atlantis - an overview;
Stargate: Atlantis is a sci-fi TV spinoff of the long-running Stargate: SG-1, which was based on the film Stargate. A spinoff of a spinoff, you might say. Created by MGM studios, the series premiered in July 2004 on the SciFi Channel to huge viewer acclaim.

In the film, the United States Air Force comes into the possession of a piece of alien technology known as the Stargate, a large ring-shaped device which harnesses wormhole technology to transport people instantaneously across the universe to other planets. With the help of Dr.

Daniel Jackson, an archaeologist, the Air Force learns how to active the Stargate and connect to a planet at the far ends of the galaxy.

In Stargate: SG-1, which is begins a year after the events of the movie, we learns that the Stargate can go to other worlds - not only Abydos as they had believed - but to any number of planets across the galaxy.

Without going into too much detail, we learn over the course of the series that the Stargates were built by a race called the Ancients, a powerful humanoid race - the first of this form in fact (human beings are the second evolution). The Ancients apparently

disappeared or died out millennia ago, but they left behind their legacy in outposts, weapons, and technological wonders found throughout the galaxy.

At the end of SG-1's seventh season, an Ancient outpost is discovered under Antarctica. A research team, led by Dr. Elizabeth Weir, is sent to the outpost to study the Ancient technology, and to hopefully find more information about the Ancients' lost city, Atlantis. And here, finally, is where Stargate: Atlantis comes into the picture.

The series begins with the discovery of the location of Atlantis - on a planet in the far distant dwarf galaxy of Pegasus. Elizabeth and an international team of explorers, scientists, academics, military personnel, and others - truly the world's best and brightest - volunteer

to go to Atlantis, with the understanding that they may never be able to return home. This fear is confirmed when they arrive in Atlantis to find it remarkably intact, having lain dormant for many years, but with a dangerously depleted power source. While the current level of power allows the city to function normally, it is not sufficient to power the defences - leaving them vulnerable to attack - or to provide the huge amount of power required to 'Gate out of their new galaxy. Not only this, but they are not alone. A new enemy has emerged - one powerful enough to threaten even the might of the Ancients

Since arriving in Pegasus, the expedition has made new friends, and more than a few enemies. They've come under attack from the fanatical Genii and weathered Siege at the hand of the Wraith. They've very

nearly lost the city to the vengeful Asurans. For the ease of continuity, we diverge from the show following the season 3 episode Echoes.