The Wraith attack Earth, a major character may or may not bite it, and it's frakkin' awesome.
Well, it's pretty good for something reportedly produced in a rush. According to Gateworld, the producers of Stargate Atlantis learned about the show's cancellation during the shooting of "Identity," the third-to-last episode of the current season. They were forced to scrap ideas for a sixth season and make this Friday's season ender, "Enemy at the Gate," the series finale.
Clips and moderate spoilers after the jump.
A few familiar faces return this Friday to help the Atlantis crew stop the Wraith invasion of Earth. Amanda Tapping will be back as Col. Carter, Michael Beach makes a cameo as Col. Abe Ellis, and Christopher Heyerdahi steals a few scenes as Todd the Wraith. Die-hard fans can also look forward to a few more (minor) Stargate-verse cameos (sorry, Michael Shanks and the rest of the SG-1 crew sat this one out).
The finale is fun, fast-paced, and it features a few thrilling space battles (something Atlantis has been missing for weeks now). Almost every character -- including Dr. Beckett (Paul McGillon) -- gets a chance to shine, and the Wraith seem more threatening than ever thanks to a super ZPM-powered Hive ship. It doesn't exactly end on a cliffhanger, but something quite big happens in the final moments that could set up a great TV movie. (Lets just say that Sheppard might be ordering a DIRECTV sports package for his quarters.)
But here's the shocker -- Todd pretty much saves the day. Yes, Sheppard leads a valiant strike against the Wraith, McKay's big brain gets everyone out of a jam, and Woolsey makes a key executive decision, but Todd really comes through for the good guys in a big way. If they're smart, producers Brad Wright and Robert C. Cooper will keep him around for the TV movie.
SciFi is currently running a Stargate Atlantis marathon every day through Friday. You can catch eps from seasons two and three today until 6 p.m.
Check out some spoilery clips from the finale:
(Sorry, folks... Sci Fi's PR people asked us to take these clips down because they're unauthorized... They're still out there on YouTube if you want to see them... better hurry, though, because I'm sure Sci Fi will be calling them next -- Joel)
There are a few more clips out there that give a lot more away. Good hunting.
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
1-06-2009 @ 10:39AM
Jesse said...
It's depressing to me that in the time it took them to make 6 seasons of this show we only got 4 seasons of Battlestar Galactica. While I'd much rather have 4 excellent seasons to 6 potentially mediocre seasons it's still a burn.
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1-06-2009 @ 10:44AM
Pokemon plastic said...
I'll miss Stargate Atlantis...It taught me that every other planet in space is still in their middle age period...I didn't know that before...
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1-06-2009 @ 10:46AM
Mike Moody said...
Actually, I won't miss the Renaissance fair planets! But I will miss almost everything else about this show.
1-06-2009 @ 12:57PM
Jimmy said...
I know die hard SGA fans hate that the series is leaving the air, but as a fan of both SG-1 and SGA I think it's time to move on. The straight-to-DVD option allows the series to continue but without requiring 20 hours of television that might include -- maybe! -- 5 geat episodes and 15 mediocre ones. You could tell the writers were running out of ideas and the Wraith just never meshed into a great villain like the Go'auld did.
Based on what I've been hearing and reading concerning the series finale it looks like to be one heck of ride.
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1-06-2009 @ 2:29PM
Morjana Coffman said...
I'm going to miss Stargate Atlantis visiting my living room every Friday night on a weekly basis after Jan. 9th, but I look forward to the movie (hopefully movieS) in the future.
And Stargate: Universe in July '09.
Many thanks to everyone at Stargate, for twelve wonderful years (Stargate SG1 and Stargate Atlantis) of Friday night SciFi entertainment!
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1-06-2009 @ 3:04PM
Beth said...
Sure, the stories weren't BSG quality but it had a great cast and I will miss it.
I think it's downfall started with Amanda Tapping/Sam - she was absolutely perfect in SG-1 but awkward and out of place in Atlantis. Dr. Elizabeth Weir did fit and I was sad to see her go.
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1-06-2009 @ 7:03PM
Joe said...
Good BSG episodes (a few years back) > Stargate > Most BSG episodes
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1-07-2009 @ 3:00AM
Oreo said...
I wish it was 2 hours long, and that they did this sooner. Atlantis should have went to the arth, and same with the Wraith a while ago. I'm still hoping for a series that deals with the Stargate becoming public and this episode seems liek it could have lead to that.
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1-07-2009 @ 3:38AM
大宝宝 said...
I thought it was nice that they even gave Don S. Davis (Gen. Hammond, of Texas) a shout out. Now if we can see the new ship, the Hammond, in action sometime in the future.
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1-11-2009 @ 11:01PM
Eludium-Q36 said...
The Series Finale was a great fast-paced, action-filled episode. A fitting end to this fine sci-fi series. Except, what was the deal with the final shot showing the main Atlantean characters but with an unknown female and excluding Zelenka ? That was oddness.
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1-13-2009 @ 11:47AM
Casey said...
I think it's terrible that this show was dropped so suddenly. If nothing else, it deserved a chance to produce a two hour finale worthy of the 12 years of Stargate Mythology. I mean, with one hour we didn't even get to really absorb the "death" of that main character who "died" (not naming names to avoid spoilers).
I greatly appreciated the cameos and was COMPLETELY touched with the dedication to General Hammond. It was great seeing Major Davis again and Walter of course. But while the plot itself was excellent and worthy of the finale, they just didn't have time to develop any of the characters throughout it. It was a "quickie", but I do NOT blame the actors, they did a good job. I blame sci-fi for not giving them more time for the episode and to produce it.
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