First Strike (Stargate Atlantis)

Soon after Apollo returns to Atlantis, the Asurans retaliate by launching a Stargate satellite that fires an energy beam, disabling the Apollo before zeroing in on Atlantis. The beam will deplete the city's shield in just under 30 hours, and with the satellite and its active Stargate over the city, the Expedition cannot evacuate using their own Stargate. McKay (David Hewlett) and Zelenka (David Nykl) submerge the city to mitigate the effect of the beam, but this only buys them nine more hours before the city is destroyed.

Realizing that the only way to save Atlantis is to move the city out of the satellite's range, McKay and

"First Strike" first surfaced in September 2006.

The episode was filmed during the end of September/ beginning of October, 2006.[1] One of the first scenes, where Keller talks to Weir was done on one long take. In the middle of the scene, the two entered an Atlantis transporter to another floor. The scene was filmed on the same floor, and during the time on the transporter, around 40 people quickly redecorated the hallway.^[5] The first scene Michael Beach appeared in was the conference at the beginning of the episode. Despite his lack of knowledge to the series, Beach still acted the scene in one take, where the writers were convinced at his acting style.^[6] Beach also asked several questions about the direction and characteristics of his character. Martin Wood noted that he asked "all the right questions."^[4] The scene showing McKay and Zelenka below the horizon was filmed from above by Brad Wright's request, though Gero and Wood wanted the scene shot horizontally.^[7] The one scene featuring Stiers as Oberoth was the conversation between him and Weir, which was filmed on the same large room, only Stiers and Torri Higginson had their back to each other around five to ten feet apart.^[4]

Three camera angles were used during Lorne's scene in the F-302. To save costs, one of the camera angles was operated by Kavan Smith himself, who held it on his lap.^[5] Elsewhere, the producers wanted to make the control chair rotate as Sheppard flies the city to make it different than any other actions involving the control chair.^[4] A stunt towards the end of the episode was used where Weir gets thrown after the beam grazes the tower. The stunt was not originally approved by the producers. A stuntwoman doubled Higginson as Weir during the sequence. The scene was rehearsed several times before filming the actual sequence. During the actual sequence, the stuntwoman wore a plastic mask to prevent the flying glass from injuring her face.^[4]

Visual effects

The episode's visual effects were produced by Rainmaker Digital Effects.^[2] Gero wrote the scene involving the minute long sequence where the Horizon weapon fires from the Apollo to the Asuran homeworld. He made contact with Mark Savela to see if it could be done; Savela was up to the challenge.^[8] The sequence was costly, since the visual effects team had to make a 3D world that would last a minute long to ensure that the sequence followed Gero's script.^[4] The sequences where Atlantis takes off from the bottom of the ocean were stock footage from "Rising", with the shield and beam added on. Another reason to keep the scenes was because the writers liked the scene to be reused.^[7] Another visual effect was used to switch Keller's flag patch from Canadian to American, since the decision to have Keller an American character was made after filming.^[2]

Reception

"First Strike" earned a household rating of 1.5, representing just below 2 million viewers; 1.1 million from the 25-54 demographic, and 986,000 from the 18-49 demographic. It was the strongest rating for the series since the 1.6 rating from "