This episode has one heck of a cliffhanger and brings season 9 to a close in spectacular fashion. Well developed storylines and a lot of climactic action. The sword fight was a highlight.
7 Reviews
For King Arthur!
Calicodreamin12 April 2022
This is NOT the finale I ordered !
owlaurence13 August 2010
Warning: Spoilers
Ooo-kay, this is not a finale. This is the *prelude* to a finale.
In the first years, the show used to split the finale into two parts, with the fight starting at the end of a season, stopping right in the middle (amongst howls of frustration) and ending with the premiere of the next season. But at least the fight STARTED. Camelot, even though it concludes season 9, feels like any other episode in the season. It's mostly another feverish quest for useless trinkets which MIGHT lead to miraculous solutions, while the Ori and their minions sweep away everything that comes their way. The end. I'm sorry, but I feel like asking for a refund. Or CPR.
So we spend a lot of time fooling around in Camelot, looking for Merlin's library, Merlin's PIN code, Merlin's necklace. There's a rather nice, if predictable, variation on the Excalibur legend, Mitchell shows how much his swordsmanship has improved this year, and Daniel's homily about magic is interrupted twice in a funny way. This is honest stuff for a standard episode. Not for a finale, sorry to insist.
Fortunately, the last minutes, with the SuperGate partly save the episode. Watching *all* the forces in our galaxy finally unite against a common enemy is quite impressive. For a moment, it even looks as if Carter is going to pull it out, but this is really not her season (besides, simply avoiding the confrontation would make for very bad storytelling). The Ori finally arrive in a really dramatic way (that's one BIG kawoosh!). The SFX are really excellent, but then they usually are. Anyway, the Ori's arrival and the cataclysmic space fight are particularly spectacular, especially as shown from Carter's ant-like point of view, and the slow-motion sequence, although a bit over-dramatic, certainly feels ominous.
So we're left hanging till next season. I had been holding my breath, expecting great things from this episode. I'm still hoping they will happen next year, but I will certainly have to start breathing again before that --or get that CPR.
In the first years, the show used to split the finale into two parts, with the fight starting at the end of a season, stopping right in the middle (amongst howls of frustration) and ending with the premiere of the next season. But at least the fight STARTED. Camelot, even though it concludes season 9, feels like any other episode in the season. It's mostly another feverish quest for useless trinkets which MIGHT lead to miraculous solutions, while the Ori and their minions sweep away everything that comes their way. The end. I'm sorry, but I feel like asking for a refund. Or CPR.
So we spend a lot of time fooling around in Camelot, looking for Merlin's library, Merlin's PIN code, Merlin's necklace. There's a rather nice, if predictable, variation on the Excalibur legend, Mitchell shows how much his swordsmanship has improved this year, and Daniel's homily about magic is interrupted twice in a funny way. This is honest stuff for a standard episode. Not for a finale, sorry to insist.
Fortunately, the last minutes, with the SuperGate partly save the episode. Watching *all* the forces in our galaxy finally unite against a common enemy is quite impressive. For a moment, it even looks as if Carter is going to pull it out, but this is really not her season (besides, simply avoiding the confrontation would make for very bad storytelling). The Ori finally arrive in a really dramatic way (that's one BIG kawoosh!). The SFX are really excellent, but then they usually are. Anyway, the Ori's arrival and the cataclysmic space fight are particularly spectacular, especially as shown from Carter's ant-like point of view, and the slow-motion sequence, although a bit over-dramatic, certainly feels ominous.
So we're left hanging till next season. I had been holding my breath, expecting great things from this episode. I'm still hoping they will happen next year, but I will certainly have to start breathing again before that --or get that CPR.
Not a bad episode by S9/S10 standards... just don't raise your hopes too high.
xfmand1 August 2022
Several reviews review this as the "9th season finale." Now that's it's on Streaming, DVD, and in syndication, the fact that it is the last episode of season 9, in my opinion, can and probably should be ignored since you can probably move on to S10E1 soon afterwards if you like.
