Recap / Stargate Atlantis S03 E20 "First Strike"

Zelenka: They're ready.

McKay: This is a bad idea, isn't it.

Zelenka: We're here alone. We could make them not ready.

McKay: They're building an Armada, Radek. I saw them - they showed me the pictures. I'd feel pretty stupid if we break this thing only to have the replicators show up and destroy the city.

— McKay and Zelenka consider the ethics of building nukes for an unprovoked first strike.

Earth's newest warship, the USAF Apollo, arrives at Atlantis with a critical mission. They've been doing fly-bys of the Asuran homeworld, and it seems the Replicators have been building a number of warships. Earth, specifically the IOA, is concerned that these ships are meant for an attack on Earth- and since their brief takeover of Atlantis, the Replicators most likely know how to get there.

Weir raises some rather strenuous objections, on a couple grounds. First, she thinks it's not yet beyond possible to reach some kind of accommodation with the Replicators. Second, and more importantly, launching an attack will almost certainly invite retaliation, which will fall on Atlantis.

Her objections are overruled (rather rudely) by the commander of the Apollo, Colonel Ellis. He has his orders, and Apollo drops a massive naquadah-enhanced multi-warhead nuclear bomb on the Asuran shipyards, completely obliterating them as well as what looks like sizeable chunks of the continent they're on. Apollo returns home unscratched. Mission accomplished!

...Except we're not at the halfway point of the episode yet.

Not long afterwards, something exits hyperspace above Atlantis. It's a very simple satellite- basically just a Stargate, some positioning thrusters, and a shield generator. It promptly enters orbit above Atlantis and activates, letting an extremely powerful energy blast through to fire on the city. The shields hold, but the Atlantis crew get several pieces of bad news in fairly quick succession.

1. Yes, it's an Asuran counterattack. Who could have seen that coming?

2. The shield on the thing is too tough for Apollo to crack.

3. The beam is continuous, and will drain Atlantis' shield to nothing in barely days.

4. Since there's an active gate in orbit, they can't dial out. No evacuating, and no contacting Earth for help (or liberal cussing).

5. The shield and gate are drawing power from the beam. And the beam is generated by the Asurans, who have as many ZPMs as they like. So the gate won't be shutting down at the usual 38 minute mark.

The expedition tries a couple plans in increasing desperation before hitting on an extremely risky one: fire up Atlantis' engines and take the city somewhere else. Problem is, this will require them to drop the shield for a minute. So they send up a flight of F-302s to maneuver a large asteroid in position blocking the beam. It will cut through, but the asteroid only has to last long enough for Atlantis to get in the air and reactivate the shield.

And it works! Atlantis lifts off, and the shield reextends over the city before she jumps into hyperspace... but seconds after the beam breaks off a chunk of the asteroid and smashes through the control tower, killing or injuring a number of personnel including Dr. Weir.

To be continued.

First appearance of Colonel Ellis and the Apollo.

Tropes:

• Call-Back: Rodney compares the Asuran attack to similar attacks the SGC's suffered with their own Stargate. This is of course a callback to Anubis' attack during "Redemption" and "Redemption, Part 2" (events which Rodney was present for and is clearly thinking of).
• Conflict Ball: Weir's authority up for debate yet again for really no reason.
• Cool Starship: Atlantis finally gets a chance to fly.
• Continuity Overlap: "First Strike" takes place immediately following the end of SG-1 and the events of The Ark of Truth (although this aired before the Direct-to-Video film's release).
• Explosive Instrumentation
• Ironic Echo: Ellis' "Go 12 rounds" speech, echoed later by Weir. And it's still a dumb thing to say.
• Jurisdiction Friction: Between Weir and Colonel Ellis. Both run into instances where they try to order each other around, only to be shutdown; Weir over the bombing of the Asuran replicators, Ellis over trying to contact them later on.
• Kill Sat:
  • Discussed when Rodney asks why Ellis intends to strike the Asurans rather than wait for the PWARW (Planet-Wide Anti-Replicator Weapon) satellite to be finished. Earth has had trouble copying the design Thor worked up, and the IOA wants the Asuran shipyards gone right now.
  • The Asurans respond to the provocation by creating one of their own, which is basically a stripped-down ship with a gate mounted in the center so they can use it to fire a deadly beam weapon from their homeworld.
• Like an Old Married Couple: McKay and Zelenka
  Sheppard: Why don't you guys just make out and get it over with?
• Meaningful Echo: Sheppard objects to being placed in command of Atlantis on the grounds that it would make him "the man." This is the same objection that O'Neill raises to being placed in command of the SGC, although he ends up taking the job.
• Nuclear Option: The Horizon MIRV carries six naquadah-enhanced nukes and four decoys meant to devastate the Asurans's shipyards.
• Replacement Flat Character: Colonel Ellis is pretty much Colonel Caldwell circa Season Two (and especially pre-"Critical Mass"). Unlike Caldwell, Ellis doesn't have the whole 'possessed by a Goa'uld' excuse. He's just an asshole.
• Season Finale
• Stating the Simple Solution: Lorne actually brings up a good point as they're maneuvering the asteroid into position: why don't they just lob it at the Asuran Kill Sat instead? Rodney shoots that idea down, correctly pointing out that it'll only knock the satellite out of its current position and the Asurans can easily and quickly maneuver it back into place. Blocking the beam path is the more pragmatic option.
• There Is No Kill Like Overkill: The Asuran Replicators are building an armada of Aurora-class warships to take out Earth. In response, Earth responds by using the most powerful naquadah-enhanced nuclear weapons they have to launch a preemptive strike. Ironically, this turns out to be severe underkill. The weapon that's launched against the Replicators isn't enough to knock out their ship-building capabilities for long, or to prevent them launching a devastating counter-strike against Atlantis.
• Too Dumb to Live: It apparently doesn't occur to anyone in the IOA or US military that a species of nanites named for their incredible ability to replicate will have little trouble rebuilding after a nuclear attack. It also doesn't occur to them that a race that casually manufactures the most powerful energy source anyone is currently aware of will have little trouble launching a counterattack. Ellis tries to justify the plan by rationalizing that the ships are built conventionally, so the Replicators won't be able to rebuild them quickly, plus the IOA is demanding something be done (not the most forward-thinking individuals on that panel), but that doesn't change the fact that it was a dumb plan through and through.
• What Measure Is a Non-Human?: Although it's quite clear that the Replicators have individual personalities, no one objects very much to an attack that likely kills millions of them. Granted, new copies can be booted up, but they didn't know that at the time.