Stargate Atlantis/Carson Beckett

Dr. Carson Beckett
Stargate Atlantis
Actor	Paul McGillion
First Appearance	1x01 Rising Part 1
Last Appearance	—
Series Billing	Season 1: Recurring Season 2: Billed
Episode Count	—
Notable Episodes	—

Basic Information

Dr. Beckett is the Atlantis Expedition's chief medical officer (although he is not in the military). The character had only a recurring role in the first season but was bumped up to series regular for season 2 on. Dr. Beckett is one of "the most brilliant doctors in two galaxies" (John Sheppard, 2x17) and often comes up with unique and unorthodox solutions to medical problems.

After becoming a series regular the character started becoming much more actively involved in off world missions often being called upon to assist in medical emergencies or in treating various native peoples. While he started out deathly afraid of going on missions he has slowly overcome this fear and now often teases "Rodney" over his irrational fears.

He is a native of Scotland and wears a Scottish flag patch on his shoulder. It is unknown why he wears this instead of the Union Jack since English members of the expedition are seen wearing it and not St. George's Cross (see Dr. Grodin).

Character History

Wraith Retrovirus

Dr. Beckett began working on a retroviral cure for Wraithism by trying to remove the iratus bug DNA from the human DNA almost as soon as the bugs were discovered (1x04). He had created an untested version of it when Lt. Col. Sheppard's team found a young female Wraith that wanted to be cured. It turned out that that version of the cure removed the human DNA instead of the iratus bug DNA turning the Wraith into a mindless monster (2x07).
Lt. Col. Sheppard was bitten by this mutated Wraith and slowly began to mutate himself. Beckett came up with a cure for his condition but this required the use of pure iratus bug DNA so he led an expedition to the iratus homeworld with Major Lorne. They were unsuccessful and two of Lorne's team members perished. Sheppard himself than managed to get a sample of the bug and Dr. Beckett fashioned a cure for his condition (2x08).
Dr. Beckett continued to work on his retrovirus until it reached a point where he was ready to test it so a Wraith was captured and he adminstered the retrovirus to it. The conversion was complete but it was not permanent and it failed to eliminate the feeding impulse (2x18). The Wraith now know of his cure and may come looking for him to use it against their rivals.

Quotes

• Letters from Pegasus: I wish I wasn't bloody here!