Buy This DVD Box Set Now By Clicking On The Icon Below!
Buy This DVD Box Set Now By Clicking On
The Icon Below!
Title:
Stargate: Atlantis: The Complete First Season On DVD Box Set
Region:
One
Genre:
Sci-Fi Action
Episodes:
Volume 1: Disc 1: “Rising (Parts 1 And 2)”, “Hide And Seek”, “Thirty
Eight Minutes”
Episodes:
Volume 1: Disc 2: “Suspicion”, “Childhood’s End”, “Poisoning The
Well”, “Underground”
Episodes:
Volume 2: Disc 3: “Home”, “The Storm”, “The Eye”, “The Defiant
One”
Episodes:
Volume 2: Disc 4: “Hot Zone”, “Sanctuary”, “Before I Sleep”, “The
Brotherhood”
Episodes:
Volume 3: Disc 5: “Letters From Pegasus”, “The Gift”, “The Siege (Part
1)”, “The Siege (Part 2)”
Stars:
Joe Flanigan, Torri Higginson, David Hewlett, Rachel Luttrell, Rainbow Sun
Francks, Paul McGillion, and Craig Veroni
Guest
Stars: Richard Dean Anderson, Michael Shanks, Robert Patrick, Colm Meaney, Don
S. Davis, Robert Davi, and Amanda Tapping
Writers:
Robert C. Cooper, Brad Wright,
Joseph Mallozzi, Paul Mullie, Martin Gero, Damian Kindler, Peter DeLuise, and
Carl Binder
Created
By: Brad Wright and Robert C. Cooper
Directors:
Martin Wood, David Warry Smith,
Mario Azzopardi, David Winng, Brad Turner, Holly Dale, Peter DeLuise, Andy
Mikita, and James Head.
Executive Producers: Brad Wright,
Robert C. Cooper, and Michael Greenburg
Feature
length: 873 minutes
Extras:
Audio Commentaries, Stargate
Atlantis Set Tour, Diary Of Rainbow Sun Francks, Mission Directive: The
Storm/The Eye, Wraithful Discriminations: It’s Not Easy Being Green, Mission
Directive: Sanctuary, Mission Directive: Before I Sleep, Mission Directive: The
Siege, A Look Back On Season 1 With Martin Gero, Photo Galleries, Previews
Languages:
English Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround Sound and Spanish, and Portuguese Language
Dubbed Dolby Surround Sound
Subtitles:
English Closed Captions and English, French, Spanish, and Portuguese Language
Subtitles
Packaging:
Three Slim Keep Cases Within A Cardboard Slipcase
Sound:
Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround Sound and Dolby Surround Sound
Years
of Television Broadcast: 2004-2005/DVD Release: 2005
Home
Video Distributor: Metro Goldwyn Mayer Home Entertainment
MPAA
Rating: Not Rated
Reviewer:
Mark A. Rivera
I
imagine to test the waters during the early days of DVD, Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer
Home Entertainment released a single volume of “Stargate: SG-1” on DVD,
which contained the pilot and the second and third episodes from the series’
first season. Years later, “Stargate: SG-1” is one of the most popular
sci-fi TV shows on DVD with eight seasons now available in five-disc box sets.
This past summer MGM released the series pilot for “Stargate: Atlantis” on
DVD and later UMD-Video for PSP. By this time it was a given that the first
season of “Stargate: Atlantis” would be released on DVD. There was a trailer
for it on the pilot episode DVD. Now Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Home Entertainment
under its parent company, Sony Pictures Home Entertainment has released the
first season on DVD in a box set containing three slim keep cases. The first two
volumes have two discs each while the third volume has the fifth disc. There is
also a little insert inside with offers and advertisements for the second half
of “Stargate: SG-1” airing on SCI FI in January as well as the season one
DVD set of “The Outer Limits: The New Series.” Since this is the start of a
new TV series on DVD, I don’t mind a departure in the packaging from the way
“Stargate: SG-1” is produced on DVD. Each incarnation of “Star Trek” on
DVD released by Paramount Home Entertainment is different, yet consistent onto
itself so I hope the powers that be at Sony and MGM do not change the style in
which the last eight seasons of “Stargate: SG-1” have been released to DVD
because as I mentioned in my review of “Stargate:
SG-1: Season 8 DVD Box Set,” the look of any DVD series should remain
consistent because as consumers and fans we care about how our favorite
franchises look on our media shelves as much as we care about the content they
hold.
I
do not think that SCI FI Channel has ever had a more popular Friday night of
original first run sci-fi programming. Both “Stargate: SG-1” and
“Stargate: Atlantis” have been renewed for a tenth and third season
respectively and the hit SCI FI original series “Battlestar Galactica” has
also been renewed for a third season. That program is distributed on DVD from
Universal Studios Home Entertainment. I mention that because now you can
literally watch all three of these shows in exciting TV on DVD sets and have
studio quality “SCI FI Friday” on any night of the week without the need for
a Tivo. The events of season one of “Stargate: Atlantis” take place roughly
around the same time as season eight of “Stargate: SG-1” and collectively
both shows work so well off of each other in expanding the “Stargate”
universe that it has reinvigorated “Stargate: SG-1” and opened all sorts of
possibilities for both shows. The smartest thing the creative team behind both
programs have accomplished is avoiding the whole “Lost In Space” trap that I
think hurt “Star Trek: Voyager” especially in the early seasons.
