The Show
The premise of Stargate: Atlantis is a fun and interesting one. Imagine that the fabled lost city of Atlantis not only exists, but has been found. The catch? It’s in another galaxy. Using Stargate technology, Dr. Elizabeth Weir (Torri Higginson), and a team of multinational specialists are going on a one way trip into the Pegasus galaxy. The goal of the mission was to explore and investigate Atlantis, and return whatever secrets and technologies it has to Earth. But the team’s only hope to return is to find or create the technology from the Atlantis side. They’ll encounter The Ancients and constantly battle the Wraith, and evil race from the Pegasus Galaxy that wants Atlantis and is willing to do anything to get it.
The cast of Stargate: Atlantis would see some changes throughout its five year run, but the quality of the show remained strong. The series began with Joe Flanigan, Torri Higginson, Rachel Luttrell, Rainbow Sun Francks, and David Hewlett. Joe, Rachel, and David would remain throughout the season while Torri would drop off after season three, and Rainbow after just one season. Jason Momoa, Paul McGillion, Amanda Tapping, and Jewel Staite, amongst others, would all pitch in, and there was even a few episodes with Richard Dean Anderson. Anderson’s character from SG-1 was brought in during the third season for a ratings boost.
Throughout the series, as you would expect, the team faces a variety of intense combat with the Wraiths, internal dramas, and many other trials. If you’re interested in this set, you’re either a fan of the show or may be considering purchasing it for someone. Either way, I would point you to sites like tv.com for summaries of each episode if you’re interested.
The Collection
For people who have already bought the individual season DVD releases, this Collection may not offer enough for you to make the upgrade. If for nothing else, it’s not a cheap set — around $180 on Amazon right now — which I believe is still more than the cost of the individual seasons combined. The collection takes the contents of the individual seasons and adds an extra disc with two new extra features and the broadcast versions of the final two episodes (in addition to the extended versions). And by ‘content of the original seasons’ I mean they literally took the same discs and added them in here. That’s fine, but one irksome part of that is that the individual seasons used to use that “Volume 1 Disc 2” naming convention (Farscape was horrible for that on its original DVD release). So while the general appearance of the discs is consistent, they have a naming convention printed on them that doesn’t match what appears on the menu when the DVD boots up. Small issue, but notable.
More troublesome is the packaging. Box sets seem to be a target for bad packaging a lot of times, which is a real shame because they’re the most expensive. Now I’ve seen worse packaging than this Stargate: Atlantis set, but not by much. First, let me point out that the box art is great, and the exterior box is nice and sturdy. No problems there, but when you attempt to slide out the internal box from outside box, it’ll often catch. So, you just have to tilt the box a certain way and use your hand to push the two boxes apart, but I can live with that. Next, you’ll see each season is packaged in a foldout, cardboard case. Each season contains five discs, and then there is a thinner sixth package that has this collection’s exclusive disc. Each of these individual boxes has some nice artwork featuring one star from the show.
The biggest problem? How the discs are stored. Each of the six individual boxes unfolds like a book. Each disc is stored in a slit of the box and secured but a little circular piece of gel that is meant to accept the hole in the center of the disc. Straight out of the box, I had a couple of discs loose, some with smudges and light scratches — you hate to see it. Getting the discs back onto the gel piece should be easier and more reliable. In putting the discs back, I don’t immediately get that feedback that it’s secure — like the click of a normal plastic holder, for example. Ultimately, the packaging works and none of my discs are too bad off, but you just expect better from a release like this. You expect solid packaging.
As for the menus, the first season menu is bad — it doesn’t look good and it’s hard to navigate, although admittedly there is little need to navigate much on any disc in this set. Seasons two, three, and four have a consistent and clean menu, while season five and the bonus disc have a different menu.
