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.

Background information
Beckett was originally from Scotland, lived with a family of seven and was very close to his mother. He 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 dematerialized and sent hundreds to thousands of light years is "a bloody insanity".

Beckett's two most prominent achievements were the development the Ancient Technology Activation 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. Rodney McKay forced a reluctant Carson to sit in the Control chair in the Antarctic outpost (because he was "afraid of the thing") to determine the location of Atlantis, since he was a natural carrier of the Ancient Technology Activation gene. He unintentionally activated a Drone weapon and sent it hurtling straight towards Major John Sheppard and Brigadier General Jack O'Neill's helicopter. Beckett was slowly guided to successfully deactivate the drone. After Dr. Daniel Jackson successfully deciphered the Stargate 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 from a severed arm brought back by Sheppard, including the fact that they don't die from natural aging.

Shortly after arriving, he developed the Ancient Technology Activation gene therapy and tested it on Dr. Rodney McKay. The test proved successful on him and later on 46% of those who received it. Later, he treated Lt. Aiden Ford after he was attacked by the Shadow creature. He described his burns as similar to being struck by lightning.

When Major John Sheppard and his team's Puddle Jumper was lodged in the Stargate, he instructed Lt. Aiden Ford and Teyla Emmagan on how to remove the Iratus bug. He suggested the use of a Defibrillator to stop his heart. When Sheppard could not be revived, he had them enter the Event horizon and then revived him when he reached Atlantis.

When Dr. Rodney McKay was shot in the face with a Wraith stunner, he informed him he was experiencing partial paralysis but would make a full recovery. 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 Chancellor Druhin 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 Major John Sheppard's team left the planet, no longer planning an alliance between them.

Sometime before the Lantean storm, he had learned 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 Puddle Jumper, the storm was about to hit and Beckett insisted he lacked the skill to fly through it. He was eventually persuaded, by Lt. Aiden Ford during the eye, to return to Atlantis after learning that a Genii strike team infiltrated the city. After arriving back on Atlantis, he, along with Ford and Teyla Emmagan saved Major John Sheppard from a Genii trap and helped him retake the city. However, in the process, he was teamed up with Teyla, and was knocked out by Sora Tyrus, who wanted to be alone with Teyla, so she could avenge her father's death. After Teyla defeated Sora, they carried him to safety in Stargate Operations.

2005
When an Ancient nanovirus was released from the Nanite lab, he was called in to discover the cause of the deaths of Dr. Wagner and Dr. Johnson. He ordered his pathologist, Dr. Biro, to autopsy the bodies. She discovered that they both died of a ruptured saccular brain aneurysm just above the visual cortex. He and Dr. Rodney McKay then discovered that the virus was actually nanites. Fortunately, Major John Sheppard was able to overload a Naquadah generator, causing an electromagnetic pulse, which deactivated the nanites.

When Major John Sheppard brought Chaya Sar to Atlantis, he did a full examination of her and found that she was in perfect health. He was suspicious as she was far too healthy for her society's level of advancement.

While searching Atlantis, Major John Sheppard's team found a room with a women preserved in a Stasis pod. He argued against reviving her as she was near death but was overruled by Dr. Elizabeth Weir. After reviving her it is discovered that she is an alternate Dr. Elizabeth Weir. She explained that in her timeline he drowned helping people evacuate to the Jumper bay.

When a Wraith Dart was detected heading toward Atlantis, he and Sgt. Bates piloted a Puddle Jumper to take it down, but it self-destructed before Carson was able to get a clear shot.

When the expedition was preparing to send a message back to Stargate Command, he recorded a personal message to his mother. This proved difficult for him as he became choked up on several occasions.

After Teyla Emmagan discovered a hidden Wraith lab and retrieved a Wraith data storage device, he discovered that Teyla has Wraith DNA in her genetic makeup. He later helped her connect with a Wraith on the approaching Hive ships and they discovered the Wraith were attempting to get to Earth.

When Sgt. Bates was attacked by "Bob", he did a forensics exam on his body and clothes and determined the DNA on his uniform was Wraith. He also placed Bates in a medically induced coma.

During the Battle of Atlantis, he was sent to the Control chair to activate it after the Mark II Naquadah generator was tied into its power supply. He also inoculated the team sent from Stargate Command with the Ancient Technology Activation gene therapy.

After Lt. Aiden Ford was found in the ocean, he discovered that he had received a massive dose of the Wraith enzyme and was going to suffer from withdrawal. He harvested enzyme from the Wraith bodies in the morgue and tried to wean him off gradually. Unfortunately, Ford escaped with all the enzyme. After a plan was devised to cloak the city, he watched over Teyla Emmagan as she sent a message to the Wraith.

