Oh, and there are spoilers in here — especially if you haven't seen the end of Dollhouse season one, or Battlestar Galactica.

We were excited to talk to Penikett, who's one of the most compelling actors on television, at Comic Con. In case you can't hear the audio on that clip, he told us not to be too sure that former FBI agent Paul Ballard is really working for the mysterious Dollhouse that he was fighting to destroy for so long. In fact, Penikett hints that Ballard still has his own agenda. As for the peppery relationship between Paul Ballard and Boyd Langton, which included a fistfight as well as a team-up in last season's "Omega," Penikett tells us to expect a lot more conflict between those two.

We had a question we'd been dying to ask about the end of Battlestar Galactica — before the final episode aired, Penikett told some interviewers that he'd convinced the show's producers to change Helo's fate. In the original script for the finale, Helo had an ending which seemed too obvious, according to Penikett — until talked the producers into changing it. So we were dying to know — what was Helo's original fate? And according to Penikett, Helo was supposed to die in the final battle.

We were also excited to talk to Penikett about Riverworld, the Syfy miniseries based on the classic novels by Philip José Farmer. He's starring in this adaptation, which airs this January or February and which could turn into an ongoing series. He praised everyone involved with the production and says that Mark Deklin is great as Mark Twain — and he does build his riverboat, like in the books. Most importantly, though — we needed to know if Penikett will be resurrected in the buff, just like everyone in the books? Here's what he said:

For those of you who can't hear the video, Beaver admits he might not have done much to discourage fan speculation that Bobby was going to buy the farm at the end of season four. And apparently the outtake of the "Bobby tears Dean a new one" scene is priceless — I haven't seen the DVD box set yet, so I don't know if it's on there or not. Also, there are huge, huge surprises coming for Bobby in the first couple episodes of the season, which relate somehow to the fact that Dean and the angel Castiel go out drinking in an upcoming episode. But thank goodness, Bobby isn't going to be opening a bar.

We talked to Cerra about "Your Face Or Mine," where she got to portray two different characters — Lupo, and Julia, the scientist who turned herself into a duplicate of Lupo. Cerra took on a huge challenge in this episode, tricking the viewers into thinking that there really were two Jo Lupos — as if she'd been duplicated in a transporter accident like Captain Kirk. But even though Jo had a challenging time being in charge, she'll still be brash and confident as ever. "She'll just be a little more cautious."

And Cerra says she'd welcome the challenge of having to play mad scientist, even if it meant she'd have to tackle the tongue-twisting technobabble that people spout on the show. (And now that she's said she dreads using technobabble, she's sure the producers will write her a script where she spouts nothing but.) And she says there have been lots of jokes behind the scenes about whether Jo is really a human being or a robot, since she's so strong. "That would be really fun," she says. So fingers crossed we get to see Mecha Jo at some point!

We also spoke to genre veteran Joe Morton, who plays Henry Deacon. He says being the mayor won't really change anything for Henry. "Henry will always be Henry," and really the mayorship hasn't come into play too much, except for allowing him to reinstate Jack as Sheriff... But the good news is, Henry has a love affair coming up — which may or may not be with a human. And Morton gets to sing a song.

And finally, we talked to Neil Grayston about Fargo breaking out of the "annoying" nerd stereotype and becoming more of a relatable character. The show is about a town full of super geniuses, so Fargo will always be nerdy, and he'll never be swaggering around picking up women with his giant biceps. But he's excited to be exploring Fargo's character a bit more. He also talks about the dangerous stunts he does on the show:

And he talks about the "awful" filming of last weeks' episode, "It's Not Easy Being Green," where he had to be colored green from head to foot. He was in a freezing trailer, half naked, where he got covered with green goop from head to foot. "You have to keep it wet, so I had to be wet in the cold — naked — and I couldn't sit on anything or do anything, or it would get onto it." So basically they had to keep putting more green goop onto his half-naked body. Which has got to be somebody's fetish...

Eureka's on Syfy tonight at 9.

The above image is making the rounds on the internet lately along with claims that a Cap'n movie is on the way, possibly in 2010. Now let us crush your dreams. First of all, the location of said poster is allegedly at the Comic Con WB booth. We certainly didn't see it and neither did the hundreds of fans and journalists all on the floor. What we did see that the WB booth were these posters:

Clash of The Titans pic via Taringa

Notice the lack of Planet? Even if they did post this mysterious poster after preview night, I'm pretty sure someone out there would have noticed.

Also the bottom edge of the Titans poster is strikingly similar to Capn' poster, plus the lights are pretty askew. So, I'm calling folly and lies, with a bit of sadness in my heart because truth be told I really did want to see a live action "heart" ring subdue an angry rhino while a blue guy in a speedo uses his superpowers to put out a forest fire. Would be better than the chipmunks movie anyways.

Thanks for ruining my day internet. Go Planet.

The Comic Con video of the "Doomsday Armageddon Apocalypse" table read is a poor substitute for getting the actual episode, but at least now you get to hear some of that fantastic dialogue coming out of the mouths of the actors, the way it was meant to. Our favorite moment: Manservant Neville (Mark Sheppard) growls, "My plan is sheer elegance in its draconian complexity!" (Take that, Guy Goddard!). And of course, if the video's not enough for you, the whole thing has been released as a graphic novel as well.

The whole thing is on YouTube, and the playlist of all the segments is here.

We braved the insane lines at Hall H to check out footage of the year's upcoming slate of scifi films, including James Cameron's Avatar, Spike Jonze's Where the Wild Things Are, Tron Legacy, undead headbasher Zombieland, Diablo Cody's teenspeak horror flick Jennifer's Body, postapocalyptic The Book of Eli, foul-mouthed superhero adaptation Kick-Ass, supernatural Western Jonah Hex, and Robert Downey Jr.'s witty turns in Iron Man 2 and Sherlock Holmes — plus, saw Peter Jackson's District 9 in its entirety. We also talked to Scarlett Johansson about rolling around in Black Widow's catsuit, got the low-down on Tony Stark's death wish, learned how Josh Brolin nearly lost an eye filming Jonah Hex, chest-baring New Moon, got Peter Jackson to spill on his ever-growing pile of projects, got Sigourney Weaver and Zoe Saldana's secrets to strong heroines, talked to Shane Acker about life after 9, and heard James Cameron's quest to keep his aliens looking weird.

