[SPOILERS] Stargate Atlantis Series Finale

[IrishPisano]

i've been thinking... and i've figured it out...

since Atlantis started on earth (both the show and the city) it is only fitting that it end on earth... (plus it would tie atlantis back in with the SG1 series as well it should)

plus i mean, whats the point of all the "atlantis is the only gate that can dial earth and the asurans and the wraith and probably the genii on some level want to get to earth" if none of them ever do?

in our (SGC / Earth) arrogance after the defeat of the Asurans, we triple our presence in pegasus by sending a second atlantis-sized expedition whose mission is to establish a base of operations and research on a planet in a quadrant considered both safe from the wraith, and close to atlantis... due to our increased civilian population in pegasus, we triple our military presence as well as send through 6 asgard enhanced ships, and any anti-asuran weaponry we may develop this season...


the increased presence, and off world missions both scientifically and recon... pisses off both the wraith and genii... the wraith unify, and the genii ally with them (like japan and germany did in ww2)and the wraith unleash the full fury of their race upon the tau'ri in pegasus, first by sniping our off world teams, until we stop sending them, then going after our allies (via information they gathered from the genii, those b4st4rds )... due to this now full scale war in pegasus, a Navy SEAL team is sent to pegasus with 1 ission: to acquire as 7 fully functional ZPMs... 3 for Atlantis, plus 3 backups, and an extra for earth... at any cost... which, bc they're SEALs, they do...

so because the wraith are picking off our allies now, we go back out in a larger force, taking the fight to them, and while we're doing that (us vs a small fraction of them), they swoop around the backside of the galaxy and attack Atlantis with the full remainder of their race

meanwhile, they've managed to get a spy into atlantis who finds the location of earth, once this info is uploaded to every single ship in the galaxy, they stop the war and leave immediately for earth... we figure this out, power up atlantis with 3 full zpms, and a full stock of drones which the SEALs were nice enough to go back out and get... and set off for earth...

the stardrive manages to get atlantis to earth a mere few hours before everyone else... and they land... on earth... in antarctica... right where it belongs... needless to say, there was no hiding this from the public... especially not when the rest of the wraith from pegasus drop out of hyperspace close enough to earth to create a massively spectacular light show... our fleet of MW based ships intercept them right away, and give them a run for their money... until everyone else drops in... its a simlpe war of numbers, and we are not Spartans... even with the asgard improvements and a portion of the jaffa fleet, their numbers are simlpy too much...

until...

atlantis, complete with full zpm's and connected to the rest of the base (which we've discovered is massive compared to atlantis), opens fire...

our ships and the jaffa cloak and retreat to the Ort Cloud and begin herding the enemy's fleet towards Earth... its only a matter of time before they're taken out by atlantis's massive firepower which, in addition to the drones, includes several larger scale weapons activated only by the presence of the city-ship, and 2 Aurora class ships activated by atlantis too... (one of which is commanded by O'Neill)...

after several days of fighting, we eventually win... though with obvious casualties on our side... including the planet Mars... and the inability to hide what happened from the residents of earth...

it ends with earth being declared the main base of operations for Atlantis, which is now the new home of the SGC... and the closing scene is 5-star General O'Neill (being promoted to commander of all earth forces during the war) standing with SG-1 to his right, and the main Atlantis crew to his left, addressing the world from Atlantis...

[kirmit]

Nice idea, that would be a fitting end. I know many of the fans already feel Atlantis (the show) should end with Atlantis (the city) returning to earth.

[Falcon Horus]

By that time we're talking SG1 redux....

[IrishPisano]

Nice idea, that would be a fitting end. I know many of the fans already feel Atlantis (the show) should end with Atlantis (the city) returning to earth.

as well it should... i edited and made the enemy the wraith accomplishing several things by doing so:

makes the series competely full circle: atlantis left earth, the crew left earth, everything comes back to earth... o'neill's involved, lol... and the original enemy, the wraith, are the final enemy for the show... PLUS... we do what the ancients never could: annihilate the wraith once and for all...

