Stargate Atlantis: Difference between revisions

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And strange things are happening all over Atlantis: The sensors that detect lifeforms are going haywire. Power and lights intermittently go on and off. The Stargate starts to dial by itself (Weir orders it shut down immediately) and many Athosians say they're seeing a shadowy entity. The Wraith can project such images, but Teyla does not sense their presence.
And strange things are happening all over Atlantis: The sensors that detect lifeforms are going haywire. Power and lights intermittently go on and off. The Stargate starts to dial by itself (Weir orders it shut down immediately) and many Athosians say they're seeing a shadowy entity. The Wraith can project such images, but Teyla does not sense their presence.


During the search for Jinto, Sheppard encounters an inexplicable entity. It seems to be attracted to energy sources and feeds off of them. Over Atlantis' communication system, Jinto is heard yelling for help. He guides Weir and company to a panel in what looks like a closet, on the wall of which is a lighted map of Atlantis. McKay points out the spot where the most recent energy surge was detected. Sheppard touches it and a panel slides opens leading McKay and Sheppard into the same room in which Jinto and Wex were playing. The "closet" seems to be an inter-city transportation device. They find both Jinto and one of the Ancients' research labs.
During the search for Jinto, Sheppard encounters an inexplicable entity. It seems to be attracted to energy sources and feeds off of them. Over Atlantis' communication system, Jinto is heard yelling for help. He guides Weir and company to a panel in what looks like a closet, on the wall of which is a lighted map of Atlantis. McKay points out the spot where the most recent energy surge was detected. Sheppard touches it and a panel slides opens leading McKay and Sheppard into the same room in which Jinto and his friend were playing. The "closet" seems to be an inter-city transportation device. They find both Jinto and one of the Ancients' research labs.


Meanwhile, Grodin has found a way to keep the entity busy by shutting the Naquadah generators throughout the city on and off in order to lead it away. But the entity gets used to Grodin's tricks and catches Lt. Aiden Ford, who gets scorched badly.
Meanwhile, Grodin has found a way to keep the entity busy by shutting the Naquadah generators throughout the city on and off in order to lead it away. But the entity gets used to Grodin's tricks and catches Lt. Aiden Ford, who gets scorched badly.
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When McKay attempts a full system shutdown, the resilient virus responds by flying the ship straight toward the coronasphere of a nearby star. The route will not destroy the ship, but the intense radiation will kill everyone aboard, freeing the virus to continue its mission without interference. As they zoom toward the star, Sheppard, McKay and the others know they will have to find a solution quickly if they want to see their new home again.
When McKay attempts a full system shutdown, the resilient virus responds by flying the ship straight toward the coronasphere of a nearby star. The route will not destroy the ship, but the intense radiation will kill everyone aboard, freeing the virus to continue its mission without interference. As they zoom toward the star, Sheppard, McKay and the others know they will have to find a solution quickly if they want to see their new home again.
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===2.13 "Critical Mass"===
{|
|valign="top"|[[Image:sga21301.jpg|thumb|170px|left|Agent Barrett briefs Gen. Landry and Dr. Lee on the Goa'uld threat to Atlantis]]
|valign="top"|[[Image:sga21302.jpg|thumb|170px|left|Dr. Lee explains communication relay from Earth to Atlantis]]
|valign="top"|[[Image:sga21303.jpg|thumb|170px|left|Col. Caldwell unknowingly has become a Goa'uld host]]
|}
''From SciFi.com Official Episode Summary:''
On Earth, a galaxy away from Atlantis, Gen. Landry receives intelligence that The Trust, a group of conspirators controlled by the evil Goa'uld (8.14 "Full Alert"), have learned of the Ancient city and sent an undercover operative there to plant a bomb. Details are sketchy, but any use of Atlantis's Stargate to dial Earth will somehow trigger the explosion.
The moment that Earth relays this news to Atlantis, Dr. Weir orders both the Stargate and the city's main power source, a ZPM, shut down. She also orders the absent starship ''Daedalus'' to return, because the bomber might be trying to escape aboard it.
In the midst of this intense search for both bomb and bomber, the city's distress beacon activates. Before McKay can shut it off, it catches the attention of two Wraith cruisers, who head straight for Atlantis. If they discover that the city still exists, they will attack immediately. To prevent such a catastrophe, McKay prepares to reconnect the ZPM and use its power to cloak the city from view.
Suspicion is consuming the city. McKay suspects that Lt. Cadman, a demolitions expert, is the saboteur. Weir suspects Dr. Kavanagh, a disgruntled scientist. For his part, Kavanagh suspects Dr. Zelenka, who is off-world on a conveniently timed mission. Weir's suspicions carry the most weight, however, so the investigation's focus settles on the prickly and defensive Kavanagh.
Then McKay discovers that no actual bomb exists. Instead, the saboteur has removed the failsafes from the ZPM, so that it will overload in a massive explosion as soon as it emits any significant amount of power. The saboteur has been trying to provoke them into dialing Earth or cloaking the city — either of which will cause an overload.
But the Wraith are closing in. In desperation, McKay shuts down as many secondary systems as possible and activates the cloak. As the power usage levels inch toward critical, Weir considers torturing Kavanagh for answers. Atlantis teeters on the brink of destruction, though whether it will come from without or from within remains to be seen.


