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Aiden Ford

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Aiden Ford
Rainbow Sun Francks as Aiden Ford
First appearance"Rising"
Last appearance"Search and Rescue"
Portrayed byRainbow Sun Francks
In-universe information
SpeciesHuman
OccupationUnited States Marine Corps officer
FamilyGrandparents
NationalityAmerican

Aiden Ford is a fictional character in the Canadian-American Sci-Fi Channel television series Stargate Atlantis, a military science fiction show about a military team exploring the galaxy via a network of alien transportation devices. Played by Rainbow Sun Francks, Aiden Ford is introduced as a main character in the season one premiere "Rising", holding the military rank of First Lieutenant in the United States Marine Corps.

Ford was a regular in season one. Since the series producers and the actor himself felt that Ford had not worked as intended and was highly underused, the writers came up with an idea to make the character more important in a recurring role. Ford appears in season two and also in season five.

Character arc

Lieutenant Aiden Ford is introduced in the series premiere, "Rising", where he is stationed at the Antarctica outpost. Ford served in the Stargate Command (SGC) before and is twenty-five years old at the beginning of the first season.[1] The only family that Ford mentions are his grandparents. Ford served as John Sheppard's second-in-command after the events of "Rising"[2] until a Wraith feeds upon Ford during a Wraith attack on Atlantis in season 2's "The Siege, Part 3". An exploding grenade blows them off a building into the ocean, and Ford's unconscious body and the still attached Wraith are recovered nearly an hour later. Ford survives after having an overdose of Wraith enzyme and later undergoes mental and physical changes. Ford develops a solid black left eye and becomes more aggressive and paranoid, fleeing Atlantis with a stolen Puddle Jumper.[3]

Physical changes in Ford induced by the Wraith attack.

The Atlantis team encounters him again in "Runner" where they learn that Ford began killing Wraiths throughout the Pegasus galaxy to harvest their enzyme that gave him abnormal strength. Ford is presumed dead when he deliberately jumps into the culling beam of a Wraith dart, but the Atlantis team encounters him again in the mid-season-2 parter "The Lost Boys"/"The Hive".[4] The Wraith-enzyme allowed Ford to immediately rematerialize on-board a Wraith-hive ship, from where he escaped only to build up a small strike force of young men following his suit by informing them about the benefits of the Wraith-enzyme. Ford asks the Atlantis team for help in destroying an entire Wraith Hive-ship, but the mission fails and forces Sheppard to leave Ford behind on an about-to-explode hive ship.[5][6] Ford is only seen again in Sheppard's dream in the season 5 episode "Search and Rescue".[7]

Conceptual history

Rainbow Sun Francks at Wolf Pegasus One, London, 2006

After the end of season 1, the series producers, and the actor himself, felt that Ford had not worked as intended and was highly underused as a result.[8] Unwilling to write him out, the writers came up with an idea to make the character more important, but that downgraded him to a recurring character.[8] Producer Joseph Mallozzi said in 2009 that "We can assume [Ford] went down [...] with the ship" in "The Hive".[9] Rainbow Sun Francks was disappointed about the evolution of his character, saying Ford did not evolve a backstory which the other characters did.[10] Francks called the situation "tough", he reacted positive towards the development of character during the second season.[10]

After announcing that Ronon Dex would become a main character in the Atlantis series, they followed up with another announcement saying that they had reduced Ford to a recurring character in the series.[11] Many fans were disappointed with this new development because many felt he didn't have time to "prove" himself in the new series and that the character was never fully developed compared to the other characters in the show.[11] Many campaigns to save the character were created after the announcement, the most notably being the F.O.R.D. campaign.[11] Francks said that the change was not a "blow", since he and Brad Wright had already discussed the change.[11] He was also more positive in the change of story arc for the character, saying he was a "big part" of the second season compared to season one where they hadn't enough episodes to broaden the character.[11] When asked about reducing Francks' role in Atlantis, Wright replied "The change in status means that Francks will not appear in every episode, and will not be listed in the show's opening credits."[12]

