Stargate Atlantis

[ Season 1! Season 2! Season 3 ! Season 4! Season 5 ]

Stargate SG-1 [Season 10, Episode 1] Flesh and Blood
Shown 14 Jul 06

The survivors of the space-battle try to regroup. Can Mitchell (Ben Browder - Farscape ) fly a cruiser like a fighter?

The real damage may be political. The Lucian Alliance blame the others for their military losses. The Aurae now turn on the Jaffas.

Vala's newborn daughter is a fast-growing Star-Child, with the knowledge of the Aurae. Vala names her Adria after her mother. Well, step-mother. Wicked step-mother.

Wolsey (Robert Picardo - Star Trek: VGR ) is still in charge of Oversight at the SGC.

Stargate Atlantis [Season 3, Episode 1] No Man's Land (2)
Shown 14 Jul 06

The Wraith Hive ship is en route to Earth. The Daedalus is in pursuit, but even if they catch the Wraith there is not much they can do. Ronan and Rodney are both prisoners. However, Sheppard is still in play. Also, Michael gets double-crossed by the Wraith Queen. But can anyone trust Michael if he is a triple-crosser himself?

Weir is back on Earth, being debriefed by Wolsey (Robert Picardo - Star Trek: VGR ) at the SGC. If she is going to be replaced by a better character as leader, the start of a new Season is the best opportunity to do so.

Stargate SG-1 [Season 10, Episode 2] Morpheus
Shown 21 Jul 06

SG-1 go to a new world to find Myrddin's weapon. Unfortunately it is a dead world, thanks to Morgan leFay. And naturally the team get exposed to whatever killed the locals. If they fall asleep, they die ...

Vala wants to join SG-1 on Away Missions, but must pass a psych exam first. Naturally she makes a meal of it. Luckily, SG-1 take a redshirt instead of her.

Wolsey (Robert Picardo - Star Trek: VGR ) is still in charge of Oversight at the SGC. He offers to pull strings for Vala, if she agrees to play ball.

Stargate Atlantis [Season 3, Episode 2] Misbegotten (3)
Shown 21 Jul 06

Michael the Hybrid (Connor Trinneer - Enterprise ) and his ex-Wraith crew are in the custody of Atlantis. Will Michael become a series regular? After all, Teel'c was First Prime of Apophis before he defected to the SGC.

Rodney tries to get the newly-acquired Hive Ship working. There is a massive power drain caused by keeping two hundred prisoners in suspended animation. The answer is to put the prisoners in

Dr Beckett actually has a lot to do this week. He has command of the medical camp where the patients are held. He is even taken hostage, and the rest of the team must rescue him. As with Weir, if he was written off as a character then the start of the new Season would be the best time to do it.

Weir is on her way back from Earth, on the Daedalus with Wolsey (Robert Picardo - Star Trek: VGR ). He has been assigned to look over her shoulder at the Atlantis base. However, he does not appear in the next few episodes.

Stargate SG-1 [Season 10, Episode 3] The Pegasus Project
Shown 28 Jul 06

Valla and Mitchell (Ben Browder - Farscape ) are aboard a space cruiser. She asks him to avoid using Earth culture references that confuse her. Just like the good old days in Farscape !

When the Odyssey arrives at Atlantis, SG-1 has its first mission in the Pegasus Galaxy. After a quick get-to-know-you, they swop boffins. Daniel and Vala stay with Dr Weir, to use the Ancients' holographic library. But there is a surprise for them. They discover what happened to Merlin and Morgan LeFey.

MacKay joins Mitchell and Carter aboard the Daedalus, where they try to explode a Stargate near a Black Hole. Hopefully this will seal the Aurae super-gate, and prevent them from sending reinforcements.

Stargate Atlantis [Season 3, Episode 3] Irresistible
Shown 28 Jul 06

The team go to a very nice-looking Elizabethan-era town. There they meet Lucius (Richard Kind - Gotham ), a benevolent fellow who everyone becomes smitten with. Everyone except Sheppard, of course, who wonders why ...

Dr Beckett invites Lucius back to Atlantis. Sure enough, eventually everyone wants to become friends with the newcomer.

Of course, Lucius is cheating with science in order to make people like him. He is treated as a comedy villain, though he is perhaps most similar to Jonathan in Buffy S4: Superstar . That show had a history of mind-altering substances like Band Candy and Bad Beer.

Stargate SG-1 [Season 10, Episode 4] Insiders
Shown 4 Aug 06

Baal turns himself in to SG-1. His only condition - they help him hunt down his unruly clones. They do so, of course, and imprison them all in the SGC. But which one is the real one?

Baal has a plan of his own, of course. Nice to see a super-villain in action. He gives the heroes a run for their money, staying at least one step ahead at all times.

Baal is after the index of stargates. The SGC got it when O'Neill had the knowledge of the ancients. Now Baal knows about it, and wants it so he can steal spares and re-establish his empire. Or worse, he might be after Merlin's anti-Aurae weapon - the sangraal.

Stargate Atlantis [Season 3, Episode 4] Sateda
Shown 4 Aug 06

The team visit a small medieval village, just like last week. Well, not quite. Last week it was the village of the happy people, while this is a fortified location filled with angry and well-armed villagers. Anyway, Sheppard mentions that all the planets look alike. Ronan (Jason Momoa - Game Of Thrones ) is recognised as a Runner, and the locals (led by the Sons of Anarchy Sheriff) want to trade him with the Wraith.

Ronan gets taken back to his homeworld, Sateda, and hunted. He can bump off the Wraith red-shirts in vast numbers, but it is the Uber-Wraith boss that he wants a one-on-one with!

Stargate SG-1 [Season 10, Episode 5] Uninvited
Shown 11 Aug 06

Mitchell (Ben Browder - Farscape ) joins General Landry (Beau Bridges - 10.5 Apocalypse ) at O'Neill's cabin in the woods. O'Neill himself is busy working in the Pentagon, but he allowed the rest of SG-1 to go there for the weekend.

Unfortunately, one of the other SG teams runs into trouble off-world. Colonel Carter sends out her best people - Teel'c (the tough guy) and Valla (who claims to have experience in hunting wild animals). Daniel is unavailable to help, since he is researching Merlin in an English Lord's personal library. Doctor Lam ( Lexa Doig ) is also missing from the base, presumably on professional business.

The monster gets necropsied by Area 51's xenobiologist Keegan Connor Tracey . The cause is a ghoul-type parasite that is somehow linked to the new cloaking devices. Worse, one of the cloaking devices is missing, presumably in the hands of The Trust.

Landry and Mitchell are also stalked by a mysterious monster that may be linked to the main storyline. They try to hunt down the creature, but the sheriff and his posse are dangerously incompetent.

Stargate Atlantis [Season 3, Episode 5] Progeny
Shown 11 Aug 06

The Team visits a hi-tech civilisation, the Asurans. Dr Weir tags along, in order to make First Contact because they seem important. They claim to be an offshoot of the Ancients, and their technology seems comparable.

However, the Asuran leader (Reverend Purdy from Dead Zone ) is a typically duplicitous character. He has an agenda involving the destruction of the Wraith, but he refuses to say what it involves.

Stargate SG-1 [Season 10, Episode 6] 200
Shown 18 Aug 06

It is about to be Mitchell's 200th trip through the gate. Unfortunately something blocks the gate.

It is the 200th episode. In a direct sequel to the 100th ep, Willie Garson arrives to get SG-1 to help write a movie for Wormhole X-Treme. We get some hilarious versions of the show - Star Trek, teenagers, puppets and even Farscape . Yotz!

