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"Vengeance" is the nineteenth episode of the third season of Stargate: Atlantis.
Synopsis
The Taranians have failed to contact Atlantis, so Lt. Colonel John Sheppard's team is sent to investigate. They find the settlement abandoned, and soon find them all dead, by Michael Kenmore's experimenting.
Previously on Stargate: Atlantis
On a mission to the Wraith homeworld, Major John Sheppard is attacked by an Iratus bug. A year later, the team meets Ellia, a female Wraith that was raised by a Human named Zaddik. Ellia takes Dr. Carson Beckett's incomplete Iratus bug retrovirus and turns into a creature closer to an Iratus bug. Sheppard and Ronon Dex manage to kill her but she feeds on Sheppard's arm and he is infected with the retrovirus and transforms into a creature similar to Ellia.
Plot
Taranian settlement
Dr. Elizabeth Weir reports that the Taranians haven't contacted Atlantis in over two months. Lt. Colonel John Sheppard's team is sent to look for them. On the Taranian settlement they discover it appears as though the whole settlement has been abandoned.
Detecting a life sign below them, the team searches an underground complex made by the people who lived there before the Taranians. There they are faced with a large creature which has similarities with the Iratus bug, after finding a room full of dead Taranians, an Iratus bug in a jar full of liquid and a large cocoon/pod in an empty room.
After a scheduled check in, and before the team comes into contact with the life sign, Weir sends them a Marine contingent to help them deal with the creature, but soon after they arrive they are abducted by a Wraith Dart.
After Sheppard's team has little luck with destroying the creature (Ronon Dex only manages to cut off its arm) and realizes they've lost contact with the Marines, they try to return to Atlantis, only to find that the control crystals have been removed from the Dial Home Device, disabling the Stargate. Returning to the complex they discover that Michael Kenmore, after being rejected by the Wraith began experimenting with the bug and created these creatures to take over the galaxy. They soon discover that he has hundreds of those creatures on that planet and this is not the only planet on which he is breeding them.
Ronon Dex is surrounded by Bug People.
While Dr. Rodney McKay and Teyla Emmagan stay in Michael's lab, McKay tries to figure out what Michael was doing and how many creatures are on the planet. Meanwhile, Sheppard and Ronon use the air vents to get to the surface and locate the control crystals. Unable to find the control crystals and with the creatures on their tail, they quickly find Michael's Wraith Dart. Sheppard is able to fly it and then beam Ronon, Teyla, and McKay on it and then use its DHD to dial out.
Daedalus is redirected to go and nuke the planet but when they arrive there they find that the whole place is wiped clean with no sign of Michael or the creatures.
At the very end of the episode, Weir explains to Teyla that it was their fault the Taranians were killed, as the Wraith discovered their location after they hacked the Atlantis database during their alliance. Weir also mentions that according to what McKay was able to decipher from Michael's device, there are at least three other planets where Michael was conducting his experiment and there are hundreds of beasts out there.
References
Alien; Austin Powers; Bug People; Bug Pods; Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid; C-4; Colonel Steven Caldwell; Colt M1911A1 pistol; Control crystal; Daedalus; Dial Home Device; DNA; Dog tag; FN P90 Personal Defense Weapon; Genii; Hive ship; Iratus bug; Iratus bug retrovirus; Jet Li; Life signs detector; M8G-352; MALP; Michael's crusade; Orion; Particle magnum; Skirmish on the Taranian settlement; Taranian; Taranian settlement; Volcano; Wraith; Wraith beaming device; Wraith Dart
Notable Quotes
(Ronon is teaching Rodney how to fight.)
Ronon: Eyes straight ahead, focus on me. Never ever look away from your enemy. Shows weakness. Are you weak?
(Rodney is dressed in ninja/martial arts clothes and holding a stick)
McKay: Ah... no.
Ronon: Good. Are you ready?
McKay: Ah...
Ronon: Urgh!
(Ronon hits Rodney in the stomach with his stick. Rodney bends over in pain)
Ronon: McKay, what did I say? Don't take your eyes off of me. You gotta anticipate their next move. (Rodney is still in pain) You all right?
McKay: Mmm.
Ronon: All right, well I'll try to ease up so I don't hurt ya. You're getting better.
McKay: Oh, really?