He later went back to Earth through the gate with the senior staff to select additional members for the medical staff of the expedition. When he raised concerns that some of the recruits seemed more skilled than he was, he was reassured by the fact that Dr. Elizabeth Weir believed he was irreplaceable. On the trip back to Atlantis on the Daedalus, he determined the Dr. Monroe died from electrocution.

Beckett examined the body of the Wraith that Major Evan Lorne and Dr. Parrish found on P3M-736. He discovered the enzyme sack had been removed. Lt. Colonel John Sheppard recognized that Lt. Aiden Ford was responsible and took his team and Lorne's team to the planet to search for him. When Sheppard and Teyla Emmagan were captured, he traveled to P3M-736 to remove the Wraith tracking device from Ronon Dex.

He was on a mission on Thenora to search for any survivors during the Wraith culling there. However, there was none. On his way back to the Stargate, Dr. Rodney McKay and Lt. Laura Cadman were scooped up by a Wraith beam. Lt. Colonel John Sheppard was able to shoot down the Wraith Dart. Dr. Radek Zelenka was only able to remove McKay as there wasn't enough power. He brought McKay back to the infirmary in Atlantis. When McKay awoke they discovered that Cadman's consciousness was trapped in McKay's head. Later, Cadman took control of McKay's body and pretended to be McKay. She asked him to “ride shotgun” on McKay's date with Dr. Katie Brown. During their conversation, he unknowingly admitted his admiration for her. After McKay suffered a seizure, he determined that the stress of two consciousnesses was too much for McKay's body to handle and if one of them didn't let go both of them would die. When McKay came up with a solution, Cadman kissed him in McKay's body in case it didn't work much to McKay's repulsion. Fortunately, the experiment was a success.

After Dr. Collins was killed during a test of Project Arcturus, he performed an autopsy and discovered he died from radiation poisoning unlike anything he had ever seen before.

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. Lt. Colonel John Sheppard's team called him to test Zaddik's 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. In the process he told Zaddik about the retrovirus and Ellia overheard. She took the prototypical retrovirus, which had the opposite of the desired effect. Ellia was killed by Lt. Colonel John Sheppard and Ronon Dex but not before feeding on Sheppard's arm. Back on Atlantis, he brought Sheppard to the infirmary to treat his wound. Despite the large amount of blood there appeared to be no wound. He tested Sheppard's blood and discovered traces of the retrovirus in his system. Sheppard had been infected by Ellia and he began to slowly mutate. Beckett came up with a plan to use Iratus bug embryonic stem cells to replace Sheppard's mutating cells. He first went to a planet with Iratus bugs but they were unable to get close enough to get any eggs without the bugs attacking. He then realized that Sheppard was producing pheromones and could enter the cave unharmed. Sheppard succeeded in gathering the eggs and he developed a cure.

When Dr. Rodney McKay escaped from Lt. Aiden Ford's planet and was suffering Wraith enzyme withdrawal, he administered pain relievers and a multivitamin injection to boaster his immune system.

When Lt. Colonel John Sheppard was trapped in a Time dilation field, he was part of the team that entered the field and retrieved Sheppard.

When Teyla Emmagan's surrogate grandmother Charin fell ill, he traveled to her with to the mainland to perform an exam on her. He suggested implanting a pacemaker for her heart but Charin refused. He was also present during her Ring Ceremony.

He was called to the Lord Protector's Planet by Lt. Colonel John Sheppard's team to exam the Lord Protector. He discovered that he was being poisoned little by little over the last several months. There was nothing he could do for him and he died a few hours later.

2006
After Lt. Colonel John Sheppard's team discovered two stasis pods in orbit in the Kohal system and the inhabitants' consciousness was transferred into Dr. Elizabeth Weir, he determined the imprinting would only last a few hours. After Ronon Dex was shot by Phoebus, the consciousness in Weir, he was perform surgery in the dark but was able to remove the bullet.

When Major Evan Lorne's team were thought to have died on M1K-177, he examined the bodies and determined it was not them. He later found that the bodies died of radiation poisoning indicating they are Genii. Later, he treated the Genii prisoners including Dahlia Radim, Ladon Radim's sister.

Beckett eventually succeeded in developing the Iratus bug retrovirus to a stage where he was willing to test it on a Wraith. Lt. Colonel John 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 realized he was a test subject, and escaped back to the Wraith.