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* [[7.22 "Lost City Part 2" Episode Guide|7.22 "Lost City Part 2"]]
* [[7.22 "Lost City Part 2" Episode Guide|7.22 "Lost City Part 2"]]
* [[8.13 "It's Good To Be King" Episode Guide|8.13 "It's Good To Be King"]]
* [[8.13 "It's Good To Be King" Episode Guide|8.13 "It's Good To Be King"]]
* [[8.14 "Full Alert" Episode Guide|8.14 "Full Alert"]]
* [[8.19 "Moebius Part 1" Episode Guide|8.19 "Moebius Part 1"]]
* [[8.19 "Moebius Part 1" Episode Guide|8.19 "Moebius Part 1"]]
* [[8.20 "Moebius Part 2" Episode Guide|8.20 "Moebius Part 2"]]
* [[8.20 "Moebius Part 2" Episode Guide|8.20 "Moebius Part 2"]]
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* [[Daniel Jackson|Dr. Daniel Jackson]]
* [[Daniel Jackson|Dr. Daniel Jackson]]
* [[Samantha Carter|Lt. Col. Samantha Carter]]
* [[Samantha Carter|Lt. Col. Samantha Carter]]
* [[Hank Landry|Gen. Hank Landry]]
* [[Ayiana]]
* [[Ayiana]]
* [[Malcolm Barrett|Agent Malcolm Barrett]]
* [[Carson Beckett|Dr. Carson Beckett]]
* [[Carson Beckett|Dr. Carson Beckett]]
* [[Laura Cadman|Lt. Cadman]]
* [[Steven Caldwell|Col. Steven Caldwell]]
* [[Steven Caldwell|Col. Steven Caldwell]]
* [[Janus]]
* [[Janus]]
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* [[Aiden Ford|Lt. Aiden Ford]]
* [[Aiden Ford|Lt. Aiden Ford]]
* [[Hermiod]]
* [[Hermiod]]
* [[Kavanagh|Dr. Kavanagh]]
* [[Bill Lee|Dr. Bill Lee]]
* [[Harry Maybourne]]
* [[Harry Maybourne]]
* [[Rodney McKay|Dr. Rodney McKay]]
* [[Rodney McKay|Dr. Rodney McKay]]
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* [[Daedalus]]
* [[Daedalus]]
* [[Genii]]
* [[Genii]]
* [[Goa'uld]]
* [[Lost City of the Ancients]]
* [[Lost City of the Ancients]]
* [[Naquadah]]
* [[Naquadah]]
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* [[Stargate Command (SGC)]]
* [[Stargate Command (SGC)]]
* [[Stargate Program Disclosure]]
* [[Stargate Program Disclosure]]
* [[The Trust]]
* [[Wraith]]
* [[Wraith]]
* [[Zero Point Module (ZPM)]]
* [[Zero Point Module (ZPM)]]

Revision as of 11:14, 21 January 2006

Stargate Atlantis Program Team Leaders

Summary

This article covers the episodes of the spin-off Stargate Atlantis as it crosses stories with Stargate SG-1.

Précis

An elite team of explorers from Earth have embarked on a one-way trip to the Pegasus Galaxy to the legendary Lost City of the Ancients, Atlantis. Their mission is to explore the galaxy and seek contact with advanced alien races, perhaps even the Ancients themselves, and acquire the technology to return home with increased weaponry and knowledge to aid in the defense of Earth.

Season One

1.01 "Rising Part 1"

Daniel discovers the location of Atlantis
Jack gives Atlantis Expedition Team a "Go"
Elizabeth leads her team through the stargate

From SciFi.com Official Episode Summary:

Several million years ago, in a beautiful alien city in Antarctica, a man and a woman in silver clothing—two of the Ancients who created the Stargates—look out a window sadly as the city rises out of the encroaching ice and flies away to the stars, leaving behind only a small outpost.