Ronon: No.
(Elizabeth and John come in)
Sheppard: How are the ninja lessons going, Jet Li?
(after the explosion)
Sheppard: Is everyone OK?
Teyla: Yes.
Ronon: Yeah, I'm good.
McKay: I think you singed my eyebrows. Think you used enough dynamite there, Butch?
Sheppard: Did anybody get a good look of that thing?
McKay: Aside from its severed appendage, no that thing moved incredibly fast.
Ronon: In some ways it looked almost like a human.
McKay: If by human you mean clad in a grotesquely proportionate exoskeleton, yes, very human.
Sheppard: Alien. (Pause) The movie Alien, they used the air shafts to move around the ship.
McKay: And then systematically killed the entire crew one by one. Thank you for bringing that up.
Sheppard: They didn't kill 'em all.
McKay: You would think that the human side of [Michael] would temper his aggression a bit.
Teyla: Yes, because we humans aren't aggressive at all.
McKay: Well, certainly less aggressive than the... oh, sarcasm! Yeah, nice.
(Sheppard and Ronon see a dart in the clearing)
Ronon: Michael's?
Sheppard: No doubt.
Ronon: You thinking what I'm thinking?
Sheppard: I fly it. Pick you, Rodney and Teyla up. We use the dart's DHD to dial the gate.
Ronon: I was saying blow it up, but your idea's better.
Notes
- Rachel Luttrell (Teyla Emmagan) read the "Previously on Stargate: Atlantis" line.
- The Taranians were previously seen in "Inferno," wherein they were discovered to be living within an Ancient facility that housed the Aurora-class battleship Orion. After they fled the volcano on their planet, the Atlantis team relocated them.
- This episode featured the return of Michael Kenmore, who was believed to be dead after the planet he was left on was bombarded in the episode "Misbegotten".
- Lt. Colonel John Sheppard compares their current situation to the film Alien, directed by Ridley Scott. In the previous episode, he compared the situation to The Abyss. Alien's sequel Aliens and The Abyss were both directed by James Cameron.
- This episode does indeed bare a striking resemblance to Aliens. Both involve bug-like aliens, both involve aliens hatching from eggs, both also involve contact being lost with a colony, marines being sent in to investigate and characters incinerating the eggs to prevent more from hatching. Even the escape scene is reminiscent of Ripley (Ronon) fighting off the aliens while Bishop (Sheppard) brings the evacuation craft to rescue them.
- Dr. Rodney McKay's line, "Think ya used enough dynamite there, Butch?" is a reference to the Sundance Kid's line in Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid after Cassidy uses too much dynamite to blow a safe, destroying the train car in the process.
- McKay, a Canadian character, makes reference to the Canadian fitness program ParticipACTION. He mentions he received a Bronze award, and claims it was due to his inept nature at rope climbing that he did not receive a Silver instead.
- Despite the introduction of the Bug People as a new threat, they are never seen again. When Michael reappears in "The Kindred, Part 1", he simply calls the Bug People a crude experiment and has moved on to creating Human-Wraith Hybrids. It is unknown what happened to the Bug People but they were presumably destroyed as a failed experiment.
- Effectively the beginning of Michael's crusade.
- Paul McGillion (Dr. Carson Beckett) does not appear in this episode.
- Ryan Booth (Lt. Negley) previously played Zarin's Jaffa in the Stargate SG-1 Season 8 episode "Endgame".
- Elizabeth refers to the events of "Allies".
Goofs
- Near the end of the episode, when Atlantis receives an incoming wormhole, Chuck announces that they are receiving Lt. Colonel John Sheppard's IDC, though it is obvious that the Stargate has not actually opened yet, and is still being dialed in.
- As they search the tunnels, an EXIT sign can be seen briefly. Although most civilizations in the Stargate universe speak English, none have developed anything similar to the Latin alphabet.
- As they are walking back to the Stargate and discussing wraith reproduction, you can clearly see Ronon waving at someone off screen.
- Crediting Connor Trinneer in the opening credits gives away that it is Micheal behind the experiment.
In other languages
- Russian: Месть (Vengeance)
- Hungarian: Bosszú (Vengeance)
External links
- Vengeance on GateWorld. (backup link)
- Vengeance on the official MGM website. (backup link)