Review of Stargate: Atlantis Volume 5

Introduction

I approached the arrival of a new Stargate series with a little scepticism; after all I am no fan of what SG1 did to the characters from the film. But coming up to the final disc in the first series of Atlantis, I find that I`m more than fond of the adventures of these particular extragalactic explorers. Five discs have zipped by quicker than I`ve realised, and it feels a little premature to be taking a retrospective look over the first year of Atlantis. Stargate Atlantis is the spin-off from the successful Stargate SG1 series. A plucky expedition of explorers has set foot through the device on a one-way trip to the Ancient city of Atlantis in the distant Pegasus galaxy, to look for allies and technology to use against the Goa-uld. Alone in a distant galaxy, they wake up the ancient menace of the Wraith, and find new worlds to explore, new alliances to make and new battles to fight.

While many of the episodes have felt familiar, especially if you have a passing acquaintance with SG1, the Wraith make a fine if clichéd villain, and the setting of the programme in a distant galaxy, removed from Earth contact gives the show more of a pioneering feel. The gung-ho militaristic aspects have lessened somewhat, and this new blend of characters has been compelling to watch. The last episodes on disc four began setting up the finale, and the final four shows on this disc move into a breakneck pace towards the climax.

Letter From Pegasus

With the Wraith force only a few weeks away from Atlantis, it`s time to think about the next move. McKay comes up with a method to momentarily re-establish contact with Earth, long enough to send a message. It`s a chance for everyone to record a message for their families. Before that, Sheppard and Teyla take a Puddlejumper for a little reconnaissance. But they have a hard time sitting by and doing nothing while the Wraith cull a defenceless world.

The Gift

The Wraith are still coming, and Atlantis is a pretty uneasy place to live. Teyla`s suffering more than most, with incessant nightmares about the evil menace. She eventually bites the bullet and sees a psychologist. She needs to know why she can sense the Wraith, but the truth will be hard to accept. Meanwhile, the Wraith have a new target.

The Siege: Part I

McKay comes up with a plan to reactivate the Ancient satellite to give the Wraith armada a surprise. Sheppard looks for a planet to evacuate to while McKay heads with a team of scientists to the satellite. Teyla is still under suspicion though, especially when it seems that a Wraith has infiltrated the base ahead of the arrival of the main force.

The Siege: Part II

Time`s up. The Wraith descend upon Atlantis and it`s time for desperate measures. But as Weir begins to set a self-destruct sequence, the Stargate activates unexpectedly.

Video

For a television production, Stargate Atlantis looks absolutely gorgeous, and that is reflected by the DVD transfer. The 1.78:1 anamorphic transfer is sharp, clear and colourful throughout. The only problem is some noticeable edge enhancement that mars certain scenes. It`s terribly obvious during the title sequence, but fine detail is prone to moiré and shimmer, and is a minor distraction in what is otherwise a nice transfer.

There is copious use of CGI, with some shots positively awe inspiring, and the final few episodes provide ample opportunity for gratuitous eye candy. The detail and effort that has gone into the design of the city would rival some bigger budget productions. Having said that, the budget and timetable of television being what it is, some shots are better than others, and some can look a little flat.

Audio

The sound on this disc comes in DD 5.1 English and German. Subtitles are provided in both these languages as well as Finnish. The dialogue is pretty clear throughout, not counting the tendency for some characters to mumble, Dr McKay being a chief culprit. The surrounds are used adequately to convey action and music, but this being a television programme, it hardly rivals cinema in terms of dynamic sound.

Features

This time, not only does the disc start by playing adverts for both Stargate SG1 and Atlantis, we get an advert for the SG1 Alliance computer game. Fortunately they are skippable. Not skippable are the copyright warnings that get cycled through at the end of each episode. Forget to skip back to the menu before the end credits finish and you may as well go off and make a cup of tea. By selecting Play All, you`ll get the copyright warnings but once. You won`t be surprised to see copious use of animated menus, with plenty of CGI space pods hurtling willy-nilly through Stargates.

For this final disc in the first season of Atlantis, the number of extras increases yet again. There is the same advert for the Stargate fan club, accompanied by a 4-minute slideshow of stills and photos from the episodes on this disc.