[IrishPisano]

By that time we're talking SG1 redux....

how so?

[the fifth man]

I think Atlantis ending on Earth is a very good idea. It would also be really great to see the city return to the place it once called home.

[IrishPisano]

I think Atlantis ending on Earth is a very good idea. It would also be really great to see the city return to the place it once called home.

indeed, as most people would agree... but what of the rest of my thoughts?

[eluvatar]

i've been thinking... and i've figured it out...

since Atlantis started on earth (both the show and the city) it is only fitting that it end on earth... (plus it would tie atlantis back in with the SG1 series as well it should)

when did we here that atlantis started on earth it is more liklie that they came from the ori galaxy in atlantis

[IrishPisano]

when did we here that atlantis started on earth it is more liklie that they came from the ori galaxy in atlantis

1. SG Atlantis started on Earth
2. The Ancients went to Pegasus from The Milky Way and took atlantis with them, and guess what, atlantis left from earth...

[Falcon Horus]

how so?

Atlantis left Earth for a reason. And why go back to Earth and the Milky Way Galaxy. For cryin out loud, we've seen the Galaxy enough already.

I even doubt it would survive the journey. And you bring the fight to the Milky Way. Pegasus Galaxy not big enough for you, or interesting enough.

[sarcasm] Earth will love the attention. [/sarcasm]

Hey, did we defeat the Ori by the time Atlantis ends or are they still very much alive?

[Wraith_Boy]

Atlatis heading to Earth is too predictable! Ask anybody what they want to see for a finale & the largest majority will say Atlantis going back to Earth at the end. It's what everybody expects, therefore won't make a good ending for a show because it's the unexpected that makes it good.

Everybody will tune in thinking the show will end with it returning to Antartica or Earth. Then bang, it goes totally opposite. Nobody expecting it & getting caught off-guard. Like with SG-1, nobody expected the Asgard to get killed off, nobody expected them to get all the tech, nobody expected them to be able to destroy Ori warships etc, etc.

The perfect ending for Atlantis is this:

The Asurans have almost annihilated all the Wraith. The Lanteans couldn't get them to work properly by following out their original programming, but their descendents (humans) did. There are only a dozen or so Hive ships left. The Asurans are taking out the galaxy, killing all the humans off. Then it's found out that the Asurans are building a huge mofo of a ship. The biggest ever seen. Which is a weapon with a ship built around it, like a planet killer in which they plan to blow Earth to crap. Along with it, they have 1000 or so warships. Millions of Asurans are going to the MW to destroy all human life from all over the galaxy. To blot out all of the Ancients descendents from existence.

Basically a force so massive that nobody is able to have any hope in hell of destroying it. The Wraith offer to help them if in turn they give them the ability to get to a new feeding ground,. The case goes before the IOA. They send representatives to negotiate with the Wraith & strike up some sort of a deal. After some careful thought, they think that a few Wraith in the MW will be easier to handle than a 1000 Asuran ships destroying everything in sight.

The end result is that they also do a deal with the Asurans. If they give them Atlantis & promise to take all humans from Pegasus & never return then the Asurans will drop their attack on the MW. The Wraith hear of this & set their plan in to motion earlier than they had anticipated. This is they never had any intnetion of helping defeat the Asurans, they only wanted to steal a 304 & use it's hyperdrive to get to Earth. So at the Wraith planet, which is their last haven. A 304 with the IOA representative had landed previously, they decide to strike now. All the Hives & Cruisers jump in, they go towards the ship. The few crew of the ship see what's coming. Knowing they can't life the ship off, they jump into a PJ, then cloak & go through the nearby Stargate.

The Wraith now have a ship with the specs on how to build an intergalactic hyperdrive with protection shields. They modify all their ships & head towards Earth in one big unified fleet.

On Asuras, all the Asurans are watching as Atlantis is landed. Oberoth warns them not to ever come back or else. We go into the city where an Asuran delegation boards the city. The shot switches into the gateroom. The Stargate gets activated, all the humans that are left alive are going through it back to the MW. Oberoth warns them not to ever come back or else.

