Question: How many drones can a puddle jumper hold?
Question: Was it ever confirmed that Ford died on the wraith hive ship?
Answer: No. In "The Third Path" (book from Legacy series), he even appeared on travelers ship.
Question: Doesn't it seem like the Wraith have been scaled down over the course of the season? In the beginning, they were beings with superhuman strength and speed who could heal bullet wounds (The Defiant One) and create illusions. Now they are only slightly faster/stronger than humans, and Ronon beats them on a regular basis, as does Sheppard. Doesn't it seem a bit too convenient?
Answer: Not necessarily. Atlantis has had several captured Wraith to study and they have been fighting them for years. They've clearly learned Wraith vulnerabilities. Sheppard also carries a much more powerful .45 instead of the 9mm M9 after the first season. Ronon never had much trouble beating a Wraith and he and Teyla have both been training Sheppard. Wraith darts create the illusions, not the Wraith themselves. And finally, the Wraith are slowly starving as they were awakened far too early and are correspondingly less powerful.
Answer: It was very obvious that they nerfed the Wraith a lot during the course of the show. No question about that. Probably it had to do with the access to food was limited thanks to the Replicators, and also because they needed to give the humans a chance to beat them. But in universe it is explained that Wraith who feed at slow intervals are not that strong. And it makes sense when you think about the Wraith and how they survive.
Question: Part of being in the Pegasus galaxy is that the 8th chevron is for travelling across galaxies. They say the first 6 are for the destination, and the 7th is for the point of origin. My question is, how do they always know the 7th symbol for the planet they are on? They always know how to dial out, even under fire, but how do they know the 7th chevron all the time?
Answer: All DHDs have a set of symbols, either 38 or 35, the former being the Milky Way gate system, and the latter being the Pegasus. They each have an individual Point of Origin Symbol, making them have 39 and 36 symbols in total for each set of gates in the different systems. Like a phone, the DHDs and the Milky Way gates have a standard order and placement of the different dialing symbols, with the PO symbol would be placed somewhere, lets say at the top on the outer rim of the DHD, between two of the constellations, always the same.
Question: I've been told stargate Atlantis was cancelled because it was too expensive to make. Is this true?
Answer: True, and the reason is complicated. Production costs were rising and it was announced that Season 5 would be the last, but there was to be a direct-to-DVD movie after the series ended, with more movies to follow. The movie was never made, and while there were later discussions about a revived Season 6, the MGM studio was undergoing financial difficulties, eventually going bankrupt. The project, after numerous failed attempts to negotiate with other production companies, was eventually shelved.
Question: What's with the earth ships lowering or raising shields for beaming and ships to come in and out, and why do they keep changing it all the time?
Answer: Shields are shields, and until Odyssey got the Asgard treatment in Unending, nothing can go through them. No transporting and no docking. After Unending, it is shown in Atlantis that beaming can be done through the shields, but not docking. They never changed this but once. Anything else is just a goof.
Well you do see X302 flying out of the ship during a battle and shields are up, but in Atlantis season 5 episode 1 they lower their shields for puddle jumpers to come on on board. I understand that some ships can pass through Shields and some can't. Ancient ships can go through Atlantis shield. Pegasus Asgard could go through an Atlantis shield until they made modifications to prevent that.
The shields only work in one direction. Things can travel out of the shields, such as the missiles and railgun fire. This includes the F-302s. The puddle jumpers needed to enter the shields, which cannot be done without lowering them.
Answer: It's never explicitly stated in the show.