Carson Beckett

"Carson, you're my chief surgeon. No-one is more qualified than you."

- Elizabeth Weir

Carson Beckett was the Chief Medical Officer of the Atlantis Expedition from 2004 to 2007.

Beckett was originally from Scotland, lived with a family of seven, and was born with the Ancient Technology Activation Gene, which he discovered and enables him to access Ancient technology, but doesn't have complete control over them though his ability improved over time with practice. He is somewhat afraid of control chairs, due to an unpleasant experience in Antarctica, as well as Stargate travel, declaring that having an individual dematerialised and sent hundreds to thousands of light years is "a bloody insanity". Beckett's two most prominent achievements were the development the ATA gene therapy that delivers the gene to 48% of recipients and the retrovirus that suppresses the Iratus bug elements in Wraith DNA.

2004
He was hired to join the Atlantis expedition in Antarctica. Dr. McKay forced a reluctant Carson to sit in the Control Chair (because he was "afraid of the thing") to determine the location of Atlantis, since he was a natural carrier of the ATA gene. He unintentionally activated a Drone weapon and sent it hurtling straight towards Maj. Sheppard and Gen. O'Neill's helicopter. Beckett was slowly guided to successfully deactivate the drone. After Daniel Jackson successfully deciphered the gate address of Atlantis, Beckett had volunteered to join the expedition as the chief medical officer of Atlantis. During the first week, he already discovered a small amount about Wraith physiology, including the fact that they don't die from natural aging.

Later, the Atlantis Expedition discovered a planet called Hoff where the inhabitants were attempting to develop a drug that would make them immune to Wraith feeding. Beckett worked with a Hoffan scientist named Perna, who he developed a fondness to, to speed up the drug's development process, which was successfully tested on a volunteer terminally ill patient, though Beckett was reluctant to agree to this test without a full analysis of the drug's long term effect on humans. The test was a preliminary success until the Wraith test subject died from 'food poisoning' and the human test subject died anyway. His initial fear proved well founded when the Chancellor of Hoff began mass vaccinations which revealed a 50% mortality rate. Beckett joined his team opposing the Hoffan determination to disseminate the drug on a galactic scale. After Perna died due to the drug, a disgusted Carson, along with Sheppard's team left the planet, no longer planning an alliance between them.

Sometime before the Lantean storm, he had learnt how to pilot a Puddle Jumper. He went to the mainland to help the Athosian settlement evacuate to Atlantis. However, by the time the last of the hunters arrived at the Jumper, the storm was about to hit and Beckett insisted he lacked the skill to fly through it, he was eventually persuaded, by Lt. Ford during the eye, to return to Atlantis after learning that a Genii strike team infiltrated the city. He, along with Ford and Teyla helped Sheppard to retake the city. However, in the process, he was teamed up with Teyla, and was knocked out by Sora, who wanted to be alone with Teyla, so she could avenge her father's death.

2005
Beckett piloted a Puddle Jumper to take down a Wraith Dart zeroing on Atlantis, but it self-destructed before Carson was able to get a clear shot. After Teyla discovered a hidden Wraith lab and retrieve a data recorder, he discovered that Teyla has Wraith DNA in her genetic makeup, which would be very useful for the impending Siege of Atlantis. The ability was later used to convince the Wraith that they will destroy the city. He also innoculated the team sent from Stargate Command with the ATA Gene.

He was later sent back to Earth on the Daedalus, to find more members of medical staff of the expedition, but felt left out, as some of the recruits seemed more skilled than he was, but was reassured by the fact that Elizabeth Weir believed he was irreplaceable.

Beckett was responsible for removing the Wraith tracking device from Ronon Dex, a Satedan who was captured and made into a Runner, but was freed.

Since the expedition's second year of operation, Beckett started to develop a retrovirus to suppress the Iratus bug part of an individual Wraith to transform them into a human. He was impressed to learn that Zaddik had a serum that supposedly prevents a Wraith's need to feed, but later learned that the serum was ineffective, as Ellia had been sneaking out to feed on a Human periodically. She took the prototypical retrovirus, which had the opposite of the desired effect. Unfortunately, Sheppard had been infected by Ellia as well and he began to mutate more slowly. Beckett presided over a plan to use Iratus bug embryonic stem sells to replace Sheppard's mutating cells.

