Having only seen a few episodes of 'Stargate: Atlantis' and given it is a young show, I have to say that while it may not be on the same level as 'Stargate: SG1', it is enjoyable in itself. No first season of any series is wonderful (look at Star Trek: The Next Generation) but 'Stargate: Atlantis' has fared quite well.
The characters are likable although understandably we don't have much of a feel for them yet. There is a nice rapport between Sheppard, McKay, Weir and Beckett already but I think Teyla needs some work otherwise she'll just end up a token alien character. I'm still not sure how I feel about the Wraiths yet, I hope they don't crop up in each and every episode and other plot devices are explored instead. There is nothing so dull as when TV show focus on the main 'baddie' to the exclusion of everything else (Buffy and Angel were guilty of this as was 'The X-Files').
I think if given some time 'Stargate: Atlantis' can progress to be as great as its predecessor and it certainly has the making of being a thrilling sci-fi show. People need to stop compared it to SG1 though and give it a chance to develop. Too many potentially good shows are cancelled too soon because they are not given the opportunity to improve.
