Returning To The Pegasus Galaxy: Stargate Atlantis 5.01 – “Search and Rescue”

Stargate Atlantis is back for it’s fifth season and things kick off in fine fashion. This episode does have quite a lot to accomplish in its 41 minute runtime, too. There’s a couple of cliffhangers from last season to resolve, a regular character to write out, a regular character to introduce, a recurring character to say hello to, not to mention presenting a logical, engaging and entertaining story. “Search and Rescue” delivers all this at a fast, yet unhurried clip and by the end you feel like you’ve just watched a feature film worth of story and action. That’s a good thing, trust me.

Following a recap of the season four finale, we find out right away who survived the building collapse. Sheppard and Ronan are trapped together, as are McKay and Lorne. Yes, the regular actors are the only ones to survive, get over it and move on. What happens next more than makes up for that convenience as we get probably the coolest tracking shot of any science-fiction television show and possibly film. We start on McKay’s hapless expression and pull back through the tons of rubble, through the sky, out of the planetary system, into deep space, then hyperspace, past several more planets until we come to rest on Michael’s Wraith ship. You will want to watch that tracking shot many, many times just for how audacious and awesome it is. It really is that great of a shot. Michael is alerted that his base has been destroyed and takes off to see what is left. Earlier, Lorne told McKay that the Daedalus was on it’s way to check on them. You just know wacky hi-jinks are about to ensue.

Overall, I found this to be a really good episode. It did a great job resolving everything from the finale in a satisfying way. All the main characters get rescued and returned home by episode’s end, but that really is to be expected. There never was a question that the characters were in any real jeopardy, instead the fun is in seeing how they finagle themselves out of the situations they find themselves in. And Mitch Pileggi’s Colonel Caldwell is always welcome because he usually has the best lines in the episodes he’s in, this one being no exception. I did find the introduction of Leela Savasta as Captain Alicia Vega a little jarring. For a character that had never appeared before she had way too many lines to the point where I thought that we were meant to connect with her so that she would have a sudden death. She just seemed to have “red shirt” flashing above her head the whole time, but thankfully that turned out to not be the case.

The big disappointment for me was the removal of Sam Carter as the head of the Atlantis Expedition. It just seemed sort of tacked on at the end, but maybe that was the point. Unfortunately, since Amanda Tapping is off doing her own show, there won’t be any resolution to the sudden demotion of the character for quite some time. It’s nice that they did tie things in a little bit to the upcoming SG-1 DVD film, Continuum, but it just seemed to me to be a little bit of an unceremonious jettison of a character that has been very integral to the Stargate mythos for nearly eleven years now. And it may be that sort of resentment that we are supposed to have for the incumbent, Richard Woolsey. That’s also my other negative mark against the episode. We only see the new guy in the final few minutes of the episode. However, seeing how jam-packed the rest of the story was there really wasn’t any other way to bring him in that wouldn’t have seemed unnatural or forced.

That’s all really minor quibbling, to be honest. This really is a terrific episode and a fine way to start off the new season. Great action, outstanding special effects, a roller coaster ride of a story and exceptional character inter-play. Be sure to catch this and let’s hope that this is the standard for season five. “Search and Rescue” premieres Friday, July 11th at 10:00PM (9:00 Central) on the SCI FI Channel.