Topless Robot have uploaded their 7 Great Morally Dubious Characters of Sci-Fi TV. Quite how they can put Nerus from SG-1, and Todd from Atlantis in ahead of Robert Carlyle’s Nicholas Rush from Stargate: Universe is beyond me.  And where is Earth: Final Conflict‘s Ronald...

Stargate: Universe show-runner Brad Wright has revealed that the dark atmosphere of the show’s first season was only the beginning: the show is set to get darker next year. "When you try to adopt a more realistic tone, where frankly we don’t win every time, then there have...

Stargate actor Robert Picardo recently announced that the Stargate Atlantis finale – ‘Enemy at the Gate ‘ was a “well crafted” piece of television. It’s not. “Enemy at the Gate” is by no means Atlantis’ worst hour – not even...

Stargate Atlantis produce Joe Mallozzi has stated that Captain Vela, a character introduced in the show’s fifth season, was intended to be the show’s first gay character – a revelation that was to end up on the cutting room floor. What exactly does this mean? Sod all. The...

The second part of Stargate Atlantis’s mid-season cliffhanger, "The Lost Tribe" has scored an impressive 1.5 rating (a massive increase on the 1.1 scored by the first part, "First Contact"). The episode represented Atlantis’s first episode in a new 9pm time...

Warning: Massive spoilers for next week’s episode! Lost Tribe ClipUploaded by scifiheavennet If the video is not yet visible, please view it here. Note, this is not a final airing copy, so music and sound has not yet been added correctly.  Audio is not final.  If you have...

In brief:

Absolutely, utterly fantastic.

In detail:

This is, quite probably, my favourite episode Atlantis to date.  It is, for me, Enterprise's 'Cogenitor', or SG-1's 'Abyss': the episode that rises above the average or mediocre content surrounding it, and elevates itself into not only a good episode, but simply one of the strongest.

In brief:

Decent, yet confusing.

In detail:

The absence of Tori Higginson (Elizabeth Weir) certainly screwed over the Replicator story line they had set up for her.  "Ghost in the Machine" is a valiant attempt to continue that story without her.  And, for the most part, it does a good job.

Michelle Morgan, who plays the consciousness of Weir in Fran's body, does a reasonably good job of imitating the mannerisms and vocal expressions that Higginson brought to Weir's character.  Her performance is strong, and in the quieter scenes with Teyla/Sheppard/Fran I found myself truly believing this was still Weir.  That's an achievement of performance on Morgan's part.

It has emerged that the fifth season of Stargate Atlantis will be the last one, and will be replaced by a new, third show: Stargate Universe. The Stargate spin-off will end its regular run this season, instead focusing on movie production (much in the same way SG-1 continued through Ark of...

In-brief:

Better...

In-detail:

Thank goodness.  A glimmer of hope.  Nothing outsanding, nothing overly memorable; but it was better.  A nice sci-fi concept nicely realised with minimal garbage.  Atlantis should try this more often.

It's been a few weeks since viewing the episode unfortunately - busy times have afflicted me, so I'm writing a few weeks later with only a hurried re-watch for guidance.  Here are my thoughts, anyway.

In brief:

Continued mediocrity.

In detail:

Jason Momoa (Ronon) can act, at least a bit.  This episode proved that.  He had some truly nifty scenes throughout here, and there were indeed strong moments from Sheppard, Teyla and Woolsey.

That's all that redeems this episode in any way.  The plot is truly awful.  Barely existent.  "Broken Ties" follows on from last season's "Reunion" (which was average) and manages to further cloud and confuse Tyre's character.