When a secret base abandoned by the Ancients — the original builders of the stargates — is found buried in the ice of Antarctica, the Stargate Atlantis team is recruited for the most daring stargate mission yet: a one-way expedition to the distant Pegasus Galaxy.
There the Stargate Atlantis team encounters a number of primitive human civilizations ... as well as the Wraith, a sinister new enemy that threatens human life everywhere.
The Stargate Atlantis mission is headed by Dr. Elizabeth Weir (Torri Higginson), a specialist in diplomatic relations. Her political savvy is balanced by the go-with-your-gut bravado of her military counterpart, Maj. John Sheppard (Joe Flanigan), a courageous and gifted pilot. Rounding out the team are Lt. Aiden Ford (Rainbow Sun Francks), the enthusiastic young officer who becomes Sheppard's second-in-command; and Dr. Rodney McKay (David Hewlett), a clever and quick-witted astrophysicist with previous experience at Stargate Command. The team is befriended by Pegasus Galaxy native Teyla (Rachel Luttrell), a beautiful young leader among the Athosian people, with whom the Atlantis team forges an uneasy alliance against the Wraith.
New faces join the team this season. Most notable among them are Ronon Dex (Jason Momoa), a human native to the Pegasus Galaxy who has fought the Wraith for seven years in defense of his planet. And from Earth comes Col. Steven Caldwell (Mitch Pileggi), the commander of Earth's newest intergalactic battle cruiser, the Daedalus. Samantha Carter (Amanda Tapping), formerly of SG-1, took command of Atlantis after Weir's departure, and IOA representative Richard Woolsey (Robert Picardo) succeeded Carter in turn. Dr. Carson Beckett (Paul McGillion) has served as the base's chief medical officer, and Dr. Jennifer Keller (Jewel Staite) succeeded him.
Recaps
5x20: Enemy at the Gate recap: Atlantis receives an incoming wormhole and a transmission from Todd the Wraith. He tells them that he managed to find the cure to the disease that threatened to kill him, and that he was attacked by one of his underlings and survived. Woolsey wonders what this has to do with them and Todd explains that his underling has a ZPM...
read more.5x18: Identity recap: A strange woman seems surprised to find herself in a hallway within Atlantis. She goes to an auxiliary lab and Dr. Zalenka greets her, seeming to recognize her. She appears confused and he suggests he take her to the infirmary. When he insists, she grabs a knife and stabs him, then look in a nearby mirror... and finds herself with Dr. Keller's face...
read more.5x17: Infection recap: A hive ship arrives in the Atlantis planet's star system and the team nervously tracks its approach for the planet. Rodney suggests they bring up the shields but Woolsey prefers to stay quiet and orders the cloak device engaged. The ship arrives in orbit but there's no attack. There is a file transmission but the file is corrupted. Rodney manages to decrypt part of it and it's a distress message from Todd the Wraith, saying that his crew needs Atlantis' help with some infection derived from Keller's anti-Wraith gene therapy...
read more.5x16: Brain Storm recap: On Atlantis, Sheppard and Ronon notice that Rodney is having lunch with Keller but hasn’t asked her out yet. Everyone is preparing to take leave on Earth but Sheppard plans on staying. At the table, Rodney finally gets up the nerve to ask Keller to accompany him to a presentation on Earth that his old friend Malcolm Tunney is having. Rodney would like to arrive there with a beautiful woman since he’s been out of public sight and hasn’t published anything in several years. She says she wishes he’d just ask her on a date and he does so, and she agrees to go...
read more.5x19: Vegas recap: Police Detective John Sheppard drives out to the desert where a CSI team is going over a crime scene. A reporter wants Sheppard to answer if the newest victim is a victim of a serial killer who has killed seven other men. Sheppard ignores her and talks to the head technician. The murder victim was abandoned in the desert by someone driving an older-model pickup with a leaky radiator. The corpse is significantly aged and has a single large wound on its chest...
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