Fans of Stargate Atlantis may never see Stargate: Extinction on the small screen, but at least we have a screenwriter who is prepared to spill (some of the) beans about the story that wasn’t to be. Atlantis executive producer Joseph Mallozzi recently posted about the film’s scripted opening in a post at his blog.
Mallozzi wrote the script for the film with writing partner Paul Mullie, and together they would have executive produced the movie. It was originally announced to air on Syfy Channel after the television series was cancelled after five years on the air.
Though the movie isn’t destined to be produced, beware of what some might still consider spoilers below. After all, Mallozzi has suggested that MGM may be considering releasing the full story in another format, such as a novel or comic book.
When last we left our heroes, they had brought the ancient city-ship of Atlantis to Earth to defend their home from a Wraith attack. With the Wraith still threatening the Pegasus Galaxy — not to mention Ronan, Teyla, and Todd still on board — would the city be staying?
“The movie would have picked up not long after the events of the Season Five finale, ‘Enemy At the Gate,’” Mallozzi said. “In the opening scene, two astronauts (who turn out to be a couple of familiar faces – Amelia Banks and Major Lorne) take a walk on the surface of the moon, their lunar stroll ending with a reveal of the city of Atlantis. A shuttle carrying Sam Carter and a group of dignitaries sweeps overhead and lands.
Drs. Rodney McKay (David Hewlett) and Radek Zelenka (David Nykl)
“Within the city’s atmospherically shielded confines, Carter and her guests meet up with the science team headed by – who else? – Rodney McKay. Frustrated by the interruption to his ongoing research, McKay demonstrates a certain impatience with the whole dog-and-pony show, running through standards explanations, overviews, questions, and answers until – an alarm suddenly sounds. The bewildered dignitaries are ushered out, leaving McKay, Carter, and Zelenka to investigate.
“An examination of the city’s systems reveal the worst. A self-destruct has been initiated – a safeguard, Rodney surmises, put in place by the Ancients in the event Atlantis was ever removed from the Pegasus Galaxy. And, once triggered, it cannot be disabled. Nothing short of a return to the Pegasus Galaxy will save the city from certain destruction. Of course, getting it there is easier said than done …
“Anyway, that was the basic premise: A seeming new beginning. A threat to the city. And a desperate bid to outrace a deadly countdown.”
The writer-producer said that, when the script was first written, they hoped that it would serve as a two-part premiere to set the stage for Season Six.
Mallozzi promised more hints at Extinction in the days to come. Stay tuned!
I don’t know about the whole ticking clock. But it sounds great especially the Atlantis on the moon part. I also say that even we can’t get this Fandemonium’s legacy series is a somewhat good substitute. WIsh we had the movie
In before the naysayers. Whatever gets them back to Pegasus where they belong is all good in my eyes. And this is just the opening scene or two, the main action and storyline is yet to be revealed.
Well here are the naysayers. That is a crap idea. Its just a big reset button. Frankly if this is the best writers can come up with, then im glad the film wasn’t made. I’d rather read the legacy series.
Well, I guess this explains why the Ancients couldn’t just take Atlantis with them when they left, although I’m not sure what logic is behind putting a safeguard in place, just in the off chance someone took the entire city outside of the Galaxy. Never mind that is can be moved to another planet in a different solar system.
Still, sounds like it would have been a good movie though, sad that it didn’t happen.
man… i want to slap the $**t out of someone at mgm for discontinuing the sg franchise
Didnt Atlantis take off from Antartica in the 1st episode? surely it must be capable of recognizing where it returned to (relitivly!!)
@kook916, how about averyone at MGM and SYFY that contributed to Stargate’s demise?
Not the best of ideas really. I liked the fact Atlantis was back where it should be. Just send Teyla and Ronan home and forget about the Wraith.
