Episode of the Week: ‘The Last Man’

Sheppard returns to Atlantis after a mission and finds the city abandoned, all systems dead — and instead of ocean, sand dunes as far as the eye can see.

“The Last Man” Facts:

• Atlantis‘s fourth season finale was a rare look at time travel on the show, making use of the same mechanics as SG-1: when the wormhole from a Stargate passes too close to a solar flare the gravity distortion causes a time displacement, bending it back on itself to the sending gate. But here is the most severe case of this phenomenon seen on Stargate: John Sheppard is thrown many thousands of years into the future.
• Richard Woolsey (Robert Picardo) appears in the future timeline as the commander of the Atlantis base — which proved prescient, as the actor would be cast in that role for Season Five only after the fourth season finale had been shot.
• The alternate future also proved an accurate prediction for Samantha Carter, who commands Earth’s newest deep-space battlecruiser. After actress Amanda Tapping departed the show the writers gave Carter command of the U.S.S. George Hammond, seen on Stargate Universe. (It’s the same ship as the Phoenix, only renamed in the main timeline after the death of the former S.G.C. commander.)
• Stargate‘s make-up and prosthetics team did a bang-up job with Rodney McKay’s older look. It’s much improved from the aged SG-1 team from “Unending” one year earlier … and gave actor David Hewlett the chance to stay in character and act like a crotchety old man all day long on the set.

“The Last Man” on GateWorld:

• Episode Guide
• Episode Transcript
• Fan Reviews
• Photo Gallery
• Screencap Gallery
• Discussion Forum
• Atlantis Season Four Podcast
• Interview with David Hewlett (2008)
• Interview with Amanda Tapping (2008)
• Video Interview with Kavan Smith (2008)
• Interview with Christopher Heyerdahl (2008)
• Interview with Rachel Luttrell (2008)

Download “The Last Man” now from Amazon or iTunes!

Rewatch “The Last Man” 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!