Stargate: Atlantis Info from http://www.scifi.com/atlantis/ and http://www.stargateatlantis.com/ SCI FI AND MGM UNEARTH 'ATLANTIS' --------------------------------- New Stargate Series Targeted for Summer '04 Premiere ---------------------------------------------------- SCI FI Channel and MGM Television Entertainment have reached an agreement to extend MGM's "Stargate" brand with a new series for the Channel. Production on 20 one-hour episodes of Stargate Atlantis, a weekly series based on the popular "Stargate" franchise, will begin in early 2004. Stargate Atlantis is slated to premiere in Summer '04, in tandem with the Season Eight launch of Stargate SG-1, exclusively on SCI FI. Stargate SG-1 centers on the Stargate, an ancient portal that allows instantaneous travel across the galaxy. Stargate Atlantis will take viewers on a brand-new adventure, with a whole new team. In the new series, a secret base left by the originators of the Stargate is discovered in the most unlikely of places - on Earth, buried among the ruins of the legendary city of Atlantis. The implications of this amazing discovery lead the Atlantis team to a distant galaxy where a primitive human civilization is threatened by a sinister new enemy. Stargate Atlantis will debut as a two-hour movie event on SCI FI and will feature crossover appearances by select members of the SG-1 team. Following its premiere, Stargate Atlantis will assume a regular hourly slot, scheduled as a companion series to Stargate SG-1 each week on SCI FI. Stargate Atlantis will be distributed by MGM Worldwide Television Distribution. Brad Wright and Robert Cooper will serve as executive producers on the new series. Cooper is currently executive producer on Stargate SG-1; Brad Wright is co-creator of Stargate SG-1, and served as the series' executive producer for six seasons. About the show: --------------- Stargate Atlantis Premiering July 16, 2004 on SCI FI Channel! A new galaxy of adventure is about to be discovered! Join Colonel Marshall Sumner, Major John Sheppard, Dr. Elizabeth Weir and an international team of explorers from Earth on humanity's greatest adventure yet. The ancient portal known as the Stargate has been taking SG-1 on adventures across the galaxy for years - now, the door has been unlocked to an entirely unexplored network of gates in another galaxy. Stargate Command has spent the past year searching for the Lost City of the Ancients, a fabled city created thousands of years ago by the same advanced race that built the Stargate network. When SG-1 finds a vital clue, Dr. Weir prepares her team to step through the gate to the distant Pegasus Galaxy. What they find is the legendary city of Atlantis - including new technologies, new allies, and a frightening new enemy! But without enough power to gate back home, the explorers may have been given a one-way ticket. Casting Complete on New SCI FI Channel Series --------------------------------------------- Casting has been completed on SCI FI Channel's highly-anticipated original series, Stargate Atlantis. Joe Flanigan leads the cast of heroes, who will undertake humanity's greatest - and most dangerous - mission yet. Atlantis will debut with a two-hour premiere in July '04, which will feature cross-over appearances by members of the Stargate SG-1 team. Following its premiere, 18 additional original episodes of Atlantis will air during the show's regular Friday night 10 p.m. ET/PT slot, as a companion series to the all-new eighth season of Stargate SG-1, giving sci-fi fans a double dose of Stargate adventures. Stargate Atlantis is the newest addition to the hit franchise that introduced audiences to instantaneous travel to thousands of worlds through an ancient portal called the Stargate. Atlantis will take viewers to a completely new galaxy of Stargates for the adventure of a lifetime. When a secret base, abandoned by the original builders of the Stargates, is found buried in the ice of Antarctica, the Stargate Atlantis team is born. Their discovery leads to a daring expedition to the distant Pegasus galaxy, where they encounter a primitive human civilization.and a sinister new enemy that threatens human life everywhere. The Stargate Atlantis mission is headed by Dr. Elizabeth Weir (Torri Higginson), a specialist in diplomatic relations. Her political savvy is balanced by the go-with-your-gut bravado of her military counterpart, Major John Sheppard (Flanigan), a courageous and gifted pilot. Rounding out the crew are Rainbow Sun Francks as Lieutenant Aiden Ford, the enthusiastic young officer who becomes Sheppard's second-in-command, and David Hewlett, reprising his recurring Stargate SG-1 role of Dr. Rodney McKay, a clever and quick-witted astrophysicist. Rachel Luttrell plays Teyla, a beautiful young leader among the primitive alien civilization that the Atlantis team encounters. In a special guest starring role, sci-fi favorite Robert Patrick (Terminator 2, The X-Files) will appear as Colonel Marshall Sumner in the 2-hour Stargate Atlantis premiere event. - o -