Trivia / Stargate Atlantis

• The Cast Showoff: Yes, that really is Rachel Luttrell singing in the episode "Critical Mass". They actually had to fly her to Los Angeles to re-record her singing in that episode because her first take sounded too good, that is, too much like a classically trained singer (which Rachel Luttrell is, but Teyla Emmagan is not). She's also an accomplished dancer, which allowed the producers to give Teyla a much more theatrical fighting style than most other characters.
• The Danza: Chuck the Technician, played by Chuck Campbell. He got his name when Torri Higginson accidentally called him by his real name in a scene instead of his character's rank (Sergeant) and it was left in as Ascended Fanon.
• Defictionalization: In "The Brotherhood", Rodney mentions that there's an active Mensa chapter on Atlantis (there's also one in the alternate Rodney's reality in "McKay And Mrs. Miller"). The Columbus, Ohio Area Mensa received temporary permission from Mensa to sell buttons saying "Atlantis Chapter" with profits going to scholarship funds.
• Development Hell: Production for the direct-to-DVD film Extinction never really got off the ground and was effectively ended after the cancellation of Stargate Universe. There was apparently an attempt from Joe Flanigan himself to buy or lease the rights to Atlantis to continue making the show in Europe. It fell apart when the company that owned it was bought out by another company that decided to cancel sister show Stargate Universe and ended anything planned for Atlantis.
• Dyeing for Your Art: Ultimately subverted. Jason Momoa decided to cut off his dreadlocks for the fifth and final season as his character was going to have an Important Haircut in "Broken Ties". After the scene was shot, Syfy felt the dreads should stay put, so the scene was cut and Momoa wore a wig for the entirety of the season as a result.
• Fake American: Most of the main cast are Canadians playing Americans. In the original cast, only Joe Flanigan (American playing an American) and David Hewlett (Canadian playing a Canadian) were actually playing their correct nationalities. They are, by coincidence, also the only characters to appear in every episode of the series.
• Fake Brit: Fake Scotsman, specifically. While Paul McGillion himself is Canadian, he was born in Scotland to Scottish parents and lived there at various times during his childhood. His accent is affected however.
• Fake Nationality: Sort of. Many of the actors were born in the countries that their characters are from, but they emigrated to Canada at young ages. For example, David Nykl is Canadian, but Czech-born and a native speaker of Czech. He is fluent in Czech but normally speaks English with a Canadian accent. He fakes the Czech accent (with pretty much 100% accuracy) when playing Zelenka.
• The Other Darrin: Elizabeth Weir was played by Jessica Steen during her first appearance on Stargate SG-1. Torri Higginson took over the role in the SG-1 Season 8 two-part premiere. Higginson was then replaced by Michelle Morgan as a Replicator version after the Asurans destroyed her body.
• Prop Recycling
  • The show got most of the set from Blade: Trinity. The most prominent example is a curved bridge that shows up several times, such as in the hurricane episode.
  • The Genii pistols are nicknamed "Timecop Beretta", since the props were first used in the Timecop movie with Jean-Claude Van Damme.
• Real-Life Relative: David Hewlett's sister Kate Hewlett plays Rodney McKay's sister Jeannie Miller. In "Hot Zone", McKay was orginally supposed to mention he had a brother, but David Hewlett asked if he could change the line to sister, in the hopes that he could get his real-life sister to star alongside him.
• Reality Subtext:
  • When Col. Samantha Carter leaves SG-1 to become leader of the Atlantis Expedition, she says, "I know I am going to miss this place, and all of you," to old friend Teal'c. The tears in Amanda Tapping's eyes were likely not faked; she herself was saying goodbye to SG-1 after ten years.
  • Jason Momoa got a large tattoo on his left forearm between the filming of seasons two and three, forcing Ronon to likewise get a tattoo in the series. This was applied in "Reunion", where the application apparently hurt and forced Ronon to lightly slap the person doing the inking; Jason had not told the producers about the tattoo, and they were unhappy to learn about it after the fact.
  • Teyla became pregnant in the fourth season when Rachel Luttrell became pregnant in real life.
  • Amelia Banks, one of the recurring control room technicians, is a proficient student of Kickboxing. Her actress, Sharon Taylor, is a kickboxer in real life, and when the producers learned this about her they wrote it into the character.
• Recycled Script: Many episodes reused plots from SG-1. It is always lampshaded.
• Throw It In!: After Torri Higginson accidentally called the Gate Technician by his real name, "Chuck", the producers decided to keep it in and make it has official name, since he had not had one until that point.
• You Look Familiar
  • Craig Veroni, who played Dr. Peter Grodin, first appeared in Stargate SG-1 as an unnamed weapons officer aboard the Prometheus in the episode "Grace". It was never confirmed if the two were the same character, or if Craig had been re-cast as a different person.
  • The Lord Protector from "The Tower" originally appeared twice in SG-1 as Harlan, the amazingly annoying inhabitant of Altair who turned SG-1 into robots.
  "Komtraya!"
  • Jewel Staite was a Wraith before she was Dr. Keller. Not very noticeable however, since the Wraith part required full prosthetic make-up that made her virtually unrecognizable.
  • In a fairly ludicrous example, in the early episode "Poisoning the Well" Allison Hossack ended up playing the exact same role to one she did in the Stargate SG-1 episode "Cure" where Tretonin is discovered.
  • Christopher Heyerdahl played a character named Pallan on SG-1, and the Athosian Halling on Atlantis. His largest role is the Wraith Todd. At one point he even portrayed both Halling and Todd in the same episode (without any shared screentime however). He also played another, unrelated Wraith on Michael's hive for a few episodes in season 3.
  • Paul McGillion, who plays Dr. Carson Beckett, first appeared in the Stargate 'verse as Young Ernest Littlefield in the SG-1 episode "The Torment of Tantalus". Incidentally, he was the first human to travel through Earth's Stargate in modern times.
  • Garwin Sanford played the Tollan Narrim in the SG-1 episode "Enigma", and also plays Dr. Elizabeth Weir's fiancé Dr. Simon Wallis.
  • Captain Alicia Vega, introduced in season five, had previously appeared in "The Tao of Rodney" as a scientist that Rodney overhears (telepathically) saying that Ronon is "hot". After Vega died, her actress joked that she still has a twin sister serving on the city that could appear in future episodes.
  • Mike Dopud played a Runner named Kiryk in SGA, but he also played a Bounty Hunter in SG-1 and a Lucian Alliance member in SGU. Amusingly enough, the bounty hunter and Lucian Alliance member worked for the same organization. There has been fanfiction that speculates they were the same character.
  • Richard Kind (Lucius Lavin) played Dr. Gary Myers (the guy whose translation Daniel corrected) in Stargate.
  • Megan Leitch played both Ke'ra (a de-aged version of Linea, a biochemical terrorist/mad scientist) and Helia, the arrogant Lantean warship captain.
• What Could Have Been: Has its own page.