Stargate Atlantis - Volume 1
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Review
This is the first instalment from Season 1 of Stargate Atlantis, a spin-off from phenomenally successful, award-winning TV series Stargate SG-1, itself a spin-off from the 1994 sci-fi blockbuster movie, Stargate. Chronologically, Atlantis runs parallel to Season 8 of Stargate SG-1 and goes something like this…
When, at the end of Season 7, SG-1 discovered an outpost of the lost city of the Ancients under the Antarctic ice, it allowed them to defeat the Ascended Goa'uld Anubis. They also discovered information that gave them an eight-symbol gate address in the far-distant Pegasus galaxy and where they suspected that the Ancients had gone. The Ancients left our galaxy several millions ago in order to start over, building gates and seeding worlds with humanity and where, at the heart of their new empire, was the lost city of Atlantis.
So the decision is made to take a multi-national team to the Pegasus galaxy in the footsteps of the Ancients and there to seek out their technology and perhaps even make contact with them. Unfortunately our brave explorers soon learn that, in their explorations in the Pegasus galaxy, the Ancients awoke a race of completely evil beings called the Wraith, beings that fed by draining the life essence from their prey. The Wraith, awakened to a galaxy now full of humanity on which to feed, began a war with the Ancients who, driven to eventual defeat and as a final measure, sunk their great floating city of Atlantis beneath the ocean.
Season 1 is the beginning of this tale and Volume 1 shows episodes 1-4 from this season, although the first two are actually shown as one continuous show, so here's a brief synopsis of each of these…
Rising - Dr. Weir (Torri Higginson), newly transferred from the S.G.C., is in command of the Atlantis project, where team medic Dr. Carson Beckett (Paul McGillion) has discovered that the Ancient's technology can be activated by humans possessing a specific gene. When Dr. Daniel Jackson (Michael Shanks) finds an eight-symbol gate address that leads to the far distant Pegasus galaxy, they reckon they've found the location of the lost city and ultimately the whereabouts of the Ancients. The team is assembled and the decision is made to mount a potentially one-way expedition in search of Atlantis or even the Ancients themselves.
However, when they arrive at Atlantis, they discover that it is long deserted and submerged under the ocean. Also power is low, power that their arrival and subsequent wanderings is draining at an alarming level and power that is required to sustain the force fields keeping out the ocean. Thinking that they may need to abandon Atlantis before catastrophe strikes, they head through the gate to explore Athos, a seemingly peaceful world with friendly people. But their arrival has awakened their worst nightmare, something far worse than the Goa'uld.
Hide & Seek - As the Athosian survivors and Atlantis team settle into their new home, Dr. Becket successfully performs gene therapy on Dr. Mckay to give him the gene necessary to activate the technology of the Ancients. When the newly empowered Dr. Mckay attaches a green, jewel-like device to his chest, it envelops him in a personal force field, making him invulnerable. At first he's elated — until he realizes he can't get the thing off and worse, he can't eat or drink anything. That night, though frightened by stories that "ghosts of the ancestors" still live in Atlantis, two Athosian children sneak out of their quarters to play hide and seek. One of the kids goes missing and strange things begin to happen - sensors go haywire, lights and power goes on and off at random and many Athosians say they're seeing a shadowy entity.
Thirty-Eight Minutes - After a recon mission to the Wraith planet, the crew of Puddle Jumper One has a narrow escape but learns that the Wraith hive, what was pretty much a mountain, has flown off into space. Also, a scorpion-like parasite has attached itself to Maj. Sheppard and can't be removed but when the ship attempts to re-enter the gate, a damaged engine pod fails to retract and the ship gets stuck in the gate's event horizon, trapping Sgts. Markham and Stackhouse in limbo leaving Lt. Ford, Dr. McKay and Teyla in real space. Since we all know that gates automatically shut down after a maximum of 38 minutes, that's all the time they have to solve their dilemma before the ship is cut in two and they're dropped into the hard vacuum of space and certain death.
Review
Okay, this is the start of a new science-fiction series, so it's early days to be making judgements but I'm impressed with what I've seen so far. The writers, directors and production team are not new to this and have obviously taken any lessons they've learned from Stargate SG-1 and are building on that experience so we're not dealing with a brand new product other than the cast and stories.
As with SG-1, all of the location shoots are done around Vancouver and this has obviously given rise to the fact that there are a fair few Canadians in the cast. Torri Higginson, Rachel Luttrell, Rainbow Francks are Canadian and David Hewlett was raised there so it's nice to see that the studio has looked beyond the U.S. for talent. As for that talent, with the exception of David Hewlett (Dr. Rodney McKay) and Robert Patrick (Col. Marshall Sumner) it's comprised of mostly unknown actors to us in the UK but they're doing a reasonable job so far. Dr. Elizabeth Weir (Torri Higginson) has slipped sideways from SG-1 to the commanding role in Atlantis and is basically the sensible anchor for the rest of them. Maj. John Sheppard (Joe Flanigan) takes on the role of team leader and all-round hero, Dr. Rodney McKay is the lead scientist and Dr. Carson Beckett (Paul McGillion) is the expedition doctor and these three provide most of the humour in the absence of Jack O'Neill. Lt. Aiden Ford (Rainbow Sun Francks) is the sensible soldier of the team and the last but not least major character and resident eye-candy is the Athosian leader Teyla Emmagan, played by Rachel Luttrell. All of this lot are getting the job done okay so far.