The teenage version of the show is notable for the presence of Cory Monteith before he became famous on Glee.

Stargate Atlantis [Season 3, Episode 6] The Real World
Shown 18 Aug 06

Dr Weir wakes up and finds herself as a patient in a mental asylum. Her doctor (Alan Ruck - Star Trek: Generations ) explains that she never left planet Earth. She gets General O'Neill (Richard Dean Anderson - Legend (1995) ) to pay her a visit, but he insists there is no such thing as the SGC.

The other regular cast members have much reduced parts this week. In all fairness, most of the time it is Weir who only gets a couple of scenes per episode.

Did Weir imagine the previous two Seasons? If so, how will the show continue for the next year's worth of episodes? The previous episode featured a mind-screw where the team were forced to halucinate. It turns out that this is related to that situation.

Stargate SG-1 [Season 10, Episode 7] Counterstrike
Shown 25 Aug 06

Valla's daughter Adria is now full-grown, and looks like Morena Baccarin . She is dedicated to the Aurae, so Valla has to come to terms with the fact that her daughter is irideemably evil.

The Jaffa use the Takara superweapon against a world conquered by the Aurae. Landry (Beau Bridges - 10.5 Apocalypse ) sends SG-1 to salvage the Aurae ship before the Priors or Jaffa can get it. Naturally, it turns into a three-way fight.

Breytag (Tony Amendola) takes Landry to talk to the Jaffa leader. However, Breytag's voice at the Council not longer counts for much. Likewise, Teelc gets fired upon by Jaffa who work for the Council leader. Gerak may be gone, but the Council is still rotten to the core. They were not elected democratically, but rather were self-selected by size of their armies. Breytag and Teelc's alliance with the SGC is actually seen as a weakness.

Adria counter-attacks, and targets Takara. Ever since the reborn Anubis tried to take the place, it has been a major target for super-villains.

Stargate Atlantis [Season 3, Episode 7] Common Ground
Shown 25 Aug 06

Sheppard is captured by Kolya (Robert Davi - The Goonies ), who is now leader of the Genii Renegades. Kolya demands that Dr Weir hand over his rival, Leyden (Ryan Robbins - Sanctuary ), the new leader of the Genii people. Dr Weir refuses, of course, but only on principle. She indicates she is more morally flexible. This would be a chilling thing in a show like SG Universe , but here it is just her being bitchy.

Kolya tortures Sheppard by setting a starving Wraith (Christopher Heyderdahl - Sanctuary ) on him. Of course, since the Wraith is as much a prisoner as Sheppard then it is logical for the two to pair up.

Weir sends a rescue team of marines, armed with M-16 assault rifles. Ronan takes point, while Tayla ( Rachel Luttrell ) joins Rodney and Beckett at the rear. As always, they carry P-90 personal defence weapons. Does nobody on this station ever think about using a standard weapon for all units? They have three main long-arms, each with different ammunition and spare parts.

Stargate SG-1 [Season 10, Episode 8] Memento Mori
Shown 8 Sep 06
Reviewed 6th December 2006 [Wednesday]

Valla is working as a waitress in a greasy spoon cafe. A pair of rednecks try to imitate Pulp Fiction, but thanks to a poorly-filmed fight scene we discover Valla has A History of Violence.

It all started two weeks earlier. Daniel took Valla out on a not-a-date, but she was abducted by The Trust. The operatives, who seem fully aware their lady boss is a ghoul, try to scan her brain for memories of vital info from her days as a ghoul host. Predictably, it all goes badly wrong for all concerned.

Valla goes on the run, making new friends as she goes. She ends up taking Mitchell (Ben Browder - Farscape ) hostage.

Stargate Atlantis [Season 3, Episode 8] McKay and Mrs. Miller
Shown 8 Sep 06
Reviewed 6th December 2006 [Wednesday]

A young woman named Mrs Miller discovers a major mathematical breakthrough. She is approached by Sam Carter to work for the SGC, but refuses on moral principle. Unfortunately Mrs Miller's maiden name is McKay, and she is Rodney's sister. In a masterpiece of casting, she is played by David Hewlett's real-life sister.

McKay and Miller take the Daedalus back to Atlantis, where they try to build an energy source. They build a bridge into a parallel universe. However, the parallel version of Rodney comes over to let them know there is a problem. They must end the experiment before it destroys at least one of the universes.

Rodney has two sources of personal embarrassment this week. One is his sister, who tells his cow-orkers about all the embarrassing personal incidents he had wanted to forget. The other is the alternate version of himself, who is more extrovert - and thus more popular and sociable than the usual Rodney.

Stargate SG-1 [Season 10, Episode 9] Company of Thieves
Shown 15 Sep 06
Reviewed 13th December 2006 [Wednesday]

The Lucian Alliance is back, so to speak. They stage an ambush on the Earth flagship, the Odyssey, and take Sam Carter hostage. Annataeo (Rudolf Martin - NCIS) does not bother to charm her, which is a first for that rent-a-villain's characters.

Valla buys a cut-price starship, and takes the rest of SG-1 on a rescue mission. She and Daniel get captured - can they and Carter do a Desperate Hours/Die Hard style turn-the-tables on their captors?

Mitchell (Ben Browder - Farscape ) goes undercover as a senior member of the Lucian Alliance. He actually does a much better job than he did a few episodes previously. Luckily the Lucian leader has a shaky position. Annateo wants to usurp him, as do some other minions.

Stargate Atlantis [Season 3, Episode 9] Phantoms
Shown 15 Sep 06
Reviewed 13th December 2006 [Wednesday]

The Team visit a world where a previous exploration team ran into difficulties. They take along a few Marines as cannon fodder, equipped with MP5 sub-machineguns. The planet has a Wraith biotech machine that interferes with radio signals and affects the human brain.

The Team start to hallucinate about their worst fears. Ronan (Jason Momoa - Game Of Thrones ) abandons his position on guard duty, thus getting separated from the rest of the Team. This makes possible the ensuing blue-on-blue scenario.

Rodney tries to unhook the Wraith device from the power generator. However, somehow the power levels keep increasing far beyond 100%. He never considers that he might be halucinating. Tayla ( Rachel Luttrell ) is immune, probably due to her Wraith DNA, and this is probably the reason that she can read the Wraith technology's manual. Despite Rodney struggling for the whole episode to shut it down, she manages to work it out with a brief glance at the instructions.

Stargate SG-1 [Season 10, Episode 10] The Quest (1)
Shown 22 Sep 06
Reviewed 20th December 2006 [Wednesday]

Daniel and Vala discover the location of the Grail. They take the team to the world, but they must pass a series of tests. Like in Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade .

A certain ghoul is in competition with them for the Grail. As is the Aurae babe, Adria ( Morena Baccarin ). Carter tells them Get a room!.

Stargate Atlantis [Season 3, Episode 10] The Return, Part 1
Shown 22 Sep 06
Reviewed 20th December 2006 [Wednesday]

The ZPM has been depleted, so Atlantis can no longer dial directly home to the SGC any more. However, the Carter-Mckay Bridge (not named after George Kennedy's character in Dallas) is completed. It consists of thirty-four stargates, strung out like a chain in between the town galaxies. With an average transit time of less than a minute per gate, this means travel between galaxies should take just over half an hour!

Shepperd is the test-pilot on the first flight back to the SGC. General O'Neill (Richard Dean Anderson - Legend (1995) ) and General Landry (Beau Bridges - 10.5 Apocalypse ) are there to congratulate him. Nobody bothered to get any takeout food, although Sheppard later jokes about bringing pizza with him.

