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Enemy at the Gate (Stargate Atlantis)
Encyclopedia
"Enemy at the Gate" is the 100th and final episode of the science fiction
television series Stargate Atlantis
. The episode aired on January 9, 2009 on the Sci Fi Channel
in the United States
, and on January 13, 2009 on Sky1 in the United Kingdom
. Written by Joseph Mallozzi
and Paul Mullie
as their fifth and final script in the fifth season, "Enemy at the Gate" was produced as the nineteenth episode of the season and was directed by Andy Mikita
. It is dedicated to Don S. Davis
(Stargate SG-1 George Hammond), who died from a heart attack in 2008.
"Enemy at the Gate" involves a Wraith plan to significantly upgrade a Hive Ship by integrating it with stolen Zero Point Modules from Asurans, and picks up a weak transmission from Earth
from an alternate reality ("Vegas"), alerting the ship to Earth's location.
) informs Atlantis that a group of Wraith
have multiple ZPM's with which they plan to power a new super Hive Ship. "Todd" urges the expedition to destroy it, but when the team reaches the hive, they realize that the ZPM's has already made the ship far more powerful, and causes significant damage to Daedalus before jumping into hyperspace. The team then finds out that the Hive has picked up a subspace transmission from the alternate reality depicted in "Vegas", giving the Wraith the location of Earth
. Earth sends Apollo and Sun Tzu to stop them, but are quickly disabled. Lt. Col. Sheppard
(Joe Flanigan
) gates to Earth and warns Carter
(Amanda Tapping
) of the situation. However, before their plan of fitting nukes on the F-302s is complete, they discover that the ship has already arrived, and is sending a large squadron of darts, which perform a kamikaze run into Area 51
, destroying the Antarctic Ancient control chair, and ZPM losing hope of using the Antarctic drone weapons against the ship. Sheppard, however, plans on using his F-302 to break into the Hive, where he might detonate a nuclear weapon destroying the Hive from within.
Meanwhile, Carson Beckett
(Paul McGillion
) returns and flies the city to Earth, after finding more ZPMs from "Todd". However, the stardrive shuts down just as they approach the Milky Way
. Fortunately, Zelenka
(David Nykl
) is able to implement a "wormhole drive", which sends the city to Earth within seconds. Meanwhile, in attempting to gate to Earth the Atlantis expedition connects to a Stargate
aboard the Hive, which has been brought for the purpose of superseding Earth's gate to prevent dialing out. Woolsey
(Robert Picardo
) sends Teyla
(Rachel Luttrell
), Ronon
(Jason Momoa
), McKay
(David Hewlett
) and Lorne
(Kavan Smith
) to the Hive to destroy it. However, in the process, Ronon is killed. The team find Sheppard about to detonate the nuke, but stop him. Since the Hive is over Earth, they plan to remote detonate the nuke, after they safely gate to the Alpha Site. They find Ronon, who was brought back to life by the Wraith and rescue him. Meanwhile, Atlantis arrives to destroy the ship, but the powerful weapons push Atlantis into Earth's atmosphere. Fortunately, before the shield fails, the Hive is destroyed by the nuclear warhead. Unfortunately, Atlantis is burning up on re-entry, though Carson manages to control the city, and lands in the Pacific Ocean, subsequently cloaking and secretly moving Atlantis to the coast off San Francisco. In the end, the team takes time in admiring the view of the Golden Gate Bridge
.
. The shooting of "Enemy at the Gate" overlapped with "Vegas", which was not unusual as Atlantis used to film multiple shows at the same time during its run. The VFX budget was over half a million dollars, only being seconded by "The Daedalus Variations
" for the most VFX dollars spent on an episode in season 5.
Many of the happenings in "Enemy at the Gate" were originally planned because the episode was the 100th episode as well as a season finale. When the writers learned of the cancellation, they found the events even more appropriate to serve as series finale. In writing the episode, the writers had to take a lot of backstory into account. It needed to be addressed that the Atlantis characters did not necessarily know the recurring characters from the Stargate franchise such as Major Davis. Stargate Atlantis
was originally intended to be continued by a two-hour movie, but MGM filed for bankruptcy in 2010 and shelved the Atlantis film indefinitely.
