Shark Bytes

Just a quick comment, after seeing more then half of season 5 I would have cancelled this show and I'm a long time fan. The writers seriously dropped the ball on this whole mess of a season.

Atlantis was always a bit eratic. obviously they needed bad guys - but to be honest the wraithe struck me as a poor attempt at best. Basically what we got were vampires ... hardly up to the standards of the Goa'uld or the SG1 Replicators.

For me the jump was the retrovirus and Michael. The retrovirus was a poor plot artifact - turning a wraithe fully human but then having it re-wraithe? Give me a break.

But worse was the fact that he escaped! The incompetence needed to permit Michael to get away would only be possible on the part of a group who couldn't tie their own shoelaces.

This show, like so many others, can attribute it's death to it's writers - who managed to render the characters stereotypical and the plots undeniably trite and pathetic.

This show had a lot of potential. Classic sci fi/horror sets up a situation where humans are not the top of the food chain. It works every time: vampire movies, shark movies, mobsters,aliens etc.

This one suffered from the same lack of imagination as the latter half of the run of SG-1. Why does almost every civilization have to look like Medieval Europe? Why no planets with cultures that look like Asia or Africa?

The intro of the Replicators made the series JTS. They had to rewrite Stargate history yet again to explain why the replicators were originally created.

The intro of the anti-Asgaard was a nice touch with great potential. They were so snarky.

Season 1 of SGA could compete with fellow action shows such as 24. Then writes came up with the lousy retrovirus idea. Strike 1. Then more starships like the Dadelus keep popping out of thin air, as if they are easy to make. It takes forever to build an air craft carrier, and even high tech sci-fi shows can't expect viewers to believe that these ships are availble. (even with ailen help) The show used to be about whatever Sheppard could carry in his puddlejumper, but now it has become a giant space battle that's unrealistic for even Sci-Fi's standards. Strike 2. Atlantis was great because it had it's own identity from SG-1. They used to be totally different, but know with Carter, Tilk, and Dr. Jackson coming on it has lost it's identity at the expense of ratings from SG-1 fans. Strike 3. I got over the death of Beckett, and Weir, but the show is suppose to be about the Pegasus Galaxy, not the IOA in Washington D.C. Politics have no place on Atlantis yet writers keep inserting it. I love the characters, but keep Earth, and SG-1 out of it. Seasons 4 and 5 has had some great single episodes, but the two parters will never be the same as they were in Season 1. I hope the movie can restore the shows reputation.

THANK GOD!! they've finally put this show out of it's misery. It's twitching corpse has really been stinking up the place. The writing was simply attrocious, the death of Carson Beckett an unpardonable sin especially considering he was the only good actor other than David Hewlett - their respective characters had a kind of Bashir/O'Brien friendship going. Then they got rid of Weir! and replaced her with Carter WTF!! In conclusion the writers simply went insane!

Why???????? I can't believe that my favorite sci-fi show is cancelled. I was still waiting to see if crazy Ford would resurface. I have to agree that the show went downhill after Weir was gone but it was still a good show. I like the idea of Dr. Keller but the character is very stiff. I watched last night's episode where Keller was kidnapped. I think it's weird that both Ronan and Rodney are interested in her. Both Tayla and Elizabeth were main female characters who were strong yet none of the men of SGA showed any interest in them. I think the show should have paired Tayla with Shepard. They seemed to lean that way from the beginning and then Tayla had a child with Kenan who I don't ever recall being on the show at all prior to her becoming pregnant. This season of SGA seems to be more graphically violent, the wraith are more docile and way too cooperative, and there seems to be less interaction between the original members of Shepard's team. They should stick more to the original concept of the show. Also, I liked tough Ronan Dex better than this new kinder friendlier Ronan Dex because it takes away from how this character was originally introduced to the audience. I understand that over time the characters change but all of the other characters have remained constant to their personalities. I would have also liked to have seen more interaction between Tayla and her people. What happened to them after they were rescued from Michael's lab? They disappeared to the mainland like many sitcom sibling go upstairs and never come back down.

SG:A Jumped the Shark in the episode "The Whispers".

Ripping off lame zombie movies?

PUT A FORK IN IT, IT'S DONE.

My thoughts exactly. Universe is not going to make it with such a ridiculous idea. Voyager meets Sliders meets 90210 - The Next Generation. Quite a few of SGA's original concepts were thrown out the window after a few episodes aired.

When a network kills a successful show and greenlights an another aimed towards the younger crowd, it not only meant the show JTS, but the entire franchise as well.

Look at history and you will see when a younger crowd is brought in, the series dies quick and fast. The problem is when you change you audience, you not only lose the ones who stuck with you from the start, but you also fail to capture the new generation simply cause they don't want to catch up.

