Atlantis vs. Sanctuary

[Snowman37]

Quite simply, which do you find to be the better series? Stargate: Atlantis or Sanctuary? Both shows had a relatively good run (assuming Sanctuary is done). Both shows deal with alien beings whether they be extra-terrestrials or abnormals. To me, the shows have strong similarities in tone. There's a lot of comedy and brilliant acting, but there's also a dark edge to both shows. Further, they can both feel downright cinematic at times. Does anyone else here find these two shows comparable? If you had to pick one as being superior, which would you pick?

[Dean Grr]

Stargate Atlantis, hands down. I loved both shows, but Atlantis really perfected action and suspense: I'd even hold it up as one of the best action shows on tv. The blend of its beautiful music (thank-you Joel!), cool CGI and action scenes (Ronan!) and escalating dangers ("Adrift" is a classic for this), shows how much love and craft went into making this show: the writers and crew make it look easy!

Somehow, some of the guiding hands on Atlantis and SG-1 (first 8 seasons), were missing on Sanctuary. As I write in the Sanctuary threads, Sanctuary suffers from a lower budget and less skill at storytelling. For example, while Damian Kindler wrote some of my favorite episodes (SGA's "Tao of Rodney", SG-1's "Reckoning"), Sanctuary seems to end story arcs too quickly, without enough exposition (the Cabal wiped out in a couple episodes, the episode "Uprising" where so much is resolved, so quickly). It's almost like Sanctuary's writing is affected by time dilation , where some stories have huge bursts of activity and narrative, and some are filler: I think their lower budget was partly the cause of this. "Pax Romana" and the Hollow Earth arc of season 3 is my favorite, but Pax really needed to be a 2 parter, it was resolved so quickly. "Awakening", a war with the ancient vampires, was such a cool idea and could have been the basis for Season 4, but looked resolved in 1 episode.

Sanctuary got better with each season, as far as smoothly crafting stories, just like SG-1 did. I given Damian et al a huge amount of credit for a fun ride and some touching stories. - Dean

[Snowman37]

Perhaps Sanctuary suffers from having such short seasons? Story arcs have to be very short if the writers want multiple storylines and stand-alone episodes.

[dwalk886]

I prefer Atlantis, ive seen a few episodes of Sanctuary but i was never able to get into it like i did atlantis.

[MercySG1/A]

Although I am a big fan of Sanctuary and will be very sad if it is indeed done for, I'd have to go for Atlantis. I think that all the everyone's experience from SG-1 made Atlantis near perfection early on, and Sanctuary didn't have that kind of head start.

[the fifth man]

I do enjoy Sanctuary, but Atlantis was a far better show. At least IMO.

[The Urban Spaceman]

Does anyone else here find these two shows comparable?

No.

If you had to pick one as being superior, which would you pick?

Atlantis.