Podcast: Download

SSG270: Strand Teyla and Dr. Keller in the woods with a tribe of cannibals, and you find out fast who packed for the wrong trip. “Missing,” the seventh episode of Stargate Atlantis Season 4, drops the two women on New Athos for what should be a routine medical visit — and leaves them cut off from the Stargate, hunted by the feared Bola Kai, with a sprained ankle and no weapons between them.

Jeff Haecker, Victor Lams, and Lisa Jones break down one of the show’s best survival hours: a real two-hander that puts Teyla in her element and Dr. Keller badly out of hers. Keller packs three bags and lollipops for an overnight trip, won’t touch the “gopher squid,” and freezes when it counts — right up until the moment she finally doesn’t. Teyla, meanwhile, takes on Bola Kai warriors three and twelve at a time, armed with a knife and a stick she won’t trade even for a perfectly good sword.

The panel digs into what makes the episode tick and what was happening off camera. Rachel Luttrell was pregnant during filming and hadn’t told the production, so the fight scenes were quietly reworked around her stunt double and choreographer James “Bam Bam” Bamford. The crew built a real rope bridge across a gorge in a provincial park and had to post 24-hour security to keep hikers off it, blowing the budget on what was supposed to be a cheap “two people in the woods” shoot. Danny Trejo turns up as Omal, the Bola Kai leader, in a blink-and-you’ll-miss-it cameo. And the Sheppard–McKay tangent about Batman ’66 villains? Transcribed nearly word-for-word from a real lunch conversation between writer Carl Binder and Joe Mallozzi.

Then there’s Nabel — a supposed Genii spy who might be a Wraith worshiper, and who turns out to be neither friend nor finished. His lie about the fate of the Athosians leaves the season’s central mystery wide open, and Keller’s closing line to Teyla — “in your medical exam, I found something” — sets a very different change in motion.

The group also covers the episode’s foreign titles, Jewel Staite’s Gemini Award nomination for her performance here, and the latest on the ongoing Save Stargate campaign.

Get all new episodes automatically and for free:

Follow by Email | Listen to this episode and subscribe on YouTube.

Help us continue to offer the Secrets of Stargate. Won’t you make a pledge at SQPN.com/give today?

Links for this episode:

• Leave us a review on Apple Podcasts!
• You can watch all of the Stargate series on Amazon Prime.
• Get the official Secrets of Stargate t-shirt at sqpn.com/merch.
• Join the conversation at the SQPN Facebook page.
• Be part of the StarQuest Discord community at SQPN.com/discord
• Send your feedback or comments to [email protected]

Want to Sponsor A Show?
Support StarQuest’s mission to explore the intersection of faith and pop culture by becoming a named sponsor of the show of your choice on the StarQuest network. Click to get started or find out more.