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.
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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 itunes for a fee. when you have to put wrestling on a network thats SCI FI base you know there has to be problem
ricko30 | January 11 @ 2:00 pmi 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
flyboyfan23 | January 11 @ 2:12 pmHope they have more than one movie with all the cast involved. They deserve it and so do all the viewers who have supported it.
carrollwoman | January 11 @ 2:14 pmthey should have put some of the stories into season 5, instead of making half of the season about keller
lucasbuzek | January 11 @ 2:45 pmwow Yesterday, today and tomorrow sounded amazing. season 6 would have been great.
gameguy23 | January 11 @ 2:47 pmI 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.
GusF | January 11 @ 2:49 pmUsually when ratings go back up and rebound shows tend to be renewed. oh well.
ScoobyDoo | January 11 @ 2:50 pmIt is just so obvious the show was supposed to be renewed.
ScoobyDoo | January 11 @ 2:52 pmPersonally, 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!
The only story out of all these proposed for “season six” would have been an Asgard storyline. Season five had five or six worthwhile episodes. Season six would not have topped that.
HotOne | January 11 @ 2:52 pmWhen 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.
sizzlerjoe | January 11 @ 3:01 pmI guess I can welcome SGU, do I the fan have a choice?
sizzlerjoe | January 11 @ 3:04 pmwrestling 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.
ScoobyDoo | January 11 @ 3:04 pmI 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.
SamJackShipper93 | January 11 @ 3:11 pmThe 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.
chestnu1 | January 11 @ 3:42 pmNot 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.
QuinnMallory | January 11 @ 3:58 pmdirect to dvd/blu-ray season 6 would be nice.. i think it could generate a butt load of cash
knockdownxl | January 11 @ 5:19 pmOk, 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 might turn out, it seems to be like reinventing the wheel alittle, and is this really the right way to go?
Going the way of movies might kill off SGA, SG1 altogether.
So how about linking both shows, So we have the Stargate Universe working with both original shows together onwards onto a new show.
Rodney one week on Atlantis following some of the planned season 6 missions, and some linked to SG1 for season 11 maybe, but importantly both cast members coming together!
This would be the SGU I would want to see, following on from what has been done already so well.
x-seti | January 11 @ 5:37 pmMGM 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 just another Anaconda movie. I will be turning Sci-Fi on less and less now.
flmatthew | January 11 @ 6:01 pmman !! i hope the DVD movies are going to have the main actors in it .
craig007 | January 11 @ 6:13 pmI’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 it feels like a massive void of intelligent writing with exception to the former shows mentioned and just the pure giggle value of GH.
Mgm and SciFi should be ashamed of themselves thinking their viewers are just mindless drones with no opinions and no influence, blindly watching them with upmost loyalty. They lost my respect 6 months ago and confirmed my orginal belief by not even giving this show a proper send off or giving fans a chance to express their grattitude and well wishes as they did for SG1
As far as universe is concerned…It’s voyager wrapped in pretty Stargate wrap and loaded with the OC mentality and visual appeal from what I have been reading…I keep expecting Robert Picardo to pop up at some point here and ask..”What is the nature of the medical emergency?” My response would have to be..”I’m surrounded by morons!!”
Don’t get me wrong I am still a fan of both Atlantis and SG1 and have the upmost respect for both crews and actors. This is ONLY my opinion on the events leading up to the present. I apologize if I have offended anyone with this but also from what I have been reading. I am not the only one outraged by the injustice been done to Atlantis.
Kara Sheppard | January 11 @ 6:46 pmGuys! 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 to DVD season makes no sense what so ever!
canonfodder | January 11 @ 7:52 pmDeal with the fact that the shows ending… on a good note, not 2 seasons late when everyone is watching it in the hope that a good episode will pop up and make the last 2 years of crap worthwhile!
I watched the whole last season in the hope that a good episode would pop up…
Imitation Tofu | January 11 @ 8:49 pmAwww….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
Sue_Jackson | January 11 @ 9:13 pmIt 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.
missingShep | January 11 @ 9:28 pmUmmm…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 would happen: The President ordering the Stars and Stripes be flown from the top of the tower And a message sent to the rest of the world that essentially says, “Atlantis is in US territory, under US control and we’ll share with you what we choose to when we choose to. If you don’t like it we’ll tell you where you can gate yourselves.”
No nation would behave any differently and if you’re going to spend an hour and a half trying to show me otherwise (i.e. the IOA exerting the same authority it’s always had as though nothing whatsoever has REALLY changed) you can save it because that’s FAR less believable than wormholes and Wraith.
Prometheus59650 | January 11 @ 9:30 pmI 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.
blistna | January 11 @ 9:36 pmI 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.
DeathHeart | January 12 @ 3:43 amWhile 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 give hints at what could have been in a sixth season since we are in fact thanks to Sci Fi, MGM and Brad Wright not getting one.
Wendi | January 12 @ 4:55 amAtlantis 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.
kitty | January 12 @ 12:07 pmPity 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.
Cyclonus | January 12 @ 12:52 pmWow, 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.
Me | January 12 @ 5:59 pmThese episodes sound great. Too bad I don’t believe anything Mallozzi says.
