Template:ATL-5 "Remnants" is the fifteenth episode of the fifth season of Stargate: Atlantis.
Synopsis
While being evaluated by the International Oversight Advisory, Richard Woolsey meets a beautiful scientist new to Atlantis, who is not what she appears. Meanwhile, Lt. Colonel John Sheppard is captured and tortured by an enemy he thought he'd killed several years ago: his sworn enemy, Genii Commander Acastus Kolya.
Plot
Lt. Colonel John Sheppard is accompanying a botanical survey team (with a very attractive female botanist) on a routine overnight survey mission. As the scientists study a local plant, he returns to the pod to set up gear for the night when he is stunned and abducted. He regains consciousness, finding himself in a forest on the mainland of Atlantis's new home planet, to which the city was relocated a year and a half earlier. His hands and feet are bound, and Sheppard shuffles himself toward a sharp rock to try and free himself from his bonds.
Back in the city, Teyla is worried that Richard Woolsey may be lonely since he always eats alone, often in jus quarters. She invites him to sit at the table with her, Ronon, and McKay, but Woolsey says he'll just breakfast in his quarters, he is working on a report for the IOA who want to review his performance as head of the Atlantis mission. Teyla says he has been a fine Commander, but Woolsey admits to feeling a little nervous.
On his way back to his rooms, he encounters a new member of the expedition in the transporter chamber. She introduces herself as Dr. Vanessa Conrad, a scientist who has recently arrived on the Apollo. Woolsey is immediately smitten. Soon, the two are on a first name basis.
Woolsey then goes to meet the IOA representative who has just beamed down from the Daedalus. It is Shen. She informs him that she won't need his report: the IOA has decided to recall him to Earth and put him in charge of a new environmental impact committee there.
Meanwhile, Sheppard manages to free himself, and returns cautiously to his Puddle Jumper. He soon discovers who it is who tied him up: Acastus Kolya, the former Genii commander and torture master who he shot dead two years ago. Kolya claims he used Ancient technology to escape being killed. Now he wants Sheppard to give him an IDC code. He plans to have Atlantis open the Gate, then send in a bomb. Sheppard also overhears a walkie communication between Kolya and his troops: the Atlantis science team has escaped. Kolya tells the men to round them up.
In Atlantis, Dr. Rodney McKay is in his lab when Zalenka returns early from an offworld conference. He says several team members had an allergic reaction to a local food. Since he's back early, he's had an idea: he wants McKay's authorization to do a sweep of the ocean on the Atlantis planet, something they haven't bothered to do yet. McKay thinks it's a waste of time, but eventually agrees, expecting to find nothing interesting. However, almost immediately they find a submerged pod ship of alien design. They bring it to the city to study.
John's hand is cut off.
At the same time Sheppard falls off a cliff after escaping torture by Kolya and having one hand cut off. Kolya tells him to use his other hand and pull himself up and a confused Sheppard does so and confronts Kolya who reveals he is not really Kolya: it’s another manifestation of the pod's AI set up to distract Sheppard as he would have the best chance of stopping them if it came down to it. The AI never intended him to die, it just wanted him distracted. It explains the same thing it explained to Woolsey. The AI also helps Woolsey who's under a performance evaluation from someone who covets his position to keep his job as a gift to him for his help. "Vanessa" helps Woolsey realize the IOA may be leaning towards replacing him, but if they'd already made a final decision, they wouldn't have sent out a representative to do an evaluation. Woolsey confronts the representative, who admits she wants the job for herself.
Ultimately it’s revealed that Vannesa Conrad is just a manifestation of the AI of a pod they discovered that holds the last hope for an extinct alien race, named the Sekkari, to survive. She reveals that when McKay flew the Jumper out of the Underwater Jumper bay during the plan to defeat Michael Kenmore, it woke the dormant pod up. The pod had been searching for a suitable planet for its race to populate but a malfunction caused it to end up on M35-117 which was not suitable for it. The AI had been observing the Expedition for weeks to see if they were trustworthy and took on Conrad's form to communicate with Woolsey and ask for his help.
Woolsey has the Apollo transport the pod to a suitable world for the alien race to start over and before it leaves, the AI, still appearing as Dr. Vanessa Conrad, shows them the true form: an alien, however still very much humanoid.
Teyla again asks Woosley to join them and this time he agrees. Rodney states that the only reason the AI didn't reveal itself to him was because he would have figured it out. Sheppard wonders why the device was recovered after Woosley and himself started hallucinating, and McKay says he found it with Zelenka's help. It is then revealed that Dr. Radek Zelenka has been off world the entire time. The episode ends with Rodney saying "Son of a. . ."
