Everyone from our national leaders to corporate executives seem to take it as a sign of weakness to admit mistakes that they've made. So Robert C. Cooper's candor is as refreshing as big glass of iced tea on a warm spring day.

The executive producer of "Stargate Atlantis" recently conceded that the production team found shortcomings in the series and are making plans to improve.

"One of the things that we did at the beginning of the season on Atlantis is sort of sat back and took stock and said, 'OK, we've done two seasons. Where are we? Where is this show at? What's working about it, and what's not?'" Cooper said. "And one of the things we thought we could do better was create the sense of camaraderie and relationships between the team."

By their own reckoning, the producers felt "Stargate Atlantis" hasn't quite clicked in the same way that "Stargate SG-1" did.

"I think we as writers did things in the early years of SG-1 that galvanized those relationships," Cooper said. But when it came to "Stargate Atlantis," he thought they didnt do that as well. "We felt we were getting the action-adventure part of the show right, but that the team itself -- the chemistry still hadn't quite clicked the same way it had on SG-1."

The funny thing is, though, that as it is, "Stargate Atlantis" isn't bad at all.

The introduction of Mitch Pileggi as Col. Steven Caldwell was particularly welcome and enjoyable.

The series has steadily improved over the course of its two seasons, so if Cooper & Co. can take a good show and make it even better, then kudos to them.

The fact that Cooper is willing at all to get out and talk honestly with the fans about the show and what's working and what isn't, is just one more example that you get the feeling that the Stargate series are made by people, talented people who give actual thought to what they are doing and care about the quality of the stories they produce.

I never got that feeling, for instance, with "Star Trek: Enterprise."

"Enterprise," to me, always seemed to want to come off as a slickly packaged corporate product, encased in shrink wrap.

You could almost watch the actors (especially Scott Bakula, Jolene Blalock and Connor Trinneer) fight mightily to try and break free of the tight packaging that seemed to constrict them.

The staffers who produced "Enterprise" grasped the need for good writing and character development only too late.

Blalock, particularly, was very public in complaining about how the writers and producers handled her character, T'Pol.

When "Enterprise" finally made changes, like bringing in Manny Coto as showrunner, such moves were driven not by frank public assessments of where the series had gone wrong but rather were desperate reactions to quickly sinking ratings numbers.

When Cooper and his team talk about "Stargate SG-1" and "Stargate Atlantis," it's not the glib, canned PR we got from Rick Berman about "Enterprise."

The genuine enthusiasm Cooper has for his work is palpable.

"I still write episodes that I can't wait to see, as a fan," he told a Gateworld interviewer. "And I read the other writers' episodes and I'm excited about seeing those come through production. So, yeah, I'm as much a fan as anybody else -- of both series."

And when Cooper says producers have to get character development right, he is absolutely correct.

Amanda Tapping, who plays Samantha Carter on "Stargate SG-1," was so true when she recently tried to explain why her show has been such a success.

"Ultimately, it's the chemistry," she said. "It's the tapestry woven by our writers, that's so rich. And I think it translates on screen. Fans dig it."

Yeah, that's right, we do.

And the way Cooper's talking, I'll really be digging the the upcoming third season of "Stargate Atlantis."

"Stargate Atlantis" resumes new episodes with the start of the third season in July on the SciFi Channel.

A former entertainment journalist, Scott Nance is a member of the USS Chesapeake, an independent science-fiction and Star Trek club in the Washington, DC, area. He is a columnist for Airlock Alpha, and can be reached at scottnance@airlockalpha.com.