[Review] Stargate SG-1: Roswell

Stargate SG-1: Roswell
Sonny Whitelaw & Jennifer Fallon

Genre: Sci-fi, Stargate

Rating:   

Stargate SG-1 Roswell: When a Stargate malfunction throws Lieutenant Colonel Cameron Mitchell, Dr. Daniel Jackson, Lt. Colonel Sam Carter, and Teal’c back in time, they only have minutes to live.

But their rescue, by an unlikely duo – Major General Jack O’Neill and Vala Mal Doran – is only the beginning of their problems. Ordered to rescue an Asgard also marooned in 1947, SG-1 find themselves at the mercy of history. While Jack, Daniel, Sam and Teal’c become embroiled in the Roswell aliens conspiracy, Cam and Vala are stranded in another timeline, desperately searching for a way home. As the effects of their interference ripple through time, the consequences for the future are catastrophic.

Trapped in the past, SG-1 can only watch as their world is overrun by a terrible invader..

If you liked 1969, Moebius, or 2010 you’ll love Roswell.

Before I get to Roswell, here’s a tangent about my Stargate history:

The 1994 Stargate movie has always been one of my top ten movies and is what triggered my deep love for all things space and science fiction. However, despite watching the movie hundreds of times over the past 25 years (don’t judge, it’s great), I never watched the TV shows as they were initially airing. I was aware of them, I knew they existed, but for whatever reason I didn’t watch them. I don’t know why–I was watching The X-Files, Star Trek, and Quantum Leap in the late 90s so I would have certainly enjoyed SG-1.

A few years ago after seeing a couple reruns of SG-1 on TV, I decided to do a “Great Big Stargate Watch Through”. Ten season of SG-1, five seasons of Atlantis, two seasons of Universe, two TV movies, and, more recently, the Origins web series.

I fell in love.

Stargate is everything I needed. I’m actually not even finished yet (I have five episodes of Universe left and Origins), but even so, I’ve already rewatched episodes from Stargate SG-1 and Atlantis an embarrassing number of times.

I craved more. I needed more. Moving onto the books was only natural.

What I loved about Stargate SG-1: Roswell

Some of my favourite Stargate episodes involve time travel so I decided to see if any of the books involve my favourite trope. Score! If I’m being honest though, it’s the unimpressed looking Asgard on the cover that sold me.

Roswell is only the second Stargate novel I’ve read and I’m glad to see the quality of the show translated into the books. The standout characters were definitely Teal’c and Vala. I could picture the two of them saying all their dialog.

Teal’c as the Roswell conspiracy expert was perfect (of course the actual alien would be the alien conspiracist!) If only Jonas were around and the two of them could have geeked out.

I’ve heard that the novels are a bit edgier than the TV series and while Roswell is fairly light hearted, dark themes seep through. We get good Daniel Jackson whump, Cam actually gets shot in the goods (It’s okay, his bits got better), the violence is ramped up a bit, and there’s lots of Cameron Mitchell angst. I’m a sucker for SG-Angst!

What didn’t work:

The book came out while season ten was still airing. Naturally, a few continuity errors appear, but I didn’t get hung up on the details. If I had a good time reading a book then it has done its job.

It was fairly confusing in places. I reread a few passages several times (but hey, time travel can be a timey wimey mess). In another book I probably would have lowered the rating, but this story was such a blast. You just have to go with the ride and have fun but you definitely need to suspend disbelief in places.

I did also crave more from Cam and Vala’s story during their time in early 1900s Egypt (the 2016 ITV series Tutankhamun is still fresh in my mind so it was a nice surprise to see Howard Carter and Lord Carnarvon feature briefly). Despite a few chapters focusing on their struggles, large gaps are left largely unexplored and could have added more emotional weight to the story.

Overall good fun!

A fast paced ride filled with some great twists. Enjoy it!

Book Links: Amazon US | Amazon UK | Amazon CA