Rewatching Stargate Atlantis

City of Atlantis (photo from GateWorld.net)

I can’t exaggerate how much I love the Stargate franchise. I passionately loved Stargate: SG1, a show that never took itself too seriously but still delivered great characters and storylines (even if all the planets looked like British Columbia, and all the aliens spoke English even if they didn’t write in English). I started watching SG1 because I liked the 1994 movie starring Kurt Russell and James Spader, and because the TV series starred Richard Dean Anderson a.k.a. MacGyver, a show I watched religiously when I was in high school and college. I also loved Samantha Carter (Amanda Tapping), an Air Force officer, genius physicist and girl next door type who kind of looked like a model. (That is, I loved her once the writers got lampshading her vagina out of their systems.) OK, the entire main cast was attractive: Richard Dean Anderson as Colonel O’Neill, Amanda Tapping as Captain Samantha Carter, Michael Shanks as Dr. Daniel Jackson, and Christopher Judge as Teal’c, former First Prime of Apophis and Proud Alien Warrior Guy. (See the TV Tropes and Idioms entry for Stargate SG1 for a full listing of all the tropes this show fulfills and turns on their heads.)

Ye olde Stargate, portal to adventure!

The potential for an ongoing series was obvious from the first time I watched the movie, mainly because of the Stargate, a giant ring that allows instantaneous travel between worlds and galaxies via artificial wormholes in space. Stargates are all over our galaxy and others. The TV show expanded the premise, having Humans all over our galaxy, spread about by evil overlords called Goa’uld who turned out to be sentient parasites that burrowed into a human’s brain and used the human as a meat puppet. We hate these guys because they force Daniel Jackson’s wife and brother-in-law to be hosts, an event that motivates Daniel all the way through season 3. So the Stargate was a portal to an endless array of Adventure Planets, many of which seemed to be hosting Renaissance festivals. The show even tried to get a lot of the science right, going so far as having a science adviser on board. They also went to great lengths to get the military aspects right. The U.S. Air Force had advisers on the show, and the show used actual Air Force personnel as extras. Two Air Force Chiefs of Staff even made guest appearances as themselves. The show became such a positive sales pitch for the Air Force that they made Richard Dean Anderson an honorary General. I think the character of Samantha Carter is a great role model for women considering a career in the military…and she hopefully foreshadows a future in which female officers are ordered into combat just like their male peers. Her strength is that she’s accepted as a valuable, trusted  member of the team. All in all, SG1 was more than just fun TV.

When Stargate Atlantis launched with season 8 of SG1 in 2004 I was excited. The new show sounded really cool: An expedition from Earth goes to the Pegasus galaxy to explore the lost city of Atlantis. They can’t go home and have to make it on their own somehow. They hope to find actual Ancients living there–the people who built the Stargates, but instead of Ancients they find native humans who are food for the immortal Wraith (and live on planets that look like British Columbia, speak English and live in Rennaisance festivals). The Wraith drove the Ancients out of the Pegasus galaxy and back to Earth 10,000 years ago, as we learn from the Exposition Hologram Lady in the first episode.  Despite the usual Stargate handwavy things, Atlantis did not disappoint me.  It was more action-oriented than SG1, while still providing interesting, likable characters and an intriguing enemy in the Wraith, a race that got more interesting in season 3 with the introduction of Todd the Wraith (Christopher Heyerdahl), who became my second favorite character after Rodney McKay. And the city of Atlantis…the sets were just gorgeous. You really, really wanted to go there and just set up a deck chair on a balcony overlooking the sea and drink Mai Tais with Sheppard and Weir. The production company wasted no expense on special effects, nor on music. Joel Goldsmith’s arrangements are incomperable (more about that in the main reviews).

Stargate Emo--I mean Universe

SciFi Channel (now SyFy–still getting my brain around why they thought that was a good rebranding) ran SG1 and Atlantis back-to-back on Friday nights for Atlantis’ first three seasons and SG1’s last three (8-10), making it my favorite night of television. After that, Atlantis was paired with the much darker, more intense Battlestar Galactica and last year with Sanctuary (starring SG1’s Amanda Tapping and Atlantis’ Christopher Heyerdahl). Stargate Atlantis ended its run in 2009 after five years at 100 episodes. Like many fans I was surprised and disappointed. We thought the network was axing Atlantis to make room for Stargate: Universe, a show billed as younger, darker and more character-driven. We were not happy. There were cries of “it’s Voyager 90210″, due to SGU being set on a ship, and the cast being on average younger than those of its older Stargate siblings. I try to keep an open mind, and as the airdate for SGU draws near and more information becomes available, I’m getting really excited about it. Hey, it has David Blue of Ugly Betty fame in it! I loved him on Ugly Betty. (And could have just killed Marc for cheating on him!) Still, I miss Atlantis. I think it still had legs, with each season surpasing the one before it, so it was a shame to see it go. I don’t know if I’d go so far as to say I liked it better than SG1, but I loved Atlantis for the ways it differed from its predecessor. Once Sanctuary wrapped its first season, BSG wrapped as a series, Eureka ended its truncated third season and The Middleman ended far too soon, I didn’t know what to do with myself, TV-wise. And being unemployed, TV is about all I have to clear my mind when I’m not job hunting or networking. Thank goodness for DVDs.

With the release of the Stargate Atlantis season five DVD collection, I’ve decided to go back and rewatch the entire series from Rising to Enemy at the Gate and review each season, disc by disc (that’s 20 discs in all), including special features. Starting next week, I’ll post a review at least every other day. For now, here are some links to great Stargate sites that you can visit to do a little research or just have some fun:

• MGM’s official Stargate site. Lots of videos, pictures, quizzes and information about all three Stargate shows. If you have Silverlight on your computer you can tour the Destiny ship from Stargate Universe. Very cool.
• SyFy Channel’s Stargate Atlantis site. Videos, pictures, quizzes, etc. From here you can also find info on SG1 and Universe.
• GateWorld. THE Stargate fan site. Information, interviews, podcasts, pictures…everything.
• Stargate Atlantis on Hulu (U.S. only)
• Stargate SG1 on Hulu (U.S. only)