Extra Features
There are a whole of features in this set, but very little that is new from the individual seasons. Only disc twenty-six includes new features. Every disc includes at least something, usually audio commentary on one or more episodes. Several discs include special featurettes that talk about a specific character, look back on the season, or document some other matter. The names of the extras are descriptive enough. For several, I’ve included their running time, but I did not make an exhaustive list of these. For each photo gallery, there are literally a few dozen still images included. I noticed that the image quality of the galleries in the first season was worse than that of the others, for those keeping score. And now, the extras:
Disc 1 (Season 1):
– “Rising” (Parts 1 and 2)
– Commentary by Director Martin Wood and Actor Joe Flanigan
– “Hide and Seek”
– Commentary by Actors Rachel Luttrell, Torri Higginson and Paul McGillion
– “Thirty Eight Minutes”
– Commentary by Actors Rachel Luttrell ad Paul McGillion
– Featurette
– “Stargate: Atlantis” Set Tour with Directors Martin Wood and Peter DeLuise (11m21s)
– Photo Galleries
– Photo Gallery
– Production Design Gallery
Disc 2 (Season 1):
– “Suspicion”
– “Childhood’s End
– Commentary by Writer Martin Gero and Actors Rachel Luttrell and Rainbow Sun Francks
– “Poisoning the Well”
– “Underground”
– Featurette
– Diary of Rainbow Sun Francks (9m15s – Rainbow talks about his involvement in Atlantis, lots of behind the scenes footage is included)
– Photo Galleries
– Photo Gallery
– Production Design Gallery
Disc 3 (Season 1):
– “Home”
– “The Storm”
– Commentary by Director Martin Wood, Writer Martin Gero and Actor David Hewlett
– “The Eye”
– Commentary by Director Martin Wood, Writer Martin Gero and Actor David Hewlett
– “The Defiant One”
– Commentary by Director Peter DeLuise and Stunt Coordinator Dan Shea
– Featurettes
– Mission Directive: “The Storm” / “The Eye” (6m, behind the scenes and production footage)
– Wraithal Discrimination: It’s Not Easy Being Green (11m27s, cast and crew joke about the Wraiths)
– Photo Galleries
– Photo Gallery
– Production Design Gallery
Disc 4 (Season 1):
– “Hot Zone”
– Commentary by Writer Martin Gero and Actors Rachel Luttrell, Rainbow Sun Francks and Paul McGillion
– “Sanctuary”
– Commentary by Actors Rachel Luttrell and Torri Higginson
– “Before I Sleep”
– “The Brotherhood”
– Commentary by Director Martin Wood, Writer Martin Gero and Actor David Hewlett
– Featurettes
– Mission Directive: “Sanctuary”
– Mission Directive: “Before I Sleep”
– Photo Galleries
– Mission Directive: Photo Gallery
– Production Design Gallery
Disc 5 (Season 1):
– “Letters from Pegasus”
– “The Gift”
– Commentary by Director Peter DeLuise and Actor Gary Jones
– “The Siege: Part 1”
– Commentary by Director Martin Wood, Writer Martin Gero and Actor David Hewlett
– “The Siege: Part 2”
– Commentary by Director Martin Wood, Writer Martin Gero and Actors Joe Flanigan and David Hewlett
– Featurettes
– Mission Directive: “The Siege”
– A look back on Season One with Writer Martin Gero (17m22s)
– Photo Galleries
– Photo Gallery
– Production Design Gallery
Disc 6 (Season 2):
– “The Siege: Part 3”
– Commentary by Director Martin Wood, Writer Martin Gero and Actors Joe Flanigan and David Hewlett
– “The Intruder”
– Commentary by Director Peter DeLuise and Actor Gary Jones
– “Runner”
– Commentary by Director Martin Wood and Actor David Hewlett
– “Duet”
– Commentary by Director Peter DeLuise, Writer Martin Gero and Actor David Hewlett
– Featurettes
– Mission Directive: “The Intruder” featuring Director Peter DeLuise
– Mission Directive: “The Siege: Part 3” featuring Director Martin Wood
– Photo Galleries
– Photo Gallery
– Production Design Gallery
Disc 7 (Season 2):
– “Condemned”
– Commentary by Director Peter DeLuise and Actor Gary Jones
