Atlantis: Season Five
First Aired: January 2, 2009
First Aired: January 2, 2009
In the city of Las Vegas, Detective John Sheppard must solve the case on a long string of unusual murders — perpetrated by a Wraith in hiding.
“Vegas” Facts:
- Not surprisingly, the working title for this episode was “CSI Atlantis.” Writer-director Robert C. Cooper attempted to capture CSI‘s trademark forensic effects shots.
- Actor Neil Jackson, who plays a very unique Wraith in this episode, previously played the genetically engineered hybrid Khalek — the so-called “son of Anubis” — in the Stargate SG-1 episode “Prototype.”
- Players at the poker table include Stargate‘s music composer Joel Goldsmith, MGM executive and long-time Stargate supporter Charles Cohen, and real-life poker pro Todd Brunson. The players with speaking parts are Frank Vincent (Goodfellas) and Steve Schirripa (The Sopranos).
- “Vegas” features one of the more dangerous stunts ever performed on the series. A stunt performer plummeted nine stories from a building, part of the Wraith’s escape while fleeing from Detective Sheppard.
- It was very rare for Stargate‘s production team to head south of the Canadian border and film on location in the U.S. “Vegas” included several days of location shooting in Las Vegas, Nevada — though of the main cast only Joe Flanigan got to go. (These were the final scenes of Stargate Atlantis to film before the show wrapped production.)
“Vegas” on GateWorld:
- Episode Guide
- Fan Reviews
- Episode Transcript
- Photo Gallery
- Screencap Gallery
- Discussion Forum
- Video interview with Joe Flanigan (2009)
- “Vegas” Podcast
- Atlantis Season Five Podcast
Download “Vegas” now from Amazon or iTunes!
Rewatch “Vegas” this week! Then post your comments below, or head over to the episode discussion forum and see what people were saying back in the day. What are your favorite moments?
Each week we’re highlighting a favorite episode from Stargate’s 17 seasons. Watch the episode with us this week and join in the fun!
This was the worst episode of SGA! The story was just terrible! A Wraith on Earth in Vegas playing poker!! What were the writers thinking!?! Also, the fact that this was the lead-in to the series finale was just terrible!! The producers of Atlantis should have played out a two part epic finale for the series! The final episode itself was awesome, no complaints about that, but the story was rushed because it all had to fit into a final one episode. It should have spread over two episodes with more shots of Atlantis itself battling in space because was… Read more »
Best episode of the franchise in my opinion. I cried for quite a while after watching it. I wouldn’t have minded it being in and earlier spot in the season (the ending did lead to the finale) and getting rid of that horrible Brainstorm and useless Identity episodes. But this was just a brilliant, brilliant piece of work, the acting (finally Joe gets a chance to shine) the mood, the cinematography and incredible music all combined to make it my personal favorite. Wish it would have been a spin off series of its’ own. Of course, alt!Sheppard would have lived.… Read more »
This was a great episode, a very nice change-up to the “status quo”. However, when I’m doing a re-watch I usually get annoyed when I watch this episode. I would have much preferred a two part finale to this, or at least some other episode of the season to have been cut.
Personally, the only Atlantis episodes I hated were the ones with Lucius in them…
I agree they should have made EaTG a two-parter. Eliminating an episode like Brainstorm would have been preferable by me as Vegas is my favorite.
In my fantasy, “Vegas” would have been the series finale of SGA. Besides all the blown minds, imagine the fan outrage of ending the series in an alternate reality! It would be like ending Enterprise in a holodeck simulation. ;)
Paul_Boland I agree with every word, this episode was definitely the worst of the series.
I remember when this episode came out, it was definitely a “love it or hate it” kind of ep. So things haven’t changed.
its not uncommon to have a finale as 1 episode look at sg-1 and that was after 10 seasons, sure they got a movie but at the time atlantis was also hoping for a movie, i really liked vegas and brainstorm and even identity i actually had a hard time finding a single episode to cut to make it a double.
Well, it’s a rip on the CSI, but still fun. Like the use of the actors in other roles. Must have been fun for the actors, just a little mix up for them.
This episode didn’t really excite me much at all. It was kinda blah. A wraith in Vegas….how quaint. LOL