Did the Wraith get less scary?

[The Flyattractor]

Very much yes.

[Lunaeclipse]

Even if the answer was yes I still wouldn't want to be trapped with one... They got less scary, but made up for it in other ways...And for me Steve was the ideal balance of scary (in the intimidation sense), but talkative.

As far as the make up and acting goes
The earlier queens seemed scarier than the later one, although I think they were the same actress?
The earlier wraith had longer hair and some had bad wigs, but other than that I don't think they changed all that much, with the exception of Michael's short hair and Todd's somewhere in between.

[The Flyattractor]

They could be both sort of. They could be the Talky Type but then they could turn and let the inner beast out.

[Brian]

I honestly thought the Wraith were a "wasted potential" enemy. They should have been a completely badass enemy but they went the route of typical cheesy grunty sci-fi bad guy.

[The Flyattractor]

I got the impression that by midway thru atlantis the SG staff and writers were just going thru the motions and were just rehasing old plots.

Shame really.

[Girlbot]

The Wraith were so freaky looking for me when they first appeared. It turned me off to Atlantis at first. I eventually got used to them.

[The Flyattractor]

Girlbots are silly.

[EdenSG]

They did, but it's the same thing as happened to the Borg in Voyager. If your enemy is so implacable you can't negotiate with them, it's definitely scary but there's not much room for plot. Once you start negotiating a lot of the fear goes.

Yeah, I think this is a good point.
They did get less scary but at the same time we discovered more information about them and more ways to fight them. I think part of what made them scary at first was that they did seem so implacable, so undefeatable, and that once we started to engage them in negotiations and developed things like the retro virus, well they seemed more vulnerable and therefore less scary.

That said, I don't think it always needs to be that way. I think good writers with a good vision can keep the fear and tension up in other ways. In any show the enemy will change and evolve, become less scary in some ways; that is when you need to add something new, something unpredictable to the mix. I think they tried to do this with the retrovirus and Micheal, but never really quite recaptured that inital feeling of fear and tension they had acheived the first season.

[Arica15]

Yes they did, but then again its not like the writers didn't have form.

Remember the Go'auld, terrifying, merciless and brutal in season 1 of Sg-1....by season 9 they were wearing cardigans.....

If SGA had gone on much longer no doubt Todd would have opened a kitten sanctuary and turned his hive into a hippy commune....

[myhelix]

They make the wraith almost cuddly in Season 2 and 3. I liked them better S1 style, dark, scary and very hard to kill.

[The Flyattractor]

They did kind of break the "Monster outside the Room"rule with the Wraith but that happens with sci fi tv shows alot anymore.

[Gormagon]

The Wraith were the unknown enemy at first. All we knew was that his was the race that had defeated the Ancients. Humans are generally terrified of the unknown. As the season progressed, they became known to us. Ships, weapons, weaknesses, biology, and in seasons 4-5 a little bit about their society. So, they were no longer as unknown.

Three other things that added on to them being less scary was that one- they got easier to kill, just like the Goa'uld. Two- They started negotiating with them. Three- They came up with a way to make them not need to feed. Making them not scary.

[karategirlhorselover]

I don't think they got less scary, but less cruel, almost. Like Todd seemed more open to an alliance of some kind while when the expedition first found out about the Wraith they would never even think twice about being a part of an alliance with the expedition.

[The Flyattractor]

Yes. Todd was a bit to cuddly at times.

[fumblesmcstupid]

Nope.