We switch to a 304. Shep & his team are all on board. He tells McKay to send it now. Then he presses a few buttons & says it's done, shields are down & warhead is away. The camera pans outside the ship. We see that they're cloaked above Asuras. Suddenly, we see a huge detonation flash. Then a whole host of secondary detonations. The waves get bigger & bigger with each one taking out another one of their cities. After a dozen or so of these, we hear them saying the planet is gonna go. So Caldwell orders the pilot to jump into HS. Which it does right in the nick of time, as the planet explodes seconds are they jumped.

We see them celebrating, then Shep says we've not completed the mission yet. It jumps a day or so ahead. The tannoy comes on for all officers tot ake their stations. Shep's team run into the bridge. Caldwell tells them they've spotted the Wraith fleet dead ahead on sensors. Caldwell says doctor whatever your gonna do, do it now please. Shep nods in agreement. He does it when suddenly the shot switches to the Wraith hyperspace tunnel. Flashes happen to their hyperdrive engines. When the tunnel suddenly collapses & they all drop out of HS. The 304 drops out alongside them. Shep then sends them a smarmy message about double crossing, trust etc. If only they hadn't been an evil bunch of space faring vampires or something then they could have maybe learned to trust each other & all gotten along. They then tell them the 304 they got was booby trapped. The shields & hyperdrives were rigged. As a result the Daedalus was able to get close & allow McKay to send a virus to the ships. Forcing the hyperdrives to burn themselves out as a result. The Wraith growl & hurl an insult. They all begin to open fire, when Caldwell tells them to get us back into hyperspace.

They then can do the last couple of minutes of the ep with the Atlantis crew meeting up together again back on Earth.

End result, the Wraith wanted to get to a new feeding ground so much that they double crossed & stole to get the new upgrades. This obsession was their undoing & it cost their race their lives because theya re now trapped in the void between galaxies. 2 million light years from the MW galaxy with no hyperdrive. Meaning millions of years worth of travel to get to it. Obviously they'll die out long before they ever got to it.

While the Asurans obsession with reclaiming Atlantis, cost them their race also. Because the virus implaneted in the city's OS, allowed them to drop the shields via remote. Then drop in a Naquadah, ZPM hybrid bomb. That ended up as a result of chain reactions destroying the whole planet with all of them on it at the time.

Atlantis was the last outpost for the Lanteans, both the Wraith & Asurans wanted it for their own purposes. So it turns out to be a fitting tribute that this special city ended up helping to destroy both enemies not only of the humans but also the Lanteans themselves. Ensuring that the Ancient descendents continue to survive & it fitting that they be the ones to do it when ther Lanteans themselves couldn't.

The only other way to end the show would be for Atlantis to jump into HS, but have Asurans, Wraith or whoever following & attacking them at the time. Atlantis destroys one of the pursuing ships in HS, the explosion engulfs Atlantis & rocks the city. When it drops out of HS, it's a few 100 million light years away from Earth in a brand new galaxy. Too far away to ever get back. Then they can do DVD movies of their adventures in this new distant galaxy & allows them to do everything from scratch again. Meaning much more stories, so more DVD movies to come in future.

Atlantis going back to Earth is what everyone expects, so destroying the city & taking out their enemies in the process. Allows the sacrifice to be done in a fitting tribute kind of way. Either that or they get sent to a new distant galaxy, allowing them a brand new opportunity & blank slate to begin all over again in DVD land with new enemies & new problems facing them at every turn.

[Falcon Horus]

I like Wraith Boy's take on it a lot better, though still not happy with the end-result.

Going back to Earth and have literally every nation fight over the Lantean technology, and the US saying... Nope, sorry... We have first dips. Oh wait, Atlantis is stuck on Antarctica which gives the US no rights whatsoever on first dips so ... diplomatic problems arise.

Destroying Atlantis makes it incredibly final, which leaves no room for more stories there. it would be like destroying the SGC.