Imitation Tofu | January 12 @ 7:50 pmMy 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 a two-hour flick. Atlantis has five seasons of build-up. To me Ark of Truth didn’t do the storyline proper justice, though would have been a good final season if they had gone forward with that. I’m glad I got some closure there, but when I know that the producer in charge of the franchise was as much a part of the cancellation decision as anyone, I start to lose faith. With movies, particularly given that they are fewer and farther between than episodes, you have to write it to be accessible to an audience that hasn’t devoted the past five years to SciFi fridays. This short-changes those of us invested in the series that want a proper conclusion.
Perhaps they should consider doing a mini-series or two along the way, in conjunction with the films, so that we’re not left hanging on all the Atlantis mythology.
Stryse | January 12 @ 9:30 pmFirst, 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 Atlantis on Earth just is NOT doable if they want to keep the SG program secret. Sure, they have 3 ZPMs now, but they just flew the city to another galaxy and activated the wormhole drive (that was obviously something they made up on the fly to give the show a little more tension or something… it’s not Farscape.) so the ZPMs have to be at least partially taxed, yes? How long could they keep Atlantis invisible? And, how long would it take people to start wondering what the government is hiding and why that part of the ocean is being guarded by the Navy? Not like they could just let people drive their boats through there, they’d slam into the invisible city and that would be bad.
atlantis_jackson | January 12 @ 10:13 pmI’m sad that the show is over! I’m sad that the last half of season 5 was so terrible (mostly). I’m rather pi**ed that they decided to take the last few eps, our last few hours of team togetherness, and focus on Keller. We should have been wallowing in team episodes! We should have been given enough of team Sheppard to last us until the movie!
I am happy that they’re making a movie. I’d rather have more seasons, but a movie is better than nothing at all.
And for the record, I will not be watching sgu. I fear that this idea of idiotic young people stuck on a ship with no clue how to get home or what to do is going to murder the stargate franchise. I will moarn the loss for the sakes of sg1 and SGA.
Those two shows will always be my favorites, even if everything else from the franchise is terrible.
Further for the record: The only episode of the entire 5 years run that I will never ever ever again watch no matter how long I live or how bored I am, is Brain Storm. That the the ep that turned my stomach to Keller. Everyone knows that you DO NOT try to change Rodney McKay!
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. If SciFi actually had the stellar line up or put SGA in a timeslot that worked (On a Friday at 9pm??!??!?!), they would have surpassed SG1s 10 seasons easily. Everything depends on timeslot. You can have a crappy show and still last 6 seasons. Just look at Full House.
Valaur | January 14 @ 3:45 amY 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, but you havent done this so you cant talk.
Im like most ppl and want SGA and SG1 to have continued, but its not, movies are good, we get more of what we want, yes its not a series, but iots better than nothing.
To those who want SGU to die so that they will bring back SG1 SGA, do you think thats going to happen? it more likely that if your wish of SGU being terrible wint mean the nother sg’s will come back, it will more likely mean that we will not have anymore sg series of any sort, and less movies because mgm/scifi will go, look, no ratings, no money.
Give SGU a chance, watch 5 or so episodes, dont juedge it from pilot, from what i remember of SGA it wasnt amazing (but that was a long time ago now, so i cld be confused about it)
if anyone is like me and that a scifi is like sg/sw/st the loss of sg is a sad day. Not only does it mean that there are no more real good scifi (in NZ we dont have scifi channel) it means that tv is going to get real bad real fast. Hell, im looking towards the new SW series, because oits the only scifi thats set in space etc. Ive seen eureka, hasnt caught my fancy just yet, but its just come on here and only seen 3 episodes (but comparing that to SG might not have been helful to it)
I just hope SGU is great and last for at least 5 seasons (and when MGM/Scifi dopes kill it that we get a proper ending, given that it gets that far)
My turtles!
cyco24 | January 14 @ 6:21 amI 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 movie why cant SGA be the same I think visual SGA would be amazing on the big screen even most that SG1, it worked for high school musical they started as DVD movies and now its a hit on the big screen.
Christ if that can do it, surely to god a great storyline like Stargate they can 2.
Lots of poeple dont like season 5 I thought it was good some poor eps but overal good, certainly not worth cancelling the show for.
To the comments above its not so much the 90120 crap refernce that bothers me though it does smack of that type of show, its the fact this has been done to death with BSG, Voyager and if you go further back ( I’m a oldie at 43 so I remember) you have space 1999 and even bloody Buck Rogers did the going out on a space ship leaving earth, oh an dont forget Bab 5 their spin off.
This new show may have be good (though I doubt it very very much)BUT they have just gone about in the WRONG WAY. I feel like a stuck needle on a record (told I was old)COZ I KEEP SAYING THE SAME THING OVER AN OVER AGAIN!!!! But its how I feel they should have run the 2 shows together to let us get used SGU give us some plot lines ect.., this way has just pissed of 1000s and 1000s of fans across the world . Nearly every spin off show Ive seen has been done like this, I just dont get it and I never will.
Yes to be honest I’d love SGU to fall flat on arse and they then bring back SGA but it aint gonna happen!!!. The poeple that make the choices dont listen to us ” little people” even though its because of us they have their jobs in the first place “no fans” no shows ect.. NO ONE to buy of the merchandising therefore equals NO PROFIT, maybe they should think on that.
Totally Pissed off SGA fan
cherie | January 16 @ 4:44 amGateWorld 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
Stan | January 17 @ 6:05 amI again wholeheartly with Stan.
cherie | January 19 @ 2:27 amfor 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
milseco | March 2 @ 11:29 pm