2020-12-21

Stargate Atlantis is my favorite Stargate show. Don’t get me wrong, I love SG-1, I love SG-U (yes I really do) but Atlantis I like just a bit better. Why you probably ask, well it hard to explain but SGA is a little bit more SCI-FI than SG-1, an expedition on an alien planet in this big futuristic looking place Atlantis. Great characters, I love Dr. Mckay, Sheppard, Beckett, Ronan, Weir, Zelenka. Although I find Teyla a little less interesting as a character, they all gel so well. Great sci-fi stories, lots of times the stories play out in space, great special effects. Fantastic foes, The Wraith, so much more interesting than the Goa’uld have ever been. Only Anubis in Stargate SG-1 was interesting as a Goa’uld. Great guest spots,( Richard Kind, Robert Davi, Alan Ruck, Christopher Heyerdahl, Connor Trineer) and some great cross-over stories!

Of course, great guest spots and cross-over episodes also happened on SG-1 and even SG-U but for some reason, SGA is the perfect Stargate show for me, I really wish they are able to give this show closure on live action tv at some point! There are hints about that because Brad Wright is trying to get a new Stargate show in the air and one of the possibilities would be, if they remain in the same time period, they can give closure to both Atlantis and Universe.

Now I don’t want to repeat a rewatch blog with so much details like my Fringe Season 3 rewatch blog so I am going to try it in a different way.

The season opener, No Man's Land, continues where the season 2 finale left off. The expedition team was contacted by Michael, the Wraith turned Human and then Wraith again, who tells them that they come in peace, that they need the help of the Atlanteans and if they don’t cooperate, Michael will let every Wraith know that Atlantis still exist instead of being destroyed at the beginning of season 2. But the Wraith also betray Michael because they don’t see him as a real Wraith anymore so He helps Sheppard on board of the Wraith cruiser when he finds out Sheppard was latched on to one of those hive ships. McKay and Ronan have been taken prisoner and are on that same ship. With the help of  Michael they all get back to the Daedalus. The Orion gets destroyed, and they use the virus (original plan for this co-op)  on the other Wraith ship. Meanwhile Dr. Weir, which I find a great character, but not used properly (read enough) over the course of her stay on Atlantis, is recalled to earth and she fears the IOA wants to fire her. But ultimately they let her stay on, so that they can have a scapegoat when things go wrong they have someone to blame.

The episodes follows-up with The Misbegotten where the Wraith turned to Human are dropped off on a planet. The Atlanteans also double-cross Michael by turning him into a human also. Of course this goes wrong, Michael feels he’s been double betrayed and rightly so, they manage to save Beckett and blow-up the planet but they don’t know if Michael is dead too. Woolsey comes back with dr. Weir to Atlantis to review her leadership. He seems like her enemy but in the end he surprises her.

Then we get a first of two episodes (irresistible & later on Irresponsible) where Richard Kind (Spin City) guest stars as Lucious. If Lucious is long enough with someone, he can make them love him. Up to a point, it is an addiction and when you are away of him, you are experiencing withdrawal problems. It’s a fun episode, Richard Kind is a funny man, with a strange but funny face, don’t know how else to put it. It’s not a fantastic episode, you sometimes even get annoyed during the episode but ultimately it’s fun.

The 4^th episode is one of my favorite season 3 episodes: Sateda. Team Sheppard gate to a planet were Ronan already has been. As a runner he led the Wraith to that village and got a lot of them culled including the Village leaders daughter. They let the Wraith know they caught him and they think the Wraith will leave them alone. Of course that is not the case and they are being culled or murdered. With a tracking device Ronan is set on his home planet which is in ruins. While fighting off Wraith after Wraith, he thinks back of what happened during the last time he was there, how he saw his girlfriend Malena get killed. Sheppard and the team come and help Ronan on Sateda and it is Dr. Beckett who finally shoots the Wraith who is responsible for all of this from a puddle jumper.

In this episode you also see some flashbacks of Ronan, from the time during the war with the Wraith, how he loses his girlfriend. We get to know him a little bit better. Also it’s always nice to have a scary Wraith in an episode. Last bit is fun too, Ronan tells Sheppard he can not interfere during his fight with the Wraith who made him a runner in the first place. While Sheppard is wavering weather or not to intervene, Beckett uncloaks the puddle jumper and kills the Wraith Ronan was having no chance against.