[ciannwn]

Sorry, but I don't want the Wraith to be exterminated. I'd far rather they had a fit of being sensible where they genetically modified themselves so they could exist on ordinary food. The groundwork for such a solution to the Wraith's problem has already been laid down in 'Instinct' and the retrovirus story arc. and it would save them from the usual 'thoroughly bad lot of villains who end up being wiped out' fate.

I'm perfectly happy for the Asurans to be the big, finale threat because they want to eliminate all humans along with the Wraith. Humans and genetically modified Wraith could then join forces against them. It would be even more interesting if Sam, Rodney and other scientists came up with good, anti-Asuran guns and trained some of the Pegasus galaxy humans to use them - these humans would then be fighting on the same side as the Wraith.

What I'd also like to see is a few Asurans from Niam's original group break free of their coding - this would make them really different from the Replicators because they'd be machine intelligences who succeeded in growing and changing. These 'New Model Asurans' could survive and go off to pursue ascension or explore the universe or whatever.

it ends with earth being declared the main base of operations for Atlantis, which is now the new home of the SGC... and the closing scene is 5-star General O'Neill (being promoted to commander of all earth forces during the war) standing with SG-1 to his right, and the main Atlantis crew to his left, addressing the world from Atlantis...

I like this final scene up to a point and am now wondering what O'Neill's speech would be about. Perhaps it could be on the lines of "The Ancients created technological wonders but the Asurans were one of their many disasters. We Earth humans have knowledge gained from advanced races and our own technological progress is going to accelerate as a result. Let's hope that we can be wiser than our ancestors so we don't end up creating disasters for future beings to deal with."

What I don't really like is Earth humans taking Atlantis back to Earth instead of leaving it behind for the Pegasus galaxy humans to inherit. We know that the Ancient gene turned up in one Pegasus galaxy society so it's likely to turn up in others. Earth humans already have the Antarctica base and lots of other advanced technology from non-Pegasus sources so why take Atlantis as well? With the Asuran and Wraith threats gone (the Wraith no longer need to eat humans), science teams could be stationed on Atlantis in the Pegasus galaxy to study the data base at leisure.

[Wraith_Boy]

Of course it makes it final, but it's what the city symbolises that makes it's sacrifice all the more meaningful.

It was the original city/ship that the Alterans took to Pegasus when they became the Lanteans. It was their first city in the new galaxy, while it was also their last. Both Wraith & Asurans want their hands on it, so what better way to have the city have a hand in saving both galaxies by helping take out these 2 evil enemies.

In an ideal world, we'll see them using the Asgard disruptor sat weapon to take out the whole of Asuras. They'll then go in & have a whole world of advanced technology set-up & waiting for them. Then Atlantis can go back & get escorted in with 304's flanking it etc. However it's all predictable & what many people expect.

Destroying the city in a sacrifice to save Earth & the rest of the MW/Pegasus is a fitting tribute to end it. It was humans who saved the city from being crushed by the ocean, so it should be them who takes it out.

There are other ways, say they could go back & re-build the sister city seen in 'The Tower'. Then use that in future for the movies. It's an Atlantis style cityship, but could have brand new advanced technologies, galaxies in it's database etc for them to explore in future movies.

If they wanted to do the clever double fake thing they could even raise the sister city, re-build it. Then send that to Asuras in the guise of it being Atlantis. We see the fans think it has been destroyed, then the cmera jumps to Atlantis sitting in space & then they do the whole rewind thing in which we see them raising & re-building it.

However the most poetic ending is to have Atlantis go boom, allowing them to destroy the Asurans in the process, thus saving everyone. They go back to Earth, then they could find something in the database. Maybe Lanteans who escaped Pegasus to go to another nearby galaxy. They then head off to find them in the movies. So not only does it give them a blank canvas to create new enemies etc for the team to face. They could write in the Wraith's history. Perhaps the Lanteans were at war with another species in another galaxy. It was them who created & put the Wraith in Pegasus etc, etc. So they can still tie things together with what happened in the show, while having another whole new galaxy in which to do new things.

