue his former team. I look forward to his return even more than I would have, now that the “New School” characters are comfy in their universe.
Shiny1 is often known as Patricia deVarennes.
Contest Closed
I’ve gone through and counted up the posts for February. This was the result.
Tsukiryuu : 53 posts in February.
Maidenhair : 43 posts in February.
kladasaday : 3 posts in February.
The following made one post each in February:
chengy
table4five
Update: I just noticed that I didn’t list all entries on here. I don’t want to give you the wrong idea. This was just a sampling of what was entered. Whoops. *L*
I printed out all the entries, mixed ‘em up and chose one at random.
The Winner Is…
Congratulations Tsukiryuu! I’ll be sending a gift certificate to your forum e-mail address shortly.
Future Contest and Giveaway Suggestions
If you have any ideas for this month’s, or any other, giveaway let me know. Just head over to the forum and leave your suggestions in this thread.
The Winners Are
The winners in the Erec Rex Book Giveaway were quick to respond to the e-mails I sent, so now I can tell you who won. I’ll be shipping the books out A.S.A.P.
Erec Rex: The Dragon’s Eye Winner
Donna won with this forum post.
Congratulations Donna. I hope you’ll enjoy the story as much as I did.
Erec Rex: The Monsters of Otherness Winner
JSLUYTER won with this forum post.
Congratulations Jay. I hope you and your daughter have fun reading together.
New Giveaway for February
The prize this time around is a $50 (USD) Amazon Gift Certificate. So anyone who lives somewhere that Amazon serves is welcome to sign up.
This giveaway is open to anyone. Just sign up for the forums and post during February. That’s all you need to do. The more posts you make the better your chances.
The details are here.
I’m hoping to make giveaways a regular feature on FanaticSpace. If you have any ideas about what you’d like to see let me know. Prizes, ways to win, or any other ideas would be welcome.
I don’t know if you’re aware of what Google has been doing since October. If not here’s a short version.
Google decided to hide the Page Ranks of sites that made paid posts and linked without using the non-standard “nofollow” tag. They didn’t do this to all the sites that they could have, just the ones least likely to cause them trouble.
What does that mean?
It means FanaticSpace.com suffered a penalty. I’ve been honest about making paid posts to try and pay for expenses on the site. That’s just not enough for Google, even though their own guidelines tell you to write for people and not search engines.
Can it be fixed?
I’ve thought about this for a long time. Should I add “nofollow” to the paid links and ask Google to reconsider? Should I just accept the penalty and continue as if nothing happened?
I came to the conclusion that I need to comply with Google’s demands. No matter how much I dislike it, I can’t fight Google. They’ve got too many people brainwashed into believing it’s about search results. If I try to fight it, I’ll wind up like the guy from the picture up top.
I’ve added “nofollow” to all the paid links. I’ve also filed for reconsideration.
Now I just have to go to sleep and await the mercy of the pod people Google.
Contests and giveaways are something I’ve been wanting to do for a long time now. I think this is the perfect way to kick things off. So not only can you win the books so graciously provided by Kaza Kingsley, you can come back for a shot at some other great stuff.
Prizes
There are 2 prizes you can win. You can win an autographed hardback copy of Erec Rex: The Dragon’s Eye or an autographed hardback copy of Erec Rex: The Monsters of Otherness.
How to Enter
Erec Rex: The Dragon’s Eye
Sign up for the FanaticSpace Forums
Go to the Erec Rex: The Dragon’s Eye contest thread (in the Contests and Giveaways forum)
Write about why you want to win the book
Erec Rex: The Monsters of Otherness
Sign up for the FanaticSpace Forums
Go to the Erec Rex: The Monsters of Otherness contest thread (in the Contests and Giveaways forum)
Write about your favorite part of book 1 Erec Rex: The Dragon’s Eye
Easy huh?
At the end of the month I’ll lock the threads, then I’ll look through ‘em and pick the winners.
Why Separate Threads?
That’s simple. That’s to avoid spoilers for the folks entering to win the first book. There might be people entering that giveaway that have already read the book. I just don’t want anything to ruin it for those who haven’t.
Rules
These rules will also be posted in the contest threads.
You can only enter once. Pick which one you want to win and enter that giveaway.
Only one forum membership per person. Anyone caught trying to use more than one membership will be disqualified. It’s also possible that they will be banned from future giveaways.
This giveaway is open to US and Canadian residents only. Future giveaways may be open to other countries. It depends on what the prize is.
No Spoilers in The Dragon’s Eye thread. This is the first book after all. We want people to be able to enjoy it. Right?
All decisions are mine and mine alone. Just letting you know to blame me and not Kaza. It’s my site and my responsibility. Screw ups are my fault.
Good Luck!
