SGA 4.03 "Reunion" Episode Guide

Précis

Ronon is reunited with those from his homeworld and is asked to leave the Atlantis Expedition to rejoin them. Col. Samantha Carter becomes the new leader of the Atlantis Base.

Guide | Transcript

MGM/SciFi.com Official Summary

On a strange planet, Ronon and Teyla investigate rumors about a trio of warriors who have successfully fought the Wraith. To Ronon's delight, the three turn out to be his old military comrades from his devastated homeworld, Sateda.

Until now, Ronon had believed that the two men, Tyre and Rakai, and the woman, Ara, had died during a particular battle that he himself barely survived. The three explain that they hid from their enemies and have been on the run ever since, battling the Wraith wherever they could. Ronon feels profoundly driven to reunite with such trusted friends.

Far away on Earth, Colonel Samantha Carter says goodbye to her own trusted comrades on SG-1. Then she journeys to the Pegasus galaxy to become the new leader of Atlantis. The city has just relocated to a new planet, and, thanks to the sacrifice of Carter's predecessor, Elizabeth Weir, the deadly Wraith and Replicators are at war with each other, giving Atlantis and humans throughout the galaxy a respite from attack.

Carter is determined to be a strong, decisive and caring leader. She faces her first challenge almost immediately, when she must deny Ronon permission to bring his Satedan friends to the city. In order to keep Atlantis's new location a secret, Carter has forbidden all off-world visitors from entering the city. Unhappy that his loyalties must be split between Atlantis and his old friends, Ronon considers leaving the city for good to live with his own people.

As he contemplates this decision, he persuades Carter and Sheppard to authorize a joint mission based on information provided by Tyre, Rakai and Ara. According to the Satedans, Wraith scientists at a research outpost are attempting to override the command within the Replicators' programming that compels them to attack the Wraith. If the Wraith succeed, the war will end and both sides will again target the galaxy's humans. To prevent that, Sheppard's team joins the Satedans on a dangerous strike against the Wraith base.

The mission goes badly. The Atlantis personnel are quickly surrounded and captured, and the Satedans go missing. Ronon alone escapes back to Atlantis through the Stargate. Carter authorizes a rescue attempt immediately and personally joins Ronon on the mission.

They fight their way back into the Wraith base, where Ronon is relieved to find Tyre, Rakai and Ara — until the Satedans pull their guns on him. For horrifying reasons of their own, they have become worshippers of the Wraith, and they've set him up. Now, while Carter struggles to rescue Sheppard's team, Ronon must battle to the death against the friends who have betrayed him.

Cast

• Joe Flanigan as Lt. Col. John Sheppard
• Amanda Tapping as Col. Samantha Carter
• Rachel Luttrell as Teyla Emmagan
• Jason Momoa as Ronon Dex
• and David Hewlett as Dr. Rodney McKay

Guest Stars

• Christopher Judge as Teal'c
• David Nykl as Dr. Radek Zelenka
• Scott Heindl as Wraith
• Aleks Paunovic as Rakai
• Kyra Zagorsky as Ara
• Mark Dacascos as Tyre
• Arran Landry as Townsperson
• Rob Avery as Lt. Miller
• Bryon Lucas as Replicator

Production

• Written by Joseph Mallozzi and Paul Mullie
• Directed by William Waring

Related Articles

Keywords

• Asurans (Replicators)
• Atlantis
• Atlantis Expedition
• Satedans
• Wraith

Other

• Season Four Episode Guides
• Episode Guides
• Season Four Transcripts
• Transcripts
• Previous: SGA 4.02 "Lifeline Part 3" Episode Guide
• Next: SGA 4.04 "Doppelganger" Episode Guide

Related Links

Official

• Official MGM Stargate Atlantis Website
• SciFi Channel 4.03 "Reunion" Episode Guide

Fan

• Solutions On-Site Forum: Season Four Discussion Board
• Solutions News and Spoiler Blog
• Stargate Screencaps: Season Four

