Stargate Atlantis
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Stargate Atlantis is a spin-off from the television series Stargate SG-1, which in turn was based on the film Stargate (1994). It premiered on the US Sci Fi Channel on July 16, 2004 with "Rising", a movie-style two-part episode, which guest starred Richard Dean Anderson, Michael Shanks and Robert Patrick.
The events of Stargate Atlantis follow the cliffhanger Stargate SG-1 seventh season finale "Lost City", and the Season 8 premiere "New Order" when the Stargate Command launches the Atlantis expedition to travel to the lost city of Atlantis (discovered in the seventh season of SG-1). When the expedition arrives in the Pegasus Galaxy, knowing that there is no way back to Earth, they discover a new powerful enemy: the Wraith.
As of October 24th 2005, Stargate Atlantis has been officially renewed for a third season by the Sci-Fi channel to premiere in July.
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Summary
See Stargate for a more general summary of the universe this series is set in, and Stargate SG-1 for how events have transpired to get the plot to Atlantis.
Template:Portalpar Image:TVGuideStargateAtlantis.jpg In Stargate SG-1 seventh season finale "Lost City", the SG-1 found an outpost made by the race known as the Ancients in Antarctica. After the events of Stargate SG-1 eight season opener "New Order", an international team is sent to investigate the outpost. Soon, Dr. Jackson discovers the location of the greatest city created by the Ancients, Atlantis.
The series follows the adventures of a group of scientists and soldiers that take a possibly one-way trip to this lost city of Atlantis in the Pegasus Galaxy. Like the SG teams of Stargate SG-1, the new team's use of the Stargate has brought humanity into contact with other cultures, some human and some alien, some friendly and some quite hostile.
The nations that have sent personnel include
- USA
- United Kingdom
- Japan
- Germany
- Belgium
- Spain
- Portugal
- Russia
- Canada
- Australia
- Czech Republic
- Poland
- South Africa
The patches on the left arm of all expedition members are presumably the flags of the nation he or she comes from. There is some debate, amongst fans, as to why Dr. Carson Beckett wears the Scottish saltire on his left arm, as opposed to the Union Flag, as Scotland is a component nation of the United Kingdom. Previously another Briton, an Englishman, was seen wearing a Union Flag patch.
Episodes
Template:Main As of 2006, Stargate Atlantis has finished its second season and is currently filming the first half of season three.
Cast
Image:SGA-poster.jpg Image:Stargate Atlantis Team Season 2.jpg
ST = Security Team member
For complete character lists, including dead characters, see:
- Atlantis personnel in Stargate Atlantis
- Athosian characters in Stargate Atlantis
- Genii characters in Stargate Atlantis
Races
Human civilizations
Upon their arrival in the Pegasus galaxy, the Ancients seeded several planets with human life. Most of these planet's civilizations are pre-industrial, but a few have developed more advanced technology. Major human civilizations include:
- Athosians: A pre-industrial civilization, the Athosians were the first Pegasus natives the Atlantis expedition encountered. After their planet was culled by the Wraith, they moved to Atlantis.
- Terran (Tau'ri): Humans from Earth who came to the Pegasus galaxy in search of the mythical city of the Ancients, Atlantis.
- Genii: An advanced, militaristic culture with a technology level similar to mid-20th century Earth, that hide under the mask of simple, Amish-like farmers.
- Hoffans: A race of humans that have advanced to a technological level similar to that of Earth in the middle of the 20th century. They have been working on an inoculation which will prevent the Wraith from feeding on them.
- The New Brotherhood: A race of people who are protecting a ZPM for the ancients when they "come back"
Non-human races
Main article: Alien races in the Stargate universe
Ancients (Lanteans)
A highly technologically advanced race that once existed on Earth and other planets throughout the Milky Way Galaxy, the Ancients are the builders of the Stargates. The Ancients travelled from Earth to a planet in the Pegasus Galaxy where Stargate Atlantis is set (see The City below), using their space faring city Atlantis, in order to spread new life, this happened approximately 10 million years ago in earth history. In the new galaxy, after a long period of colonisation, they encountered an enemy, the Wraith, who despite their inferior technology overwhelmed the Ancients with their strength of numbers. Besieged in Atlantis, the remaining Ancients, submerged the city to save it's technology being exploited by the Wraith, before retreating to Earth, passing on not only the legend of Atlantis but also their "Ancient gene" to the humans of ancient Earth, this happens approximately 10,000 years ago in earth history, presumably just before the humans of earth overthrow the Goa'uld and bury the stargate. A small fraction of the terrestrial human race still express the gene ("Ancient Technology Activation", or ATA) that allows them to use Ancient technology, most prominently Lieutenant Colonel John Sheppard of the Terrestrial human expedition team. Dr. Carson Beckett of the Terrestrial human expedition team is experimenting with transferring the ATA gene expression by means of in vivo retroviral gene therapy.