The Daedalus is stationed at the mid-point between galaxies, because the space station there has not been completed. They detect an Atlantean warship, and despite helping the arrogant and ungrateful Ancients they are kicked out of Atlantis.

Shepperd gets a job running an SG team against the Aurae. Rodney is stuck in a lab, but he seems to be happy enough. Dr Beckett has split up with the USMC lieutenant. However, Weir has taken it all very badly indeed. Her boyfriend is not mentioned, but now she lives alone and exhibits symptoms of extreme depression.

Back in the Pegasus galaxy, Tayla ( Rachel Luttrell ) and Ronan (Jason Momoa - Game of thrones ) have a choice between becoming farmers and working as mercenaries against the Wraith for Leyden (Ryan Robbins - Sanctuary ). O'Neill and Wolsey (Robert Picardo - ) are assigned as ambassadors to Atlantis. Then the Replicators decide to attack the city. Nobody bothers to tell the Ancients that Rodney rewrote the Replicators' base code, and thus the Asimov-style rule against harming their makers might not still apply.

Stargate SG-1 [Season 10, Episode 11] The Quest (2)
Shown

The team discover Merlin's secret base. But can they get the weapon ready before the Aurae forces find them?

Carter and Ba'al must work together to rewire a Stargate!

Stargate Atlantis [Season 3, Episode 11] The Return, Part 2
Shown

The Ancient Replicators seize Atlantis. General O'Neill (Richard Dean Anderson - Legend (1995) ) and Mr Wolsey (Robert Picardo - ) are trapped in the city. Presumably the Ancients have all been slaughtered by the Replicators. After all, in this kind of thing nobody takes prisoners or trips over dead bodies.

The Team have defied Landry's orders, and stolen their puddle-jumper back so they can get through the Gate again. Rodney's plan is to use the Replicator they dumped in orbit in Stargate Atlantis [Season 3, Episode 5] Progeny.

The backup plan involves doing a lot of damage to the city. The gate room and the star drive are among the targets. The Replicators try to repair them, but it is not made clear how much success they had. Still, at least they brought three ZPMs to power the city.

Stargate SG-1 [Season 10, Episode 12] Line in the Sand
Shown

SG-1 test their phase-cloaking device by protecting a village from the Aurae. Naturally it all goes wrong. Sam Carter and Mitchell (Ben Browder - Farscape ) are trapped, while Valla is captured ... by Tomen, her ex.

Stargate Atlantis [Season 3, Episode 12] Echoes
Shown

Tayla ( Rachel Luttrell ) bonds with Ronan (Jason Momoa - Game Of Thrones ). Then she starts to see hallucinations of the Ancients.

Meanwhile, Rodney's whale friend, who he has named Sam, starts circling the city. More whales start to join him. However, the humans in the city start to suffer serious side-effects from the whale-song.

Daedalus has to come rescue the city again. The city only has one ZPM left, because the others were sent back to protect Earth and fight the Aurae.

Stargate SG-1 [Season 10, Episode 13] Bounty
Shown

SG-1 continues the war against the Lucian Alliance by blowing up a massive shipment of space-corn. Yes, despite being in a galaxy-wide war with the Aurae forces the SGC has time to attack the local space-gangsters. However, the Lucian Alliance has very limited resources. They apparently cannot just use the stargates to move the space-corn, and must use their few starships to haul cargo instead. The Lucian leader does not have a massive army of his own, and instead he puts huge bounties on the heads of SG-1.

Vala is bored, so she persuades Mitchell (Ben Browder - Farscape ) to take her as his date to his High School Re-Union. They hang out and bond, just like the good old days in Farscape . This time there are shades of Grosse Point Blank as a series of alien thugs descend upon the team in various guises.

The bounty hunters seem to be getting paid to kill the team. However, they are far more eager to take SG-1 alive than vice versa - which is a pity, because prisoners are easier to interrogate than dead men.

The main bounty hunter is a familiar face who later appears as a semi-regular in Stargate Universe . The other guest-stars include Anne Marie DeLuise . Yes, yet another person with the same family name as the director/producer.

Stargate Atlantis [Season 3, Episode 13] Irresponsible
Shown

The Team go to a world where a superhero protects the village. Unfortunately there are Genii renegades infesting the woods. A couple of familiar faces pop up, and a recurring villain gets a disappointing

Stargate SG-1 [Season 10, Episode 14] The Shroud
Shown

The team try to kidnap a Prior. And they find out what happened to Daniel Jackson. Adria ( Morena Baccarin ) pretended to seduce him, but it was all a plan to make him into a Prior. However, he claims that Merlin protected him from the brainwashing.

Daniel claims he can finish the super-weapon, but they have to open the super-gate so he can send it back to the Aurae galaxy. Otherwise it will detonate in the Earth's galaxy, destroying the Ancients and leaving the Aurae unopposed.

Can Daniel be trusted? Wolsey (Robert Picardo - Star Trek: VGR ) does not think so. After all, Daniel was the one who wanted to kill the prisoner in Stargate SG-1 [Season 9, Episode 9] Prototype , and nobody listened to him. Now the shoe is on the other foot.

General O'Neill (Richard Dean Anderson - Legend (1995) ) is called in to help.

Stargate Atlantis [Season 3, Episode 14] Sunday
Shown

Dr Weir has reluctantly designated Sunday as the day of rest. Presumably prior to that they were working seven days a week. Seriously, even at the height of the Industrial revolution - the greatest period of human exploitation - the workers were only held to a six-day week.

Tayla ( Rachel Luttrell ) and her gal-pal, one of MacKay's minions, hang out for some girl-talk. It is nice to see she has actually begun to socialise with some Earthlings, since she has always felt like an outsider. Unfortunately this blissful day of rest is disrupted by an explosion.

This is an ensemble piece. Every main character's day gets covered, as they all spend time with their friends. Even Rodney MacKay has a girlfriend, Katie the Botanist.

The one common feature to most of the stories is the Scottish Doctor, carson Beckett. He has been sidelined for most of the show, and is basically a glorified supporting character. However, it turns out that he is now a key character to the show.

Stargate SG-1 [Season 10, Episode 15] The Road Not Taken
Shown

Carter finds herself in an alternate universe. It is noticably distinct from all other alternate universes in Stargate, but this is not an issue of continuity for the show.

The regular SG-1 team members have been dispersed, and thus the actors have the week off. As a result there are a few guest-stars to fill the gaps. The SGC is run by General Hammond and Major Lorne. Landry (Beau Bridges - 10.5 Apocalypse ) now outranks Hammond - he is Commander in Chief. Rodney MacKay pops up as Carter's billionaire ex-husband!

Stargate Atlantis [Season 3, Episode 15] Tao of Rodney
Shown

Rodney gets hit by an energy beam from an Ancient machine. He develops super-senses, telepathy, etc. For example, he accidentally reads the surface thoughts of bystanders like Esposito ( Leela Savasta ). However, we all know that as in the original series, everything like this has deadly limitations.

The device was intended to help the user to ascend. Unfortunately the side-effect is that it kills the user's body. As a result, Rodney's only chance of survival is if he manages ascension!

Stargate SG-1 [Season 10, Episode 16] Bad Guys
Shown

The team end up on an Earth-like planet, where everyone speaks English and the tech is early 21st Century level. They take over a Museum, where the security doors use swipe-cards. Not very hi-tech, when you consider that ID cards today (five years after this show was filmed) use RFID, and even at that time swipe cards were becoming obsolete.

