We’ll be live blogging from the Sanctuary panel later this morning.  To watch updates you’ll need to refresh this page frequently. In order for us to get information out as quickly as possible we’ll ask you to please forgive our many typos.

——————

Amanda Tapping & Robin Dunn arrived.

They’re in the middle of shooting season 4 and we’re very lucky they could take a quick break from production to attend.

Promo partly from already aired eps, but some clips from new eps too.

What’s it like working on the show? Amanda, it’s actually really fun it becomes about the scene the connection with your fellow characters, even though you’re in a massive green room it brings everything down to a strict focus, you can’t get distracted by the shiny things in the room.

Robin: it’s kind of like doing theatre, it’s all about the performance and connection with the actors.

Seeing hollow earth, and the city appearing all around them (hologram) was amazing, martin had a hard time directing them as to where to stand.

Just did an episode in a bedroom fighting a creature and some of them get knocked over and Magnus had to kick it but there was nothing there.

Season 2 ended with a huge drama, and it was a feeling of “where from here” and yet in season 3 we saw great self contained episodes.  Tell me about your experiences working on s3

Amanda: when we got picked up for S3 and got our financing and everything it was “yikes” thinking about what they had to do, it was very clever the way it was done, also 20 episodes in S3 which gave them the ability to create the art more.

Wanted to make it big with 20 episodes.

On episode 11 of season 4 and it’s the most kickass season we’ve done, I thought 3 rocked but season 4 is amazing

Robin: it really is amazing to me, I credit Damien but don’t tell him!

what was the worst day on set for s3?

there was water, there was… the thing with me (Robin) is I get knocked down a lot.

What’s the most tedious part?

Robin: definitely those times, it’s happened to me only a few times, there was Warriors, metamorphosis, I really get a chance to understand what Chris goes through on a daily basis.

When Chris plays each character he’s really like two different people and they think of him that way.

Janothan funny, has a really dry sense of humour and is really subtly goofy.  He knows hes’ being funny but doesn’t play it out.

When will Magnus get a date? Amanda says “please can you give Helen a love interest, even if it’s just a one off to show that this woman is … to that end there’s an episode called Monsoon and I get to show a very lovely and leading into sexy kiss, (not saying if it’s a girl or boy)

the bad boys… why don’t you kick them out? Amanda, I think Tesla as much as he’s a liability he’s an asset. Robin: He’s usually solving problems he created, why am I the only one that sees that?

Tempus is the first episode of the season and I think it’s one of our finest in terms of the look and stunts, I do an amazing fight in a bustle.

Shooting Normandy there was a desire to be true to the period, it’s important when there’s so much significance and loss and you don’t want to muddy the story to the point what really happened is lost, we felt a responsibility to the men and women that served at the time. Even though on set we did our usual joking around there was a kind of sombre-ness to it.

Robin says the dedication at the end really gets to him. Amanda says it had a reaction on everyone.

During filming it was pouring rain and freezing and nobody made a complaint, it was just amazing

(Having trouble with internet access being slow)
`
talked about Sanctuary for Kids. (changing camera battery so i can continue recording)

Secret about S4…

Amanda & Robin singing…. They’re doing a musical!! There won’t be any dancing but it is a musical episode.

Amanda is directing again and Robin Dunne has directed his first ep this season (he kept his pants off)

Ryan & Amanda sent Robin a singing telegram on his last day of directing his ep, it wasn’t as all what they were expecting though, he made up his own words for I Feel Good about robin keeping his pants on and… Robin dropped his pants.

Would you ever be on Destination Truth? Amanda: Yes!!

It was implied Helen speaks Norwegian? Chris’ dad helped me, but what resulted was completely apparently wrong. So I did get coaching from Chris Heyerdahl’s dad but apparently my pronunciation was completely wrong… sorry, … complain to Mr Heyerdahl.

Michal Shanks – will he be back? Amanda, nobody’s ever dead in sci fi. She says she’d also like to get Teryl Rothery, now that they’re established she feels they can get more Stargate actors on, she’d like to get Jewel Staite too.

Lots of characters will be returning again this season.

Robin: there’s a very cool new villanish guy coming in (Brian Markinson) who’s amazing.

Amanda would like to go back to the psychic mermaid Robin says he’d like that as well… but for different reasons!

Amanda always liked the idea of the abnormals that are more humanoid that has really phenomenal mental capabilities .

Tesla will be back in S4 as much as S3, Amanda says if we could have him on every day we would but he’s in great demand.

