Beware of SPOILERS for all episodes of Stargate Atlantis in the report below.
Now that Stargate Atlantis has come to an end (at least in the United States, where SCI FI Channel broadcast the final episode on Friday), many fans are left wondering what might have been. Had the network decided to give the show a sixth year, what stories from the Atlantis mythology might have been revisited?
Executive producer and Atlantis co-runner Joseph Mallozzi, fortunately, has given wistful fans their answer. In a post at his blog last fall, he gave a complete run-down of those episodes that were on the drawing board when the cancellation news arrived. The premiere of the final episode sheds additional light on where the show would have gone in 2009.
Here’s a sampling:
NOW WHAT? (PARTS 1 & 2)
The sixth season would have kicked off with a two-parter (as SG-1‘s sixth season did), picking up “after the shocking events of our fifth season finale,” Mallozzi said — namely, the fact that the city of Atlantis now sits on Earth, off the coast of California. Instead, “the idea originally conceived for the opening two-parter will now be the basis of the first Stargate Atlantis movie, the difference being that we’ll be able to tell our story on a much bigger, visual effects-laden, character-centered canvas.”
The plan was to bring the city of Atlantis (which was originally on Earth millions of years ago) full circle for the show’s 100th episode. “It was also intended to be the launching point for a very interesting early Season Six scenario: With Atlantis back on Earth, why the hell would the I.O.A. ever let it go?” Mallozzi revealed yesterday. “And if it remained, which, by all indications seemed likely, what would become of its occupants, especially Ronon and Teyla? Also, with a permanent station in the Milky Way, wouldn‘t Atlantis, logically, cease to be a launch point for gate travel and, instead, become a research center for Ancient technology?”
This idea will instead serve as the set-up for the Atlantis movie, currently being scripted by Mallozzi and Paul Mullie.
CARL’S REPLICATOR STORY
Writer Carl Binder wasn’t done with the Replicators after this season’s “Ghost In the Machine” — not necessarily because there were big plans for that arc, but because “if there are two subjects that Carl Binder embraces more than any others, it’s ghosts and Replicators … so we simply assumed that when he returned from winter hiatus, he’d have a script for us that focused either one or the other.” Whether or not that would have seen another return for the Replicator-ized Elizabeth Weir (now played by Michelle Morgan), left floating in space with the other surviving Replicators, is not known.
CARTER RASHOMON
An Atlantis spin on the classic Kurosawa film, in this episode “Colonel Carter faces a possible court-martial and dismissal after an off-world op goes awry. During the ensuing investigation, we are offered three different flashback versions of the charged events.”
YESTERDAY, TODAY AND TOMORROW
If it’s one thing that Atlantis didn’t seem to get around to much, it was the old sci-fi staple of traveling through time. In this episode “McKay’s experiments with a time-traveling Puddle Jumper send the team both backwards and forwards in time. The story jumps from five years into the past (where one version of the team struggles to acquire the Puddle Jumper and undo the damage done without affecting the time line), five years into the future (where the Wraith have taken over Atlantis and another version of the team is attempting to acquire the Jumper so that they can warn their past selves), and the present (unaffected team) with developments in each timeline influencing events in the other. At the end of the day, despite my detailed, color-coded outline, everybody else’s head threatened to explode so the story was shelved.”
We would have loved to see this one.
REVENGE
Mallozzi hinted: “A certain alien race seeks revenge on Atlantis after we screw up their plans (qv that Season Five episode in which we screw up the plans of that alien race).” After Season Five’s two-parter aired, Mallozzi further clarified that this episode would have brought back the lost tribe of Asgard living in the Pegasus Galaxy.
There is, of course, the promise of an ongoing series of movies for Stargate Atlantis — so some of these story elements are still possibilities. We hope that the writers look to use the films not only to tie up loose story threads (which is important), but also to push Atlantis into exciting, new territory.
Visit Joseph Mallozzi’s blog to read the list of all 20 episodes that were in the very early planning stages, including “The Red Shirt Diaries,” “Sheppard D.O.A.,” and “Entropy!” Stargate Atlantis continues in a TV movie — hopefully the first of many — written by Mallozzi and Paul Mullie and intended to air later this year.
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well i thought there would be a sixth season and that would be the final season. as a fan of the show i would have been fine with that. and thats why the stargate fans are having problems with. they ended it pre-maturely! and MGM needs to wake up and figure out that SCI FI is the cause of lower ratings not the show. every website ive gone to has this show as one of the top 5 shows, please explain that one!! i have to admit i didnt watch the show on SCI FI i downloaded the episodes from… Read more »
i agree with ricko30. :) im gonna miss the show soo much. nearly everyone in my family watch it so it was a good convo starter. now what are we gonna talk about? life? how boring! LOL. There better be a whole lot of good movies coming, with all the cast. can’t wait to see ’em
Hope they have more than one movie with all the cast involved. They deserve it and so do all the viewers who have supported it.
they should have put some of the stories into season 5, instead of making half of the season about keller
wow Yesterday, today and tomorrow sounded amazing. season 6 would have been great.
