Reviews / Articles - Stargate Atlantis Season 5

[morjana]

SGA - Solar Flare: Review Search and Rescue:

From Solar Flare:

(Please follow the link for the complete review.)

Jul 15, 2008
Stargate Atlantis: Search & Rescue Part 2, Review

Stargate Atlantis returns for its fifth season with Search & Rescue Part 2 which concludes Season 4's closer. Nice pan out from the ruined building into space and across to Michael. I wonder how much they spent on that special effect?

This was actually the first episode of Atlantis that I watched in SciFi's HD broadcast and the special effects in particular did benefit from it.

Unfortunately I'm really not a fan of Michael, I think he's the weakest villain that Stargate Atlantis has had. Of course I think they made a huge mistake neutering the Wraith in the first place. This is a show that needs strong villains to distract from the rather paint by numbers nature of the Atlantis team.

**snippage**

[morjana]

SGA - iO9: In Defense Of Rodney McKay:

From iO9:

http://io9.com/5026050/in-defense-of-rodney-mckay

(Please follow the link for the complete article. Video clips embedded at the link above.)

In Defense Of Rodney McKay

It's come to my attention that there is a small band of unhappy Stargate Atlantis fans that are ripping apart my favorite SGA scientist, Rodney McKay and accusing him of being a whining, arrogant jerk. They're missing the point: the whining and arrogance are the main reasons I love that character! In a gateworld where too many members of the crew have one personality trait that they cling to for a whole series (inertly good, angry, or hates authority) McKay is veritable wellspring of emotion. He's the spice that makes this scifi show interesting, plus he adds a bit of reality. He's the show's everyman, plus he keeps Carter in check while everyone else showers her with love. But click through for the real reasons I love McKay.

Who could forget the first time McKay raised a finger to precious Carter? Classic. But even though they fight, you know they love each other, and I love the back and forth banter. Here's why I enjoy his little character nuances.


**snippage**

[morjana]

SGA - The Hachiko: Review of Search and Rescue:

From The Hachiko (the transformed IGN SciFi Brain blog):

(The review author rated this episode with 3.5 out of 5. Please follow the link for the complete review.)

'Stargate Atlantis' (5.1) "Search and Rescue" - Review


Wed, 07/16/2008 - 11:28 — Jason Van Horn

I was pretty tough on the season finale of Atlantis and I still hold a grudge against it. I had a problem with the fluky way Sheppard was sent to the future and learned some important details, which he then used to change the present. It was a real gimmicky way to get the story to the place the writers wanted it to be. Anyway, after all that time travel nonsense, the last few minutes of that last episode of season 4 had this incredible rushed plot development about the team descending on Michael's complex, only to have it collapse on them. Will anyone survive? Well, actually, that's a valid question with the large amount of cast turnover on this show, but I'll address that later.

**snippage**

After the disappointing finale last season, I was forced to accept the premise that Sheppard's future knowledge helped them in the present. So swallowing that bitter pill, I somewhat enjoyed this episode. From the first moment, you knew that the Teyla-Sheppard dinner was a dream, but I was not expecting Lt. Ford to show up and I was greatly pleased. I hope this paves the way for his return to the show in a few more guest spots. I actually thought that back in the day his character was interesting. He was a young guy working his way up, a protégé to Sheppard.

**snippage**

Considering the nice space battles and the resolution of the Teyla-Michael story, I rate this episode as more good than bad.

[morjana]

SGA - The Deseret News: Today on TV July 18 '08:

From The Deseret News (Salt Lake City, UT):

(Please follow the link for the complete column.)

Today on TV

By Scott D. Pierce

Published: Friday, July 18, 2008

Stargate Atlantis (8 and 10 p.m., Sci Fi): Beckett is brought out of stasis to help with a dangerous situation.

[morjana]

SGA - Yahoo! TV: What To Watch: Tonight's Picks July 18 '08:

From Yahoo! TV:

http://tv.yahoo.com/collections/4086

(Please follow the link for the complete column.)

WHAT TO WATCH

Tonight's Picks

Stargate: Atlantis

Friday at 10pm on Sci Fi

When Dr. Keller is infected with a mysterious alien organism and the crew discovers they've been infected with the seed of destruction, Beckett and the team must work feverishly to find a serum to save her…and stop it from infiltrating Atlantis.

[morjana]

SGA - SciFi.com: July 18 '08 Updates:

From the SciFi Channel's Stargate Atlantis site, updates for July 18, 2008:

"The Seed"

* Episode Synopsis

* Episode Photos


NEW Alex Levine Blog update for 'The Seed'





NEXT new episode: 'Broken Ties' airs Friday July 25 at 10pm on the SciFi Channel (US).

