A visit to a planet with steam-age technology provides Sheppard and his team with an unlikely weapon against the Wraith – a protein that helps humans resist the enzyme injected by the Wraith that allows feeding to begin. McKay is skeptical of the effectiveness of any anti-Wraith advance that could come from such a relatively primitive society. But when Dr. Beckett joins forces with Perna, the chief scientist working on the serum, he’s able to advance her research by decades in a matter of hours with his technology. But when talk of human trials begins, without any extensive testing of the drug’s side effects, Beckett and Sheppard are uneasy. Dr. Weir only reluctantly agrees to the plan of exposing the serum to Atlantis’ only Wraith prisoner via a terminally ill patient. That test seems to be a success, until it becomes apparent that the drug won’t just resist the Wraith, it will kill them – and it won’t do its human hosts any favors either. If Beckett can’t find a cure, an entire society may become extinct without a single Wraith attack.
story by Mary Kaiser
teleplay by Damian Kindler
directed by Brad Turner
music by Joel GoldsmithGuest Cast: Alan Scarfe (Chancellor Druhin), Allison Hossack (Perna), Paul McGillion (Dr. Beckett), James Lafazanos (Wraith), Neil Maffin (Merell), Darren Hird (Dying Patient), Dean Marshall (Sgt. Bates), Edmond Kato Wong (Technician)
LogBook entry by Earl Green