Comic-Con 2011 has come to a close, and our sleep-depraved minds are still reeling from the whirlwind four days of lines, panels and offsite events. And because there was much more to see and do at the con than one person could ever dream of, we went to Twitter and asked our awesome readers what their favorite moments of 2011 were.

We’re looking for your favorite moments from #SDCC to be included in a future post. Tweet us your favs using hashtag #ccfavs!

July 25, 2011 9:34 AM via TweetDeckReplyRetweetFavorite

@SD_Comic_Con

SD Comic Con Expert

Click past the jump to see the top five.

5. Conan O’Brien

No one was expecting this. If anyone predicted Conan would be on our top five list, we’d have all thought it was the upcoming fantasy reboot, right?

Our favorite late-night host surprised the convention by opening up his own offsite location in the Gaslamp – The Museum of Conan Art – to promote his new animated venture, The Flaming C. He event went as far as crashing the Green Lantern Animated Series panel to show off his new project, much to the audience’s approval.

Not only that, but Conan tweeted some of the most memorable lines from Comic-Con:

I have arrived @Comic_Con. The air is thick with the smell of Cheetos and celibacy. #SDCC

July 22, 2011 8:55 AM via webReplyRetweetFavorite

@ConanOBrien

Conan O’Brien

Currently walking around @Comic_Con. Good god, Batman has really let himself go. #SDCC

July 22, 2011 8:27 PM via webReplyRetweetFavorite

@ConanOBrien

Conan O’Brien

Had a great time @Comic_Con, but I’m kind of regretting this “Vampire Diaries” tattoo. #SDCC

July 23, 2011 1:01 PM via webReplyRetweetFavorite

@ConanOBrien

Conan O’Brien

4. Spielberg and Jackson (oh, and Tintin)

Who would have thought a week ago the first appearance of Steven Spielberg at Comic-Con would rank toward the bottom of our list? Well, that’s SDCC for you – always surprising us and providing the crowd-pleasing moments from where we didn’t expect them. That’s not to say this isn’t one of them, because it made our list after all, but Steven Spielberg, joined by a surprise appearance by Peter Jackson, and a hysterical pre-production look at the mo-cap technology and it still couldn’t make it past Nathan Fillion? And that, loyal readers, is pure Comic-Con.

Jackson didn’t give any reveals on The Hobbit worth mentioning, but Spielberg did announce that Jurassic Park 4 has a story, has hired a writer, and that we should see it in the next two to three years. Quick, someone email him the “Dinos with Guns” concept we all read about, before it’s too late! Nada on an Indiana Jones IV film though.

In all seriousness, how awesome is it for everyone in attendance to say they were once in the same room as Steven Spielberg? The sizzle reel of film clips prior to him receiving the Inkpot Award is evidence he is the reason why everyone in that room is the person they are today – including Jackson. Spielberg’s influence on the Comic-Con crowd cannot be overstated. Just ask the guy with the t-shirt.

3. Nathan Fillion

What more can be said about Nathan Fillion? He’s a SDCC favorite because he loves the con as much as the con loves him. Very few embrace and give back to the welcoming audience as much as the former Captain Reynolds does. Not only did he participate in the Castle panel on Sunday, ironically titled “One-on-One with Castle Star Nathan Fillion”, but also at Zachary Levi’s NERD HQ across the street from the convention center. Sadly, he wasn’t able to participate in the Firefly reunion at NERD HQ, but there certainly was enough of Mr. Fillion to please the con-goers during the weekend.

And what a crowd pleaser he is. Fillion doesn’t just show up to a panel, the man is prepared. He plans his bits and executes them flawlessly, judging from a cheering and hysterical audience. He speaks the geek lingo. He is, quite frankly, one of us, descending upon San Diego during the annual geek pilgrimage for the same reasons we all do. Heck, he even wandered the show floor in his spare time (in disguise, no less).

He’s frequently referred to as The Mayor of Comic-Con, and we agree. There is no better celebrity to bestow this title than Nathan Fillion.

2. Cowboys and Aliens Premiere

When Jon Favreau announced he would be bringing the worldwide red-carpet premiere of his new blockbuster film, Cowboys and Aliens, to this year’s Comic-Con, it was the biggest news of the pre-convention season. Sure, we have special screenings for fans, such as the free Attack The Block and the invite-only Captain America ones from this year, but rarely if ever have we had one with such attention. If that weren’t enough, Favreau reserved 2,000 tickets for SDCC attendees.

The internet was buzzing about how these tickets would be distributed. What chances did we have of attending? How difficult would it be to get a ticket? We all found out shortly before the start of the con, where we had heard gold bricks would be handed out to attendees at random locations and times, and within each gold brick was a chance to win tickets to the premiere.

The news of these appearances came fast and furious. Multiple times per day, announcements were made via text and Twitter, and fans dropped what they were doing and rushed the location where they were being handed out. It was a cool promotion – the “bricks” were just paper, but inside everyone who grabbed one got a C&A t-shirt, and among them a few even got to go to the Saturday star-studded premiere. The cool thing about this was, no matter who you talked to during the con, you undoubtedly knew someone or ran into someone who won the tickets. That made the event feel less-exclusive and more of a gesture of gratitude toward the fans as it was intended.

For that, Mr. Favreau, we say on behalf of the Comic-Con crowd, thank you!

1. Zachary Levi (Chuck, Nerd HQ)

What a year for Zachary Levi. Traditionally a favorite among the Comic-Con crowd, Levi this year really propelled himself to the upper echelon of geekdom with two big events during the weekend.