The Museum takeover is necessary because the planet is a dictatorship. The local stargate is held in the building, as are other artefacts from the Ghoul era. They need a power source, and discover a hi-tech bomb. But can Valla successfully defeat the Museum security system without anything going wrong?

An inept security guard is on the loose in the Museum. He decides to go all Die Hard on our heroes. Luckily this is a light-hearted show, so we know it will not turn into a bloodbath.

Luckily, the Museum Administrator is a familiar face from The West Wing, and he helpfully collaborates.

Stargate Atlantis [Season 3, Episode 16] The Game
Shown

It turns out that Rodney and Sheppard have been playing a computer game for the last few years. Each controls a medieval society - Rodney introduced scientific innovations, while Sheppard militarises his.

Unfortunately the societies turn out to be real! Rodney gets to give orders to Laura Harris ! Shepperd is not so lucky, because his minion is the CIA thug from NCIS.

Weir gets Rodney and Shepperd to sort out their kingdoms before their disagreements boil over into all-out war. Meanwhile, Major Lorne and Dr Zalenka start a game of their own.

Stargate SG-1 [Season 10, Episode 17] Talion
Shown

Someone blows up the tent the Jaffa Council is meeting in. Carter's team discovers Teel'c is still alive. Well, like all SG-1 members (except Daniel Jackson) he is practically unkillable. But Breytag (Tony Amendola) is comatose. Dr Lam ( Lexa Doig ) promises to do her best.

The main suspect is Arkad (Craig Fairbrass) - a former First Prime, as Teel'c was. Apparently he has no honour, and politically leans towards the Aurae. Worse, he can now take advantage of the power vacuum. And he is a shrewd enough politician to take Earth out of Jaffa politics.

Teel'c goes on a one-man revenge rampage. Torture, murder, all the cliches. He makes the villains look quite sympathetic in comparison. But SG-1 is ordered to stop him ...

Stargate Atlantis [Season 3, Episode 17] The Ark
Shown

This starts with Shepperd in a life-threatening situation. Then we flash back to eight hours earlier, when the main story starts.

The team explore a hollow moon filled with 1960s technology. It is the last outpost of a human species, embodied by Kenneth Walsh ( Twin Peaks ). Their plan to escape the Wraith culling was to store their population in Wraith dart storage.

Sabotage causes depressurisation. The puddle-jumper is lost, which leaves the team trapped in the building. Worse, the moon is in a declining orbit.

The good news is, Weir sends Lorne and the Doctor as backup. The bad news is, the sole surviving local refuses to leave without his people. Like a competent Dr Smith from Lost In Space , he takes a hostage.

Stargate SG-1 [Season 10, Episode 18] Family Ties
Shown

Vala's dad, a fellow con artist, comes to Earth. He was involved in an arms deal with renegade Jaffa who want to bomb targets on Earth, including the SGC. He offers to help the SGC, but can he be trusted?

Can Vala deal with the fact her dad is an untrustworthy con-man? Has she herself been reformed?

Stargate Atlantis [Season 3, Episode 18] Submersion
Shown

Rodney has detected a geothermal power plant, located deep under the planet's ocean. Elizabeth Weir tags along, and because she pulls rank on poor Rodney he must ride in the back with his minions. These are new minions after what happened to the previous ones, so he must get to know them and even learn their names. This leads to discomfort all round.

Tayla ( Rachel Luttrell ) telepathically senses a wraith presence. She does a scan for it ...

The storyline of an Ancient geothermal power plant about to explode was prevuiously used in the super-volcano episode. Now our heroes find themselves in pretty much the same situation, though nobody mentions it.

Sheppard's survival means he must rely on Rodney's marksmanship. Strangely, it seems that a few rounds from a 9mm pistol are more deadly to a Wraith than an entire clip from a P-90. Or more likely Rodney is just a terrible shot!

Stargate SG-1 [Season 10, Episode 19] Dominion
Shown

This is the penultimate ep of the show, so the team have to tie up a few loose ends.

Adria ( Morena Baccarin ) is still in command of the Army of Origin, so the team target her. They also have to take on Baal and his clones. Many loose ends are tied up, but there is enough left for a couple of made-for-TV movies ...

Stargate Atlantis [Season 3, Episode 19] Vengeance
Shown

The team visit a village on a low-tech world. Everyone is dead or missing, and there are cocoons ... as if they were killed or converted by a giant bug. Sheppard compares it to the movie Alien , where the monster picked everyone off one at a time. MacKay quotes Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, also the favourite movie of the head scientist in Stargate Universe .

Despite the obvious references to Aliens , this episode is far inferior to the movie. The monsters are concealed in the darkness, and we do not get to see scary prolonged close-ups of them.

Michael the Hybrid (Connor Trinneer - Enterprise ) makes a reappearance. He has not been seen for a few episodes, but he is the nearest thing left to a recurring villain. His interest is in Tayla ( Rachel Luttrell ), so he gives her some exposition. Just as the humans experimented on him, he is now continuing the unethical experiments.

Stargate SG-1 [Season 10, Episode 20] Unending
Shown

This is the final ep of the show, but it works as a stand-alone story.

The Team and General Landry (Beau Bridges - 10.5 Apocalypse ) are on the star-cruiser, where they travel to meet Thor. The Asgard are dying, their race now all but extinct. They deliver their greatest tech to the Earthlings, who are still at war with the Origin forces.

On the way home the star-cruiser is cornered by three Ori ships. The crew evacuate, leaving Landry and SG-1 trapped in a time bubble. Our heroes live their lives for the next fifty years while the universe seems frozen around them. Vala hooks up with one of the men (guess who!), though Carter does not bother.

Stargate Atlantis [Season 3, Episode 20] First Strike
Shown

The new star-cruiser, the USS Apollo, arrives at Atlantis. The commander, a young Louis Gosset Jnr lookalike, wants to use super-nukes to destroy an armada the replicators are building.

Naturally, the Replicators counterattack. They can destroy Atlantis no matter where it hides on the planet.

Stargate SG-1 [TV Movie] Ark of Truth
Shown

This is a made-for-TV movie set after the end of the final Season. It basically ties up the loose ends concerning arch-villain Adria ( Morena Baccarin ).

SG-1 are sent on a star-cruiser to locate the Ark of Truth, something so powerful it can cure the Priors of their loyalty to the Aurae. Valla's ex-BF Tomen comes along for the ride.

In a sub-plot, the Replicators make a comeback!

Stargate SG-1 [TV Movie] Continuum
Shown

This is a made-for-TV movie set after the end of the final Season. It basically ties up the loose ends concerning arch-villain Baal.

SG-1, including General O'Neill (Richard Dean Anderson - Legend (1995) ), go to the Tokra homeworld to watch Baal's extraction. Unfortunately, they forget that he had many clones!

Baal's failsafe is time travel, creating a parallel universe. Daniel, Sam and Mitchell (Ben Browder - Farscape ) end up trapped in a world they do not belong in, denied all access to the lives they once knew ...

Naturally, there is a big climactic finale. Baal has many allies of his own - including Valla and Teelc! The aerial dog-fights look like something out of sister-show BSG 2003 !

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Return to August 1999 Index.

Season 4

Stargate Atlantis [Season 4, Episode 1] Adrift (2)
Shown 28/Sep/07

Atlantis is drifting in space. Dr Weir and Ronan (Jason Momoa - Game Of Thrones ) are both hospitalised, with Doctor Keller ( Jewel Staite ) as the new doctor. She is not the wraith she used to be, though.