I love the sound of “Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow”. It would’ve rocked. Actually, I think that it was originally supposed to have been made as an “SG-1” episode during Season Ten.
Usually when ratings go back up and rebound shows tend to be renewed. oh well.
It is just so obvious the show was supposed to be renewed.
Personally, with how badly written season five was I don’t know how great season six would have been. I thought the finale was bad enough but now we find out they were planning this story all along? Wormhole drive? Move the Ancient chair to Area 51, completely unprotected? A Wraith ship that is virtually impenetrable to Ancient drones and Asgard beams? Even the fact that McKay, Teyla, Ronon and Lorne went through the gate onto the Wraith ship is horrible. Why would they not have just sent a nuke through? Face it, these writer’s are all out of good ideas!… Read more »
When the 2nd 60’s trek season was done, fans were not ignored in the end. WE got our way just as it should be, that should be relevant again today. I say it’s not too late for a 6th season! Meanwhile SGU can be fine tuned for it’s release in early 2010 and not seem such a leap of faith as it does this early, Yes it feels too early to me for SGA to end.
I guess I can welcome SGU, do I the fan have a choice?
wrestling on sci-fi is, abnormal ! I’ll bet $1000 McKay would agree !
They should of gotten one more season and go out with a bang. Finish up all the story lines introduced in Season 4 and have like an epic 2 part finale. Enemy at the Gate was a great finale, but would of rather it been a season finale.
I really wish we could’ve seen “Carter Roshoman” as part of Season 4 before Amanda left. I would’ve loved Carter to have her own SGA episode.
The time travel episode sounds interesting and has potential as with most of these to become movies but I am afraid that if another stargate team goes back in time and changes the timeline the universe might implode.
Not sure how I feel about a possible season 6 from these short descriptions. I do think the first 2 parter would have been interesting and we’ll likely see that in the first SGA movie.
The time travel one would have been cool. The replicator one, not so cool…on paper at least. The dark Asgards could be interesting if executed well.
I find it interesting that there was a Carter episode planned. That would have been fitting back in season 4.
direct to dvd/blu-ray season 6 would be nice.. i think it could generate a butt load of cash
Ok, The Scifi channel in the USA my have dropped the show but there is a bright side here and profit to be made for MGM. I say this for the rest of us who may have wanted the show to continue (SG1 aswell!), What is stopping season 6, 7 and so on – just being sold direct to DVD or some another network like Skyone in the UK. You have a good show with a lot of world wide respect, SG-1 should have also continued onwards aswell. SGU as much as I seem to be interested in how this… Read more »
MGM and Sci-FI don’t care about what any of us think unless we enclose a million bucks in the letter. Sometimes I wish they would have just ended it with a big boom. Then as the credits roll we here a voice from space saying, “is anyone out there, is anyone out there”. Now thats my kind of set up for a movie that would cast off useless characters and pull Atlantis back together for fresh writing. I’m just so irritated I can’t stand it. Again, we need a new network that is really devoted to good sci-fi and not… Read more »
man !! i hope the DVD movies are going to have the main actors in it .
I’m sorry but after reading this it felt like a huge slap in the face to fans who have devoted years to the Stargte franchise. The whole “What if’s?”, “Could have beens.” and what might be is just pure torutre to those fans who wanted to see this show continue on. I agree with a lot of people one more season wouldn’t have hurt SciFi channel. In fact, and this is strictly my opinion! There are only a handful of shows on this channel that make it worth watching. Sanctuary, BSG, Ghosthunters,Dr.Who and Both Stargates. With both series gone now… Read more »
Guys! they are giving them a Movie, that’s a big send off. Your disappointed about the ‘what ifs’ i’m sure the creators and writers are even more… yet they are moving on and are going to write movies! You have to change it around and repackage it for the younger audiences as well as the old, you have to move it forward, capture more people. And from what i’ve read its going to be a more character centre show, which peeks my interest. Finally, MGM & Sci Fi decided to make a movie, so talking about MGM making a direct… Read more »
I watched the whole last season in the hope that a good episode would pop up…
Awww….man. Now….I really wish there was a 6th Season. That episode sounds like it would’ve been awesome. :)
So….Carl Binder likes Replicators…huh? Does that mean we might see the little buggers on the third SG-1 movie? Because….he’s writing for it. :p
It upsets me to read about what if’s for a season 6; no need to rub it in our faces even more. They’re doing that enough with SGU. I am happy for a movie, but only two hrs vs a whole season doesn’t sit well. I would like the suggested idea of a straight to DVD season 6 and then a movie. I need my Atlantis & Shep. fix and a two hr. movie won’t cut it. My only hope is that SGU fails and they decide to restart Atlantis.
Ummm…if “Now What?” is actually the plot of the first film I’m not interested because the notion is completely ludicrous. It utterly disposes of ANY sense of reality. The problem is not Atlantis being on Earth. The problem is the notion that there would be an IOA to decide ANYTHING. Consider it: Atlantis-storehouse of thousands of years of accumulated technology-lands in San Fran Bay. There is NO WAY…WHATSOEVER that ANY country in possession of such a storehouse would share it, treaties be damned. The IOA would be crying about the treaty and their authority to the wind. Only two things… Read more »
I really hope these ideas, besides the time traveling on, becomes a movie. The problem with TV show’s is that they tend to have a reset button, or some quick way to end it. But with a two-hour movie, they would have more time to find a good ending to the story. :-) So I am hopeful we will see these ideas again.