First, it was an emotional and tearful send-off to NBC’s crowd-pleasing Chuck, entering it’s fifth and final season, and it’s final panel at Comic-Con as well. Levi and cast were on hand to kick off the crowded Saturday schedule and show their thanks to the welcoming crowd for the past few years of support. Few shows speak so directly to the Comic-Con audience – The Big Bang Theory and Community among them – which made this last appearance for the show in Ballroom 20 a heartfelt goodbye and with a standing ovation.

But it’s what Levi did outside of the con that propelled him to our number one spot.

Across the street from the convention center, Levi took over Jolt’N Joe’s restaurant in the Gaslamp with NERD HQ, an alternative to Comic-Con offering four days of events packed with big names like Nathan Fillion, Zachary Quinto, Dominic Monaghan and other friends of Levi’s. NERD HQ was an intimate setting which proved more accommodating to fans than the huge Ballroom lines and ticket registration insanity that Comic-Con has become. It also partnered with companies like Xbox to provide hands-on game previews of top upcoming titles, hosted a Tweet-Up with Xbox’s Major Nelson and held the second annual Nerd Party. On top of all this, 100% of the cost of the tickets for each panel, called “Conversations for a Cause”, raised over $40,000 for charity.

Levi made himself accessible to fans and could be found signing autographs and posing for pictures, always with a smile on his face. It seemed as if NERD HQ was the party Levi always wanted to throw at Comic-Con, and had a blast doing it for his fans. He’s already announced he’ll be doing it again next year, and we can’t wait. We hope this grows bigger and better every year!

What were your favorite moments of Comic_Con 2011? Let us know in the comments!

On Sunday, I asked all of our readers via Twitter which panel they would like me to cover for the blog – Castle was the resounding answer. And then when I asked everyone if they wanted me to live-tweet the panel or video it and put it up later, the majority said they would rather wait to see Mr. Fillion – and his manly hair – in glorious HD.

So after a few days of recuperating from the long days and overnight travel, editing, rendering and uploading video, I’m happy to announce the moment has finally arrived.

A few notes: First, I was about halfway back in 6BCF, so although I was able to zoom in close enough it made the picture susceptible to any small movements with the camera. I tried to have a steady hand, but there will be a couple points in the video where the camera jumps around a bit. Not enough to ruin the experience, but just wanted to make you all aware. Second, I was right behind the middle walkway, so people are passing in and out of frame through the entire panel. It’s quick enough and doesn’t deter from the video, but again wanted to make you aware. Third, the audio was picked up from the internal mic on the camera, but there are times when the crowd noise drowns out comments from the panelists – next year I’ll use an external mic to record audio from somewhere closer to a speaker. And lastly, due to YouTube restrictions. I had to split the panel video into four parts. Saying all that, I hope you enjoy it!

Ladies and gents, I present to you: One-on-One with Castle Star Nathan Fillion, recorded live on Sunday July 24 at San Diego Comic-Con 2011.

Click past the jump to see the parts 1-4 of the Castle panel.

SDCC 2011: Castle Panel, Part 1:

SDCC 2011: Castle Panel, Part 2:

SDCC 2011: Castle Panel, Part 3:

SDCC 2011: Castle Panel, Part 4:

So how did everything go on Sunday then? We can say for certain that Sunday consummated SDCC 2011 as “The Year of Television”

As the lines for Ballroom 20 were worse than rush hour on the 405 throughout the weekend, the same trend held true when the panels moved over to Hall H on Sunday, the first year it was open on the schedule for the last day of the con. And what a schedule it was. Fans camped out overnight for three major television panels – starting with Glee in the morning, continuing with returning favorite Supernatural, and then Doctor Who a few hours later – and packed Hall H to capacity throughout the day. It was reported earlier in the day and confirmed when we arrived later, that staffers removed nearly 1,000 seats from Hall H. We have no idea why they did this – maybe they were expecting lesser crowds – but the hall still filled the seats to capacity and then ushered in awaiting fans to where the seats used to be for a standing-room only section. Even with the addition of the standing-room section, there was still over a thousand fans in line and unable to get in.

At the same time, lines for Nathan Fillion and the Castle panel in room 6BCF, which holds about 1,500 people, started to form before the show opened, and by the time the exhibit hall opened the line had stretched outside, winding under a tent and then extending all the way down the side of the convention center, nearly to the Marriott Marquis next door. In a strange programming decision, Castle wasn’t even the first panel of the day in 6BCF – that distinction went to the George R. R. Martin-moderated Wild Cards panel, about a series of sci-fi/fantasy books written and edited by the Game of Thrones author. The good that came out of this, is during the Wild Cards Q&A, many fans who were there for Castle mentioned this was their first exposure to the series and wanted to learn more about the best book to start reading, and where to buy them. We always said the best takeaways from Comic-Con are those when you find yourself somewhere you didn’t expect to be, and are able to gain some memorable or magical moment as a result. From the sound of it, a lot of Castle fans had this moment.

That’s not to say the Wild Cards panel eclipsed the Castle panel, because judging from the huge roars of applause from the audience it was all about the “Mayor of Comic-Con”, Nathan Fillion. He’s a great showman and a con favorite, and it’s evident he loves the Comic-Con crowd. Throughout the Castle panel he embraced the audience and gave them exactly what they were expecting from him – a lot of humor, some great planned gags and rewards for fans lucky enough to get a chance to participate in the Q&A with Fillion and the cast.