Present day: At the Ancients' abandoned outpost (discovered in the episode, 7.22 "Lost City Part 2"), Dr. Elizabeth Weir, head of the Stargate Atlantis project, rides an elevator with Lt. Aiden Ford down a deep shaft bored in the ice. Reaching the research facility below, they find Dr. Rodney McKay and Dr. Carson Beckett arguing over the fact that Beckett is afraid to sit in the Ancient chair that controls the most powerful weapons known to humankind — even though he possesses (and is the one who discovered) the mutant gene to which Ancient technology automatically responds. As Weir points out, only a handful of people have the gene, and every time one of them sits in the chair they learn more about the Ancients.

Dr. Daniel Jackson of Stargate Command then tells Weir and McKay of a remarkable discovery he's just made: The Stargate address to the Lost City of Atlantis is incomplete. On a white board he adds an eighth symbol—indicating that Atlantis is not on Earth nor even in their galaxy, but on a planet far, far away. And they can 'gate there.

As Gen. Jack O'Neill races to the outpost in a helicopter flown by Maj. John Sheppard, McKay convinces Beckett to sit in the chair. It activates and launches an Ancient drone weapon that almost destroys the helicopter. But thanks to Sheppard's fancy flying and Beckett's new-found ability to turn off his control, the chopper lands safely.

At the outpost, Daniel tells O'Neill that the Ancients flew their entire city to a dwarf galaxy called Pegasus. In order for an expedition to 'gate that far, they need to boost the Stargate with the Earth's sole ZPM (Zero Point Module), an Ancient energy source currently powering the outpost's defenses and is vital to Earth's defense against an alien attack. The 'gating may totally drain the ZPM.

And even if it didn't, there wouldn't be enough power to 'gate back.

O'Neill says no. But Daniel convinces him that by visiting the Ancients' city they could find more ZPMs and who knows what else to protect Earth. The expedition's a go, though O'Neill insists Daniel is too valuable here on Earth to join them. Weir is in charge, with Colonel Marshall Sumner as her military commander. After some reluctance, Sheppard—who, it has been discovered, has the most potent variable of the Ancient gene—joins the offworld expedition along with McKay, Beckett, a military compliment and a full crew of the best and the brightest representing more than dozen countries.

They arrive in the city of the Ancients, which is chockablock with amazing technology, including its own gate room and a bay of spaceships. The city's power systems turn on as the Atlantis team explores it. Then, amazingly, they discover that the city—which they can now conformably call Atlantis—is underwater, with a force field holding the ocean back. They also find a holographic message that tells them how the Ancients developed the Stargates as a hope of spreading new life. They seeded countless worlds in this Pegasus galaxy, until discovering a planet with a warrior race that fed upon the defenseless human worlds until only Atlantis remained. Before it was too late, they submerged the city for protection.

Suddenly, McKay screams to turn off the hologram: The city's power is rapidly draining due to all the systems being automatically turned on — and the force field holding back the ocean is weakening fast. Gating back to Earth is impossible without another fully charged ZPM, and the city's last is almost depleted. But 'gating to another world within the Pegasus galaxy is an option. Weir has Sumner and Sheppard lead a team to recon a randomly chosen planet for evacuation.

The planet, Athos, is populated by a race of pre-industrial humans living in fear of the Wraith, the warrior race of which the hologram spoke. The Athosian leader, a beautiful woman named Teyla, doesn't take kindly to Sumner's no-nonsense attitude, but warms up to Sheppard. As the military team investigates the nearby abandoned city of Teyla's ancestors, looking for refuge and ZPMs, Teyla takes Sheppard to a cave. The walls are covered with drawings telling the history of her people and how the Wraith wait a few hundred years for the population to grow before attacking and capturing them. She believes that the Wraith can sense when anyone goes into the city.

Sure enough, three dart-like ships coming flying through the Stargate. The Wraith have returned.

The Wraith Darts begin firing and it seems like the Wraith have the Atlantis team surrounded on the ground. But Teyla informs Sheppard that the ships are projecting shadow-like illusions. Sheppard relays the intel to Sumner, who instructs his men to take out the ships with gun and bazooka fire. One ship is destroyed. Suddenly, Sumner, one of his men and some of the tribespeople, including Teyla, are beamed up to a Wraith Dart. The two remaining Darts speed through the Stargate.

At Atlantis, the force field is deteriorating and parts of the city are being destroyed. McKay pressures Weir not to wait for the offworld team any longer. She gives the order to evacuate to Athos when suddenly the Stargate activates — and through it emerges Sheppard, the remaining members of the offworld team and about 50 of the surviving Athosians.

