Stargate: Atlantis Memories and Deleted Scenes (Reunion – Acts 4 and 5) via /r/Stargate

ACT FOUR

Ronon comes sliding through the gate firing:

And Jason ends up scraping the crap out of his arm on one take.

McKay is escorted out of the wraith cell:

In the original version, as McKay is being escorted out, Teyla tries to hearten him with: “Stay strong, Rodney.” to which an obviously unnerved McKay replies: “I’ll try.” In the original draft, Sheppard calls after him: “Try harder!” But we ended up losing the line because Sheppard is unconscious at this point. Originally, I felt that the fact the wraith had their stunners trained on Sheppard would be enough to keep him in line but Joe felt Sheppard would resist regardless – so we had him zapped instead.

Ronon fills Carter and co. in:

One of Ronon’s many trips to the infirmary this season. The two jumpers – a little hint as to what Carter has planned.

McKay is escorted down the corridor:

Could the wraith figure out a way to deactivate the replicator threat? It’s probable. Eventually. But with the replicators zeroing in on them, they’d prefer to find a solution sooner than later, and the fastest way of doing so is to get McKay to undo the changes he’s made to their base programming.

Missing McKay-Replicator scene:

In the end, I felt that having the replicator converse with McKay actually made him less threatening. Besides, we needed to lose the time. To those of you dying to find out what you missed…

INT. TESTING CHAMBER – WRAITH RESEARCH FACILITY — DAY

The captive replicator hangs suspended, eyes shut and unmoving, in front of McKay’s work station. McKay has hooked up his tablet to the wraith gak. He consults the scrolling data onscreen and throws an anxious look back at the doorway where –

Just outside, a burly wraith stands guard.

McKay swings back around and starts –

When the replicator’s eyes flash open. It whispers –

REPLICATOR: “Release me.”

McKay throws another fearful glance back at the guard just outside. He whispers back.

MCKAY: “I don’t think that would be such a good idea – for me in particular.”

REPLICATOR: “It’s not you who need fear me.”

MCKAY: “Still, I’m one of those equal opportunity fearers.”

REPLICATOR: “Once you have made the changes they require, they will kill you.”

MCKAY: “I’m hoping it won’t come to that.”

REPLICATOR: “Do not delude yourself. I am your only hope.”

McKay doesn’t like the sound of that, but ignores the replicator and presses on with his work.

Carter leads the rescue op:

Not such a stretch given her experience with SG-1, what’s at stake, and the fact that the chain of command kicks in on Atlantis (as it did whenever Weir went off-world).

The wraith pays McKay a visit:

McKay is stalling. And that wig! Gaaah!

Carter leads the rescue op into the facility:

Speaking of growing, check out our little Radek all grown up and casting anxiety aside to help some friends in need. By the way, what he is clutching is not a wraith detector but a device (not unlike similar devices used on SG-1) designed to detect and offer an analysis of energy readings.

Carter and co. spring Sheppard and Teyla:

Hurray!

Ronon’s buddies get the drop on him:

Boo!

Shep and co. unwittingly spring the replicator:

Uh oh!

ACT FIVE

The replicator makes his escape:

And he’s got only one thing on his mind: Kill the wraith! Still, love the shot of Carter standing alongside the team, opening fire on the enemy.

Ronon vs. the Satedans:

Mark Dacascos is a friend of Ben Browder’s and the previous year, while we were casting for Counterstrike to be exact, Ben dropped by the production offices and let us know that Mark expressed an interest in appearing on the show. Well, I was familiar with his work and loved him in Brotherhood of the Wolf, but we all felt that we needed to find a role that would allow him to show off his fighting skills. And, one year later, Reunion was it. Our stunt coordinator, James "Bam Bam" Bamford, had worked with Mark on the Crow series and so the two of them got together and choreographed a kick-ass fight sequence.

After much consideration, I decided to let Tyre escape at the end of this scene. He makes a spectacular return later in the series.

Ronon is reunited with his buddies:

Carter: “Ronon, where are your friends?”

Ronon (indicates Sheppard and co.): “They’re right here. Let’s go.”

Enough said.

Sheppard pays Carter a visit:

Another scene cut for time. It was intended to develop the friendship/working relationship between these two characters and close out the episode, but we were long and I thought it would be preferable to end with the Ronon-Teyla scene since it was Ronon’s episode.

EXT. BALCONY – ATLANTIS — NIGHT

Sheppard steps outside and finds Carter standing alone, looking out at the city below.

SHEPPARD: “What are you doing out here? Ronon’s welcome back party is about to start.”

CARTER: “His welcome back party? He never actually left.”

SHEPPARD: “Hey, do you want to party or not?”

Carter smiles. He joins her. Carter casts her gaze out over the city.

CARTER: “It was a hell of a day. We risked our lives, kicked some alien ass – “

SHEPPARD: “And made it back in time for dinner.”

CARTER: “It’s like I never left Stargate Command.”

And as we PULL BACK on them on the balcony we (VFX) –

Ronon and Teyla close out the episode:

It just made sense for me that Teyla (who, like Ronon, gave up everything she knew to trust her these newcomers to the Pegasus galaxy and start a new life on Atlantis) should be the one to close out this episode with him.