2006
Beckett eventually succeeded in developing the retrovirus to a stage where he was willing to test it on a Wraith. Sheppard's team captures a Wraith, later to be known as "Michael Kenmore" and tested the retrovirus on him. The test was a success, but only works temporarily, requiring a daily dose of the drug. The retrovirus had the added bonus of causing amnesia in the test subject, unfortunately, this proved only temporary as pieces of his former self broke through. "Michael" eventually realised he was a test subject, and escaped. However, he brought a Hive Ship to Atlantis, so that they can use Beckett's retrovirus to spread amongst their rival Wraith factions, an alliance that later turned out to be a ruse for the Wraith to get to Earth though Michael himself was apparently unaware of it.

He joined the team for the mission to Sateda to rescue Ronon. When he saw that the team were outnumbered, he fought McKay for a machine gun and over which one of them would get to go help the others. Ultimately the others killed all of the Wraith while they were arguing about it. Eventually when Ronon was getting beaten up by the head Wraith and was about to be fed upon, Beckett flew the Jumper down to help and killed the Wraith using a Drone. Since Ronon's belief that he could take out the Wraith himself in hand to hand combat had failed, he was extremely thankful (for him) for Beckett's timely intervention. Ronon passed out and Beckett removed the new tracking device that had been implanted before returning to Atlantis.

After the Lanteans were rescued from their ship, the Tria, Captain Helia retook control of the city. The entire expedition were requested to leave and returned back to Earth, where Beckett became a medical officer for the SGC. During that time, he bought a bunch of baby Turtles, because he was allergic to Cats and felt too busy to have a Dog. After learning that the Pegasus Replicators took control of the city, he along with Sheppard, Weir and McKay stole a Jumper and went to Atlantis through the Intergalactic Gate Bridge, picked up Teyla and Ronon from the Athosian settlement in New Athos and worked to retake control of the city. After that was accomplished, he joined the rest of the expedition returning to Atlantis.

2007
In 2007, Beckett was killed in a freak accident. After a scientist was exposed to radiation that caused an explosive tumor in his body, Beckett successfully removed the tumor, and decided to take it halfway to the demolitions unit. After giving it to the soldier, the tumor exploded, killing both the soldier and Beckett. After his memorial service, and after McKay had returned to Atlantis after speaking to Beckett's Mom, Beckett was featured in a kind of grief hallucination that appeared to McKay to comfort him over his death which confirmed that the two were in fact best friends.

Cloned Beckett


Beckett was found alive when Michael kidnapped Teyla and AR-1 went looking for her. Acting on a lead provided by Todd in exchange for research notes on the Hoffan retrovirus, a strike team stormed an abandoned building guarded by some of Michael's lackeys. When they took Beckett back to Atlantis, it was discovered he was a clone, with the original's memories, personality and mannerisms. Unfortunately, the clone Beckett's body was deteriorating, so the Atlantis personnel were forced to put him in a stasis pod.

Dr. Keller later found the formula for the drug Michael had been using to keep the clone alive when McKay retrieved Michael's medical data from his database. Richard Woolsey then pressured her into synthesising some of the substance and reviving the cloned Beckett to test it which fortunately proved successful. This clone returned to Earth as he was technically not a member of the expedition (being a clone of someone who was officially dead), however, he later returned to the Pegasus galaxy to travel to various planets there and act as a doctor to the people. Though he is the clone of the original Beckett, he ranks second in the chair ranking system, after Colonel Sheppard.

Alternate realities

 * In an alternate timeline, the "first" time the Expedition arrived in Atlantis, there was no fail-safe to release the city from the ocean floor when the shield failed and the city completely flooded. Carson helped some of the members to escape to the Jumpers, but drowned in the process.

Relationships
Laura Cadman showed interest in him, while she was trapped inside Rodney McKay's body, and certain intimate gestures between them after she was restored to her own body give a hint that the feelings were somewhat answered. According to Beckett, however, the relationship didn't work out, which he jokingly claimed was due to getting his first kiss from her while in McKay's body.

Behind the scenes

 * The character is evidently comparable to Dr. McCoy from Star Trek. McCoy hated the idea of being beamed from one location to the next, similar to Beckett's fear of Stargate travel. Also, both characters often say the catchphrase "I'm a doctor, not a..."
 * Contrary to popular belief, the actor, Paul McGillion does not speak with a Scottish accent most of the time.
 * Paul McGillion apeared in the Stargate SG-1 Season 1 episode The Torment of Tantalus as Dr. Ernest Littlefield.