With the city about to collapse under the sea, Weir gives Sheppard hell for bringing in outsiders when Atlantis must be immediately evacuated. Suddenly, the entire city shakes thunderously. This is it — the end. Yet Atlantis then rises through the ocean, breaking through the surface into the light of day.

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1.02 "Rising Part 2"

Col. Marshall Sumner
Wraith Keeper who interrogates Col. Sumner about Earth
Wraith hive awakened upon Keeper's death

From SciFi.com Official Episode Summary:

Using the six symbols Ford noted on the DHD as the Wraith flew through the Stargate, McKay attempts to locate the Wraith planet. But the MALP McKay sends through the Stargate ends up drifting in space. Weir won't risk sending a search party to their deaths.

On the Wraith homeworld, Sumner and the other captives are imprisoned within a web-like force field in the Wraith hive. Three Wraith come and take one of the Athosians away.

Back at Atlantis, McKay shows Sheppard a bay of spaceships he'd found earlier. Sheppard gives one a try and finds it responds to his thoughts. Plus it has a cloaking device. Now there's no excuse not to mount a ... reconnaissance mission. Sheppard, Ford and a team board the ship—which Sheppard dubs Puddle Jumper One, overruling Ford's Gateship One—and fly through the Stargate to emerge out an orbiting 'gate over the Wraith homeworld. Sheppard wonders where they should go from here, and the ship displays a target on the planet below. In response to his wondering how the team will find the captured party, a panel opens revealing a locator device that detects human forms. He thinks about a nice turkey sandwich, too, but that doesn't seem to work.

Back in the hive, Sumner is taken to a female Wraith known as The Keeper—who shows Sumner how she has drained the life out of the Athosian taken earlier. This is how this insect-human hybrid race sustain themselves. They have been feeding upon worlds in the Pegasus system for centuries, and have captured the Atlantis team because they trespassed upon the Wraiths' feeding ground.

Having landed, Sheppard's team plants explosives around the hive. Sheppard and Ford find Teyla and the other prisoners with the locator device from the ship. Ford calls it a "lifesigns detector" and Sheppard goodnaturedly reminds him not to name anything. Leaving Ford with the prisoners, Sheppard goes looking for Sumner. He's being interrogated by the Keeper, who uses a mental power to force Sumner to tell her he comes from Earth, in another galaxy, and that there are millions of people there—a rich new feeding ground in the Keeper's eyes. Yet through sheer will, Sumner is able to hold back Earth's location. The Keeper then puts her hand on his chest and begins draining the life out of him. He becomes an old man in seconds. Still, he won't give up Earth's location.

Sheppard, having heard Sumner's scream of pain, appears and puts three slugs in the Keeper's back and kills one of her two guards. But before he can take out the other, the Keeper lets out a scream and sucks more life out of Sumner to heal herself. Sheppard and the dying Sumner exchange a brief look of understanding—and then Sheppard puts Sumner out of his misery with one shot through the Keeper's hand.

Sheppard is subdued by the other Wraith guard and the Keeper is about to give him the same treatment as Sumner when Ford appears—having left his post at Teyla's request that he help his comrade—and kills the guard. Freed, Sheppard radios the team to light up the hive. Teyla and the rest are freed by a small explosive charge at the same time. Sheppard kills the Keeper by running her through with the long barrel of a Wraith weapon. But doing that has awakened the honeycombed hive of thousands of Wraith.

Back at Atlantis, McKay informs Weir they've been able to supply power to some parts of the city, and have already begun to find amazing things. But a preoccupied Weir is beginning to regret having allowed Sheppard to undertake such a risky mission.

On the Wraith homeworld, many Darts are launched. Sheppard and company escape the planet's atmosphere in the cloaked Puddle Jumper and find a dozen Wraith Darts guarding the orbiting Stargate. Sheppard de-cloaks to draw them away so he can double back. With the help of the Puddle Jumper reading his mind and taking out a Wraith Dart with a drone weapon, only three Wraith Darts remain on his tail. Ford dials the 'gate and enters his identification code (IDC). Weir orders the force field on the Atlantis side dropped. Sheppard comes in fast with the three Darts following him through the 'gate. The Puddle Jumper emerges in Atlantis, slowed down like an aircraft-carrier jet by some powerful magnetic field. Weir immediately orders the shield reactivated—and the three Wraith Darts crash into it and are destroyed.

Sheppard, now the ranking military officer, ran a successful rescue operation despite the tragic loss of Colonel Sumner. And while he helped make some new enemies, he's also made some new friends. Teyla promises him that with her people's knowledge of other Stargate addresses, the Atlantis team will make more.