– “Trinity”
– Commentary by Director Martin Wood and Writer Damian Kindler
– “Instinct”
– Commentary by Director Andy Mikita and Producer Paul Mullie
– “Conversion”
– Commentary by Writer Martin Gero and Actors Joe Flanigan and David Hewlett
– Featurettes
– Mission Directive: “Instinct” featuring Director Peter DeLuise
– Introduction to a Character: Ronon Dex (15m)
– Photo Galleries
– Photo Gallery
– Production Design Gallery
Disc 8 (Season 2):
– “Aurora”
– Commentary by Director Martin Wood and Co-Producer Peter DeLuise
– “The Lost Boys”
– Commentary by Writer Martin Gero and Actors Joe Flanigan and David Hewlett
– “The Hive”
– Commentary by Director Martin Wood
– “Epiphany”
– Commentary by Director Neil Fearnley
– Featurettes
– Road to a Dream with Writer Martin Gero (19m, behind the scenes footage of when Martin acted in an episode)
– Photo Galleries
– Photo Gallery
– Production Design Gallery
Disc 9 (Season 2):
– “Critical Mass”
– Commentary by Director Andy Mikita, Actor Rachel Luttrell and Director of Photography Brenton Spencer
– “Grace Under Pressure”
– Commentary by Director Martin Wood, Writer Martin Gero and Actors Amanda Tapping and David Hewlett
– “The Tower”
– Commentary by Producer Paul Mullie and Director Andy Mikita
– “The Long Goodbye”
– Commentary by Director Andy Mikita, Actor Torri Higginson and Director of Photography Brenton Spencer
– Featurettes
– Profile On: David Hewlett (20m51s)
– “Stargate: Atlantis” Stunts (18m21s, Stunt coordinator talks shop, production footage)
– Photo Galleries
– Photo Gallery
– Production Design Gallery
Disc 10 (Season 2):
– “Coup D’etat”
– Commentary by Director Martin Wood, Writer Martin Gero and Actor David Hewlett
– “Michael”
– Commentary by Director Martin Wood and Supervising Producer/Director Peter DeLuise
– “Inferno”
– Commentary by Director Peter DeLuise and Actor Gary Jones
– “Allies”
– Commentary by Director Andy Mikita, Writer Martin Gero and Actor David Hewlett
– Featurettes
– Profile On: Paul McGillion (20m42s)
– Photo Galleries
– Photo Gallery
– Production Design Gallery
Disc 11 (Season 3):
– “No Man’s Land”
– Commentary by Producer/Writer Martin Gero and Director/Supervising Producer Martin Wood
– “Misbegotten”
– Commentary by Executive Producer Paul Mullie and Director/Supervising Producer Martin Wood
– “Irresistible”
– Commentary by Director/Supervising Producer Martin Wood and Director of Photography Michael Blundell
– “Sateda”
– Commentary by Executive Producer, Writer and Director Robert C. Cooper & Director of Photography Brenton Spencer
– Featurettes
– Mission Directive: “Sateda” featuring Director Robert C. Cooper
– Inside the Stargate: Atlantis Visual FX Department
– Photo Galleries
– Photo Gallery
– Production Design Gallery
Disc 12 (Season 3):
– “Progeny”
– Commentary by Director Andy Mikita and VFX Supervisor Mark Savela
– “The Real World”
– “Common Ground”
– Commentary by Director William Waring and Director of Photography Brenton Spencer
– “McKay & Mrs. Miller”
– Commentary by Producer/Writer Martin Gero and Director/Supervising Producer Martin Wood
– Featurettes
– Mission Directive: “Progeny” featuring Director Andy Mikita
– Profile On: Rachel Luttrell
– Photo Galleries
– Photo Gallery
– Production Design Gallery
Disc 13 (Season 3):
– “The Return, Part I”
– Commentary by Producer/Writer Martin Gero and Executive Producer Paul Mullie
– “The Return, Part II”
– Commentary by Producer/Writer Martin Gero and Executive Producer Paul Mullie
– “Phantoms”
– Commentary by Co-Executive Producer Carl Binder and Director/Supervising Producer Martin Wood
– “Echoes”
– Commentary by Director William Waring and Director of Photography Brenton Spencer
– Featurettes
– Mission Directive: “Phantoms” featuring Director/Supervising Producer Martin Wood
– General O’Neill Goes to Atlantis
– Photo Galleries