It was also a big, big weekend for movie announcements. Gary Oldman let slip the plans for a new Batman movie (much to the studio's chagrin). Roberto Orci and Alex Kurtzman gave us the scoop on a possible third Star Trek movie. Johnny Depp confirmed his plans for a Dark Shadows movie. The Avengers superhero line-up is starting to fall into place. And Roland Emmerich revealed the identity of his Foundation screenwriter.

On the television front, Lost was big news (with an even bigger line), with certain deceased characters returning to the show (including one that's a real blast from the show's past). There was giant pink elephant in the room at the Futurama panel, where everyone wanted to know if the original voice actors would be coming back. They didn't get satisfaction, but they did find out whether Fry and Leela ever get together. The BBC gave us a fresh trailer for Doctor Who's killer episode "The Waters of Mars." We finally saw Dollhouse's post-apocalyptic episode, which left us longing for more Felicia Day. Heroes tried to win us back with lesbianism and carnival rides, while Caprica intrigued us with promises of interplanetary war. We also learned more about new shows FlashForward, Vampire Diaries, Stargate Universe, and the updates of The Prisoner and V.

And it wouldn't be Comic Con without the comics (we hope). We heard talk of the new Batgirl's identity and learned all about Superman's increasingly science-fictional storylines. We found out the long-disputed Miracleman has found a home with Marvel — and wondered what it means for the character's future. And we sat down with Marvel's Joe Quesada and DC's Dan Didio to chat about what the publishers have in store.

From the floor, we found the best comic book deals, wondered at the priciest toys, and assessed the Avatar backlash. We saw the best advertising of the Con — and the very worst. We filmed the costumes and sketches of the Masquerade and stood in awe of the winners.

So, in the mess of celebrities, screenings, and big announcements, who came out on top? We have 10 winners who came out of Comic Con with even more buzz than before.

All in all, a fruitful and exhilarating Con. Now we're off to rest up for next year.

It's been a rough year for our favorite True Blooder, Lafayette, but we're happy that it sounds like things are looking up. But seriously — if L doesn't start kicking some major ass soon (and I think that may be the case) we are going to have to host a "you're better than this" intervention. Bring back the sass, bring back the scarves.

Also let's get excited for the first character on this show who actually deserves special powers to get his reward. Hello ,super strength L.

Very important side note: This interview happened the night before the infamous Bill makes his piano cat cameo episode that aired on Sunday. So I didn't get to ask about it because I had no idea what was awaiting me the next day. Apologies, but such is life.

The party included a whole Hitchhiker's Guide To The Galaxy-style screen full of explanations of common terms in the series, but nobody got a good picture of that.

Colfer talked to us about how he'd been incredibly reluctant to take over the Hitchhiker's series, but finally acquiesced after Adams' widow and daughter both asked him to do it. He has absolutely no plans to do any more Hitchhiker's books, and this isn't the first volume in a whole new series of adventures for Arthur Dent, Zaphod Beeblebrox and company — just a one-off. But Colfer does feel there's a lack of fun, silly space opera in the world right now, and he'd love to see more of it. He hinted he may try and write some more in that genre at some point. He's also hoping his book will introduce Adams' original books to the readers who follow him from the Artemis Fowl novels.

The party also included black hand towels with (what else) "Don't Panic" written on them, suitable for framing, or using to dry your hands.

There was a "Tweet to the Galaxy" interface, which allowed you to Twitter and have your tweets sent out into space. I'm still not entirely sure how this was supposed to work, but you can try it out for yourself here. So far, no aliens have responded to people's tweets about three A.M. hookups or dental hygiene, although that doesn't mean they're not reading.

Here's Colfer, tweeting actual Vogon poetry out to the presumably horrified galactic community. And in the background, you can see the bar, where they were serving actual Pan-Galactic Gargle Blasters. Which, we have to admit, didn't cause any feelings of gold bricks with lemon slices smashing into our head. We asked the bartender what's in a real-life Pan-Galactic Gargle Blaster, and basically it's vodka, lemonade and a bit of seltzer. Zaphod would have been sad.

Costume designer Wanda Piety and prop master Dragon Drohnet were two of the judges for Saturday nights Masquerade, and were kind enough to give us a post-mortem on the show and offer their insight into what makes for a winning costume or performance. This is just a taste of the nearly four dozen entries to cross the Comic Con stage, but includes some of our favorites as well as the judges':

I honestly didn't know what to expect when I took the ten-minute cab ride from the Convention Center to the House of Blues, where Bear McCreary and the Battlestar Galactica Orchestra would be performing. I suppose, as much as anyone can be a fan of television incidental music, that I'm a fan of the music on Battlestar Galactica, but I was at a loss to see how such music could sustain two hours worth of concert. The only stuff I could actively remember was the opening music with the hymnal singing and the drums, that sort of Irish music they played when people were sitting feeling sad, and "All Along the Watchtower", which I wasn't even sure counted as orchestral music. (In case it's not clear, I know absolutely nothing about music.)

What piqued my interest upon my arrival was a sign outside the House of Blues announcing Edward James Olmos and Grace Park as the evening's masters of ceremonies. If nothing else, I would at least be able to get in a little stargazing. After some not particularly brief confusion over the House of Blues's photography policy, whether I could bring my 20-year-old friend with me into the show (I couldn't), and a misadventure that may or may not have involved me swiping a Coke Zero from the VIP area (I'm still not sure what happened there), I was standing on the floor beneath the stage, waiting for the show to begin.