All races that appear to be 'human' in Stargate: Atlantis, apart from the Atlantis team that travelled through the gate in the first episode, are not infact human but descendents of the original Ancients, that travelled to and colonised the Pegasus Galaxy. The original ancients evolved into a form identical to that of modern humans before leaving earth 10 million years ago, Dr. Daniel Jackson explains in the first episode of the series that modern humans are "the second evolution of this form" referring to the appearance of humans and ancients. The ancients and humans are therefore seperate species. The low level of technological development exhibited by the descendents of the ancients in the Pegasus Galaxy can be attributed to the continued cullings carried out by the Wraith, and the fact that the Wraith use 'ancient' technology activated by the ATA gene to home in on and attack their prey. This in part contributed to the Wraith's apparently easy defeat of a technologicaly advanced race, and a general consensus amongst many of the race descended from the original ancients that "advanced technologies attract the Wraith", hence why the Genii hide their advanced technological state.
Wraith
This hive-based species drove the Ancients out of the Pegasus galaxy around 8000 BC, and are currently the antagonists of Stargate Atlantis. They maintain thousands of worlds populated by humans as a source of food, as they feed off the life force of other beings. The Wraith follow a cyclical feeding pattern: they lay in a dormant/hibernation stage for many years or generations, then sweep through the Pegasus galaxy to "cull their human herd", and finally stop when there are just enough surviving humans to maintain a breeding population for the next culling cycle. Their technology is highly advanced, but no match for Ancient technology.
Asurans
The second "evil" race of aliens in the Pegasus Galaxy. They are artificial life forms that evolved from a Lantian experiment to create powerful and aggressive nanites to attack the Wraith on a cellular level ("Hot Zone"). But the microscopic creatures came together to form increasingly larger and more complex organisms, eventually imitating their creators to become human in appearance. When the Lantians realized their experiment had gotten out of hand, they attacked this new race with their fleet of warships and nearly wiped them out. It is possible that one of the surviving Ancients that fled Atlantis back to Earth fled to another planet in the Milky Way Galaxy where he continued his experiments, accidentally creating the android Reese who created the Replicators ("Menace"). If true, this may be the reason why Jack, while having the Ancient knowledge downloaded into his brain for a second time ("New Order"), was able to build a weapon that could defeat the Replicators: if the Ancients faced something like this before, then they most likely figured out a way to defeat them.
Setting
Image:Stargate Atlantis city detail1.jpg
Planets
The City
Template:Main The city of Atlantis hosts much of the action in the series and is the source of much of the technology which the characters employ. Atlantis still holds many secrets from her new human inhabitants.
Technology
Template:Main The characters on Stargate Atlantis use both Ancient and human SGC technology, as well as technology adapted from the Goa'uld, acquired from the Wraith, and given by the Asgard.
DVD Release Dates
| DVD Name | Region 1 | Region 2 | Region 4 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Stargate Atlantis Season 1 | November 15 2005 | March 14 - July 11 2005 (five 4 ep. vols) March 13 2006 (complete pack) | November 14 2005 |
| Stargate Atlantis Season 2 vol 1 | April 10, 2006 | ||
| Stargate Atlantis Season 2 vol 2 | May 8, 2006 | ||
| Stargate Atlantis Season 2 vol 3 | June 5, 2006 |
Broadcasters
- United States: Sci Fi Channel
- Australia: Seven Network
- Canada: The Movie Network, Space: The Imagination Station, City TV, Z Télé, (Québec)
- France: M6
- Germany: RTL 2
- Ireland: Sky One
- Israel: Israeli Channel 1
- South Africa: ActionX (DStv)
- UK: Sky One, five
- Malaysia: TV2 (until season 1, episode 13)
- South Korea: Super Action
- Belgium: Kanaal 2
- Central America / South America: FOX Latino
- New Zealand: Prime TV
- Holland: Veronica
Soundtrack
Template:Sample box start variation 2 Template:Multi-listen start Template:Multi-listen item Template:Multi-listen item Template:Multi-listen item Template:Multi-listen end Template:Sample box end Stargate Atlantis soundtrack is composed by Joel Goldsmith. The series main title song was nominated for an Emmy award in 2005.
The Stargate Atlantis Original Television Soundtrack CD was released by Varèse Sarabande Records in November 22, 2005. It contains 16 tracks, all from the series pilot "Rising", with a total running time of 42:18.
Literature
Novels
Fandemonium Press, which also publishes Stargate SG-1 books, will launch a new series of books based on Stargate Atlantis in late 2005. These books will be available in all English-speaking countries.
