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Show:		5.0
Picture:		7.0
Sound:		8.0
Extras:		1.0
Score:		4.0

Director(s):	Martin Wood
Writer(s):	Brad Wright, Robert C. Cooper
Starring:	Robert Patrick • Joe Flanigan • Torri Higginson • Rachel Luttrell • David Hewlett • Paul McGillion • Mitch Pileggi • Robert Picardo
Genre:	Sci-Fi • Television
Website:	http://www.syfy.com/atlantis/
Release Date:	August 04, 2009

List Price:	Blu-ray - $19.99
Amazon:

The creation of a Stargate: Atlantis Fans’ Choice disc doesn’t come without a stark revelation on the show’s initial and final levels of quality. That the fans would choose the series’ feature-length pilot episode “Rising” should come as no surprise to those familiar with it, but when compared to the final episode, which also appears on the disc, you realize just how far the production values fell in its five season span. Perhaps the most pertinent question is who the target of this dual-episode set could be. Wouldn’t the loyal fans already own the first and last seasons on DVD, and if so why purchase the bookends on one disc? In which case you have to wonder if there’s any way the set can draw in new viewers on the first episode’s merits. This disc raises so many questions.

“The Rising”

With the Stargate technology already established both in the original motion picture and Stargate SG-1, the series jumps straight into the thick of things. Nestled deep within the icy core of Antarctica, a Stargate research post slowly gathers information on the technology of the Ancients (the race that created the Stargates) when a new symbol in the Stargate technology is unveiled leading to the biggest discovery yet: the location of Atlantis in the Pegasus system (which is really far away). With the promise of the biggest advancement in Ancient research just a Stargate jump away, Dr. Elizabeth Weir (Torri Higginson) puts together a crack team of scientists and military backup for the trip that will change all of their lives forever – with no immediate hope of ever returning home. Hotshot soldier John Sheppard (Joe Flanigan) and commanding officer Colonel Marshall Sumner (Robert Patrick) head the military side of the team and find their skills put to the test when a new foe from beyond the stars appears as the series’ ultimate foe, the Wraiths. But the discovery of the new world beyond Atlantis comes with a price as members of the team are taken prisoner and lives are lost. Marooned in Atlantis, their adventure has just begun.

“Enemy at the Gate”

For the duration of the five season run, all earthlings have managed to keep the location of their home planet a secret from the Wraiths who want nothing more than to use it as their ultimate feeding ground. Count it: that’s five seasons of a well-kept secret. But how is the secret revealed? In the first of a four-episode arch leading up to the series finale after a grueling torture sequence? At the start of the final season with a traitor among their ranks? No. Midway through the final episode of the series with a plot device so mind-numbingly awful in conception as to render the struggles of the characters (and the audience who followed their journey) utterly meaningless. The Wraiths receive a sudden and never-explained communication from Wraiths of a parallel dimension that leads them directly to earth. How convenient. So now the final 20 minutes of the final episode are nothing more than a race against the clock where everything seems to be going wrong for the human race. What saves the day? A nuclear bomb. That’s how they decided to end the series.

The writing in “The Rising” was expositional but still quite clever and witty. It’s easy to forgive the exposition when you know the average audience member might not have the knowledge of the Stargate film or the first series under their belt. So after the characters update us on Stargate technology and how it works, the rest of the time is spent with good old-fashioned storytelling and to remarkably good effect. The special effects may be mixed in quality, but they’re still good enough to satisfy. But things just didn’t stay that way.

After that high-quality pilot, wherein they kill off the only bankable name in the cast (Robert Patrick), the quality of everything begins to deteriorate at such a horrendous pace that the show was painful to watch after half a season and unbearable in its final act. The first and last episodes of the series may represent a nice open and shut feeling for the fans, but it’s hardly indicative of the best moments of Stargate: Atlantis.

As for newcomers? It would be very hard to watch the feature-length pilot and then jump to the final episode as the cast undergoes drastic changes, and every plotpoint presented in the pilot gets scattered to the wind. The set’s only value to a noob is that it has the pilot and can serve as a tantalizing sample of what the series could have been. If they decide to pursue it any further will be decided by whether or not they happen to chance upon the disc’s second episode.

The hardcore fans already have these epsidoes, the only allure I can see is the hi-def quality which does make the pilot all the more striking. But then, it also makes the final episode’s failure all the more humiliating. The choice is yours.

Blu-ray Bonus Features

None.