The best episodes of Stargate Atlantis
Ranked by viewer rating, highs first. Lit marks on the season rail place this list across the run. Vote on a placement to back it or contest it.
- 01
Summoned to a planet by a communication code they had previously given their Genii allies, the team is ambushed by Kolya, who has now created his own faction of Genii after being forced from the inner circle of the Genii leadership. While the rest of the team manages to escape, Sheppard is taken prisoner.
- 02
With the entire city ordered to take a personal day the team does their best to unwind and enjoy their leisure time. Without warning a mysterious explosion rips through the city killing and injuring unsuspecting citizens. Dr. Rodney McKay and Dr. Carson Beckett arrive on the scene to find Teyla critically injured by shrapnel from the explosion. Unable to find explosive residue, the only leads they have to go on are eyewitness accounts saying one of the base-scientists just suddenly exploded.
- 03
Mr. Coolidge is the newest member of the IOA and openly distrustful of alien participation in any facet of the Stargate program. Despite his bias, the IOA has entrusted him with interviewing Teyla Emmagan and Ronon Dex about their suitability to continue as members of the Atlantis expedition. This does not bode well for Ronon who is next on the list to travel to Earth for questioning.
- 04
As Teyla continues to search for her people, a mysterious new illness sweeps throughout the galaxy, killing scores of people.
- 05
Following another unsuccessful search for Teyla, Lt. Colonel Sheppard returns home to Atlantis to find the city completely abandoned.
- 06
Dr. Keller accompanies Dr. McKay to Earth to attend a top secret scientific demonstration by McKay's former rival.
- 07
Now armed with the means to track Replicator ships throughout the Pegasus Galaxy, the Atlantis teams strives to eliminate the Replicators once and for all.
- 08
An old friend's unforeseen return spurs a race against time to rescue a missing teammate.
- 09
During an off world mission, Carter, McKay and Dr. Keller become trapped in an underground mining chamber rocked by fierce seismic tremors.
- 10
An old foe, bent on revenge, infiltrates the Gate Room to take control of Atlantis.
- 11
The team learns that a storm of catastrophic proportions is headed straight for the city of Atlantis. Without enough energy to power the shields, Dr. Weir orders that Atlantis be evacuated until the storm passes. But Dr. McKay conceives of a last minute plan to save the city – harness the power of the electrical storm to fuel the shields. Meanwhile, unbeknownst to the Atlantis team, the Genii have learned of Atlantis' evacuation, and devise a dangerous plan to take over the city's weapons for themselves. With Weir and McKay taken hostage and Lt. Ford and Teyla aiding the evacuees, it is up to Major Sheppard to shut down the remaining grounding stations and save Atlantis from invasion before the storm hits.
- 12
When an approaching storm with awesome destructive capabilities causes Dr. Weir to evacuate the city, the Genii launch an invasion, and take control of Atlantis' weapons. With Dr. Weir and Dr. McKay taken hostage and Major Sheppard fending for himself against the ruthless Genii troops, the rest of the Atlantis team desperately tries to find a way to get back to the city while the storm rages around them.
- 13
While testing the new McKay-Carter intergalactic gate bridge, the Daedalus detects an Ancient Atlantian warship, traveling at just below light speed and heading towards Earth. Damaged in battle during the war with the Wraith, the Ancients aboard this ship fled the Pegasus galaxy and have spent thousands of years in stasis. Back on Atlantis, the now awoken Ancients meet with General O'Neill and Richard Woolsey. They thank the Stargate team for taking care of the city in their absence, but ask them to vacate Atlantis immediately.
- 14
General O'Neill and Richard Woolsey, the lone survivors of the replicators' bloody coup of Atlantis, hide out in an abandoned section of the city. Knowing O'Neil gave General Landry a standing order to nuke Atlantis if a foothold situation should ever arise, the two lay low awaiting their fate.
