Review: 'Stargate: Atlantis' - The Lost Tribe

By WAYNE HALL Oct-11-2008

The following contains MAJOR SPOILERS for "The Lost Tribe," the latest episode of the SciFi Channel's "Stargate: Atlantis."

This felt so much like a "Stargate SG-1" episode that I almost expected Jack O'Neill to jump out of one of those battle suits. And that's a good thing.

Of course, this episode is the second part of the story begun in "First Contact" two weeks ago.

As you may remember, Dr. Daniel Jackson had come to Atlantis to locate a hidden lab for Ancient genius Janus. He and Dr. Rodney McKay found the lab. In doing so, they were whisked away from a group wearing mysterious armor to a world where they were forced to activate an anti-Wraith device that would blow up any of their hyperdrives that were activated. There were, of course, nasty side effects to the machine being turned on, as Atlantis discovered when their Stargate blew up.

While this was going on, Todd the Wraith was meeting with Woolsey and Dr. Keller on the Daedalus to continue negotiations about using meds that would remove the Wraith's need to feed on human energy. However, when two of the nearby Wraith vessels had to leave the area, they blew up, causing Todd to take control of the Daedalus and go after the anti-Wraith device. Ronon and Dr. Keller are free on the ship, searching for weapons.

This week, Todd in charge of the Daedalus arrives at Atlantis, still recovering from the explosion of their Stargate. Todd demands the location of the anti-Wraith weapon, which he refers to as the Attero Device, or he will drain Woolsey of his life force. Sheppard can't do anything but give it to him, and Todd races off, leaving a frustrated Sheppard behind.

In the bowels of the ship, Ronon and Dr. Keller obtain guns and disable the Daedalus before they can get to their destination. Todd announces that he's going to kill a crew member every hour until the missing saboteurs show themselves. Ronon won't do it, but Dr. Keller, unwilling to cause any loss of life, turns herself in.

Todd puts all the crew together, then locks the ship's guidance system to crash into the place on the planet the anti-Wraith weapon is located.

Ronon frees the crew, but they're too late. Todd's Wraiths escape in a small ship, leaving Woolsey encouraging a crew member to free the ship from its deadly course or else they are all dead.

While all this is going on, Sheppard gets helps from the Travellers, who send a ship that takes Sheppard and Zelenka on board before giving chase to the Daedalus.

Thanks to Ronon's delaying tactics, the Traveller ship arrives first, but they aren't far ahead of the Daedalus, which is racing to crash on the planet.

Sheppard gets the 15-year-old Traveller engineer to open a hyperspace window in front of their ship and the Daedalus, which causes them to pass through the planet without blowing up.

On the planet, Daniel Jackson has met with an unexpected discovery -- the people in the battle armor are actually remnants of the Asgard race SG-1 has worked with many times. However, this group is much less selfless and much more interested in preserving their lives than most of the Asgard previously seen. When Jackson returns to his cell, McKay tells him he's found a way out, and the two find empty battlesuits, then put them on. The two enter the main room the device is housed in and, after knocking out the two Asgards there, work to shut the device down. As McKay pulls the necessary board from the device, Jackson gets zapped by errant electrical impulses. But he'll be okay after he returns to Earth to recover.

Dr. Keller gives Ronon the bad news -- she's not interested in him, but someone else. Dr. McKay? Maybe, but she doesn't say who.

What Worked

As I said previously, this had all the earmarks of a great "SG-1" episode -- action, humor, multiple storylines, character-based situations. Honestly, I have missed this kind of breakneck pacing and action. But I am a big action fan.

I knew Todd the Wraith was not to be trusted, and he deserted the humans to save his own people. There should be consequences for that, and soon.

The interplay betwen McKay and Jackson is as good as last time even though the story demands that we don't see as much of them.

Of course, the big hanging surprise of Asgard being in those suits was a great one. I should have thought of that because, after all, who has provided the voice for an Asgard? Michael Shanks, natch.

What Didn't Work

Something that didn't work ... hmmm. I can't think of anything, really. It was just a fun action show in the grand "Stargate" style. Hard to find fault with that!

Giving Credit Where Credit Is Due

"The Lost Tribe" was written by Martin Gero, and directed by Andy Mikita. "Stargate: Atlantis" airs Friday nights at 9 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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Hear Michael Hinman on SyFy Radio every Wednesday at 10 p.m. ET/7 p.m. PT at www.BlogTalkRadio.com/SyFyRadio.

About the Author: Wayne Hall is the former news editor for Airlock Alpha, writing from the Washington, D.C., area. He first joined the site in October 2004 as a staff writer, and wrote the monthly "Wayne's Worlds" column.
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