I was a big fan of the Stargate series. Big fan of the characters. And it's been awhile (and there's only so many rewatches you can do) and I thought... why not? Maybe I can get back into touch with these characters in a new adventure!

THE CHARACTERS

These are kind of like the studio rebooted the series, with the same characters but different actors playing them. In other words, the authors didn't get the characters right.

One example I'll give is that Jack O'Neill, erstwhile lead of the team. In the series Jack likes to play dumb, making witty remarks to avoid seeming intelligent. He would even pretend to not understand some principle which he would, later, make use of. And he was called on that, by a couple of characters. He's actually pretty smart, just not technically-oriented. He's a very intelligent man who, like most of us, isn't a scientist. In the novel, however, this character is played as not understanding things, period. He's a really good soldier. And there are enough of those in the book.

It was disappointing, every few pages. (not just Jack, I mean different characters, constantly). For the record, Daniel isn't such a helpless emotional child. They play him like he never had to deal with sacrifice, even though by this time in the series he had dealt with the loss of entire peoples and had ascended to a superior realm on two occasions and (despite it being a goal of his), on both occasions chose to return to physical form to help his friends.

To be fair, I believe that T'ealc was mostly portrayed properly... though minimally.

THE STORY

Not really like an episode, even though it borrowed (and referenced) actual episodes. What it most felt like was someone who thought they would get only one chance to tell a Stargate story and wanted to be sure to cram every damn idea into it in one breathless, running monster of a story. Time travel, the Ancients, the Goa'uld, the very first Stargate bad guy, (straight out of the movie where Kurt Russell played Jack O'Neill) alien invasion and conquest of Earth, Area 51, a few famous historical figures, and more!

Ultimately, the adventure itself was not so much a terrible thing, but my ability to stick with it and enjoy it was hampered by---

THE PHYSICAL BOOK...

...is atrocious. I mean horrible. Capital "H" Horrible. It was line-edited by monkeys who were not given the benefit of infinities. Constantly, every single page. I am not exaggerating. From spelling errors to simple grammatical slips...

...to a few cases where it took me a moment to realize the line had been edited, but the original line was still there. They had added the new words, but failed to delete the others. I can't be bothered to find one of them, but here is an example (made up) of what I mean:
1st DRAFT: "The truck drove around the corner."
2nd DRAFT: "The truck turned the corner."
ACTUAL PRINT: "The truck drove turned around the corner."

It really, seriously detracted from enjoyment to be frequently pulled out of the story to figure out what they meant. Or just coming out of the story because WTF?



(EDIT ON 04/04/2019: In retrospect, I stand by my comments, but failed to admit that the authors did manage enough true character moments to make the "movie" stick in my memory. So... if you're jonesing for new SG-1 stories, this will suffice) ( )

un-be-lievable. This term can be good as in "this book was so good it wsa unbelievable" or it can be bad as in "this book was so unbelievable it wasn't very good" This is the later. I think good Sci-Fi needs to be believable. That's one of the reasons I think Stargate works, it creates an interesting story based on some off-the-wall ideas (namely ancient aliens and unaccountable military budgets).

This SG-1 story missed that mark. First off being book 9 in this "series" is really irrelevant it its reminded of how little the fandomonium series is a series right off the back by all of a sudden featuring Colnerl Mitchel and Vahlalla. But since everyone loves McGuyver General O'Neil comes along on the ride.

**Spoiler Alert**

With little explenation apparently T'ealc loves all things human science fiction, has seen Star Wars dozens of times and is a vested UFO-ologist. He knows every detail of the most likely stories of Roswell, because of course we go back in time to the incident. Oh but first we need to go to 1908 and have H.P. Lovecraft save SG-1, where do you think he came up with all those monsters? And in the end, the future version of General Carter is married to H.G. Wells. Its like a really off the wall fan fic somehow found a publisher. ( )

Sonny Whitelaw & Jennifer Fallon’s Stargate: SG-1 – Roswell takes place during the tenth season of the televisions series, with General Jack O’Neill temporarily in charge of the SGC amid the Ori and the Priors’ incursion into the Milky Way galaxy. When a mission goes wrong, SG-1 team members Dr. Daniel Jackson, Colonel Samantha Carter, Teal’c, and Colonel Cam Mitchell find themselves thrown back in time, buried under Cheyenne Mountain before the caves of the complex were dug and facing eventual suffocation. Meanwhile in the present, General Samantha Carter comes through the Stargate from the future to help O’Neill and Vala Mal Doran travel back in time with the puddle jumper from Atlantis to rescue SG-1 as well as the Asgard scientist An along the way.

Since the book uses time travel, Whitelaw and Fallon take the opportunity to work in several historical references. For example, a glitch in the time machine causes SG-1 to collide with a Jaffa Ha’tak resulting in the Tunguska blast of 1908. While stranded in 1908, SG-1 encounters a young H.P. Lovecraft, with Vala’s stories inspiring him to write his Cthulhu mythos (pg. 88). Teal’c, having worked to familiarize himself with Earth’s history, acts as the resident expert on the Roswell Incident, guiding the team as much as possible. Inevitably, things go horribly awry leading to the team being split up with Vala and Cam stranded in 1908 while the classic SG-1 continues on to Roswell in 1947. In a nice moment of verisimilitude, Whiteclaw and Fallon portray Daniel Jackson discussing Egyptian archeological finds in light of their impact on the Stargate program and referencing Zahi Hawass (pg. 299), a real-world well-known Egyptologist and the former Egyptian Minister of State for Antiquities Affairs. Unfortunately, the story itself suffers from the same overcomplicating that defined most of the time travel stories in Stargate: SG-1 after “1969,” perhaps the straightforward time travel story in that it was relatively self-contained and didn’t require the reader to accept that the characters’ actions created dead-end timelines with little or no consequence.

Though this is the ninth novel in the Fandemonium series, it occurs during the 10th season, with the books’ order in the series not reflecting their chronological order (book one during the 7th season, book two during the 1st, book three during the 7th, book four during the 5th, and so on). In terms of technical issues, the book seems to have been rushed to print as it contains numerous typographical errors such as unnecessary or misplaced commas or improperly conjugated verbs. Two examples two pages apart include the use of “following” in place of “followed” (pg. 265) and “turning” in place of “turned” (pg. 267). These issues notwithstanding, longtime fans of the series will find plenty to enjoy while Whitelaw and Fallon use the novel format to tell a story that would’ve been too complex and effect-heavy for television. ( )

SG-1 /Roswell / Area 51. Is it any surprise why I chose this book? That being said, I did enjoy this book. It was another time travel story. And for some reason, trying to keep track of the timelines and consequences was a bit much in this book. But there was a lot of action and I loved that Loki showed up in this story and the introduction of a new Asgard An. ( )

I was a little weird I wouldn't like the book when I first started. I've always been less interested in Col. Mitchell's time at the head of the team, and the book start off focused on him.

Plus . . . you are fighting a war, many of your people have been butchered, slaughtered and . . . you take every opportunity possible not actually hit your attackers with your weapons while desperately trying to get to the Stargate, and get home. Meanwhile you care a weapon that can stun people. Which you don't use. Because . . . . reasons.

If I hadn't recalled that the book was supposed to have something to do with Time Travel and the like, I probably would have tossed the book before I even began. But that awkward opening was quickly gotten passed and the book ended up being quite enjoyable. ( )