Todd's Wraith Hive ship appears in orbit above Atlantis. A distress message is being broadcast, but there appear to be no life signs on board, so Sheppard prepares a team to search the ship. Once on board the Wraith ship our heroes learn that the crew is in hibernation after they were infected by a deadly disease...

Infection is an enjoyable, if somewhat predictable, episode which retreads familiar ground. There are elements of Alien in here, along with just about every zombie movie ever made.

It also appears that Atlantis's plans to stop the Wraith from feeding, by sucking the life out their prey, is also under threat.

There is no audio commentary on this episode.

7

 

An ancient device swaps the bodies of Keller and a dangerous fugitive. While the person in Keller's body is keen to pass as her new identity without arousing any suspicion, the Atlantis crew don't realise that the body Keller is now trapped in is imprisoned awaiting execution...

Identity is another rather predictable story which we've seen before. As there are only a few episodes left before the show is finally cancelled, there is some real jeopardy injected as one of the Atlantis regulars is stabbed and slips into a coma.

Again, there is no audio commentary for this episode.

6

 

In an alternate reality John Sheppard is a local sheriff and Richard Woolsey is an FBI Agent. The two of them meet on the trail of a serial killer - a murderer who just happens to be a Wraith...

Vegas may well be enjoyed by many of the fans but personally I didn't particularly like it. This is the sort of episode I'd have expected to see half-way through a season run, not as the penultimate episode of a show's entire run.

The episode pays homage to CSI, which it manages to do spectacularly well, but I couldn't help feeling that it was all just a little too dull. The ending was also a little weak - designed rather too conveniently to link into the show's final episode. Personally, I thought it a little clumsy.

Robert C Cooper (executive producer), John G Lenic (producer) and Mark Banas (editor) provide an audio commentary on this episode.

6

 

After he is betrayed by one of his crew, Todd arrives at Atlantis to warn them that a new super Wraith Hive is in existence that is powered by a ZPM. When the Daedalus encounters the ship it is clearly more powerful than any firepower the Atlantis crew has. With the Daedalus dead in space, its crew awaits the death blow, but it never comes. Instead the Wraith Hive jumps to hyperspace. It soon becomes clear that the ship received new orders - the Wraith have finally discovered Earth's coordinates and plan to lead an all out attack...

Enemy at the Gate, for me, just felt such a let down. Way too much happens in this episode and it really should have been a two-parter. I know that Atlantis will live on in the planned movie, but the ending just seemed way too rushed. I was hoping for something a bit more moving or at least a way for the cast to all bow out gracefully, but what we get is a shot of the cast and then the end credits. I couldn't help feeling it was an opportunity wasted.

There's a nice bit of curve ball is thrown in to the mix when one of the main cast is killed, but otherwise I thought this was a pretty average episode.

Paul Mullie (executive producer) and Mark Savela (VFX supervisor) provide the episode's audio commentary.

5

 

Extras include the aforementioned audio commentaries; Stargate Atlantis Goes to Vegas (20 min, 26 sec); Inside the Stargate Costume Department (7 min, 04 secs); Deleted Scenes (Part II) (8 min, 43 sec) and Photo and Production Design galleries

Pete Boomer