Ronon is captured by his former friend, Tyre, and turned over to the Wraith. As the team scrambles for leads, Ronon undergoes a torturous ordeal.

Trailer for ‘Broken Ties’

[morjana]

SGA - TV Squad: Review 'The Seed' Plus POLL:

From TV Squad:

(Please follow the link for the complete review.)

Stargate Atlantis: The Seed

Posted Jul 19th 2008 2:07AM by Brett Love

And with that, season five has begun. I've really been looking forward to this episode for the simple fact that it would give us our first look at just what kind of leader Woolsey is going to be. There are certainly a lot of things coming in season five, but that one, more than any other, has the ability to really affect how the season is ultimately received. We got that first look, and it was an interesting one. Along the way, we also caught up with our old friend Dr. Beckett. And Dr. Keller got to step out of the background (and climb into bed) for a pretty big story of her own.

**snippage**

So, there we have it. We're now officially underway in season five. All things considered I think things are off to a nice start. My biggest concern entering the season, how Woolsey would play out, hasn't been dismissed, but I'm feeling better and better about the whole idea. That's a good place to be a tenth of the way through. Next week, Ronon takes the spotlight. It should be fun.

TV SQUAD POLL

We've had our first real look at Woolsey. What do you think?

* It was great, like I thought it would be.
* Pleasantly surprised. Much better than I expected.
* Eh, I'm just not feeling the Woolsey.
* Good grief, I really didn't like it.

[morjana]

SGA - Canada - The Chronicle-Journal: TV tips for the week of July 21:

From The Chronicle-Journal (Thunder Bay, Ontario, Canada):

(Please follow the link for the complete column.)

TV tips for the week of July 21

By Victoria Ahearn, The Canadian Press
Friday, July 18, 2008

Monday, July 21

**snippage**

-And if the guilt from such guilty pleasures is too much to bear and you yearn for something of substance, there’s "Stargate: Atlantis" (The Movie Network, Movie Central) and "The Diviners," based on Margaret Laurence’s Governor General’s Award-winning novel. (APTN)

[morjana]

SGA - IGN: Review - 'The Seed':

From IGN:

(The review author rated this episode with an 8.5. Please follow the link for the complete review.)

Stargate Atlantis: "The Seed" Review

Dr. Beckett is back and ready to save the day.

by Tory Ireland Mell

July 21, 2008 - This episode is the very definition of getting legs. What started off slow, with slow beats, and slow drama, began to pick up more and more steep and by the halfway point we were in a full sprint and never let up. Not only did the tone of the show start slow and pick up, but the visual effects seem to do the same thing as well. Dr. Keller's goopy hand was fine, but didn't prepare us for what we were about to see. Her first cocoon stage looked hokey at best, and I thought there goes the make-up effects for the show, but as time went on I was more than pleasantly surprised at how incredible it actually became. The detail to the veins, then the CG in their movement, it looked really good, which should be expected since the show was nominated for a 2008 Emmy for visual effects. Then another incredible sequence was the puddle jumper scene. I loved the way the hole looked. It appeared very organic to the scene, and just visually pleasing to look at.

**snippage**

Possibly the most fascinating part of the episode was getting to learn how Wraith Hive ships are made. It was a nice little piece of back-story that was long over due.

Overall it was a slow start, but ended up being a fun and exciting episode with enough action and drama to feed the belly for another week.

[morjana]

SGA - Critical Myth: Review - 'The Seed':

From Critical Myth:

(Please follow the link for the complete review.)

07.21.08
Episode 5.2: “The Seed”

Written by Joseph Mallozzi and Paul Mullie
Directed by William Waring

Writing: 2/2
Acting: 2/2
Direction: 2/2
Style: 1/4

**snippage**

I also expected the writers to paint Woolsey in the best light possible. Woolsey has been the semi-reluctant mouthpiece for the IOA for quite some time, and it seems like this is a natural extension for the character. The IOA has its head in the sand, as it always has, and when that reality begins to impose itself, they take whatever opportunity possible to tighten control over Team Atlantis. If nothing else, as this episode demonstrates, it should be interesting to see how Woolsey deals with the realities of the Atlantis mission while bearing responsibility for its success.

**snippage**

[morjana]

SG1/SGA - Unreality TV (UK): Continuum Kick Starts SGA's 5th Season:

From Unreality TV (UK):

(Please follow the link for the complete article.)

