Stargate Atlantis, "Enemy At The Gate" and The Passing of An Era

And with that - Dr McKay, Dr Keller, Teyla, that big guy from Game of Thrones who so desperately wanted to play a Klingon, Sheppard and Woolsey all standing on the balcony of Atlantis, overlooking San Francisco Bay in roughly the spot where, in the Marvelverse, Cyclops' Utopia is based - Pick TV have finally shown the 100th and final episode of Stargate Atlantis.

Final appearances and mentions in this episode - the Apollo and Colonel Ellis; the Phoenix, being renamed the George Hammond after the death of the General (reflecting the real life death of Don S Davis); the final fate of Area 51 and the Ancients' Chair; the Odyssey's mission - which took it to the Ori Galaxy (Stargate Ark of Truth); the final activations of the Stargate (as an intergalactic device to send John Sheppard home, then later to access the Hive ship and the Alpha Site); Cheyenne Mountain; the final appearances of Dr Carson Beckett and Dr Zelenka; the last appearance of the photogenic young officers Banks and Major Lorne; the last of the Ancient drones and Puddle Jumpers; the last of the F302s; and of course, the final flight of Atlantis base, before the end of the show.

Oh, and although we never got to see it activate, we saw Dr Zelenka's Crowning Moment of Awesome as, out of his hat, he invents a wormhole drive which could, had the series continued, have allowed Atlantis itself to come back and forth between the Milky Way and Pegasus Galaxies, or even the Ori Galaxy if they'd wanted a change of pace.

So many unresolved plotlines. The new Pegasus Galaxy coalition of human worlds, now ripe for takeover by the Genii in the absence of Atlantis, for one. The possibility of discovering more of Michael's laboratories scattered across the Pegasus Galaxy, just waiting forever for his return - which he would never do, unless he'd cloned himself like Baal; the Travellers, and their little colonies, and the possibility that they would join this Coalition; and lastly, the Wraith and the Alliance led by Todd, who was left a prisoner on Atlantis Base at the end of the show.

I can see the viewers' frustration at the abrupt cancellation of this show. SyFy execs really need taking out round the back and shooting in the head, for replacing all three of these series with, what? Warehouse 13 and Terra Nova? That dire reboot of BSG with its siege mentality sci fi?

It is said that, when this franchise went off the air, it brought an end to an era of grand space-based science fiction series on TV. Nothing like Stargate or the even more venerable Star Trek is showing right now, with one major exception - that being, of course, Doctor Who. This is incredibly painful. A whole generation of kids is going to grow up with nothing new to cosplay.

Personally, I only got to see season 1 of this show on Channel 5, years ago, before C5 dropped it after the finale. Not even Mum got to see all the episodes. I think she only got to see as far as the cliffhanger at the end of Season 2, with the Wraith Hive ship heading for Earth; so in a way, by letting the audience see these final episodes - of Stargate SG-1, Stargate Atlantis and Stargate Universe - Pick TV (which is a kind of digital dumping ground for unwanted shows Sky no longer shows on its pay channels) have given both me and Mum a chance to see the ending of these well-loved series. A chance, really, to say goodbye to them and to MGM, the studio that brought them to us.

We need to see a return of space-based science fiction shows to television screens. And we need it now.