References
Alien begonia; Almond biscotti; Ancient Technology Activation gene; Apollo; Asgard transporter; Atlantis infirmary; Atlantis living quarter; Atlantis transporter; Carson Beckett; Colonel Samantha Carter; James Coolidge; Daedalus; Dirty Rotten Scoundrels; Lt. Donovan; Ellen; International Oversight Advisory; Kangaroo Jack; Kickboxing; Major Evan Lorne; Lucius Luvin; M1B-129; M2J; Mad Money; Mess hall; New Lantea's mainland; New Lantea's ocean; New Lantea's sun; Puddle Jumper; Planes, Trains and Automobiles; Sekkari; Sekkari artificial intelligence; Sekkari seed carrier; Silicon; South-East Pier; Elizabeth Weir; Wine; Yoo-hoo
Notable Quotes
Ronon: Sometimes when I walk past his quarters at night, I can hear him crying.
Rodney: What...Really?
Ronon: No.
Parrish: Look at this, huh? It's a plant not unlike the Begonia eiromischa!
Sheppard: (despairingly) Oh, God. Lorne warned me about this.
McKay: Hey. What happened to your offworld foofoora? Thought you were the guest of honor at some big diplomatic dinner on M2J.
Zelenka: Yeah, I was, but the festivities ended early when three members of Lieutenant Donovan's team suffered a severe allergic reaction to something that we were served at the grand banquet.
McKay: Yeesh.
Zelenka: Come to think of it, I think it might have been those little green berries with the purple specks on them, because my tongue did seem a little bit numb afterwards ...
McKay: Yeah, FYI, this conversation ended six seconds ago.
Zelenka: Yeah, um, anyway, on the way back I had an idea.
McKay: Well, have a little lie down. It'll pass.
(Woolsey introduces Shen Xiaoyi to the technician team)
Woolsey: Hello there, Chet.
Chuck: It's Chuck.
Woolsey: Excuse me?
Chuck: It's Chuck, sir. My name is Chuck.
Woolsey: Oh, of course! Chuck. Chet's on the late shift.
Chuck: (after Woolsey leaves, irritated) There is no Chet!
McKay: You realize it's highly unlikely you're actually gonna find anything?
Radek: Well, then I will have wasted an hour of my time and you'll be able to tell me "I told you so." If, on the other hand, I do find something, perhaps they'll name something after me for a change.
(Rodney pauses for a few seconds)
McKay: Wait!
Woolsey: You poached my private spot.
Conrad: What?
Woolsey: Uh, what I meant to say is you discovered my personal little area.
Conrad: I'm sorry I made you doubt your sanity.
Woolsey: Who are you? What are you?
Conrad: I'm a physical manifestation of your subconscious romantic and sexual ideals.
Woolsey: Oh, God...
McKay: Neat.
Sheppard: "Neat"?!
McKay: Yeah well, she caught me off guard, what did you want me to say? What would you have said?
Sheppard: Uh, "Weird."
Notes
- Several weeks have passed since Michael Kenmore infiltrated Atlantis in "The Prodigal".
- It has been nine months since the events of "The Seed", when Richard Woolsey took command of Atlantis.
- It is revealed that Commander Acastus Kolya did in fact die when Lt. Colonel John Sheppard shot him: Dr. Carson Beckett confirmed his death afterwards and the Kolya that appeared here wasn't the real one.
- This episode marks the first time the view is inside an Atlantis transporter when it is activated. The second time in the show, but the first time there is a flash seen during the transport.
- Atlantis expedition members shown by flag patches; Australia, Canada, Czech Republic, Russia, Spain, Sweden and United States of America
- The capsule and the premise of the humanoid median are very similar to the Stargate SG-1 episode "Scorched Earth", in which a large ship was sent across the Milky Way to search and terraform a planet for a Sulfur based life form, the Gadmeer, as well as all of the organisms of their homeworld and the knowledge of their race.
- It's revealed that the blonde, Swedish, female scientist that has been seen throughout the series has the given name Ellen.
- Jonathon Young returns as Dr. Parrish. Sheppard comments "Lorne warned me about this," in reference to Parrish's tendency to sound alarmed when he discovers a new plant, which he did with Major Evan Lorne in "Runner". Young is best known for his recurring role as Nikola Tesla on Amanda Tapping's Sanctuary.
- Anna Galvin (Vanessa Conrad/the Sekkari AI) previously portrayed Dr. Reya Varrick in the Stargate SG-1 episode "Collateral Damage".
- At the end of the episode, Shen Xiaoyi leaves Atlantis via the Stargate rather than by being beamed aboard the Apollo (which was still in orbit after it had initially dropped her off). With the Midway station destroyed, and considering Atlantis' policy of restricting direct Stargate travel to Earth as to conserve ZPM power, it is strange that she would leave through the Stargate. It is possible, however, that an exception to this policy was made in her case due to her high ranking within the IOA.
Awards
Nominations
- Nominated Leo for "Best Screenwriting in a Dramatic Series" (Joseph Mallozzi and Paul Mullie)
External links
- Remnants on GateWorld. (backup link)
- Remnants on the official MGM website. (backup link)