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After
an Atlantis team vanishes while off-world, Sheppard mounts
a rescue mission. Not only do they find the missing crew dead,
but they also discover an alien device that begins creating
hallucinations in Sheppard's team, who see each other as enemies...
At
the centre of Phantoms is a fairly clichéd plot
- you can see the twist coming a mile off. It's pretty obvious
early on that the alien device has something to do with it.
And, as it is established from the opening scene that the
first batch of bodies the Atlantis team come across killed
one another, it's pretty obvious that the alien device somehow
turns allies against each other.
While
it's not the most original of ideas, the writers really pull
out all the stops to make the resulting plot much better than
expected. There's a really great moment that got me in a way
that M. Night Shyamalan movies used to do. It concerns Beckett...
and I'll say no more.
Carl
Binder (co-executive producer/writer) and Martin Wood (director/supervising
producer) provide an interesting audio commentary. Highlights
include the failed stunt, where a truck didn't explode as
planned; and the revelation that David Hewlett twisted his
ankle quite badly while diving from the cave. Wood also rather
unconvincingly pretends to be embarrassed about his voice
over work on this episode - but then spends quite some time
talking about it anyway.
When McKay, Sheppard and the others discover an Aurora-class
warship called the Tria filled with Ancients, they're
ecstatic. But with the return of the Ancients to Atlantis,
the humans are ordered to leave, forcing the team to go their
separate ways...
The
Return - Part I is a pretty interesting episode, but really
acts as the build up to the much stronger Part II.
There's a surprise guest star; a great CGI shot of a new space
construction the SGC has approved and built; and a cliff-hanger
that you know won't really see the break up of the Atlantis
team.
The
only thing I can really think of to complain about is that
the teaser features the Replicators. Because of this you know
they are going to make an appearance at some point in the
episode. So, when the Ancients appear, I was expecting it
to be a Replicator trap. I won't spoil whether or not this
is the case.
Martin
Gero (producer/writer) and Paul Mullie (executive producer)
provide the first of two great audio commentaries on this
disc. Highlights include them pointing out the Ancient extra
who insists on looking into the camera on every take; their
issues with Beckett's civilian dress sense; Gero's excuse
as to why he got the World
of Warcraft
facts wrong in the script; and whether the Puddle Jumper
really would fit over those railings that are in front of
the Earth's stargate.
Major General Jack O'Neill and Richard Woolsey are currently
in hiding from Replicators. But their hopes of escape increase
once Sheppard's team hears of the attack on Atlantis, and
goes AWOL in hopes of regaining control of the city...
The
Return - Part II offers a great conclusion to the story.
It's pretty obvious that everyone will return to Atlantis,
so there was never really any worry that the team wouldn't
get back together, but the way they take back the city is
quite ingenious. It
was also great to see Richard Dean Anderson do some quite
impressive underwater work
Gero
and Mullie return for the second of their audio commentaries.
Highlights include Gero offering fans the chance to provide
their own audio commentary on the credit sequence while he
reacts; an explanation as to why the drones don't follow the
Puddle Jumper under the water even though it is shown,
later in the episode, that they can function under water;
and Gero revealing that he provided an over dubbing sigh for
Richard Dean Anderson.
 .
When the whales of Lantia gather around city, the people
of Atlantis begin to fall seriously ill. Meanwhile Teyla and
others begin to witness what appear to be ghosts of the Ancients...
Echoes
allows McKay to delve a little deeper into his history with
the whales of Lantia - when they all start converging on Atlantis.
It soon becomes apparent that the whales' calls are lethal
to humans, and members of the Atlantis crew start to become
seriously ill. Meanwhile, an increasing number of the crew
start to see apparitions of the Ancients, as well as a badly
burnt man.
While
this is far from a bad episode, it's not one of this season's
strongest stories. It could be that I was reminded too much
of Star
Trek: IV: The Voyage Home, but (and without
spoiling too much) the whole whale story line was a little
too corny.
William
Waring (director) and Brenton Spencer (director of photography)
provide a pretty weak audio commentary. It's mostly pointing
out what's going on on screen, followed by long pauses.
Extras include the previously mentioned audio commentaries;
Mission Directive: Phantoms featuring Martin Wood (14
mins look behind the scenes of the Phantoms episode. Director
Martin Wood seems to have his work cut out for him as nothing
goes right); General O'Neill Goes To Atlantis (14 mins
look at the return of Richard Dean Anderson to the Stargate
franchise); Photo Gallery; and Production Design
Gallery.
Pete
Boomer
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