Farewell, Atlantis

Tonight is the final episode of Stargate: Atlantis. Only five seasons, half of what SG-1 ran, which is sad. Sci Fi has been running marathons of it every day this week. Which means I saw the depressing travesty that was "Sunday" yesterday morning, and right now the recent heat-sink episode is ending. (Which was a hoot just for seeing Bill Nye slap a guy and tell him to "Man up!" Plus a Stephen Hawking stand-in, and the guy who demoted Pluto.)

I'm still irked about last week's episode - it seemed to be a bit of a waste of time, since nothing really happened (at least in the primary universe). Plus, really confusing. I spent the first twenty minutes or so wondering if it was "just" another alternate universe, or if they'd done something new, like maybe it was all Shepard's nightmare after an intergalactic care package of CSI DVDs and extreme-take-out Chinese food that didn't travel well.

Sure, Atlantis had some iffy periods, but overall it was pretty good. I didn't agree at all with bringing the Replicators to Pegasus, and wasn't crazy about trading Weir1 for Weir2 for Carter for Woolsey. I definitely wasn't happy when Carson was killed by that cheezy exploding tumor, to make way for Keller, who looks waaaaay too young to be Chief of Medicine in another galaxy. (Don't get me wrong; absolutely loved Jewel Staite in Firefly, and as a Wraith, but her character doesn't seem to have the experience or the personality to be the best candidate for CMO of Atlantis.) On the other hand, Ronan and Teyla have been interesting, if under-used, and the Ancients have been pretty good to watch. If only they hadn't turned McKay into such an arrogant little toad along the way.

I've managed to stay spoiler-free about this one, and I'm hoping that everyone survives the episode. I've heard that there are plans for TV movies or direct-to-DVD movies, similar to the two Stargate: SG-1 movies. Hopefully that will happen, along with the third SG-1 movie. I've also heard a bit about the next Stargate series, but honestly it sounds like a remake of Star Trek: Voyager. Yeah, I know, nothing new under the sun, but the brief description I've read seems pretty obvious. Sadly.

Anyway, I'm not sure where Sci Fi is going these days. I still haven't heard a good reason for canceling Atlantis, although I haven't hunted for it very much. It can't be money, if they can afford to run Lost for 5 hours every Monday. They're running out of original series - only 10 episodes of Battlestar left, and then they'll just have Sanctuary, Eureka, and Stargate: Universe. (Along with their reality crap.) Not sure if they'll continue getting Doctor Who from the BBC, but even if they do, there are only going to be a few TV-movies this year for DW, instead of regular episodes. I really like Eureka, but Sanctuary just isn't all that, in my opinion. I watch it, mostly to play Spot the Canadian, but so far it hasn't sucked me in.

I remember seeing advertising for Sci Fi, way back when, and wishing the university cable system would put premium channels in the dorms. That was back when SF was a premium channel, and when they seemed to show the "good stuff" all the time. Star Trek reruns hosted by Shatner & Nimoy, a sci-fi version of Entertainment Tonight (before ET went tabloid), Mystery Science Theater (I think). Now they've gone to WWE and Ghost Hunters, along with enough cheeze C-movies to keep a couple of Eastern European countries busy as shooting locations. Seriously, Sharks in Venice? It begs to be a MST3K feature. If it weren't for the occasional Sentinel marathon during the day, and the promise of Eureka, I could probably lose Sci Fi right now and not notice. I didn't think that would ever happen.

Anyway, after tonight, it'll be the first time in almost 12 years that I haven't had new Stargate to look forward to - Universe being an unknown at the moment. Sci Fi can quit running their "sign up for Stargate text messages" commercials any time now. It'll be one less time I have to mutter things under my breath at the TV.