Reception

Fans of the character set up campaigns to get Ford back as a main character later in season two or season three. They sent various petitions to the producers, cast and crew of Stargate Atlantis to change their minds. Fans of the character even put up a website under the name F.O.R.D., which in turn was also the name for one of the campaigns fighting for the revival of the character.[13]

References

  1. ^ Director: David Winning Writer(s): Martin Gero. "Childhood's End". Stargate Atlantis. Season 1. Episode 6. Sci Fi Channel. {{cite episode}}: Unknown parameter |episodelink= ignored (|episode-link= suggested) (help); Unknown parameter |serieslink= ignored (|series-link= suggested) (help)
    — Sheppard: "Ford? How old are you?"
    — Ford: "Twenty five, sir."
  2. ^ Director: Martin Wood Writer(s): Brad Wright and Robert C. Cooper. "Rising". Stargate Atlantis. Season 1. Episode 1–2. Sci Fi Channel. {{cite episode}}: Unknown parameter |episodelink= ignored (|episode-link= suggested) (help); Unknown parameter |serieslink= ignored (|series-link= suggested) (help)
  3. ^ Director: Martin Wood Writer(s): Martin Gero. "The Siege". Stargate Atlantis. Season 1-2. Episode 19-20 (season 1) 1 (season 2). Sci Fi Channel. {{cite episode}}: Unknown parameter |episodelink= ignored (|episode-link= suggested) (help); Unknown parameter |serieslink= ignored (|series-link= suggested) (help)
  4. ^ Director: Martin Wood Writer(s): Robert C. Cooper. "Runner". Stargate Atlantis. Season 2. Episode 3. Sci Fi Channel. {{cite episode}}: Unknown parameter |episodelink= ignored (|episode-link= suggested) (help); Unknown parameter |serieslink= ignored (|series-link= suggested) (help)
  5. ^ Director: Brad Turner Writer(s): Martin Gero. "The Lost Boys". Stargate Atlantis. Season 2. Episode 10. Sci Fi Channel. {{cite episode}}: Unknown parameter |episodelink= ignored (|episode-link= suggested) (help); Unknown parameter |serieslink= ignored (|series-link= suggested) (help)
  6. ^ Director: Martin Wood Writer(s): Carl Binder. "The Hive". Stargate Atlantis. Season 2. Episode 11. The Movie Network. {{cite episode}}: Unknown parameter |episodelink= ignored (|episode-link= suggested) (help); Unknown parameter |serieslink= ignored (|series-link= suggested) (help)
  7. ^ Director: Andy Mikita Writer(s): = Martin Gero. "Search and Rescue". Stargate Atlantis. Season 5. Episode 1. The Movie Network. {{cite episode}}: Unknown parameter |episodelink= ignored (|episode-link= suggested) (help); Unknown parameter |serieslink= ignored (|series-link= suggested) (help)
    — Ford: "You don't remember rescuing her [Teyla] because you didn't. Just like you never rescued me."
    — Sheppard: "I have had a chance to rescue a team mate before, and it slipped through my hands. I am not letting that happen again."
  8. ^ a b Gosling, Sharon (2006). "Into season 2". Stargate Atlantis: The Official Companion Season 2. London: Titan Books. pp. 10–11. ISBN 1-84576-163-4. {{cite book}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |origdate= (help); Unknown parameter |origmonth= ignored (help)
  9. ^ Joseph Mallozzi (January 31, 2009). "I'll take a DVD, an eight-track cassette, and a tincture of laudanum". Joseph Mallozzi's Weblog. Retrieved 2009-05-09.
  10. ^ a b Feli Oram, Lynley (February, 2005). "Ford Tough". GateWorld. Retrieved 2009-05-09. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  11. ^ a b c d e Feli Oram, Lynley (February, 2005). "Ford Up Front". GateWorld. Retrieved 2009-05-09. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  12. ^ Darren Sumner (January 3, 2006). "Francks will be recurring in Season Two". GateWorld. Retrieved 2009-05-09.
  13. ^ David Read (March 15, 2005). "Francks thanks fans for supporting Ford". GateWorld. Retrieved 2009-05-10.

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