Overview: An international team of scientists and military personnel discover a Stargate network in the Pegasus Galaxy and come face-to-face with a new, powerful enemy, The Wraith.

DVD Verdict: Season 3 was a definite improvement over season 2. There are a number of different reasons for this; *WARNING*: Some Spoilers ahead!

First off, more interesting stories with both gains and losses! They fleshed out a few of the characters a bit more like Ronan and Rodney, but again left Teyla out in the cold! I thought her character was pretty good in the first season, but around the middle of season 2 through the end of 3, I completely lost interest in her. She basically just stands around as a little eye candy; when she is even in a scene! Lately she has come across as somewhat condesending with a "holier-than-thou" attitude. If they killed her off, I wouldn't miss her! (I read somewhere that she is pregnant, so the writers are putting that in some of the 4th season episodes, meaning less screen time! The rumor also hinted that she will rejoin "what is left of her people", and leave SGA!)

This also brings up characters that ARE lost, and others we will gain. The first character we lost was Dr. Carlson Beckett in the episode "Sunday"! A very sad episode! I really liked his character. He was a really nice, cool and calm guy, providing a moral center like Daniel Jackson did for SG-1, which was a perfect "yin" to Rodney McKay's hypertensive, egocentric and often rude "yang". Replacing him will be Jewel Staite as Dr. Jennifer Keller (best known from Firefly). She looks more grown-up, adult-like on SG Atlantis than her more kid-like character did from Firefly. (Which is good if she is to be taken seriously) And as always, she is definately still a hottie!

Another character will be Dr. Elizabeth Weir. Her role has been slowly spiraling downwards in season 3, so much like Teyla, I won't really miss her! Although her fate was undecided at the end of this season, she is going to die in season 4 and will be replaced with an SG-1 veteran, Col. Samantha Carter! She will become the new Atlantis commander and should replace Carson as a spring board for Rodney. With their past chemistry it will be like mixing acids and bases, getting quite a volatile reaction at first, but neutralizing in the end. Sheppard and her should also butt heads a lot as she will out-rank him militarily.

Lastly, Rodney McKay is HILARIOUS! His character's annoying, smug attitude is what makes him so funny! Especially with the different reactions the other characters give Rodney when interacting with him! (Ex.'s: Sheppard and Ronon threaten him when he gets annoying; Carson (use to) patronize him even though Rodney didn't realize it, etc.) One thing I didn't like about this season was how the Wraith were practically non-existent! Instead they replaced them with the Replicators! These done-to-death bad guys are really starting to get old since they've been used so much in SG-1. I think the only good point of having them on Atlantis was learning more about their origins. They need to bring the Wraith back since they are the pre-dominant bad guys for Atlantis and need to delve deeper into their culture, weaknesses, etc.

Whatever your opinion on the 3rd season of Atlantis, most people will agree it has gotten better since season 2. And with all the quick changes at the end of the 3rd like 2 major characters dying/replaced and Atlantis itself heading off to a new planet to put down new roots, it gives potential for an awesome season 4! Lets just hope they don't screw it up! This is a Widescreen Presentation (1.78:1) enhanced for 16x9 TVs and comes with the Special Features of::

Audio Commentary on Selected Episodes
Mission Directive Featurettes
Photo Galleries and More!