STARGATE ATLANTIS SEASON ONE THE SIEGE PART ONE EPISODE 119

With a group of Wraith hive ships on the way to Atlantis, the team searches for a place to flee and a way to destroy the city. McKay leads a team to try and activate the Ancients' orbital weapons platform.

CHARACTER DEVELOPMENT
Teyla Emmagan - Teyla made the major discovery that she has some Wraith DNA -- she shares some biology in common with her feared and hated enemy! She has sensed that the Wraith are nearby for some time now, and the constant feeling has been giving her horrible nightmares.

EMMAGAN, TEYLA
Daughter of Tagan, and leader of the Athosians from the planet Athos. Teyla is cautious, and must get to know someone before trusting them. She found a special connection with Major John Sheppard upon meeting the humans of Earth for the very first time.
Teyla and her people use the Stargate to visit many worlds in the Pegasus Galaxy, and she had never before encountered a culture that had not heard of the Wraith -- a terrifying enemy that has oppressed her people for generations, harvesting them to feed upon their life-force. Teyla is a strong and capable warrior, and a confident leader -- though she was reluctant to say goodbye to her people to remain in Atlantis with Sheppard's reconnaissance team.
While returning with Sheppard from a hidden sanctuary where her ancestors once hid from the Wraith, Teyla herself was kidnapped in a culling beam and taken to the Wraith hive ship on the Wraith homeworld. She was later rescued by Sheppard and Lieutenant Aiden Ford.
Teyla returned to Atlantis and met even more humans from the Tau'ri, eventually establishing a colony there for her people. She dedicated her services to helping seek out new allies for the humans now based in the Pegasus Galaxy, and her experience with other cultures makes her an ideal guide for the humans from Earth. Teyla also possesses an extra-sensory awareness of the Wraith when they are near.

PLAYED BY - Rachel Luttrell
FIRST APPEARED - Rising, Part 1
KEY EPISODE(S) -
Rising, Part 1 - Teyla is introduced to the humans of Earth when they visit her home world of Athos. When the Wraith attack, she is taken in the culling.
Rising, Part 2 - Having been rescued from the Wraith, Teyla joins the new team in Atlantis and vows to help them find allies in the Pegasus Galaxy.
Suspicion - After the recon team continues to meet the Wraith again and again on missions, Weir suspects a traitor in their midst -- and Teyla is the chief suspect. When the Athosians move to the nearby continent, Teyla makes the hard decision to leave them. Critical Mass - The woman Teyla considers to be her last living relative, Charin, dies, and she honors her memory by performing the Ring Ceremony over her body.

BECKETT, CARSON
Biologist and chief medical doctor at Earth's Atlantis base in the Pegasus Galaxy. Beckett was originally assigned as a representative from Scotland to the Ancient outpost in the Antarctic, where it was discovered that he possessed a rare gene from the Ancients that allows him to use their technology. In fact, it was Beckett who discovered the gene necessary to operate many Ancient devices.

Despite the fact that Beckett himself is not especially technologically inclined, Dr. Rodney McKay forced him into the outpost's command chair in the hopes of learning something more about the technology. Beckett accidentally activated a dormant drone weapon, but was able to shut it back down before it harmed General O'Neill and Major Sheppard as they traveled toward the base in a helicopter.

A member of the expedition under the command of Elizabeth Weir, Beckett traveled through the Stargate to Atlantis. One of his first duties was to dissect a severed Wraith arm that Sheppard brought back from Athos after the creature's Dart was shot down. His study led to the first insights into Wraith physiology. Beckett later learned even more about Wraith biology when he helped the Hoffans to develop a drug that prevents the creatures from feeding on the life-force of a human victim.

CHARACTER DEVELOPMENT
 John Sheppard - Major Sheppard dropped his guard and allowed himself to fall for Chaya. He continually supported her even as the evidence mounted that she isn't who she said she is, and he still wished to be with her even after learning that she is an ascended Ancient.

SHEPPARD, JOHN
Major in the United States military and a highly skilled pilot with a checkered past, John Sheppard commands the flagship reconnaissance team from Earth's Atlantis base. He travelled to the Pegasus Galaxy with the Atlantis expedition under the command of Dr. Elizabeth Weir, and became the base's ranking military officer following the death of Colonel Marshall Sumner at the hands of the Wraith. He leads the base's flagship reconnaissance team in exploring other worlds through the Stargate.

Sheppard was based at McMurdo Air Force Base -- possibly due to the black mark on his record -- and preferred the quiet of the Antarctic. He was assigned to fly General Jack O'Neill to the remains of the Ancient outpost to oversee the research team's latest developments. There he discovered that he possesses the rare gene that allows him to use Ancient technology -- and unlike most others who possess the gene, he is a natural at it. Weir emplored O'Neill to allow Sheppard to be a part of her team despite his record, tarnished for disobeying orders to save two teammates in Afghanistan.

Once in the Pegasus Galaxy Sheppard was sent on a mission to planet Athos in the hopes of recovering additional Z.P.M.s to power the sunken city of Atlantis. He met the Athosian leader Teyla Emmagan and her people, and the two immediately hit it off. He learned of the threat of the Wraith, who had once defeated the Ancients, and witnessed a culling of the Athosians -- including Teyla -- and Sumner, his commanding officer. Sheppard returned to Atlantis with the surviving Athosians, and embarked on a daring rescue mission to recover them. He was successful -- but in the process, Sheppard was responsible for reawakening the entire Wraith civilization when he killed the Wraith Keeper.

Sheppard enjoys ferris wheels, college football, and "anything that goes faster than 200 miles per hour." He is kind and generous, and not afraid to voice his opinions, particularly when the end result is in the best interests of a needy teammate.