CONTINUUM KICK STARTS THE FIFTH SEASON OF STARGATE ATLANTIS


This August sci-fi fans will welcome the return of the hugely popular series STARGATE ATLANTIS, which premieres exclusively on Sky One with its fifth season, and in the week prior, a screening of the latest feature length STARGATE SG-1 spin off, STARGATE: CONTINUUM. This time-travel adventure promises to build anticipation towards this next thrilling chapter in the STARGATE ATLANTIS series.

**snippage**

STARGATE: CONTINUUM, Tuesday 12 August at 8pm; STARGATE ATLANTIS Season Five, Tuesday 19 August at 8pm, Sky One & Sky One HD

[morjana]

SGA - The Hachiko: Review - The Seed:

From The Hachiko (the reincarnation of IGN's SciFi Brain):

(The review author rated this episode with 2.5 out of 5. Please follow the link for the complete review.)

Stargate Atlantis (5.2) "The Seed" - Review

Mon, 07/21/2008 - 03:50 — Vrej Hezaran

**snippage**

While not an outright terrible episode, I felt letdown. I think this is because I love the Beckett character so much that primer at the head of the episode built up my expectations to something unreasonable. I wanted a Beckett-centric episode and instead we got a save-Keller one. Frankly, I don't care much for Keller, so whatever happens to her is not of great importance to me, thus my lack of interest. I would have thought that the episode in which Beckett gets revived would be more about him and how he will come to grips with reintegrating with people who previously thought he was dead. Maybe that will be saved for a future episode, but who knows when that will be? He's being shipped off to Earth as a means of keeping him off the show for now and until they can wheel him back in to get my hopes up again.

In terms of character development, we got another hint of Keller's growing attraction to McKay, something for which I don't care too much. Besides that, the episode dealt with Woolsey and how he would fit into this place where breaking the rules might be the only way to survive. My question is, if his bosses agree that breaking rules is a good way to go on such an unorthodox mission such as Atlantis, why did they knowingly send the one guy who's all about rules? Why not keep Carter there? Well, we know the behind the scenes reasons why, but they could have tried a bit harder to justify Woolsey getting this post.

Like I mentioned, the episode in itself was an adequate diversion for an hour, but there wasn't anything particularly memorable going on here.

[morjana]

SGA - Discover Magazine Blog: Stargate Atlantis Gets Biomechanical:

From Discover Magazine:

(Please follow the link for the complete article.)

Stargate Atlantis Gets Biomechanical

On the last episode of Stargate Atlantis, several of the characters were accidentally infected with an unusual pathogen: one that reprograms their bodies to begin the first stage of the process used to construct a Wraith starship. Wraith starships are biomechanical, that is they are made from organic, semi-alive materials rather than built out of metal, rubber and other more familiar materials. In fact Wraith ships aren’t really built at all — as the episode demonstrates, they’re grown.

**snippage**

July 22nd, 2008 by Stephen Cass in Apocalypse, Biotech, TV

[morjana]

SGA - Pink Raygun: Recap and Review of 'The Seed':

From Pink Raygun:

(Please follow the link for the lengthy recap and review of 'The Seed.')

Stargate Atlantis: Seed

By Wolfen Moondaughter

Okay, this Mullie/Mallozzi-credited ep (I’m thinking Mullie did the writing) wasn’t bad, but in the wake of an ep as awesome as “Search and Rescue” was, it suffers, I’m afraid. I mean, it’s no “Lifeline” (last season’s second ep). The plots just seemed a little bit forced and flat, and had a few glaring logic issues that drove me crazy. Also, having so much Woolsey kind of spoiled my appetite for the episode, so to speak — although I admit that, by the end, he’d grown on me a tiny bit. (Very tiny, but better than nothing.) Really, Woolsey’s not even a terrible guy — believe it or not, I never really thought that — he is sympathetic, even amusing (and I cannot not deny that Picardo is an excellent actor). I just don’t really like him; it’s a gut thing that I haven’t managed to get over. But I digress — basically I’m wondering if I would have liked the ep better if I hadn’t been so depressed about losing Sam and getting Woolsey in her stead. How much of my not liking the ep as well as I have other eps (again, I didn’t hate it at all, I just didn’t love it) was a problem with the ep itself, and how much was me? (Particularly when I should have been overjoyed with a Carson-heavy ep!) Well, maybe by the end of this review I’ll have the answer ….

[morjana]

SGA - Alex Levine's Blog Update July 23 '08:

http://forum.gateworld.net/showpost....3&postcount=69