Navigating through some good family-focused panels (Scooby-Doo Mystery Incorporated, Yo Gabba Gabba‘s Behind the Music among the standouts), we ventured over to Hall H for the afternoon block of FX shows, where we participated in a well-attended It’s Always Sunny In Philadelphia panel that screened the premiere episode and followed with a Q&A that had the audience in stitches and ended in a rousing rendition of Dayman among the cast and crowd. Following, cast and crew of Sons of Anarchy were also greeted by a near-full house crowd as they were treated to the first scene of the upcoming season.

Traditionally closing out the con but first time in Hall H, the Buffy the Vampire Slayer musical episode, “Once More With Feeling”, had its annual sing-a-long and Dawn-bashing. Sorry Michelle Trachtenberg, but you were never really Buffy’s sister anyway…

It wasn’t an official Zombiewalk in the Gaslamp, but one could tell by wondering the outskirts of the convention center that this year’s SDCC had gotten to the best of them. Feet sore, bodies depraved from sleep, and minds blown by what they saw over the four days, Comic-Con 2011 spared those in attendance and finally came to a close.

It was Comic-Con 2010.  My first.  Overwhelming to say the least as my wife and two kids (5 months and almost 3) navigated our way through the exhibits, went to panels, and had a blast.  Since 1990, it was a dream for me to attend comic-con and I was living out a dream to be in attendance at the Con.

My friend and colleague Ryan let me know that Comic-Con was reaching out to college educators.  I registered my family for tickets and we were ready to go!  During the Con, we took Ryan out to dinner to thank him for helping us go to Comic-Con.  As we sat at dinner that Thursday evening at Comic-Con 2010, we looked at each other and knew.  We could TOTALLY present at Comic-Con.  We could talk about higher education and geekdom.  We knew it was possible as we’ve presented at conferences before.  Both of us had won awards for presentations given in our own field at our regional conference.  My wife came up with the name – “what about geekEd. ?”  It was a play on “geeked” but was a blending of our passions – higher education and geek life.  Then and there, Ryan and I agreed that we would put in the proposal when it came out to present at Comic-Con 2011.

In January, the forms for professional registration came out.  We read through it, and I saw the program form.  I filled it out, and asked two other colleagues to join our panel team.  I knew they had been to Comic-Con in the past, and at the time I am sure they thought we would have no chance of being selected for a Comic-Con panel.  They agreed and connected me with someone I didn’t know who was a colleague of theirs who had been to 13 comic-cons previously, Alfred.

We knew our topic – how do you use your “geekness” to succeed in Higher Education.  From a staff perspective, student perspective, etc.  “Geek Week Programming.”  The UC Santa Cruz “Social Fiction Conference.”  Free Magic Cards for college students from Wizards of the Coast marketing/distribution. But most of all, I knew they (CCI) were reaching out to us – and I submitted a cover letter saying we wanted to give back – which we did.  We also had a diverse panel – 5 different higher educational institutions represented, I had all the confidence in the world we could present at Comic-Con – I just wondered whether we’d get the chance.  People in the know suggested we start at Wonder-Con.  I felt like Comic-Con was the place for us and submitted the proposal in January.  I knew it was a long shot, but still, I thought we had a good chance.

I didn’t hear a thing for six months.  And then, the email came the first week of June.  We had been selected, and we were presenting Friday night at 8pm.  I was in shock, and as I forwarded the confirmation to our panel, we were all in disbelief.  Less than two months to plan and we had questions.  Only three members of our five panel team currently had registration for SDCC 2011.  Would our other panelists be given registration passes?  We had no money – how would we market the panel?  What to do?

I emailed the SDCC blog with questions.  I emailed the program person with questions.  I emailed people I knew who had comic-con experience questions.  And I got helpful answers.  Here is what we did/learned/would do differently:

First, Logistics:

• If you are selected to present at Comic-Con, you are given full four day badges for your panelists.  Each Panelist can bring a guest for free with them.  Kids under 12 are also free and do not count toward your quota.  You are also allowed to purchase additional tickets for assistants and such
• Lodging.  This is not covered.  Fortunately, one of our colleagues worked at CSU San Marcos and they were willing to house us on Campus.  This was a huge benefit.
• Parking.  This is also not covered.  If you are thinking about putting together a panel, you may want to get parking passes for each day of the conference in advance.  You won’t know which day you will be placed on.  For us, to give us the best chance of being selected, we let the program committee know we were willing to present whenever they’d like us to.
• Video taping: We were allowed a videographer badge in addition to the badges for panelists and guests.  We were responsible for our own audio/visual equipment as well.

Second, Marketing

• We set up a facebook page and a twitter account.  One issue we ran into is people wanted to know a website connected to our twitter page.  We linked ourselves to one of the blogs written by one of the panelists.
• We created a logo.  Fortunately, I have some experience in marketing and we worked to make something simple, yet visual.
• We designed a press release.  People may not know this, but you can ask for a list of all the press attending comic-con about 3 weeks prior to the conference.  We sent an email blast to all the press listed, with our cool logo and what our panel was about.
• We immediately got a few requests for interviews.  If you are able, you may want to have someone to coordinate the interviews.  Being the panel coordinator, on the panel, and the person coordinating the interviews was a LOT of work.
• We tried our best to set up times for interviews prior to the conference.  Some worked and some didn’t.  One problem we ran into was figuring out  location to hold the interviews.  The industry lounge will not allow press into the room, which worked against what we thought would happen.
• We created marketing materials to hand out during the conference.  While we were in line, on the exhibits floor, etc.  We made cheap buttons – one of our panelists had access to a button maker and made about 150 buttons with our logo and various sayings like “Buffy Slayed Vampires in College” or “Even Superman went to College.”  We also made half sheet post card flyers to hand out.
• We searched for someone to sponsor t-shirts and SWAG.  I will have a separate section on SWAG in a bit, because we got REALLY lucky with SWAG.  Ultimately, one of our panelists’ host institution paid for 50 t-shirts at $5 a piece.  This was a huge thing.
• Finally, we emailed all sorts of folks to try and develop interest in our panel.  Put our name out on twitter, blogs, etc. We didn’t want to be “skeevy” so we tried to do this as naturally as we could.

