Template:Stargate character Dr. Radek Zelenka is a Czech Atlantis expedition scientist portrayed by David Nykl in the television series Stargate Atlantis. He is an expert on Ancient technology, second only to Rodney McKay on the expedition, and besides Czech, is quite fluent in English.
Season 1
Zelenka has come through many times for the expedition. When Sheppard's team Puddle Jumper was stuck in an active Stargate, he went to work in another Puddle Jumper to try to isolate the control pathways of the engine pod so McKay could retract the frozen, extended engine pod [1].
Later on in Season One, he worked with McKay to try to figure out a way to protect the city from the massive hurricane heading its way, but left before the city was taken by an elite Genii strike team [2].
While looking from structural damage in the city due to the storm, he and McKay played Prime/Not Prime. It was also revealed that he had been given Dr. Beckett's ATA Gene Therapy, but it did not take [3].
He inadvertently discovered Atlantis' deep-space sensors. Thanks to them, they discovered the Wraith hive-ships that were making its way to Atlantis [4].
When they thought they would have to evacuate the city, he devised a computer virus that would destroy the highly redundant Ancient database, should Atlantis become lost to the human expedition. He also aided McKay in completing the Genii nuclear bombs, which would be used to destroy the two Wraith hive ships when delivered by a cloaked Puddle Jumper [5].
Season 2
After the Daedalus arrived with the Zero Point Module, Radek took control of shield operations in the Control Room while Rodney went to install the ZPM to power it. Afterwards, he helped Rodney interface the Puddle Jumpers' cloak systems with Atlantis' shield so they could cloak the city and make the Wraith believe Atlantis self-destructed by detonating a Genii atomic bomb above the shield. When a Wraith enzyme-addicted Lt. Ford broke from the infirmary, he knocked Zelenka down in order to steal a Puddle Jumper [6].
After the Wraith dart that had captured Dr. McKay and Lt. Cadman was shot down at Col. Sheppard's order, Dr. Zelenka travelled off-world for the first time since his arrival to Atlantis to try to save them. He found out they were trapped inside the Wraith dart's teleportation device, but there was only enough energy to rematerialize one of them at the time. Sheppard told him to extract McKay, but Zelenka informed him that he could not tell which life sign was which. Sheppard just chose one, who turned out to be McKay, but a malfunction caused Lt. Cadman's mind to be trapped in McKay's body alonside his own. The team took the damaged Wraith Dart back to Atlantis to attempt to retrieve LT. Cadman's body. after many unsuccesful attempts with mice, McKay finally came up with a viable way to power the rematerializer, saving himself and Lt. cadman [7].
He worked alongside McKay while trying to make the experimental Ancient power generator, Project Arcturus, work. While attempting to bring the power generator and weapon back online, an scientist was killed when the reaction breached containment. Zelenka returned to Earth, and figured out why the Ancients had abandoned this technology (It turned out the reaction was impossible to contain). He warned McKay not to try, but McKay did not listen and almost got himself and Lt. Colonel Sheppard killed from radiation poisoning. After Zelenka's overload prediction came trued, Rodney and Sheppard escaped, and Rodney later apologized to Zelenka [8].
While McKay was on a mission Zelenka noticed a second Wraith Hive ship heading towards Atlantis on the long range scanners, which is revelaed to belong to Michael in the finale of Season Two [9].
Trivia
- The name "Radek" comes from the episode "The Siege (Part 1)". McKay calls him by his first name before leaving for the Ancient's weapon satellite array.
- Early in the series, McKay always seems to forget Zelenka's last name, often referring to him as "The Czech"
- While Zelenka usually only says the occasional short phrase in Czech, he effusively described Atlantis rising from the ocean entirely in his native language in "Letters from Pegasus". Team members were permitted to make recorded messages to send to their families, so long as they didn't mention any classified material, i.e. that they were on another planet in another galaxy and the government had access to the technology to travel there. Lt. Aiden Ford, the person making the recording, spoke no Czech, but in a humorous scene asked him if he has said anything classified, to which he responded "Classified?"
- It has been mentioned that his frequent bursts of Czech are extremely popular among Stargate fans who speak the language. David Nykl has declared they are 50 percent translations of the script and 50 percent his own invention [10]
References
- ^ "Thirty-eight Minutes". Stargate Atlantis.
{{cite episode}}: Unknown parameter|episodelink=ignored (|episode-link=suggested) (help); Unknown parameter|serieslink=ignored (|series-link=suggested) (help) - ^ "The Storm". Stargate Atlantis.
{{cite episode}}: Unknown parameter|episodelink=ignored (|episode-link=suggested) (help); Unknown parameter|serieslink=ignored (|series-link=suggested) (help) - ^ "Hot Zone". Stargate Atlantis.
{{cite episode}}: Unknown parameter|episodelink=ignored (|episode-link=suggested) (help); Unknown parameter|serieslink=ignored (|series-link=suggested) (help) - ^ "The Brotherhood". Stargate Atlantis.
{{cite episode}}: Unknown parameter|episodelink=ignored (|episode-link=suggested) (help); Unknown parameter|serieslink=ignored (|series-link=suggested) (help) - ^ "The Siege, Part 1 & 2". Stargate Atlantis.
{{cite episode}}: Unknown parameter|episodelink=ignored (|episode-link=suggested) (help); Unknown parameter|serieslink=ignored (|series-link=suggested) (help) - ^ "The Siege, Part 3". Stargate Atlantis.
{{cite episode}}: Unknown parameter|episodelink=ignored (|episode-link=suggested) (help); Unknown parameter|serieslink=ignored (|series-link=suggested) (help) - ^ "Duet". Stargate Atlantis.
{{cite episode}}: Unknown parameter|episodelink=ignored (|episode-link=suggested) (help); Unknown parameter|serieslink=ignored (|series-link=suggested) (help) - ^ "Trinity". Stargate Atlantis.
{{cite episode}}: Unknown parameter|episodelink=ignored (|episode-link=suggested) (help); Unknown parameter|serieslink=ignored (|series-link=suggested) (help) - ^ "Inferno". Stargate Atlantis.
{{cite episode}}: Unknown parameter|episodelink=ignored (|episode-link=suggested) (help); Unknown parameter|serieslink=ignored (|series-link=suggested) (help) - ^ GateWorld - Interviews: David Nykl (May 2006)
External links
- Character description from GateWorld. Visited May 29, 2006.
- Character biography from StargateWiki. Visited May 29, 2006.