In 1994, a movie called “Stargate” changed the face of science fiction. Fifteen years and six-hundred television/home video spin-offs later, Fox Home Entertainment has brought forth “Stargate: Atlantis – Fans Choice” to Blu-ray in a very barebones release. The disc contains “Rising,” the pilot episode for “Stargate: Atlantis” and the series finale, “Enemy At The Gate” from Season Five.

In “Rising (2004)” we are treated to both cameos from “Stargate” alumni Richard Dean Anderson and Michael Shanks as well as the beginning of a new adventure. A new code is cracked, leading a band of Stargate travelers to the legendary lost city of Atlantis (wait, I thought it was a continent — oh, well). Naturally, it looks like it’ll be a one-way trip and the personnel will have to fend for themselves once there unless they can find the proverbial “rare commodity” — in this case a few spare Zero Point Modules to power up the sunken city. This pilot episode introduces us to series regulars Joe Flanigan (who looks so much like Cameron from “Ferris Bueller’s Day Off” that it kept making us giggle), Rachel Luttrell, and David Hewlett. Robert Patrick (no stranger to science fiction) also shows up as the gung-ho military guy.

Jumping ahead nearly 100 episodes, we find ourselves at the end: “Enemy At The Gate (2009)” Anybody that’s new to the series will no doubt be confused. More than half of the cast from the pilot ep are no longer on the series at this point. In their place are familiar sci/fi faces such as Robert Picardo (“Star Trek: Voyager” and Mitch Pileggi (“The X-Files”) — as well as that big guy from “Baywatch” (with dreadlocks!).

On Blu-ray, “Enemy At The Gate” (which is presented in an extended version) looks the better of the two. The colors on it are much brighter and the contrast a lot crisper (although it still isn’t enough to warrant a Blu-ray release in my opinion). The color/contrast on “Rising” is lesser in comparison: the colors appear to be muted and the contrast, well, not as good. Both eps are presented in their 1.78:1 widescreen ratio and in 1080p with the good ol’ AVC codec. Sound options include English DTS-HD Master Audio Lossless 5.1, as well as French and Spanish Dolby Digital 5.1 (the Spanish track on “Rising” is presented in Dolby Digital 2.0). English SDH and Spanish subtitles are included.

There are no special features to be found on this disc aside from a few bumpers for other “Stargate” home video releases are tacked on at the beginning of the disc. There is also a promo for the new “Stargate Universe” and a brief announcement informing us all that the Sci/Fi Channel has been sanitized for the Wal-Mart masses into Syfy (complete with a nauseating Comic Sans Serif font look to it — ugh).

Although personally, I see no reason to shell out $30 for the first and last episodes from a television spin-off, I can understand that many of the series’ fans would have no problem with that. I mean, it’s not called “Stargate: Atlantis – Fans Choice” for nothing, right?

CAST: Joe Flanigan … Lt. Colonel John Sheppard
Rachel Luttrell … Teyla Emmagan
David Hewlett … Dr. Rodney McKay
Jason Momoa … Ronon Dex
Torri Higginson … Dr. Elizabeth Weir
Amanda Tapping … Colonel Samantha Carter