I vote for a direct-to-dvd 6th season of Atlantis, but it is less than likely that mgm would agree to that (unfortunately). People who said that season five was bad… i say they dont know what they are talking about. I agree that some episodes could have been better and we could have survived with less Keller episodes, but in a whole, season 5 was very good in my opinion. Bringing the Asgards back was a brilliant idea and a Dadealus jumping through realities was awesome… just to name a couple of episodes.
While I would have loved a season 6, I am happy to see that at least we won’t be getting the episode about Carter. Not only should that have been only a consideration for a season 4 episode when she was still on Atlantis, but also a court martial scare with these writers, give me a break. It would have ended up with the National Treasure being wrongly accused and she would end up getting a great big apology, a pat on the head and yet another undeserved promotion. I also find it a slap in the face to even… Read more »
Atlantis moved to earth, any possibility of Elizabeth coming back, with a nice “not necessarily because there were big plans for that arc” added to it, and a renewed obsession for Samantha Carter on Atlantis. Sga not getting a 6th season was bad enough, but some of these sound actually worse.
Is it me or is Mallozzi terribly petty and spiteful when it comes to other SGA writers? The way he spoke about Carl binder and on other occasions about brad Wright sounded a lot like sarcasm.
Pity Atlantis got cancelled. There were so many stories that could of been fololowed up. McKay could of worked on the interdimensional drive. Who knows in 1 of those realities could be living Ancients who won the war. Or he could of built some Human Replicators to help with Atlantis. Maybe they could of discovered some of the other races that replicator Weir talked about. But one can always dream and wonder.
Wow, it;s amazing how the season that has been cancelled sounds like it would have been the best one so far. I don’t think SGU will succeed, but i hope it does because you can’t have television without a bit of stargate. Who knows maybe it will be good. I will watch it anyways. If they put any of these plots into a film i think it would be amazing.
These episodes sound great. Too bad I don’t believe anything Mallozzi says.
My only problem with them moving to a movie format for Atlantis is that they made this decision without giving the writers an opportunity to set Atlantis up for such a transition. The same thing happened with SG1. They thought season 8 was the last, and they wrote the season accordingly. Then they get renewed for season 9 and have to completely retool the show. I personally liked seasons 9 and 10 a great deal, and while I enjoyed Ark of Truth, it was still quite a disappointment in that they tried wrapping up two seasons worth of build-up in… Read more »
First, let me say something I said in a recap blog I posted… I can not believe that they (scifi) would desecrate SGA by putting a preview for sgu at the end of the finale. That’s like peeing on the fresh grave of a loved one. It’s sad to read what could’ve been in season 6. A few of those episodes sounded promising. Although I really hope they do the movie that would have been the S6 two part opener really carefully and think about it more than they’ve thought about S5 (and sgu which sounds like total crap!) Because… Read more »
I feel that Atlantis should have gone one more year, and SGU put on hold until the writers could give Atlantis the send off it deserved, not this halfassed rushed crap. Thats what pisses me off about TPTB – not giving the writers a timeline so that they can properly give a story arc a set amount of episodes rather than having a loophole should something happen to the series. Personally I think Season 5 was some of the best work the writers have done, and if allowed to do a 6th Season, Atlantis would have been better for it.… Read more »
Y does everyone think that because SGU will have 20 yo characters/actors its suddenly going to be 90210? It really annoys me when poeple shot something down before they have given it a chance, its really sad of you all who think like this, and its nice to know that you not giving the writers, who have done this b4 very little credit. I do NOT see any of you making 2 very successful series and movies and making a third one, so please keep your “90210” comments out of it. Its easy for you to put this all down,… Read more »
I feel like its a slap in the face to give “what could have been” on season 6, when the fact of the matter there isnt a season 6. Yes we will gt movies( I hope), yes they can be more involved as more time and hopefully money to spend on it. BUT is not a weekly show and with the crap thats on TV and espacially Sci Fi channel at the moment that just plain wrong!!!!! Also please forgive if Im stupid but WHY does it have to be a DVD movie, Stargate started life as a big screen… Read more »
GateWorld you need to look at your ratings for each episode and wonder…… How Many fans are out there even in other countrys watching, waiting for season 5 and tell Sci Fi that there Ratings suck cause i wanted Atlantis to go further than SG1 because i find Atlantis more interesting than SG1 was!!!!!!!! SO BRING BACK ATLANTIS FOR SEASON 6,7,8,9,10 and even 11
I again wholeheartly with Stan.
for every person who goes to the trouble of running down the idiots who cancelled atlantis there are 10 or moroe you’ll never hear from. i wrote in in the 60’s to keep star trek on and nbc would not listen and its turned into a 40 plus year franchise. its fans helped name the first space shuttle. you had a cast that went together perfectly and you wasted it. i don’t want a movie , iwant the series to continue. nuff said