The Mission Directive focuses on The Siege, with 11 minutes devoted to a behind the scenes look at the episodes, with plenty of clips and interviews.

Behind The Stargate: Secrets Revealed: Part 2 concluded the featurette from the previous disc. Lasting 20 minutes, it continues the look at the franchise as a whole, with cast and crew from both shows answering fan questions and submitting to interviews.

A Look Back On Season One lasts 17 minutes and is a retrospective of the first series from the perspective of one of the writers, Martin Gero.

Preview To Season 2 is a 10-minute taster of Season 2. There`s no footage mind, no spoilers, but the creators take a chance to look back at Season 1, praise the cast, and drop a few hints about which direction Season 2 may take. Martin Gero pops up once more to describe the new sets that will be built.

One thing I have enjoyed about the extras in this first Season of Stargate Atlantis, despite their brevity and scarcity, is their tongue in cheek nature. There is a relentless atmosphere of teasing and goofing around from the cast and crew, a sense that no one is taking any of this seriously that makes them fun to watch and re-watch. It makes a welcome change from the usual dry documentaries and featurettes that accompany many series.

Conclusion

The final episodes in Stargate Atlantis` first season go out with style, building up the suspense and tension through the first few shows, with the occasional burst of action merely hinting at the final orgasmic burst of full-scale battle leading to a cliffhanger. It all follows the perfect design to leave an audience on tenterhooks. If there was any doubt prior to these episodes that Atlantis would be renewed, these episodes settle that question once and for all, Atlantis has more than lived up to the standards of its elder brother, and in some cases surpassed them.

It was fairly certain from the pilot episode, when the menace of the Wraith was re-awakened by the visitors from Earth that they would figure prominently in the finale to the season, and the story has coalesced strongly around this menace in the last five episodes. Originality certainly hasn`t been Atlantis` strong suit, and the way that the final episodes are structured is pretty much textbook, ramping up the tension constantly, and easing back on the show`s characteristic humour. The first episode on this disc, Letter From Pegasus is the last of the show that plays directly for laughs. It`s your standard last letter episode, with the cast facing annihilation they get to send their last messages to loved ones, and it`s occasionally funny seeing how they react to adversity in their own separate ways. It also serves as a perfectly placed retrospective of the series thus far, although it is much more than simply a clip show, with the full peril of the Wraith demonstrated in full, and making the implications for our heroes clear. The Gift continues this ramping of tension, adding a more personal feel for the characters, when suspicions about Teyla`s loyalties, banished at the beginning of the show, resurface. It`s also the most unpredictable part of the final arc, adding dimension to the character that takes the story in a different direction. But the Siege brings it all back into focus, as the enemy arrives and our heroes have to make their final stand. I could be cynical about this, and point out that the structure of the show may have been micro-metered to precision, with a personal loss early on emphasising once more just how much depends on who will win the battle, the surprise hope in the face of certain doom in the middle of the story, and the last ten minutes that manages to place all our heroes in some form of insurmountable danger, before that ominous "to be continued".

What makes all the difference is that the characters are easy to get invested in. The writers have made interesting and rounded characters, and how they relate to each other makes all the difference. In that respect, I have come to enjoy Atlantis far more than its forebear. I came to SG1 with the movie in mind, and found what the characters had become in the transition to television quite detrimental. Daniel Jackson was no longer the scatterbrain, Teal`c was Worf lite, and Richard Dean Anderson will always be MacGyver to me. Stargate Atlantis had none of this baggage, and from the first episode divorced itself completely from its roots. While the episode structures were familiar, the storyline a tad predictable, the characters were new and fresh, the gung ho attitude was mitigated in favour of a mood of exploration and wonder, and the setting of Atlantis itself contributed mightily to the feel of the show. Whether Atlantis can maintain this feel in the second series remains to be seen.

Stargate Atlantis is hardly innovative, it doesn`t break any new ground in terms of story or character, and if you have been following SG1 religiously, then it may seem a little too familiar. But sharp writing, great in jokes and excellent characters, especially Sheppard and McKay, make this a series that it is extremely hard to dislike. These five discs have shown a consistency and level of quality throughout, with even the less stellar episodes none too bad. If you`re looking for a little unchallenging sci-fi to invest in, then on the strength of the first season, Stargate Atlantis should be around for a few years yet.