Because it was not very clear to the audience, Paul Mullie explained that the "Todd" character "is very much back to being a full-fledged human life sucker at the beginning of this episode", and gave this as the reason why Sheppard appears so cruel to "Todd". The original first scene included explanatory dialog, which was cut when SciFi asked for a Keller scene earlier in the show so that her appearance in the last third would not be as jarring. New explanatory dialog that Mullie added to the first act of the script was filmed but later cut for time. There are plans to make the trimmed and cut scenes available in a special extended version, likely to be released on DVD. Brad Wright temporarily considered to use the wormhole drive as a set-up for a similar drive in Stargate Universe
, but instead, this technology is planned to appear as part of the story for the Atlantis film.
The last scene's possible connection to Star Trek is pure coincidence. The producers had wanted the city to come down on Earth near a recognizable landmark, as to be different from the previous five years of the show where Atlantis was always located in the middle of the ocean. Martin Gero and Carl Binder were insistent that it should be the Statue of Liberty, but the geography was not plausible enough for leaving the city cloaked for any length of time without anyone noticing and/or getting killed. So the producers settled on San Francisco and the Golden Gate Bridge.
Although the producers knew of Don S. Davis
' (George Hammond) heart problems, his death "came as a total shock" to them. They originally talked about just showing an "in memoriam" card at the end of the show, but as Davis's death also meant the end of the character's arc, they decided to acknowledge it by renaming the ship.
series of the week, with the lead being the finale of Sanctuary, which earned a 1.6 rating. In total, "Enemy at the Gate" was viewed by 2.02 million people, including 973,000 for in the 18 to 49 demographic, and 1.12 million age 25 to 54. In the UK, the finale was viewed by 633,000, placing Stargate Atlantis third in the top ten for Sky1 in that week, behind The Simpsons
and season seven premiere of 24
. However, IGN
reviewer Tory Ireland Mell has given the episode a "mediocre" score of 5.8 out of 10, where the reviewer felt that everything on the episode was "forced", and felt the final scene was "uninspiring", though the episode was praised for the conversation between Sheppard and Carter. Sci Fi Wire said that the episode was a very "Satisfying conclusion" for the series end. The episode won the awards for "Best Overall Sound in a Dramatic Series" and "Best Sound Editing in a Dramatic Series" at the 2009 Leo Awards
.
Science fiction
Science fiction is a genre of fiction dealing with imaginary but more or less plausible content such as future settings, futuristic science and technology, space travel, aliens, and paranormal abilities...
television series Stargate Atlantis
Stargate Atlantis
Stargate Atlantis is a Canadian-American adventure and military science fiction television series and part of MGM's Stargate franchise. The show was created by Brad Wright and Robert C. Cooper as a spin-off series of Stargate SG-1, which was created by Wright and Jonathan Glassner and was itself...
. The episode aired on January 9, 2009 on the Sci Fi Channel
Syfy
Syfy , formerly known as the Sci-Fi Channel and SCI FI, is an American cable television channel featuring science fiction, supernatural, fantasy, reality, paranormal, wrestling, and horror programming. Launched on September 24, 1992, it is part of the entertainment conglomerate NBCUniversal, a...
in the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
, and on January 13, 2009 on Sky1 in the United Kingdom
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
. Written by Joseph Mallozzi
Joseph Mallozzi
Joseph Mallozzi is a Canadian writer and producer.He is most noted for his contributions to the Stargate SG-1, Stargate: Atlantis, and Stargate Universe television series. He joined the Stargate production team at the start of Stargate SG-1s fourth season in 2000...
and Paul Mullie
Paul Mullie
Paul Mullie is a screenwriter and producer. He is credited for writing episodes of Stargate Atlantis, Largo Winch, and Stargate SG-1...
as their fifth and final script in the fifth season, "Enemy at the Gate" was produced as the nineteenth episode of the season and was directed by Andy Mikita
Andy Mikita
Andy Mikita is a Canadian television director and producer. He has worked in the TV and film industry for over 20 years. Mikita is best known for his work as a director and producer for Stargate SG-1, and its sister shows Stargate Atlantis and Stargate Universe.-Career:Andy Mikita began his...
