by Kate Blake, Admin Multipleverses.com
no hard spoilers in this update
Overview of where things stand as we enter season 5
SciFi Channel will be airing the first 13 episodes of the season in the summer of 2008 . I will post airdates as soon as they are firmed up but it looks like they begin in April. SGA won the People’s Choice award for favorite SCI-FI show in January and the SCI-FI channel has been promoting this heavily in its advertising as well they should! SGA may not get the critical acclaim of BSG but it has managed to do a fine job of standing alone as a franchise as worthy of the Stargate name as the original epic series SG-1.
The characters in the SGA verse have been developed over the first 4 seasons so that we all have our favorites. Whether it is charming but somewhat enigmatic Lt. Colonel John Sheppard that you love, heart and soulful doctor Carson Beckett, arrogant , self-centered and brilliant nerd Rodney McKay or the lovely , tough and mystical Teyla Emmagon or rough and ready rogue Ronan Dex- there is something for everyone on SGA. The leadership has changed over the past year with Dr. Elizabeth Weir being taken over by the Replicators and Colonel Samantha Carter being brought in to save the day. Now in season 5 we will see yet another change in leadership as the pesky IOA sends in Woolsey to take the helm of the Atlantis expedition. I have a feeling his return to the city will not be a joy ride anymore than his previous trip when he and General Jack O’Neill visited and were taken hostage by the Replicators.
Where season 4 ended.
Season 4 ended with a bang as always. The big finale Last Man Standing saw Sheppard jumped into the future thanks to a pesky sunspot as he was returning from a mission. This jump put him into contact with a holograph of Rodney which guided him on how to get back and find and hopefully save Teyla from Wraith/Human hybrid Michael played by Connor Trinneer. Michael has plans for Teyla’s child as it has two parents with human and wraith DNA and he needs this to control his engineered species of super mutant warriors which he intends to use to rule the Pegasus galaxy and wipe out the other wraith and anyone else who gets in his way.
Once Rodney is able to get John back to his own time they set off to save Teyla only to be caught in a huge booby trap and the building they are in implodes under a series of explosions. Who will survive? Will they rescue Teyla and her child? Will their Wraith ally Todd the scientist be able to help them with the pursuit of Michael? We saw Todd working with Ronin in the alt universe version of things in Last Man Standing the season 4 finale. This should give John some insight that they can trust him ultimately.
Personally I cannot wait to see how this storyline plays out. The wraith are one of the more challenging foes anyone has ever gone up against in Sci-Fi history. The whole vampiric control is fascinating as well as the way they suck the life out of people! Who else was grossed out by the cloning facility where we saw the faceless warriors being hatched? Ew! And once the team is done with Michael- there is a whole new Replicator threat on the horizon as we saw in the last episodes with another Elizabeth Weir replicator out there waiting to do who knows what.
Hang on- it should be a bumpy ride. Make sure your jumper seat belts are fastened and your P-90 is locked and loaded! A new season of SGA is coming.
From Gateworld- Titles of Upcoming episodes
Episode 5.01 - Search and Rescue
Episode 5.02 - The Seed
Episode 5.03 - Broken Ties
Episode 5.04 - The Daedalus Variations
Episode 5.05 - Ghost in the Machine
Episode 5.06- The Shrine of Talus
Episode 5.07 - Whispers
Episode 5.08 - Tracker
Episode 5.09- The Queen
Episode 5.12- The Inquisition
Inside Stargate Atlantis‘ Season 5 Shake-up
Robert Picardo in Stargate Atlantis by Eike Schroter/Sci Fi Channel Photo
He might not be as easy on the eyes as Amanda Tapping, but when Stargate Atlantis starts filming its fifth 20-episode season later this month, Robert Picardo will join the cast on a full-time basis, just as the officious (and heretofore recurring) bureaucrat Richard Woolsey assumes command of the expedition from Tapping’s Samantha Carter.
Tapping, whose Web series Sanctuary has been picked up by Sci Fi Channel for a 13-episode run, will appear in several Atlantis eps, as will her SG-1 costar Michael Shanks. Fan fave Paul McGillion (who was literally brought back from the dead by fan demand!) will also return for five shows. — Ileane Rudolph