– Photo Gallery
– Production Design Gallery
Disc 14 (Season 3):
– “Irresponsible”
– Commentary by Director/Supervising Producer Martin Wood and Director of Photography Michael Blundell
– “Tao of Rodney”
– Commentary by Director/Supervising Producer Martin Wood and Director of Photography Michael Blundell
– “The Game”
– Commentary by Director William Waring and Director of Photography Brenton Spencer
– Mission Directive: “The Game” featuring Director William Waring
– “Sunday”
– Commentary by Producer/Writer Martin Gero and Director William Waring
– Featurettes
– Mission Directive: “The Game” featuring Director William Waring
– Masters of the Alien
– Photo Galleries
– Photo Gallery
– Production Design Gallery
Disc 15 (Season 3):
– “The Ark”
– Commentary by Director/Supervising Producer Martin Wood and VFX Supervisor Mark Savela
– “Submersion”
– Commentary by Director Brenton Spencer and VFX Supervisor Mark Savela
– “Vengeance”
– Commentary by Director Andy Mikita and Creature Effects Designer Todd Masters
– “First Strike”
– Commentary by Producer/Writer Martin Gero, Director/Supervising Producer Martin Wood and VFX Supervisor Mark
Savela
– Featurettes
– Mission Directive: “First Strike” featuring Director/Supervising Producer Martin Wood
– “Stargate Atlantis:” A Look Back on Season 3 with Martin Gero
– Photo Galleries
– Photo Gallery
– Production Design Gallery
Disc 16 (Season 4):
– “Adrift”
– Commentary by Co-Executive Producer/Writer Martin Gero, Director/Supervising Producer Martin Wood
– “Lifeline”
– Commentary by Director/Supervising Producer Martin Wood and Actor Amanda Tapping
– “Reunion”
– Commentary by Executive Producer/Writer Joseph Mallozzi and Director William Waring
– “Doppelganger”
– Commentary by Executive Producer, Writer and Director Robert C. Cooper and VFX Supervisor Mark Savela
– Featurettes
– Continuum Trailer
– Ark of Truth Trailer
– Mission Directive: Doppelganger with Robert C. Cooper
– A New Leader: Amanda Tapping Joins Atlantis
– Photo Galleries
– Photo Gallery
– Production Design Gallery
Disc 17 (Season 4):
– “Travelers”
– Commentary by Executive Producer/Writer Paul Mullie and Director William Waring
– “Tabula Rasa”
– Commentary by Producer/Writer Alan McCullough and Director/Supervising Producer Martin Wood and Actress Amanda
Tapping
– “Missing”
– Commentary by Co-Executive Producer/Writer Carl Binder and Producer/Director Andy Mikita
– “The Seer”
– Commentary by Producer/Writer Alan McCullough and Director Andy Mikita
– Featurettes
– Stargate SG-1 Seasons 1-10 Trailer
– The Doctor Is In: The Return of Paul McGillion
– “Stargate Atlantis” Bloopers
– Photo Galleries
– Photo Gallery
– Production Design Gallery
Disc 18 (Season 4):
– “Miller’s Crossing”
– Commentary by Co-Executive Producer/Writer Martin Gero and Producer/Director Andy Mikita
– “This Mortal Coil”
– Commentary by Executive Producer/Writer Joseph Mallozzi and Director William Waring
– “Be All My Sins Remember’d”
– Commentary by Co-Executive Producer/Writer Martin Gero and Producer/Director Andy Mikita
– “Spoils of War”
– Commentary by Producer/Writer Alan McCullough and Director William Waring
– Featurettes
– Mission Directive: “This Mortal Coil” with Director William Waring
– Photo Galleries
– Photo Gallery
– Production Design Gallery
Disc 19 (Season 4):
– “Quarantine”
– Commentary by Director/Supervising Producer Martin Wood and Actress Amanda Tapping
– “Harmony”
– Commentary by Co-Executive Producer/Writer Martin Gero and Director William Waring
– “Outcast”
– Commentary by Producer/Writer Alan McCullough and Producer/Director Andy Mikita
– “Trio”
– Commentary by Co-Executive Producer/Writer Martin Gero, Director/Supervising Producer Martin Wood and Actress Amanda Tapping
– Featurettes
– Mission Directive: “Quarantine” with Director Martin Wood
– Mission Directive: “Outcast” with Director Andy Mikita
