Promo images for the Stargate: Atlantis episode (Season 5, Episode 20) “Enemy at the Gates”. That’s right. This is the final episode of Stargate: Atlantis before the cast and crew jet off into their very own series of made-for-DVD movies, following in the footsteps of the Stargate: SG1 gang. From the looks of these promos (VERY SPOILERISH, I must say), I guess we know who ends up with whom — at least at the end of the episode.

MGM and The Sci Fi Channel have now confirmed that Season 5 of Stargate: Atlantis will indeed be the show’s final season; once the current season ends, the show will move to a series of direct-to-DVD movies, similar to what happened with Stargate: SG1. There will be two Atlantis movies first, and depending on how they do, will probably result in more. But have no fear, Stargate fans. After Atlantis leaves the air, you won’t be denied your weekly dose of Stargate — The Sci Fi Channel has greenlit a new Stargate series. Yup, it’s Stargate: Universe, which we’ve heard of before.

I have to admit, although I have DVR every episode of Stargate: Atlantis starting with this year, I was a little shock to realize that it had been on the air for five years. Now it appears as if the show’s current fifth season will also be its last, with the Sci Fi Channel planning on shutting down production on the series and moving the cast/crew onto a Stargate: Atlantis movie franchise, similar to what they recently did with Stargate: SG1. That venture, it would appear, proved successful enough that the Sci Fi Channel now wants to do the same with Atlantis.

For those keeping track of the constantly rotating cast on the Sci Fi Channel’s Stargate: Atlantis show, these new batch of S:A Season 5 promos won’t come as too much of a surprise. The biggest SPOILER is that there is clearly one character missing from the cast promos, and if you’ve been following up on news in the Stargate Universe, you probably already have it figured out. But in case you haven’t yet, I won’t spoil it for you, and tell you not to click on to see the promos, because you will find out.

The Sci Fi Channel has released their premiere dates for their returning and new shows in a press release. Some of the shows expected back in the cable net’s Summer line-up includes the last Stargate show standing, Atlantis, which returns for its fifth season, and original hit Eureka, which returns for its third year; also returning are Ghost Hunters, Ghost Hunters International, and prank show Scare Tactics, which had been canceled for a while there, but is now back. I still have no idea what pulling pranks has to do with sci-fi (and hosted by Tracy Morgan, of all people), but I love the show anyways.

When you’ve starred in one science fiction show, it’s almost a given that you can waltz into another science fiction show without any background check. Once you’ve been on one show, you can go to another without a problem, because even though something like Firefly was lowly rated and barely seen, you’ve still got sci-fi cache. Which explains why Jewel Staite easily jumped from the cancelled Firefly to the running Stargate: Atlantis, where she’s just nabbed a regular starring role. Jewel Staite is our Sci-Fi Babe Spotlight of the day.

The Sci Fi Channel announced today that Season 5 of Stargate: Atlantis will begin later this month with a 20-episode order. There are also news of returning and leaving castmembers. Of note is Amanda Tapping, who will be doing “guest star” work while Sci Fi revs up production on her new series, Sanctuary. Paul McGillion, meanwhile, will return for a multi-episode arc, and Robert Picardo’s Woosley character has been given an upgrade in status — he’ll be joining the cast as a regular, and his character will assume command of the Atlantis expedition. And oh yeah, Michael Shanks will also be making appearances.

Amanda Tapping’s web series “Sanctuary” is being adapted into a regular TV series by the Sci Fi Channel, says The Hollywood Reporter. “Sanctuary”, which starred Amanda Tapping, started life as an original web-based series created and produced by Tapping and her SG-1 colleagues, Damian Kindler and Martin Wood.

Or at least, as good as Sci Fi Channel shows can do, anyway. Let’s face it: not a whole lot of people GET the Sci Fi Channel, much less get to watch the shows on them like Stargate SG1 and Stargate: Atlantis. But if you did get the Sci Fi Channel, chances are you were watching, because according to the Channel, the ratings for the two finales were pretty darn decent.