Episode of the Week: ‘The Defiant One’

Sheppard’s team investigates a downed Wraith ship, and find themselves stuck on a planet with a lone Wraith survivor.

“The Defiant One” Facts:

• So, Wraith are reeeally long-lived. We’d known that they could survive for millennia in the hibernation clusters on board hive ships; here we see, remarkably, that a single Wraith soldier has survived alone on a barren planet.
• Actor James Lafazanos played just about every male Wraith character (excluding the big soldiers) throughout the show’s first two seasons. This was a deliberate choice to fit the mythology of the creatures, since each hive collective has a rather narrow gene pool. (This made it rather striking to viewers when Michael, played by Connor Trinneer, and Todd, played by Christopher Heyerdahl, were first introduced.)
• We’ve seen those little alien “light” bugs before — or at least a species very much like them — all the way in the Milky Way Galaxy, back in the SG-1 fourth season episode “Prodigy.”
• Recognize Dr. Brendan Gall? Actor Richard Ian Cox previously appeared on Stargate SG-1, as Nyan in the third season episode “New Ground.”
• “The Defiant One” may be a stand-alone episode, but it did introduce the Ancient defense satellite on the outer edge of the solar system. This would play a significant role in the climax to Season One (“The Siege, Part 1”).
• This episode includes the first time that the people who used to inhabit the city of Atlantis are referred to as “Lanteans” — which would become a standard name for this sub-branch of Ancients.

“The Defiant One” on GateWorld:

• Episode Guide
• Episode Review
• Episode Transcript
• Photo Gallery
• Screencap Gallery
• Discussion Forum
• Interview with Joe Flanigan (2004)
• Interview with David Hewlett (2004)
• Atlantis Season One Podcast

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