- 15
Trying to preserve power by turning off all the non-essential systems the Ancients recently activated before being killed by the replicators, Rodney McKay mistakenly is hit by an energy beam from a mysterious device. His worst fears are quickly laid to rest when Dr. Beckett gives him a clean bill of health and returns him to active duty. Not long after the incident Rodney begins to display advanced powers such as amplified senses and telekinesis.
- 16
With the arrival of the Apollo to Atlantis comes intel that the Replicators appear to be building a large armada to directly attack earth. Planning to strike first, Col. Ellis with the aid of the Atlantis team launches a surgical strike nuking the entire armada. Believing that all imminent danger has been avoided the team is shocked when a satellite housing a stargate takes up geosynchronous orbit above Atlantis.
- 17
With the Daedalus under siege, Dr. Daniel Jackson and Rodney McKay try to keep a reactivated Ancient weapon from triggering a cataclysmic chain of events.
- 18
Col. John Sheppard and his team, aided by Dr. Carson Beckett, struggle to save survivors of the Hoffan plague from being sacrificed to the Wraith.
- 19
The Stargate SG-1 team discovers what they believe to be the remnants of the lost city of the Ancients – the originators of the Stargates and Stargate Command launches an investigation to find the mythical city of Atlantis. Situated in the distant Pegasus Galaxy, it's farther than any Stargate team has ever traveled. With only enough power to make a one-way trip, a new team, headed by civilian Dr. Elizabeth Weir, is formed and travels through the gate to this unknown galaxy. There, they discover the marvels of the lost city of Atlantis…. and encounter a sinister new enemy.
- 20
While exploring the city, the Atlantis team discovers a stasis chamber holding a woman who appears to be over 10,000 years old. Excited at the possibility that she is one of the Ancients, the alien race that built Atlantis, the team decides to bring her out of stasis despite the risk to her health. Everyone is shocked when, once re-animated, the elderly woman identifies herself as none other than Dr. Weir.
- 21
Rescued from a near-fatal encounter with the Wraith, Lt. Aiden Ford receives medical care at the Atlantis base. However, his abnormally quick recovery leads Dr. Beckett to worry that the Wraith who attacked Ford may have injected him with a harmful enzyme, causing long-term and unpredictable damage. Meanwhile, as the Wraith's siege of Atlantis rages on, Sheppard finds himself surrounded by the enemy. He is rescued by the timely arrival of Colonel Steven Caldwell, commander of the Daedalus. Launched from Earth and sent in to assist the Atlantis team during battle, the Daedalus helps to defeat the Wraith's first wave assault on the city. Their relief is short-lived, however. The team soon learns that the Wraith are planning the next wave of their onslaught -- an entire fleet is about to descend on the city. With a little over a day before the assault, Dr. Weir realizes that the Daedalus will not be enough to fight the Wraith's forces. McKay devises a drastic plan – but there may not be enough time to perfect the complicated technology his plan requires before the Wraith arrive.
- 22
On Earth, a galaxy away from Atlantis, Gen. Landry receives intelligence that The Trust, a group of conspirators controlled by the evil Goa'uld, have learned of the Ancient city and sent an undercover operative there to plant a bomb. Details are sketchy, but any use of Atlantis's stargate to dial Earth will somehow trigger the explosion.
- 23
Atlantis encounters a mysterious alien race when Dr. Rodney McKay and a visiting Dr. Daniel Jackson stumble upon the secret lab of a rebellious Ancient scientist named Janus.
- 24
Atlantis rushes to destroy an advanced Wraith hive ship before it presents a threat to Earth.
- 25
The Stargate SG-1 team discovers what they believe to be the remnants of the lost city of the Ancients – the originators of the Stargates and Stargate Command launches an investigation to find the mythical city of Atlantis. Situated in the distant Pegasus Galaxy, it's farther than any Stargate team has ever traveled. With only enough power to make a one-way trip, a new team, headed by civilian Dr. Elizabeth Weir, is formed and travels through the gate to this unknown galaxy. There, they discover the marvels of the lost city of Atlantis.... and encounter a sinister new enemy.
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