Third, SWAG

• Being that we were college educators, we had a lot of access to SWAG.  We got lucky because our panel was the last one of the night, and there was no pressure to get us out of the room.  We put down in our registration in January that we wanted to hand out swag, but no one contacted us about it.  My recommendation would be to contact the program committee a week or two prior to make sure SWAG distribution is taken care of.
• We had a “helper” handing out t-shirts to people who asked questions and at the end of the panel, they started handing out various SWAG to audience members.  This made for a very organic panel, but probably wouldn’t be repeatable in the future (especially if there was a panel coming in after us)

Fourth, planning the panel itself:

• Visuals:  We created an intro video – simple yet effective.  It was 2 minutes (probably the max time you’d want a video for) and had audio with it.  It was a cool way to start us off.
• We also had two other short videos to break up the presentation.  This worked REALLY well.  It allowed our audience to take a break from hearing us talk, and kept them engaged.  We tried to be funny, and made sure to keep things short.  At one point, one video was 4 minutes long.  Our long time Comic-Con attendee on the panel shared he thought it was too long.  We cut it to two minutes and it was great.
• We are all Mac folks on the Panel, however, I use a PC at work.  I kind of defaulted to creating everything on the PC, and it ended up working without a hitch.  The tech person in our panel room ended up appreciating that we used a PC.  They had been having mac issues all day.  Mainly it’s knowing the connectors you need to connect the Mac to the AV plug ins.
• One final thing about visuals.  At the end – give your audience a link to twitter and/or facebook.  Encourage them to follow you so you can continue to connect with them.
• Moderator:  This was, by far, the most difficult thing to figure out.  We knew our backup was that one of us on the panel would do it.  I emailed famous people, people on twitter, press agents, everyone I could think of.  We got no hits.  I did get some positive feedback.  I asked agents who responded to me if we were on the right track.  They said we were.  Because our panel was Friday night at 8pm, and we were new and virtually unknown, no one wanted to moderate.  We went into our own industry to find a keynote speaker from our conference who was also a “geek” and she agreed on short notice to moderate.  In the future, I might try to secure a potential moderator earlier.  I don’t think the moderator is critical other than keeping the flow going, and we could have done it ourselves, but it is a nice touch.
• You need to have a moderator script/question sheet ready so they know what questions to ask.  We developed this over a few weeks among the panel, and made sure we had it set before we had our moderator.
• One thing to know – you can add your registrants up until the day before Comic-Con, so even if it is a last minute add, you can get your panelist a badge.
• Knowing the audience:  We took time to introduce ourselves at the beginning of the panel.  But we also planned to ask who was there in the audience.  This would help us tailor our info to who was in the room.  More on this later.
• Special guests?  One of the things we tried to do is contact companies we planned on talking about in our panel.  We knew Gowalla, and Wizards of the Coast were companies we had worked with that had Comic-Con presence in the past.  Gowalla was not going to have a big presence at Comic-Con, so that left us with Wizards of the coast.  I connected via email the person in charge of their  booth in the exhibits hall when they sent out their press release.  I stopped by the booth with one of my colleagues and we talked to them about a special guest for our panel, and they came through with the “DM to the Stars” and Wizards exec, Chris Perkins. It was a pretty cool last minute addition.

Fifth, the Con itself

• Our panel was on Friday.  We spent Wednesday, Thursday and Friday giving out buttons, talking up our panel, etc.  Standing in line for panels allowed for opportunities to talk to people about our panel.
• We decided to be at our room an hour prior to the panel.  This way we could strategize prior to the panel.

Finally, the panel (and pre-panel)

• We started getting excited when a line started forming for our panel immediately once the doors closed on the panel prior.  We knew the people waiting for our panel were for OUR panel since we were last.  We passed out buttons to people waiting in line.  I think this helped to connect to people before the panel.
• Security:  We ran into an issue because security wasn’t ready for a line for our panel in room 9, and certainly not a line that extended three different walls.  We tried to make friends with the security, giving them buttons and some smaller SWAG to encourage them and let them know we appreciated their efforts.  We also explained we were  glad they had the issues since it meant people wanted to see us. By the time our panel started, we were pretty full with a few empty seats.  For an 8pm panel in Room 9 on Friday night, we were stoked that people came to see us.
• The panel was great – I was able to be on the panel AND work the powerpoint.  The plug in was on the panel tables, which made it easy.
• We learned early on we had a lot of people like us in the audience (college educators) as well as college students.  This helped us know where to take the panel.
• Prior to the panel, we had a list of 7-8 questions, but we actually only got to 3-4.  Time flies in the panel, with 5 people each talking it ends up taking a lot of time.
• Q&A – we were fortunate that we were allowed to go long because we were the last panel of the night.  This allowed for 20 minutes of questions, and we probably could have kept going, except they needed us out of the room.  The questions were awesome, and we really saw that we impacted the people there

So there ya have it – that is what we did/learned/would do differently in the future.  We were thrilled to accomplish a dream for each of us.  Some final tips:

• The program key contact can check in and get badges for everyone else in the group.  To check in, you do not need to stand in the professionals line, you can ask the Comic-Con people to direct you to the Program Participant booth directly – they were in the lobby in front of Hall D.
• For your videographer: They not only need a badge, they needed a “hang tag” in order to have permission for videotaping.
• Reporters:  We had two reporters at our panel.  One took video and stills during the panel.  Afterwards, he asked for our business cards.  Make sure you have info to hand out.