. It is dedicated to Don S. Davis
Don S. Davis
Don Sinclair Davis PhD was an American character actor, theatre professor, painter and captain in the United States Army.-Career:He was perhaps best known for playing General George S...
(Stargate SG-1 George Hammond), who died from a heart attack in 2008.
"Enemy at the Gate" involves a Wraith plan to significantly upgrade a Hive Ship by integrating it with stolen Zero Point Modules from Asurans, and picks up a weak transmission from Earth
Earth
Earth is the third planet from the Sun, and the densest and fifth-largest of the eight planets in the Solar System. It is also the largest of the Solar System's four terrestrial planets...
from an alternate reality ("Vegas"), alerting the ship to Earth's location.
Plot
"Todd" (Christopher HeyerdahlChristopher Heyerdahl
Christopher Heyerdahl is a Canadian actor who has had roles in many prominent television shows and movies. He is tall.-Biography:Heyerdahl was born in the mountains of British Columbia and is of Norwegian and Scottish descent...
) informs Atlantis that a group of Wraith
Wraith (Stargate)
In the science fiction television series Stargate Atlantis, the Wraith are the original enemy alien species, first introduced in the pilot episode . In the series, they are a vampire-like telepathic race who feed on the "life-force" of humans, and are the dominant power in the Pegasus galaxy...
have multiple ZPM's with which they plan to power a new super Hive Ship. "Todd" urges the expedition to destroy it, but when the team reaches the hive, they realize that the ZPM's has already made the ship far more powerful, and causes significant damage to Daedalus before jumping into hyperspace. The team then finds out that the Hive has picked up a subspace transmission from the alternate reality depicted in "Vegas", giving the Wraith the location of Earth
Earth
Earth is the third planet from the Sun, and the densest and fifth-largest of the eight planets in the Solar System. It is also the largest of the Solar System's four terrestrial planets...
. Earth sends Apollo and Sun Tzu to stop them, but are quickly disabled. Lt. Col. Sheppard
John Sheppard (Stargate)
John Sheppard is a fictional character in the Canadian-American military science fiction television series Stargate Atlantis, a science fiction show about a military team exploring the galaxy via a network of alien transportation devices...
(Joe Flanigan
Joe Flanigan
Joe Flanigan is an American television actor best known for his portrayal of the character Major/Lt. Colonel John Sheppard in Stargate Atlantis.-Early life:Flanigan was born Joseph Dunnigan III in Los Angeles, California...
) gates to Earth and warns Carter
Samantha Carter
Samantha "Sam" Carter is a fictional character in the Canadian-American military science fiction Stargate franchise, appearing in television series Stargate SG-1, Stargate Atlantis, and Stargate Universe. SG-1 and Atlantis are both about a military team exploring the galaxy via a network of alien...
(Amanda Tapping
Amanda Tapping
Amanda Tapping is an English-born Canadian actress, producer and director. She is best known for portraying Samantha Carter in the Canadian-American military science fiction television series Stargate SG-1 and Stargate Atlantis...
) of the situation. However, before their plan of fitting nukes on the F-302s is complete, they discover that the ship has already arrived, and is sending a large squadron of darts, which perform a kamikaze run into Area 51
Area 51
Area 51 is a military base, and a remote detachment of Edwards Air Force Base. It is located in the southern portion of Nevada in the western United States, 83 miles north-northwest of downtown Las Vegas. Situated at its center, on the southern shore of Groom Lake, is a large military airfield...
