Stargate: Atlantis Reviews

Atlantis was not a bad show. But I never thought it was a great show. It's main problem is that it is a spin-off that never really quite defined its relationship to the parent show--the phenomenal SG-1-- well enough. It loses much of the appeal of the original, both by its change of location (Atlantis was, for me, never as interesting as Earth) and, more importantly, its change of emphasis. SG-1 was always about the team, SG-1, that the show took its name from. Atlantis seemed unsure whether it wanted to be a show about the teams that explored via the wormholes, or a show about the space station, Atlantis. (I understand that this created some interesting conflict/tension between Sheppard and Weir, but in my opinion this was just not done well enough to justify the ambiguity about the subject matter that this does to the show. Also, this relationship is not as interesting as the similar relationship between Adama and Roslin in Galactica--Atlantis' treatment of military-civilian conflict is mediocre in comparison.) SG-1 is a great show about exploration, (Star Trek) Deep Space Nine is a great show about a space station, Atlantis, in my experience, tries to do both, but excels at neither the one nor the other. Also, although I can see the writers obviously put a lot of thought into character development, the cast of Atlantis was never as interesting to me as the cast of SG-1 (or DS9, for that matter). Occasional cameos from SG-1 characters did not make up for this, or the fact that Atlantis wanders too far from the ground well-trodden by SG-1 to really bask in its reflected glory, while still never actually achieving real independence either.

This is not to say that the show is terrible; it's generally OK, sometimes rather good. I know my criticisms have been lengthy, but only to explain why I don't think the show is as great as its predecessor. Also, since I lost interest in the series after a certain point, I honestly don't know if it made any amazing improvements in its last season or two; I can only comment on my personal experience with the show.

(7/10)

I started watching Stargate Atlantis on a whim and I am incredibly glad I did.

The general story of of a mostly scientific team heading off into the far reaches of outer space with a possibility of never returning to Earth was an intriguing one. Plus the Wraith are one of the best villains since The Borg.

However a number of the season one episodes were run of the mill, the exceptions being "The Storm", "The Eye", "Letters from Pegasus" and the season ender. What kept me watching were the characters - particularly Sheppard, McKay and Teyla and the mix of humor, action and drama.

Since then the show has continually improved, the story lines have gotten more focused, the character development is great - McKay in particular has the best stories - McKay and Mrs. Miller, The Shrine are both great standouts.

Season five has some of the best episodes that I have seen from SGA and so I was really shocked to learn that show was being cancelled.

For good television, you cannot go wrong with Stargate Atlantis.