First Prime

Stargate-Big Finish Audios #2.1

by James Swallow

I have known victory and defeat in equal measure. And it is my pride to say I have faced them both unflinching . But betrayal... Teal'c's past as First Prime of Apophis comes back to haunt him when Colonel O'Neill and Daniel Jackson are taken captive by the system lord's forces. As Teal'c struggles to free them, he finds himself confronted by an old friend and fellow Jaffa, Sebe't. Can this warrior really be trusted? Or has Teal'c reopened an old wound that can never be healed?

Genres: Science Fiction, Audiobook, Fiction

Audio CD

First published November 16, 2009

About the author

James Swallow is a New York Times, Sunday Times and Amazon #1 bestselling author and scriptwriter, a BAFTA nominee, a former journalist and the award-winning writer of over sixty-five books, along with scripts for video games, comics, radio and television.

DARK HORIZON, his latest stand-alone thriller, is out now from Mountain Leopard Press, and OUTLAW, the 6th action-packed Marc Dane novel, is published by Bonnier.

Along with the Marc Dane thrillers, his writing includes, the Sundowners steampunk Westerns and fiction from the worlds of Star Trek, Tom Clancy, 24, Warhammer 40000, Doctor Who, Deus Ex, Stargate, 2000AD and many more.

For information on new releases & more, sign up to the Readers’ Club here: www.bit.ly/JamesSwallow

Visit James's website at http://www.jswallow.com/ for more, including ROUGH AIR, a free eBook novella in the Marc Dane series.

You can also follow James on Bluesky at @jmswallow.bsky.social, Twitter at @jmswallow, Mastodon at @jmswallow@mstdn.social and jmswallow.tumblr.com at Tumblr.

Reviews

[Tommy S. · Rating 4 out of 5]

Stargate series are the best of the best. It's even better than Star Trek...if you believe in coexistence between other species and races in the universe...you are too great optimist

[Jamie Revell · Rating 4 out of 5]

With this story it's the turn of Christopher Judge to act as narrator, reading a first-person story about Teal'c trying to rescue the other members of SG-1 from a trap. The additional voice here is provided by Noel Clarke, playing the new First Prime of Apophis. Being focussed on Teal'c, it's a story that's largely about combat and honour; that the former doesn't always work well on pure audio is here mitigated by the presence of narration, much as it would be in a regular audiobook without sound effects or a second voice actor.

There are some weaknesses here. The story isn't particularly innovative, and Clarke doesn't hit whatever accent he's aiming for with much consistency. There's also the issue that Teal'c is, by nature, not very demonstrative, leading to a delivery that's arguably rather flat. But that's unavoidable if you want the narrator to sound like the character we remember from the show, and, while not strictly doing impressions, when Judge has to deliver the few lines spoken by O'Neill and Jackson he sounds quite different.

Taken on its own, this would be an unremarkable 3-star story, since there isn't a lot of depth to it. But it succeeds at what it's intended to do, which is to be a story about Teal'c that evokes what we remember about the character from the TV show. If he was your favourite character from Stargate SG-1, this won't give you everything you've wanted but you'll probably still find plenty to enjoy.

[John Michael Strubhart · Rating 5 out of 5]

Indeed!

Teal'c, former First Prime of Apophis, must rescue SG-1 from capture by the same and uses a unique way of getting free from mind-control. A Big Finish Production (good luck finding it), this audiobook includes an interview with Christopher Judge, who narrates the book. Judge does a decent, although noticeably inexperienced, job reading the audiobook. The big advantage is having the actor who played Teal'c reading the story, which, by the way, was very well written.

[Alyce Caswell · Rating 2 out of 5]

I fell asleep the first time I listened to this (many years ago). Thank goodness I was on an elliptical this time, because I would have done it again. The story wasn't interesting and Christopher Judge's monotone didn't help (works on the show, not so much in an audiobook). Bonus Mickey from Doctor Who as the other voice.

[miha · Rating 4 out of 5]

Kolk ma ta igralc dober glas :) Indeed.

[Daniel Gaul · Rating 5 out of 5]

A solo adventure for our brave Jaffa warrior, Teal'c faces off with a former friend-turned-foe in a duel to the death! This takes place during Season 4 of the series

[Debra Cook · Rating 4 out of 5]

Tel’c fights and old friend to free jack and Daniel

[Rick · Rating 3 out of 5]

While done with the usual Big Finish quality, and solid performances, there’s nothing here that made it stand out for me. Entertaining, but nothing inspired.

[Kati · Rating 3 out of 5]

Great voice, average story, too loud music - in some places I could barely understand what was being said. That's basically it. Christopher Judge has an amazing voice, so deep and warm. Just awesome. Too bad that the story wasn't just as amazing. I mean, the description of kel'no'reem was very vivid, the interaction between Teal'c and Sebe't felt stilted, though. Or maybe I'm just allergic to Swallow's books, who knows.

In the interview, I loved when they asked Chris Judge about SGA's ep "Midway" in which he guest-starred. I laughed when he said: "I love the kid, Momoa." *g* Obviously, he had a blast doing that ep! It's good to know because unfortunately, that ep didn't have audio commentary.

[Tamara · Rating 4 out of 5]

3,5 stars

“I die free, brother.”

Sets during the fourth season of Stargate SG-1. Once more, Teal’c’s past as First Prime of Apophis comes back to haunt him when he is confronted by an old friend and fellow Jaffa, Sebe’t.

Some people may find intolerable Christopher Judge using a flat, unemotional voice while narrating this audiobook but I didnt mind it because that's just how Teal'c is in the show. That's literally his voice.

I liked the new character Sebe't and his storyline. Specially the part where he learns what happened to Li'tel.

Also, Apophis....

[Denise · Rating 3 out of 5]

When Sam is injured and Jack and Daniel taken captive by Apophis, it's up to Teal'c to embark on a solo rescue mission during which he runs into an old friend.
An okay story, but I've just never been a big fan of Teal'c and the character's typical monotone speech pattern really doesn't work that well in audio only form IMO.