Keeping track of when Sci-Fi's "seasons" begin and end is beyond my limited intelligence, but another handful of new "Stargate Atlantis" episodes are in the process of airing after about a three-month break. Despite the fact that "Stargate SG-1" never did very much for me, I've grown to really enjoy its spinoff, which has a more talented and more diverse cast and a far more interesting (and slightly less cheesy) central race of villains. Much as how my immoderate affection for "Supernatural" probably stems in no small part from the complete lack of any other decent horror/fantasy series currently in production, "Stargate Atlantis" is an acceptable surrogate in the absence of a real "Star Trek" show these days. "Atlantis" manages to overcome the haven't-I-seen-this-somewhere-before feeling common to many of its episodes with witty writing, lovable characters, and a willingness to not to take itself too seriously it inherited from its parent series. (Which reminds me, that's why I don't find the much-adored "Battlestar Galactica" an acceptable "Trek" substitute. It's bleak as Eastern European cinema and way less funny. I know some people swear by it, but the honest truth is it bores me to tears. I can't watch shows that are completely unfunny. I have the same problem with "24.")

The best reason to watch "Stargate Atlantis" is the way it has become a post-cancellation refuge for a who's who of genre stars. For the fourth season beginning this summer, Jewel Staite from "Firefly" and Amanda Tapping from "SG-1" are joining the cast as recurring characters. They join Mitch Pileggi ("The X-Files"), Connor Trinneer ("Enterprise"), and Robert Picardo ("Star Trek: Voyager"). Colm Meaney and Robert Patrick have been on the show as well, although their characters are now demised.

But the most terrifying recurring presence in the "Atlantis" world is portrayed by inescapable sitcom vet Richard Kind, whose character Lucius returned for a second episode in the current clutch of new ones. Lucius is an incredibly obnoxious, self-obsessed lout who forces people to do his bidding (and worse, listen to his stories) by controlling their minds with pheromones. On a show where the survival of Earth is threatened at least two or three times per season (as an effect of chopping the "seasons" up into three separate two-month pods, multiple cliffhangers are required on "Atlantis") there's nothing scarier than the thought of spending the rest of one's existence condemned to listening to Kind's shrill voice.