If you have further questions for Tyler about hosting your panel at Comic-Con in the future, you can contact him directly via Twitter @geekEd1 or Email.

I also wrote how I was expecting a surprise from Hollywood, as it seemed they were clearing the schedule for something. But up through Saturday, they’ve stuck largely to the schedule.

But part of the magic of Comic-Con is those moments you don’t expect – ending up in a panel just for kicks or by chance and finding some memorable moment that defines the con for you. Today was a great opportunity to stumble upon one of those moments.

Alas, I just didn’t find it.

I started the day at the Marvel Television panel, looking for some confirmation and maybe some surprises of some live action Marvel television shows. And there were indeed some announcements, but the projects are just too early in development to have shown anything to the audience. But Jeph Loeb, EVP of Marvel Television, did confirm that there is a Jessica Jones show in the works for ABC, and that Carol Danvers and Luke Cage will be the main characters. He also confirmed a Cloak and Dagger live action for ABC as well, which would take place in post-Katrina Louisiana. And yes, The Hulk is in development for ABC, but there was no mention of Guillermo del Toro attached . Jeph said the show would focus on the relationship between Betty Ross and Bruce Banner. Over on ABC Family, a series based on Mockingbird is in development for a younger audience. We were then treated to a ton of information on the new Disney XD animated series Ultimate Spider-Man. Paul Dini, of Batman: The Animated Series fame, is involved in this one, as is the animation studio responsible for Ben10 and Generator Rex. It looks great, and has a lot of star power attached. One thing I loved is that they are finally pulling Spider-Man into the continuity of the Marvel Universe. Iron Man, Thor, Hulk and Captain America will all appear as cameos, as well as Dr. Doom and other characters from the Marvel library. And Spidey will be mentored by Ultimates-era Nick Fury (read: the one based on Samuel Jackson). J. Jonah Jameson will be voiced by J.K. Simmons, who played the character in Sam Raimi’s Spidey films, and Clark Gregg will be reprising his movie role of Agent Coulson in the animated series. With the upcoming Avengers film next year, Marvel sure is trying to integrate their flagship character into the continuity any way possible.

The nightmare lines of Ballroom 20 and Indigo Ballroom continued today, so the next panel I ended up in was for Cartoon Network’s Adventure Time. I never saw the show, but it’s proved very popular at this year’s con, with offsite parades, an Adventure Time-themed pizza restaurant in the Gaslamp, and a filled-to-capacity panel that actually filled the room during the previous panel. At the panel, fans of all ages had an extensive Q&A with the voice actors and creators, got a sneak peak at the upcoming season, confirmed that a season three has already been green-lit, and we all got Fin hats!

Closing out today I caught two television premieres for the new series Grimm and The Secret Circle. Grimm, airing on NBC this fall, comes from the writer/producer of Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Angel, Bruce Greenwalt, so I was immediately interested. Grimm also received the most votes from our readers via Twitter for shows they wanted to hear more about. The premise is the latest trend in Hollywood, taking classic stories and fairy tales and reimagining it for a modern audience. In Grimm, the main character is from a long line of Grimms – yes, from the Brothers Grimm – where their fairy tales were actually real, and they were in charge of fighting off the evil demons and monsters told in their stories. The pilot played upon the classic Little Red Riding Hood. It started out very promising, very dark and very scary, combining modern serial killer stories with a supernatural slant. Think Millennium from Chris Carter, where the lead character has an uncanny sense of seeing the evil lurking in humanity, but with a mix of fairy tales as the supernatural elements. But it went off the rails from there. A fight with the scene with an elderly “Grimm” (think Slayer) was unintentionally laughable, and the acting throughout was pretty poor. The lead character befriends a “blutbad”, basically a big bad werewolf who urinates on his wood fence to mark his territory and provides comic relief. The premise of the series has potential, as it has a lot of classic material to use, but the cast and the writing is ultimately going to let this one down come fall.

The second premiere I saw was for Kevin Williamson’s The Secret Circle airing this fall on the CW. I love The Vampire Diaries and Williamson is a superb writer, so I had high hopes for this one. Again, I was disappointed. But unlike the mess that was Grimm, The Secret Circle is merely mediocre. It’s about a society of witches living in a small town with many secrets. But unlike The Vampire Diaries, this cast skews really young, there aren’t any known stars, and it’s pretty sterile in comparison. It felt like an ABC Family series more than something hip and edgy as the CW is known for. Unless you love witches, you could probably find better shows on television to spend your time watching.

And that was it for me today. Hopefully we’ll get some reports from the Cowboys and Aliens premiere and post those to the site soon.

On top of that, we had Spielberg and Spider-Man in Hall H.

See, didn’t we tell you Comic-Con would test even the strongest of you?

The biggest story the con, on a positive note, has to be the appearance of Steven Spielberg for the Adventures of Tintin panel starting Friday in Hall H. Despite the star-studded cast, none of the cast was present, but Peter Jackson, executive producer of the movie, made a surprise appearance to a gracious Comic-Con crowd. The crowd was graced with hysterical pre-production footage of Peter Jackson testing the mo-cap technology and interacting with Snowy the dog drinking some spilled wine, getting drunk and falling off a pier with Jackson diving into the ocean after him. We also got some footage from the film in 3D which showed off the awesome animation and superb score from John Williams. The art style helped avoid the uncanny valley problem of The Polar Express, which was specifically called out by Spielberg to show how far the technology has come. But although the art was faithful to the original material, it felt a little too classic for the modern technology used.

