Hooked on Stargate Atlantis

I think I can safely place the blame for my fascination with this new series squarely on my futurist tendencies. Although this wonderfully-different sci-fi hit is set in the present, the characters have access to advanced technology created by the Ancients, the an extinct fictional race that evolved on Earth millions of years before man that built a system of devices in this galaxy called stargates. These superconducting rings allow matter to be transported via wormholes formed between two gates separated by vast distances, making travel from one end of the galaxy to the other nearly instantaneous. Although the gate builders look much like we do, they are far more advanced in their knowledge of the universe. Still, their kind became subject to a plague of sorts and a group moved their entire city of Atlantis to the Pegasus galaxy, exploring and creating a new network of stargates with which to travel and expand their reaches. But in the midst of their colonization, they came into contact with a race of malevolent beings with a level of technology that rivaled their own. A conflict ensued and the remaining survivors were forced to travel back to Earth through the only stargate capable of making such a connection in Atlantis. The city of Atlantis was abandoned and submerged beneath the sea to protect it in the hopes that it could be saved in the future.

Now, humans have been exploring the worlds of our galaxy by stargate and have found the connection and the means to power the transgalactic connection to Atlantis. An entire expedition of some hundred people travel there. They have a whole new galaxy and an enormous ancient city of modern technological marvel to explore. Thus far, the episodes have been enjoyable, and I must say that the actors have been doing an excellent job.

Now, as with all sci-fi (it is fiction for a reason, right?), there are a few blunders every now and then. The cast’s chief scientist, McKay, for example, was attempting to explain nanotechnology in a recent episode and blundered by saying that the nanoscale is billionths of a millimeter. For the record, that should be billionths of a meter, and if I were to split hairs probably 10s to 100s of billionths of a meter. Still, I have found this new diversion entertaining and sufficiently different (in a very good way) from the standard themes of this genre—spaceships, space battle scenes, transporters, et cetera. Now that is not to say that this does not have some of those elements, but it has the potential and has shown the potential to do so much more with the characters and story line.

I look forward to the coming season that the SciFi Channel recently ordered, as this series sparks my imagination.