Military science fiction is a subgenre of science fiction and military fiction that depicts the use of science fiction technology, including spaceships and weapons , for military purposes and usually principal characters who are members of a military organization, usually during a war; occurring sometimes in outer space or on a different planet or planets. It exists in a range of media, including literature, comics, film, television and video games.
83-651: The characters from the Canadian-American military science fiction television series Stargate Atlantis were created by Brad Wright and Robert C. Cooper . The series follows the adventures of a human expedition to the lost city of Atlantis in the Pegasus Galaxy . The Stargate has brought humanity into contact with other cultures, including new and powerful enemies: the Wraith , the Genii , and later
166-578: A Strategic Defense Initiative in which satellites would be set up to shoot at nuclear missiles. The two authors were Larry Niven , the author of the Ringworld series, and Jerry Pournelle . Along with like-minded colleagues, they formed a committee to lobby the United States on space issues and influence Reagan's space policies. Pournelle advocated a "robust, technocratic military state". In addition to Pournelle's science fiction writing, he wrote
249-604: A pre-medical student, but opted to act instead. He graduated with a bachelor's degree in drama from Yale University. Picardo is an accomplished singer. While he was at Yale University, he was a member of the Society of Orpheus and Bacchus , the second longest running undergraduate a cappella group in the United States. Also while at Yale, he had a major role in the 1973 European premiere production of Leonard Bernstein 's "Mass" in Vienna, conducted by John Mauceri . The production
332-556: A "paper for the Air Force on stability's role in national security". President Reagan read the space advice that Niven, Pournelle, and their colleagues prepared, which influenced Reagan's 1983 Strategic Defense Initiative . "Niven and Pournelle saw an opportunity to shape the great void in their political image, and Reagan viewed space as yet another tool to defend America against the communist superpower...". Science fiction authors such as Arthur C. Clarke and Isaac Asimov criticized
415-818: A 1977 episode and Taxi in a 1979 episode. He made his feature film debut as Eddie Quist, the serial killer werewolf in the Joe Dante film The Howling (1981). He also had a recurring role in the sitcom Alice and played a doctor on an episode of The Golden Girls . He played a number of roles in Dante's family science fiction film Explorers (1985), and later appeared in Dante's Innerspace (1987), The 'Burbs (1989), Gremlins 2: The New Batch (1990), Matinee (1993), Small Soldiers (1998) and Looney Tunes: Back in Action (2003). Picardo often plays roles under layers of prosthetic latex, having also played
498-609: A captain, and are armed with semi-automatic rifles . Eventually, as science fiction became an established and separate genre, military science fiction established itself as a subgenre. One such work is H. Beam Piper 's Uller Uprising (1952) (based on the events of the Sepoy Mutiny ). Robert A. Heinlein's Starship Troopers (1959) is another work of military science fiction, along with Gordon Dickson 's Dorsai (1960), and these are thought to be mostly responsible for popularizing this subgenre's popularity among young readers of
581-613: A clone. In the Season 3 episode, Sunday , Beckett is killed by an exploding tumor but his clone later returns to join the Atlantis team. Aiden Ford played by Rainbow Sun Francks is a USMC Lieutenant. Ford served in the Stargate Command (SGC) before and is twenty-five years old at the beginning of the first season. The only family that Ford mentions are his grandparents. Ford served as John Sheppard's second-in-command after
664-480: A form of faster-than-light travel in order to facilitate the enormous scale of interstellar war . The long spans of time (e.g., decades or centuries) required for human soldiers to travel interstellar distances, even at relativistic speeds, and the consequences for the characters, is a dilemma examined by authors such as Joe Haldeman and Alastair Reynolds . Other writers such as Larry Niven have created plausible interplanetary conflict based on human colonization of
747-527: A future mercenary tank regiment . Drake's series which "helped initiate a fashion for sf about mercenaries", including The Warrior's Apprentice (1986) by Lois McMaster Bujold . A twist was introduced in Harry Turtledove 's Worldwar series depicting an alternate history in which WWII is disrupted by extraterrestrials invading Earth in 1942, forcing humans to stop fighting each other and unite against this common enemy. Turtledove depicts