There were two reveals during the Q&A. One, Spielberg said there was a story for a Jurassic Park 4 movie, they hired a writer, and that we should expect to see it within the next two to three years. Peter Jackson talked briefly about The Hobbit, saying they were on break because lead Martin Freeman had to leave to film the Sherlock BBC series, and that they had 200 more days of filming remaining.

And the viral moment of the con – a joke played by a fan, when he asked a completely innocent question while wearing a shirt that read: “”If possible I would love to meet Steven Spielberg just to shake his hand and say thank you very much.” The crowd erupted, and the fan was allowed onstage to shake Spielberg’s hand. A funny touch was when the fan went on stage, both Jackson and Spielberg pulled out their camera phones and snapped photos of the fan, spreading the meme, “how many Oscar-winning directors does it take to snap a picture?”

Total Recall got some good buzz and positive reaction from its different take on the Schwarzenegger classic. But it was later in the day when the next must-see panel hit the Hall, during Sony’s unveiling of The Amazing Spider-Man reboot, due in 2012. Fans were treated to exclusive footage and breathed a sigh of relief that the reboot, although taking the franchise in a different direction from the Raimi films, still did the web-slinger justice. Thousands of fans in line were turned away from entering Hall H, making it one of the biggest of this year’s show.

In the weirdest news of the day, Lizard actor Rhys Ifans was arrested shortly after the panel on misdemeanor charges after pushing a female security guard while allegedly drunk.

In Ballroom 20, the lines grew even longer than on Thursday, with a day maxed out with huge panels. Fans were treated to The Walking Dead season two footage, which premiers in October, followed by The Big Bang Theory. The Bones panel was unexpectedly canceled with no replacement panel scheduled, leaving a big gap in the middle of the day. And then last panel of the day, True Blood, caused many fans to invade the Psych and Eureka panels earlier, and leaving thousands of attendee stranded in a line outside during the panel that stretched out to the marina.

The other news was how crowded the Indigo Ballroom was – not just on Friday for the Adult Swim panels, but on Thursday for the Archer panel as well.

Coupled with the long lines for the panels and the folks camped out for the pre-registration lines, it’s no wonder the show floor was so empty. Many exclusive toys were ready for the purchase by just walking up to the booth, something that hasn’t been seen at Comic-Con in a long while. See, there is a silver lining for everything.

Check back later for our analysis of Day 3 of Comic-Con!

The big news leading into the con was that Twilight was going to open the Hall H schedule. A couple of years back, Twi-hards filled the convention hall and caused some ill will with regular attendees because it attracted a crowd that differed from the conventional convention folks. So when Twilight was put on the schedule for Thursday morning, many breathed a sigh of relief. The panel which would clash most with the big-budget Hollywood fare would be over and done with before most people even stepped foot on the convention crowd.

And indeed, the Twi-hards descended upon San Diego with a lot of attention. Word was they were camping out for days to get a front row seat of Edward and Bella; some reports had them camping out over a week in advance of the panel. What came after was the first surprise of the con.

Twilight started, the Twi-hards who camped out got in first. And no one else followed them in.

“No one” is a stretch of the term, but that’s nearly what happened. Attendees stayed away from Hall H during the Twilight panel, and reports were that the hall was about half full for its duration. This was surprising given that most thought the Hall H schedule was front-loaded with many must-see panels on Thursday.

Also surprisingly, the lines of Hall H never reached the fever pitch that they did in prior years. The Pirates! Band of Misfits footage shown during the Animation Showcase panel looked entertaining enough, but although it’s Aardman-produced, it’s still kids’ fare and not the kind of movie that fills the seats at Comic-Con. And the footage show for Film District’s Drive with Ryan Gosling, who wasn’t in attendance, looked amazing – a combination of art house cinema and brutal, gory violence.

But nothing really brought fans to the big hall until the 20th Century Fox panel in the afternoon, where we finally got information on Prometheus, the anticipated Alien-prequel from Ridley Scott. Damon Lindelof of Lost, as well as screenwriter for Promethus, moderated the panel, with Charlize Theron in attendance and a live Ridley Scott remote from the set of the movie in Iceland. Ridley said it wasn’t an Alien prequel, but it had DNA from that classic movie and dealt with themes that have gone unanswered since that first movie was released nearly 25 years ago. He also confirmed the existence of a robot/android character by saying there “might be two” in the story. Fans in attendance were also given an exclusive trailer with footage that showed H.R. Giger’s art design. Justin Timberlake and Amanda Seyfried came out in support of their fall 2011 movie In Time, from the creator of Gattica and writer of The Truman Show, Andrew Niccol. This was met with tepid interest from the fans, seeing a sci-fi twist on a standard thriller that reminded most of The Island rather than something new and fresh. And the panel came to a close with Andy Serkis stopping by to show off the motion-capture process used in bringing his portrayal of Caesar in Rise of the Planet of the Apes, a prequel to the original movies that showed how the apes came to power. This one comes out in about a month and won some fans over by creating apes the audience sympathized with in a brutal human world, along with the great mo-cap used to bring the apes to life.

