Gallery Episode Transcript

"Condemned" is the fifth episode of the second season of Stargate: Atlantis.


Lt. Colonel John Sheppard's team is ambushed by unfriendlies when they are rescued by a technologically advanced civilization. They learn that the people on "the Island" are convicts, sacrificed so the Wraith will not feed on the innocent.


Lt. Colonel John Sheppard's team are flying in a Puddle Jumper through the Stargate on an unknown world. In the forest over which they fly they see smoke and find a small camp, however no people. Suddenly some people hiding in the bushes attack them with arrows and small explosives but when Sheppard calls to them they stop firing. The team then wants to retreat but the people then fire again. Suddenly some sort of airplane arrives, covers Sheppard's team and literally blows away some of the attackers with wind. This gives the team the possibility to escape to their Puddle Jumper, in which they are contacted by the plane to follow them.

City on Olesia.

The team is led into a city where they are greeted by a woman named Marin who tells them that the island on which the Stargate is located is used as a penal colony. Afterwards they meet the Magistrate who reveals to them that they use the island as a prison. The Atlantis team is surprised that the city hasn't been attacked. The Magistrate says that the Wraith feed on the prisoners and are satiated before leaving the island. In this way the people on Olesia (the planet's name) have reached a high grade of technology. In fact, they have discovered a non radioactive fissionable ore that McKay finds very promising. The Magistrate also assures them that only the most violent criminals are sent to the island. After further talking Sheppard contacts Dr. Elizabeth Weir and informs her about the situation. They agree to talk about trading agreements with the Olesians. Ronon expresses surprise that the Wraiths don't attack the city and Sheppard finds the Magistrate a little creepy, but McKay argues this is just their civilization's form of capital punishment.

Later the team flies back to the gate but during the flight the Jumper is attacked with some primitive explosives. One of them hits the Jumper and Sheppard is forced to crash-land. When they leave the Jumper they are taken captive by the prisoners. While the team is tied in a small flat, the prisoners try the new weapons and afterwards their leader Torrell orders Dr. Rodney McKay to fix the damaged Jumper. He agrees to do so when Torrell threatens to kill him. McKay then meets Eldon, who developed the explosives for the prisoners and now shall help him with the Jumper. Also Torrell threatens to kill one after another of McKay's team members if he can't fix the ship.

Meanwhile, in Atlantis Weir plans to search for Sheppard's team and together with Major Evan Lorne and a team flies with a Jumper to Olesia. There McKay works on their Jumper while talking with Eldon, who says that he is innocent. McKay then finds out that the main power-distribution has been damaged. He also realizes there is no DHD on the island, so now there's no way to operate the Stargate. Eldon tells him that if he can't fix it, Torrell will make sure McKay and his friends are the first offered to the Wraith at the next culling.

Back at the flat, McKay tells Torrell the Jumper can't be repaired. Torrell doesn't believe him, and orders him to choose who of his friends will die first. When McKay refuses, Torrell says he will give McKay some time to think it over and leaves. Eldon then tells them that most people on the island are innocent but were sent there nevertheless so that the Wraith have enough to feed on. He warns them that Torrell is not one of the innocent--he killed 8 people before coming the island and has killed 3 since. He says in the beginning only the worst criminals were sent to the island. But over time people became so afraid of the consequences that the crime rate fell dramatically. So they had to apply the same punishment for lesser and lesser crimes, and finally even to the innocent.

In the Olesian city Weir in the meantime meets the Magistrate and they talk about the missing team and the Magistrate agrees to search for them. Back on the island Sheppard's team is freed by Eldon who wants to escape with them and they agree. McKay says the ship really is broken, but he might be able to fix the DHD so they can dial out and escape through the gate on foot.

They then run to the Jumper where they plan to take out the guards. Suddenly the gate activates and a Wraith Dart flies through. This leads the guards away and the team is able to enter the Jumper. McKay starts on the repairs with Eldon's help.

In the city Weir and her team are informed about the arrival of the Wraith but the Magistrate promises to search for the missing team again when the Wraith have left.

