Atlantis gets visual effects Emmy nomination

Stargate Atlantis has earned a 2008 Emmy nomination in the category of Outstanding Special Visual Effects For A Series, The Academy of Television Arts & Sciences announced today.

Visual effects supervisor Mark Savela and his team were nominated for the show’s fourth season premiere, “Adrift.” The team includes:

Mark Savela, Visual Effects Supervisor
Shannon Gurney, Visual Effects Coordinator
Erica Henderson, Lead Visual Effects Compositor
Jason Gross, CGI Supervisor
Jamie Yukio Kawano, Lead CGI Artist
Michael Lowes, Lead CGI Artist
Giles Hancock, Lead Matte Artist
Jeremy Kehler, Lead Visual Effects Compositor
Daniel Osaki, Lead Model Maker

In the episode, the city of Atlantis is lost in deep space with its power rapidly draining, and faces one obstacle after the next — including an effects-heavy pass through an asteroid belt, through which a fleet of Puddle Jumpers must clear a path.

Atlantis‘s competition for the award includes Battlestar Galactica (“He That Believeth In Me”), Heroes (“Four Months Ago”), the Discovery Channel’s Human Body: Pushing The Limits (“Strength”), Jericho (“Patriots and Tyrants”), and the pilot episode of Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles.

The city of Atlantis hurtles through space. From “Adrift”

All in all, SCI FI Channel set a new personal best this year, with 16 nominations. Galatica picked up a total of six nominations (including Best Writing, cinematography, editing, and sound mixing), and the 2007 mini-series Tin Man earned nine nominations including Outstanding Miniseries.

The network was fourth among cable outlets, behind HBO (an astounding 85 nominations), Showtime (21), and AMC (20).

It’s another mixed bag year for science fiction and fantasy television, with LOST and Pushing Daisies drawing recognition in some of the bigger categories, but the genre again being relegated primarily to the Creative Arts categories of special effects, hair and make-up, and costuming.

Visit Emmys.tv for a complete list of this year’s nominees. The Academy of Television Arts & Sciences will present the 60th Primetime Emmys in a live telecast on Sunday, September 21 on ABC. The Creative Arts Awards (which includes Atlantis‘s visual effects nomination) will be presented Saturday, September 13 in Los Angeles.

Congratulations to the crew and cast!

(Thanks to Sheena Callighen for the tip!)