The waiting is over

 Saturday, July 26

Sharon:

SAN DIEGO -- Today began at 7 and I'm writing now at 11:40 Pacific time. It's been a long four days.

Did I mention that Disney announced that a "Tron 2" is coming? That's Comic-Con for you. Something is always happening, and sometimes you have to read about it elsewhere even if you're here.

Not so today, when I made sci-fi TV a priority and was rewarded with the exclusives that are the reason this city is jammed to its borders.

Josh and I checked the line for "Heroes" before making any rash decisions and realized we were in the first few thousand people, so we'd get in with only an hour and a half wait. Not bad for this week. We spent some of the time writing down all of the costumes that strolled past, like the Storm Trooper from the waist up who was wearing a kilt. Couldn't figure that one out.

Finally inside, we were rewarded by Tim Kring, creator of the NBC series, and the full cast of "Heroes" with a screening of episode 1 from the upcoming season 3, which long ago was themed "Villains."

I won't be a spoiler, but I will say that some key questions are answered right away, such as: Does Sylar (Central Catholic's Zachary Quinto) eat his victims' brains to steal their powers?

Who are the good guys and bad guys this season? We may start to wonder and begin to doubt the motives of people we thought we understood. I won't say if I think "Heroes" is back from an off season last year, but I will say that there's plenty for fans to ponder and discuss from the first episode alone, and isn't that why we became fans in the first place?

Kring also revealed that there would be some never-before-seen episodes on the season 2 DVD, which may fill in some creative blanks.

After the "Heroes" cleared the stage, we cleared out of Hall H and made a dash to the FedEx booth in the lobby to mail home some of the goodies both bought and bestowed as freebies, as happens all day long here. Studios want you to wear T-shirts about their upcoming movies, and most people here are thrilled to oblige. It's free advertising plus bragging rights, all in one.

Next came another long, long wait to get into Ballroom 20, the second largest hall here, and the "Battlestar Gallactica" panel. Here's where I final found myself in an auditorium with the ominpresent Kevin Smith, who explained that he wished he had been involved in the best frakkin' scifi series ever, but he was forced to settle for his position as panel moderator.

Smith set the sex-obsessed tone of the panel, and even left Katee Sackoff speechless when he called her kick-ass characterization of Starbuck both a great female role model and a gay icon.

The folks from BSG brought clips of the remaining episodes in the series and its upcoming spinoff, "Caprica," to keep the crowd in a frenzy. I'm always amazed at how sweet and polite James Callis seems to be, and how unlike his insanely wonderful character, Gaius Baltar.

More on BSG another time. Following the panel onto the stage is one of my favorite shows that no one seems to be watching, NBC's "Chuck." I love and worry that the writers are addressing the growing attraction between the main characters, Chuck and superspy Sarah, early in season 2. It's always a gamble to play push-and-pull with characters that the audience wants to see together, but they way they go about it here, I'm all for it. "Chuck" is a spy show with lots of heart, and the cast and creators know that's the selling point. Another selling point is Adam Baldwin, a fave of fans here from "Firefly." He would utter a single syllable,and the fans would go nuts, much to star Zachary Levi's bemusement.

We spent the next two or so hours on the Exhibit Hall floor, shopping, gaming (at least Josh did) and meeting people. I'm going to let him get some sleep tonight and talk about the video games tomorrow. After dinner, we caught a late show of "Step Brothers," to make up for missing "Tropic Thunder" the day before.

We'll be back in Pittsburgh late tomorrow night, when I can finally start to sort through notes, images and audio tapes from four wild and crazy days. So  I'm not done with Comic-Con just yet.