Later the Magistrate meets with a single Wraith which came in the dart and it is revealed that the Magistrate and his predecessors have an agreement with him to give him enough food and in exchange they are spared from culling. This Wraith considers himself smarter and more sophisticated than most of his people. This arrangement has provided him with a steady source of food, so he has not needed to hibernate, and he even enjoys socializing with the Magistrate. Now, though, all the hive ships are awake and he has been pressured to make his source of humans available to more of his kind. The Wraith tell the Magistrate that he needs to augment the population on the island to give the Wraith more people to feed on and the Magistrate promises to do so. Afterwards the Wraith leaves the planet.

Meanwhile, Weir and her group are informed by Marin that the Magistrate told her to cancel the search for Sheppard's team and has ordered many innocent people to be arrested to augment the population on the island, but then the Magistrate appears with a security team and accuses Marin of lying and plotting to overthrow the government. He orders her to be arrested but Weir protects her and ends the alliance with the Olesians. Then she and her team leave after Weir warns the Magistrate, whom Lorne has at gunpoint, that he doesn't want to cross her.

Returning to the island, Weir's Jumper detects three Wraith cruisers approaching, one heading straight for the island. Weir orders the Jumper cloaked.

Wraith cruiser approaching.

Back on the island McKay still tries to repair the Jumper while Sheppard, Teyla, and Ronon attack the returning guards. Although the three are armed only with sticks, they are able to defeat some of them but they are soon confronted by the other prisoners with their own weapons. Just as McKay is able to fix the Dial Home Device, Torrell and his men enter the Jumper and capture McKay and Eldon.

Torrell threatens to shoot everyone if he and the other prisoners aren't allowed to return to Atlantis with them. Sheppard refuses, offering instead to dial a habitable planet for the prisoners to go to, but Torrell refuses as they could be sent through to an inhospitable planet instead.

As they argue, a Wraith cruiser approaches to everyone's horror. While Torrell is distracted, Ronon is able to get his weapon back and enters a standoff with Torrell that ends when Sheppard orders McKay to dial the Stargate. However, McKay discovers that the intermittent power to the DHD has gone out again and he lacks the time to get it up again. Though Torrell offers to shoot down the cruiser, Teyla informs him that neither the prisoners weapons nor the team's will damage the cruiser. Instead, Sheppard asks McKay about the Puddle Jumper's drone weapons. As the drones are less intricate, McKay manages to get one online and Sheppard is able to damage the cruiser which retreats.

Having reached the island, Weir and Lorne spot the drone attack and realize Sheppard was responsible. Weir calls over the radio to Sheppard that the cruiser has been damaged and is retreating, but two more are on the way. Torrell returns Sheppard's radio to him and Sheppard orders Weir to dial one of the backup planets for the Pegasus Alpha Site. Lorne dials the Stargate and Sheppard tells the prisoners to go and Weir to hold the Stargate open until they've all gone through. Though Torrell hesitates, he ultimately leaves through the Stargate with the other prisoners, still carrying one of the team's P90s. Once the prisoners are gone, Sheppard orders Weir to dial Atlantis and remain cloaked until the Wraith are gone. Once the Stargate is dialed, the team and Eldon race for it under fire from a second Wraith cruiser. The team makes it safely though the Stargate, the cruiser's fire just barely missing them.

Detecting no humans on the island, the cruiser heads to the Olesian capital city to cull that instead. Spotting the cruiser on approach, the Magistrate watches in horror.


Appearances for Condemned





Sentient Species



Notable quotes[]

(Ronon walks over to a steaming pot on a campfire and tastes it)
McKay: What are you - Oh, my gosh, he's tasting it! (to Ronon) You don't know what that is, that could be their laundry!
Ronon: Pretty good.
McKay: Oh, yes. Good idea. And when you're finished with their porridge, Why don't we try their beds?
Ronon: (to McKay) Want some?
McKay: How good is it?
Sheppard: Leave it be, Goldilocks.

(The team is talking to Dr. Weir on the radio about their prison island)
McKay: I prefer lethal injection, although I do have a certain fondness for the electric chair. Call me romantic.