, destroying the Antarctic Ancient control chair, and ZPM losing hope of using the Antarctic drone weapons against the ship. Sheppard, however, plans on using his F-302 to break into the Hive, where he might detonate a nuclear weapon destroying the Hive from within.
Meanwhile, Carson Beckett
Carson Beckett
Dr. Carson Beckett is a fictional Scottish character in the Canadian-American science fiction television series Stargate Atlantis, a spin-off series of Stargate SG-1. He is portrayed by Scottish-born Canadian actor Paul McGillion, who previously played Dr. Ernest Littlefield in the first season of...
(Paul McGillion
Paul McGillion
Paul McGillion is a Vancouver-based actor who has worked in television, film and theatre since 1990. He is best known for his role on the television series Stargate Atlantis as Dr. Carson Beckett.-Early life:...
) returns and flies the city to Earth, after finding more ZPMs from "Todd". However, the stardrive shuts down just as they approach the Milky Way
Milky Way
The Milky Way is the galaxy that contains the Solar System. This name derives from its appearance as a dim un-resolved "milky" glowing band arching across the night sky...
. Fortunately, Zelenka
Radek Zelenka
Dr. Radek Zelenka is a fictional character in the television series Stargate Atlantis, portrayed by David Nykl. He is a scientist from the Czech Republic and a member of the original expedition from Earth to the Ancient city of Atlantis in the Pegasus galaxy. His expertise on Ancient technology is...
(David Nykl
David Nykl
David Nykl is a Czech Canadian actor of film, television, commercials and theater.After the Soviet invasion in 1968, he and his family left then-Communist Czechoslovakia for Canada...
) is able to implement a "wormhole drive", which sends the city to Earth within seconds. Meanwhile, in attempting to gate to Earth the Atlantis expedition connects to a Stargate
Stargate (device)
A Stargate is a portal device within the Stargate fictional universe that allows practical, rapid travel between two distant locations. The devices first appear in the 1994 Roland Emmerich film Stargate, and thereafter in the television series Stargate SG-1 and its spin-offs...
aboard the Hive, which has been brought for the purpose of superseding Earth's gate to prevent dialing out. Woolsey
Richard Woolsey
Richard Woolsey is a fictional character on the Stargate television franchise about military teams exploring the galaxy via a network of alien transportation devices. Played by Robert Picardo, Woolsey made his first appearance as a member of the NID in "Heroes", an episode of season 7 of Stargate...
(Robert Picardo
Robert Picardo
Robert Picardo is an American actor. He is best known for his portrayals of Dr. Dick Richards on ABC's China Beach, the Emergency Medical Hologram , also known as The Doctor, on UPN's Star Trek: Voyager, The Cowboy in Innerspace, Coach Cutlip on The Wonder Years , Ben Wheeler in Wagons East, and as...
) sends Teyla
Teyla Emmagan
Teyla Emmagan was a primary fictional character played by Rachel Luttrell in the science fiction series, Stargate Atlantis. In the show, she is the daughter of Tagan, and was a leader of a village on the planet Athos...
(Rachel Luttrell
Rachel Luttrell
Rachel Luttrell is an actress best known for her role as Teyla Emmagan, an Athosian warrior leader on Stargate Atlantis.-Early life:...
), Ronon
Ronon Dex
Ronon Dex is a fictional character in the science fiction television series Stargate Atlantis. Played by Jason Momoa, he is a Satedan, a civilization from the Pegasus Galaxy who had a technological level comparable to Earth in the mid-20th century but met the fate of all advanced civilizations in...
(Jason Momoa
Jason Momoa
Jason Momoa is an American actor and model.He is known for his role as Ronon Dex on military science fiction television series Stargate: Atlantis . Most recently, he became recognized for his role as the title character in the sword and sorcery film Conan the Barbarian...
), McKay
Rodney McKay
Doctor Meredith Rodney McKay, Ph.D, is a fictional character in the Canadian-American Sci-Fi Channel television series Stargate SG-1 and Stargate Atlantis, two military science fiction television shows about a military team exploring two galaxies via a network of alien transportation devices...