Thats bad. It doesn’t even make sense. First, why put that kind of safeguard, the gate only accepted incoming wormholes from Earth but now the explorers cant take it back to its original planet? If you know humans are coming back in 10,000 years, then you must assume there a good chance they’ll try to bring back the city to Earth, or at least their galaxy. I know, the Wraith could’ve take control of Atlantis at any moment in that period, develop a gene therapy of their own, find Earth location and fly it there someone. But you program the… Read more »
I don’t know about everyone else, but as soon as I read that the self destruct could only be stopped by going to Atlantis, I got the feeling that it’s something that Rodney set up. He wants to go back and finish his work there, not to mention helping out Ronon, so he rigged a self destruct.
Well with that description i’m glad it was axed
My theory is that Todd did it. He’s probably in need of a snack by now.
It does sound like a great story and would have undoubtedly served as an incredible introduction to a deserved 6th season that it would have received assuredly on any other station than Scifi now SYFY/Reality. My only hope, and it’s a very slim one, is that Comcast, new owners of all that conglomerate that includes what was the Scifi station, somehow have some intelligence, but it’s doubtful.
this is crazy why tease us with details of a movie that may never see the light of day?? also its clear that the creators of StarGate want to continue the story perhaps in some other form of media so why dont they just create a website and do webisodes where the members can subscribe to the site and watch a small advertisement just before the webisode begins or maybe even charge a small membership fee aswell if they did this and made the site global im pretty sure they would be able to make more than enuff money from… Read more »
I really liked the premise, I can actually see the Ancients placing a safe guard like that; the Ancients loved their safe guards! This would have been a fantastic film, I feel sick to think that a season 6 to Atlantis was actually in consideration at some point, now look at the franchise! A season 6 was probably the best bet at the time, shame it didn’t happen. Although anything Stargate related to me is gold, even the books that aren’t considered the ‘real’ deal, it is still Stargate material that keeps the name going. Heres to hoping MGM decide… Read more »
My guess is that the presence of Todd on the city ship triggers some kind of failsafe put in place in case the Wraith ever make it to Earth.
why?
This seem to be a very interesting plot and would tie up some questions in the storyline. I was always curious to way the ancients would just abandon Atlantis on the ocean foor instead of flying it back to Earth. In the episode with Dr. Weir going back in time to meet the ancients, it seemed from that episode the ancient had three ZPMs to power the city back to Earth. I always waited for an explanation in the storyline for this. I hope Mr. Mallozzi will give further explanation to why the ancients put in the self-distruct and why… Read more »
Comcast may just marge chiller, syfy or maybe G4 and syfy.
UFC is rumored to be buying G4
Comcast will likely may a big sports push soon. Maybe the WWE will be pulled from syfy and ninja warrior moved as well. web soup was on syfy not that long ago. chiller shows stuff that used be on syfy and movies.
But syfy likely will have the NHL and Olympics on starting in 2012. Or comcast may if they keep g4 put wwe or any other big event on it just to force directv to put it back on air.
This is just teasing now! I really would of loved to see this play out even more to see it continue into season 6. Lost city and a lost dream now :(
That was super lame.
That self destruct should have initiated as soon as it left the Galaxy. Wow…these writers can’t help being bad. I’m now glad SGA ended when it did. They clearly intended to SG-SINK the Series.
Hm, what about the wormhole drive, the deus ex machina the writers came up with in the series finale? Or should it have been more of a political than technical problem, the return, I mean? Eh, I’m not really feeling it. SGA’s my favorite of the SG shows but the “OMG, we’re going to self-destruct!” thing is a dead horse beaten twice over. I’m not saying that the final product couldn’t have been a nice surprise and totally engaging but… eh. I would’ve preferred if Sheppard and Co. kidnapped the city because of something that was happening in the Pegasus… Read more »
Perfect… Ancient’s safeguard its needed if the wreath get the city. i miss stargate :( how else to you get the city back in pegasus
Wow a self destruct alarm.. Seriously. your telling me that 2 guys that are paid to sit and come up with a story couldnt come up with anything more original??? At any point would anyone have asked why didnt this happen as soon as we left the pegasus galaxy… why how ever many months its been… Or is Atlantis’s computers still spinning in there graves from the whole “wormhole drive” concept.. Why dont they just have the pegasus galaxy being invaded by a species of aliens that take human hosts and are now claiming to be the “ancestors” and enslaving… Read more »
I agree with katikatnik.