Progeny, episode 5 is a good episode in itself, it starts out great, SGA team makes contact with an advanced society called the Asurans. When they arrive there they see Atlantis but much bigger. Our heroes think these are ancients but soon they discover they’re replicators and they want to destroy Atlantis to avenge the Ancients for trying to destroy them. The Ancients created the Asurans as sort of weapon but when that failed they tried to destroy it all, and all mention of the Asurans have been removed from the Ancient dB.  Let me say by this time, to tell you the truth I was done with the Replicators a bit, they had become the Daleks of Dr. Who, for me at least. Still this episode is quite okay.

The Real World, a Dr. Weir episode, this one I liked also! Well-acted by Torri Higginson, nice guest spot from Alan Ruck (Star Trek: Generations, Spin City, Ferris Bueller's Day Off and so much more!) as Dr. Fletcher. It’s really also a bit of a follow-up episode to Progeny because Weir gets infected with nanites by Niam. Dr. Weir is fighting off these nanites in a coma and in that coma she’s back on earth, there is no Atlantis, or SG command. There is however a General O’Neill who has a nice guest appearance too.

The next episode, Common Ground, is also one of my favorite of the season. The Genii return and we also get to meet Todd (Christopher Heyerdahl), the Wraith, who has been a prisoner of the Genii for years now. I don’t believe Sheppard calls him Todd in this episode already.  Kolya kidnaps Sheppard and wants Leyton for him in return because according to Kolya, Leyton has double crossed him. In the cell next to Sheppard is a Wraith. Every 3hrs he’s forced to feed on Sheppard for a bit until dr. Weir agrees with Kolya's terms but she doesn’t do that. The Wraith does feed on him enough times that the next one could well be his last for Sheppard. Sheppard and the Wraith then agree to work together to escape.

The Wraith thinks this is impossible but Sheppard is confident and also that his friends will come for him, which the Wraith finds surprising. They do escape and the Wraith does one more feeding on Sheppard till he’s almost death but that is to fight off the other battalion of Kolya’s men. Sheppard’s team arrives after Leyton gives the IDC code of the planet where Kolyla (who escapes) is. And while the Wraith Todd is hangin’ over Sheppard his friends arrive only to see Sheppard back as his old self. Wraith has given back his years. Something the Wraith only do for Brothers and important leaders. Wraith considers Sheppard a brother for helping him escape. Sheppard stuns him and drops him of on some planet.

McKay & Mrs. Miller is of course also a fun episode, we see McKay’s sister, it turns out she is perhaps even smarter than Rodney, which he does not enjoy! What’s more, we find out his first name is not Rodney but Meredith and of course always nice, a guest spot of Amanda Tapping’s character Samantha Carter. The Rodney McKay form the other universe is the opposite of the Rodney we know, a likable character who is charming, has social skills.

For me the weakest one is episode 9, Phantoms. It is a standalone episode, team gate to a planet to check on another team which hasn’t called in. Wraith device makes them see all kinds of things for everyone different, they become hostile. It does though have a Funny ending, because Sheppard shot McKay and McKay is in disbelief that Sheppard actually shot him and keep repeating that he was shot by him.

The seasons of SG-1 and SGA were always split into two halves, so each time we got in the middle, we got a mid-season finale, which was a one of two part episode. The Return Part 1 and 2 also are favorites of mine, mainly because it’s also a cross-over, Jack O’Neill has a big role in these episodes and that’s a big fat bonus! The Ancients come back to Atlantis, just as McKay & Carter test the new way of travelling home via a train of Stargates. The Ancients wants the humans to go home and Dr. Weir and her team have to respect that. Woolsey will be their temporary liaison and Jack O’Neill is there also when the Replicators come to Atlantis. The Ancients are overconfident because they believe the Replicators cannot harm them, but they are wrong! Sheppard’s team defy a direct order from General Landry, which was given by General O’Neill. Sheppard, Weir, McKay pick up Teyla and Ronan and go to Atlantis.

In the 2^nd part Sheppard and his team arrive on Atlantis, they contact O’Neill and before the Replicators can’t act, Sheppard and his team escape in the puddle jumper. The Replicators now know there still are humans on Atlantis and go in search for them. Meanwhile team Sheppard locate Niam, the Replicator who still drifts in space. They pick him because McKay believes Niam can help destroy the Replicators. They get back to Atlantis but are being attacked. Sheppard flies the jumper under water and they want to get in via an underwater bay. O’Neill has to open it from the inside because the bay is under water and won’t open via remote. It’s a Deadman’s switch and once O’Neill gets back he and Woolsey are taken prisoner. The team however is in Atlantis now but Niam wakes up and McKay kills him with the anti replicator weapon. They devise a plan were Woolsey and O’Neill are giving false information because they know they will be probed by the Replicators. O’Neill didn’t bought it but Woolsey did and therefore also the Replicators. They are all being destroyed. I think it’s one of the best two-parters of Stargate Atlantis.

