Stargate: 10/25/06

Right around the time I was married, I saw two films that instantly rose to my short list of favorite films: Stargate and The Fifth Element (which is currently at #1 on my list). Stargate I love because it mixes ancient Egypt with science fiction. The Fifth Element would take to long for me to explain why I love it but for now let me just say, "decoupage" and leave it at that. They were also among the first DVDs I ever purchased.

So ten years after having first seen Stargate a novelization of the film comes into my possession by way of an Egyptian themed book box. Although it hadn't received that great a review from the previous reader, I immediately snatched it from the box. It's been sitting on my bookshelf for a time when I'd need a quick book to read. I finally decided to stop waiting and just toss it into the current pile of books I reading; I'm glad I did.

I am not going to claim that the book is well written; it isn't. But it is better than most novelizations that I've read in terms of content and character development. Most books like this end up being just transcripts of the film. The better ones take the film and flush it out, giving insight into characters' actions, the way their world works, and even sometimes changing scenes to improve the story: Stargate does all of these things.

Unfortunately in the rush to get the book out at the same time as the film, the book's editors dropped the ball. There are numerous spelling and grammatical errors. There are characters who change gender and others who come back to life without the aid of Ra's sarcophagus. These errors were so obvious and jarring that I actually had to correct them in the book.

Here's my BookCrossing review:

I'm knocking it down to 9 because of all the typos. I didn't mind the inconsistencies of the Egyptian religion as it's explained in part by the alien in Ra adjusting it to fit his needs and then later the Egyptian religion adapting with time after they had closed the Stargate. Those sorts of inconsistencies don't bother me; most stories have holes in them, but simple spelling and grammatical errors should have been caught!

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