Ah, Stargate: Atlantis. You were my favorite sci-fi series of late. You made the segue away from Stargate: SG1 that much smoother. You’ve almost helped me completely forget about the original Jack O’Neill’s horrible haircut. Not awesome Mac Guyver Richard Dean Anderson Jack, horrible flat top Kurt Russell Jack. I still have nightmares of Kurt Russell doing the ‘running man’ with Kid n’ Play. But I digress! This is a moment for little brother to shine, and shine Atlantis did.

But you say you don’t really know the difference between the series or why what the Atlantis crew did was so awesome? Well, let me fill you in!

Stargate: Atlantis was definitely the rougher, tougher little brother to SG:1 and rightly so. By the time the series got to Atlantis there was almost nothing left to fear in the Milky Way galaxy. The Goa’uld weren’t really anything to worry about and Earth had learned so much from the Asgard, and they had their own intergalactic ships and teleporters, awesome weaponry. The Ori and their followers (see: right wing Christian extremists) were on their way to subjugate the milky way but you knew, you just knew Dr. Jackson and Carter were going to figure something out. You knew it. It had to be true because it had always been true. So, let’s just move on to the space cowboys on the edge of the wild space frontier (Shoo, Firefly. I’m not talking about you).

Enter Atlantis and the Wraith in the Pegasus galaxy. Once again, humans are not the apex predators. All the progress made toward cleaning up the Milky Way galaxy means just about nothing in the Pegasus galaxy. And where there once were a few hundred goa’uld to deal with, there are thousands of wraith. And all the Wraith are on the Wraith’s side. There are no turn coats (Jafar) to be found. And what does the crew have to work with? One millennia old ship (city?) that was left on the bottom of an ocean with the headlights on (see: needs new batteries). And so, here you are. Wraith, a species seemingly devoted to mooching off human life-force nests here, in this galaxy. They cull the local human populations from the Pegasus galaxy’s habitable planets. Those human cultures revolve around “not getting eaten”, so they rarely seem to be able to advance past modest tribal or communal living for the most part. So the Atlantis crew is basically on their own in a ship that can at first barely keep the lights on with technology hundreds if not thousands of years behind the Ancients who built the ship and were still smacked around and defeated by the Wraith before they ascended and basically said, “To hell with cleaning up this galaxy,” (Not to change the subject but does anyone else

find the Ancients somewhat selfish and irritatingly unhelpful)? Oh, and you can’t dial back to Earth, not enough power. And this is just the setup to the first three episodes!!!

“Okay, Jonathan. We get it. Insurmountable odds and alien vampires from outer space are hell-bent on eating the cast.” Great. That’s the series in a nutshell. Oh, and Earth with its billions of inhabitants would end the veritable famine the Wraith have been experiencing, leading to them sleeping in shifts to preserve their food supply and reduce in-fighting. So, there’s that.

Where SG:1 was more about exploring new cultures, discovering alien technology to defend Earth, and finding new allies; Atlantis was more about playing cat and mouse with the Wraith at first. Enter Ronon and Teyla, you’re Sherpas for this series. Similar to Ti’lk and Carter’s father as a Tok’ra they are involved with orienting the new crew from far far away to the ways of the Pegasus galaxy, its ins and outs, its perils and pitfalls. Basically it’s two kick-ass hotties (Eye candy for everyone!) who provide both exposition and ass-kickery. A sure fire twofer.

There’s also the mystery concerning where the Ancients went. Sure, they kind of just dropped off the face of this plane of existence by ascending to a state where they’re pure energy. There’s that. But they left the replicators behind in the milky way galaxy (enjoy the upper-decker we left you, Asgard home world) and basically kind of just gave up a war with the Wraith (and kind of left Destiny flying through the cosmos just ‘cuz). The Ancients are your resident geniuses who have forgotten more than you’ll ever know. So every Stargate series will at some point inevitably point themselves at the vast piles of cast-off user manuals and techno-easter-eggs the Ancients left behind in their rush to peace out of the physical plane. Well, Atlantis is basically a big flying hunk of old fashioned Ancient awesomeness. It’s Doctor McKay’s yard sale toy box: Some of it works (kind of), some of it’s broken, and some of it’s out of batteries.

I don’t want to give away much more than that as far as the series is concerned. I hope you, the reader, get a sense of the rich depth and huge questions and obstacles the series sets up and then tackles in its five seasons. Sure some people end up being weird homicidal Wraith hybrids. Sure some people end up being replicator cyborgs. Sure a mutated Wraith super ship will attempt to cull us all! But you’ll have to just pick up this Blu-Ray box set to discover or rediscover the how’s and the why’s.

So why get the Blu-Ray box set? Picture quality that makes “outside” seem low-def. The sound quality is also crisp, clean, sharp. Jason Momoa has never

been more drool inducing. The special features included in each season are also quite fun. There are mini-documentaries on the special effects, the storylines, the new races, et cetera. There are also video diaries from the cast, directors, and producers that occasionally are turgid (I do have a fast fwd button and you do have editing equipment, right? I’m paying you so could we use your equipment instead of my remote? And stop making corny jokes about the props on the fly. Write, edit, and then edit again. Rehearse a few times and then get back to us. That’s when you’re funny. Not on the fly!) Minutes of your lives can be spared by avoiding set tour extras. However, the commentaries are sometimes poignant and insightful. If you have a favorite episode, watch it with the commentary on. They can be interesting and the commentators take their roles somewhat more seriously than when the camera’s turned on them and they lose their freakin’ minds trying to be funny (Dance monkey! Dance!). So to review: Commentary=good. Video diaries=video diarrhea. That being said, however, if you want to get the feeling that you’re just chillin’ with the cast and crew while tagging along on the set then by all means go for it. I’ll be sitting here with my eyes glazing over.

Stargate: Atlantis The Complete Series on Blu-Ray box set is certainly worth the purchase. The casing itself is beautiful. The video and audio quality is top-notch. Watching and re-watching the series will be a pleasure. The commentaries are interesting. But the rest of the features I could go without for the most part. But take a look for yourself. Maybe something hidden in the depths of the 40 hours of special features will tickle your pickle.