Sam Carter? Again? Yawn. I’m actually less pissed this didn’t get made now. I wasn’t fond of the character on SG1 and I hated her and her sneery, superior attitude on SGA. It feels a bit better knowing we probably wouldn’t have got “our” SGA back even if it had been greenlit.
The story seems a bit silly. While I’d happily watch anything stargate, I’m glad this wasn’t made. We know from Before I Sleep we know the Ancients had no plans for the city. Why would they do this? And who would they try to prevent taking Atlantis from Pegasus?
The stories for Extinction/Revolution don’t really get me too excited. Yes, both tales are stories that SHOULD be told to get Atlantis back to Pegasus and reveal the Stargate program…but I was afraid of this, plot-lines that seem rather “been-there, done that” but unfortunately a lot of Sci-fi is like that today, its just hard to find original plot ideas that hasn’t been done before on Star Trek or other shows. Still, I would have liked to see this, SG-1 and the SGU movies being made to at least give us some better closer to the franchise. They could have… Read more »
As I suspected Sheppard character seem to have disappeared of Atlantis.How could they expect for success forgetting one of the most popular character of the show?:(
BTW I won’t like to get it in other format like comic book instead of TV screen or DVD.
Bad idea.
I hate to say it, but having read what Stargate Revolution would have been about and what TPTB had planned for Stargate Atlantis…for the first time I think somebody at MGM was actually being very sensible and foresighted. Eesh these sound bad. Self-destruct, really? I like Katikatnik’s idea of stealing Atlantis better than this!
I guess my question is…At this point..What IS the point?
A novel would have been nice; until the Legacy series was announced. I have read #1 and am starting #2 and am enjoying them.
Unless the show was brought back “officially,” I will continue to get my fix from novels (both audio books and the Fandemonium’s novels). :)
Yeah, not a great plot device to get Atlantis home. As previously pointed out, Atlantis has been to earth before. The Legacy series has a much more thought out and interesting way of getting Atlantis back to Pegasus.
Sounds like a great episode, but a terrible movie. I don’t mean to say it wouldn’t have been an enjoyable movie, but it’s clearly a TV episode plot. Where’s the villain? :/
We should have gotten these movies back in 08-09. Its nice Mallozi is trying to help rid the cliffhangers with spoilers, but these “teasers” are getting me rilled up for something that with a 99% chance won’t happen(on-screeen). Stargate is such a great show, its very inspirational. It makes people want to get out there and invent something or pursue something. How is Teen Wolf, Quantum Kitchen, or any other of this realtiy tv crap inspirational? ITS NOT! It spits in my face, and when the Imagine Greater follows up after their commercials, that is like someone giving me the… Read more »
So we’re supposed to believe that it was more technologically feasible to move Atlantis back to Pegasus rather than to shut off a self-destruct?
I think I remember at the end of SG: Continuum, Sam mentioned that she was working on a new moonbase program.
i had a different idea, atlantis still on earth they prepared a data xfer to copy the database they always go on about to earths computers and it initiated a self destruct, who goes to the moon these days there is nothing but rocks there, rocks dont look that much greater in hd. and your thinking how can they stop it.. well a massive battle fleet of lucian alliance heads to earth and in one last bold effort they use atlantis self destruct to take out the fleet with 1 hell of a bang.. meanwhile back of earth they call… Read more »
Next time you guys meet up with the directors can you please ask how and where ZPMs and drones are made!!?? It’s literally driving me crazy!!! Lol
I hate to say this because I love SGA, but this sounds like it’s going to be another McKay saves the day thing. I would rather they just make the movie’s about SGA base on the Legacy series.
