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TV Log
Stargate Atlantis Returns for Season Four
SGA is, as is probably pretty obvious, my favorite show on TV right now, so it has been with the trepidation of a devoted fan that I have been watching the changes to the show at the end of last season and the beginning of season four.
The intended purpose of the changes is obvious: to increase the show's appeal now that it alone carries the Stargate banner on TV. In addition to the swap-outs of Dr. Keller for Dr. Beckett and Sam Carter for Elizabeth Weir, we're gonna get a big new bad alien race, and -- as the cliffhanger made clear -- a change of address for Atlantis itself.
Whew! That's not just some changes, that's an overhaul.
The loss of Weir as a regular character is one of those things that only makes sense when I listen to other people. I admit it took me a while to warm up to the ambassador-leader, but by the end of the first season, she earned my respect for being a different sort of hero, and a great counterpoint to more traditionally heroic Teyla. Evidently, though, I'm in the minority. Many critics have found her ineffectual, cold, stiff, and forgettable.
Whatever. Sam Carter is a proven-to-be-fabulous character, and watching her transition over to SGA will be fun.
The loss of Carson Beckett makes sense only if I get cynical -- exchange the almost-40-year-old regular guy with a blonde hottie in her 20s. But Jewel Staite is an excellent actress, and we can trust SGA's writers to exploit her vibrancy and intelligence.
Frankly, if we could have gotten Dr. Keller and Col. Carter in addition to the season-three cast, I'd be in heaven. As things stand, we can take comfort in knowing that (say it with me, folks!) no one in sci-fi ever really dies.
As for the season premiere itself, despite me high expectations, it absolutely blew me away. It's a two-parter, which "Adrift" airing on September 28, and "Lifeline" on October 5.
At the end of season three, if you recall, we got an impressive set of cliff-hanger plots. After the Asurans target Atlantis with a super-beam, our heroes decide to fly Atlantis off the planet to refuge on another world. This involves Sheppard at the control chair (that has got to be hard to act -- "Joe! Strain and struggle without looking like you're on the toilet!") and McKay in the control tower, juggling power problems.
When the super-beam nicks the city, the control room is damaged and Weir gets blown across the room, seriously injured. The explosion also takes out Ronan, though we don't know how badly. Nevertheless, the city makes it into space and then into hyperspace.
But then -- Whoops! The city promptly falls out of hyperspace, and Atlantis now is floating through the empty stars, lost, running out of power, and without a functioning stargate.
And so begins "Adrift." Rodney quickly ascertains that the damage to the city from the beam is interfering with the hyperdrive, Weird undergoes cranial surgery as her injured brain swells, Ronan has to be prevented from pulling a cleaver-sized shard of glass out of his own chest, and Sheppard finds himself in command.
Of course, the city will be safe and at least some of these people will still be alive in a couple TV hours, but one of SGA's strengths has always been that the focus isn't usually on whether our heroes will survive, but how. Being stuck in space with draining power and no one to know where they are is a complex problem that only gets more complicated as we go along.
A great McKay moment that defines the start of the season has Zelenka giving Rodney some good news about the city. McKay can't believe it, and starts to celebrate, only to get an urgent summons to a new problem. McKay looks at Zelenka as his happiness melts away and asks, "That lasted, what, two seconds?"
As for how Sam Carter gets into the mix, she starts the episode on the mid-way station, then gets involved with trying to locate Atlantis. Carter has been promoted to a full colonel now, but almost doesn't seem to notice...yet.
And that's about as far as I can go without spoiling the fun...except to say that the production values are better than ever, the cast is wonderful, and McKay finally calls Sheppard "John," though you'll miss it if you blink.
And as for Weir...well, you'll have to watch to see what happens to her, but I will say, if I had to be written off a series, this is how I would like to go.