It was hard to tell who were the local music fans and who were the BSG diehards in for Comic Con, although I guessed those wearing the T-shirts with toasters on them or the word "Frak" were among the latter. I appreciated the simplicity of a shirt that has nothing more than a pretend curse word on it, but none of this did much to dispel my worries that tonight was basically just a nerdy novelty act.

But then, a good hour after my ticket said the show would start (which is admittedly pretty good for your average concert), I heard a voice. Thankfully, it was Edward James Olmos, introducing himself in Spanish over the microphone. I suddenly realized that this really was going to be Edward James Olmost leading us through the night's activities, not Bill Adama. He was not here to recite a greatest hits of his work on Battlestar Galactica. There would be no talk of toasters or skinjobs, how all this had happened before and would happen again (although considering there were concerts on Thursday and Saturday as well, he actually missed out on a good advertisting opportunity there). He did lead us all in a hearty round of "So say we all!", but that seemed to be the exception that proved the rule. And no, I'm not sure where my life can go now that I've chanted "So say we all!" with Edward James Olmos. I'm pretty sure I've peaked as a nerd.

In any event, he was here because he genuinely loved the music of Battlestar Galactica. This was equal parts out of an obvious appreciation for great music (he spent much of his time castigating the people sitting in the balcony for not joining the standing section down below, which he felt had better acoustics) and out of his feelings for the show itself. This was just another manifestation of the same open, unreserved passion that had led him to talk a few hours earlier about Adama/Tigh team-up movies and a Blade Runner crossover.

The show began with an opening act called Brendan's Band. I was now really starting to suspect that, for all my doubts, these people had come to rock. The band played six songs that were hard, fast, and loud, and not a one had even a whiff of Battlestar Galactica about them. It was only with the last song that the opening act acknowledged the driving force of the night's events, as they sung about all the troubles on Caprica and Aerilon. To be sure, the presence of Bear McCreary's brother (the titular Brendan), wife, and who I would soon discover were other members of the Orchestra made it clear why Brendan's Band had gotten the opening gig, but even so. Brendan's Band had come out and rocked hard, by and large just playing whatever music they felt like playing. Maybe this wasn't going to be entirely geeky evening after all.

Not that Edward James Olmos could ever be considered too geeky, but most people lack his gift to turn obscure references to a low-rated genre show into the height of badassery. It was as though he was actively challenging himself with the seemingly least cool material he could work with, as he decided to just read the Orchestra's songlist, all of which were met with thunderous applause. I could understand - perhaps - the crowd wildly applauding a title like "The Cult of Baltar." But "Precipice"? "Epiphanies"? I might be able to explain at length the geopolitical tensions between the Twelve Colonies of Kobol prior to the Cylon genocide (I can), but even I was dumbstruck by this response. Did everyone else assembled in the House of Blues actually know the music well enough the recognize the pieces by title? Or was the applause just Comic Con's conditioned, Pavlovian response to the name of any creative work whatsoever being said out loud? (Hell, I had heard a similar reaction to Gossip Girl the day before, so it's certainly possible.) Or was Edward James Olmos's passion really that infectious? (That was probably it.)

He was interrupted midway through, first by the entrance of Grace Park, who is about a foot taller than Edward James Olmos and at least twice as pretty. (At least.) Before he could even resume his list, Bear McCreary jumped out onto the stage. His flowing hair and messianic pose made him look unmistakeably like Gaius Baltar addressing his followers, something I was far more comfortable with than I probably should have been. Bear just about summed up the tone of the evening with his greetings, which began with two heartily exhuberant screams of "So say we all!" which was quickly followed by a rather sheepish, "Hi, everybody." He was clearly here to be the charismatic leader, but I'm not entirely sure it was his natural role. Thankfully, he was far more at home as conductor of his orchestra, as I fast discovered.

Because then the band played. Edward James Olmos had noted the musicians here had been responsible for every single note of music played on Battlestar Galactica, with not a substitute or replacement among them. Their expertise was readily apparent, but I was shocked by their enthusiasm. They all looked like they were experiencing the giddy thrill of performing together for the first time, and it was hard not to get lost in the moment. I recognized some of the music (particularly when Bear McCreary's wife reentered to provide that haunting singing), but even that which I didn't was unmistakeably Battlestar Galactica. The crowd was going wild, and the energy in the musicians' performances was unbelievable, particularly that from the violins, flutes, and other instruments not typically associated with rocking the fuck out.

It was then that I properly understood. This was the Battlestar Galactica Orchestra, the group that had done the incidental music for a basic cable science fiction show, and they were all rock stars. At that moment, Battlestar Galactica was suddenly no longer nerdy. It was cool, and not cool in a nerdy way, nerdy in a cool way, or even frakking cool. For those two hours, as Bear McCreary's orchestra rocked out in the House of Blues, Battlestar Galactica was fucking cool, simple as that.

Images by AmyR_81 and Arrow Of Apollo on Flickr.

Additional reporting and pictures from Julia Carusillo, Ray Wert and Cailtin Petrakovitz.

While the themed menu was hideously overpriced and frankly we got a bit tired of the gimmicky menus awaiting us at every turn, the actual setup of Syfy's off-the-floor booth was amazing. They recreated Eureka's Cafe Diem with a white picket fence placed out front. The fully-functional diner was a nice break from the crowded Con.

Circular Stargate desserts at the MGM SGU Launch party were not only adorable, but delicious.

The Where The Wild Things Are Gold Crowns made everyone smile, except the movie's targeted sad indie kid demographic. Massive props to We Love You So for getting a picture of Spike Jonze's Wild Things audience in the actual crown.

We already told you all about Flynn's Arcade and the secret back room with the world's most beautiful light cycle. But playing the arcade's real life Space Paranoids was living the dream.

Half of the True Blood ads annoyed us, but this elevator button placement did not. Picture from imdb.

"The Fantastic Mr. Fox" fellas from Wes Anderson's flick, and their coveted fur ties, were a giant success. Let's hope they spark a khaki suit Con craze.

Zombieland hand sanitizer straight from the movie. Even though the director told us later it would do nothing for an actual zombie infection, still we like cleanliness and all that.