(David Hewlett
David Hewlett
David Ian Hewlett is an English-born Canadian actor best known for his role as Dr. Meredith Rodney McKay on the science fiction television shows Stargate SG1 and Stargate Atlantis.-Early life:...
) and Lorne
Evan Lorne
Evan Lorne is a fictional character in the Canadian–American Sci-Fi Channel television series Stargate SG-1 and Stargate Atlantis, two military science fiction shows about military teams exploring the galaxy via a network of alien transportation devices...
(Kavan Smith
Kavan Smith
Kavan Joel Smith is a Canadian actor best known for playing Major Evan Lorne in Stargate Atlantis and Stargate SG-1 and for his recurring role as Agent Jed Garrity in The 4400.-Biography:...
) to the Hive to destroy it. However, in the process, Ronon is killed. The team find Sheppard about to detonate the nuke, but stop him. Since the Hive is over Earth, they plan to remote detonate the nuke, after they safely gate to the Alpha Site. They find Ronon, who was brought back to life by the Wraith and rescue him. Meanwhile, Atlantis arrives to destroy the ship, but the powerful weapons push Atlantis into Earth's atmosphere. Fortunately, before the shield fails, the Hive is destroyed by the nuclear warhead. Unfortunately, Atlantis is burning up on re-entry, though Carson manages to control the city, and lands in the Pacific Ocean, subsequently cloaking and secretly moving Atlantis to the coast off San Francisco. In the end, the team takes time in admiring the view of the Golden Gate Bridge
Golden Gate Bridge
The Golden Gate Bridge is a suspension bridge spanning the Golden Gate, the opening of the San Francisco Bay into the Pacific Ocean. As part of both U.S. Route 101 and California State Route 1, the structure links the city of San Francisco, on the northern tip of the San Francisco Peninsula, to...
.
Production
Even though "Enemy at the Gate" is the final episode in the series, its production number was 519, leaving 520 for "Vegas", which was filmed on location in Las Vegas, NevadaLas Vegas metropolitan area
The Las Vegas Valley is the heart of the Las Vegas-Paradise, NV MSA also known as the Las Vegas–Paradise–Henderson MSA which includes all of Clark County, Nevada, and is a metropolitan area in the southern part of the U.S. state of Nevada. The Valley is defined by the Las Vegas Valley landform, a ...
. The shooting of "Enemy at the Gate" overlapped with "Vegas", which was not unusual as Atlantis used to film multiple shows at the same time during its run. The VFX budget was over half a million dollars, only being seconded by "The Daedalus Variations
The Daedalus Variations
"The Daedalus Variations" is the 84th episode of the science fiction television series Stargate Atlantis, and is the fourth episode in the series' fifth season. The episode first aired on August 1 2008 on the Sci Fi Channel in the United States, and subsequently aired on October 9 on Sky One in the...
" for the most VFX dollars spent on an episode in season 5.
Many of the happenings in "Enemy at the Gate" were originally planned because the episode was the 100th episode as well as a season finale. When the writers learned of the cancellation, they found the events even more appropriate to serve as series finale. In writing the episode, the writers had to take a lot of backstory into account. It needed to be addressed that the Atlantis characters did not necessarily know the recurring characters from the Stargate franchise such as Major Davis. Stargate Atlantis
Stargate Atlantis
Stargate Atlantis is a Canadian-American adventure and military science fiction television series and part of MGM's Stargate franchise. The show was created by Brad Wright and Robert C. Cooper as a spin-off series of Stargate SG-1, which was created by Wright and Jonathan Glassner and was itself...
was originally intended to be continued by a two-hour movie, but MGM filed for bankruptcy in 2010 and shelved the Atlantis film indefinitely.
