Of all the episodes currently in production for the third season of
Stargate Atlantis, writer
Carl Binder is most excited about the dramatic look into the mind of
Elizabeth Weir.
“The Real World,” written by Binder, is now filming and is slated to air as the sixth episode of Season Three.”[Of] the three that I’ve done, there’s one very personal episode about Dr. Weir, in which she is thrown into a very unusual and disturbing circumstance,” Binder told GateWorld in an interview. “And
it’s a very intimate episode about her, which I really enjoyed.”Binder has been the go-to guy for ideas conceived by other members of the writing team — but “The Real World” is his own brainchild.”I enjoyed [it] because it’s an episode that I pitched!” he said. “Because last year, pretty much most if not all of them that I wrote were stories that were generated by Brad or Robert, who said, ‘I have this idea. Why don’t you run with it.’ And so then I would go off and flesh it out, and give them the beats and they would make adjustments.”The writer also hinted at the story’s connection to
“Progeny,” which will air before it and in which the team encounters a new recurring enemy.”We’re introducing a
new villain into the show,” he said. “It’s not really a 2-parter, but it’s two episodes that will air back-to-back, and which one leads into the other. But I think they both stand on their own as two separate episodes, the second of which is the Weir story.””The Real World” will allow viewers a rare look at who Elizabeth is when she is away from the Atlantis control tower and not on duty. “We will very much get to see Dr. Weir in a different environment, and a different side of her,” Binder said. “I think now’s the time that we’re going to start seeing more. And that’s what I love about this season so far. We’re doing some episodes where we’re really going to see some additional layers to our characters. Martin wrote a great McKay episode that’s coming up where we learn more about his family and his relationships, a little bit more of what makes him tick, which will be great. He always writes great McKay episodes.””The Real World” is also one that Binder has been wanting to write for a while, but which had been shelved until the proper time. “I actually pitched [it] to Brad last year,” he told GateWorld. “And he said, ‘OK, it’s interesting but we’re not ready for it yet.’ And so I didn’t know if that was his polite way of saying, ‘Not a good idea.'”So this year at the beginning of the season, when we all gathered again, everybody was saying, ‘What are your ideas? What are your ideas?’ And they got to me and I said, ‘You know, I’d really like to do that one that I pitched last year.’ And this time it was like, ‘OK.’ And we now have a context in which we can tell that story that we didn’t have last year.”Binder also said that after “The Real World” he is writing an episode that will finally go into John Sheppard’s backstory.Watch for the season premiere of
Stargate Atlantis this July on The SCI FI Channel in the U.S.! Learn more about what’s ahead in GateWorld’s
episode guide.