Stargate Atlantis

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.

Stargate Atlantis season 3 premiered on the Sci-Fi Channel on July 14, 2006 with the episode No Man's Land.

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.

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.

Episodes

As of 2006, Stargate Atlantis is airing it's third season.

Cast

Symbols: ST = Security Team member, USAF = United States Air Force, USMC = United States Marine Corps

Character lists

For complete character lists, including dead characters, see:

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. Some technological advanced 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. They were previously an advanced race.
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. They were at odds with the Atlantis expedition up until the Coup D'etat.

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 5 million years ago in earth history (according to the pilot episode Rising). 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 prevent its technology from 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 in fact human but descendants 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 5 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 separate species. The low level of technological development exhibited by the descendants 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 technologically advanced race, and a general consensus amongst many of the race descended from the original ancients is 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

Planets

The City

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

The characters on Stargate Atlantis use both Ancient and human SGC technology, itself a blend of human-developed technology and technology adapted from the Goa'uld, as well as technology acquired from the Wraith, and given by the Asgard.

Production

Stargate Atlantis is filmed at Bridge Studios on Vancouver and on location on several places around the city, like Lynn Valley Canyon.Stargate Official Magazine issue 6

Stargate Atlantis inherited Blade Trinity's effects stage. The Blade Trinity production gave the set to Stargate Atlantis instead of dismantling the massive construct, due the expensive costs. The set has been seen several times. The walkway Sheppard walks in "The Storm" is the topmost part of the Blade Trinity set Production Designer's Bridget McGuire's interview in Stargate Atlantis: The Official Companion Season 1 by Sharon Gosling. Stargate Atlantis: Atlantis Rising article in SFX magazine issue 129 (april 2005)

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		April 10 - June 2006 (five 4 ep. vols)	October 11, 2006

Broadcasters

United States: Sci Fi Channel
Argentina: Fox Channel, Sci Fi Channel, AXN, iSat (season 2 just ended)
Australia: Seven Network
Austria: RTL II
Belgium: Kanaal 2, La une (RTBF)
Canada: The Movie Network, The Imagination Station, City TV, Z Télé, (Québec)
France: M6
Germany: RTL II
Holland: Veronica
Hungary: TV2 -will begin season 1 in august 2006.
Ireland: Sky One
Israel: Israeli Channel 1
Mexico: Fox Channel
New Zealand: Prime TV
South Africa: ActionX (DStv)
UK: Sky One, Five
Malaysia: TV2 (until season 1, episode 13)
South Korea: Super Action
Spain: Sci Fi Channel
Central America / South America: FOX Latino

Soundtrack

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, launched a new series of books based on Stargate Atlantis in late 2005. These books are 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)
Exogenesis by Sonny Whitelaw and Beth Christensen (09 August 2006)

Unlike with the SG-1 books, Fandemonium does not accept fan submissions for the Atlantis books and they are commissioned only to professional writers.

Short Fiction

The Official Stargate Magazine produced by Titan Publishing has published a series of short stories based on both Stargate SG-1 and Stargate Atlantis. The magazine is available in the UK and internationally trough Diamond Comic Distributors' Previews catalogue.

Flipside by Sally Malcolm (Stargate Magazine #7, November/December 2005). Sheppard's backstory.
Choices by James Swallow (Stargate Magazine #10, May/June 2006). Ford after "Runner";

Non-fiction books

Stargate Atlantis: The Official Companion Season 1 by Sharon Gosling. Published by Titan Books.
Stargate Atlantis: The Official Companion Season 2 by Sharon Gosling. Published by Titan Books. Coming in July 2006.

Trivia

The original concept for the series involved it being set on Earth, in Antarctica. Stargate SG-1 was supposed to end after season seven with the destruction of the Goa'uld and the team finding Atlantis (not just the outpost), under the Antarctic ice. The Replicators from Stargate SG-1, not the Wraith, were intended to be the main enemy in the new spin-off.
In the original script, Teyla was called Mikala.
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 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. Corin Nemec (Jonas Quinn) has not appeared in Stargate Atlantis because of his leaving the SG-1 team in the 7th Season, before Stargate Atlantis premiered.
Actors that have played the same character on both Stargate SG-1 and Stargate Atlantis include:
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").
SciFi veteran David Winning directed only one episode in the Stargate franchise. "Childhood's End" a first season episode of Atlantis won three international awards for directing; New York, Chicago and Houston.
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".

References

External links

Official sites

Miscellaneous sites

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