If rumors are correct:

"The ambition with Universe is to skew it younger than the previous two chapters and fill it with a fresh-faced cast ... "

Then I will submit that Stargate Universe will JTS episode one. Wesley to the bridge!

It's quite the shame. Although my comments earlier made are most likely the JTS reasons why this show has been canceled, I still do not believe it should of been.

There are plenty of shows out there which give the definition "Idiot Box" a reason to exist. It just seems that the common audience in todays world gets dumber by the year, explaining the high ratings for American Idol and just about any other show that has the audacity to call itself reality.

Atlantis was creeping towards treating the audience like idiots with killing off cast members without reason, but it didn't get to that point all the way yet. They did manage to recover somewhat by bringing Carson back, but missed the opportunity to keep him on board.

All said, the show had real potential to recover, since the only other show on SciFi is Eureka, which brings another point. How much revenue is SGA bringing to the network? I look at the lineup, and noticed that other than this and Eureka, there is really nothing else on the network. So why terminate a show when its a good source of their income.

I know there is also Battlestar Galactica and Doctor Who, but they ran during the regular season.

Anyways, IF the writers have any REAL ideas IF there were to be a potential 6th season IF the powers that be can be persuaded, then I will support keeping Stargate Atlantis on the air and continue watching.

I think the show began to suffer with Martin Gero being allowed to affect the direction of the show and his anvil dropping character moments (which is not to say that he hasn't written some good scripts). Carson suddenly becomes Rodney's best friend to manipulate the audience in the episode 'Sunday', even though nothing previously supported it, Teyla and Sheppard have apparently been pinning away for each other for years, even though again nothing in canon has ever supported this, Radek goes from a lovable character to the creepy guy in the office that everyone hates in Trio, Rodney declares that he's been in love with Keller for centuries. Things are just thrown in regardless with no respect to the characters or contuity; it's all tell, no show and it reeks of laziness. If the writers don't care about the characters why should the viewer?

Doogie Keller's introduction as Carson redux was the nail in the coffin. It's like watching the writers play with an inflatable Mary Sue doll, but nobody loves Keller as much as Gero appears to (or his stand-in McKay) and the show jumped the shark into creepy fanfic territory.

Some fans knew it was coming but I didn't and was therefore shocked and saddened to tears when they killed off Dr. Beckett! Carson left because they thought they needed to shake things up but what REALLY happened was a certain
person *ahem*Martin Gero*cough* excuse me...wanted a young girl in the role so he could have his middle aged fantasies!
NOONE CARES ABOUT YOUR FANTASIES!!! They they did something to tick her off so there goes Weir! Jewel acts wooden and doesn't click with anyone except Rodney. Then they bring Carson back *yea* but as a clone who needs medicine!
Crap! The leadership changes were too fast and Carter acted funny for some reason! They add Jewel Staite to the opening credits but not David Nykl who's been on the show since day 1!!!
Radek is off somewhere swearing loudly in Chec! I campaigned to save Carson but now that they have announced the cancellation (on my birthday, thanks a lot!!) I will not campaign for it to be saved because the producers and Marty JUST DON'T CARE! They rewrote the show for themselves and not the fans! SUNDAY
Stargate:Atlantis died along with Dr. Carson Beckett. Funeral to be announced if anyone still cares...

First they decide to kill off Beckett, leaving the fans in uproar. The ratings suffered but the show went on.

Second they decide to kill off Weir, leaving the fans in more uproar than they've ever roared. The ratings suffered even more.

Thirdly the ratings spiked in Episodes such as This Mortal Coil, Be All My Sins Remember'd and The Kindred. Why? Simple. The episodes either had Weir or Beckett in them.

Now the show's been cancelled and I bet TPTB are wondering why...I shake my head at their stupidity. With all the petitions to stop the death of Carson and the might-as-well-be-dead death of Elizabeth, you would have thought that the producers would realise that their fanbase would revolt against their decisions. If TPTB listen to the fans, they'd gain a lot more fans, and by default more money!

I was a great fan of the show, but now all I can say is Good Riddance!

I still like SA but the change from Weir to Carter did not go well. I didn't like Weir at first but she grows on you. Carter is completely different from her role on SG1. She can't work the computers, she can't develop solutions to the problems, she has no idea how technology works or how to fix things. For those who watched SG1 (and I'd guess that most fans have) this Carter is just too different.

Perhaps moving to the direct to DVD movie concept is the best thing for the show. I hope so cause I still enjoy it.

Having Weir as leader of Atlantis sort of made sense since she was a diplomat. Having Carter as a leader made sense because she's basically kick-ass. The Atlantis expedition is about exploration. But now you have an accountant running the expedition. How exciting can that get? "Oh Sheppard, can you submit form X841A to request the bullets you need for your team?"