This little Star Trek USB was a great way to remember this year's Con - it even says Comic Con 2009 on the side. Frankly I think that's better than a t-shirt.

Finally this is more of an announcement, but we're still giddy about it. Tru Blood is going to be made and manufactured for $16.00 in packs of four and will taste like a blood orange soda. HBO is taking orders now. Oh, go buy some you big dork - I already did.

Forty-seven individuals and groups entered this year's Masquerade, showing off their most innovative sketches and costume designs. There were G.I. Joes and Skeletors aplenty, a singing Dr. Horrible and a singing Dr. Mrs. Monarch, and even a group that attempted to reenact all the best scenes from The Princess Bride. We'll have video of the performances soon enough, but here are the outfits the judges deemed best:

Honorable Mention: Excellence in Costuming — Red Death Phantom of the Opera

The Masque of the Red Death version of the Phantom of the Opera danced to "Masquerade," while occasionally pulling off his many masks, until he finally reached a skull.

Honorable Mention: Blast from the Past — Muppet Labs Masquerade Machine

Dr. Bunsen Honeydew took the stage, subjecting his hapless assistant Beaker to his Masquerade Machine while Statler and Waldorf heckled them from their portable balcony.

Honorable Mention: Technical Execution — ATST Scout Walker
The ATST wowed the judges with its jointed legs that walked as the person inside it walked.

Honorable Mention: Performance — Jawa Pimp
Jawa Pimp has his own theme song, which he boogied to while showing off his bling.

Honorable Mention: Workmanship — Toro the Minotaur

Honorable Mention: Recreation — The Hulk

Honorable Mention: Rock Golem

Best Young Fan — Samurai Jack vs. Aku
This father-son team was one of the big hits of the Masquerade, taking home several of the individual sponsored awards as well as a Comic Con trophy.

Best Novice — Aquaman
Aquaman surfed onto stage and into the judges' hearts with the song "I am Aquaman" and a full blond beard.

Most Beautiful — Mirka Fortuna "Trinity Blood"

Most Humorous — Welcome to the Dollhouse
A group of dolls from around the world marched on stage with Igor (toting his iGor mp3 player) and performed a perfectly choreographed rendition of "It's a Small World After All." That would have been funny enough, but they quickly burst out into an equally well-done "Thriller."

Best Performance — Bring It On (Rock the Mouse)
When you reimagine Disney heroes and villains as rival cheer squads and end it all with a rousing rendition of Toni Basil's Mickey, your sketch is full of win.

Best Workmanship — Lady of Pain "Planescape"

Best Original Design — Onigashima Baba

Best Recreation — Spawn

Judges' Choice — Looking Glass Wars

Best in Show — The Four Seasons

Images by Annalee Newitz and Melishina.

I seem to agree with the man, the whole thing seems like a total "head fuck."

The new show will follow the path laif out by Robert J. Sawyer in his original book, but what's changed in the television version? We asked a few members of the cast to give us some insight into what's ahead for the story, but no one would (or could) tell us much.

It seems FlashForward really is aiming to be the next easter-egg-heavy show with hidden tidbits everywhere, including easter eggs hidden in one character's flash.

Dominic Monaghan is appearing on this new would-be Lost replacement, as a man named Simon. But that's about all he's got for us, aside from saying it'll screw with your mind.

"I just kinda know what you guys know. A world event takes place where everybody passes out for about two and a half minutes and in that two and a half minutes people have visions of their potential future. So every one becomes a prophet of their life. And it's the story of what happens to the world when you know what's going to happen next. Some people are gonna have great lives; some people are going to commit suicide and (yet) they know they're alive in the future; some people are going to have a baby with some girl and in the future they don't have a baby. It's just a huge head fuck. Head fuck!"

Joseph Fiennes and John Cho, who play two FBI agents, stress that in producer David S. Goyer's world, the rabbit hole can always go deeper. Cho, whose character doesn't actually have any vision of the future, says while that doesn't bode well for his character, nothing is ever written in stone.

"Certainly my character's very scared that he's going to die, because he doesn't have a vision, but ... I don't know, I honestly don't know whether he will die or not."

"In Goyer's world," said Fiennes, "you have to remember that nothing is as it seems."

"Yeah, I wouldn't bank on him dying — because if it's implied, as you say, I wouldn't infer."

Producer Goyer also mentioned there is plenty to throw people off track, but many clues to keep them entertained. FlashForward has already incorporated a thousand (ok, like seven) easter eggs into the first 17 minutes of the pilot to keep people engaged.

Goyer says the writing team has careful mapped out where they want these rabbit holes to lead, which meant incorporating such things in the pilot as the company Red Panda and ... a kangaroo we see jumping across the street as Los Angeles lies in ruin.

The kangaroo, says Goyer, will definitely be back.

And Cho's words keep ringing in my head, as the perfect tagline for every dramatically secretive TV serial today: "If it's implied ... I wouldn't infer."

FlashFoward begins September 24 on ABC.

I think my favorite part is when Fox tells us all she knows we know the movie's making jokes at her expense, so you know she knows, right? Damnit, stop being so freaking hot and up for a laugh. No matter what you think, you have to admire her — even when she plays it to the audience. That's brand awareness pure and simple, my friends.

The rest of the night went pretty smoothly — Diablo Cody talked horror, and how her postmodern thriller started off darker:

It's funny, because when I first set out to write this, I wanted to write a very dark, very brooding traditional slasher movie. And then I realized, about a third of the way into the process, that I was incapable of doing that. [The jokes] just kept kind of sneaking in. I have a macabre sense of humor, a lot of the things in the movie that are horrifying are funny to me. I've always said that I think comedy films and horror films are kind of similar in the sense that you actually can witness the audience having physical release. They are laughing [or] they're screaming — it's not a passive experience.

Director Karyn Kusama made an interesting point about the female perspective of Jennifer's Body. It's all about taking it back.