Because it was not very clear to the audience, Paul Mullie explained that the "Todd" character "is very much back to being a full-fledged human life sucker at the beginning of this episode", and gave this as the reason why Sheppard appears so cruel to "Todd". The original first scene included explanatory dialog, which was cut when SciFi asked for a Keller scene earlier in the show so that her appearance in the last third would not be as jarring. New explanatory dialog that Mullie added to the first act of the script was filmed but later cut for time. There are plans to make the trimmed and cut scenes available in a special extended version, likely to be released on DVD. Brad Wright temporarily considered to use the wormhole drive as a set-up for a similar drive in Stargate Universe
Stargate Universe
Stargate Universe is a Canadian-American military science fiction television series and part of MGM's Stargate franchise. It follows the adventures of a present-day, multinational exploration team traveling on the Ancient spaceship Destiny many billions of light years distant from the Milky Way...
, but instead, this technology is planned to appear as part of the story for the Atlantis film.
The last scene's possible connection to Star Trek is pure coincidence. The producers had wanted the city to come down on Earth near a recognizable landmark, as to be different from the previous five years of the show where Atlantis was always located in the middle of the ocean. Martin Gero and Carl Binder were insistent that it should be the Statue of Liberty, but the geography was not plausible enough for leaving the city cloaked for any length of time without anyone noticing and/or getting killed. So the producers settled on San Francisco and the Golden Gate Bridge.
Although the producers knew of Don S. Davis
Don S. Davis
Don Sinclair Davis PhD was an American character actor, theatre professor, painter and captain in the United States Army.-Career:He was perhaps best known for playing General George S...
' (George Hammond) heart problems, his death "came as a total shock" to them. They originally talked about just showing an "in memoriam" card at the end of the show, but as Davis's death also meant the end of the character's arc, they decided to acknowledge it by renaming the ship.
Release and reception
After its US release, "Enemy at the Gate" received a Neilson rating of 1.5, making Stargate Atlantis the second-highest rated Sci FiSyfy
Syfy , formerly known as the Sci-Fi Channel and SCI FI, is an American cable television channel featuring science fiction, supernatural, fantasy, reality, paranormal, wrestling, and horror programming. Launched on September 24, 1992, it is part of the entertainment conglomerate NBCUniversal, a...
series of the week, with the lead being the finale of Sanctuary, which earned a 1.6 rating. In total, "Enemy at the Gate" was viewed by 2.02 million people, including 973,000 for in the 18 to 49 demographic, and 1.12 million age 25 to 54. In the UK, the finale was viewed by 633,000, placing Stargate Atlantis third in the top ten for Sky1 in that week, behind The Simpsons
The Simpsons
The Simpsons is an American animated sitcom created by Matt Groening for the Fox Broadcasting Company. The series is a satirical parody of a middle class American lifestyle epitomized by its family of the same name, which consists of Homer, Marge, Bart, Lisa and Maggie...
and season seven premiere of 24
24 (TV series)
24 is an American television series produced for the Fox Network and syndicated worldwide, starring Kiefer Sutherland as Counter Terrorist Unit agent Jack Bauer. Each 24-episode season covers 24 hours in the life of Bauer, using the real time method of narration...
. However, IGN
IGN
IGN is an entertainment website that focuses on video games, films, music and other media. IGN's main website comprises several specialty sites or "channels", each occupying a subdomain and covering a specific area of entertainment...
reviewer Tory Ireland Mell has given the episode a "mediocre" score of 5.8 out of 10, where the reviewer felt that everything on the episode was "forced", and felt the final scene was "uninspiring", though the episode was praised for the conversation between Sheppard and Carter. Sci Fi Wire said that the episode was a very "Satisfying conclusion" for the series end. The episode won the awards for "Best Overall Sound in a Dramatic Series" and "Best Sound Editing in a Dramatic Series" at the 2009 Leo Awards
Leo Awards
The Leo Awards are the awards program for the British Columbia film and television industry, celebrating excellence in artistic achievement. Held each May in Vancouver, Canada, the Leo Awards honour nominees and winners in 13 program categories and up to 19 craft categories...
.
External links
- Enemy at the Gate at mgm.com