830-746: A group of hunters, farmers, and traders from the planet Athos. First introduced in " Rising ", they are the first humans encountered by the Atlantis Expedition in the Pegasus galaxy. The Athosians were once technologically advanced, but reverted to a pre-industrial state to avoid the Wraith. Following their contact with the Expedition, the Athosians move to Lantea and their leader, Teyla Emmagan , joins Major Sheppard's team. In " The Gift ", it
913-458: A law enforcement setting. Some examples include Richard Morgan 's Takashi Kovacs book such as Altered Carbon (2002) and Elizabeth Bear 's Jenny Casey books, such as Hammered (2004). Precursors for military science fiction can be found in "future war" stories dating back at least to George Chesney 's story " The Battle of Dorking " (1871). Written just after the Prussian victory in
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#1732798188288996-471: A message to his estranged sister Jeannie Miller (played by David Hewlett's real-life younger sister, actress Kate Hewlett ). Ronon Dex played by Jason Momoa is a Satedan warrior and a member of the Satedan military where he held the rank of Specialist. Approximately seven years before Ronon's first contact with the Atlantis Expedition, the Wraith attacked Sateda. Ronon remained behind with Melena to fight
1079-530: A military science fiction story can speculate about war in the future, in space, or involving space travel, or the effects of such a war on humans; at the other, a story with a fictional military plot may have relatively superficial science fictional elements. The term "military space opera" may occasionally denote this latter style, as used for example by critic Sylvia Kelso when describing Lois McMaster Bujold 's Vorkosigan Saga . Examples that feature aspects of both military science fiction and space opera include
1162-490: A quest to get more enzyme for himself. He later returns halfway through Season 2 where he captures Sheppard's team and recruits them into helping him destroy a Hive Ship. The mission gets off to a bad start with many of Ford's men dying or being captured. The Hive Ship Ford was on is soon destroyed and it is presumed that Ford is dead. Jennifer Keller , played by Jewel Staite , is the Chief Medical Officer of
1245-469: A rather poor impression on the expedition members. However, he ultimately sides with Weir by sending the IOA a report modified to favor Weir and keep her in command of Atlantis. Woolsey later joins the Atlantis expedition on a permanent basis at the start of Season Five after his predecessor, Colonel Carter is reassigned. Rodney McKay or Meredith Rodney McKay played by British-born Canadian actor, David Hewlett
1328-465: A space colony requiring defense against attack out on the frontier. Gene Roddenberry described Star Trek: The Original Series as a Space Western (or more poetically, as " Wagon Train to the stars"). The TV series Firefly and its cinematic follow-up Serenity literalized the Western aspects of the space Western subgenre as popularized by Star Trek : it features frontier towns, horses, and
1411-452: A subject were collected and marketed as such. The series of anthologies with the group title There Will be War edited by Pournelle and John F. Carr (nine volumes from 1983 through 1990) helped keep the category active, and encouraged new writers to add to it. David Drake wrote stories about future mercenaries, including the Hammer's Slammers series (1979), which follows the career of
1494-423: A twisted logic for defeating the Wraith was to annihilate their food source (that is, the humans). Because of their danger to humans, they are ultimately destroyed in the episode " Be All My Sins Remember'd ". In the series, the replicators are referred to as Asurans a couple of times in the episode where they are introduced ("Progeny"), but, afterwards, they are always mentioned as replicators. The Athosians are
1577-461: A visual style evocative of classic John Ford Westerns. Worlds that have been terraformed may be depicted as presenting similar challenges as that of a frontier settlement in a classic Western. Six-shooters and horses may be replaced by ray guns and rockets. A "thematic subdivision" of MSF are works where "ex-military protagonists [are] drawing on their battle experience for tough and violent operations in (more or less) civilian life", typically in
1660-596: A way similar to aging. They evolved from the Iratus bug, as the bugs began acquiring the human characteristics of the persons they were feeding on. The Ancients encountered the Wraith, and after a long war with them, the latter drove the Ancients out of Pegasus 10,000 years ago, and now maintain the human worlds of Pegasus as sources of food. The arrival of the Atlantis Expedition in the Pegasus galaxy leads to
1743-513: Is a former member of the NID and the United States representative to the IOA . Richard Woolsey is part of an IOA panel that recalled Dr. Weir to Earth to explain her failed alliance with the Wraith. He genuinely respects Weir and attempts to defend her actions, but must defer to his IOA colleagues. The IOA dispatch him to Atlantis to evaluate Weir's ability to command. While evaluating Weir's abilities, he made
