Tonight on the Sci Fi Channel in the United States at 10 pm ET/PT, the fourth episode of Season Five of Stargate Atlantis, “The Daedalus Variations”, sees Sheppard’s team jumping from one alternate reality to another aboard an abandoned version of the Daedalus. How will they stop the seemingly endless cycle of jumps … and the hostile forces they must battle for their very survival?
Although this episode is considered a “bottle episode” because of the use of existing standing sets, the cost of the visual effects makes this one of the most expensive of the episodes presented by the production this season. Script coordinator Alex Levine said in his scifi.com blog, “The Daedalus Variations had one of the most expensive VFX budgets we’ve ever had, right up there with Be All My Sins, Adrift, and Rising (the pilot). Because the show was 99% shot on the Daedalus, an abundance of VFX really opens up the episode.”
Executive producer Joseph Mallozzi was impressed by the VFX in this episode as well, declaring in his weblog, “Usually, I’m sick of an episode by the upteenth viewing but this is one I’m enjoying more with repeat viewings. Great stranded-team script by Alan McCullough, terrific direction by Andy Mikita, and some MAJOR visual effects battle sequences courtesy of Mark Savela and his crew. If you thought Search and Rescue was big, LOOK OUT!”
This episode is also note-worthy for its introduction of a new race in the Pegasus Galaxy (well, at least one version of it). In an interview conducted over the phone in early July, Mallozzi commented about this new alien, “I love the look of this race and we only used them in Episode 4, but they are a race that I would love to bring back. And in fact, we’re already discussing the possibility of bringing them back as well.”
Preview Videos – Beware of Spoilers! –
Solutions Coverage –
[Top episode still courtesy of Dryope at LJ. Alien image taken from scifi.com.]
Heh, perhaps if he wrote better engaging dialog he wouldn’t be tired of watching it again.