On Sunday, 21 September 2008, Byron V.O., Thomas K.Y., Janice, and I watched the direct-to-DVD release of Stargate: Continuum. We enjoyed seeing the cast and crew of Stargate SG1 (itself a spin-off of the Egyptian-themed action movie) reunite to fight the parasitic alien Go'uald, travel through time and face paradoxes, and film on location in the Arctic. I'd give Continuum about an 8 out of 10 or a B+, since it requires a fair amount of knowledge about SG1's 10-year run (surpassed only by the BBC's Doctor Who).
It's a pity that the SciFi Channel has taken its time airing this sequel to the longest-running science fiction television show in North America to date. As with its lackluster promotion of Farscape: Peacekeeper Wars and Stargate: Ark of Truth, the cable network has preferred wrestling, so-called reality shows, schlock horror, and the dour, revisionist Battlestar Galactica over more classic or innovative genre programming. The Cartoon Network has been similarly tardy in showing good videos such as Justice League: New Frontier or anime. Speaking of anime, I'm looking forward to getting "Book 3" of fantasy Avatar: the Last Airbender on DVD.
I've been sporadically following spin-off Stargate: Atlantis and am cautiously optimistic about Stargate: Universe, which may be drifting from the franchise's premise of interplanetary explanation inspired by real history in much the same way the later iterations of Star Trek became more about conflict and less about humanity striving for its ideals. There's also still talk of a direct sequel to the original movie, and I might check out the multiplayer online game Stargate: Worlds.
I wish Stargate SG1 and Atlantis alumna Amanda Tapping success with the TV adaptation of her monster-hunting Web series Sanctuary. In other space opera news, I look forward to the television premiere of the computer-animated Star Wars: Clone Wars this coming weekend! In the meantime, I've again fallen behind in genre television, as my DVR fills up with episodes of metahuman melodrama Heroes and paranormal mystery Fringe because of gaming.
Coming soon: More on food, games, and politics!
Gene's Worlds 
