The following contains MAJOR SPOILERS for the fifth season premiere of the SciFi Channel original series, "Stargate: Atlantis."

"Now, you need to catch him." -- Teyla "Catch him?" -- McKay "Yes, you need to catch him when I push him out." -- Teyla "Oh God! Okay, well just ... underhand him, all right? I've never been good at baseball." -- McKay

Finally, it's time for the premiere of season five of "Stargate: Atlantis." We were left with quite the cliffhanger as the rescue team needed rescuing after a booby trap knocked an entire building on top of them.

We open to Sheppard (Joe Flanigan) having a vivid dream and being reminded by Lt. Aiden Ford (Rainbow Sun Francks) that he failed to rescue him. Sheppard awakens to find that he is trapped and hurt badly. Ronon (Jason Momoa) is also there and trying to dig Sheppard out.

Meanwhile, Carter (Amanda Tapping) and her rescue team dig out McKay (David Hewlett) and Major Lorne (Kavan Smith). McKay has discovered that Michael (Connor Trinnear) was alerted to their presence and is on the way.

Needless to say, things become a roll coaster ride from there. By the time things are done we get: a new commander for Atlantis, McKay delivers Teyla's baby, Michael does a classic villain escape, the team loses their "car," and the good guys win.

What Worked

I can tell that "Atlantis" has upped the budget with this episode. There were a number of impressive CGI effects. This episode had some moments that felt very cinematic.

The baby delivery scene was classic with McKay being ... McKay.

The dream sequence gave us some insight into Sheppard's guilt for not being able to save Ford and why he was so determined not to lose Teyla.

I was surprised that Kenan was rescued. He has seemed like such a throw-away character just added to explain how Teyla got pregnant. Hopefully this means that the writers have plans on integrating him into the show.

I loved that big gun the female soldier used to shoot down the Wraith dart. I want one! I also liked the dialogue between Ronon and Sheppard.

I think that anyone that keeps up with Stargate news already knew about the command change. I'm glad for it because Carter never seemed to truly fit in. A cast of characters is a balancing act for the writers. Each must have something unique to contribute while not repeating skills or personality traits of other characters, otherwise the cast seems crowded. In this case, Carter with her tech skills on par with McKay and soldier skills on par with Sheppard made the writers have to dumb her down. And honestly, if I were going to pick an SG1 member to replace the leaders, it would have made more sense to use Daniel Jackson. He fits more closely to the role or archetype that Weir was.

What Didn?t Work

My only problem with the command change was that it seemed so anti-climactic. It just felt like a tag-on at the end, a filler used to explain why Amanda Tapping's character was leaving the show so she could star on "Sanctuary." It should have been integrated into the overall story better.

I'm curious to see how Woolsey's character will evolve in the show. I know he is very flawed, but honestly so was McKay way back when he made appearances on "SG-1." Back then I would have had doubts on whether McKay was strong enough to be a lead character, but boy is he ever.

Perhaps the writers will do the same with Woolsey. I feel confident that Picardo can deliver if the writers give him the right material to work with. Either way I feel that he is a better choice than forcing Carter into the series. It could (if done correctly) be nice to have command butt heads with Sheppard's team. It is nice to have the characters sometimes not always agree, and I think those kind of debates have been in some of the best episodes of both Stargate shows.

Michael has been built up into a major villain, but honestly he is starting to get a little old, although at no fault of the actor who has done a good job fleshing the character out. His escape seemed a little too convenient. Hopefully the next time we meet him, the writers will have a new twist to make him more interesting.

I liked the cinematic visual effects, but I do have to say that they need to be careful not to overkill on them. The early visual effect where we travel through space was cool looking, but felt a little long to me.

I was a little puzzled by how Sheppard was able to walk around so well with what was supposed to be such a major injury. I admire what it said about his character, but it seemed a little fake to me.

I want to like Dr. Keller, especially since I like everything else that Staite has been in (and she graduated from the same film school I did). But they need to do some major work on her character. She still feels to weak of a character. Hopefully the writers have some plans in the future for her.

Overall, this was a good episode to start a new season. I'm looking forward to seeing what happens next.

Giving Credit Where Credit Is Due

"Search and Rescue" was written by Martin Gero and directed by Andy Mikita. "Stargate: Atlantis" airs Friday nights at 10 p.m. on the SciFi Channel. The show stars Joe Flanigan, David Hewlett, Rachel Luttrell, Jason Momoa, Jewel Staite and Robert Picardo.

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