Stargate: Atlantis

If you're going to travel back to the future, you might as well tag along with MacGyver. Stargate: Atlantis begins when SG-1 vet Jack O'Neill (Richard Dean Anderson) sends a new Stargate team on a one-way trip in search of the lost city of Atlantis. When the team arrives at the underwater city, they discover it's been abandoned—damn you, Costner!—and their arrival has weakened its protective force field. What this means to regular TV watchers: Team Atlantis must explore the new Stargate system or drown. Soon, they befriend a tribe of nomads who warn them of a sinister new enemy. And before you can say "I'll have the halibut," the group is attacked by the deadliest alien race since the Borg. By stranding the crew in a distant galaxy, Atlantis establishes a mythology independent of SG-1, so anyone can dive right into the action. The only thing missing: horny mermaids. But that's true about most everything on TV.