text: be all my sins remember 'd " be all my sins remember 'd " is the 71st episode of the science fiction television series stargate atlantis , and the eleventh episode of the series ' fourth season . the episode was written by atlantis co - executive producer , martin gero , his third script of the season , and directed by andy mikita . the episode originally aired on the sci fi channel in the united states on january 4 , 2008 , and aired on sky one in the united kingdom on january 8 . the episode 's title is derived from the line , " the fair ophelia ! nymph , in thy / be all my sins remember 'd " from the famous " to be or not to be " soliloquy in william shakespeare 's hamlet . the episode is the second installment of a three - episode arc that began with the mid - season finale " this mortal coil " ( also taken from hamlet 's soliloquy ) , in which - created copies of lieutenant colonel john sheppard and his team give their real counterparts on atlantis a device that reveals the presence of over thirty asuran battleships in the pegasus galaxy . the episode resolves the main asuran storyline with their permanent defeat at the hands of the atlantis expedition . the episode received generally positive critical reviews . plot the earth ships apollo and daedalus , which have been upgraded with asgard plasma beam weapons , arrive in the pegasus galaxy to battle the asurans . after some initial successes against their enemy , they learn that the asurans have retreated back to the safety of their homeworld to rebuild their numbers . rodney mckay ( david hewlett ) works with todd , a wraith prisoner ( brendan penny , christopher heyerdahl ) to create a computer virus to deactivate the asurans , but they do not succeed . however , mckay develops an alternate plan to enhance the attractive forces between the asuran nanites , pulling them together into a mass that the expedition can then implode by overloading around it . to carry out this plan , he creates another humanoid replicator to serve as a nucleus , later dubbed " fran " ( " friendly replicator android " , played by michelle morgan ) . for the plan to be successful , the expedition must also prevent the asuran ships from escaping into hyperspace . the wraith prisoner convinces seven wraith hive ships to join the earth ships ' attack . concerned about the asuran threat , the travelers under larrin contribute some of their ships as well . back on atlantis , teyla ( rachel luttrell ) is forced to admit that she is pregnant , and is pulled off duty . the combined fleet arrives over the asuran homeworld and engages the enemy fleet , while fran beams down to the surface and begins to pull the other nanites towards her . however , the mass collapses the power grid , meaning that the cannot be overloaded . mckay and colonel carter ( amanda tapping ) determine that , if they increase the mass 's attraction to the ultra - dense in the planet 's crust , the additional mass will cause it to sink into the core of the planet . the pressure and heat in the core initiates a fusion reaction so that the planet explodes , shortly after the allied fleet escapes . one asuran ship survives at the end of the episode , revealing its commander as elizabeth weir ( torri higginson ) , who notes that their " work " can now begin without interference . production writer martin gero completed the script of " be all my sins remember 'd " by may 7 , 2007 . the script included a conversation between carter and colonel caldwell ( mitch pileggi ) , where he talks to her as an " equal " , but the filmed scene was cut when the episode was longer than anticipated . the production crew felt the scene was not important enough , but gero also noticed with surprise that mitch pileggi acted it out as if it were a " romance scene " . mitch pileggi returned as colonel caldwell , who has not appeared in the series since season three 's twelfth episode , " echoes " , due to pileggi 's commitments in the batman animated series . he also appeared alongside michael beach , who last played colonel abe ellis in " lifeline " . christopher heyerdahl returned as the wraith character who would be named " todd " in the next episode . however , heyerdahl was unavailable to appear for " be all my sins remember 'd " , so brendan penny filled in for the part . penny was made to look like heyerdahl as convincingly as possible , but heyerdahl was asked to provide the voice for the character since the producers feared that the audience would later pick up on penny 's voice otherwise . michelle morgan played " fran " , the " friendly replicator android " . morgan was originally set to play , davos ' daughter from a previous episode , " the seer " . however , the role was given to kimberley when morgan had to participate in a reshoot of her role in diary of the dead . morgan was disappointed that she did not get the role of , but stated after her casting as fran that it was fun to play a character that is highly dangerous and yet completely innocent . jill wagner returned as larrin for this episode , after her debut appearance in " travelers " . torri higginson returned as elizabeth weir in her fourth appearance in the season , at the very end of the episode . the script intended her to have two lines of dialog in the episode , but producers knew that the audience would recognize higginson 's voice and hence used a stand - in to say the first line instead . the visual effects were done by the vancouver - based image engine . before the broadcasting , atlantis visual effects supervisor mark savela revealed that the episode would have the " biggest effects sequence viewers will ever have seen , " which involved the epic space battle in the climax of the episode . savela intended the visual effects to top the minute - long sequence of the horizon missiles firing to the asuran homeworld in the season three finale " first strike " . the sequence was reportedly so complicated that for the first time in the series , models were used to physically map out the action before creating the initial animatics . gero later stated that the episode had a battle sequence that " we will not be able to top . it is the greatest special effects sequence that the show has ever done . " the episode used an extent of special effects and had one of the highest budgets in the entire series , comparable with the series ' pilot episode " rising " . reception when " be all my sins remember 'd " aired on the sci fi channel on january 4 , 2008 , the episode received a total household ratings of 1 . 4 , a ratings record for the series ' fourth season , and the highest in the series since the 1 . 5 rating of the season three finale , " first strike " . " be all my sins remember 'd " made stargate atlantis sci fi 's highest rated original series of the week , and the second most viewed broadcasting in total , second to the television movie " beyond loch ness " , which starred stargate veterans don s. davis and paul mcgillion and had a rating of 1 . 7 . in its uk airing on sky one on january 8 , 2008 , the episode was watched by approximately 485 , 000 viewers , making the series the most - watched series of the week , even beating the simpsons . ign 's tory ireland mell gave the episode an " incredible " rating of 9 . 6 out of 10 , praising the return of larrin and the introduction of " fran " . he described the space battle against the replicators as " legendary " , but did not feel that the visual effects were as good as battlestar galactica . gateworld rated the episode with four stars ( out of a possible four ) , only one of two episodes in the season to do so . " be all my sins remember 'd " achieved 9 . 52 out of 10 from the gateworld fan rating , making it one of only seven episodes in the stargate franchise to have a fan rating higher than 9 . 5 at the time . the space battle earned the visual effects team a nomination for " best visual effects " in the 23rd annual gemini awards , but they lost to the tudors . four days after the episode 's first broadcast , stargate atlantis won a people 's choice award for " best sci - fi show " , beating battlestar galactica and doctor who .