The Siege Part III

DVD, Stargate Atlantis S2 (The Siege Part III)

I'd be impressed if they were able to maintain the level of intensity of this opening into the rest of the season, but however it progresses it can't be ignored that this was a rip-roaring return for the series with major bluffs, character twists and heroic people giving their all to the survival of Atlantis. It's the perfect antidote to all the 'Star Trek: Discovery' I've been watching which is largely negative, depressing, and not true to its source material, while at least this first episode was a glorious concoction of what a 'Stargate' series can be. With 'DSC' I'm constantly dismayed by the cavalier attitude to canon and sense, but with this franchise I don't have those concerns, free to enjoy it as surface-level sci-fi fun, and with that in mind this delivered in spades. I couldn't believe it had been almost two years since I finished watching Season 1, so it was no surprise that I didn't recall much about the characters or their position at the end of the season, barring the all-out attack on Atlantis. But it didn't matter, I was soon through the 'gate as it were, and right back aboard the city of The Ancients among people I recognised and liked. The episode was surprisingly short, only forty-two minutes, but it felt even shorter from the pace of the thing - they go from the midst of attack by The Wraith to fending them off, then to an internal threat, and finally to a seemingly unending potential attack as reinforcements upon reinforcements are set to continue the siege.

If I was to cite anything wrong with the story it would be that everything is dealt with quite simply and easily, not just in the technological solutions suggested by Doctors McKay and Zelenka, but in the successful implementation of them - so the attacking Hive ship is beaten off thanks to the Daedalus from Earth, an SGC vessel that features an Asgard called Hermiod as its USP and enables them to have the upper hand, at least for a while, by overriding the Asgard beaming technology to get a nuke to be beamed aboard the enemy ship, neatly taking it out with one massive blast. Or when they search for Ford and it's as simple as using the sensors to check the water around the city. The earlier nuke tactic works again when Sheppard rallies them to make an offensive strike against the approaching reinforcement Hive ships, but after two are destroyed the others cotton on and activate countermeasures that drop their ace in the hole flat. It was a good trick while it lasted, but they weren't going to be able to take out the entire fleet or there wouldn't be a story any more, would there? I'm not sure quite how the Daedalus could make it to Atlantis from another galaxy, but I'm fully prepared to accept that I'm still in the mindset of 'SG-1' with its fight against The Ori, whom required a supergate to be able to reach our galaxy, so maybe Pegasus isn't as far away as all that, but it's been some time so I can't remember all the lore of this series. Hopefully it'll get more explanation as the season progresses.

If things were a little too pat, then there were other things that gave me a warm glow - I really wanted Weir to give Sheppard a non-regulation hug when she met him returned from the 'dead,' and likewise, when the Wraith-drained Colonel Everett summons Sheppard to his medical bed to apologise for his anger over Sheppard killing his friend, before dismissing him, I really wanted Sheppard to salute him, and he did. So it did a lot of things that worked, and the most surprising was how they dealt with Lieutenant Ford. As I said in earlier reviews I never felt he caught on as a character, but he became suddenly fascinating in this episode - he's not the only one to have a unique link with The Wraith, as Teyla reminded us with her mental contact with them, she can communicate, but Ford has been turned part-Wraith physically, altering his demeanour, body chemistry, and his mind, and turning him into a danger to his fellow crew. He was a bit quick to assume everyone was afraid of him and wanted to stop him from fully changing, and I'd have preferred a bit more subtlety in how they handled this transformation, at least mentally, like when Tom Paris mutated in that 'Voyager' episode, 'Threshold' - I needed to see him become more delusional and felt it could have played out over several episodes instead of shoved right in amongst everything else that was happening. It makes me wonder if he'll no longer be a main cast member, despite being in the opening titles, as he's gone off on his own to who knows where.

If they were writing Ford out of the series I feel it was a reasonable decision to make as I don't remember him really having a great buddy friendship with Sheppard or anyone else, and do we need another soldier like Sheppard, and one that's lower in rank? It's not that he wasn't likeable, he just didn't have much going on, or that's how I remember his contribution to Season 1, and if this transformation is also a new way they're going to write him, then it could be good for the character. I'd love to have a half-mad SGC soldier roaming the galaxy and upsetting their plans. I suspect, however, they will track him down and he'll end up dying with a remorse scene and Sheppard cradling his head, because that's what usually happens. But I'm prepared to be wrong. I feel the same way about how they dealt with The Wraith, the bold gambit of simulating the city's auto-destruct and activating a nuke just above the shield. I'm sure The Wraith won't be fooled for long, and they won't be able to pull that trick again in the future, but it was a good way to take the heat off, otherwise, as Weir said, they'd just keep sending wave after wave, and the series would become about a siege, they wouldn't be able to do much of anything outside of sitting around trying to come up with a plan. Instead they've bought some time, The Wraith aren't an immediate threat and the only thing hanging is Ford's departure, so I have no idea where this season might go in its arc. Bravo to the series so far, I'm eager to see more!

The characters all got their moments, especially McKay, who gets to be brave, stupid and clever in a whirlwind of reactions or brainwaves, along with his fellow scientist, Dr. Zelenka, and it was good to see quirky Dr. Novak again, though I couldn't remember if she was from 'SG-1' or Season 1 of this series, and I wish she'd had the opportunity to be more quirky. The sets looked great, the effects shone, and the excitement level was never less than buzzing. It felt big and bold with the Daedalus there to give them more oomph in the same way as the USS Defiant being added to Season 3 of 'DS9' superceded the little Runabouts, or the Puddle-Jumpers as the 'Atlantis' version is called. I'd love it if the ship stayed on in the series, but I think this season corresponds with 'SG-1' Season 9, which I've just watched, and I think they were involved with other stuff. Maybe they could leave Novak on Atlantis and have some personnel transfer over? Whatever happens, it was feeling more 'Star Trek' than 'Star Trek' feels these days, which is both a disappointment when I think of it, and a balm to soothe my Trek woes. I should temper my expectations in that regard, however, as the series is its own thing and I don't want to set it up for comparisons that would likely be unfavourable in the long run. Oh, and I still love the theme music: epic and mysterious, just how I like it!

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