What else is new? Well technological developments mean that the production team have added lots more blinky light things and fancy displays to the sets. Also, the Stargate is now digital, no more rotating rings and puffs of steam and the iris is really cool looking - bet this was cheaper though! The Puddle Jumpers and Wraith ships look pretty smart as well, as do the orbiting gates and Teyla's cigarette lighter is well cool and I'm sure we'll get more fun stuff as the series progresses.
The picture is presented in 1.78:1 (16:9) anamorphic widescreen and the quality is excellent throughout. Colours are solid with good black levels and no obvious signs of grain or artefacts. Visual and CG effects are, as usual, excellent - for example in the space scenes and some of the renderings of the city. The sets and props are excellent and really convey their differing alien roots – from Atlantis to the Athosian village to the Wraith hive.
The sound is presented in Dolby Digital 5.1 and is a pretty reasonable bonus for a TV show. The surrounds and bass channels are used to deliver effects and ambient sounds, all of which is well used in battle scenes and the general chaos in Atlantis and on Athos. The dialogue and music are delivered from front and centre and are crisp and clear throughout.
The episodes included are all good quality stuff and a good start to the series. There's lots of familiarisation with the characters, peoples and locations and we get a good taster of the prime enemy this time around, the Wraith…
Rising - A great start to the series - a double episode with lots of the necessary build-up and character development and a fair bit of action. The first half sets the scene, introduces who's who, gets us to Atlantis and Athos and plants the seed of terror by mentioning the Wraith. Part two and it's Wraith time - boy these are nasty dudes and I'm sure they'll provide some excellent storylines later on. Creepy performances from Andee Frizzell as The Keeper and James Lafazanos as her Wraith companion although I'm not sure if they'll be back or not.
Hide & Seek - A slower episode and one that does a great deal more character development, which is good at this stage. We get to find out more about the city and its technology and learn that Dr. Beckett is actually pretty smart despite that accent. There's a fair bit of humour in this one as Dr. McKay ponders his situation and we learn that Athosian kids can be as annoying as ours and will always touch things that they shouldn't. I'm not sure about the dark entity though - it looked like we were going to get some kind of materialisation at one stage but it ended up just being a big black cloud.
Thirty-Eight Minutes - Two problems here - get the ship fixed and through the gate and find a way to remove the parasite from Maj. Sheppard. Some of it is told in flashback, which helps spread some of the action through what is a pretty slow, albeit tense episode and there's some good stuff in there and we get to meet even more of the Atlantis team as the medics and scientists look for solutions and some of the inevitable personality clashes that occur is such close working environments are well highlighted. Reminded me a wee bit of Apollo 13, seeing the teams on both sides of the gate trying to solve the problems using whatever was to hand.
Obviously the major story arc this season is going to be the Wraith but it's nice to see that we're not over-exposed to them here and we're getting some other storylines in there. I have to say I enjoyed this start to the show and was reasonably satisfied with the mix of tales on the disc.
Extras
Stargate Atlantis Set Tour With Martin Wood And Peter DeLuise - Directors Martin and Peter give us a walk-round tour of the main Atlantis base set, which is obviously alien and way more interesting than the S.G.C., while inflicting us and anyone they meet with their own brand of humour supported by well chosen shots from the series. Keep taking the medication Peter! Lasts just over 11 minutes.
Preview To Stargate Atlantis - A 23-minute featurette where executive producers Robert Cooper and Brad Wright talk about the background to the Atlantis story, the short time they had to get the show into production and choosing the cast. All of this is supported by shots from the premiere, some pre-visual effects and interview footage with director Martin Wood, art director James Robbins, Torri Higginson (Dr. Weir) , Rachel Luttrell (Teyla) and Rainbow Sun Francks (Lt. Ford).
Production Design And Photo Gallery - A rolling series of 50 stills and behind-the-scenes production shots from the four episodes on this disk. The whole run takes under three and a half minutes.
WWW - A 30-second promotional piece for the Stargate SG-1 Fan Club U.S. and Canada web site.
Not an extra as such but there's a bit of a heart-stopper on the loading screen, especially if you're viewing it an a computer. I'm saying no more but I had it out and cleaned it before it twigged. Most amusing!
Overall
Stargate Atlantis is off to a good start with some good stories, a new enemy and lots more places to explore along with the usual high standard of picture and sound we've come to expect from MGM. As with Season 8 of Stargate SG-1, I couldn't help being a little disappointed with the extras. I got a bit spoiled with the excellent commentaries on earlier SG-1 seasons but I can appreciate that running two shows side-by-side must put a lot more time constraints on the producers, directors, etc. so if they keep coming up with good episodes, that'll have to do.
If you're a fan of Stargate SG-1 or just good science fiction, then this is well worth picking up.
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