Stargate Origins: Catherine - something I didn't know existed
When scrolling through Amazon Prime's Video Service looking for some brain rot to entertain me for a few hours, I stumbled across Stargate Origins: Catherine, ... which I had never heard of before. Having grown up watching Richard Dean Anderson in the original series, and adoring the original movie and all the subsequent spin off shows, I thought I was in for a treat.
But I treat I did not get. Instead, I got what the kids these days would call "Temu Stargate".
Narrow sets, average acting, awful writing, and a plot that decided to involve the 1930s and Nazis for ... no really good explainable reason. Then there's the costumes. Some of them are period accurate, and the Egyptian stuff is enpointe; but there's just so many slips where clothing is just too contemporary for the period.
But, please don't get me started on the writing. There's no suspense and I found it too difficult to relate to any of the characters, as none of them were particularly likeable. Sure, there was some backstory if you're familiar with the Stargate material from the 1990s and beyond; but for an audience that would have first seen this in 2018 - there's no real context.
It's clearly made for fans, as opposed to being made for a new audience, which is what i think they were attempting to do. The fact that I watched this a "movie" and not the mini series it was originally, probably meant that my expectations were significantly higher than the production goals.
It felt like a poorly put together 2 part story arc. The mysteries ... were too easily solved, an there was no big turmoil. Everything fell into place. There's nothing here that once had me sitting on the edge of my seat or thinking that the characters wouldn't get out of the situations that they found themselves in.
One thing is for sure, it should have been cheap to produce the show. There were only three warehouses, a temple, a gate, a stargate room, and a tent city. Clever camera angles in these sets probably made them look like three or four different scenes. It was definitely written down to cost.
If this is what a present day Stargate reboot would look like, then it is simply something that I don't want to have exist in the universe.
Pun totally intended.
Yeah the Nazi angle is added to many scifi/fantasy shows. I guess to help us remember all those lessons, like we needed reminding. The images of the show look nice though
Definitely not indicating this one is worth watching :D
I never heard of that one, made only a few years ago. I have several SG "movies" that are not too bad, but they came out soon after the series and have the original cast in them.
Who is playing in the new one? Anybody familiar?
No one that I immediately recognised. I do live under a stone when it comes to actors, but there were no role reprisals or anything like that
Well, most of the original cast is too old by now, I guess. And newbies are cheaper as well. :)
To be fair, most of the time, the Stargate shows themselves did have pretty low-budget productions, between small and repeated sets and sometumes dodgy CGI. They did, at least, know how to cultivate mystery, intrigue, and had diverse casts of character that could bounce off each other in interesting ways.
Seeing this new spinoff is phoned in on the story side and going for the tired old trope of "Nazis interact with alien/demonic tech" is really disheartening, especially since there has been a Stargate content drought for years. The only other project I can think of in recent years is Stargate: Timekeeprs game from Slitherine, which is just a mediocre RTT game.
I really like tactical games like XCOM, and Timekeepers almost got my money. I waited a while for reviews of the Stargate Time Keepers game, and.. I didn't buy it. I might buy it if it goes on a severe, deep, discount, but my desire for Stargate content will have to be satiated by rewatching the originals.
Perhaps, as I do, viewing it as a more mature and grizzled consumer of science fiction, I will feel that it is not of the quality my nostalgia paints it with.
I do have lots of nostalgia for Stargate too, but going back to watch clips, especially from Atlantis, was a bit rough. There is also that fan-made Adventure Game Studio game, Stargate Adventures, which is insanely well made, and it could easily pass as a LucasArts game.
What a charming art style. Reminds me of Heroes of Might and Magic 3. :D
I'm not a fan of that older style of Adventure game, but so much passion has been thrown into the franchise by so many over the years. I was really drawn to it for the whole near-infinite worlds sorta thing. Same reason why I liked Sliders so much, albeit that dealt with dimensions instead of worlds.
I would love to see a continuation of the story especially the Universe side of that story and even Atlantis as well. Really loved the universe way more than star trek to be honest. I do enjoy Star Trek but my go to has always been Stargate.