The rest of Hall H was a subdued affair. Robert Rodriquez had an entire panel of pre-development announcements for Machete sequels – including a part three in space, Spy Kids 4 with Smell-O-Vision (no joke) and deals to create movies based on the Heavy Metal and Frank Frazetta’s Fire and Ice franchises. And in the most surprising sight of the day, Entertainment Weekly’s annual Visionaries panel, this year with Jon Favreau and Guillermo del Toro played to a Hall H that was about half full. During the panel the two showed off a few scenes of the upcoming Cowboys and Aliens, a few words about pre-production on Favreau’s Magic Kingdom and del Toro’s Haunted Mansion movies for Disney – “few” meaning not anything revealing and surprising from what we already knew from previous reports,

Flip to Ballroom 20,which also had its fair share of big shows booked to appear on Thursday. Unlike Hall H, it didn’t disappoint. As a matter of fact, it surprised everyone by just how crowded the Ballroom was throughout the day. And it was because of one panel in particular – Game of Thrones. Fans flocked to Twitter and posted wait times for the lines, letting everyone know just how long they were in line and the likelihood of getting into the Ballroom. The wait was nearly three and a half hours to get in, with nearly two thousand stuck outside, never getting a seat.

With the pre-registration madness and the Ballroom 20 lines, one could call this year’s con the Game of Lines.

Was Friday any different? Check back later for our take on day two of the con.

Several sources have confirmed Steven Spielberg will be among the guests during the Hall H panel for The Adventures of Tintin.

Here’s what you need to know: the panel is on Friday, July 22 in Hall H and is the first panel of the day at 11AM, so you if you want a seat to see the man who made us all what we are today, you’re going to have to get there mighty early.

Also remember, CCI will be replaying video highlights of Hall H and Ballroom 20 panels at the end of the day. It’s not the same as being there, but if you must miss this one in person this is the next best thing to catch a glimpse of Spielberg, at least in the same building where he was hours before.

Other guests at the panel are yet to be announced, but with such a star-studded cast and crew, we’re expecting to hear lots more about this one leading up to next Friday. Keep checking here for additional details as we hear.

Hollywood Abandons Hall H.

That was the headline for many a week recently, as Dreamworks, Disney and Marvel all said they would not be following tradition and bringing their big movie reveals to Comic-Con’s fabled auditorium. And with that announcement, emotions among fans ranged from confused to disappointed to downright cheated. This is the place where 140,000 like-minded geeks go on an annual pilgrimage and immerse themselves in swag, celebrities and worldwide media attention. This is the place to where people travel thousands of miles, cross whole continents and into time zones on the other side of the world. This is the event for which fans save their vacation schedules and hard-earned spending cash.

This is San Diego Comic-Con.

If you understood any of that, then you no doubt could sympathize with people who felt the same thing. Maybe you were even one of those people. And if so, you have been asking yourself, “Why would Hollywood destroy the very thing they helped create?”

They haven’t.

They big news from that original headline was that Hollywood wasn’t seeing the returns on their marketing investment in the con. The articles singled out Disney, which shelled out three years worth of Comic-Con events for Tron:Legacy, including renovating a Gaslamp District building into Flynn’s Arcade, for a box office gross that was merely acceptable; and Universal for draping the Hilton Bayfront in Scott Pilgrim last year, hosting exclusive screenings for fans, but landing squarely in the red when it came to tallying the box office receipts.

But those articles were wrong. The arguments didn’t make sense. How could Hollywood walk away from all that media attention? Showing up for a panel and putting together a reel of dailies is cheap press and even cheaper when it comes to winning goodwill from the fans. And about those fans. 140,000 of them on the ground, millions following the blogs, watching highlights on their Xboxes and streaming to their PCs and iPads. The studios could spend a million on television ads and hope their target audience was tuned in that night, let alone wasn’t skipping commercials altogether. Or they could spend a fraction of that to hold a Q&A which would directly reach an attentive and eager mob.

Flash forward to this past week. When the official Comic-Con schedules were announced, everyone was breathing a sigh of relief that the articles might be wrong. For two solid days one would be hard pressed to find a big movie panel in Hall H that wasn’t worth the wait. Then Saturday came, and it was nearly the opposite, where there was barely one worth attending. And then after getting our hopes up that Hall H would be open on Sunday, Comic-Con fills it with television panels better suited for Ballroom 20. Could the warnings be right? Would Hollywood really pull out of Comic-Con and away from the fanbase who cheered and applauded them in years past?

It takes a second look at the schedule to start thinking something completely screwy is going on here. Why would organizers stack the deck the first two days and leave the schedule barren the last two, which are traditionally the most attended? Why is Kevin Smith’s annual “Evening With” spoken word panel ending early this year? And what reason would they keep Hall H open on Sunday only to close Ballroom 20, which was probably more appropriate for those panels anyway?

There’s likely two things happening here in concert. Yes, it’s probably true that Hollywood wasn’t getting the kind of return they would like for their investment into Comic-Con, so they’ve scaled back. This is because every studio this side of the Mississippi was competing for attendees’ mindshare, and likely people weren’t being reached throughout the noise of every offsite and buzzworthy event, of which there were several happening every hour of every day of the con. But Hollywood didn’t want to turn their back on a guaranteed audience, so what did they do? They decided to coordinate their efforts, not step on each other’s toes at the big dance. Why else would the con scale back their “official” offerings on what are traditionally the two busiest days of the show? Studios most likely worked directly with the show organizers to make their unofficial events an integrated part of the con and make sure they were well attended by the crowds.

There are reports that studios which were supposed to be sitting year’s show out are indeed planning big events.