Teyla: Do you kill all your violent criminals on Earth?
McKay: (looks at Col. Sheppard) Certain countries, yes.
Sheppard: Can we not get into this right now?

(The prisoners shoot down the Jumper and it crash lands)
Teyla: Are you all right?
McKay: I think I chipped a tooth. Did I chip a tooth? Am I bleeding? Because I am a high risk for endocarditis.
(After they walk out of the jumper they find themselves surrounded by the prisoners)
Sheppard: Hi, folks. I hope I didn't crash-land on anybody.

Ronon: (after Sheppard, Teyla, McKay, and Ronon are held captive, Ronon is trying to get out of his hand restraints) I think they're loosening.
Sheppard: Take it easy, Chewie - You're gonna cut your damn hands off!

Sheppard: Leave it to convicts to know the best way to tie people up.
Ronon: Well, eventually I will get free and when I do, he's gonna pay for this.
Sheppard: Now listen to me. When you get free, you get us free and we all get out of here. Let 'em find out we're gone after we're gone.
Ronon: You're expecting me to let them get away with this?
Sheppard: The operative words are "get away".
Ronon: After I kill them!
Sheppard: That type of thinking will get us killed.
Ronon: Well, if you had returned fire...
Sheppard: The weapons systems were damaged.
Ronon: If you say so.
Sheppard: I do say so, and right now I'm saying knock it off.
Ronon: Is that an order, Sheppard?
Sheppard: I am beat up, tied up, and couldn't order a pizza right now if I wanted to. But if you need it to be, yeah it's an order.

McKay: What am I, MacGyver? Fix it with what?!

Torrell: I could kill you, but you strike me as the type of man who despite being weak and cowardly on the outside harbors strength of character he doesn't even know he has.
McKay: I'm sorry, is there a compliment in there?

Eldon: The technology on this ship is far more advanced than the Olesians.
McKay: How ironic then to have been shot down by the cast of Braveheart.

Sheppard: How's it coming, Rodney?
McKay: Slower than I expected, but faster than humanly possible.
Sheppard: Good, any chance of getting the cloaking generator back on line?
McKay: Okay, and uh maybe then you want me to make you a nice sandwich?
Sheppard: Only if it's humanly possible.

Sheppard: How much time do you need to rework the DHD?
McKay: Well, in a perfect world, two days.
Sheppard: Rodney?
McKay: Right now, uh, ten minutes, give or take.

Ronon: I was beginning to think you were afraid to fight.
Sheppard: I'm just naturally lazy, but I will if I have to — and it's starting to look like we have to.

Male Wraith: (sipping a glass of wine) I think this is my favorite vintage yet.
Magistrate: I hope you find the food acceptable as well. My new chef is quite accomplished.
Male Wraith: I certainly hope so. Your previous chef unfortunately proved to be far more appetizing than the meals he prepared.


Main Characters

Guest Stars


  • This episode shows that Wraith can eat normal food although it does not sustain them.
  • This episode shares elements similar to the Stargate SG-1 episode "Prisoners". Both involve a prison on the other side of the gate, and a substance that can create nuclear energy without radioactivity. Cold fusion produced by Linea's plants and catalyst in "Prisoners", fission produced by ore in this story. Both stories conclude with the Tau'ri helping the prisoners escape.
  • This is the first episode in which Teyla refers to Sheppard by his first name and in which Sheppard refers to Ronon Dex as "Chewie."


  • As Jumper 6 exits the Stargate on Olesia the Puddle Jumper prop can be seen in the tree line despite not having crashed yet. When Jumper 2 arrived later in the episode, the same shot is used with the cloak effect added to the Jumper and the crashed Jumper is in the same spot.
  • At 44 seconds into the episode, in the burning rubble, there is an upside down Oreo wrapper.
  • At the beginning of the episode Ronon Dex's hair is tied up, next at the camp it is down as is it when he is limping away then as they arrive back at the ship it is tied up again.

Other languages[]

  • Russian: Заключённые (The Prisoners)
  • Hungarian: Elítélve (Being Condemned)
  • German: Verurteilt (Condemned)
  • Czech: Odsouzenci (The Condemned)

External links[]

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