Production Notes

• "While the script offers plenty of action, it is primarily a character-driven story." (Joseph Mallozzi's blog)
• Christopher Judge will be making a cameo in this episode. We'll see more of Ronon's "specialist" skills as well as possibly some of his fellow Satedans who survived the Wraith attack which destroyed their civilization. (Joseph Mallozzi's blog)
• Joseph Mallozzi's one-word description of this episode is "roots". (Joseph Mallozzi's March 5 blog)
• "Also ran into Jason today and he told me he loved Reunion, has been jotting down notes, and is looking forward to the read-through." (Joseph Mallozzi's March 21 blog)
• "Meanwhile, Paul suggests that one of the local actresses who auditioned today, while not right for Larrin [Travelers], would make a perfect Ara in Reunion. Genius." (Joseph Mallozzi's March 22 blog)
• "Reunion, Missing, and Miller's Crossing offer varying degrees of darkness." (Joseph Mallozzi's April 3 blog)
• "As for which episodes fans should be looking forward to most for each member of the team - it's tough to say only because my opinion could be very different from fan opinion especially when you start factoring in the different fan factions. But, in my opinnion, I’d say: [...] Reunion for Ronon [...]" (Joseph Mallozzi's April 15 blog)
• "As things move along, Bam Bam, our stunt coordinator [James "Bam Bam" Bamford], grows increasingly anxious about the casting as he has fight scenes to choreograph. Producer John Lenic informs us that all is good because Mark Dacascos has signed on to play the role of Tyre. Mark was terrific in Brotherhood of the Wolf (and his stint as the host of Iron Chef America - hmmm, wonder if he can get me on as a guest judge), and is apparently a very, very sweet guy according to Bam Bam who worked with him on The Crow. When the meeting eventually wraps up, Executive Producer John Smith sounds the alarm: “This episode is going to be big!”." (Joseph Mallozzi's April 18 blog)
• "Spent the afternoon watching dailies for Reunion (some good blooper material here) and, before going home, dropped by Jason’s Airstream to tell him I thought he did a great job in the mess hall scene with Joe." (Joseph Mallozzi's May 1 blog)
• "He [Waring] just finished his director’s cut of Reunion which is timing in at a little over seven minutes. I hate to say it, but it looks like I may have to lose a scene or two. Hopefully I can convince Ivon to do another deleted scenes special feature for this season as well." (Joseph Mallozzi's May 22 blog)
• "I was in editing all day today, trying to shave some eight and half minutes off of the Reunion director’s cut. It took me a good part of the day to get through the first three acts, then an hour to step back out of the catacombs and have my eyes readjust to the sunlight. [...] Jason’s new tattoo came as a bit of a surprise and we ended up writing it into Reunion." (Joseph Mallozzi's May 24 blog)
• "Spent most of the day in editing today (Reunion is coming along swimmingly)..." (Joseph Mallozzi's May 28 blog)
• "Whenever you introduce a new character, especially one like Amanda, you are able to explore also different facets of the existing characters," Mallozzi said. "Like McKay, and now we're working on her relationship in regards to [Lt. Col. John] Sheppard [played by Joe Flanigan]. And we did an early season episode called 'Reunion' where her and Ronon [Jason Momoa] get into it, because, of course, she's military by the book, and he clearly is very off-book. So she brings a lot of that to the show." (Joseph Mallozzi, SCI FI WIRE: Tapping Energizing Atlantis, July 3, 2007)
• "In the episode called "Reunion," she [Col. Samantha Carter] settles in. It's not an easy first day. In that particular episode, her settling in is the B-story, where the A-story is Ronon encountering some Satedans that he thought were killed in the fall of Sateda, his former friends and the unit he fought with. He's drawn to his past and has to make a decision, the decision between remaining with the life he's built on Atlantis or returning of the roots he knew. In the same episode, Carter is letting go of the roots she knew and building a new home on Atlantis. It's kind of interesting how those two stories intersect. Carter kind of runs afoul of Ronon, who doesn't appreciate her coming in and establishing certain protocols. She doesn't exactly run afoul of Sheppard, but they have a certain disagreement about mission priorities." — Joseph Mallozzi, MSN TV Blog interview, September 27, 2007.

Further Reading

• Joseph Mallozzi's Blog
• Solutions Spoiler Blog: "Reunion"
• Solutions Spoiler Blog: Casting for "Reunion"
• SCI FI WIRE: Tapping Energizing Atlantis
• MSN TV Blog: All About 'Stargate Atlantis' Season Four, interview with Joseph Mallozzi, September 27, 2007.
• Solutions Blog: SGA "Reunion" Is About Roots

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--DeeKayP 06:43, 1 June 2007 (PDT)