SGA "The Last Man": "It's a Great Story"

Sheppard alone in SGA 4.20 "The Last Man"

“It’s a great story. It’s a great idea. It puts Sheppard in a very interesting situation. McKay is in it, too, in a very big way, although it isn’t really McKay. I don’t want to give away too much. It’s a great episode and it’s, I think, a perfect season ender. Thank goodness it’s not the series ender! It’s very-much a cliffhanger,” executive producer and co-creator Brad Wright said in a Gateworld interview about tonight’s Season Four finale “The Last Man”, written by Paul Mullie and directed by Martin Wood.

Atlantis buried in sand (SGA 4.20 "The Last Man")

In tonight’s story, many of the threads that have been followed throughout the season are wrapped up in a most tragic way. Sheppard returns from another failed mission to find Teyla, who is now the captive of Michael, and finds that the city is abandoned and nearly totally buried in sand rather than floating on the ocean. What’s worse, he finds that he has somehow traveled tens of thousands of years into the future — so far into the future that he might literally be the last man in existence.

McKay hologram in SGA 4.20 "The Last Man"

What has happened that humanity has come to nothing? In a remarkable implementation of holographic technology left behind in the city, an aged Dr. Rodney McKay tells Sheppard of the events that took place after Sheppard was declared missing in action. “I love these types of time travel episodes in which the ultimate fate of our beloved characters are foretold – some telling, others tragic, all touching,” executive producer Joseph Mallozzi said in his personal blog. In a fashion similar to that of It’s a Wonderful Life, Sheppard hears of what happened after his disappearance and how his failed mission had such an enormous impact not only on the lives of those in Atlantis, but also on the entirety of the human race in two galaxies.

But, like in all time travel stories, there is hope. If Sheppard can return to the past with the knowledge of where Teyla is, of how to cure Carson, and of how to prevent Michael from advancing his new race of Human-Wraith hybrids, then it is possible that all of the loss can be avoided. That’s a big “if”, and it, in the words of Mallozzi, “will surely have fans pulling their hair out when those final credits roll. Hopefully, they won’t have to wait too long for the season 5 premiere – or there could be a riot.”

Tune in tonight at 10pm Eastern on the Sci Fi Channel to find out how one man — the last man — can mold the future of humanity with one single act, and after viewing the episode, please visit our on-site forum to rate and discuss it.

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NOTES:

  • Sci Fi Channel will be showing a one-minute sneak peek of Robert C. Cooper’s Stargate: The Ark of Truth, the movie that concludes the Ori saga that was started in Season Nine of Stargate SG-1 and wasn’t finished by the time the show was canceled. The direct-to-DVD movie will be making its world premiere in North America on March 11.
  • Season Five of Stargate Atlantis might be premiering on the Sci Fi Channel this summer, perhaps in July, but this has not yet been confirmed by Sci Fi.