Honestly, I love the series EXCEPT anything having to do with the Ori. This is one of the episodes I consider "Ori light" meaning it's one of the better season 9/10 episode in that it has one or more more independant plots that don't directly revolve around contact with the Ori, but rather, just going about SG-1 business while knowing that the Ori threat/thread is waiting in the wings and/or developing mostly off-camera. As such, I think it's one of the better episodes of Season 9 and 10 (most of which are much worse than pretty much everything in seasons 1-8) but again, I think it's best to just ignore the fact that it's S9:E20 without expecting it to be some kind of finale. You'll enjoy it more that way and I'm guessing that's what it was intended to be.
At least one other review was confused about what happened in the earlier finales, thinking they were setup in the last episode and finished in the following season, but if you go back and look at the early seasos, that wasn't the case... they actually tended to do be the big build up in the 2nd last episode, and then mostly finished that plot in the last one. So again, if you've decided to keep watching through the Ori arc, don't expect this to be a speciasl finale or cliff hanger, and just enjoy it for what it is.
Honestly, I love the series EXCEPT anything having to do with the Ori. This is one of the episodes I consider "Ori light" meaning it's one of the better season 9/10 episode in that it has one or more more independant plots that don't directly revolve around contact with the Ori, but rather, just going about SG-1 business while knowing that the Ori threat/thread is waiting in the wings and/or developing mostly off-camera. As such, I think it's one of the better episodes of Season 9 and 10 (most of which are much worse than pretty much everything in seasons 1-8) but again, I think it's best to just ignore the fact that it's S9:E20 without expecting it to be some kind of finale. You'll enjoy it more that way and I'm guessing that's what it was intended to be.
At least one other review was confused about what happened in the earlier finales, thinking they were setup in the last episode and finished in the following season, but if you go back and look at the early seasos, that wasn't the case... they actually tended to do be the big build up in the 2nd last episode, and then mostly finished that plot in the last one. So again, if you've decided to keep watching through the Ori arc, don't expect this to be a speciasl finale or cliff hanger, and just enjoy it for what it is.
The Battle
claudio_carvalho25 February 2022
Warning: Spoilers
The SG-1 travels to a planet where may be hidden Merlin's weapon. They arrive at a village called Camelot and see a sword in the stone like the legend and the team is welcomed by the locals and their leader Meurik. Soon they learn that Merlin left the town many years ago and left his library with a curse to protect the place: the Black Knight would kill whoever enter the library. After convincing the village historian Antonius to help them, they enter the library. Now they have to find the weapon. Out of the blue, they are beamed into the Odyssey and learn that they have found the Supergate. The group splits and Daniel and Mitchell return to Camelot to look for the weapon while the Odyssey heads to join the Jaffa and Tok'ra ships to destroy the Supergate. Teal'c goes to a Jaffa ship and Odyssey receives Asgard Kvasir on board. Then Teal'c goes to a Lucien Alliance vessel to convince Netan to join the allied forces against the Ori. The battle is about to start.
"Camelot" is the last episode of the Ninth Season of "Stargate SG'1" with a full of action storyline. The attempt to find Merlin's weapon in Camelot and to destroy the Supergate is engaging. Looking forward to seeing the next episode. My vote is eight.
Title (Brazil): "Camelot"
"Camelot" is the last episode of the Ninth Season of "Stargate SG'1" with a full of action storyline. The attempt to find Merlin's weapon in Camelot and to destroy the Supergate is engaging. Looking forward to seeing the next episode. My vote is eight.
Title (Brazil): "Camelot"
KaWoosh
fcabanski7 October 2015
Warning: Spoilers
The first half of the episode is a tired re-tread of Avalon. Except this time a young girl, who will never again be seen in the series, pulls out the sword to save the day. Well, it's really Daniel shooting control panel crystals that turns off the knight to save the day.
The second half is Daniel and Mitchell searching for Merlin's anti-ascended weapon, while the remainder of SG-1 rushes toward the super gate to stop the Ori.
Col. Carter and the Asgard almost dial out on the super gate before the Ori dial in. But almost isn't enough.
Teal'c engages the assistance of the Lucien Alliance. The Asgard show up. There's two Odyssey class ships, as well as a lot of Jaffa with their Ha'tak vessels. They don't stand a chance against the Ori ships, which shoot the armada to pieces.
The episode picks up after the arrival at the super gate. But the action is ruined by slow motion sequences that mostly focus on people sitting down. It's pretty lame.
