(S04E20) "This is the most elaborate practical joke of all time, or I'm in serious trouble." -- John Sheppard

And there you have it. Atlantis wraps up its fourth season, its first out on its own, with a little time travel and a big cliffhanger ending. It was a finale that I had heard described as "different." Having now seen it, it's hard to argue with the description. Having 56 minutes of your finale be things that didn't actually happen is certainly not the norm. While we can probably all agree on the different label, the bigger question is, "Was it good?"
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(S04E19) "Just another day in outer space." -- Colonel John Sheppard

Now, let me introduce to you...the one and only Carson Beckett! Is he live or is he Memorex? That was the question on everyone's minds this week as fan favorite Dr. Beckett returned to Stargate Atlantis after his unceremonious death last season. Of course, Dr. Keller told us at the very beginning of the episode that he was Carson Beckett. This didn't mean squat, though, because there was a whole episode for that claim to be disputed.

So, was Carson actually Carson or something entirely different? And, what happened with Teyla and Michael? For that, read on.

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(S04E16) Let's shake up this review of Stargate Atlantis a bit by asking a few question's about this week's episode.

Shouldn't the fall into the mine shaft that McKay, Carter, and Keller took have killed or seriously injured them? I know it would have been a very short episode, but would a normal person survive a fall like that without some form of injury? It wasn't like they fell into a pile of pillows or marshmallows -- that ground was hard. Maybe the gravity wasn't as heavy on the planet they got trapped on as Earth-standard gravity.

For those of you who were gnashing their teeth over Samantha Carter's (lack of) administrative abilities on this season's Stargate Atlantis you can relax your jaws. Well, only for a moment, because you may not like who will be replacing her in the show's fifth season.

According to a press statement released today by MGM and the SciFi Channel, the newest administrator of Atlantis will be: I.O.A representative Richard Woolsey, played by science fiction veteran Robert Picardo. Ah, I see you're gnashing your teeth again. No surprise there, since the members of the Atlantis team aren't too fond of him, either. In fact, the SciFi release mentions that Colonel Sheppard and his team must adjust to Woolsey's leadership style. Look for some friction between the two sides as the season progresses.

(S04E01) Man, I'm having a hard time finding an opening for this review. I want to say that the season premiere of Atlantis was so much better than any episode of SG-1 that aired in its final season. However, that will probably piss off the SG-1 fans who say that Atlantis doesn't hold a candle to the original series. I want to say that, despite the standard science-fiction storyline that was the plot of this episode, the writers and producers did a great job of making it different, interesting, and a bit suspenseful. Yet, fans of science-fiction might get angry and say its all been done before and better.