Colonel Sheppard, as head of security, is now the acting commander of the city. He gets Rodney and Zalenka to help him with some derring-do!

Weir is dying. Keller and MacKay can save her, but only by re-activating the Replicator nanites that have been dormant in her bloodstream since Stargate Atlantis [Season 3, Episode 6] The Real World.

Stargate Atlantis [Season 4, Episode 2] Lifeline (3)
Shown 05/Oct/07

To get a new ZPM for the city, the Team must infiltrate the Replicators home-world and steal one. Rodney has another plan - reactivate the command that causes Replicators to kill Wraiths. Dr Weir now has superpowers. But will she survive?

Colonel Sam Carter ( Amanda Tapping ) and her beardy sidekick are on half-way station, fixing things. If anyone can locate Atlantis, it is her.

Stargate Atlantis [Season 4, Episode 3] Reunion
Shown 12/Oct/07

Colonel Sam Carter ( Amanda Tapping ) says goodbye to Teel'c, and takes her stuff through the Stargate. She is now the new commander of Atlantis.

Ronan (Jason Momoa - Game Of Thrones ) meets up with three friends from his old military unit. The leader is Mark Dacascos ( Crow: Stairway to Heaven ), the woman is Kyra Zagorsky and the muscle is her cow-orker from Continuum . He decides to quit Atlantis, and join up with his nomad crew again.

The nomads take the Team to raid a Wraith bio-lab. Normally the Atlantis crew would just let the Wraiths and Replicators wipe each other out, but Wraiths are planning to deactivate the Replicators again.

What are the chances that the supposedly easy mission goes bad? Or that something happens to change Ronon's mind? Since getting to spar with Tayla ( Rachel Luttrell ) is not enough, this will have to be quite a lot.

Stargate Atlantis [Season 4, Episode 4] Doppelganger
Shown 19/Oct/07

While exploring an alien world, Sheppard touches a glowing rock. Later, back on Atlantis, Tayla starts to have nightmares about him. This is the third time her nightmares have been used as a plot device.

The nightmares seem to be highly communicable. Rodney has unrelated nightmares that involve being eaten by Moby Dick. Strange, since he did not seem to mind the whales in the previous planet's ocean.

If you die in the dream, you die in reality.

Stargate Atlantis [Season 4, Episode 5] Travelers
Shown 26/Oct/07

Sheppard volunteers to fly a supply mission alone to the planet of the naked nymphos. Unfortunately he gets ambushed and imprisoned by a beautiful, untrustworthy woman ( Jill Wagner ). She is one of a hi-tech society of humans called the Travelers.

The Travelers want Sheppard to re-activate an abandoned Ancient cruiser they discovered. He ends up trapped on the spaceship while under attack from the wraith. However, he and the babe get to reluctantly team up together.

Stargate Atlantis [Season 4, Episode 6] Tabula Rasa
Shown 02/Nov/07

Rodney wakes up tied to a chair, with a video of instructions. But this is not a new version of Saw . Everyone has amnesia, and Rodney is the city's only hope. He has amnesia, though, so he has to find Tayla ( Rachel Luttrell ) ...

The flashbacks show the build-up of tension as the amnesia illness slowly takes hold. Rodney's romance with the botany chick is also shown.

Stargate Atlantis [Season 4, Episode 7] Missing
Shown 09/Nov/07

Tayla ( Rachel Luttrell ) and Doctor Keller ( Jewel Staite ) go to visit Tayla's people. But the village is empty, and the entire population is mysteriously gone.

A tribe of cannibals are seen hanging around. They are the Bolo-Kai, probably named after the Uruk-Hai in Lord of the Rings . Their leader is Danny Trejo ( Machete ) and they use stone-age technology - so they are on an equal footing when they hunt Tayla and Keller for food. Of course, Tayla's blood-lust is up and she is a match for them in a fight.

Tayla's childhood rite of passage was ten days alone in the wilderness, where she had to hunt for food in order to stay alive. In contrast, Dr Keller does not seem to have done any basic survival or combat training. She is a healer, but this journey of self-discovery will challenge her dedication to the oath she swore - First, do no harm.

Stargate Atlantis [Season 4, Episode 8] The Seer
Shown 16/Nov/07

The team pay a visit to a primitive world where there is a man who can see the future. He is Davos (Martin Jarvis - Space: Above And Beyond ), and he needs the Earthlings' help. They take him back to Atlantis, for Doctor Keller ( Jewel Staite ) to cure him. In exchange he gives them a couple of visions of the future. One of them is Atlantis itself being destroyed!

Todd the Friendly Wraith (Christopher Hyderdahl - Sanctuary ) offers a deal. He will help McKay with the shut-down programme for the Replicators. Nobody mentions it, but the last time they trusted a wraith was a couple of Seasons ago and it all ended very badly for all concerned.

Wolsey (Robert Picardo - Star Trek: Voyager ) comes through the Stargate to inspect Atlantis. Since Midway station is now working, they have no need of three-week intergalactic journeys on the starships. Unfortunately, he is still a tight-ass and tends to panic at the first sign of trouble.

Stargate Atlantis [Season 4, Episode 9] Miller's Crossing
Shown 30/Nov/07

McKay is having trouble with the shut-down programme for the Replicators. Todd the Friendly Wraith (Christopher Hyderdahl - Sanctuary ) is not being helpful, perhaps because he is being held prisoner against his will. McKay asks his sister, Mrs Miller, for help.

Back on Earth, the two scientists get kidnapped by a rogue contractor (Stephen Culp - JAG). Yes, the massive infrastructure of the SGC Military-Industrial Complex has sprung yet ANOTHER leak! The temptation of having alien technology (in this case, medical nanites) is just too much for some people.

Ronan (Jason Momoa - Game Of Thrones ) and Sheppard help McKay search for his sister. Ronan gets to meet Gary the Gatemaster at the SGC. Sheppard has a difficult moral decision to make.

Stargate Atlantis [Season 4, Episode 10] This Mortal Coil (1)
Shown 07/Dec/07

A probe arrives, and the Team suspect that the Replicators have found them. It is a super-weapon, and it launches an attack.

Stargate Atlantis [Season 4, Episode 11] Be All My Sins Remember'd (2)
Shown 04/Jan/08

The Replicators have the perfect plan to destroy the Wraith. Starve them to death - by killing all humans!

Atlantis teams up with Todd the Friendly Wraith (Christopher Hyderdahl - Sanctuary ) and a few Wraith Hives that have allied themselves with him. Sheppard contacts Jill Wagner and tries to recruit the Travellers. The plan is to launch a massive attack on the Replicator world. Meanwhile, Rodney uses a super-weapon to win the war.

Stargate Atlantis [Season 4, Episode 12] Spoils of War
Shown 11/Jan/08

Rodney detects a signal from Todd the Friendly Wraith (Christopher Hyderdahl - Sanctuary ). His Hive ship is floating dead in space. The team go to investigate.

Tayla ( Rachel Luttrell ) is now pregnant (apparently by one of her own people), and insists on going on missions to help find the child's father. She can telepathically communicate with a Wraith Queen, but this is not without risks.

The Wraith have got a hi-tech cloning facility, ready to build the largest Wraith army since the fall of Atlantis. Enemy Wraith have taken it over. Can Todd be trusted to help the Team?