The end scenes are a nod to Star Trek with the broken armada (after the Borg attack) and to Star Wars with Vala looking out an Ori ship window the way Luke looked out into the galaxy after he received his robot hand.
The Ori conquest fleet has arrived. The forces of good still don't have a weapon to use against the Ori, and it looks like the good guys can't stop the Ori ships. Now what?
The second half is Daniel and Mitchell searching for Merlin's anti-ascended weapon, while the remainder of SG-1 rushes toward the super gate to stop the Ori.
Col. Carter and the Asgard almost dial out on the super gate before the Ori dial in. But almost isn't enough.
Teal'c engages the assistance of the Lucien Alliance. The Asgard show up. There's two Odyssey class ships, as well as a lot of Jaffa with their Ha'tak vessels. They don't stand a chance against the Ori ships, which shoot the armada to pieces.
The episode picks up after the arrival at the super gate. But the action is ruined by slow motion sequences that mostly focus on people sitting down. It's pretty lame.
The end scenes are a nod to Star Trek with the broken armada (after the Borg attack) and to Star Wars with Vala looking out an Ori ship window the way Luke looked out into the galaxy after he received his robot hand.
The Ori conquest fleet has arrived. The forces of good still don't have a weapon to use against the Ori, and it looks like the good guys can't stop the Ori ships. Now what?
Very poorly written episode
warriorpoet-1429618 October 2020
Warning: Spoilers
This episode is easily the worst episode of the series. How they get from point A to point B feels illogical and forced. Here are some examples (warning: spoilers):
1) They just wander up to the front gate of this massive fortification and didn't meet a single other villager on the way in? They're 50 feet from it before even seeing it, and there's absolutely zero guard interaction? No one stopped them from walking right in? Aren't they at war and in constant need of warriors? Why is their main city wide open to just anyone? Very unrealistic, especially since "everyone was talking about them"? And there are plenty of grown men in most of the background extras to create a guard force to protect the villagers. If SG1 were bad guys, say Lucian Alliance, they could have slaughtered the entire friggin village in just under a few minutes.
2) The "Easter Bunny" line was terrible and made no sense. How does T'ealc know about the Easter Bunny? Someone from Earth must have told him about it, right? Did they tell him the Easter Bunny was real? Is that why he thought it was a good example of "myths having a strong basis in fact"? This was just something random that was written for the actor to meet his speaking quota outlined in contact but was not given a lot of thought to. In fact, none of T'ealc's lines in this episode are well written at all.
3) Mitchell finding the secret passage was REALLY forced and poorly written. One second he's just standing there acting bored, the next second he just happens to be rattling of something dumb and jockish but happens to pull the exact book needed to reveal the passage, mid-sentence? And right after Daniel starts to make progress, and right after Carter says there might be time travel technology in there somewhere? A way better version would have been to have him poking around in all the trinkets on all the benches, maybe even examining the two dead bodies in the room that are never really discussed, and just generally getting into trouble, ala Colonel O'Neill-style, . That would have been funnier and more realistic than having him open his mouth with dumb talk (there's obviously a lot more in that room than "dusty old books")!
4) Why does Antonius steal a book? He's so worried about anyone knowing he had any part of going in there, but he steals one of Merlin's books?
5) No one draws the obvious correlation between him stealing the book and the Black Knight specifically killing that particular villager? Was he killed for going into the library or for stealing the book?
6) Just stepping up the ancient control device (a lame plot device in itself) causes the Black Knight to rise up and slaughter some random villager? Or again, was it because he was a thief?
7) "Antonius had it (the book) with him when he was killed" is a poorly written line. A better, and more realistic phrase would have been, "It was found next to his body..." How does he know the dude was killed? Maybe he slipped and broke his neck. He had no wounds (as evidenced by seeing his entire upper body and the fight with Mitchell later on). I suppose someone (his wife) could have witnessed the Black Knight killing him, but wouldn't Antonius have made the OBVIOUS connection that the Knight was there because he stole the book (see item 5) and likely have pleased with the Knight that he would return the book? Would not the witness have witnessed this as well and told old Meurik that? Meurik, afraid to even talk about Merlin is just gonna hang on to the book for a few hours (nightime to daytime) so he can toss it around in front of their faces after a man was just killed for having it?? Not likely, he would have ordered someone to return the book immediately and relock the door.