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#17327981882881826-514: Is also adept at hand-to-hand combat. Carson Beckett played by Scottish-born Canadian actor Paul McGillion is the original Chief Medical Officer of the Atlantis expedition. Beckett was born with the Ancient Technology Activation (ATA) gene, which gives the carrier the ability to access Ancient technology. At the beginning of Stargate Atlantis, Beckett is a doctor with an extended knowledge of medicine and just discovered
1909-627: Is an astrophysicist and USAF colonel. Samantha Carter is a member of the SGC's flagship team, SG-1, having served there for ten years, with Carter herself having been under the rank of captain, major and then lieutenant colonel and later, at an unknown point after the end of the Ori conflict in Stargate SG-1, Carter is promoted to a "full bird" colonel and is transferred to the Midway space station to oversee
1992-481: Is an experienced and a talented US Air Force Officer in Afghanistan, though his reputation is somewhat tarnished when he disobeyed a direct order in an unsuccessful attempt to save the lives of several US servicemen. When called upon to transport Brigadier General Jack O'Neill into the research base that has been established at the nearby Ancient defense facility, Sheppard inadvertently discovers that he not only has
2075-493: Is eventually promoted to Lieutenant Colonel and still remains as Atlantis's military commander with Sheppard serving as the team leader for the Atlantis Expedition's team, the First Atlantis Reconnaissance Team or AR-1. Dr. Elizabeth Weir played by Torri Higginson is the civilian and also the original leader of the Atlantis Expedition which she does for the first three years. Prior to joining
2158-489: Is not necessarily set in outer space or on multiple worlds, as in space opera and the space Western . Both military science fiction and the space Western may consider an interstellar war and oppression by a galactic empire as the story's backdrop. They may focus on a lone gunslinger , soldier, or veteran in a futuristic space frontier setting . Western elements and conventions in military science fiction may be explicit, such as cowboys in outer space, or more subtle, as in
2241-441: Is revealed that some Athosians possess Wraith DNA, resulting from an old Wraith experiment to make humans more "palatable". This allows these individuals to sense the presence of Wraith, to tap into their telepathic communications, and to control Wraith technology. In the third-season episode " The Return ", the Athosians are asked to leave Lantea by a group of surviving Ancients reclaiming Atlantis from Earth. The Athosian population
2324-561: Is science fiction which is written about a military situation with a fundamental understanding of how military lifestyles and characters differ from civilian lifestyles and characters. It is science fiction which attempts to realistically portray the military within a science-fiction context. It is not 'bug shoots'. It is about human beings, and members of other species, caught up in warfare and carnage. It isn't an excuse for simplistic solutions to problems. In 1980 and 1981, two science fiction authors inspired President Ronald Reagan 's vision for
2407-642: Is subsequently found to have disappeared from New Athos in " Missing ". The search for the missing Athosians and their fate at the hands of the rogue Wraith Michael contributes to a major plot arc near the end of the fourth season. The Genii appear to be simple farmers, but are in fact a military society with technology comparable to late 1940s Earth. First appearing in " Underground ", the Genii were forced to hide in underground bunkers due to Wraith attacks. They have since devoted their efforts to developing technologies, such as fission bombs , with which to strike back at
2490-412: Is that, while he does not possess the wisdom of many of the other characters, in terms of raw intelligence or at least the occasional fits of insight/brilliance, he is. Despite his irritating demeanor, many members of the Atlantis expedition are on friendly terms with him, and McKay is able to keep steady relationships and is close to the people he works with, having referred to them as a surrogate family in
2573-604: Is the Chief Science Officer of the Atlantis expedition and a member of the main Expedition team, the First Atlantis Reconnaissance Team or AR-1. Dr. McKay is one of the most arrogant and condescending personalities in the Stargate franchise. He once identified himself as a Mensa member and believes himself to be the smartest person in the city, as mentioned in a conversation between Dr. Weir and Carson in "Hide and Seek". What makes it worse for his fellow team members