Stargate Atlantis [Season 4, Episode 13] Quarantine
Shown 18/Jan/08

The city computer gets a false positive result on its medical diagnostic sensors, and locks the entire city in quarantine mode. The main characters are all locked in male/female pairs:

Sheppard and Tayla ( Rachel Luttrell ), who is heavily pregnant

Rodney McKay and his GF (Katie the Botanist), to whom he was planning to propose

Ronan (Jason Momoa - Game Of Thrones ) and Doctor Jennifer Keller ( Jewel Staite ) - he has probably been faking injuries just to see her!

Colonel Carter and Zalenka, stuck together in an elevator

After previous outbreaks, Rodney has upgraded the system to make certain nobody breaks quarantine. Luckily the building standards on Atlantis are very low, possibly because of their over-reliance on force-fields. Despite the doors being incredibly well-armoured, the windows are weaker than domestic double-glazing - never mind the bulletproof glass of skyscrapers. Sheppard climbs the tower - well, not all of it.

Poor Rodney gets humiliated, as always.

Stargate Atlantis [Season 4, Episode 14] Harmony
Shown 25/Jan/08

Rodney and Sheppard are on a trading mission to a medieval world. Typical of the strange version of the Prime Directive the SGC uses. They will not improve the standard of living of the local human populations, but they will trade with them (thus enforcing local dictatorships). At least this time it is a good old-fashioned monarchy they are dealing with.

The dynamic duo must escort an annoying thirteen-year-old princess, Harmony ( Jodelle Ferland ) through the enchanted woods to the magical ruins. She is a nasty piece of work, manipulative towards her father-figure and abusive towards people she regards as inferior.

Unfortunately a gang of Genii gunmen ambush them ...

Stargate Atlantis [Season 4, Episode 15] Outcast
Shown 01/Feb/08

Sheppard gets word that his father died. He and Ronan (Jason Momoa - Game Of Thrones ) attend the funeral, where they bump into Sheppard's ex-wife ( Kari Wuhrer ), who is now Director of Homeland Security (!!!).

Previously, Sheppard insinuated to Tayla that he was raised by a single mother, a police woman with three children to feed on her government salary. Now it turns out that his father was rich, and he only has one brother. In other words, no wonder he did not bring Tayla to the funeral in case she found out the truth about his family.

A young woman informs the duo that a secret experiment has resulted in a humanoid android getting loose. They must hunt it down, in a series of action scenes reminiscent of Terminator 2 . In fact, there is a direct reference to the movie - despite the fact that Robert Patrick played Sheppard's boss in the pilot episode.

The man-hunt is led by Sergeant Bates (Dean Marshall). He used to be one of Sheppard's minions in Season One, but got invalided out of the military when he was wounded in action. Now he does field-work for the IOC, which has taken over the duties of the NID.

Stargate Atlantis [Season 4, Episode 16] Trio
Shown 08/Feb/08

Rodney, Sam Carter and Doctor Keller ( Jewel Staite ) visit a world where the land surface is unstable due to over-mining by the Genii. Unfortunately, all three get trapped in an underground mining facility. They have to find a way out of the mining platform before ground-quakes topple the whole thing into the void.

This is a great episode, focusing on character development rather than action set-pieces. Bill Nye (Science Guy) and Neil Degrasse Tyson get a mention, and they actually appear as themselves in follow-up episode Stargate Atlantis [Season 5, Episode 16] Brain Storm .

Rodney is typically clueless when it comes to the females. But he manages to do pretty well in terms of pulling his weight in an escape. He might even have a new love interest!

Stargate Atlantis [Season 4, Episode 17] Midway
Shown 15/Feb/08

The IOC has decided to formally interview the Atlantis staff. Tayla ( Rachel Luttrell ) complains to Carter about the way she was treated. Apparently the evil mysoginist interviewer, Mr Coolidge (Rob Labelle - First Wave ), treats women differently from men. She has no way of knowing this, because she has no basis for comparison regarding his behaviour. His crime is that he expected her to want to spend time with her own child. Her objection is unusual, because she herself has voiced second thoughts to Sheppard about her career in the suicide squad.

The next team-member scheduled for an interview is Ronan. Unfortunately he is very short-tempered, and liable to snap under questioning. Carter calls in a special advisor to help. Teel'c is well-equipped for the role, being able to fight Ronan to a standstill for a whole hour.

Despite being at odds, the mis-matched pair are sent back to Earth together through the Stargate. They must stop off for 24-hour quarantine at Midway station. The commander is the SGC's lab-rat, Dr Lee. His minion is Kavanaugh, Weir's pain-in-the-side from Season One , who has evidently been exiled to the most remote place between the two galaxies. It is nice to see a familiar face, something this show is good at doing.

There are only two guards on duty at Midway. The Wraith easily take it over, and capture the scientists. Ronan and Teel'c have to go all Die Hard, and take on the Wraith single-handed ... together. They get to the armoury, and equip themselves with the carbine version of the Hockler G36. Yes, there is yet ANOTHER weapon in the SGC's inventory, which requires yet more specialist training and spare parts.

The Wraith plan is to attack the SGC in Cheyenne Mountain. It turns out that the IOC's plan for that eventuality does not involve sending reinforcements into the base. No, they will just nuke the place from orbit.

Midway station also has a self-destruct. The good news is there is a Pool-Jumper as an escape pod. The bad news is that although the Jumper can survive the destruction, somehow both the station's Stargates cannot.

Stargate Atlantis [Season 4, Episode 18] The Kindred (1)
Shown 22/Feb/08

Tayla ( Rachel Luttrell ) has a vision that her baby-daddy is still alive. Unfortunately she has it while asleep, so everyone else assumes it is just a dream. Except for Rodney, who has experienced enough unusual events to know that he should keep an open mind.

There has been an outbreak of plague across at least eight different planets. Keller narrows the cause down. It is a man-made virus that kills any Wraith that attempts feeding. Yes, this is a version of the virus created by the Hoffen, last seen in Season One .

Sheppard and Rodney McKay go looking for the Hoffen, who were wiped out by the first Wraith ship that found they were poisonous. It seems that there are a handful of survivors, children trapped in a post-apocalyptic world with limited supplies. They scavenge for food among the ruins of their depopulated city.

Major Lorne escorts Tayla in a quest to follow the clues in her visions. They uncover the underworld of scavengers and grave-robbers.

Todd the Friendly Wraith (Christopher Hyderdahl - Sanctuary ) offers a deal. Todd knows the identity of their mutual enemy, and needs the SGC's help in taking him out.

This is part one of a two-part story, featuring a recurring villain.

Stargate Atlantis [Season 4, Episode 19] The Kindred (2)
Shown 29/Feb/08

The Team bring home the prisoner they rescued. He turns out to be ... their old friend Dr Carson Beckett. But since Beckett was spectacularly blown up last Season ...

Michael the Hybrid (Connor Trinneer - Enterprise ) is trying to create a race of super-wraiths to use as henchmen. He still has Tayla ( Rachel Luttrell ) and her people. Their exceedingly small gene-pool has shown the positive aspect of in-breeding. Tayla's baby-daddy must be her cousin, because they share telepathic abilities (presumably inherited from their Wraith grandparent). Thus their offspring is a super-psi, and Michael wants it.

Stargate Atlantis [Season 4, Episode 20] The Last Man (1)
Shown 07/Mar/08

Sheppard and Major Lorne take a trip to meet the Genii, with the hope to getting info on Michael the Hybrid (Connor Trinneer - Enterprise ) and Tayla's location.