- Rising by Sally Malcolm (December 15, 2005). Novelization of the pilot episode.
- Reliquary by Martha Wells (February 2006)
- The Chosen by Sonny Whitelaw and Beth Christensen (19 April 2006 - per stargatenovels.com-)
Unlike with the SG-1 books, Fandemonium will not be accepting fan submissions for the Atlantis books. Those will be written only by professional writers.
Short Fiction
The Official Stargate Magazine produced by Titan Publishing has published a series of short stories based on the series Stargate Atlantis. The magazine is available in the UK.
- Flipside by Sally Malcolm (November/December 2005, Stargate Magazine #7)
The magazine also features stories based on the Stargate SG-1 series. See the Stargate SG-1 article for more information.
Trivia
- Atlantis was originally intended to succeed Stargate SG-1, after its seventh season and a second feature movie. When SG-1 was renewed for an eighth season, the intended movie became the two-part episode "Lost City" and the setting of Stargate Atlantis was moved to the Pegasus galaxy.
- Atlantis contains more pop-culture (specifically science fiction) references than SG-1. Star Trek is the source of most of these allusions, but a few have been seen from other places, such as Star Wars and Back to the Future.
- Colonel/Brigadier General Jack O'Neill and Dr. Daniel Jackson are the only characters to appear in the original Stargate film, Stargate SG-1 and Stargate Atlantis. They are also the only ones to appear in both series' pilot episodes.
- Of the five original cast members, Joe Flanigan is the only American. Torri Higginson and Rainbow Sun Francks are Canadian. Rachel Luttrell (born in Tanzania) and David Hewlett (born in England) were raised in Canada.
- Paul McGillion (Dr. Carson Beckett) previously portrayed Dr. Ernest Littlefield, the first human in the 20th Century to go through the Stargate, in the Stargate SG-1 Season One episode "The Torment of Tantalus".
- The series is filmed in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada.
- Of the five original Stargate SG-1 cast members, Christopher Judge (Teal'c) is the only one who has not appeared in the series. Corin Nemec (Jonas Quinn), Ben Browder (Cameron Mitchell) and Claudia Black (Vala Mal Doran) are the only other cast members who thus far have not appeared on the series; the last-named two's absence is probably due to their recent introductions as characters.
- The only actors to play the same character on both Stargate SG-1 and Stargate Atlantis are:
- Richard Dean Anderson (Jack O'Neill)
- Michael Shanks (Daniel Jackson)
- Torri Higginson (Elizabeth Weir)
- Amanda Tapping (Samantha Carter)
- Don S. Davis (General Hammond)
- David Hewlett (Rodney McKay)
- Beau Bridges (General Landry)
- Gary Jones (Sgt. Walter Harriman)
- Dan Shea (Sgt. Siler)
- Ona Grauer (Ayiana)
- Ellie Harvie (Dr. Lindsey Novak)
- Kavan Smith (Major Lorne)
- Bill Dow (Dr. Bill Lee)
- Peter Flemming (Agent Malcolm Barrett)
- This series follows the formula established by Stargate SG-1 in which major events (namely the introduction of a villain) are inadvertently caused by human curiosity. The Wraith are "awakened" early after the arrival of the Atlantis expedition in the Pegasus Galaxy.
- James Lafazanos has appeared in 13 episodes as numerous incarnations of the "Male Wraith" (including "Steve the Wraith" and "Bob the Wraith").
- Andee Frizzell has appeared in 5 episodes as three different female Wraith (including "The Keeper" in "Rising" and as "The Hive Queen" in "The Lost Boys" and "The Hive" and as a different "Hive Queen" in "Allies" and "No Man's Land").
- Digital Effects Supervisor Bruce Woloshyn made a cameo appearance as "Atlantis Expedition Engineer" in the season 1 episode, "The Gift".
External links
- MGM: Stargate Atlantis
- SCI FI: Stargate Atlantis
- Stargate Atlantis at the TV IV
- Pegasus Galaxy: Stargate Atlantis
- DHD: Stargate Atlantis
- Gateworld.net: Stargate Atlantis
- Stargate SG-1 Information Archive: Stargate Atlantis
- Chevron 26: Stargate Atlantis
- Gaters.info: Stargate Atlantis Forum
- Hypersg1.org: Stargate Atlantis (Italian)
- GateShip-One.net: Stargate Atlantis (French)
- Stargate News Australia: Stargate Atlantis
- BSG-Online | Stargate Atlantis (French)
- Abydos Gate: Stargate Atlantis Stargate Atlantis
- Atlantix: Stargate Atlantis (Hebrew)
- Stargate Atlantis Portal
- The Scifi World
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