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1.03 "Hide and Seek"

The Team discovers Ancient lab and device used for research into ascension
Dr. McKay enters the Entity with personal shield
The Entity goes through the Stargate

From SciFi.com Official Episode Summary:

Dr. Carson Beckett tests a new gene therapy on Dr. Rodney McKay. If successful, this therapy will manipulate McKay's DNA and give him the Ancient gene needed for Ancient Technology Activation (ATA). This would mean that all personnel would be able to use the Ancient technology that pervades Atlantis.

That night, though frightened by stories that "ghosts of the ancestors" still live in Atlantis, two young Athosians sneak out of their quarters to play hide and seek inside a cargo hold. Later, Sheppard is awakened by the father of one of the boys to say that his son Jinto has vanished.

And strange things are happening all over Atlantis: The sensors that detect lifeforms are going haywire. Power and lights intermittently go on and off. The Stargate starts to dial by itself (Weir orders it shut down immediately) and many Athosians say they're seeing a shadowy entity. The Wraith can project such images, but Teyla does not sense their presence.

During the search for Jinto, Sheppard encounters an inexplicable entity. It seems to be attracted to energy sources and feeds off of them. Over Atlantis' communication system, Jinto is heard yelling for help. He guides Weir and company to a panel in what looks like a closet, on the wall of which is a lighted map of Atlantis. McKay points out the spot where the most recent energy surge was detected. Sheppard touches it and a panel slides opens leading McKay and Sheppard into the same room in which Jinto and his friend were playing. The "closet" seems to be an inter-city transportation device. They find both Jinto and one of the Ancients' research labs.

Meanwhile, Grodin has found a way to keep the entity busy by shutting the Naquadah generators throughout the city on and off in order to lead it away. But the entity gets used to Grodin's tricks and catches Lt. Aiden Ford, who gets scorched badly.

In the research lab, McKay discovers a device that used to house the entity until Jinto accidentally let it out. McKay now believes the entity to be an early stage of the Ancients' experiments with ascension and concludes that they, too, were also developing a form of gene therapy. The device is essentially a mousetrap that generates energy attracting the entity. When it goes inside, it's trapped. The catch is, someone has to be there to press the buttons. McKay is the obvious choice since his shield should protect him. But the suggestion scares him and his mind turns off the shield device, which drops off his chest. It won't work on Sheppard because the device imprints on its wearer.

Knowing how dangerous the entity is by what happened to Ford, Sheppard stands ready by the "mousetrap." Weir orders the power in Atlantis shut down so that the entity will be attracted to the trap. But as soon as it detects the trap, it pulls away.

Teyla suggests that, because the entity has been trapped in the vessel for so long, it wants to escape and that sending it through the Stargate would be the answer. A Naquadah generator is strapped to a MALP; the probe is sent toward the activated 'gate, which has been dialed to a barren planet. Alas, the entity engulfs the MALP and drains its battery before the device can go through the 'gate — and then the creature starts feeding on the Stargate itself. McKay finds the courage to put on his shield device, go inside the shadowy entity, unstrap the Naquadah generator from the MALP and throw it through the 'gate. The entity follows. McKay — his shield drained by the entity — is unconscious but otherwise fine.

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1.15 "Before I Sleep"

Alternate Timeline Elizabeth Weir in stasis
Janus, the Ancient who built the timeship
Interior of Janus' timeship, showing time travel device

From SciFi.com Official Episode Summary:

Although Dr. Weir has told no one that today is her birthday, Maj. John Sheppard has found out. He gives her a gift: a ceramic jar made by one of the Athosians. Then he, Lt. Ford and Teyla go off to explore more uncharted areas of Atlantis.

The trio finds a lab with an Ancient stasis chamber. Incredibly, the chamber contains what appears to be a still-living, very old female Ancient. Later, Dr. Carson Beckett estimates the woman's physical age to be roughly 100 years. Technically, according to Dr. Rodney McKay, the woman is in a state of metabolic stasis—aging slowly but not entirely suspended. McKay calculates, based on the initial data he was able to access, that the woman has been in the stasis chamber for 10,000 years. Beckett worries that reviving her in her fragile state will kill her. Weir gives the order: Revive her.

In the infirmary, Weir is stunned when the woman, emancipated from the stasis chamber, awakens and recognizes her, McKay, and the entire Atlantis team. Her next utterance is even more confounding: She says she is Dr. Elizabeth Weir.

The elder Weir explains that she found a way to travel back in time, to when the Ancients lived in Atlantis. She has waited more than ten millennia in that stasis chamber for Team Atlantis to arrive.