Shepard nips home to Atlantis for a quick break - and finds the city derelict and abandoned. An accident has sent him 48,000 years in the future. Luckily, a hologram of McKay is there to help him. Shades of Red Dwarf , perhaps? They must get Sheppard to a stasis pod, then freeze him for centuries until the next suitable occasion to send him back.

The crew all get what they want, but not the way they desired. Tayla ( Rachel Luttrell ) gives birth to her baby. Sam Carter got command of a new starship. Ronan (Jason Momoa - Game Of Thrones ) kills the last Wraith. Rodney gets the girl. Major Lorne eventually becomes General in charge of the SGC.

Lorne's promotion takes time. He does not get automatically bumped up to Colonel, even when he takes over after Sheppard is declared MIA. Basically he fails to see Michael's strategy, which is repeated over an over again. Michael leaks a tasty piece of intelligence, but when the Atlantis forces turn up to investigate they walk straight into his traps. If Lorne was a good commanding officer, he should have noticed this pattern before he allowed everyone else to walk into the traps.

Season 5

Stargate Atlantis [Season 5, Episode 1] Search and Rescue (2)
Shown 11/Jul/08

The survivors are trapped in the rubble. Sam Carter scrambles techs and medics in order to save them before Michael's Cruiser arrives.

Tayla ( Rachel Luttrell ) is still pregnant, but not for long. Rodney has to perform the chores of a midwife. Yes, Sheppard's prediction that the birth would happen at an inopportune time and that one of the crew would have to deliver the baby alone has come to pass!

Stargate Atlantis [Season 5, Episode 2] The Seed
Shown 18/Jul/08

It is the start of a new Season, The Stargate back to Earth is working again. Sam Carter is sent back to Earth for the events of Stargate: Continuum , and Wolsey (Robert Picardo - Star Trek: Voyager ) replaces her - as he did in the alternate timeline ...

Doctor Keller ( Jewel Staite ) is infected with a Wraith seed - and starts turning into a Hive Ship! Luckily, Doctor Beckett is on Atlantis. Will he become her permanent replacement?

Stargate Atlantis [Season 5, Episode 3] Broken Ties
Shown 25/Jul/08

Tyre (Mark Dacascos - Crow: Stairway to Heaven ) kidnaps Ronan (Jason Momoa - Game Of Thrones ) so he can turn him over to the Wraith. Tyre is an addict, suffering extreme withdrawl pains. The Wraith plan to make Ronon an addict too, so they can control him.

Stargate Atlantis [Season 5, Episode 4] The Daedalus Variations
Shown 01/Aug/08

The Starship Daedalus suddenly appears in orbit. The Team visit it, and discover it has a new engine. It jumps uncontrollably between parallel universes!

Stargate Atlantis [Season 5, Episode 5] Ghost in the Machine
Shown 15/Aug/08

A computer virus causes problems. It turns out to be the disembodied electronic personalities of Dr Weir and the other Replicators. They make bodies for themselves ...

As always, the SGC has a zero tolerance policy towards replicators. Even though these ones cannot actually replicate themselves.

Stargate Atlantis [Season 5, Episode 6] The Shrine
Shown 22/Aug/08

Rodney the hypochondriac actually has something wrong with him. He has a brain parasite that turns him senile. It is heartbreaking to watch this happen to him. His sister visits him on Atlantis, and helps the team try to save him ... for a final day before he dies.

Ronan (Jason Momoa - Game Of Thrones ) knows that there is a shrine where the locals take people afflicted with the parasite. The symptoms are temporarily removed. But the Shrine is on a world held by the Wraith. Is Rodney worth the risk?

Stargate Atlantis [Season 5, Episode 7] Whispers
Shown 05/Sep/08

Dr Beckett is back on Atlantis for a quick visit. He did not bother to stop by when Rodney was dying last week, even though Beckett is a top xeno-biologist (and Rodney's buddy). Sheppard drops by to take Beckett on a mission.

The dynamic duo join an all-female Away team. It is led by Major Christina Cox , who has already played two different characters in the Stargate Universe. Her team is Doctor Nikki DeBoer , Captain Vega ( Leela Savasta ) and Sergeant Dusty ( Janina Gavankar ). This would actually be a good basis for an all-female spin-off show.

They investigate Michael's secret underground lab. Unfortunately it is full of Fast Zombies.

Sheppard is a main character, so we know he will live through it. Beckett gets a good rapport with the other Doctor, so they will get some emotional interaction. However, the others are as expendable as redshirts.

The inclusion of an all-female team, including two women of colour, should be seen as a triumph of diversity. However, the nature of the storyline is a typical stalk-and-slash effort that relies on reactive protagonists. As a result, it favours female protagonists instead of male. After all, who would care if Major Lorne and a bunch of healthy young men were bumped off, one at a time?

Stargate Atlantis [Season 5, Episode 8] The Queen
Shown 12/Sep/08

Doctor Keller ( Jewel Staite ) is now a regular character, appearing in the opening credits. She has developed a formula that will enable Wraith to eat solid food, and deny them their ability to feed on humans. Sheppard and the team take her to Todd the Friendly Wraith (Christopher Hyderdahl - Sanctuary ). He agrees to help them to promote the idea within the Wraith Alliance he is part of. However, he needs Tayla ( Rachel Luttrell ) to go undercover and pretend to be his Wraith Queen.

Todd is playing at Wraith politics. Despite initial nervousness, Tayla turns out to be a convincingly murderous Wraith Queen.

Stargate Atlantis [Season 5, Episode 9] Tracker
Shown 19/Sep/08

Rodney has time off, so he gets some R&R by hanging out with Dr Keller ( Jewel Staite ). They go to a planet and vaccinate the villagers against the local flu. Unfortunately Kellar has invited Ronan (Jason Momoa - Game Of Thrones ) along too. Yes, she is unaware that she is double-dating them!

Keller is kidnapped by a Runner. He has a personal teleportation device, and so much time on his hands that he constructs a series of elaborate booby-traps.

Ronan and Rodney must work together to track them and save her before the Wraith catch up with them.

Stargate Atlantis [Season 5, Episode 10] First Contact (1)
Shown 26/Sep/08

Wolsey (Robert Picardo - Star Trek: Voyager ) and Doctor Jennifer keller ( Jewel Staite ) take the Daedalus to meet Todd the Friendly Wraith (Christopher Hyderdahl - Sanctuary ). They plan to cure the Wraith of vampirism. Ronan (Jason Momoa - Game Of Thrones ) tags along, in order to spend more time with Keller.

Daniel Jackson visits Atlantis. He and Rodney investigate an Ancient inventor's secret lab. But an unknown race of robots invade ...

This has a lot in common with the episode where Teel'c meets Ronan. To start with, it allows one of Sheppard's regular team-mates to meet his opposite number in the original SG-1 team. Secondly, it allows Ronan to go full Die Hard when his ship is boarded by Wraith.

Stargate Atlantis [Season 5, Episode 11] The Lost Tribe (2)
Shown 10/Oct/08

Daniel and Rodney are prisoners of the metal people. These newcomers turn out to be an unexpected hi-tech race. They want to destroy the Wraith by destabilising their hyperdrive systems. Unfortunately there is an unforseen side-effect. The Ancients never used it because it will also destabilise the stargates!

Todd the Friendly Wraith (Christopher Hyderdahl - Sanctuary ) realises the cause of the Wraith starships' destruction. He hijacks the Daedalus, one of the only ships still capable of FTL, with the intention of destroying the device. But Ronan (Jason Momoa - Game Of Thrones ) and Doctor Jennifer Keller ( Jewel Staite ) go Die Hard and decide to sabotage the ship.

