Techtite's TV Reviews!

"Simply put; the most promising new sci-fi to be offered on TV for a very long time."

---from the review

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This Series Was Chosen as One of Fall's Best New Shows, 2004

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Stargate: Atlantis

A Review by Techtite

Now this is what viewers of Sci-Fi Channel have been looking for. It's been a very long time --since the Stargate SG-1 pilot, actually-- since I've had such good feelings about a new science fiction series. Fans of the Stargate series franchise will tell you that this spin-off was many years in the planning. I doubt that anyone can disagree with that.

To understand Atlantis, however, an agnostic viewer must first know some of the back story to Stargate SG-1. Based loosely on the original theatrical movie, Stargate, the series began where the film left off, telling a tale where the ancient Egyptians were in fact enslaved by a superior alien force, only to rebel by burying the device the aliens came through, the "Stargate"; a sort of warp gate of sorts, that allows you to travel to the alien's home world, and back, at will. The film implied that there was only one such gate; the series began with the notion that there were literally hundreds of them, scattered throughout the galaxy. Yes, fans will tell you there's a whole lot more to the story than just that --a whole lot more-- but for the purpose of this singular review, this will have to do.

The premise of Stargate Atlantis is simple; after learning of many "addresses" to numerous stargates within our own galaxy, we now know of one, unique gate, outside of our galaxy. It is believed by scientists that this gate leads to whatever high-tech alien world led to the "myth" of Atlantis. This city would probably be an ancient relic by now, but think of all the knowledge one could learn, if one could actually reach it. That isn't even getting into the notion of visiting a whole new alien galaxy. Cooool.

The problem is: a journey to another galaxy takes an understandable amount of power. The only source of such power is a rare form of crystal; it's so rare, the Stargate team only has one of them. The mission --if someone's brave enough to accept it-- is to assemble a team of highly trained operatives, and send them to this strange new galaxy, retreive whatever technologies and other knowledge they can find, and with any luck, they could obtain the knowledge to get them back home...maybe.

As you'd expect: things don't go quite as planned. The city of "Atlantis" that they travel to is a relic. Its alien devices still work, but just barely, and as for getting back home; nope. They barely have enough power to sustain life for the team that traveled there. But hey, that's beside the point. They're in a whole new alien city! Imagine it if someone came across a city not unlike New York, in some strange alien world, with the aliens' own versions of Radio City Music Hall, Manhattan, The Empire State Building, Trump Tower, and on and on, all ready to be explored for the very first time. As I said once before: cooool!

Then there's the series' arch-villains. It can be argued that the thing that made Stargate SG-1 so gripping was in how, in the series premiere, we get a very rude introduction to the "G'ould," who are basically a batch of highly evolved invertebrates who use human bodies as puppets to command. This series offered a similarly gripping series premiere, where we are introduced to the "wraith." These wraiths are arguably worse than the G'ould in that they do not want humans as hosts; they want their very essence, as food. They "feed" on whatever electrochemical power --or our "souls," if you wish-- which are basically our very bodies' life force. They had been hibernating for millennia, due to minimal life forms left to feed on. Suddenly, hundreds of humans enter their galaxy through the stargate to Atlantis; a world they thought to be long deserted. The rude awakening suddenly brings all of the wraith out of hibernation. Oops.

Not that the Stargate team must face this new galaxy, and the wraith, alone. The team quickly discovers a small scattering of humans, which haven't been able to evolve beyond a primitive culture, who are seen by the wraith as mere fodder. This tribe of humans is led by Teyla Emmagan (Rachel Luttrell), who is basically the "T'ealc" of this spin-off. She is the human from this new alien world, who goes on the lead team's missions, telling them more about the areas they're exploring. What's interesting here, though, is that Teyla's race has been moved right to Atlantis. In an intriguing move that Stargate SG-1 could not have pulled off; Teyla's entire tribe is taken to Atlantis, so that the Stargate team can better protect them. What this means is that the number of humans at Atlantis now consists of two groups: the team from Earth, and the team of human "aliens," from this galaxy. That is bound to lead to some interesting stories and interaction, as the series slowly progresses.

Not that the Earth team is too shabby, either. Heading the team is the political leader of the mission, so to speak, Dr. Elizabeth Weir (Torri Higginson). She's more political than military, however, leading to various run-ins with the head of the military team, Maj. John Sheppard (Joe Flanigan). Sheppard is sort of the "Jack O'Neill" of this series, with a quick wit though a strong will, ready to face any problem. Then there is Sheppard's right-hand-man of the team, Lt. Aiden Ford (Rainbow Sun Francks), who is basically the gung-ho young soldier of the team. Topping off the list of lead stars is the sole character from past Stargate SG-1 seasons, Dr. McKay (David Hewlett). McKay, much like people remember him in past SG-1 episodes, is sort of like Lost in Space's "Dr. Smith" of the group, only without the initial desire to sabotage the mission! He's just a little scared of aliens trying to drain him of his life force, which makes sense.

I could ramble for many pages here, though suffice to say this series is well structured, with a lot of potential. It recently finished its "summer" season, taking on a sort of Sex and the City approach to competing with the bigger networks' new shows this fall (i.e.; show some shows in summer, with the rest in mid-season). However; that's no reason to not catch up on the summer episodes for the next few Fridays. This is the finest new sci-fi series I've seen since...well, since Stargate SG-1. I just can't think of any way they could've offered anything better.

                                                                    ---Techtite

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