When the supervolcano on Taranis was about to erupt, he was called in to help treat the wounded from the tremors. When the Stargate fell into the lava, he assisted people to the Daedalus beam out locations and to the Ancient ship Orion. He escaped on the Orion at the last minute.

A few weeks later, Michael Kenmore brought a Hive Ship to Atlantis, so that they can use Beckett's retrovirus to spread amongst their rival Wraith factions, and an alliance was formed. He and Dr. Radek Zelenka worked with a Wraith Scientist on weaponizing the retrovirus. They developed an aerosol gas and tested it on a Wraith subject. It was successful and the Daedalus went to test it on a Hive. The alliance turned out to be a ruse for the Wraith to get to Earth though Michael himself was apparently unaware of it. When the Hive returned to Atlantis, Beckett, as the only other person who'd ever fired a drone besides Lt. Colonel John Sheppard and Major General Jack O'Neill, was drafted to sit in the Control chair to fire if necessary. Beckett was incredibly relieved when Sheppard revealed he was in control of the Hive Ship. On M8G-352, Beckett led the treatment of the Human-form Wraith, including Michael. After Michael and several others started to revert, Beckett was captured by Michael and interrogated for the location of the Nuclear warhead that Sheppard left as a failsafe. He was rescued by Sheppard's team and they escaped back to Atlantis' hive ship. When Sheppard decided to open fire on the Wraith camp and exterminate the reverting Wraith and those who were still human, Beckett was upset, but had no choice but to go along with it.

He was sent to Lucius' planet by Lt. Colonel John Sheppard's team to check the validity of Lucius Luvin's medicines. While there, he came under the influence of Lucius' herb. He brought him back to Atlantis and the rest of the expedition came under his influence. Later, he lead a mission to M6H-491 to retrieve more herb for Lucius. Sheppard kidnapped and flew him to the mainland in order to detox him. Once the herb's effects had worn off, they allowed themselves to be captured and taken back to the city. He developed a cure and injected Lucius instead of the Ancient Technology Activation gene he requested. When Lucius tried to pilot a Puddle Jumper, Sheppard stopped him and flew him to the mainland so Beckett could cure the rest of the expedition.

When Dr. Rodney McKay returned from Keturah's planet with an arrow lodged in his glute, he gave him a large dose of morphine and removed it. Later, he joined the team for the mission to Sateda to rescue Ronon Dex. 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 Wraith Leader and was about to be fed upon, McKay flew the Puddle Jumper down to help and Beckett killed the Wraith himself using a Drone weapon. Since Ronon's belief that he could take out the Wraith himself in hand to hand combat had failed, he was extremely thankful for Beckett's timely intervention, even hugging Beckett. Ronon passed out and Beckett removed the new tracking device that had been implanted before returning to Atlantis.

When Lt. Colonel John Sheppard was captured by Commander Acastus Kolya and feed on by a Wraith, he advised Dr. Elizabeth Weir that if she was going to make the deal she should do it soon and not let him be feed on again.

When Major Leonard's team went missing on M1B-129, he and Lt. Colonel John Sheppard's team were sent in to search for them. After finding the bodies of several of the team as well as several Genii, they found a Wraith device. They headed back to the Stargate but the Leonard used C-4 to blow up the Dial Home Device and then shot at them from the tree line. He treated the two injured Marines Lt. Kagan and Sgt. Barroso. With the DHD destroyed they headed back to the Wraith device so Dr. Rodney McKay could shut it down. Once there the device began to affect him and he believed Barroso was still alive and assisting him despite the fact that he was dead and that Kagan had died even though he was still alive. Even after McKay was able to prove Barroso was dead, he was still able to see him. Teyla Emmagan eventually shut down the device and they were rescued by the Daedalus.

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 Stargate Command. 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 Asurans took control of the city, he along with Lt. Colonel John Sheppard, Dr. Elizabeth Weir and Dr. Rodney McKay stole a Puddle Jumper and went to New Athos through the McKay/Carter Intergalactic Gate Bridge, picked up Teyla Emmagan and Ronon Dex from the Athosian settlement and returned to Atlantis to retake control of the city. After returning through the Stargate, they went into orbit and retrieved Niam in order to use him to freeze the Asurans. Upon returning to the city, the Asurans fired Drone weapons at their Puddle Jumper. Sheppard did his best to evade them but had to submerge the Jumper and enter the underwater Jumper bay. Once inside, McKay discovered he could not drain the water and the outer door was jammed. Fortunately, Major General Jack O'Neill was able to manually drain the water but he and Richard Woolsey were captured by the Asurans. After Niam was reactivated and destroyed by McKay, the team paired off and headed for the shield emitters. He teamed up with Teyla and planted C-4 and an Anti-Replicator gun crystal in the emitters. When the Asurans powered up the Stardrive, he used the Control chair to fire Drones at it. He was successful in disabling it but they were captured shortly after. Once in the brig, the Asurans activated the shield and were destroyed by the Replicator disruptor wave. After that was accomplished, he joined the rest of the expedition returning to Atlantis.

