January 2013: Days of Stargate Atlantis Past continues with Ghost in the Machine!

I spent yesterday afternoon going through the various Art Department handouts I amassed over my time on Stargate.  Sadly, not over my entire run on the franchise but mainly over those last four years – Atlantis’s fourth and fifth seasons, and Universe’s first and second. There’s a lot of interesting stuff – and some highly detailed schematics that might only prove of interest to the most diehard fans.  Some episodes are well-represented with reams of supporting sketches and blueprints while others have only a single sheet or two to accompany the happy memories.  All told, several hundred documents at least.

The plan, as outlined in a previous entry, is to package them by episode as fan giveaways.  I estimated 40 at first but, including SGU, it’s closer to 80!   Ultimately, as many of you have already pointed out, it would be nice to make this veritable treasure trove of Stargate information available to fandom at large.  And so, before I get around to doing that giveaway, I’m going to have everything scanned and digitized so that someone (hint! hint!) can upload to a dedicated site where fans can peruse them at their own leisure  - while the more ambitious of you can start work on building your own versions of the various sets.  How’s that for an idea?  ”Hey, studio, we’d like to shoot the movie.  No, we can shoot it for half the cost because we’ve already got the sets.  They’re on loan from some fans…”

Continuing our trip down SGA memory lane with…

GHOST IN THE MACHINE (505)

Another one of Carl Binder’s infernal “ghost” episodes!  Have to hand it to him though.  He was damn good at them.

This one was bittersweet for a host of reasons, the chiefest, of course, being the fact that it marked the final appearance of Elizabeth Weir (in new replicator form, mind you).  The original ending was a little more open-ended but, once were unable to secure Torri for a return appearance, it was decided to rewrite the script and offer closure to that particular storyline.  I often like to think that, if things had turned out differently – IF the show had been picked up for a sixth season and IF Torri had been amenable to a return appearance – we could have found a way to re-introduce the real Weir to the Stargate universe.  In my mind, Oberoth’s claim to have killed the real Elizabeth was an obvious lie.  Why dispose of such a valuable asset, someone with such intimate knowledge of Atlantis and the Stargate program?  It’s more probable that Oberoth kept Elizabeth in stasis at a secret location – only to perish with that knowledge.

Somewhere out there in the Pegasus Galaxy, Elizabeth Weir is waiting to be rescued!

The lovely Michelle Morgan as Fran.

Lots of firepower in this episode.

Heads up! (Photo @MGM Television)

(Photo @MGM Television)

Tagged: Atlantis, film & television, Ghost in the Shell, science fiction, scifi, scifi television, SF, SF television, SGA, Stargate, Stargate: Atlantis, t.v., television