When the elder Weir is strong enough, she tells everyone how relieved she is to see the city back on the ocean surface. It didn't rise when she and Team Atlantis first arrived in her timeline, because the city had no fail-safe. In her original timeline, Team Atlantis' arrival seriously drained the city's energy reserves and the shield collapsed. Water crashed in, flooding every room in the city. Everyone drowned except Sheppard, Weir and Zelenka; the trio escaped in a modified Jumper. Sheppard's Ancient gene had allowed him to activate the ship; suddenly, they were in space, with many Wraith vessels firing at them. The next thing the elder Weir remembers is awakening back in Atlantis ... 10,000 years in the past.

Janus, an Ancient scientist, told her that the Ancients had retrieved the Jumper from the ocean floor, and that she had been the only survivor of its crash. The ship was a time machine of Janus' design. He brought her before the Council, which was busy preparing to evacuate the city's occupants to Earth through the stargate. The Council, fearful of further time-tampering, denied Weir's request to return to her own time with a ZPM to prevent the shield from collapsing.

Despite the Council's ruling, Janus devised a plan: He showed Weir the three ZPMs that simultaneously power the city. Used in sequence, they could sustain the power needed to maintain the shield for the time required. The catch: someone had to remain behind to rotate the power from one to the other over thousands of years. To that end, Janus programmed the stasis chamber to awaken Weir periodically during her 10,000-year slumber. He also entered the commands to commence her final revival at the moment that the city's sensors indicated the presence of Team Atlantis, and he programmed a fail-safe system that would raise the city to the surface if power levels dropped below a critical threshold. Then he and the other Alantians evacuated, leaving Weir alone to do her job—a job well-done, as it turned out.

The younger Weir is sad that her older counterpart gave up her life. But the elder Weir feels that her adventure is just beginning, through her younger self. She tells Weir that the five stargate addresses on the note she had in her hand are to outposts—each one with a zero-point module: a gift from Janus. Then she passes away.

Dr. Weir puts the ashes of her older self in the ceramic jar that Sheppard gave to her, then scatters them over the city. Her older self has given her the ultimate birthday present: a future.

NOTE: The timeship introduced in this episode appears to be created using the same technology as the one SG-1 discovered on Harry Maybourne's planet in the episode, 8.13 "It's Good To Be King". Since Janus' timeship crashed 10,000 years ago in the Pegasus Galaxy and the timeship discovered in the Milky Way Galaxy was intact, it is possible that Janus created a new ship once he left Atlantis when the Ancients returned to Earth through the stargate 10,000 years ago.

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1.17 "Letters From Pegasus"

Atlantis is tracking the approaching Wraith fleet
Elizabeth records a message
Carter at the SGC receives the transmission

From SciFi.com Official Episode Summary:

The situation at Atlantis is desperate. With three Wraith hive ships less than two weeks away, and with no way as yet to power up the city's force field, Dr. Weir, Dr. McKay, Maj. Sheppard, Lt. Ford and Teyla discuss their options.

McKay is proud to announce that he might have one viable plan: While they don't have enough power to send a person home from the Pegasus Galaxy, McKay figures that if they patch in all of Atlantis' power-generation capability, they might be able to establish a wormhole long enough to send a message. He can get them 1.3 seconds—enough time for him to send a high-compression data burst that could carry mission reports from all the senior staff, plus invaluable data about Atlantis and the Pegasus Galaxy. Weir approves the plan: They must warn Earth about the Wraith.

Meanwhile, Dr. Zelenka tracks the Wraith hive ships. They seem to go in and out of hyperspace periodically, to the point where he can approximate when and where they will do so again.

Weir discovers that there is enough room in the transmission to include private messages from team members to their loved ones. She puts Lt. Ford in charge of videotaping the messages. Aside from her own personal message, Weir records her condolences to the families of the brave team-members who have lost their lives during this mission.

On Earth, in the Cheyenne Mountain facility that is Stargate Command, there is unscheduled off-world activation. Lt. Col. Samantha Carter sees that it is a message ... from Atlantis.

NOTE: Joseph Mallozzi, producer of Stargate SG-1, said that where this episode fits into the Stargate SG-1 timeline has been deliberately left vague. Season Eight of Stargate SG-1 ended without any acknowledgement that this transmission was received. It is possible that it will be acknowledged in Season Nine.

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1.20 "The Siege Part 2"

SG-1 with ZPM found in Egypt
Col. Dillon Everett of Stargate Command sent by Gen. O'Neill
Daedalus is Prometheus' sister-ship

From SciFi.com Official Episode Summary:

Atlantis is out of options: The remaining two Wraith hive ships are only hours away (one was destroyed in 1.19 "The Siege Part 1"). The Atlantis team has no choice but to evacuate. Weir orders the self-destruct set, the virus that will destroy the Ancient database downloaded and the Alpha site dialed.