When Teyla Emmagan began to see visions of Lanteans, he scanned her but could not find any abnormalities. A short time later, he began to see the visions as well. He later treated Lt. Colonel John Sheppard and Dr. Rodney McKay for perforated ear drums after getting to close to a pair of Flagisallus. When more Flagisallus arrived, he suffered from a nose bleed. Luckily, McKay and Sheppard were able to divert the Coronal mass ejection with the Daedalus' shield boosted by the Zero Point Module.

When the team encountered Lucius Lavin again, he performed a blood test on him but found no trace of the herb. Later, while trying to retake the village from Commander Acastus Kolya, he, Teyla Emmagan, Dr. Rodney McKay and Ronon Dex were captured. They were rescued by Lt. Colonel John Sheppard and Lucius with the help of the villagers.

After Dr. Rodney McKay was zapped by the Ascension machine, he performed an exam and found nothing abnormal. After McKay saved Major Evan Lorne's team with his mind, McKay used his Telekinesis to lift him off the ground. Later, when McKay was nearing ascension, McKay told him how to use the machine to reverse the process.

2007
When Lt. Colonel John Sheppard's team was trapped in a Moon Base that was losing orbit, he was part of the rescue team. Luckily, he escaped on the rescue Puddle Jumper while Lt. Colonel John Sheppard piloted the Shuttle.

After Dr. Harriet Hewston and Dr. James Watson were exposed to radiation from an unknown device, he gave them a full exam. The next day on the mandatory rest day, he was set to go on a fishing trip with Dr. Rodney McKay but McKay canceled to spend time with Dr. Katie Brown. He attempted to find a replacement but Dr. Radek Zelenka, Lt. Colonel John Sheppard, Ronon Dex, and Major Evan Lorne declined so he canceled the trip. When Hewston exploded from the tumor that the device created, he performed surgery on Teyla Emmagan and was starting surgery on Watson when McKay contacted him. McKay explained that Watson was about to explode and he and his team must evacuate. He refused and with the help of Marie he successfully removed the tumor, and decided to take it halfway to the demolitions unit. After giving it to the EOD technician, the tumor exploded, killing both the airman and Beckett. After his memorial service, and after McKay had returned to Atlantis after speaking to Carson 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 Kenmore kidnapped Teyla Emmagan and Lt. Colonel John Sheppard's team went looking for her. Acting on a lead provided by Todd in exchange for research notes on the Hoffan drug, 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. He attempted to rescue Teyla himself when the rest of the team was distracted and tried to kill Michael, but was stopped by Michael's ability to control his creations. Unfortunately, the clone Beckett's body was deteriorating, so the Atlantis personnel were forced to put him in a stasis pod.

Dr. Jennifer Keller later found the formula for the drug Michael had been using to keep the clone alive when Dr. Rodney McKay retrieved Michael's medical data from his database. Richard Woolsey then pressured her into synthesizing 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 Lt. Colonel John Sheppard. He displays more confidence in using the Control chair then the original Beckett and is able to pilot Atlantis home to Earth and during the Battle of the ZPM powered Hive Ship, landing the city on Earth afterwards.

Alternate timeline

 * In an alternate timeline, the "first" time the expedition arrived in Atlantis, there was no Failsafe mechanism to release the city from the ocean floor when the shield failed and the city completely flooded. Beckett helped some of the members to escape to the Puddle Jumpers, but drowned in the process.

Laura Cadman
Lt. Laura Cadman showed interest in him, while she was trapped inside Dr. 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. Over the next several months they went on several dates but according to Beckett the relationship didn't work out, which he jokingly claimed was due to getting his first kiss from her while in McKay's body.

Rodney McKay
Dr. Rodney McKay considered Beckett his best friend and took his death very hard. Beckett had similar feelings towards McKay but at times had trouble putting them into words.

Behind the scenes

 * Paul McGillion previously played a young Ernest Littlefield in the Stargate SG-1 episode "The Torment of Tantalus".
 * 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.