Comic-Con Fans Pay Tribute to "Battlestar Galactica" Cast - Plus "Heroes," "Smallville," "Supernatural" and "Torchwood" at Comic-Con

There is no denying it: Comic-Con has become the place to break news and make news about broadcast and cable programming. Here's a download including news on the Battlestar Galactica finale and the thunderous ovation fans gave the cast at their Comic-Con session.

Heroes

NBCreally made clear the importance of Comic-Con on Saturday when, during a session for Season 3 of Heroes, it screened the first half of the show's two-hour season premiere in the giant-sized Hall H at the San DiegoConvention Center. I'm told the hall has 6,500 seats, meaning it holds more people than Radio City Music Hall - and almost everyone in the room instantly spread word about what they had seen via text, Twitter or social network. (For Heroes spoilers, go here.)

From their homes across the country, members of the Television Critics Association began buzzing in outrage. TCA had ended its Summer 2008 tour with a day devoted to NBC programming just five days before the Heroes mega-event at ComicCon and had not been offered so much as a clip. Surely, NBC was aware of the fireworks near the end of the Summer 2007 tour, when ABC Entertainment president Steve McPherson was attacked onstage for allowing the producers of Lost to break news about their show that very same day at ComicCon. (The two events overlapped last year.) As it happened, the "big news" that day was that Harold Perrineau (the actor who portrayed Michael) would be returning to the show this past season after being off it for one year. In hindsight: Big deal.

Last year's Lost reveal was chump change compared to NBC's dramatic Heroes stunt this weekend at the Con. Certainly, I get why NBC wanted to create a sensation here: There is no better place to start a tsunami of support for a show, especially a geek fave like Heroes. But I don't think it would have taken the edge off the Con job had NBC screened the same hour for 200-plus critics on closed-circuit a few days earlier at the Beverly Hilton Hotel.

Doctor Who and Torchwood

There were many other news-making sneak-peaks and previews throughout the Con. On the opening morning, BBC America presented a first-look at this year's eagerly anticipated Doctor Who Christmas special featuring the return of the Cybermen. And in the session that followed, the network announced that it had picked up domestic rights for Season 3 of the sexually super-charged science-fiction adventure Torchwood, a spin-off of Doctor Who. (How sexy is Torchwood, you ask? As they took the stage, series leads John Barrowman, Gareth David-Lloyd and Naoko Mori made clear that anything goes on that show. The thousands of fans in attendance went wild.)

BBCA will run Season 3 next spring, debuting episodes shortly after they premiere in the U.K. The deal, Con attendees were told, was completed only that morning.

Details of Torchwood's third season were also revealed: Apparently it will be one big story told over five episodes. "The Torchwood team has never been in this much jeopardy," executive producer Julie Gardner teased. "Very bad things happen!"

"I was shocked by it," added Barrowman. "It leaves you wanting more."

Smallville

During a cocktail party on the second floor of Warner Bros. massive Comic-Con display space, Justin Hartley told me that he was returning to Smallville this fall as "a series regular" and that he would be in the opening credits of the show. Fans heard all about plans for Hartley's character, the Green Arrow, at the show's session the following morning. They were also informed that a host of D.C. Comics characters that have appeared on the series in the past including Aquaman, Black Canary and Martian Manhunter would be returning and that the Legion of Super-Heroes would be introduced.

Supernatural

The Supernatural session that followed the one for Smallvillewas sensational. The thousands of fans around me screamed in delight when producer Eric Kripke presented the first five minutes from the Season 4 premiere. (Supernatural spoiler alert: Dean returns after spending four months in hell, digs his way out of his own grave and wanders around in the middle of nowhere. He breaks into a small general store, helps himself to food, water and a skin mag and is then attacked by a mysterious force.)

"The danger [for Dean and his brother Sam] gets worse next season," Kripke said. "There will be times when Dean looks back fondly at his time in hell."

The spirited session, featuring series leads Jensen Ackles and Jared Padalecki, was interrupted by the Ghost Facers, the three reality show geeks from what may have been the most memorable episode of Season 3. Kripke announced that the Ghost Facers would be appearing "in a short-form alternative media spin-off."

Kripke also said that Mitch Pileggi (Skinner on The X-Files) would be seen on the show this season as Dean and Sam's grandfather.

Ghost Hunters International

Sci Fi Channel announced that it was picking up a second season of Ghost Hunters International, which thrilled the audience in the packed ballroom at the presentation for that franchise.

Battlestar Galactica

The one bit of huge news that was not made at Comic-Con was the identity of the final Cylon on Battlestar Galactica, which will be revealed at the end of the series' run next year.

When one person in the audience begged BSG executive producers David Eick and Ronald D. Moore to "give us a clue who the final Cylon is - just a clue," hundreds of fans in the room screamed, "No!" (Mercifully, not everyone finds the television viewing experience enhanced by spoilers.)

BSG star Jamie Bamber said, "The ending is an ending. It is utterly sublime. It's the perfect way to end the show. It does everyone and everything justice."

Since this would likely be the BSG cast's final appearance at Comic-Con, the crowd gave them a thunderous and oddly moving standing ovation at the end of the session.

Knight Rider

With Knight Rider star Justin Bruening and executive producer Gary Scott Thompson standing by, NBC unveiled the all new Attack KITT over by the Tin Fish Café, directly across the street from the Convention Center. Attack KITT, Thompson cautioned, should not be confused with Pursuit KITT.

Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along BlogandBuffy the Vampire Slayer Season 8

Joss Whedon made some news, too. At a packed-to-the-rafters session for Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog (during which Felicia Day was caught Twittering under the table at which the panelists were seated), Whedon and company said there were plans for a fourth installment. (Earlier this month the first three parts debuted online.)

Whedon is now the undisputed King of Comic-Con, with three genre TV sensations behind him (Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Angel and Firefly) and one to come (Dollhouse, which had a Con session of its own), not to mention a feature film (Serenity), an online hit (Dr. Horrible) and a host of comic books (including Fray and Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Season 8). That allowed him to make Con news in more than one area. During the Dr. Horrible session, Whedon announced that Oz the Werewolf would be returning to the Buffy-verse in the Season 8 comic book.

Appropriately, Comic-Con closed on Sunday with a sing-along/talk back screening of Once More With Feeling, the legendary musical episode of Buffy.