Incoming wormhole: The IDC is from Stargate Command. Colonel Dillon Everett and a platoon of Marines arrive with a massive arsenal of small arms. Everett salutes Dr. Weir and conveys General Jack O'Neill's compliments on a job well done under extraordinary circumstances. He then relieves her of command by presenting signed authorization from O'Neill himself. Everett's first order: Cancel the self-destruct. He and his troops are here to defend Atlantis at all costs.

Everett is up to speed on Atlantis' situation, having gone over every scrap of information in the compressed data message the team sent weeks earlier. He explains how a ZPM was found in Egypt during an archeological dig (from 8.19 "Moebius Part 1" and 8.20 "Moebius Part 2"). It was used to power his team's journey through the stargate to the Pegasus Galaxy. The ZPM is, at this very moment, being transported up to the battlecruiser Daedalus, which is the Prometheus' sister-ship. The Daedalus will arrive at Atlantis with the ZPM in less than four days. That is how long they have to hold this base against the Wraith. The ZPM will then be used to power up Atlantis' force field. Everett orders Maj. Sheppard to dial up the Alpha Site and recall all military personnel as well as any civilians who would like to return and take part in damage control.

Uncomfortable with Dr. Weir out of the tactical loop, Sheppard warns Everett that if he alienates her, he will lose the respect and support of everyone on Atlantis—including Sheppard himself. Everett allows Weir to sit in on the tactical briefing.

The plan is to place six Naquadah-enhanced nuclear warheads as space mines between the Wraith armada and Atlantis, using the Jumpers. Everett's pilots are being injected with an Ancient gene-therapy regimen and will be trained by Maj. Sheppard on Jumper operation. Massive rail guns are emplaced to defend the city. Everett has also brought a Mark-II Naquadah generator that will power Atlantis' inactive chair weapon (the chair weapon is identical to that in the Antarctic Outpost).

Dr. McKay gets the chair weapon operational, but there's a problem: There are only a few dozen drone weapons left in the chair. The thousands it's supposed to contain obviously were used during the Ancients' last fight against the Wraith.

The alarm sounds. A hundred-plus asteroids are heading toward Atlantis. The Wraith have harvested them from the system's asteroid belt and accelerated them from a safe distance, for the express purpose of setting off the mines—which they do, taking out Atlantis' first line of defense.

With the city's sensors blinded by the Naquadah-nukes, Wraith darts approach the city undetected. They expertly evade the rail guns' barrage and fire on the city. Some darts make kamikaze runs. The gunners at the control tower are culled up to the Wraith ships. Sheppard mans the chair weapon and destroys several Wraith darts with the powerful drones. The wave of Wraith darts is neutralized.

Unfortunately, the chair weapon is out of drones, and the deep-space sensors are still blind. Everett is open to suggestions. Sheppard has a plan: If McKay and Dr. Zelenka can find a way to remote-control a Jumper, they can fly it right down the hive ships' proverbial throats. But all the nukes were destroyed by the asteroids. Weir bargains with the Genii on their homeworld. She'll give them the C-4 explosives they've so desperately wanted in exchange for their prototype nuclear bombs, which will be tested on Wraith hive ships at no risk to the Genii. They accept.

Meanwhile, Teyla has felt the presence of the Wraith. They are in the city. Everett arms Teyla and other Athosians. They, Sheppard, Lt. Ford and the other soldiers hunt them down and kill them. Some Athosians are killed in the process.

Weir returns with the nukes. McKay and Zelenka get them operational and also succeed in getting the chair weapon to remote-pilot a Jumper. The nukes are loaded aboard the Jumpers. The hive ships are in range. Wraith darts are heading toward the city. The rail guns destroy one.

More Wraith are in the city. Everett comes face to face with one, and Teyla cannot be raised by radio. Ford and his soldiers are trapped in a standoff with a Wraith patrol.

Then, another setback: The Mach II Naquadah generator powering the chair weapon is depleted. There is no way to remote-pilot the Jumpers.

With no other choice, Sheppard gets into one of the nuclear Jumpers and pilots it straight toward the armada.

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Season Two

2.01 "The Siege Part 3"

Col. Steven Caldwell, commander of the Daedalus
Daedalus lands on Atlantis
File:Atlantis-201.jpg
Atlantis is seemingly destroyed to fool Wraith

From SciFi.com Official Episode Summary:

The Wraith assault on Atlantis rages on. In the midst of the chaos, Dr. Beckett treats Lt. Ford, who has been rescued from a near-fatal encounter with the alien invaders. Ford's abnormally quick recovery, however, leaves the doctor suspicious. He worries that the Wraith who attacked Ford might have injected the young officer with a harmful enzyme, causing unpredictable long-term damage.

