Search and Rescue (Stargate Atlantis)

"Search and Rescue" is the fifth season premiere of science fiction television show Stargate Atlantis, and is the 81st episode of the series. The episode premiered on July 11, 2008 in the United States on SCI FI channel, and was then shown on Canada's The Movie Network. The episode premiered over a month later in the United Kingdom on August 19 on Sky One.^[1] iTunes USA also made the episode available for download several days later. However, by the next episode, "Seed", shows will be added at the same time as they are scheduled to air.^[2] This is the 26th episode of Stargate Atlantis to be written by Martin Gero. The episode introduces several changes in the personnel and command of Atlantis, seeing Richard Woolsey (Robert Picardo) take over command of the base.

The episode continues on from Season Four's finale — "The Last Man" — on a series of story arcs based around Wraith character "Michael" (played by Connor Trinneer). In the previous episode, Lieutenant Colonel John Sheppard (Joe Flanigan) is transported forward 48,000 years into the future in an accident involving the Stargate and a solar flare, ultimately leading him to find out the fate of his teammates and the fate of Teyla Emmagan (Rachel Luttrell) in particular — who in his time line still remains captive by Michael. Sheppard manages to return to Atlantis in his proper time line (the year 2008), where he along with McKay (David Hewlett), Ronon Dex (Jason Momoa) and Major Lorne's team gate to the world where he determines Teyla will be taken. However, they arrive prematurely and during a sweep of the computers, McKay triggers a booby trap that causes the entire complex to collapse on top of the team.^[3]