Next episode is Echoes where Whales from earlier McKay episode (Grace Under Pressure) come to Atlantis with the hundreds of them. Meanwhile Atlantis crew sees images of people in the corridors and and these people who look like Ancients. Seems that long ago the Whales and the Ancients had sort of correspondence about the large solar flare which would kill most on what is on the planet. Sheppard devices up a plan by going to the sun with the Daedalus and form a barrier. They succeed.

Next up, Irresponsible, the 2^nd Richard Kind episode I mentioned earlier. Again, it’s a good story, nothing great. However it surprises because suddenly there is Koyla, Sheppard’s Arch enemy number one! We finally see the last of Koyla when Sheppard and him have a shoot-out like you only see in those old western movies.

Episode 14, Tao of Rodney, I always like Rodney centered episodes, they usually don’t fail and this one doesn’t that do either. When Rodney uses an Ancient device, he gets special powers, but soon Dr Weir discovers it's a double-handled gift: if he doesn't ascend, he'll die. His DNA is changing but dr. Beckett, who has his old DNA on file suggest he again go and use the Ancient device, this time however, his own DNA has been inputted and restores his usual self.

The Game, episode 15, the episode started out intriguing but the it soon turned out to be an episode where two leaders can’t see passed their own viewpoints. It has me annoyed at times. Still there are some good scenes in it. I always like the Rodney and Sheppard scenes and I also liked the Zelenka/Major Lorne scene who, after all that’s happened, still want to “help” another society the way Sheppard and McKay did.

The Ark, episode 16 was an okay episode were The team boards a crippled space station to discover people have been preserved there with the hope to outlive their enemy, the Wraith. The ending was quite spectacular and I think I would do the same if I were in the shoes of Jamus. Episode 17, Sunday…I hate to love this episode! They killed off one of my favorite characters and I don’t think I am the only one in this. It’s starts out as easy going episode, everybody has a day off, it’s leisure time. But then there is an explosion on Atlantis, Beckett is in the wrong place at the wrong time.

Episode 18, Submersion, realizing it now! Just watched it, but the death of Beckett hasn’t been touched upon in this episode! Makes me think these episodes were aired in the wrong order. I know it’s been touched upon in the next episodes but strange he’s not mentioned in this one. The episode itself is a fun thriller story, a Queen Wraith is imprisoned in a ship at the bottom of the ocean, it’s too deep to swim to the surface. To stay alive she used her crew, she’s the only one left when she feels the Atlantis crew coming down to the ocean floor to a station built by the Ancients. She’s been there a long time, crashed during the last war with the Ancients.

With Vengeance, we see Michael return. He has been conducting experiments with the Iratus bug to create his own race of creatures that will have loyalty only to him. The episode feels a bit like the “Alien” movie which is also mentioned by Sheppard. Dark and moody, a bit into the horror genre. It’s certainly an entertaining episode and one thing is clear, this isn’t the last time we have seen Michael. Fyi, again, this episode Carson Beckett isn’t even mentioned a single time! Very strange, would think this would only happen in episodic shows like for instance Star Trek: TNG.

The season finale First Strike is an exciting and fast paced story! Colonel Abe Ellis arrives with the new ship the Apollo and takes charge as he arrives in Atlantis. He has orders to go to the Replicator planet and destroy the ships the Replicators have begun building. Dr. Weir is against this plan, she thinks that a negotiation will have more success but Ellis ignores her. The plan does succeed but soon the Replicators come to Atlantis to take their revenge. The special effects are fantastic, we first see Atlantis decent to the ocean floor and after that it rises out of the water and into space! Glorious! Finally we see some acknowledgement of the fact that Carson Beckett is no longer there. We get introduced to the new doctor, Dr. Jennifer Keller (Jewel Staite, Firefly) and we also witness what is the beginning of the absence of Dr. Weir in future seasons, which I really did not enjoy! As much as I love Samantha Carter, I did not want to see Dr. Weir go. Sam was there for 10 seasons, Dr. Weir deserved to be there also for a few seasons more, real shame. Almost a criminal act! 😐

Hope you enjoyed this! Next up: Stargate: The Ark of Truth and Stargate: Continuum

Screencaps taken from: GateWorld