Travelers

Summary | Production | Transcript | Fan Reviews

Colonel Sheppard is captured by the inhabitants of a generational ship and their beautiful leader, who wish to use his ability to use Ancient technology for their own ends.

RATINGS SCORECARD
OUR RATING -
FAN RATING - 8.56 
NIELSEN - 1.0 
EPISODE #405
ORIGINAL AIR DATE: 10.26.2007
SYNDICATION AIR DATE: 10.13.2008
DVD DISC: Season 4, Disc 2
WRITTEN BY: Joseph Mallozzi & Paul Mullie
DIRECTED BY: William Waring
GUEST STARS: Jill Wagner (Larrin), Kavan Smith (Lorne), Sean Rogerson (Nevik), Michael Cram (Silas), Scott Heindl (Wraith), Chris Kalhoon (Crewman)
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Lt. Colonel John Sheppard is captured by a race the team has never before encountered, who live out their lives on board a generational ship. Their leader is a to-the-point woman named Larrin. Whereas most races settle on a planet – doing whatever they can do avoid the Wraith – Larrin's people have taken to space, living their entire lives on this generational ship to avoid their enemies. This ship is their home. But it's not only to avoid the Wraith, Larrin tells Sheppard – after so many years, now it is simply who they are.

Over the past few years, her people have heard rumors of a new power in the galaxy, humans who are using Ancient technology to battle the Wraith – the Atlantis expedition. They set up spy satellites around many worlds, and eventually discovered and captured Sheppard. Larrin is quite interested in the fact that John has the gene required to operate Lantean technology.

Commander Larrin's people are attempting to create an interface that will allow them to use the advanced Lantean technology, and require a sample of John's blood. But that is only the beginning: they have a Lantean battleship. The massive vessel has been dormant for thousands of years, and Larrin wants Colonel Sheppard to make it work.

PRODUCTION NOTES

  • "Sometime soon, Monday I hear, Paul will have 'Travelers' ready, a gift for all those of the Shep-whumping persuasion." (Executive producer Joseph Mallozzi, in a post at his blog)
  • "Jill is great as Larrin. Her group will put in at least one reappearance in the back of Season Four." (Executive producer Joseph Mallozzi, in a post at his blog)
  • "One of the things that SG-1 had and Atlantis never had was we would never run into technologically advanced people because whenever they would start to get technologically advanced the Wraith would come in and wipe them out. So basically we created a scenario by which we can introduce such a race. Sort of a wild card.

    "I've always liked races like the Genii, what I attempted to do with the Lucian Alliance in SG-1, which I didn't think was totally successful. The kind of wild cards that are out there. [They] could be helpful, but can be a bit of a hindrance as well." (Executive producer Joseph Mallozzi, in an interview with GateWorld)
  • "The problem with the Genii is they don't have the technological advancement like everybody. We have that same problem with everybody in the Pegasus Galaxy except for the Wraith. Because the Wraith do that on purpose. They don't let anybody get to that level. So we have to find ways to find people who are at a higher level, technologically, so that they can be a challenge for us to deal with. And hopefully these people will help deliver on that." (Executive producer Paul Mullie, in an interview with GateWorld)
  • "We created a race – we call them 'Travelers.' One of the nice things about SG-1, for instance, is that we'd be able to go off-world and encounter technologically advanced people as well as low-tech people. But the problem with Atlantis in the Pegasus Galaxy is we said that whenever a race would get technologically advanced the Wraith would come in and wipe them out. So there was never opportunity for a race to reach that level.

    "So we decided, actually there is a way: We'll just put them in ships. And so there's an armada of ships that go from planet to planet. They come down and scavenge the leftovers of societies that have been culled by the Wraith. It's sort of a loose cannon – kind of roguish and untrustworthy in some ways, but also potential allies in another way. [They are] just generally the type of characters that I like – not black or white, but kind of gray. (Executive producer Joseph Mallozzi, in an interview at Stargate.MGM.com)
  • "Watched the Day 2 Mix of 'Travelers' yesterday. Great episode (hey, Sheppard bruised and bloodied – what's not to like?), and tremendous work on the part of Joel Goldsmith who produced a terrific score." (Executive producer Joseph Mallozzi, in a post at his blog)