Sheppard races to an Ancient laboratory to save McKay and Daniel Jackson before Todd arrives to destroy a weapon that has a devastating side-effect. Daniel uncovers the identity of the hostile new species.

“The Lost Tribe” Facts:

• Because the Wraith feed on the life force of other beings, it is not clear if they actually have a finite lifespan — so long as they stay fed. Todd reports that he was alive when the Attero Device was used some 10,000 years ago. Of course the Wraith also hibernate for many years (perhaps centuries) at a time, but it seems that consuming life force is the ultimate anti-aging solution.
• Actress Sharon Taylor had joined the show back in Season Four — first playing a Replicator, before being recast as an unnamed Atlantis gate technician. She became such a fixture on the show (10 out of Season Five’s 20 episodes) that in this episode her character finally got a name: Amelia Banks.
• The Pegasus Galaxy Asgard were unofficially nicknamed the “Vanir,” a name which never made it on screen and into Stargate canon. In Norse mythology the Vanir were a second group of gods who once went to war with the Aesir (the group that includes Thor). The mythology fits the Stargate universe perfectly, as the “Vanir” were a splinter group of Asgard who left their home galaxy and established their own independent colony in the Pegasus Galaxy.
• The Pegasus Asgard’s original reason for settling in this galaxy was to conduct morally questionable experiments on humans to try and solve their species’ cloning problem — away from the watchful eye of the Asgard High Council. They aren’t the only ones to try such a thing: Not long ago SG-1 found Loki, an unethical Asgard scientist, secretly experimenting on humans on Earth (“Fragile Balance”).
• The Asgard / Vanir were intended to be a new recurring antagonist for the show going forward, with designs on bringing them back for a key story in Season Six. Unfortunately, the mid-season two-parter that introduced them aired just a few weeks after the August 2008 announcement that Stargate Atlantis had been cancelled.

“The Lost Tribe” on GateWorld:

• Episode Guide
• Episode Transcript
• Fan Reviews
• Photo Gallery
• Screencap Gallery
• Discussion Forum
• Atlantis Season Five Podcast
• “The Lost Tribe” Podcast
• Interview with Michael Shanks (2008)
• Interview with David Hewlett (2008)
• Interview with Robert Picardo (2008)
• Interview with writer Martin Gero (2008)

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