A lot of horror is about femaleness, whether it's Carrie or Rosemary's Baby. I feel like there's a lot of fear of the female, or a celebration of it in some weird way. Something about this movie managed to take fear, and the sense that it's the female that ultimately survives, and sort of marry that in a very personal way.

Jennifer's Body will be released in theaters on Sept. 18th.

Here's our conversation:

So what's next after 9? Are you sticking to animation?

I'm actually developing two things right now. One's live action, and one is animation... They're both world-making. They create different worlds, fantastic worlds. They have their own mythology, that runs in their own way. Which is what I love to do. So even if I do live-action films, I don't think it's going to be too far from my own inspiration, just like Tim Burton's live-action films are very pushed and stylized, and create unique worlds. I think that's my direction as well.

We can't wait to see whatever you come up with.

Let's hope they give me some money to do it.

So these films are science fiction?

They're both kind of fantasy with a little science fiction in them as well.

So will these two new projects have human characters in them?

The live-action one will have people. It's sort of an ancient. It's mythology. It's sort of an ancient tale. It's slightly pre-history, although it's early civilization type of pre-history, but rooted in an existing comic book franchise — and an actual literature franchise. But I can't really say yet [what it is]. And then the other animated film is also based on a comic book franchise.

So people are coming to you now and asking if you can take on their franchises?

Yeah, or it's properties that I find, that I'm really drawn to, attracted to. And I'll approach them and say, "Hey, I'm interested in developing this into a feature." The animated one is sort of like a blending of Dark Crystal meets Lord Of The Rings meets Secret Of Nimh, with a little touch of ancient Viking mythology and Old Testament. It's an Eden tale in some ways. It's the creatures of the forest, but in some way they represent humanity. If that makes any sense. It's fun, I have a lot of fun with it.

Wow, both of those sound great.

We'll see what happens. The climate in Hollywood is strange because of the economic downturn. Hopefully 9 does well, and it will open up the opportunities to make other films. Because if it does well, hopefully it'll let me do other, riskier properties, things that don't seem like easy sells in Hollywood. They might have a little more trust and faith that these things can find an audience, and that would be great — both for me and for other film-makers who are trying to do something different.

So I'm scratching my head, and I can't figure out what franchises he's referring to. The animated one could be Mouse Guard, actually. What do you think? We'll have the rest of our interview with Acker later this week. 9 hits theaters, not surprisingly, on 9/9/09.

Additional reporting, pictures and writing from Julia Carusillo, Ray Wert and Cailtin Petrakovitz

I have no Earthly idea why these women were recruiting for V. I mean, it's got aliens in it. That should be enough. No need to bring out the T&A just yet, are we that desperate already?

Kotaku reported on Dante's Inferno boob marketing fiasco called "Acts of Lust." A contest asking Conners to "snap photos of themselves with hot women at the comic-con," they later apologized.

What do surgically-enhanced women dressed in slinky, silver unitards have to do with a kid's game called "Mind Flex?" We don't know, but hundreds of interested convention-goers pushed the tykes out of the way to find out. Wait, what was that question we were supposed to be thinking about again? Sorry, we're distracted.

Speaking of petroleum-derived plastic orbs, SciFi SyFy has some serious balls touting their name change like this at Comic Con. Just look at 'em. They're huge!

Well, you certainly won't become the caped crusader wearing those hats.

Speaking of hats — "choose my identity?" Am I supposed to believe I really need a hat to tell me whether I'm good or evil? What is this, Harry Potter?

I would be seriously pissed off if I came outside to find a slew of "Dragon Age: Origins" decals adorning the side of my plumber's van. I know I certainly wouldn't be buying the video game!

A convention filled with people who draw things for a living, and this is the best Batman you could come up with? Really?

Wondering why this NBC Store moving billboard's included as an example of badvertising? It's a good-for-the-environment GEM electric car. The billboard? It's running off the huge gas-powered generator underneath it. That's like using a Tesla roadster to haul a HEMI dragster to the track.

What do roller-derby girls have to do with promoting District 9? No idea. We're going to assume they don't know either as they were also promoting Whip It. Which one is it ladies which one, I'm so confused.

Playboy and Comic Con? Sure, we see a match there. Playboy, Comic Con and ice cream? Not so much.

Save the cheerleader, save the popcorn? A Heroes carnival set up across the train tracks from the Convention Center? Next up SNOW CONE OF DEATH.

Clever. Kudos for taking it all the way my friend. Picture from the awesome Rad Nerd flickr stream. Funny crew over there — well done gang.

Nothing says "respect me" more than a Team Jacob or Team Edward Burger King Crown. Especially since the Where The Wild Things Are Crown showed them what was really up.

A SciFi SyFy fan gets the last laugh.

Gamer Raver Gear, sadly tragically unsexy in real life too.

Enough with the clever menu items, this was in an Indian restaurant.

Great, until someone stole my room key for the free episode.

I believe this funeral was for Criss Angel's new show, but I'm not 100% sure because when I hear the words Criss Angel I run in the other direction. But seriously, guys — super fun campaign.

Nothing says, let's kill a Nazi like a segway. Peace to you too man.

Additional reporting, pictures and writing from Julia Carusillo, Ray Wert and Cailtin Petrakovitz

Introducing the panel, executive producer James Tucker told the excited crowd:

You guys got what we're trying to do with the show, you understand that Batman goes back further than 1989... I always envisioned the show as a show for nerd dads and moms and their offspring.

That family feel continued throughout the panel, culminating with Batman actor Diedrich Bader bringing his two kids onstage to show off their homemade superhero costumes. Bader - one of three voice actors on the panel, alongside John DiMaggio (Aquaman) and James Arnold Taylor (Green Arrow) - explained to the audience why the caped crusader is his best gig yet:

This is my favorite role ever. I've been playing the character for so long now that, we have a scene in a future episode where Batman gets some closure, I can't say too much — but it's huge, I think you can extrapolate from there — and we're recording and I'm there reading it, everyone else is joking and I'm crying, thinking 'It means so much to him...' I realized that I couldn't sell the jokes [as Batman, but] I learned to undersell the joke. I had to sell the reality of the show, there has to be a grounded element [and Batman becomes that element] Once you know that, then there're jokes, but they're really dry. When you know that, you can really move forward with who Batman is. He's 'The Dude'.

