Stargate staggers on to a second direct-to-DVD movie... We've already seen off pretty much everyone that opposed SG-1, all they've got left is Baal... who had a lot of clones but the film starts with us being told that the last clone has been captured and they're about to perform a symbiote extraction on the Tok'ra homeworld.

As Baal is a SG-1 bad guy, this naturally has the usual - banter where he makes grandiose claims about revenge. Unlike most of the other times that system lords have had their backs to the wall, this time it actually works out. Turns out while this guy IS the last clone - the real Baal was smart enough to turn off his transmitter thing and is still alive and well and even built a time machine. We have a kind of "The Sound of Thunder" moment as people are able to SEE changes in the timeline - most notably people disappearing... it turns out that these changes are apparently moving at the speed of plot because there's plenty of time for the remaining SG-1 (O'Neill gets stabbed by the clone, Teal'C and Vayla vanish) get to the stargate and travel back to Earth.

Turns out though, it's not their Earth. Well, it's their Earth but where the Stargate programme never existed because Baal went back in time and blew up the ship carrying the Stargate... well, almost. Turns out Mitchel's grampappy tossed the explosive overboard so that it just ended up frozen in the Artic. Anyway, as you'd guess the chances of them escaping being pretty much nil - they're rescued by O'Neill... except, this being an alternate timeline - he doesn't know them... except Carter, she's a dead astronaut.

What happens next is necessary for reasons of - amazingly - logic and plot. The three of them are all debriefed at length where they explain the Stargate programme, the alternate timeline and how they need to fix things before Baal comes along and rapes the fucking shit out of them. General Landry - because naturally, it being an alternate timeline they don't bump into different people... just people they know from their timeline - points out that SG-1 doesn't have the RIGHT to change what is the status quo for this entire universe... clearly somewhat missing the point that Baal isn't exactly keen on humans... them being mere cattle to him and all. Still, it is a valid argument - who are SG-1 to say their timeline should take priority. Maybe everything in this universe will be just smiles and sunshine? Hahaha and Teal'C might stop saying "indeed". So, anyway everyone signs non-disclosure agreements and agrees not to communicate. They're all relocated across the country and then we get the ol' "years pass" montage in which precisely fuck all happens.

Yeah... this thing has been going on a while and a whole lotta nothing has happened. Presumably the writers realised that too because at this point Baal's uber fleet jumps into system - yeah, this is one of the shots they used for the very misleading trailer - and they sit there. We get a who's who of the old system lords but none of them get much more than a couple of words to say. Naturally, Teal'C is here and Gould Vayla - who is Baal's queen... yeah, choose a woman who is pretty treacherous WITHOUT the extra treacherous alien parasite - that won't come back to haunt you.

It's basically surmised that since his appearance, Baal has been doing very well because of his future knowledge... that doesn't really make a whole lot of sense. Sure, Baal would know where various Ancient pieces of technology were but the moment he starts doing things in this timeline, his knowledge of future events is going to become useless because... that's how causality works. He'd know the people he was playing against but it seems a bit foolish to say that his every move would be a right one. Evil Vayla makes it clear that she's suspicious of him... jeez, tip your hand why don't you.

Baal - unlike everyone else - seems Earth as a resource to exploit, rather than an enemy to nuke into oblivion and then take what's left in the debris... which seems pretty fucking sensible, even though Earth could essentially put up no resistance in this timeline... or at least - that's what Baal thinks.

As soon as a dozen big fat ships turn up - actually they send some recon flights around the Earth first but that's fairly irrelevant - SG-1 go and see the president. He's just as adamant about altering timelines. Anyway, their Stargate programme is apparently located in the Antarctic now and they're also drilling to the Ancient's weapon platform... so SG-1 head off in some F-16s. What follows is essentially the only pretty combat you'll see... F-16s vs. Deathgliders... And then some Migs... well, actually that happens after a strike on the two sites in Antartica and after Vayla - GASP! You'll never guess! - turns on Baal and cuts him in twain, then orders an immediate bombardment of Earth... but not before loyal Teal'C can run off to enact Baal's final plan.

Anyway, SG-1 go to the Russian Stargate - handy! - and magically, Teal'C arrives to help with a handy gadget for activating Stargates which aren't powered. They find out that Baal's time machine was actually just a massive system of satellites to look for solar flares throughout the galaxy - solar flares being what have caused time travel in previous instances. Apparently though, Vayla knew about this place... so, wait... she KNEW about the secret time travel machine all along and never thought to sneak off and use it herself? In fact why is she sending people there? Why not just nuke the damned place from space? Right about now she's just about queen of the god damned galaxy - there's no reason to do anything but blow this thing up and cement her rule. Also, Teal'c et al don't take more than an hour or two to get to the stargate... and yet Vayla is there about two minutes after them? Since when did they have Ludicrous speed on their motherships?

Regardless of these gaping plot holes, SG-1 basically hold off the bad guys who are ringing in - in something that wouldn't be out of place in an episode, really. Everyone dies, except Mitchell who gets through. Jump to the same scene from the start, except Mitchell is sitting in the hold with a rifle and him and the guy that gets vapourised the first time around shoot the fuck out of Baal and his minions. Which hits the reset button. We return to the present day, Baal burbles about his terrible revenge but nothing happens. The symbiote is extracted and then smashed on the ground. We see Mitchell's locker picture now has his grandfather and him from the other timeline... which really suggests that the timeline hasn't actually been truly reset but merely altered to essentially resemble the original more closely... Oh wait... didn't the EXACT SAME THING HAPPEN IN MOBIUS?! AND for that matter, 2010?

That's the sad inevitability of a time travel theme where things are so thoroughly altered... the reset button is going to be hit at the end because... fans would have a fit if you fundamentally altered the universe they loved and it would essentially be tossing all your old continuity out the window... so, any sci-fi fan worth their salt would know that things in this episode were always going to be temporary. Which really made it something of an exercise in anti-climax... not to mention the fact that this was sorely lacking in action... we spend a WHOLE lotta time in the middle with the SG-1 kids sitting around, moping about their lives and their inability to fix things.

And sure, they defeated Baal - FINALLY... but that's not exactly that exciting... and if he had been sitting on his time machine... why wait until all his clones were dead? Was that really necessary? Not that it really matters.

All in all, it's really... kind of dull. The action takes up precious little of the time and the rest is ponderous and ultimately irrelevant given that the reset button is hit. No character development, no revelations... not even any real fun and not even a particularly interesting plot. Don't bother seeing it - or you'll wish you could go back in time and destroy the DVD you bought.