It’s back! Oh huzzah and hooray! Stargate Atlantis opened its fourth season on Friday with the episode “Adrift” which is serving as the center of a three-episode story arc that began with the season three finale. I loved this episode, and apparently I wasn’t the only one.
I lured my hubby into watching with me by pointing out that Jewel Staite (of Firefly fame) is on the show now and that he didn’t want to miss her being all cute and doctor-y. Now, every once in a while an episode comes along that I make him watch, and I usually recap the cool effects, plots, or jokes from any episode for him over the weekend. Besides which, I pretty much eat, sleep, and breathe Stargate Atlantis when it’s airing. So, while he doesn’t watch the show regularly he has a fairly decent idea of who’s who and a basic grasp of what’s going on, and for the most part he seems to enjoy the show when he watches. But this one really seemed to strike him. The next day he was asking me questions and going over some of the effects and plot points with me. So it was a good jumping on point for those who aren’t regular viewers.
Michael Hinman of the news site SyFy Portal also seemed a bit blown away in his review of the episode. I’ve always kind of gotten the impression this is a show he only watches because he was a fan of the parent series (Stargate SG-1) and because it’s kind of his job since he, you know, runs a website devoted to science fiction television series and all. I was pleasantly surprised at how much he really seems to be getting excited for the new season. SG-1 has ended its amazing run after ten seasons and now the producers seem to be stepping up to the gauntlet to give Atlantis the chance to become the show it’s had the potential to be ever since the beginning. This is especially evident in the scene where Sheppard and Zelenka have to go on a space walk and we get a beautiful exterior shot of Atlantis—which is something we’ve never gotten in such detail before. I know the powers that be are hoping that bringing in Amanda Tapping (SG-1’s Colonel Samantha Carter) to be the new commander of the Atlantis expedition will help transition some SG-1 fans to Atlantis if they didn’t watch the second show while both were still on the air. My fingers are crossed that they can do it without alienating the die-hard Atlantis fans, but from everything I’ve heard and seen so far, they’re trying to do it right. It should be interesting. Our two main characters on Atlantis—Lieutenant Colonel John Sheppard and Doctor Rodney McKay, are basically two sides of the coin that is Samantha Carter. But at the same time, there are three very distinct and separate personalities there and seeing the three of them thrown together should prove to be very interesting indeed.
(John and Rodney -->)
So far the fans seem to be jazzed as well. Monday’s poll on Gateworld asks visitors to rate the episode, and as of the time I’m writing this, 54% of the voters (including myself) have given it a 10 out of 10. There’s been a lot of buzz going around that the renewal of the series for a fifth season is going to be entirely dependent on how well the ratings do in the first half of the season. There have been all kinds of reminders and pleas on my email lists and news sites to be sure to watch live! I try, I really do…but seriously…we’re talking a sci-fi show catering to a tech savvy crowd. Just because we’re nerds doesn’t mean we’re home on Friday night—and it usually DOES mean there’s a TiVo or a DVR likely to be in use at our place of residence. I won’t get into my diatribe on how I feel about the current state of television ratings and how effective I feel they really are, so all I can say is that I hope that they continue making the episodes good enough to get—and keep—our butts in front of the television Friday nights. We do want more—we just want to watch it on our terms.
I’m still working through season three on DVD, so I’ve saved this episode to watch again once I’m all refreshed on what happened leading up to “Adrift.” A beautiful thing about Atlantis is that it’s usually even better the second time around, mostly because sometimes I get distracted while viewing and the second time around I usually catch all of the little jokes I missed the first time around. It’s good stuff. Put John and Rodney onscreen together and something funny is going to happen. That’s all I’ve got to say.
Anyhoo, to sum up…here’s a list of the top five things I’m looking forward to from this season of Atlantis, in no particular order:
1. Jewel Staite! I’ve loved her since she was Becca in Flash Forward, she was awesome in Firefly, so it’s even more exiting to have her as a recurring role on my favorite show. I will miss Carson Beckett terribly, but dead as he may be, Paul McGillion’s already filmed appearances in multiple episodes at the end of season four, so clearly Carson’s not gone for good. That leaves me free to enjoy Dr. Keller without any guilt at all. Excellent.
2. Carryovers from Stargate SG-1. It’s a fact of life that group dynamics change and so do television casts. As much as I love the cast of Atlantis, I am really intrigued to see how they integrate SG-1’s characters in the mix. We’ve got Carter for good, and it looks like Dr. Lee may be coming on board as well. Teal’c has got an appearance, and corresponding showdown with Ronon scheduled for later in the season, and I’ve heard rumors that Walter will show up as well. I would guess that with increased communication with Earth now that the gate bridge is up and operational, Walter will be our main point of contact with the SGC. I heartily approve if this turns out to be the case. Walter rocks.
3. Chuck. Actor Chuck Campbell has portrayed Atlantis’ primary (and Canadian) gate technician since the first season. In the season three finale “First Strike” he finally got a name…and it’s Chuck. Very creative on the show runners’ parts, let me tell you. It’s actually kind of amusing as hell though, since instead of making up a name for him à la Lorne (the two lead names for him were Nick and Mark until it was officially made Evan by the powers that be), the fanfic community decided long ago just to roll with the actor’s name for the character. Anyhoo, naming issues aside, he’s been popping up more and more throughout season three and actually getting referred to by name in the season four opener. I take this as a good sign.
4. The Rodney/Katie Brown breakup. She’s not right for him. Seriously. “Duet” was an awesome episode, and it was good to see the humorous side of McKay’s disastrous attempt to date, but then in “Sunday” they went and tried to imply that these two crazy kids actually have a future. Phsaw. Nothing against Katie Brown, but if, and I stress the if, there is any woman in the Pegasus galaxy who can handle Rodney, it’s Lieutenant Laura Cadman. Bring back Cadman!!! Sigh, alas, no scheduled appearances that I’ve heard of…but we can always hope. David Hewlett pretty much confirmed in a recent interview that this season puts the kibosh on the Rodney/Katie romance, and I can’t wait to see it.
5. Flying frickin’ city! If you’re familiar with the show at all, you know that the city of Atlantis is actually a cleverly designed space ship—that’s how it used to be on Earth and then ended up on the bottom of the ocean in another galaxy. I know that the powers that be can’t give our heroes enough power to actually be able to fly their city around the galaxy whenever they want to—there would be no fun in that at all—but man, it sure is cool to get to see it fly. Clearly, the season-opening outing will drain the existing ZPM and they’ll have to find a new planet to settle the city down upon once more, but man…this just opens up all kinds of possibilities, and it’s so awesome to get to see the city FREAKING FLYING. I know it won’t last, but as long as it does, I plan to enjoy.
On a slightly related note, Stargate Worlds, the Stargate based MMORP in the works, has released the conceptual work for a world in the game that was once inhabited by the builders of Atlantis, the Ancients (or the Alterans, which is what they called themselves). It’s pretty sweet looking, but don’t take my word for it, judge for yourself.
Still no word on the release date for the game, but my friends and family should probably assume I’ll be disappearing from the grid for a while once it finally comes out.
Well, that’s all I’ve got. Until next week. Try to behave kiddies.
Ciao,
C
Recent acquisitions: How I Met Your Mother season two, Jericho season one
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