List of Stargate Atlantis characters - Misplaced Pages Continue
2656-448: Is typically described from the point of view of a soldier in a science fictional setting of or near battle . Typically, the technology is more advanced than that of the present and described in detail. In some stories, however, technology is fairly static, and weapons that would be familiar to present-day soldiers are used, but other aspects of society have changed. Technology may not be emphasized in such stories as much as other aspects of
2739-646: The Battlestar Galactica franchise and Robert A. Heinlein 's 1959 novel Starship Troopers . A key distinction of military science fiction from space opera is that space operas focus more on adventurous stories and melodrama, while military science fiction focuses more on warfare and technical aspects. The principal characters in a space opera are also not military personnel, but civilians or paramilitary . Stories in both subgenres often concern an interstellar war in which humans fight themselves and/or nonhuman entities. Military science fiction, however,
2822-1003: The Stargate franchise, the Cowboy in Innerspace , Coach Cutlip on The Wonder Years , and Captain Dick Richard on the ABC series China Beach . He is a frequent collaborator of Joe Dante and is a member of The Planetary Society 's Board of Directors. Picardo was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania , the son of Joe Picardo. Robert is of Italian heritage, with his father's family originating from Montecorvino Rovella , Salerno , and his mother's parents originally from Bomba in Abruzzo . He graduated from William Penn Charter School in 1971 and originally entered Yale University as
2905-510: The Asurans and a lost tribe of Asgard, all while trying to uncover the secrets the Ancients left behind. Stargate Atlantis has a small cast, amounting to ten main cast actors over its five-season run. Most characters are introduced in outgoing expeditions outside the city of Atlantis . John Sheppard played by Joe Flanigan is a USAF Lieutenant Colonel (ranked major in season 1). He
2988-554: The Franco-Prussian War , it describes an invasion of Britain by a German-speaking country in which the Royal Navy is destroyed by a futuristic wonder-weapon ("fatal engines"). Other works of military science fiction followed, including H.G. Wells 's " The Land Ironclads ". It described tank-like "land ironclads ," 80-to-100-foot-long (24 to 30 m) armoured fighting vehicles that carry riflemen, engineers, and
3071-653: The asteroid belt and outer planets by means of technologies utilizing the laws of physics as currently understood. Several subsets of military science fiction share characteristics of the space opera subgenre, concentrating on large-scale space battles with futuristic weapons in an interstellar war . Many stories can be considered to be in one or both the military science fiction and space opera subgenres, such as The Sten Chronicles by Allan Cole and Chris Bunch , Ender's Game series by Orson Scott Card , Honorverse by David Weber , Deathstalker by Simon R. Green , and Armor by John Steakley. At one extreme,
3154-637: The ABC series The Wonder Years in the role of Coach Cutlip. He is among a small group of television actors to achieve notice on two television series at the same time. In 1993, Picardo had a brief role as Joe "The Meat Man" Morton, a butcher and neighbor to Tim Allen 's character on the sitcom Home Improvement . He also appeared in one episode of ER in 1995 as Abraham Zimble (Season 2 - Episode 6, "Days Like This"). That same year, he voiced Pfish in two Pfish & Chip shorts as seen on Cartoon Network's What-A-Cartoon! Show . From 1995 to 2001, he played
3237-496: The ATA gene (the genetic factor necessary to activate Ancient technology), but that he is naturally proficient at using it. After some doubts, he finally joins the expedition to Atlantis, although Colonel Marshall Sumner makes it clear he is not pleased about Sheppard's involvement in the mission. In Season 1, Sheppard serves as both a Major and later also becomes the military commander following Colonel Sumner's death. In Season 2, Sheppard
3320-443: The Ancient Technology Activation gene, that they introduced into the human genome through crossbreeding. Artificial life-forms composed of nanites, introduced in episode " Progeny " of season 3 of Stargate Atlantis . They are similar to the human-form Replicators of Stargate SG-1 and so are called that in the show. The Asurans were created by the Ancients to combat the Wraith but were ultimately abandoned and seemingly destroyed by
3403-648: The Ancient gene. Elizabeth Weir selects him for the Atlantis Expedition and stationed him at the Ancient outpost in Antarctica, where the SG-1 team had defeated the nemesis Anubis in the Stargate SG-1 season seven finale, "Lost City". In "Hide and Seek", he creates a gene therapy that emulates the ATA gene in normal humans with a 48 percent success rate. Later, during Beckett's capture on the planet M8G-352 in season 3's "Misbegotten", Michael took some of Beckett's DNA to make
