Product Description
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When SG-1 discovers what they believe to be the remnants of the
Lost City of the Ancients - the originators of the Stargates -
Stargate Command launches an investigation. A new team of
explorers, headed by civilian Dr. Elizabeth Weir, travels to the
distant Peus galaxy, where they discover an advanced but
deserted city on the ocean floor, a group of nomadic humans and a
deadly enemy that feeds on human fear! Actors: David Hewlett,
Jason Momoa, Joe Flanigan, Paul McGillion, Rachel Luttrell,
Special Features: Widescreen format. Language: English / Add.
Portuguese, Spanish / Sub. French, Portuguese, Spanish, English
Year: 2004 Runtime: 873 minutes.
.com
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It's not a franchise on the order of Law & Order, CSI, or Star
Trek--not yet, anyway--but with Stargate Atlantis, a more than
worthy successor to SG-1, Stargate is becoming a nice little
cottage industry in itself. The premise, in a nutshell: The
Ancients, the greatest race the universe has ever known (or
something like that), abandoned Earth millions of years ago,
taking Atlantis with them; they then sunk the entire city in
order to escape the clutches of the dreaded Wraith, an implacable
bunch of villains who nourish themselves by sucking the life from
humans. Now, as the two-hour "Rising" pilot details, a new team
has gained access to the legendary city. Once they arrive,
Atlantis loses the power to sustain its protective shield and
rises to the surface, and thus begin the team's adventures (i.e.,
using the stargate to travel to other planets in the Peus
galaxy, encountering aliens both hostile and friendly, and trying
to defeat the Wraith, or at least stay out of their way).
Jack O'Neill (Richard Dean Anderson), SG-1's driving force, is
missed, but Atlantis has a strong replacement in Major John
Sheppard (Joe Flanigan), easily the most charismatic member of
the new team. Like O'Neill, Sheppard is a wiseacre and a loose
cannon, as well as a superb pilot with an innate understanding of
the Ancients' arcane technology. His humor, humanity and
conscience provide a welcome contrast to the other characters,
especially brilliant-but-neurotic Dr. Rodney McKay (David
Hewlett) and ultra-serious project leader Dr. Elizabeth Weir
(Torri Higginson), who has little to do but give orders and stand
up for her people. The Wraith, who resemble a vampire mutation of
the albino blues guitarist Johnny Winter, are the focus of most
of these 19 episodes (including the pilot). These bad boys will
stop at nothing--nothing, I tell you!--in their quest to snack
their way through every galaxy in the universe, with Earth their
ultimate feeding ground. And while the final four episodes,
dealing with the Wraith's massive attack on Atlantis, end with an
unsatisfying cliffhanger (basically, nothing is resolved),
earlier shows effectively keep their ominous presence in the
forefront. The episodes in which the Wraith play little or no
active role are often compelling as well, including "Thirty Eight
Minutes" (one of our heroes' "puddle jumper" spacecraft gets
stuck in the stargate), "Childhood's End" (we meet a race whose
members are convinced that only ritual suicide is keeping the
Wraith at bay), and "The Eye" (a planet-size hurricane/tsunami
bears down on Atlantis). As is the case with SG-1, the visual
effects work, especially by TV standards, is excellent; in fact,
one might wish for bit more cool sci-fi action and less talk in
some of the episodes. Special effects include commentary (by
directors, writers, and/or actors) for every episode, as well as
the occasional behind-the-scenes featurette. --Sam Graham