- Written by Robert C. Cooper and Brad Wright
- Directed by Martin Wood
- July 16, 2004
- Sci Fi Channel
- Stargate: Atlantis created by Brad Wright and Robert C. Cooper and based on Stargate: SG1 created by Brad Wright and Jonathan Glassner and the film Stargate by Roland Emmerich and Dean Devlin
Episode Cast
- Major John Sheppard-Joe Flanigan
- Dr. Elizabeth Weir-Torri Higginson
- Teyla Emmagan-Rachel Luttrell
- Lt. Aiden Ford-Rainbow Sun Francks
- Dr. Rodney McKay-David Hewlett
- Brigadier General Jack O’Neill-Richard Dean Anderson
- Dr. Daniel Jackson-Michael Shanks
- Simon Wallis-Garwin Sanford
- Dr. Carson Beckett-Paul McGillion
- Wraith Queen-Andee Frizzell
- Dr. Peter Grodin-Craig Veroni
- Halling-Christopher Heyerdahl
- Colonel Marshall Sumner-Robert Patrick
- Sgt. Bates-Dean Marshall
- Sgt. Stackhouse-Boyan Vukelic
- Jinto-Reece Thompson
- Toran-Stefano DiMatteo as Stefano Colacitti
- Wex-Casey Dubois
- Ancient Woman-Melia McClure
- Sgt. Siler-Dan Shea
- SGC Technician-David Milchard
- Technician-Edmond Kato Wong as Edmond Wong
- Scientist #1-Bro Gilbert
- Scientist #2-Peter Grasso
- Male Wraith-James Lafazanos
- Wraith Warrior-Dan Payne
- Ayiana-Ona Grauer
- Male Ancient-Aaron Dudley
When the location of Atlantis, the lost city of the Ancients, is discovered a team is sent to the Pegasus Galaxy only to be cut off from Earth as they confront a dangerous new enemy.
Stargate: Atlantis was the first attempt to extend the world of Stargate beyond SG1. It takes as its basis some preestablished lore and a plot element that had played out in the preceding season of Stargate: SG1 in their effort to protect Earth from the growing threat of the partially ascended Goa’uld System Lord Anubis and a serious lack of help from the Ancients.
Rising opens in the aftermath of the victory over Anubis with an international team studying the Antarctic outpost of the Ancients trying to discern exactly where Atlantis is. For the uninitiated this might be a bit confusing. In short the majority of myths have some garbled connection to a race of ascended beings who were quite the litterbugs with their technology. In this case it was an outpost that served as the physical base of the City of Atlantis before it left Earth. The Ancients did everything big.
I was not then or now happy with Torri Higgenson taking over for Jessica Steen in the part of expedition leader Dr. Elizabeth Weir. I liked her performance better though Higgenson was not unacceptable. In hindsight it might be because neither bears a passing physical appearance to the other.
David Hewlett as Dr. Rodney McKay is perhaps one of the highlights of the series and of this (or any) episode. As an actor his performance as McKay spoke volumes without actually saying anywhere in words. Despite being a genius versed in alien technology he was one of two characters that regularly brought something of a common man perspective to the show.
The other is USAF Major John Sheppard (Joe Flanigan) who is rather casually brought into the situation as Brigadier General Jack O’Neill’s (Richard Dean Anderson) pilot and kinda given free reign of the site even though Sheppard knows quickly he probably should not be seeing any of it. Flanigan gives a consistent appearance in his first scenes that indicates his character knows he should not be there but is not stepping out either.
As a pilot episode Rising does an excellent job of integrating the two casts allowing one to organically hand over a show to another. Rather than heavy handedly introduce major and minor characters before getting into story or simply stopping things to focus on an eventual recurring face, many appear in the background as the story moves forward engaging in some act of studying this base. A few are active in the foreground with lines or actions such as Dr. Carson Beckett (Paul McGillion) but it is only as needed.
To keep from being a copy of SG1, Atlantis moved the action to another galaxy as it delved into the mystery of the sudden collapse of the Ancients’ civilization. Early on in the first half there are hints of the new enemy. We get a great tease as they continually mention in one way or another a threat powerful enough to wipe out what was assumed to be the most powerful civilization ever.
The initial reveal of the Wraith hints at something scary only during the cleanup where a severed arm is seen crawling along. Other than that it is nothing too unusual. Strange ships engage in a raid where we get cool new ships that can activate the Pegasus Galaxy gates remotely. A few members of the expedition get captured forcing a rescue which introduces the puddle jumpers of the Ancients which became regularly used aspects of the show.
Rising is probably a little darker than the larger series that followed or SG1 because of the Wraith but at no moment did it forget the action and the humor which made its predecessor very enjoyable. It was never humor that undermined the action. Maybe it lightened the mood or served characterization.
A subplot in the episode is Sheppard having disobeyed a direct order in an attempt to rescue some comrades and the distrust knowledge of those actions caused in the expeditions original military leader Colonel Marshall Sumner (Robert Patrick). There is tension between the two and I would have liked it to play out longer in the series but it was not to be.
Sumner is among the captured and is soon taken before a Wraith queen where we learn just how terrifying these new aliens are. In a never thoroughly explained way these creatures with kinda mouths on their hands suck the life of their food-people! Thus is introduced the main issue of Season One which was to keep the Atlantis gate from the Wraith who wanted it to get to the plentiful feeding ground of the Milky Way Galaxy.
Another thing introduced here is that the Atlantis expedition is resource poor. They may have access to the capital city of the Ancients, but it lacks a charged zero-point module (ZPM) forcing it to run largely on Mark I Naquadah generators. Aside from fighting the Wraith, they are regularly hoping to stumble across a ZPM to power the city. The other problem is that the Wraith hives sleep until food is plentiful enough and the team’s arrival stirs them early making them getting to the Atlantis gate and the team defending it very important.
As a pilot it needs to get a lot in (and does) but never feels rushed. The main cast and issues that were a thread throughout are deftly introduced with enough basis that you are never left with questions. Even the near immortality of the Wraith gets covered! This is done in demonstrations over info dumps. It is faster to show with minimal dialogue than to explain.
I can see modern audiences turned off by the less-than-cinematic budget of the show in comparison to modern shows. A few moments even then were not great but the show then and now looks good and captures your mind with exciting character driven storytelling over superficial appearance.
At the time I remember being very impressed with the effects and I need to give credit to the in-house special-effects department that did both shows. They worked with very little and gave us a great deal. Very impressive imagery of the city rising when they are about to run out of power.
Visually the main failure of this episode is the presentation of the Wraiths organic technology. It is something hard to show in general. Most films or series tend to muck it up. The weakness here comes in the cliché floor mist which brings down the physical set. That and when their weapons are handled the look no heavier than beach balls.
My desire for Sumner to have survived and foggy floors aside, I can’t find anything strongly wrong with Rising. It’s exciting and adventurous and nicely teases a great show to come. It was a definite win in the expansion of the Stargate universe.
Warren Watched A Movie 