List of Stargate Atlantis characters - Misplaced Pages Continue
3486-459: The Ancients for being too dangerous, although they were not the weapon against the Wraith the Ancients believed they could be. Extremely aggressive, a small number of nanites thrived and eventually built an advanced civilization. In season 4, Rodney McKay activates the Asurans' attack code, causing them to attack the Wraith, but this eventually comes to threaten all the inhabitants of Pegasus, as
3569-533: The Ancients in the Milky Way was decimated thousands of years ago by a plague, and those who did not learn to Ascend died out. With few exceptions, the Ascended Ancients respect free will and (with some exceptions) refuse to interfere in the affairs of the material galaxy. However, their legacy is felt profoundly throughout Stargate universe, from their technologies such as Stargates and Atlantis , to
3652-427: The Athosians from the mainland several times in the face of various threats. In season 1's "The Gift", Teyla and the Atlantis expedition learn that her ancestors were experimented on by a Wraith scientist, and that Teyla is one of the few Athosians who possess trace amounts of Wraith DNA which enable her to sense the Wraith through their telepathic network. Teyla is also a member of the Expedition's flagship team, AR-1 and
3735-732: The Atlantis Season 3 finale episode, "First Strike", Weir is left in a coma when a beam that the Expeditions's enemies, the Asurans had created targets the Control Room of Atlantis. Weir survives although she becomes part-Replicator due to the fact that the nanites that were left in her system during the Stargate Atlantis Season 3 episode, "Progeny" have been reactivated. Weir eventually sacrifices herself to give Sheppard and his team enough time to escape during
3818-510: The Atlantis expedition, replacing her predecessor, Dr. Carson Beckett (although Keller accepts the role with some reluctance). Graduating high school at the age of 15, Keller was three years ahead of her peers, and earned a bachelor's degree before her 18th birthday. Upon becoming Atlantis' Chief Medical Officer, Keller faces a baptism of fire as she fights to save Dr. Elizabeth Weir who has been badly injured by an Asuran beam weapon. Keller later informs Rodney McKay and that Weir can be saved by using
3901-508: The EMH in the 1996 film Star Trek: First Contact and the 1997 Star Trek: Deep Space Nine episode " Doctor Bashir, I Presume? " He also played Dr. Lewis Zimmerman , the creator of the EMH, in episodes of Deep Space Nine and Voyager . In 2002, Picardo authored The Hologram's Handbook , published by Pocket Books . In 2007 and 2008, Star Trek: The Music was a multi-city tour with John de Lancie . Picardo and de Lancie narrated around
3984-581: The Green in 2008, with William Devane, Jeremy London and Ryan Hurst. Picardo appeared on four episodes of E-Ring , as an enraged father in Cold Case , and as a police officer in CSI: NY . He was a recurring guest star in two episodes of Season 7 of Smallville , and appeared on a season 6 episode of Supernatural titled "Clap Your Hands if You Believe", as a leprechaun . Outside of acting, Picardo
4067-554: The SGC, Weir heads to Antarctica to lead the research envoy studying the Ancient defense facility that had been discovered in Antarctica, the Ancient city of Atlantis which SG-1 had uncovered during "Lost City Part 2". Weir eventually leads the Atlantis Expedition which is sent through the Stargate to explore the Lost City of Atlantis. Weir is a diplomat and a leader, often making decisions in the hope they will benefit her and her people although she has clashed with others on occasions. In
4150-577: The SGC, Weir was engaged to be married to a man named Simon Wallace but their engagement ended when Wallace refused to join the SGC. Weir originally served as the head of the SGC after General George Hammond was reassigned in the Stargate SG-1 Season 7 finale episode, "Lost City Part 1" with Weir serving in the role as SGC Commander up until her departure in the Stargate SG-1 Season 8 episode, "New Order Part 2" with Weir being replaced by newly promoted Brigadier General Jack O'Neill. After leaving
4233-474: The Stargate Atlantis Season 4 episode, "Lifeline" with her fate being unknown although she later returns as a Replicator in the Season 5 episode, "Ghost in the Machine". Her position as leader of the Atlantis Expedition is later taken over by Lieutenant Colonel Samantha Carter and following Carter's return to Earth by Richard Woolsey. Samantha "Sam" Carter played by British-born Canadian actress Amanda Tapping
