By Jonathan Klotz
| Published
The Die Hard formula has been applied to every setting imaginable, from a battleship (Under Siege) to the White House (Olympus Has Fallen) and it always works. The formula is simple, put one character against overwhelming odds that are slowly overcome through guerrilla tactics and carefully outthinking the enemy. Stargate: Atlantis employed this formula in the Season 1 two-parter, “The Storm” and “The Eye,” by showing why John Sheppard is the most dangerous man in the city, and finally letting fans see the military man cut loose as he single-handedly stops a Genii assault.
Setting The Stage
The Stargate: Atlantis duology kicks off with “The Storm,” centering on a once every 20 years event when the ocean heats up and produces a superstorm, but this year, two storms have merged, forcing the team to abandon Atlantis and seek shelter for the night. The entire city emptied out, leaving behind a small team to keep it running, composed of Doctor Rodney McKay (David Hewlett), Stargate Commander Dr. Elizabeth Weir (Tori Higginson), two guards who might as well be wearing red shirts, and of course, John Sheppard (Joe Flanigan). While that is happening, Koyla (Robert Davi), the Genii commander, smuggles in a team of soldiers impersonating wounded Athosians, and quickly gets started with his plan to use Atlantis to defeat the Wraith.
When Sheppard returns to the city, he finds Koyla torturing McKay and Weir’s attempts to dissuade the Genii leader have fallen on deaf ears. Alone in the city, Sheppard turns into John McClane, right down to grabbing a radio to communicate with Koyla, after he takes out two Genii in an improvised ambush. From that moment on, the rest of the Stargate: Atlantis two-parter becomes the best sci-fi version of Die Hard yet.
The Most Dangerous Man In Atlantis
During “The Eye,” with the storm getting dangerously close outside, Sheppard systematically starts taking out the Genii, from a smoke grenade ambush that concludes with a shot of a life detector showing only one person alive in the room. Paying off years of storytelling in one moment, as the full Genii invasion force is coming through the Stargate, Sheppard manages to turn on the shield and take out 60 of them in one swift moment. The first few episodes of Stargate: Atlantis had shown John Sheppard as being a wisecracking joker, but from this moment, fans understood how devoted he was to his team, and how he was the most dangerous man in Atlantis.
The Stargate: Atlantis episode started with the Genii in control, but piece by piece, Sheppard has taken them down and but Kolya into a corner, with one last desperate move. Holding a pistol to Weir, Kolya is confident Sheppard won’t risk the life of the Stargate Commander. That’s when, with the best line of the episode, and maybe his entire time on the franchise, Sheppard simply says, “I’m not aiming at her,” and with one shot, lifts the siege of the city just in time for the storm to strike.
A Standout Stargate Atlantis Episode
Across three shows and multiple movies, Stargate has done amazing things with its modest budget. Still, when Stargate: Atlantis shows the storm striking the city right when the protective shield is finally able to be raised, it’s the best visual in the entire franchise. As everything slowly returns to normal, Sheppard, like every worn-down action hero, quips “These things happen once every 20 years? How far in advance can we book days off?”
The Eye” is still one of the best episodes of the series according to Stargate: Atlantis fans, thanks to being not only a different take on the sci-fi franchise, but for showing, not telling, why John Sheppard is in the position he’s in. Stargate SG-1 gave characters spotlight episodes, including Teal’c trying to live among humans, and Atlantis kept the tradition alive with later episodes spotlighting everyone from McKay to Ronon Dex (Jason Mamoa before Game of Thrones), and even Richard Woolsey got to be the hero a few times in Season 5. There’s something about watching a character flip the switch when the back is against the wall and winning the day not by being bigger and tougher, but smarter and craftier, that will always be appealing.