8) Directky after item 7, Mitchell's "wasn't supposed to go down that way" speech is absolutely ridiculous and unnecessary. He should not have been given so many speaking lines for this episode. Carter and Daniel could have handled every single situation (having Carter fight the teenage girl instead of the grown man with military combat training for example)
9) Right as the Govenor is throwing SG1 out of the city for a second time, they are beamed aboard the Odyssey. The captain didn't think to reach out to them through their radios before just beaming them wheverer they were? What if they were in the middle of saving someone or seconds away from procuring the thing they're there for? Then gets talked into letting a couple of them stay for a while longer, and the rest of the team is like, "see ya"?
10) Why would the Ori build their gate and not send anyone through it? Remember in the Avengers when as soon as the portal was opened, bad guys started pouring through? Why didn't they do that instead of building it so far in advance?
11) If Mitchell and Daniel are so worried about the return of the Black Knight, why doesn't Mitchell take some kind of defensive posture in case it appeared immediately?
12) The fight scene between Mitchell and the Knight was terribly choreographed.
13) And no one seemed that excited when the girl pulled the sword?
14) Daniel getting from how he figured out how and when to shoot the control crystals made no sense.
15) Merlin's riddle and Daniel's connection was also forced and nonsensical.
16) Carter not understanding standing carrier wave interference, particularly how waves of the same amplitude but at opposite phase can potentially cancel each other out, is extremely out of character for one of the smartest people on the planet.
17) Yet another "kill him while I slowly turn around and put my back to all of you, assuming my two very small and skinny guards can handle one of the galaxy's most feared warriors, whose hands are bound in front of him with 2 feet of chain. Yea, I'm sure they can handle him" bad guy move. Lame and unoriginal for the leader of an organization full of people not used to trusting each other.
18) Arthur took all his knights in search of the Sangrail yet Meurik points out that that's what's around Merlin's neck without a single sign of confusion or concern or curiosity? If Merlin was wearing it, maybe it's somewhere in that room full of treasure they're standing in? If that's the case, Arthur can come back, problem solved! But he acts like he ashamed to admit it for some stupid reason.
19) Dialing the super gate is lame. The Ori with all their power needed it have their gate do that? AND have control crystal slots that are just plug and play (and panels for that reason) in case they need to do some troubleshooting? Not likely. You're just sending armies to die, they don't need to come home. And luckily the supergate is made from ferrous materials so her magnetic boots work.
20) There's a few more but you get the idea. Terribly written, terrible plot idea, and too bad it's integral to the rest of the amazing storyline.
1) They just wander up to the front gate of this massive fortification and didn't meet a single other villager on the way in? They're 50 feet from it before even seeing it, and there's absolutely zero guard interaction? No one stopped them from walking right in? Aren't they at war and in constant need of warriors? Why is their main city wide open to just anyone? Very unrealistic, especially since "everyone was talking about them"? And there are plenty of grown men in most of the background extras to create a guard force to protect the villagers. If SG1 were bad guys, say Lucian Alliance, they could have slaughtered the entire friggin village in just under a few minutes.
2) The "Easter Bunny" line was terrible and made no sense. How does T'ealc know about the Easter Bunny? Someone from Earth must have told him about it, right? Did they tell him the Easter Bunny was real? Is that why he thought it was a good example of "myths having a strong basis in fact"? This was just something random that was written for the actor to meet his speaking quota outlined in contact but was not given a lot of thought to. In fact, none of T'ealc's lines in this episode are well written at all.
3) Mitchell finding the secret passage was REALLY forced and poorly written. One second he's just standing there acting bored, the next second he just happens to be rattling of something dumb and jockish but happens to pull the exact book needed to reveal the passage, mid-sentence? And right after Daniel starts to make progress, and right after Carter says there might be time travel technology in there somewhere? A way better version would have been to have him poking around in all the trinkets on all the benches, maybe even examining the two dead bodies in the room that are never really discussed, and just generally getting into trouble, ala Colonel O'Neill-style, . That would have been funnier and more realistic than having him open his mouth with dumb talk (there's obviously a lot more in that room than "dusty old books")!
