Phantoms (Stargate Atlantis)

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“Phantoms”
Stargate Atlantis episode

Episode no.	Season 3 Episode 9
Guest stars	David Nykl as Dr. Zelenka Dexter Bell as Sgt. Barroso Colby Johannson as Lt. Kagan Gidon Karmel as Major Leonard Dan Payne as Super Soldier Dan Dam as Wraith Patrick Sarongui as Taliban Guard Anna Williams as Female Tech Nels Lennarson as Captain Holland
Written by	Carl Binder
Directed by	Martin Wood
Production no.	309
Original airdate	September 15, 2006
Episode chronology
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"McKay and Mrs. Miller"	"The Return Part 1"
Episode chronology

"Phantoms" is an episode from Season 3 of the science fiction television series Stargate Atlantis.

1 Plot
2 Notes
3 Quotes
4 External links

[edit] Plot

Spoiler warning: Plot and/or ending details follow.

During an off-world mission, a team is overdue for contact, and Sheppard takes his team , Beckett, and three other marines to find them. Upon arriving, they find four Genii corpses that are seriously decayed—and who appear to have killed each other. Finding a cave with strange energy readings, they discover a Wraith bunker, including a damaged generator. Nearby are the bodies of the missing team, minus their CO, Major Leonard. A video recording indicates that Leonard killed his men, but one of them mentions requesting evac by the Prometheus. Deciding they need more help, the Team tries to get back to Atlantis, but someone has sabotaged the DHD to explode, which kills one of the marines. On top of that, they draw fire from Leonard, injuring the two other marines, Kagan and Barroso. Sheppard decides to head back to the cave.

While there, McKay deduces that the device is a Wraith generator designed to cause hallucinations in humans, increasing the Wraith's own hallucination producing ability. The Genii soldiers apparently found and activated it. Unaware of how to turn it off, they tried to destroy it, but only succeeded in damaging the device, and it will take McKay some time to turn it off. Ronon soon followes the hallucinating Leonard, with Sheppard and Teyla in pursuit, but Teyla is shot in the leg. Sheppard manages to get the wounded Teyla to Leonard's camp, and tries to dress her wounds. Leonard soon approaches but runs out of ammo. Sheppard tries to calm him down, but Leonard, thinking Sheppard is a Kull warrior, kills himself with a grenade.

Soon, the others are affected, and they start behaving unusually strange. Later even the team is experiencing weird things: Sheppard hallucinates that he is back in Afghanistan; Ronon believes there are Wraith nearby; Beckett believes that Barroso is still alive and that Kagan is dead, and Rodney believes the generator is on the verge of exploding. Teyla alone is unaffected due to the Wraith DNA in her genetic makeup. Believing Teyla is Captain Holland, a soldier who was wounded in Afghanistan, Sheppard takes her back to the cave, with Ronon, who believes that Sheppard is a Wraith trying to feed off Teyla, in pursuit.

At the cave, Beckett, at the urging of a hallucination of a dead Barroso, takes Kagan to find help, while McKay realizes that he is affected by the machine, but is then shot by Sheppard. A wounded Mckay tells Teyla how to deactivate the machine, and Teyla tells Sheppard what to do, saying it will allow them to be rescued. Sheppard deactivates the machine, and everyone immediately reverts to normal. Beckett is nearby, and Kagan is also alive. Later, with the Daedalus enroute, Teyla asks if Sheppard saved Holland, but he failed. Teyla comments that at least they are alive. And while resting near the cave, McKay complains about how Sheppard shot him. So John tells him to get some rest.

[edit] Notes

This is the first episode to detail Sheppard's "black mark" in Afghanistan.
It is not explained why, after the Wraith device was deactivated and Weir contacted the stranded team, she did not send a Puddle Jumper through the Gate to retrieve the team instead of waiting for the Daedalus. Though the Gate's DHD was damaged, Jumpers possess their own and could have activated the Gate.
First appearance of Kull Warriors on Stargate Atlantis, though they are only hallucinations - and are only referred to as "super soldiers"

[edit] Quotes

Sheppard: Is there any other way to dial?(Rodney snorts and opens his mouth but John interrupts.)

Sheppard: And don’t say no if there is any possibility, because I am not in the mood for your usual impossible heroics game.

McKay: I wouldn’t do that. (John looks at him.) Look, no. Even if we could somehow manually dial, there’s no power. Your pal, Major Looney Tunes, knew exactly where to set the charge

Teyla:: Is that what made all these people kill each other?
McKay: I hope so.
Sheppard: You HOPE so?
McKay: Otherwise there are two bizarre things going on, and one is more than enough thank you very much.
McKay: You shot me!
Sheppard: Yes Rodney I shot you, and I said I was sorry.
Ronon: You shot me too.
Sheppard: I'm sorry for shooting everyone!