Stargate Atlantis/Aiden Ford

Lieutenant Aiden Ford
Stargate Atlantis
Actor	Rainbow Sun Francks
First Appearance	1x01 - Rising Part 1
Last Appearance	—
Series Billing	Season 1: Billed Season 2: Recurring
Episode Count	—
Notable Episodes	—

Basic Information

Lt. Aiden Ford was a United States Marine and the Atlantis expedition's military second-in-command under John Sheppard.

Character History

Experienced in gate travel (unlike his superior officer, Major John Sheppard), Ford was assigned to the Pegasus expedition and served for roughly a year as Major Sheppard's second-in-command after the death of the previous military commander, Colonel Marshall Sumner, forced Sheppard to take command of the expedition's military contingent.

Sadly, during the Wraith attack on Atlantis at the end of the first season, Ford was one of the casualties, but in a strange way - as a Wraith warrior attempted to drain his life force, an explosion knocked them both off the catwalk they were standing on and into the ocean below. The Wraith enzyme flooded into him, and when he became conscious once more he found that the enzyme had blessed him with superior survival ability and strength: he had survived an hour face down in the water below Atlantis.

Lt. Ford disfigured by Wraith enzyme

The massive Wraith enzyme overdose also disfigured him and made him exhibit paranoid tendencies. He believed that his teammates' attempts to help him were a result of their jealosy over his new abilities, and ultimately hijacked a Puddlejumper and fled Atlantis.

The Atlantis team continued to search for Ford for quite some time, eventually tracking him to P3M-736. Ford wanted to prove himself to the Atlantis expedition and Sheppard once more, and the team tried to convince him to return, but he refused to go back until he had proven the superiority of his new enhanced physiology, and allowed himself to be taken by a Wraith transporter fired from an attacking Dart as a means of escape.

He escaped from the Wraith and collected enough enzyme to start building a small militia of other Wraith enzyme-enhanced soldiers, and they established an outpost and struck out, raiding local races like the Genii for technology and weapons in addition to killing Wraith and collecting fresh enzyme.

Ford's militia caught Sheppard and his team and infected McKay, Ronon and Teyla, with the enzyme, then held Dr. McKay hostage against Sheppard's help in an attack on a Wraith hive ship. The attack went south and the team was captured and held long enough for the soldiers that Ford brought to die from withdrawal from the Wraith enzyme and Ford to nearly die himself. The team eventually escaped before Ford's death, and Ford managed to get his hands on enough enzyme to get himself back up to combat capability and, having reestablished a rapport with Sheppard, appeared to sacrifice his life allowing Sheppard and his team to escape. However, there was likely more than enough time for him to have found a way off the Wraith vessel before it was destroyed, and Sheppard expressed his personal belief that Ford had indeed escaped and would be encountered again.

Trivia

• The character of Aiden Ford was named after Joe Flanigan's son Aiden.

Quotes

• Rising (1)

(answering Sheppard's question about what stepping through the Gate feels like)
Ford: (straight-faced) Hurts like hell, sir.
(Sheppard looks concerned, Ford holds the serious face for a beat and then grins)
Ford: Woo-hoo! (jumps in)