4) Why does Antonius steal a book? He's so worried about anyone knowing he had any part of going in there, but he steals one of Merlin's books?
5) No one draws the obvious correlation between him stealing the book and the Black Knight specifically killing that particular villager? Was he killed for going into the library or for stealing the book?
6) Just stepping up the ancient control device (a lame plot device in itself) causes the Black Knight to rise up and slaughter some random villager? Or again, was it because he was a thief?
7) "Antonius had it (the book) with him when he was killed" is a poorly written line. A better, and more realistic phrase would have been, "It was found next to his body..." How does he know the dude was killed? Maybe he slipped and broke his neck. He had no wounds (as evidenced by seeing his entire upper body and the fight with Mitchell later on). I suppose someone (his wife) could have witnessed the Black Knight killing him, but wouldn't Antonius have made the OBVIOUS connection that the Knight was there because he stole the book (see item 5) and likely have pleased with the Knight that he would return the book? Would not the witness have witnessed this as well and told old Meurik that? Meurik, afraid to even talk about Merlin is just gonna hang on to the book for a few hours (nightime to daytime) so he can toss it around in front of their faces after a man was just killed for having it?? Not likely, he would have ordered someone to return the book immediately and relock the door.
8) Directky after item 7, Mitchell's "wasn't supposed to go down that way" speech is absolutely ridiculous and unnecessary. He should not have been given so many speaking lines for this episode. Carter and Daniel could have handled every single situation (having Carter fight the teenage girl instead of the grown man with military combat training for example)
9) Right as the Govenor is throwing SG1 out of the city for a second time, they are beamed aboard the Odyssey. The captain didn't think to reach out to them through their radios before just beaming them wheverer they were? What if they were in the middle of saving someone or seconds away from procuring the thing they're there for? Then gets talked into letting a couple of them stay for a while longer, and the rest of the team is like, "see ya"?
10) Why would the Ori build their gate and not send anyone through it? Remember in the Avengers when as soon as the portal was opened, bad guys started pouring through? Why didn't they do that instead of building it so far in advance?
11) If Mitchell and Daniel are so worried about the return of the Black Knight, why doesn't Mitchell take some kind of defensive posture in case it appeared immediately?
12) The fight scene between Mitchell and the Knight was terribly choreographed.
13) And no one seemed that excited when the girl pulled the sword?
14) Daniel getting from how he figured out how and when to shoot the control crystals made no sense.
15) Merlin's riddle and Daniel's connection was also forced and nonsensical.
16) Carter not understanding standing carrier wave interference, particularly how waves of the same amplitude but at opposite phase can potentially cancel each other out, is extremely out of character for one of the smartest people on the planet.
17) Yet another "kill him while I slowly turn around and put my back to all of you, assuming my two very small and skinny guards can handle one of the galaxy's most feared warriors, whose hands are bound in front of him with 2 feet of chain. Yea, I'm sure they can handle him" bad guy move. Lame and unoriginal for the leader of an organization full of people not used to trusting each other.
18) Arthur took all his knights in search of the Sangrail yet Meurik points out that that's what's around Merlin's neck without a single sign of confusion or concern or curiosity? If Merlin was wearing it, maybe it's somewhere in that room full of treasure they're standing in? If that's the case, Arthur can come back, problem solved! But he acts like he ashamed to admit it for some stupid reason.
19) Dialing the super gate is lame. The Ori with all their power needed it have their gate do that? AND have control crystal slots that are just plug and play (and panels for that reason) in case they need to do some troubleshooting? Not likely. You're just sending armies to die, they don't need to come home. And luckily the supergate is made from ferrous materials so her magnetic boots work.
20) There's a few more but you get the idea. Terribly written, terrible plot idea, and too bad it's integral to the rest of the amazing storyline.
Very disappointing!!!!!!!!!
angeladevillier4 March 2019
I really do not understand why this episode was written this way. They fought a loosing battle with the Ori, that was commonsense. They should have waited until they knew they had something to defeat them with. I just think this episode was a waste and I'm very disappointed with the writers!!!! It's like the bad people are always winning!!!!! I don't like shows like this!!!
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