Well, we were back at it today, spinning stories for season five in a bid to top the tremendous twenty episodes that make up the Atlantis’s fourth season. SciFi has aired the first five and trust me when I say that the best is yet to come. This week’s installment, Tabula Rasa, is one of my favorites of the first half, a wonderfully freaky entry that offers up a truly WTF (?!) tease. It’s also one of the most unique-looking episodes we’ve done.

But even though you’re only a quarter of the way through season four, we’re already thinking about next year. Talk about planning ahead. After rolling in at approximately 9:30ish and dispensing with the niceties (“So, what did you on your time off besides worry about the pick-up?”), we settled down to our customary Monday morning post-football-weekend discussion (“Sorry about your Trojans, Carl”, “Hey, how about them Hawaii Rainbows!”, “My dark horse Browns are looking great!”) after which we moved on to the most important topic of the day: lunch. Suggestions were made, supported, critiqued, and hotly debated until, finally, a clear winner emerged: Lombardo’s Pizza. But sadly, for some bizarre reason known to only Lombardo himself, the place had run out of pepperoni. So, Lombardo’s was out and Carl-fave Domino’s was in. Who says I always eat too froo-froo? Check ’em out: BBQ chicken, all-dressed, pepperoni and cheese, and Brooklyn style. I had one of each.

Following lunch, we actually got down to business… And so it begins.

Oh, a little correction to something I stated in yesterday’s blog entry. The process of re-attaching Jason’s dreads will not take the laborious four hours I had assumed. It’ll actually take a little longer. Approximately two days. See, this is why I prefer to keep him hair short.

Also, the results are in for the November Joe’s Book of the Month Club selections and the winners are…

In the fantasy category: Stephen King’s The Gunslinger beat out Robert Silverberg’s Lord Valentine’s Castle 21 votes to 11.

In the science fiction category: it was a little closer, but Frank Herbert’s The White Plague beat out Connie Willis’ The Doomsday Book 21-16.

Of course the simple fact that they’re not official selections doesn’t mean I won’t be reading ’em. I finished up last month’s runners-up, Perdido Street Station and Legion of the Damned, last week and enjoyed them both (although I preferred Heorot over Legion and preferred Mieville’s The Scar over his earlier Perdido). So, start reading. Discussion begins the last week of November.

Today’s pics: Look who’s back! And lunch!

Today’s video: None.

Today’s mailbag:

Han writes: “ Hm, do you realise that Carter’s absence in “Travellers” really didn’t make a strong case for her being a “better, more involved” leader than Weir? In fact, i think it rather played more to the contrary.”

Answer: Hmm. Now that you put it that way, the same could be said for the rest of the team. Are you making a case for losing them as well?

OhioAnne writes: “And what was for dessert?”

Answer: Unfortunately, the desserts were from a local Chinese bakery = a light and relatively tasteless assortment.

Yasmin writes: “How do you cook beets?”

Answer: Fondy boils them, then tosses them with a little oil, vinegar, and onion.

Smiley Face06 writes: “On the GW forum, there are already anti season 5 threads. That makes absolutely no sense to me, for various reasons.”

Answer: Yeah, I found those hilarious. (Yeah, I said hilarious.) Criticizing a show you are watching is one thing, but actively campaigning against the production of a show that other fans are enjoying is, well, idiotic. “Yeah, I said idiotic.)

Dovil writes: “Damn my illiteracy turning sheep shearing into something universally illegal except in Wales.”

Answer: Thanks for the correction.

P.S. Really? Wales?

Joanieloveschachi writes: “What is Martin Gero really like?”

Answer: It’s kind of hard to tell as, ever since his big screen debut, he has taken to communicating with us through a mina bird named Scratchy. Personal affectation or really the reincarnated spirit of the great, great grandfather he barely knew? You decide.