Everyone expects Atlantis to go back to Earth in the end. Yet if it does in the finale, what kind of movies can they do in the MW to stay true to the series that SG-1 didn't. In the MW, it's SG-1 land. So anything Atlantis does there won't be faithful to the show. If they end the show, with Atlantis still in Pegasus. Which I think they will, to allow them to make 1/2 movies in which the Wraith & Asurans get killed off. Then what next, there is nothing else in Pegasus to do. Other than perhaps a time-travel story about the time of the Lanteans or an AU story that involves them all. After that there is nothing to allow them to continue the show. If it goes back to the MW, again they wouldn't be able to continue it, since they'll be facing all the old SG-1 enemies. Not to mention peeve off all the SG-1 fans, because the show would be stepping into their territory.

Atlantis has only 2 options if they want to continue the show after the series has ended. 1) They go on purpose or accidentally get sent to a new distant galaxy aboard Atlantis while trying to bring it back to the MW. Giving them a whole new scope to do do things with for the movies. 2) Atlantis goes boom, they go back to Earth & the series ends. Then for the movie they find out that Lanteans left to go to another close by galaxy in the databse that they had been studying since they returned. So they head off on a 304 or Ancient warship for the month or two long journey to this galaxy in the hope of reaching them. Then find a whole new galaxy full of systery & trouble.

If Atlantis goes back to Earth, then not only is it in SG-1 territory, but since it's back 'home' again, then it's not like they can rev her back up & take it back to Pegasus for a spin. If Atlantis ever comes home, there isn't any scope to continue the series in any way. Not to mention it's predictable because everyone thinks it will come back at the end anyhow.

I'd rather they used it to help kill off the 2 main enemies in the show & have the show end on a breathtaking bang that caught everyone out by surprise!

[ciannwn]

I'd rather they used it to help kill off the 2 main enemies in the show & have the show end on a breathtaking bang that caught everyone out by surprise!

Why can't we have one or two 'different surprises' amongst all this? Maybe only a few Wraith go off to genetically modify themselves but they survive so the species isn't extinct etc. A lot of viewers might find this a bit more interesting than - "Earth humans finally succeed in killing off the 2 main enemies with lots of special effect explosions. The End." We've already had Earth humans versus irredeemable Goa'uld and irredeemable Replicators and it's unlikely that the Ori or Ba'al will turn over a new leaf in the movies. If SGA ends up with Earth humans blowing up two more irredeemable races it's just going to be a stock formula.

Egeria was a Goa'uld queen who had a change of perspective and became the mother of the Tok'ra. Why can't a few Wraith have a change of perspective as well?

Destroying the city in a sacrifice to save Earth & the rest of the MW/Pegasus is a fitting tribute to end it. It was humans who saved the city from being crushed by the ocean, so it should be them who takes it out.

The humans in the Pegasus galaxy are just as human as the people of Earth. Atlantis wouldn't have risen from the sea either if Janus (a Lantean) hadn't defied Moros and helped Weir change a time line where Atlantis flooded and everyone else drowned . (Before I Sleep). Finally, there couldn't be any kind of Earth in danger from a combined Asuran/Wraith threat if Earth humans hadn't gone poking about in another galaxy where they woke all the Wraith up and Rodney fiddled around with Asuran base coding.

Where do Teyla and Ronon fit into all this, by the way? They've saved the day on more that one occasion between them and the Atlantis expedition couldn't have got by without them. Surely the finale should include them as well even though they've from the Pegasus galaxy, not Earth. (This is assuming that the characters are still around when SGA comes to an end, of course.)

There are other ways, say they could go back & re-build the sister city seen in 'The Tower'. Then use that in future for the movies. It's an Atlantis style cityship, but could have brand new advanced technologies, galaxies in it's database etc for them to explore in future movies.

This city is already inhabited by Pegasus galaxy humans. Are you suggesting that Earth humans throw the residents out so they can do all these repairs etc. or would they be allowed to stay along with the new arrivals? (All supposing that they wanted new arrivals moving in with them.)