Television You Should Be Watching: Stargate Atlantis

Television is a lot like food, I've discovered. Sometimes, a really good steak with all the trimmings is called for- and you enjoy every last bite of it and other times, well, you'd settle for a really good peanut butter and jelly sandwich- the perfect comfort food. Happily Stargate: Atlantis falls into the latter category in ways that make it extremely entertaining for reasons that still mystify me somewhat to this day.

A spinoff of Stargate: SG1, which was in turn, spun off from the 1994 titular movie starring Kurt Russell and James Spader, one would have thought that a Richard Dean Anderson free Stargate would be a recipe for really bad television- yet despite starting with what I imagine would have been absurdly low expectations, Stargate: Atlantis succeeds in being a genuinely entertaining science fiction series. There's no new ground broken here, no pushing of the envelope of the genre of science fiction, just pure fun, pure entertainment and a show you can just enjoy, plain and simple.

Part of the reason I think I got into this show was the pilot episode: 'Rising' probably ranks as one of the more impressive series debuts for a science fiction show that I can think of. There's action, adventure, the cast is introduced and fleshed out perfectly- and the introduction of the main bad guys of the series that prove to be creepy, confounding and worthy opponents for our heroes. And more importantly: our heroes are actually going somewhere. That, I think is Atlantis' greatest strength and most important difference with SG-1. Richard Dean Anderson and company can go out into the universe, have an adventure, come home and have a beer. From the very first episode though Atlantis establishes that our heroes are on a one-way trip to a galaxy very, very far away and there are no guarantees they can get home. Over the course of the series, a way home and a connection to Earth is found again, but still the threat remains: they are very, very far away from home in a galaxy with some truly bad guys out to get them.

Atlantis feels like a true voyage of exploration to me and that sense of adventure and danger infects the whole series and makes it a lot of fun to watch. The cast helps a lot as well: Torri Higginson brings a suitable sense of motherly gravitas to her role as leader of the expedition Dr. Elizabeth Weir- who also bounces nicely of her military counterpart Colonel John Shephard- played ably by Joe Flanagan. Although no replacement for Richard Dean Anderson (who can fill McGuyver's shoes? Really?) Flanagan lends his own sense of wise-cracking laid back bad assery to the role- the only sane, beer drinking human amongst a den of nerds. David Hewlett plays the arrogant Rodney McKay perfectly- surprising you occasionally with beautiful flashes of vulnerability that humanize him. Rachel Luttrell and Jason Momoa play the indigenous allies to our heroes managing to be bemused and confused by some of the customs and culture that the natives of the Milky Way bring to their galaxy. The cast works perfectly- and familiar faces from Stargate SG1 drop by as well.

In short: it may not blow your mind, but if you want a television show you can just watch and enjoy, Stargate: Atlantis fits the bill. Especially if you're a dork, like me. Plus, as a review on Amazon.com points out: the bad guys look kind of like Edgar Winter crossed with a vampire. See for yourselves!



Edgar Winter.



Steve the Wraith. See the similarities? Isn't that awesome! Overall: Entertaining as hell, tons of fun and the peanut butter and jelly of television watching. It may not blow your mind, but occasionally, it feels just right.