For the producers, the fun of the show is more in the freedom it offers, as Michael Jelenic revealed:

The fun thing about this show is that everything I've learned as a writer, I have to disregard. Anything goes... James and I had a 20 minute conversation over whether or not Batman should be wearing a scarf in World War I. I won. He will be wearing a scarf and the goggles... The show works best when we go into the room and have no idea what we're doing. If logic gets in the way, we're in trouble. Our approach is putting things that don't fit together and making them fit together.

According to producer Tucker, future guest-stars on the show will include such DC characters as GI Robot, Detective Chimp, Vixen, Enemy Ace, Captain Marvel and the whole Marvel Family, Firestorm, Metal Men, Doom Patrol, B'Wana Beast, and the villain Starro the Conqueror. Jelenic added that they're "working on" appearances from Superman and Wonder Woman, but there are rights issues involved.

But those aren't the only familiar names involved with the show's upcoming second season. The panel finished with a video showing former Batman TV show Catwoman Julie Newmar recording dialogue for an upcoming episode as Bruce Wayne's mother, Martha Wayne. (Bader told the panel that Batman would get "closure" this season, adding "You all know what I'm talking about"). Tucker later told us that the episode would be an adaptation of a comic where Bruce Wayne discovered that his father had also worn a Batman costume at some time in the past, before telling us that the show will also be adapting the Batman of Zur En Arrh comic from the 1950s, but shying away from the revisionist retcon from last year's Batman RIP.

After the panel, we had a chance to talk to Michael Jelenic about the making of the Neil Patrick Harris-starring musical episode, as well as why the show's tone is so light and fun.

The musical episode was amazing. How long have you been planning it, how long did it take? Tell all, because I'm in a good kind of shock after watching it.

So you liked it.

I thought it amazing. My first thought was that it was the new Dr. Horrible.

Well, you know, I wanted to do a musical in some form for four years. Like, when I was on The Batman, we tried to put in a musical number with Harley and Joker, but that wasn't really a musical, and then, when I was on Legion with James [Tucker, co-executive producer], we sort of talked about it, but there were a lot of reasons why we couldn't do it. But with Brave and the Bold, it's a show where we could do anything. And a show where we always have to try and top ourselves. The show's absurd to begin with, I think, it's all weird stuff, and there's only so many weird situations you can create, and after the Bat-Mite episode, I mean, it's like how can we get bigger than that? The reaction to that surprised us, even Mark Hamill, he came and did a voice on our show and told us that it was messed up.

So, basically, I've been pushing. And James really wanted to do it as well, and he's like, okay, let's do it, but it's so much work. It's so easy for me to say 'Let's do a musical,' because I have the least amount of work to do, so we had to have about three months. The composers had about three months to write the songs. James and I came up with [lyrics], he did two songs and I did three, gave them to the composers, met with them a couple of times. And even after that, that's a huge amount of work, but then we've got to record the voice actors, and that's a huge task. Normally [voice] records take two hours, this took two days.

Because they have to sing in this one.

Yeah, and it has to be perfect. It has to be in tune... Fortunately, Neil Patrick Harris came in and he was amazing, I mean, really professional, got through it really quick and, he gets it. And after the voice records, it's another huge task to direct this. It has to be in rhythm with the song, it has to be choreographed, and it's a huge, huge challenge.

Sitting in the room, I don't know if you really got it from where you were, but everyone was in love with it from the start.

When I work on anything, I tend to hate anything I work on, I tend to only see the flaws, so I told someone else, I won't know whether this is good or not until after the screening.

You've got some really obscure characters coming up in the show... Are you really a massive comic geek?

I'm not, that's the really good thing about the pairing of James and I on the show. James is a huge geek. He knows everything. When I started at Warner Bros and started on The Batman, Batman was pretty much the only character that I knew. Batman and Joker and Penguin, and that's it. And suddenly, I'm indoctrinated into this whole culture over the years, and even starting off with the beginning of Brave and The Bold, I knew none of these characters. [Someone like] Gentlemen Ghost was pretty absurd. Now I look at Gentleman Ghost on our show and there's nothing absurd about him at all... Our goal is to take absurd characters and make them into ridiculous fun. And not just fun, with a character like B'Wana Beast, he has a real serious arc [in the season], and Detective Chimp plays an interesting role at one point in season two. The Haunted Tank thing, I remember when I was doing press for Wonder Woman, someone was telling me about Haunted Tank and I said, 'Is that a character? It sounds so ridiculous.'

We were joking... We were working with the writer of that episode on the closing, and Batman's final line is 'Great job, Haunted Tank.' Because it's a stupid line, but come on. It's the Haunted Tank.

But you embrace the silliness, you're having so much fun, it's infectious.

Yeah, we really lucked out. The stars kind of aligned, the network's been supportive... I've been on shows where you get notes like 'You can't have a character called B'Wana Beast, or Haunted Tank, it's too absurd, kids won't think it's cool.' But they've left us to do what we want, and we either succeed or we fail.

Was there resistance to doing such a light show? You're kind of making Batman silly. Was there resistance to that?

Not from James and I. We've both worked on other Batman shows, so we've done all those plots. So we didn't have that baggage coming in. We wanted to do something different, and we're not going to do a better serious show than Batman: The Animated Series, so let's go in the other direction, because that's the only direction to go and be different, and hit all the demographics. The tone of the show seemed natural, I think.

We got a few precious minutes with Iron Man 2's new red-headed beauty, Scarlett Johansson, at the Comic Con round tables. We grilled her about the sexy suit, and her character Black Widow. She remained stubborn about revealing anything about her character at all — even whether she has a few scenes with Sam Jackson (as we know they have had dealings in the comics). Still, the possibility of Black Widow returning in the Avengers is enough of a spoiler to let us know that we may not have seen the last of ScarJo's curves in Paramount's new Marvel-verse.