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#17327981882884316-537: The Strategic Defense Initiative. After the 9/11 terrorism attacks, a group of sci-fi authors called Sigma, including Pournelle and Niven, advised the "Department of Homeland Security on technological strategies for defeating terrorist threats." In 2021, Worldcrunch reported that the French military has hired fiction writers to develop futuristic warfare scenarios, including situations that
4399-569: The Vietnam War's influence can be seen indirectly in novels such as Joe Haldeman 's The Forever War (published in Analog over 1972–1975) and Lucius Shepard 's Life During Wartime (1987). The Vietnam War resulted in veterans with combat experience deciding to write science fiction, including Joe Haldeman and David Drake . Throughout the 1970s, works such as Haldeman's The Forever War and Drake's Hammer's Slammers helped increase
4482-484: The Wraith enzyme. Teyla Emmagan played by Rachel Luttrell is the leader of the Athosians, a human race of farmers, hunters, and traders from the planet Athos in the Pegasus Galaxy. After a Wraith attack on Athos, Teyla and the Athosians settle in Atlantis. Friction in "Suspicion" causes the Athosians to leave Atlantis and settle on the mainland. Teyla stays with Sheppard's team, but later helps with evacuating
4565-455: The Wraith waking prematurely from their hibernation, and the human population of Pegasus is not enough to sustain all of them, leading to bloody conflicts and battles among the Wraith themselves. Military science fiction A detailed description of the conflict, belligerents (which may involve extraterrestrials), tactics and weapons used for it, and the role of a military service and the individual members of that military organization form
4648-446: The Wraith, but the Wraith defeated Satedan forces and Melena was killed before Ronon's eyes in an explosion. Ronon was later captured by the Wraith who instead of feeding on him turned him into a Runner, implanting a tracking device in his upper back and setting him loose to be constantly hunted. Ronon later becomes a permanent member of Sheppard's team, AR-1, replacing Aidan Ford who defects from Atlantis after Ford develops an addiction to
4731-441: The Wraith. They become enemies of the Atlantis Expedition in the first season and once try to invade Atlantis, though after a coup d'état in the second season they have been more favorable towards the city. The main adversaries on Stargate Atlantis , the Wraith are the dominant species in the Pegasus galaxy. They are biologically immortal hive-based humanoids who feed on the "life-force" of humans, causing them to "lose years" in
4814-567: The basis for a typical work of military science fiction. The stories often use features of actual past or current Earth conflicts, with countries being replaced by planets or galaxies with similar characteristics, battleships replaced by space battleships, small arms and artillery replaced by lasers, soldiers replaced by space marines, and certain events changed so the author can extrapolate what might have occurred. Traditional military values of courage under fire, sense of duty, honor, sacrifice, loyalty, and camaraderie are often emphasized. The action
4897-424: The characters' military lives, cultures, or societies. For example, women may be accepted as equal partners for combat roles, or preferred over men. When the "extravagan[t]" depictions of war in space operas faded along with pulp fiction more generally, military science fiction developed with a "more disciplined and more realistic notion of the kind of armies which might fight interplanetary and interstellar wars, and
4980-531: The events of "Rising" until a Wraith feeds upon Ford during a Wraith attack on Atlantis in season 2's "The Siege, Part 3". An exploding grenade blows them off a building into the ocean, and Ford's unconscious body and the still attached Wraith are recovered nearly an hour later. Ford is diagnosed to have survived an overdose of addictive Wraith enzyme and as a result begins undergoing mental and physical changes, one of which involves his left eye turning completely black. He eventually leaves Atlantis for good, embarking on
5063-538: The film Our Last Days as Children . Picardo provided the voice of Loki in the Xbox 360 video game Too Human . In 2009, he appeared in Pushing Daisies , Chuck and Castle , and had the lead role in the independent psychological thriller film Sensored . In 2010, he had a cameo in the final episode of Persons Unknown , as a member of "the program"'s governing board. He also voiced Robert McNamara in
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#17327981882885146-418: The final stages of completion. The IOA appoints Carter as the new commander of the Atlantis expedition early in Season 4 of Atlantis. At the end of the first episode of season five, Carter is recalled to Earth for a Tok'ra extraction ceremony concerning the final Ba'al clone, with Richard Woolsey eventually replacing her as the new commander of the Atlantis Expedition. Richard Woolsey played by Robert Picardo
