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Review of Stargate: Origins episodes 1-3

It is finally here, well, a third of it is here. Stargate Origins has dropped on Stargate Command and so far, it’s…. meh. Granted all I’ve really seen is the first act of a movie’s worth of material. Origins is being released as 10 separate 10-minute episodes of a web series. The story is set between the prologue of the original Stargate movie and the scene when Catherine Langford recruits Daniel Jackson to Project Giza. Young adult Catherine is going on an adventure Tomb Raider style.

It’s a different set up than I’m used to watching so the short bursts of the movie are taking some getting used to. Sure, I’ve watched The Guild (love it!), Dr. Horrible (brilliant!) and ConMan (hilarious!) but I didn’t watch them as webseries-es. I watched The Guild on Netflix as basically a movie per season, I watched Dr. Horrible as a movie, and ConMan I got to see now that SyFy has it and airs it as a TV series. The only web series I’ve watched as a web series was he Lizzie Bennet Diaries (so good!).

By watching Origins in it’s original format 10-minute chunks it feels like every time something finally starts to happen the episode is over. It makes it hard to get into the story or relate to/feel for the characters. I blame that on the format more than anything.

Writing wise, this is a decently written fanfiction. I don’t say this as an insult. I started writing fanfiction when I was 12 and still regularly post stories now. I’ve read a lot of it and I’ve written a good share of it (most recently I’ve been writing Stargate stuff). It can be amazing. It can be professional level stuff. And when the author gets it just right it’s like reading an episode of your favorite show. And when the author does a decent job it can be entertaining.
It’s easy to accept and read and enjoy the “decent” level fanfics because you’re going into it knowing that at the end of the day this is the product of an amateur author taking part in their fandom out of passion.

It isn’t as easy with Origins because this is a professional production. MGM has been around for almost 100 years. They are not a small art house. They have the money to put out a good quality web series. People put out way better stuff with way less money. The Lizzie Bennet Diaries made up for its lack of sets (it’s just Lizzie’s bedroom) with high quality writing and acting.

Origins is trying. But it’s hard to give them a pass on a Stargate that looks like it is made of rubber. The On Location ‘gate on SG-1 (and maybe Atlantis, I don’t know for sure) was made of rubber, too. But they took the time to make it look like it was made of ancient stone. It’s blindingly fake in Origins to the point where it looks unfinished and distracting.

By episode three we make it to Abydos (I’m assuming- we don’t know for sure, yet). The set looks like it’s made of Playskool plastic. The colors are too bright. The texture is too smooth. Like the ‘gate it looks fake and it takes me out of the show. It’s high-school stage production quality. It’d look great on a stage made by a bunch of talented teenagers. When it comes to an MGM production it looks like the art department didn’t get the time to finish.

The script feels unfinished, too. It’s so close to being there, but it feels like it needed one more good edit before they started filming. There’s the start of some character development. But because of the format, it’s always stopped right before it hits its mark.

Professor Langford accuses Catherine of being “just like her mother” which causes her to stomp off in a fit. We don’t know, yet, why being compared to her mother is such an insult because things had to move on before we found out.

The Nazis have already figured out how the Stargate works and what it does, and they want it for… Nazi reasons. They kidnap the Professor and leave Catherine behind with the comic relief Nazi who she easily over powers and runs away to her boyfriend (who is not Ernest) to convince him to help her rescue her father.
This is what we’ve gotten so far.

They swore up and down that Origins was going to stay true to cannon and so far, they haven’t. The entire purpose of Catharine’s character in the original movie and SG-1 was that she didn’t know what the gate did, she didn’t know how to work it, and she’d never gone through it. That was what she needed Daniel Jackson for. Well, thirty minutes in Catherine has directed her boyfriend and his sidekick on how to work the gate. She’s watched it open twice. And she’s gone through it.

Most likely they’re going to give her amnesia, make the whole thing just a dream, or some other cheap and lazy gimmick to keep it in canon.

I have to say so far, I’m not impressed. If this were a fan film I wouldn’t mind the production quality, but this is a professional production and I expect more. I will watch the remaining episodes and am open to- hoping to- change my mind and end up really enjoying this. Maybe they have an awesome twist up their sleeve to explain how Catherine doesn’t remember any of this.

I love Stargate. I write fanfiction. I made a cosplay and have plans for a second one. I go to cons and get autographs. I paid for Stargate Command as soon as it came out because I want more from this franchise. I wore my Origins shirt the day the show dropped. I will give them a chance. I will watch what they put out. I will support the artists behind the product. I want MGM to know we are still here.

But- I want them to take us seriously. I want them to take this franchise seriously. I want them to take their time and do it right. We will be here.

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