"Inquisition": The Road to Hell. . .

Sheppard stands before the Coalition Council

You’ve heard the saying “The road to Hell is paved with good intentions,” and tonight’s episode of Stargate Atlantis, “Inquisition”, shows how some humans of the Pegasus Galaxy perceive that the Atlantis Expedition poses more of a threat than a hope to their civilizations in their fight against the Wraith. The Expedition’s presence in the galaxy for the last five years has definitely been felt, but some of their good intentions to help the less-advantaged and preyed-upon have in actuality caused great harm. Some of the surviving human civilizations have formed a Coalition to bring the Expedition to trial and to answer for their deeds.

At first it all seems innocuous enough; the Coalition contacts the Expedition and requests Sheppard meet with them to discuss the Wraith situation. Woolsey sends Sheppard’s team with the belief that they were called in to help this group of humans, but once Sheppard’s team arrives, they are placed under arrest and charged with “crimes against the people of the galaxy.” The Coalition Council, comprised of three representatives, charges that the Expedition has been “making unilateral decisions that affect the lives of millions without consultation and without accountability.”

Once Woolsey learns of his team’s predicament through an informant, he immediately places himself before the Council to argue in the Expedition’s defense. This is the exact kind of situation for which Woolsey has trained his entire life: he is a man of law. Will his arguments win over the Council or are there other factors of which he is not aware? Will there be Hell to pay if the Expedition is removed as humanity’s most technologically advanced military power in the galaxy?

“Inquisition” was written by script coordinator Alex Levine. He’s contributed story ideas in the past (SG-1’s “Dominion” and SGA’s “The Queen”), but this is the “first dramatic live-action script” he’s written. “Here’s what I have to tell you about writing for television,” Levine relates in his scifi.com blog. “It’s tough. And even though the show you’re going to see this week, Inquisition, is a clip show, that didn’t make it any easier to write. You see, there’s a particular aspect of writing clip shows that’s extra tough, and that is the part where they move in and out of the clips. Of course Paul Mullie, who did the re-write and produced the episode, has lots of clip show experience, but this was my first attempt. And writing specs and other scripts didn’t prepare me one bit. So let’s just say it was a great learning experience.

“At the end of the day, the writing staff was very kind. They met with me on my first draft, gave me notes and some time to re-write the script. I did another draft too on another round of notes. In the writing I found some things about the characters and the story that worked well; other stuff was discarded. There’s certainly some of my writing in the finished product, but I must credit Paul Mullie and the writing staff with much of the episode’s success. And my experience is not unlike other first time writers of any show. Stargate is no exception.

“The coolest part of the show, which is always why people watch clip shows, is that you’ll get to see pretty much every cool space battle we’ve done. There’s also great acting in this one – keep your eyes open for the character of Myrus (the Council Liaison), who is played by my real life brother, Tobias Slezak (different last name). He did a great job.”

“Inquisition” premieres tonight at 9 pm Eastern on the Sci Fi Channel. There is a repeat at 11 pm.

Preview Videos – Beware of Spoilers! –

Solutions Coverage –

[Image from MGM.]