Irresistible

DVD, Stargate Atlantis S3 (Irresistible)

You always know it's going to be significant when someone in sci-fi has a cold at the beginning. Usually it means that they're the only ones immune from whatever manipulation is set to occur or whatever alien virus will ravage their group, and 'Atlantis' isn't about to break with convention: on this occasion Sheppard is the fortunate fellow to be suffering from the common cold, and I can't imagine what it would have been like if someone less effective and as high in rank had been the chosen one! The episode begins in quite an irritating way where the team visit a 'backwater' village in their search for Stargates they can harvest. Didn't quite understand all that Rodney was saying about why they needed them, but it sounded like it was to be able to connect with Earth rather than relying on the usual ship travel. Except… didn't Elizabeth travel to and from Earth in the first couple of episodes using the Stargate? I was confused. But back to the irritation. We meet this annoying village leader, a simple, if apparently good-natured man whose word every villager hangs upon. The only time he seems anything other than a genial if boring host, is when they move to leave and the townspeople block their path because this Lucius doesn't want them to go.

You'd think with this sinister moment they'd have been much more wary about sending Beckett back to learn what medical accomplishments he may have - they never said who was on the visit, but we only ever see Carson alone, and after the spike of attitude Lucius displayed it would seem prudent to include some security at least. Such details become unimportant since when Beckett does return, he does so with this uninvited guest. A takeover story has been done in every sci-fi series, including past 'Stargate,' so they were hardly covering new ground, but then that doesn't tend to be the remit of the franchise, old ground much covered by 'Star Trek' is usually their meat and drink, and that's much the case here. Fortunately, I don't feel every episode must conform to the ongoing arc about the Wraith and I do in fact enjoy a standalone sci-fi tale, even one I've seen many times before, especially if it's with a set of characters that haven't really been put through such events before. So this does end up fitting the bill fairly nicely, if unremarkably.

I do wonder if they could have done more to make this version of the age-old story more original or put a different spin on it, but it is quite fun to see all these usually more reserved characters fawning over the visitor. It's also good to see that being a native of a technologically inferior planet, he doesn't understand more than the basics of what they're saying, though is shrewd enough to know what he wants (a 'flying machine,' or a Jumper as we know it). I found myself being reminded of two distinct pieces of Trek lore, one being Harry Mudd, space con artist, from 'TOS,' a roguish man who always has an angle to play, and the 22nd Century time traveller, Berlinghoff Rasmussen who stole a time machine from a 26th Century observer and travelled to the 24th to pose as someone coming back in time, on 'TNG' ('A Matter of Time'). Thinking about it, I'd have much preferred this guy who played Lucius to portray Mudd in 'Discovery' than Rainn Wilson, as this was pretty close to the charm and big personality that Roger C. Carmel displayed in 'TOS.'

But I digress from 'Atlantis' - it's reasonably entertaining and while Lucius has few morals, at least he never shows signs of wanting anyone dead, though you'd have to assume that for a man with the opportunity to do anything, such immoral acts might not have been too far into his future. But he always got his way and so never had any reason to get upset at opposition. The episode doesn't really go anywhere you don't expect, Sheppard and McKay are the only ones unaffected at first and so they try and work things out for the rest, until Sheppard is the only one left. I did think maybe Rodney was just playing along and was secretly still aware of what was going on, but then it's obvious that he isn't. The problem is pretty simply resolved, and though it doesn't do anything that makes it stand out, it's still fun. Also interesting to note that Julia Anderson, who would later go on to star in 'Stargate Universe' as part of the main cast, played one of Lucius' wives here - I thought I recognised her.

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