“Stargate: Atlantis” has already managed to establish a method for both
shows to crossover so now anything is possible. Arguably “Stargate:
Atlantis” is the more fantasy oriented of the two programs. There are some
attempts to make the human characters encountered more interesting, but I think
both shows have visited one too many planets that just happen to look very much
like Earth.
For
the first season there are three concerns that revolve around the twenty
episodes. First the threat of the Wraith, who want to take Atlantis so they find
the location of Earth and begin a new feeding cycle that threatens all life in
the Milky Way galaxy. Then there is the search for a power device created by the
ancients referred to as a ZPM. With a ZPM the Atlantis crew could open a
stargate back to Earth as well as power the shields and make the city more
defensible against a wraith attack. Then there are the Geni, a ruthless human
race obsessed with obtaining any sort of technology that can be used against the
wraith even at the expense of anyone else. They literally clash with the
Atlantis team several times in the series’ first season and even attempt to
forcibly take the city from them. The first season culminates in reinforcements
from the SGC back on Earth arriving too little; too late as the Wraith begin
their assault on Atlantis.
Noteworthy
episodes in this five-disc set include the two-part series pilot “Rising”,
“Suspicion”, “Poisoning The Well”, “Underground”, the two-part
midseason finale/opener “The Storm” & “The Eye”, “Sanctuary”,
“Before I Sleep”, “The Brotherhood” “Letters From Pegasus”, “The
Gift” and the two-part season finale “The Siege.” Carried over from the
DVD release of the series pilot is the audio commentary with Director Martin
Wood and Actor Joe Flanigan. There are a total of 13 episode length audio
commentaries for the 20 episodes that make up the first season of “Stargate:
Atlantis.” The participants include cast members Rachel Luttrell, Torri
Higginson, Paul McGillion, Rainbow Sun Francks, David Hewlett, and Gary Jones as
well as Directors Martin Wood, Peter DeLuise, Writer Martin Gero, and Stunt
Coordinator Dan Shea.
Each
episode is presented in the anamorphic widescreen (1.78:1) aspect ratio in which
the series was shot on high definition video with a very atmospheric and
well-mixed English Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround Soundtrack. Some scenes look
surprisingly grainy from episode to episode, but overall the video quality is
still exceptional. Spanish and Portuguese Language Dubbed Dolby Surround
Soundtracks as well as English Closed Captions for the hearing impaired and
English, French, Spanish, and Portuguese Language Subtitles are encoded onto the
five dual layered DVD discs as options too. The DVD menus feature brief animated
shots of the “Puddle Jumper” in space and then lead to interactive menu
screens that appear to look like the controls to one of these shuttles. While
navigation is easy, it can be a little hard to spot the arrow to return to the
previous menu sometimes. Each disc features production photo and design
galleries related to the episodes on the disc therein. In terms of featurettes
disc one features a tour with Director Martin Wood, and Writer, Director, and
Producer Peter DeLuise of the “Stargate: Atlantis” set, which is apparently
shot in the same general stage facilities as The WB’s “Smallville” and the
now completed series “Gene Roddenberry’s Andromeda” (11:32).
Disc
two features an interview with Actor Rainbow Sun Francks (9:15), who shares his
experience of starting his career in one of the most popular sci-fi franchises
on television (9:15). Disc three contains a look at the development of the
Wraith (11:28) that is quite interesting. Unlike other villains in the Stargate
universe the Wraith have no interest in technology or culture with the exception
of gaining control of Atlantis’ stargate. In that case it is only so they can
have access to new feeding grounds. Another interesting tidbit is that one man
on the series has played all of the wraith commanders for season one. I was
actually surprised to see that the color of the Wraith skin is green. It always
looked more like blue to me when I watched episodes on SCI FI. “Mission
Directive” featurettes offering a look behind-the-scenes with comparisons to
finished episode sequences are present on disc three for “The Storm” &
“The Eye” (5:59), “Sanctuary” (11:34) and “Before I Sleep” (13:56)
on disc four as well as “The Siege” on disc five (11:12). “Stargate:
Atlantis” Writer and Story Editor Martin Gero provides an overview of season
one on disc five complete with answers to questions submitted by fans and cast
interviews (17:23).
The
23-minute SCI FI Channel preview to “Stargate:
Atlantis” as well as the material related to the “Stargate: Alliance”
video game that were included on the DVD release of the pilot are not carried
over to this season one DVD box set. DVD preview trailers for “Ringers: Lord
Of The Fans” (2:28), “Seinfeld: Seasons 5 & 6” (2:52), “Steamboy”
(1:42), “Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children” (2:26), “Mirror Mask”
(1:09) and the “Stargate: SG-1: Season 8 DVD Box Set” (1:00) wrap-up the
bonus materials included within the DVD box set.
“Stargate:
Atlantis: The Complete First Season On DVD Box Set” is available now at
retailers on and offline courtesy of Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Home Entertainment.
©
Copyright 2005 By Mark A. Rivera
All Rights Reserved.
Buy This DVD Box Set Now By Clicking On
The Link Below!