5229-678: The gap is not too wide for the humans to bridge. For example, the invaders have more advanced tanks, but the German Wehrmacht's tank crews facing them – a major theme in the series – are more skilled and far more experienced. The Encyclopedia of Science Fiction lists three notable women authors of MSF: Lois McMaster Bujold ; Elizabeth Moon (particularly her Familias Regnant stories such as Hunting Party (1993)), and Karen Traviss . Several authors have presented stories with political messages of varying types as major or minor themes of their works. David Drake has often written of
5312-489: The horrors and futility of war. He has said, in the afterwords of several of his Hammer's Slammers books (1979 and later), that one of his reasons for writing is to educate those people who have not experienced war, but who might have to make the decision to start or endorse a war (as policymakers or as voters) about what war is really like, and what the powers and limits of the military as an instrument of policy are. David Weber has said: For me, military science fiction
5395-509: The kinds of weapons they might use". In many stories, the usage or advancement of a specific technology plays a role in advancing the plot, such as deploying a new weapon or spaceship. Some works draw heavy parallels to human history and how a scientific breakthrough or new military doctrine can significantly change how war is fought, the outcome of a battle, and the fortunes of the combatants. Many works explore how human progress, discovery, and suffering affect military doctrine or battle, and how
5478-410: The military become "more resourceful." The German military is also using science fiction to help its military but in its approach, they do not hire science fiction writers to develop scenarios. Instead, they "use existing science fiction" to help the army "predict the "world's next potential conflict." The UK Ministry of Defence (MOD) hired two science fiction writers to pen short stories about "what
5561-481: The military cannot directly study for "ethical reasons, such as Autonomous Lethality Weapon Systems (ALWS), or augmented humans." The French military says the authors are asked to imagine warfare situations that "destabilize us, scare us, blame, or even beat us", in order to provide the army with a "fresh set of practice scenarios". Military planners use the science fiction authors' scenarios to "prepare for previously unthought of situations", "boos[t] creativity" and help
5644-594: The now-inactive Replicator nanites in her bloodstream. Towards the end of the fifth season, she starts a romantic relationship with McKay; the status of their relationship at the end of the series is never revealed. Several characters who may be better known for their role in Stargate SG-1 have made appearances in Atlantis . They are: The Ancients are the original builders of the Stargate network, who by
5727-529: The orchestral performance, explaining the history of the music in Star Trek . In 2015, Picardo reprised the role of Dr. Lewis Zimmerman in the pilot episode of the fan series Star Trek: Renegades . In 2024, he reprised the role of the EMH in the second season of Star Trek: Prodigy , and will also appear as the Doctor in the upcoming series Star Trek: Starfleet Academy . In 2004, he began playing
5810-518: The popularity of the genre. Short stories also were popular, collected in books such as Combat SF , edited by Gordon R. Dickson . This anthology includes one of the first Hammer's Slammers stories, as well as one of the BOLO stories by Keith Laumer and one of the Berserker stories by Fred Saberhagen . This anthology seems to have been the first time these stories specifically dealing with war as
5893-701: The protagonists and antagonists reflect on and adapt to such changes. Many authors have either used a galaxy-spanning fictional empire as a background for the story, or have explored the growth and/or decline of such an empire. The capital of a galactic empire is sometimes a "core world," such as a planet relatively near a galaxy's centrally-located supermassive black hole, which has advanced considerably in science and technology compared to current human civilization. Characterizations of these empires can vary wildly from malevolent forces that attack sympathetic victims, to apathetic or amoral bureaucracies, to more reasonable entities focused on social progress. A writer may posit
5976-404: The recurring role of International Oversight Advisory (IOA) member Richard Woolsey in both Stargate SG-1 and Stargate Atlantis . His first appearance in those series was in the Stargate SG-1 episode " Heroes (Part 2) ". On February 5, 2008, it was announced that Picardo would be joining the regular cast of Stargate Atlantis full-time for the series' fifth and final season. He took over