Sheppard is in charge on Atlantis. He, Tayla ( Rachel Luttrell ) and Zalenka must cope when the Stargate goes critical. Luckily Daniella Alonso drops by with a Traveller ship, so they can fly off to rescue Daniel and Rodney.

Daniel and Rodney try to escape. Rodney suggests blowing something up in order to cause a diversion, probably a reference to the movie Vantage Point which came out around that time. Daniel objects, and points out that professional security will merely be alerted by an explosion. This became something of a running joke on the show. Of course, it ignores the important reasons that an explosion is traditionally the best form of diversion. The important thing is the target to choose. Either something valuable, like transportation or supplies that the enemy must rescue ... or an entry point such as a doorway or gate that the enemy will rush to defend. After all, if they retreat from the choke-point they will only be making themselves more vulnerable.

Stargate Atlantis [Season 5, Episode 12] Outsiders
Shown 17/Oct/08

The Scottish doctor is back in town. The team take him off-world, to give free health-care to the locals. Agam Darshi was once one of Teyla's people, but now she is living on a different world.

Michael's version of the Hoffan drug has been distributed around the galaxy. The Wraith deal with the danger of poisoned food by isolating and slaughtering refugees. Sheppard sacrifices some humans to save the many. Yes, he makes a callous decision to kill healthy humans whose only crime is to disagree with him. In the following episode he is almost held accountable for some of his actions, but by the episode after that he is as much of a jerk as ever.

Stargate Atlantis [Season 5, Episode 13] Inquisition
Shown 24/Oct/08

Sheppard and his team are invited as Atlantis' emissaries to a meeting of a coalition of human worlds. This may be the first step in organising an Interplanetary Federation. Unfortunately, the purpose of the meeting is to put Sheppard on trial for the mistakes he and Dr Weir made. Through a series of clips we are reminded that the SGC woke the Wraith and then unleashed Michael the Hybrid (Connor Trinneer - Enterprise ) on the Pegasus galaxy. Not to mention the Replicators. Also, the alliance with Todd the friendly Wraith.

Ronan and Teyla are both treated the same as the Earthlings. In all fairness, Sheppard and MacKay should take a lot of the blame. However, most of the bad decisions were made by Elizabeth Weir. Kavanaugh pointed her flaws in Season One, and was treated like a villain for it. Nobody thinks of scapegoating her, or even pointing out that they were isolated from Earth at the time and needed to take desperate measures in order to survive.

Wolsey (Robert Picardo - Star Trek: VGR ) actually does something useful. He is not just an Emergency Command Hologram, he is an expert lawyer!

The trial does not have a jury. Instead there is a panel of three judges, one of whom lost her family and wants revenge. In other words there is no chance of a fair trial.

The Genii, the greatest local power-base, are not represented. However, it seems unlikely that they are not somehow involved. Wolsey secretly offers a better deal to one of the local leaders.

Stargate Atlantis [Season 5, Episode 14] The Prodigal
Shown 07/Nov/08

Night-time on Atlantis. Wolsey tries to convince Ronan (Jason Momoa - Game Of Thrones ) to submit mission reports in future. Rodney and Sheppard are competitive as ever, racing model cars. Tayla ( Rachel Luttrell ) wears a cleavage-boosting top while she tries to get her baby to sleep.

An old enemy takes over the control tower. Rodney and Sheppard must find a way around the security. Sheppard orders his minions to give no quarter. Yes, once again the Atlantis crew decide that because they are not on Earth, civilised rules of engagement do not apply. A pity he does not remember that this cavalier attitude got the team in a lot of trouble in the previous episode.

Meanwhile, Ronan goes Die Hard - yet again. This time his girl friday is not Dr Keller, who is strangely absent from this episode. He teams up with Amelia Banks ( Sharon Taylor ), the gate-room girl with kick-boxing skills that allow her to take out super-soldiers twice her size and weight.

Stargate Atlantis [Season 5, Episode 15] Remnants
Shown 14/Nov/08

Doctor Parrish (Jonathon Young - Sanctuary ) goes on a visit to the mainland. Sheppard has to nursemaid him. Unfortunately they run into an old enemy.

Dr Vanessa Conrad ( Anna Galvin ) bumps into Mr Wolsey, and begins to make moves on him. However, she only interacts with Wolsey himself. An IOA advisor arrives seperately, and tries to persuade Wolsey to resign his post.

Zalenka persuades Rodney to run some scans of the ocean in order to investigate strange signals. They discover an alien device, and try to decrypt it. Rodney does not realise that Zalenka is acting out of character, even when Zalenka pays him an unexpected compliment.

Stargate Atlantis [Season 5, Episode 16] Brain Storm
Shown 21/Nov/08

Rodney gets some shore leave back on Earth. He is invited to attend a Physics symposium, so he takes along Doctor Keller ( Jewel Staite ) in an eye-catching cleavage-enhancing dress. Naturally the science demonstration goes wrong, and Rodney must prove he is the smartest guy in the building.

The guest-stars include real-life scientists Bill Nye (Science Guy) and Neil Degrasse Tyson. If they look familiar it is because they also appeared on the sitcom Big Bang Theory.

Stargate Atlantis [Season 5, Episode 17] Infection
Shown 05/Dec/08

A hive-ship arrives in orbit. It is Todd's ship - he took the treatment to stop himself feeding ... Predictably, the wraith have suffered a plague epidemic. And since their ship is bio-tech, it becomes ill as well. But somehow the Team do not realise this until they are trapped aboard it!

Stargate Atlantis [Season 5, Episode 18] Identity
Shown 12/Dec/08

Dr Jennifer Keller ( Jewel Staite ) gets body-swopped with another woman. Thankfully they are both the same gender, at least. But despite the show's history or robot duplicates, alternate universes, clones and brain parasites, nobody thinks her sudden forgetfulness is suspicious.

The body-swop stones, so often used in Stargate: Universe , are regarded as something so obscure that only Wolsey (Robert Picardo - Star Trek: VGR ) and McKay have heard of it.

Dr Keller is in the other woman's body. But the other woman is a career criminal, under sentence of death by the new Pegasus Confederacy.

Stargate Atlantis [Season 5, Episode 19] Vegas
Shown 02/Jan/09

John Sheppard is a homicide detective in Las Vegas, investigating a series of bodies found in the desert. He tells the new Medical Examiner, Dr Jennifer Keller ( Jewel Staite ), about his theory that they somehow were drained of life ...

Wolsey (Robert Picardo - Star Trek: VGR ) and the MIBs cover up the investigation, until Rodney McKay has Sheppard taken to Area 51 and told the truth. A Wraith has crashed on Earth, and is posing as a Marilyn Manson fan until he can construct a hi-tech device. Rodney suspects the device is a signal, to tell the Wraith hordes in Pegasus Galaxy where the Earth is!

This is a very well-shot episode, with stylistic references to the original CSI show. The soundtrack is impressive, and the show does not suffer from the loss of Tayla ( Rachel Luttrell ) and Ronan (Jason Momoa - Game Of Thrones ).

Stargate Atlantis [Season 5, Episode 20] Enemy at the Gate
Shown 09/Jan/09

Todd the Friendly Wraith (Christopher Hyderdahl - Sanctuary ) tells the team he was double-crossed by a minion, who then stole his ZPM. The team must somehow sabotage the minion's Hive Ship before its upgrades are complete.

The signal from the previous ep gets through. The final conflict is one between the super-Hive and the entire defences of Earth!