Yawn, you can see why SGA was cancelled. Season six would have been a snoozefest. For starters, what the heck is a self destruct be doing on Atlantis if not only to destroy it to save it’s secrets from the Wraith? It was a war that apparently wasn’t worth more casualties from the Ancients back then, so it would ONLY make sense that, the self destruct would apply if that were the case. However, in continuity of the storyline, didn’t you have to have an ancient gene to even access the systems of Atlantis in order to even make the… Read more »
@darrick.moreno
They don’t need syfy to make a SGU movie it’s up to mgm. The only thing I would point out to you is this if you thought this movie idea for SGA sounds like a snoozefest(I don’t think it sounds great too, Love SGA thou). These are the same writers that write for sgu what do you think that movie would be like.
@Atlantislove at the same time, I’d say these are also the same writers that gave us SGU season 2, the best season of Stargate since SG-1 ended IMO. Still, I think its time we get in some fresh blood to produce new ideas. Would be nice to get some writers who actually delivered what they promised instead of building it up only to have a poor execution of it (remember that All-female team that was supposed to play a huge part in Atlantis season 5, only to be killed off in one episode? And then there’s Carter and how poorly… Read more »
Pass on this story. I love SGA (my fav. series) but ticking clock, as other have said, have been done to death (“zombies have been done to death – no pun intended” – ep. 200 sg1). Instead, it would be nice for the writers to use Atlantis is some way to help the SGU team, say perhaps use the Wormhole drive to find Destiny (and lots of story along the way). Imagine seeing destiny dock with Atlantis.. Now that would be awesome. This would enable the writers to save two series at once in one shot, as a movie or… Read more »
@GMarsack I wonder if that was sort of their plan with their movie that would use elements from all three. Finish SGU’s story, bring Atlantis back to Pegasus and reveal the Stargate program. What a great way to leave the franchise once its goes on break!
@GMarsack I agree about there be a ticking time clock or bomb. To me it doesnt make sense. Earth was the Ancients “alpha site” or sanctuary. Why would a self destruct intiate if its on a course there? Anyways this script was done before SGU hit the screen and was made to tie up the cliffhangers from the last episode, so a conncection to SGU wouldnt make sense(except if the Odysesy’s secret mission was to protect Iccarus Base during construction). Even though this movie’s plot is kinda weird, I still would have loved for it to come out than have… Read more »
“Well, I guess this explains why the Ancients couldn’t just take Atlantis with them when they left, although I’m not sure what logic is behind putting a safeguard in place, just in the off chance someone took the entire city outside of the Galaxy. Never mind that is can be moved to another planet in a different solar system.” Yeah because those who put that safeguard into place could possibly not know how to deactivate it. And funny how it just went on so late. Ah, if only it had been on from the moment it left the galaxy, we’d… Read more »
@Browncoat1984 I not a sgu fan, but I would read the comments made by the fans and thought it sounds like your getting the same kind of treatment the SGA fans got by the writers. And by that I mean not delivering on great stories all the time. I agree with you I always thought it was crazy to bring in the old writers to the new series, because I always felt like at some point the old writers would do you like they did SGA and blow chances to do really good stories. Like the one you pointed out… Read more »
Awesome
City’s in Flight for it’s Life quite literally.
Once it makes it back and beats the whole truancy wrap it would be cool to contemplate where they would go.
I’d hope it was back to Lantea.
Would really have liked to see something like the wraith somehow making it to Milky Way and heading to Earth. Atlantis saves the galaxy, deem it too dangerous for the city to stay in the Milky Way and head back to Pegasus. Once back in Pegasus they should establish a coalition of friendly Pegasus worlds to bring the city back to its former glory, rather than rely on earth for supplies and reinforcements. To those asking about the two gates, since the gates use the constellations of their respective galaxies to connect to the gate network, you wouldn’t be able… Read more »