Meanwhile, far above the planet and surrounded by Wraith, Maj. Sheppard faces seemingly certain death — until he is rescued by Earth's newest and most sophisticated space battle cruiser, the Daedalus. Commanded by Col. Steven Caldwell, the Daedalus has completed its long journey to the Pegasus galaxy just in time. With its help, the Atlantis team defeats the Wraith's first assault on the city.

Their victory, however, is short-lived. The next wave of the Wraith onslaught — an entire fleet — is bearing down on Atlantis. With a little over a day before the new attack, Dr. Weir realizes that even the Daedalus will be no match for the Wraith's redoubled forces. The team's only hope is a drastic plan devised by Dr. McKay — but the complicated technology it requires might take too long to perfect.

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2.02 "The Intruder"

Daedalus returning to Atlantis in hyperspace
Asgard Hermiod
Daedalus and errant F-302 fly toward a sun

From SciFi.com Official Episode Summary:

Drs. Weir and McKay and the newly promoted Lt. Col. Sheppard are en route from Earth to Atlantis on board the Daedalus. Their first visit home has been emotionally draining, and they are looking forward to resuming their lives in the Ancient city.

Soon after they cross into the Pegasus galaxy, however, a scientist is electrocuted in the Daedalus's computer room. McKay first believes that faulty circuitry is to blame, but then a second scientist is killed while investigating the problem. Now convinced that the deaths are no accident, McKay convinces Col. Caldwell, commander of the Daedalus, to drop the ship out of hyperspace until the murderous saboteur can be found.

With the help of the ship's Asgard advisor, Hermiod, McKay quickly discovers that the saboteur isn't a person at all — it's a Wraith computer virus. It seems to possess some form of artificial intelligence, allowing it to predict the actions of its human opponents and rewrite itself in response. Unless those on the Daedalus can stop it, it will fly the ship straight to the Wraith, giving them access to all the advanced human and Asgard technology aboard.

When McKay attempts a full system shutdown, the resilient virus responds by flying the ship straight toward the coronasphere of a nearby star. The route will not destroy the ship, but the intense radiation will kill everyone aboard, freeing the virus to continue its mission without interference. As they zoom toward the star, Sheppard, McKay and the others know they will have to find a solution quickly if they want to see their new home again.

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2.13 "Critical Mass"

Agent Barrett briefs Gen. Landry and Dr. Lee on the Goa'uld threat to Atlantis
Dr. Lee explains communication relay from Earth to Atlantis
Col. Caldwell unknowingly has become a Goa'uld host

From SciFi.com Official Episode Summary:

On Earth, a galaxy away from Atlantis, Gen. Landry receives intelligence that The Trust, a group of conspirators controlled by the evil Goa'uld (8.14 "Full Alert"), have learned of the Ancient city and sent an undercover operative there to plant a bomb. Details are sketchy, but any use of Atlantis's Stargate to dial Earth will somehow trigger the explosion.

The moment that Earth relays this news to Atlantis, Dr. Weir orders both the Stargate and the city's main power source, a ZPM, shut down. She also orders the absent starship Daedalus to return, because the bomber might be trying to escape aboard it.

In the midst of this intense search for both bomb and bomber, the city's distress beacon activates. Before McKay can shut it off, it catches the attention of two Wraith cruisers, who head straight for Atlantis. If they discover that the city still exists, they will attack immediately. To prevent such a catastrophe, McKay prepares to reconnect the ZPM and use its power to cloak the city from view.

Suspicion is consuming the city. McKay suspects that Lt. Cadman, a demolitions expert, is the saboteur. Weir suspects Dr. Kavanagh, a disgruntled scientist. For his part, Kavanagh suspects Dr. Zelenka, who is off-world on a conveniently timed mission. Weir's suspicions carry the most weight, however, so the investigation's focus settles on the prickly and defensive Kavanagh.

Then McKay discovers that no actual bomb exists. Instead, the saboteur has removed the failsafes from the ZPM, so that it will overload in a massive explosion as soon as it emits any significant amount of power. The saboteur has been trying to provoke them into dialing Earth or cloaking the city — either of which will cause an overload.

But the Wraith are closing in. In desperation, McKay shuts down as many secondary systems as possible and activates the cloak. As the power usage levels inch toward critical, Weir considers torturing Kavanagh for answers. Atlantis teeters on the brink of destruction, though whether it will come from without or from within remains to be seen.

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--DeeKayP 20:43, 28 Oct 2004 (PDT)