NEWS & SPOILERS
"Sometime soon, Monday I hear, Paul will have 'Travelers' ready, a gift for all those of the Shep-whumping persuasion." (Executive producer Joseph Mallozzi, in a post at his blog)
Lt. Colonel John Sheppard is captured by a race the team has never before encountered, who live out their lives on board a generational ship. Their leader is a to-the-point woman named Larrin. Whereas most races settle on a planet -- doing whatever they can do avoid the Wraith -- Larrin's people have taken to space, living their entire lives on this generational ship to avoid their enemies. This ship is their home. But it's not only to avoid the Wraith, Larrin tells Sheppard -- after so many years, now it is simply who they are.
Over the past few years, her people have heard rumors of a new power in the galaxy, humans who are using Ancient technology to battle the Wraith -- the Atlantis expedition. They set up spy satellites around many worlds, and eventually discovered and captured Sheppard. Larrin is quite interested in the fact that John has the gene required to operate Lantean technology.
Commander Larrin's people are attempting to create an interface that will allow them to use the advanced Lantean technology, and require a sample of John's blood. But that is only the beginning: they have a Lantean battleship. The massive vessel has been dormant for thousands of years, and Larrin wants Colonel Sheppard to make it work.
Guest characters include Larrin, Silas (an officer on Larrin's ship), and Nevik (Larrin's chief science officer). "Travelers" will air as the fourth episode of Season Four, according to Joseph Mallozzi.
"Jill is great as Larrin. Her group will put in at least one reappearance in the back of Season Four." (Executive producer Joseph Mallozzi, in a post at his blog)
"We created a race -- we call them 'Travelers.' One of the nice things about SG-1, for instance, is that we'd be able to go off-world and encounter technologically advanced people as well as low-tech people. But the problem with Atlantis in the Pegasus Galaxy is we said that whenever a race would get technologically advanced the Wraith would come in and wipe them out. So there was never opportunity for a race to reach that level.
"So we decided, actually there is a way: We'll just put them in ships. And so there's an armada of ships that go from planet to planet. They come down and scavenge the leftovers of societies that have been culled by the Wraith. It's sort of a loose cannon -- kind of roguish and untrustworthy in some ways, but also potential allies in another way. [They are] just generally the type of characters that I like -- not black or white, but kind of gray.
"Watched the Day 2 Mix of 'Travelers' yesterday. Great episode (hey, Sheppard bruised and bloodied -- what's not to like?), and tremendous work on the part of Joel Goldsmith who produced a terrific score." |