– The Making of “Trio”
– Photo Galleries
– Photo Gallery
– Production Design Gallery
Disc 20 (Season 4):
– “Midway”
– “The Kindred”
– Commentary by Executive Producer/Writer Joseph Mallozzi and Director Peter F. Woeste
– “The Kindred, Part II”
– Commentary by Producer/Writer Alan McCullough and Director/Supervising Producer Martin Wood
– “The Kindred, Part II”
– Commentary on “The Last Man” by Executive Producer/Writer Paul Mullie and Director/Supervising Producer Martin Wood
– Featurettes
– A Look Back at Season 4
– Deleted Scenes
– Photo Galleries
– Photo Gallery
– Production Design Gallery
Disc 21 (Season 5):
– “Search and Rescue”
– Commentary by Executive Producer Martin Gero and Director/Producer Andy Mikita
– “The Seed”
– Commentary by Director William Waring
– “Broken Ties”
– Commentary by Executive Producer Joseph Mallozzi and Actor Jason Momoa
– “The Daedalus Variations”
– Commentary by Supervising Producer Alan McCullough and Director/Producer Andy Mikita
– Featurettes
– Mission Directive: “Search and Rescue” with Director Andy Mikita and Producer Martin Gero
– Showdown! Ronon v. Tyre
– Bringing the Seed to Life
– Photo Galleries
– Photo Gallery
– Production Design Gallery
Disc 22 (Season 5):
– “Ghost In The Machine”
– “The Shrine”
– “Whispers”
– Commentary by Executive Producer Joseph Mallozzi and Director William Waring
– “The Queen”
– Commentary by Supervising Producer Alan McCullough and Director Brenton Spencer
– Featurettes
– Mission Directive: ”Whispers” with Director William Waring and Executive Producer Joseph Mallozzi
– Tricks of the Trade: Submerging the Stargate
– Joe Flanigan: A Conversation with the Colonel
– Photo Galleries
– Photo Gallery
– Production Design Gallery
Disc 23 (Season 5):
– “Tracker”
– Commentary by Executive Producer Carl Binder and Director William Waring
– “First Contact”
– Commentary by Executive Producer Martin Gero and Director/Producer Andy Mikita
– “The Lost Tribe”
– Commentary by Executive Producer Martin Gero and Director/Producer Andy Mikita
– “Outsiders”
– Commentary by Supervising Producer Alan McCullough and Director William Waring
– Featurettes
– Mission Directive: “Tracker” with Director William Waring and Executive Producer Carl Binder
– Dr. Jackson Goes to Atlantis
– Building a Humanoid with James Robbins and Martin Gero
– Photo Galleries
– Photo Gallery
– Production Design Gallery
Disc 24 (Season 5):
– “Inquisition”
– Commentary by Director Brenton Spencer and Actor Tobias Slezak
– “The Prodigal”
– Commentary by Executive Producer Carl Binder and Director/Producer Andy Mikita
– “Remnants”
– Commentary by Executive Producer Joseph Mallozzi and Director William Waring
– “Brain Storm”
– Commentary by Executive Producer/Director Martin Gero
– Featurettes
– Mission Directive: “Brain Storm” with Director Martin Gero
– The Life and Death of Michael Kenmore
– Deleted Scenes (Part One)
– Photo Galleries
– Photo Gallery
– Production Design Gallery
Disc 25 (Season 5):
– “Infection”
– “Identity”
– “Vegas” (Extended Episode)
– Commentary by Executive Producer Robert C. Cooper, Producer John G. Lenic and Editor Mike Banas
– “Enemy at the Gate” (Extended Episode)
– Commentary by Executive Producer Paul Mullie and VFX Supervisor Mark Savela
– Featurettes
– “Stargate Atlantis” Goes To Vegas
– Inside the Stargate Costume Department
– Deleted Scenes (Part Two)
– Photo Galleries
– Photo Gallery
– Production Design Gallery
Disc 26 (Bonus Disc):
– Episode: Vegas (Broadcast Version)
– Episode: Enemy At the Gates (Broadcast Version)
– Mission 100: Atlantis Reaches a Milestone (15m, footage from the last day on the set, cast and crew interviews)
– “Stargate Atlantis:” A Retrospective (27m23s, the crew talks about the start of show, running parallel with SG-1, lots of footage from the show and behind the scenes).
To the summary…