We're you nervous about the catsuit at all?

I knew what to expect, because I had seen the later incarnations of the character, so I knew it was a catsuit of some kind. So I had a freak-out moment , but that only lasted about half a day — but then I was like suck it up, just do it. And I never turned back after that I just went full force, and just did it.

Can you talk a little bit about filming action scenes with the catsuit?

The idea of so many millions of people watching what I'm going to do, I'm used to that, kind of thing. But as far as the action scenes and how the costume relates to that. One thing obviously important to my character is that the costume moves. My character is an expert in hand-to-hand combat, she's a mixed martial artist, she comes from a dance background, there's some gymnastics thrown into it, it's kind of everything all thrown into one big fighting machine. So a big part of me wondered: Can I move in this, can I run in it, can I curl myself up around things with this? I think you just have to put in the hours. Putting in the the hours, and repetition, training — basically befriending the stunt team. Spending all day, everyday, just over and over and over, until you sell it.

What is your relationship to the other characters in the film?

Well I'll tell you that um, my character... there are two sides to my character. She's a bit of a shape shifter, I suppose. There's a side of the character that's kind of demure and covert — I wouldn't say that she's submissive, but she's blending in to the Stark Industries [team, as an assistant]. Then the other part of the character is a really aggressive, bad-ass character, that is sure of herself and is going to kick the shit out of you if you get in her way. So that's as about as much as I can tell you, and how that relates to the other characters.

Do you wear the catsuit?

Out and about? No, it's kind of an attention grabber. I try to stay under the radar. But no, I have to say after the last time I had to wear that catsuit I was like, "Begone, catsuit." Hopefully I'll see that catsuit again, and be able to bring that character back, maybe some slight flaws will have been worked out, like some kind of ventilation.

Are there any truth rumors about the cat fight between you and Gwyneth Paltrow?

No, nothing could be further from the truth. I have nothing but wonderful things to say about working with her. Well, she's very much out of the loop. She's very much out of the loop, you know — she's got a wonderful family whom she spends a lot of time with. So for her, she's like, "What's going on? What?" And of course Jon [Favreau] who's on his Twitter, he's crazy about any kind of news about anything. He's like "You haven't heard? You haven't heard?" And he comes onto set and we're both like, "Oh god." Every time I would say to Gwyneth, "Oh yeah, that was on the seventh," and she'd say, "Are you sure it wasn't on the sixth?" He'd [Favreau] yell, "what? It's a cat fight! It's breaking out."

The last thing they were saying is that she was in New York purposely snubbing Comic Con because you were going to get all of the attention.

Believe me she's worthy of plenty of attention and I know that that fans love her and they are going to love to see her in this movie, because her character kind of comes into her own. I know she would love to be here as well, but she's with her family.

Your character's background revolves around Communism — is that updated in this movie? How does your character deal with that?

The character remains quite mysterious in this film. This movie is not about revealing the Black Widow's identity. Hopefully, if the character continues on, whether that is through the Avengers or something like that, we'll be able to explore more of her past. Obviously the film is in the present day, so to bring in that whole Communist perspective to the character might be a little dated. Well, it would be very dated, to say the least. But there are a lot of ways we can bring in different elements of her history.

How daunting is it as an actor signing on with Marvel, when they usually sign an actor to a multi-picture deal?

Obviously we have a vested interest in our character as well. I didn't go into this thinking, "Oh, this is the last I ever want to see of this character." I want to see this character come back, and reveal more about herself. I loved making the film and working with Jon, and I loved working with Robert. For me, as an actor, oftentimes we have a beginning, middle and end. And it's often a one-hour or two-hour segment, and we're done with it. So for me to be able to bring something like this back, and kind of do all of the character, is exciting and something we don't normally have the opportunity to do as actors...

I'm curious as to how your character balances out Whiplash and the other villains. A lot of people are saying two villains is too many, what does your character bring?

We don't know whether the character is villainous. She does have a dark past, and she is very seductive and distracting. We are not sure exactly where she's coming from, and what her intentions are, I'm not saying that will all be revealed. But there are a lot of characters in this movie, and a lot of new characters. And it is a balancing act. I think that between the huge explosive action, the romance, the battle of good versus evil — even within one's self — there's a nice balance between all of us. And I think fans will be excited to be taken down all these different journeys. They all really play into one another, and it doesn't feel like a lot of different films coming together. It feels like an ensemble. And you know, who can have too many villains?

In the comics your character works with Sam Jackson, do you have any scenes with Sam?

Um, I have worked with Sam Jackson.

People talk about Comic Con as the place you go to create the next geek-entertainment sensations — and it's definitely true to some extent. But it's by no means that simple. Nerd tastemakers do get their first look at the next summer's movies, and they do start spreading buzz — but the event is probably best at helping smaller projects get more exposure. If a movie, TV show, comic or novel goes into Comic Con with tons of buzz already, the best you can hope for is simply to keep the momentum going.

Look at last year — Comic Con 2008 had a clear winner (Watchmen) and a clear loser (The Spirit). And the bad exposure at Comic Con definitely hurt The Spirit, but it's hard to argue the event helped Watchmen all that much. Meanwhile, Star Trek stayed away from Comic Con 2008, and did better than almost any movie that actually did panels there. (Looking back, Wolverine did a panel, and it grossed less than Trek domestically.)

So the io9 brain trust got together and figured out which projects we feel came out of Comic Con with more buzz than they had going in. It's highly subjective, but these are the ones we heard more excitement about after SDCC was over.