6059-546: The role of mission commander of the Atlantis Expedition. In 2001, Picardo guest starred in the 7 Days episode "Revelation", purporting to be a time traveler from seven years in the future. In 2007, he played Principal White in Ben 10: Race Against Time , and starred in the independent feature film by director Russ Emanuel , P.J. , alongside John Heard and Vincent Pastore . He also starred in Russ Emanuel 's Chasing
6142-481: The role of the Emergency Medical Hologram (EMH) in the television series Star Trek: Voyager . Before being accepted for this role, Picardo initially auditioned for the role of Neelix. He later also directed two episodes. In the series, his character finally chose the name "Joe", after both the name of his wife's grandfather and Picardo's own father. He played additional copies of the role of
6225-700: The swamp-dwelling Meg Mucklebones in Ridley Scott's film Legend . He also had a small role as a funeral director in John Landis's Amazon Women on the Moon . Picardo also portrayed the voice and face of the robotic Johnny Cab in Total Recall . During the 1988–1991 television seasons, Picardo was simultaneously seen on the ABC Vietnam series China Beach in the role of Dr. Dick Richard, and
6308-401: The tactics and strategy of this new course of the war in detail, showing how American, British, Soviet, and German soldiers and Jewish guerrillas (some of them historical figures) deal with this extraordinary new situation, as well as providing a not unsympathetic detailed point of view of individual invader warriors. In the war situation posited by Turtledove, the invaders have superior arms, but
6391-476: The time of Stargate SG-1 have Ascended beyond corporeal form into a higher plane of existence. The humans of Earth are the "second evolution" of the Ancients. The Ancients (originally known as the Alterans ) colonized the Milky Way galaxy millions of years ago and built a great empire. They also colonized the Pegasus galaxy and seeded human life there, before being driven out by the Wraith . The civilization of
6474-751: The time. The Vietnam War led to the "polarization of the sf community", which can be seen in the June 1968 issue of Galaxy Science Fiction , in which one page of pro-war sf authors listed their names and on another page, anti-war sf authors put their names. The Vietnam War has been noted by the Encyclopedia of Science Fiction as having impacted anthologies such as In the Field of Fire (1987) and novels such as The Healer's War (1988) by Elizabeth Ann Scarborough and Dream Baby (1989) by Bruce McAllister . The Encyclopedia of Science Fiction states that
6557-497: The use of Fictional Intelligence ( FicInt ), which they define as "useful fictions". FicInt, a concept developed by Cole in 2015, combines "fiction writing with intelligence to imagine future scenarios in ways grounded in reality." Robert Picardo Robert Alphonse Picardo (born October 27, 1953) is an American actor. He is best known for playing the Doctor on Star Trek: Voyager . He also appeared as Richard Woolsey in
6640-472: The video game Call of Duty: Black Ops . He appeared in four episodes of The Mentalist from 2012 through 2013 as Jason Cooper, a lieutenant of cult leader Bret Styles. In May 2014, Cartoon Hangover announced Picardo as a guest voice actor in the second season of Bravest Warriors , in the episode "The Parasox Pub". In 2017, Picardo played Lt. Kitan's father Prof. Ildis Kitan in the first season episode of The Orville titled "Firestorm", and reprised
6723-485: The wars of tomorrow will look like." The MOD hired Peter Warren Singer and August Cole to write eight short stories about threats from "emerging technologies" including " artificial intelligence (AI), data modeling, drone swarms, quantum computing and human enhancement" in a battlefield context. The MOD hired sci-fi writers because they have a "unique ability to imagine the unimaginable." As well, both authors know about "security subjects and modern warfare." They advocate
6806-664: Was a member of the Board of Directors' Advisory Council of The Planetary Society from 1999 through 2015. Beginning in 2015, he was elected to serve on the Board itself. Picardo's other career highlights include performing in Leonard Bernstein 's Mass during its European debut tour, performing with the Yale University Society of Orpheus & Bacchus a cappella singing group as an undergraduate, and dozens of other television and film roles, including
6889-1088: Was televised by ORF and broadcast on PBS during the 1970s. His singing was also incorporated into his role in Star Trek: Voyager . After earning his degree, he enrolled at the Circle in the Square Professional Theater Workshop. He waited tables for a few years until his theatrical work started to take off around 1976. His first breaks were appearing in the David Mamet play Sexual Perversity in Chicago , and with Diane Keaton in The Primary English Class . In 1977, Picardo made his Broadway debut. He appeared in Gemini (1977) and Tribute (1978). On television, Picardo appeared on Kojak in
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