Episode of the Week: ‘The Siege’

With a group of Wraith hive ships on the way to Atlantis, the team searches for a place to flee and a way to destroy the city. McKay leads a team to try and activate the Ancients’ orbital weapons platform, and a connection with Earth delivers a military contingent to defend the city.

“The Siege” Facts:

• “The Siege, Part 1” brought one of Atlantis‘s early character deaths in the form of Dr. Peter Grodin, played by Craig Veroni since the pilot. Killing off a prominent supporting character was a way for the writers to up the ante on the threat that the city faced from the Wraith.
• The show’s first season finale and second season premiere also brought about the exit of one of the show’s main cast members: Rainbow Sun Francks. His character of Lt. Aiden Ford would be back for the mid-season two-parter, having been replaced on the team in Season Two by Ronon Dex (Jason Momoa).
• The Genii operative Sora (Erin Chambers) remained in Atlantis’s custody following the events of “The Eye” — but her character was never dealt with again on screen. She was scripted to be traded back to the Genii as part of the deal to secure their nukes in “The Siege, Part 2” — but the scene had to be cut for time.
• It was originally hoped that Colonel Dillon Everett continue into Season Two as a major recurring character — and producers hoped to cast Farscape‘s Ben Browder in the role. When Browder was unavailable Clayton Landey was cast instead, and that recurring status was redirected to Daedalus commander Steven Caldwell, played by The X-Files‘s Mitch Pileggi.
• Daedalus made its first appearance in Part 3 of this episode (Season Two’s premiere) — a significant design improvement from the blocky and decided un-sleek Prometheus. It was the first of its class ever seen on Stargate, later to be followed by the Odyssey, the Korolev, the Apollo, the George Hammond, and others.

“The Siege” on GateWorld:

• Episode Guide (Part 1 – Part 2 – Part 3)
• Episode Review (Part 3)
• Episode Transcript (Part 1 – Part 2 – Part 3)
• Photo Gallery (Part 1 – Part 2 – Part 3)
• Screencap Gallery (Part 1 – Part 2 – Part 3)
• Discussion Forum (Part 1 – Part 2 – Part 3)
• Interview with Joe Flanigan (2005)
• Interview with Torri Higginson (2005)
• Interview with David Hewlett (2005)
• Interview with Rainbow Sun Francks (2005)
• Interview with Rachel Luttrell (2005)
• Interview with Mitch Pileggi (2005)
• Interview with Brad Wright & Robert C. Cooper (2005)
• Atlantis Season One Podcast
• Atlantis Season Two Podcast

Download “The Siege” (Parts 1, 2 & 3) now from Amazon or iTunes!

Rewatch “The Siege” (Parts 1, 2 & 3) this week! Then post your comments below, or head over to the episode discussion threads and see what people were saying back in the day. What are your favorite moments?

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