• FirstShowing.net reported Marvel will bring some impressive set pieces from The Avengers to the show floor, and there is talk of some S.H.I.E.L.D.presence at the con. Could you imagine S.H.I.E.L.D. operatives targeting unsuspecting attendees as Skrull? They also reported there might be an Avengers cast signing at the Marvel booth, and an Avengers teaser trailer shown. It would make total sense that Marvel would use Joss Whedon and Chris Hemsworth, who will be at the con for other panels.
• THR reports Chris Evans is planning a military salute to the soldiers stationed in San Diego. NerdReactor reports there will be a special screening of Captain America with Evans and Hugo Weaving in attendance.
• There’s also a rumor Dreamwork’s upcoming Real Steel, which is on official Comic-Con banners throughout the city despite not having an official panel, would set up a World Robot Boxing ring, possibly on Sunday in the closed Ballroom 20.
• And we all know about the Cowboys & Aliens screening for 2000 lucky fans put on by Universal and director Jon Favreau.

Regardless of what it is that the studios have planned, it is evident show organizers worked around some pretty big surprises they and the studios would very much like everyone to attend. Keep checking for updates on these rumored events and other big news as its announced.

We feel like we’ve been stuck on an emotional rollercoaster these last few weeks. Would Hollywood show up for Comic-Con this year or won’t they? We’d heard conflicting reports on either side of the story. And we finally received some closure after seeing the schedules for Thursday, Friday and Saturday. Most of our questions have been answered, but there are some still lingering about the offsite presence of Marvel and Dreamworks studios. And the answers we did get were pretty encouraging, at least for Thursday and Friday, that Hollywood would bring their “A” game to the con.

But then Saturday’s schedule was released, and it wasn’t nearly as strong as the prior two days. So the question on everyone’s mind is, would Comic-Con rebound on Sunday and end this year with a bang?

By looking solely at the panel schedule, this year’s con started out as a lion but might end like a lamb.

Now, before we begin with our analysis, let’s get out of the way that Sundays are traditionally slow days.The con sets aside Sundays as “Family Day”, and a lot of kid-oriented panels fill the schedule. Hall H has been traditionally closed on the last day of the con. So we’re already going into the last day with tempered expectations.

On the other hand, there was a big deal made that Hall H was going to be open on Sunday this year, when it traditionally is not. So that’s good news, right?

Well, not if they close Ballroom 20 because of it. That’s right, there are NO panels scheduled for Ballroom 20 on Sunday, and everything that would have normally been held there has been moved to Hall H. So that makes our analysis a little easier, if not also a bit light. It also raises questions about what super-secret event is being planned for Ballroom 20…

Hall H

Gleeks, there’s no bigger stage to host the panel for your favorite show, because Glee will start the day at 10AM. Expect a 3D presentation as they also have a sneak peak at the Glee 3D concert movie, as well as a look at the new season and what is sure to be an entertaining Q&A with the cast and crew.

At 11:15AM, bring on the great little show that just won’t quit, Supernatural, for a return panel. The series, which was supposed to end after season five, is now going into its seventh season and carried by a loyal fanbase that has supported it even after it moved to no-man’s-land on the television schedule. During that time it has steadily built up one of the best mythologies on television since Buffy The Vampire Slayer. Catch this one even if you’re a casual fan.

At 12:30PM, BBC is bringing fan-favorite Doctor Who to Comic-Con after skipping out last year due to filming. Guests include Matt Smith as the Doctor and Karen Gillan as his companion Amy Pond, along with the writers and producers of the latest incarnation of the series, to talk about the remainder of season two and that one helluva mid-season ger.

FOX takes over the remainder of the Hall H schedule, with no interruptions between panels. The Cleveland Show starts off the FOX block at 1:45PM, followed by It’s Always Sunny In Philadelphia at 2:45PM. Last year the cast of It’s Always Sunny showed the entire first episode of the upcoming season, but this year it’s only listed as a Q&A. Sons of Anarchy wind down the series panels at 3:30PM, and then to close out this year’s con is a sing-along screening of the Buffy The Vampire Slayer musical episode,  “Once More With Feeling” at 4PM.

Our advice? You’d probably do no wrong sitting in Hall H, as there’s enough quality programming to find something you like. How’s that for enthusiasm, eh?

Best of the Rest

Archaia Comics has been creating beautiful comics with the Jim Henson Company for years, and at 10AM in room 4 they’ll be talking about their fruitful relationship.They’ll be showing some archival footage of Jim Henson himself, as well as previewing their newest graphic novel in the partnership, based on an unproduced screenplay by Henson.

At 11:45AM in room 6BCF, Nathan Fillion and the cast of Castle will be on hand to discuss the upcoming season and hopefully give us a look at the graphic novel being created by Marvel. We have no idea why this panel is being called One-On-One with Castle Star Nathan Fillion, if they’re going to have the rest of the cast there as well. We guess the network finally figured out Fillion is the special sauce of the mystery/dramedy heading into its fourth (!) season.

If you have children, you’ve probably been forced to catch the latest Scooby-Doo series on Cartoon Network, Mystery Incorporated. And if you’re anything like us, you’ve probably come away from it thinking it was pretty darn entertaining. Well, Matthew Lillard and the gang are all back this year for a returning panel at 1PM in room 6A where they’ll be screening the series one finale and talk about what’s in store for season two. And we should all be glad there is going to be a season two, believe me.

Lastly, at 3PM check the Marvel/Disney Team-Up panel in room 24ABC to see how the two companies are going to come together to bring origin books of popular Marvel characters to young readers.

Our advice? We’d say this is your opportunity to catch up on the stuff you’ve been missing on the show floor. The only downside is that the show floor on the last day is absolutely madness, since everyone attending pretty much has the same idea. Take some chances on some panels you wouldn’t normally attend, now that you have that luxury. As long as the studios don’t have us flocking to some rumored surprises, that is.

And of course pack, because you’re going home.

And that’s that! The entire schedule has been announced. What do you think? Let us know in the comments.