Here’s a shocker: Jack O’Neill dies in the first few minutes of “Stargate: Continuum”. Now wait a minute, before you Stargate fans get all mad at me, let me say this: “Continuum” is a time travel story, so yes, Jack O’Neill dying, as well as Teal’C and Vala vanishing into thin air in a cloud of black smoke, is no cause for concern. If we’ve learned one thing about the Stargate universe, it’s that death is not absolute. Heck, it wasn’t absolute even when the episode of the week didn’t involve time travel, so why should it be even close when the entire episode hinges on the team time traveling back into the past to set things right? (And anyways, Jack shows back up as his bewildered, Homer-loving self at the 30-minute mark anyhow. Well, okay, maybe not quite his old self, but close enough.)

Well this is sucky news. Actor Don S. Davis, most famous for his role as General George Hammond on the Stargate: SG1 TV series has passed away at the too-young age of 65. According to Don’s wife Ruby Fleming-Davis, Don died June 29 after suffering a heart attack. He had previously reduced much of his workload on SG1 in 2003 due to his health, but returned for some important episodes and is due back for the second (and possibly final) SG1 direct-to-DVD movie, “Stargate: Continuum”.

According to Gateworld, the second (and final?) “Stargate: SG1″ made-for-DVD movie, “Continuum”, is scheduled to arrive on DVD July 29, 2008, and according to one producer, the film “stands head and shoulders above even the biggest episodes of the television series”. That’s a mighty big pitch. I liked the first movie, “Ark of Truth”, but didn’t find it to be particularly “head and shoulders” above the series, but maybe they were saving up the production values for the second one. We can only hope. More about the movie below.

Or at least, as good as Sci Fi Channel shows can do, anyway. Let’s face it: not a whole lot of people GET the Sci Fi Channel, much less get to watch the shows on them like Stargate SG1 and Stargate: Atlantis. But if you did get the Sci Fi Channel, chances are you were watching, because according to the Channel, the ratings for the two finales were pretty darn decent.

Obviously this review for the Stargate SG1 series finale, “Unending” is kind of late. Well, nearly a week late, actually, but nevermind that. It took me a while to get the blog back up and running, so this will just have to do. And anyways, it’s not like anyone has been clamoring for it… But where was I? Oh, right, my review of the Stargate SG1 series finale. Where to start? Here will do: The series finale ended the way the show went about business for the last 10 years: without fanfare.