Stargate Atlantis: Season 1 [5 Discs] [DVD]

In the two-part opener of Stargate Atlantis' first season, scientist Dr. Elizabeth Weir (Torri Higginson) organizes a new Stargate team to journey through a newly discovered "time portal" and explore the lost city of Atlantis -- not on Earth, but somewhere in the Pegasus Gallery. Major John Sheppard (Joe Flanigan) and his cohorts Lt. Aiden Ford (Rainbow Sun Francks) and Dr. Rodney McKay (David Hewlitt) have volunteered for the mission despite the foreknowledge that they will not be able to return to Earth unless they locate the advanced technology left behind by the ancient alien race who built Atlantis in the far-distant past. As it turns out, the wondrous city is populated by a variety of beings who'd been lost in space, including a few Earthlings. And what happened to the original Atlantans? This question is answered during the Stargate team's stopover at a primitive planet populated by a vicious and voracious race known at the Wraith, who have gobbled down a number of space dwellers and undoubtedly intend to add the people of Earth on their list. Early attempts to experiment with the alien technology come a cropper, the Stargate ship is imperiled by a variety of unforeseen circumstances, and the crew persons are constantly under attack by strange and deadly alien life forms. On the plus side, they have picked up a valuable new crew member, a fiercely independent native of the Pegasus Galaxy named Teyla (Rachel Luttrell). As the season progresses, the Stargate team comes across a planet populated by a lemming-like race whose members commit suicide upon turning 25; an alien drug which may repel the Wraith has unexpected side effects; General George Hammond (Don S. Davis) from the original Stargate SG-1 makes a guest appearance in the story of a strange fog with stranger powers; investigating a crippled Wraith ship, the crew members meet their enemy face to face with surprising results; a visit to a world without technology may provide a safe harbor from the Wraith, but of negligible value if the means to return to Earth are never discovered; and upon recovering a woman held in suspended animation, the team is shocked to find that she is none other than their mission leader, Dr. Weir! The season's finale is the two-part cliffhanger "The Siege," wherein a military force from Earth arrives in Atlantis to help the team fend off a full-frontal assault by the Wraith -- but even these reinforcements may prove useless unless Dr. McKay can activate an orbital-weapons platform after thousands of centuries of disrepair.~Hal Erickson