#1: District 9

This film excited us more than any other. District 9 went into Comic Con with a ton of viral marketing, and not much else. After a full year of wacky alien segregationist signage (Comic Con 2008 was plastered with the stuff, and now it's on bus shelters) we were starting to wonder if this film was just an excuse for an ARG. Then we got to see the actual movie — and suddenly Moon wasn't the only standout indie movie of the year. It didn't hurt, too, that producer Peter Jackson put his considerable mojo to work promoting it. (We managed to corner Jackson for a few minutes of geeking out about monster movies, and he explained how D9 came out of the ashes of the failed Halo movie.) The raves about District 9 were both unanimous and ubiquitous, with everyone either gushing about having seen it or wishing they had.

#2: Zombieland

Another sleeper project, and one that features the overexposed undead, Zombieland crawled out of a buzz grave at Comic Con. This movie was just so gleeful and so outrageously gonzo with its mayhem, and the panel was full of great quotable soundbites. (As opposed to the bland boilerplate we heard on some other panels.) The former TV pilot script does a great job of reinventing the buddy comedy in a fresh way, from the characters named after towns to the pairing of the paranoid Jesse Eisenberg with the gung-ho Woody Harrelson. We were wowed, and so was a capacity crowd in Hall H. The L.A. Times says simply, "Zombieland keeps the movie genre alive."

#3: V

This was a television franchise we weren't sure we wanted to see back again, and yet another remake/reboot that we were leery of. But this show opened our bleary eyes with its moody, weird and scary pilot. The cast, including Firefly's Morena Baccarin and Alan Tudyk and Lost's Elizabeth Mitchell, were snappy and fun to watch. And the old "beware of aliens bearing gifts" trope still turns out to have a decent amount of life left in it. The 4400's Scott Peters brings the right amount of paranoia to a story where the terrorists turn out to be anti-alien freedom fighters, and the media is lying to us all along. We heard several people marveling afterwards that a V remake could be so intriguing. Hollywood Reporter says the screening and panel got a strong Comic Con response."

#4: 9

We've been excited about this film since we first saw Shane Acker's award-winning short film, and every clip has gotten us more thrilled. But the movie's presentation, in the cavernous Hall H, won an uproarious response from people who had never seen anything quite like its style. Rolling Stone's Douglas Wolk (who was on our io9 panel on Thursday) praises its "rich, run-down visual design." The L.A. Times says 9 "snagged" the audience. We felt the excitement in the room, and heard people wondering afterwards about just what kind of movie would get both Tim Burton and Wanted's Timur Bekmambetov on board as producers. (We'll have exclusive interviews with Acker and Bekmambetov, later in the week.)

#5: Felicia Day

Comic Con is pretty much Felicia Day's home town, but this year she ruled more than ever. Her panel for The Guild was one of the big hits of the Con (we heard people talking about it days afterwards) and her booth for the Guild was a major destination. Tubefilter says Day had an "entrance typically reserved for A-list movie stars" at her panel, where she announced Wil Wheaton was joining the cast. And Dark Horse announced a Guild comic. But oh yeah — she also starred in the unaired Dollhouse episode, which completely rocked our world. And Joss announced that her post-apocalyptic survivalist character would be turning up again in Dollhouse season two. All she needed was the announcement of a musical about cyborg Penny, and she'd have ruled the entire con.

#6: Tron 2

Actually, the biggest winner of Comic Con 2008? Was probably Tron Legacy, or Tron 2.0, or Tr2n. Whatever they're calling it this week, the Disney sequel generated as much excitement with one amazing surprise clip of lightcycles as any other property did with a whole panel and banners everywhere. This year, Tron built on that excitement, with a clip that showcased more of its storyline. But honestly, nothing about Tron's Comic Con panel generated a tenth as much chatter as the recreation of Flynn's arcade, complete with video games we'd only played in our dreams. And a real lightcycle. That was all people wanted to talk about for days.

#7: Richard Kadrey

His new novel Sandman Slim comes out in August (we'll be reviewing it soon) and we witnessed several awestruck conversations about the cyberpunk veteran's Comic Con prowess. People talked about his three-book deal with Eos, and Sandman Slim has gotten raves from Cory Doctorow and William Gibson. There were whispers that Hollwood was paying attention, and that's part of what Comic Con is for.

#8: Stargate Universe

The Stargate franchise is rivaling Star Trek for number of consecutive years on the air, and number of shows with things like SG-1 or DS9 after the franchise name. So there's been some doubt as to whether SGU would be true to Stargate and feel fresh and interesting. But the new trailer got people ramped up, and the producers said the right things about keeping this show true to the franchise's traditions. And then Robert Carlyle said the thing about how everybody was going to die. And we were pretty much sold. We also overheard tons of hallway conversations from people surprised they were stoked about Stargate again. The San Diego Union Tribune calls SGU "promising" and says it's one of a few shows that prove "there could be light at the end of our sci-fi TV apocalypse."

#9: Sherlock Holmes

Everybody expected Iron Man 2 to be fun and to feature Samuel L. Jackson swaggering as Nick Fury. And awesome Tony Stark banter and outbursts. We even kinda expected War Machine to turn up. Iron Man 2 lived up to our expectations. But none of us expected Robert Downey Jr.'s other movie to be so much fun, and so full of Victorian verve and rocky bromance between Downey and Jude Law as Watson. We were disappointed when producer Joel Silver told us this film wasn't steampunk, but we certainly heard lots of people suddenly talking about Sherlock. Associated Press quotes Downey as calling Sherlock Holmes an "intellectual superhero." So yeah, Iron Man didn't lose any buzz, that we could see. But Sherlock noticeably gained some.

#10: Avatar

James Cameron's space epic had the biggest hype, and thus the most to lose. So it's not surprising there's a bit of an "Avatar backlash." But like we said yesterday, even most of the detractors were saying things like, "I still think it'll be great, but..." And while the footage we saw wasn't photorealistic, it was an improvement on any CG world-building we'd ever seen before. As long as this movie avoids coming across as too preachy, it stands a great chance of capitalizing on Comic Con excitement. When you have the Kansas City Star reporting that a packed room of screaming fans gave Avatar a "resounding endorsement," that's buzz.

Flynn's Arcade image by JoelTelling on Flickr. Felicia Day image by GeekGirlDiva on Flickr.