Amanda says she’s been part of the Syfy family for over a decade she feels fully embraced by the network, can’t imagine working for anyone else. Amanda says Sci fi is the most forward thinking genre and being an actor in sci fi for the past 15 years is liberating and having a network that embraces it is fantastic.

Question about the dancing in the Bollywood episode (i think it’s all on the DVD extras, save me some typing and go watch them )

Amanda says she’s not really like Magnus, she has a healthy curiosity like Helen but she’s far more open to others’ suggestions, not such a “tightass”, quick to laugh and she thinks Helen makes really interesting decisions that appear to be based on ego but aren’t, they’re based on an amazing understanding of the repercussions  down the lines, she’s an enigma wrapped in a conundrum.

Robin says the last point applies to Amanda too.

Robin says he’s dedicating his life to being the ugly way less popular George Clooney.

Amanda says British TV is far more forgiving of people’s appearance (and age) than American TV.

Any more emotional scenes like when Ashley died? Yes! Does that mean someone’s going to die?’ Amanda.. I’m not putting that out there. there are some hugely emotional scenes coming up

If you could be an abnormal what would you be?

Robin: I’d like to be invisible… you know why!

Amanda: Invisible might be ok.. having thought about it for a nanosecond, but the fear of being invisible is catching people talking about you and it could be depressing..

Is there going to be a soundtrack CD? Yes! We hope so, we’ve been perusing that, we’re not a studio show so it involves our financers and a lot of other people coming on board and saying yes.  There’s been a groundswell of support so Amanda really hopes so. Robin says every season the sound gets better, very evident during the musical episode called Fugue.

END OF PANEL

We’re blogging live from the Warehouse 13 panel. To follow us refresh this page regularly.  Please excuse errors and typos!

——-

Exec Producer Jack Kenny, Alison Scagliotti, Saul Rubinek, Joanne Kelly and Eddie McClintock form the panel. Eddie jumped off stage and ran around the entire ballroom. Eddie says it’s an insane rush to see the fans sitting out here in the audience.

They didn’t want everyone to just assume Mika would be back so they introduced a new character, Steven Jinks. Aaron has a different energy to the rest of the cast who are very out there he plays things closer to the vest.  It takes all the characters into a cool place, it’s great to have someone new to “explain” things to.

Allison says the Steve is the first person in the gang that can be a peer to Claudia, she”s kind of isolated in her age group so Steve plays into Claudia’s evolution as a character. She sways he’s hilarious and a wonderful presence on set. She says they both know their lines when they get to set and just want to have fun. What happens towards the end of the season is mind blowing.

Eddie joked it’s great to have two new “agents” because they don’t have to work as hard and still get paid as much. Joanne said it worked from the get-go and that Aaron is a great addition to the family.

Jack Kenny complimented the crew on working so hard and sweating it out 16 hours a day, saying they’re brilliant artists who create the show.

Jack says one of the joys of working with the cast is that they’ve got the kind of talent that allows them to come up with stuff on the set.

Saul Rubinek says one of the great things about the show is that Jack is always on the set which is rare and it’s great because he can see what’s working right away, he knows them really well and he knows whatever they wrote may not work right away but they can change it when it doesn’t work.  Saul says they change it up frequently from scene to scene and line to line. Saul says they’re blessed to have Jack Kenny on board.  Jack went on to thank all of the writers by name.

This year more than in the past we’re going to see an entirely different episode every week.

A Eureka crossover episode “Don’t Hate the Player” takes place in a video game. In one episode Claudia gets to play five different characters.

jack says the cast are amazing and they can handle the humour and the intense drama very well.

Joanne says she can’t believe how many people are here, it’s crazy. Eddie thanked everyone again for showing up. Jack said the viewers are really important, they put easter eggs throughout the episodes, especially the Christmas episode.

Saul says there aren’t a lot of shows that you can watch with your family and he thinks it’s the kind of show he’s proud can be a family show.  Eddie says he and his dad went to see movies and watched TV as a way of bonding and he and his dad would do lines together after watching a movie or TV show and to him that’s what Warehouse 13 is. Claudia says moms reach out to her on twitter and say that it’s great that they make the women on warehouse 13 show that it’s cool to be smart.

Guest stars this year include Kate Mulgrew & Jeri Ryan from Star Trek Voyager, Steve Young (Walking Dead) Roger Reece is back, Jamie Murray.  Eddie says Jeri Ryan is insanely hot.

Saul says the Christmas episode is one of the most fun episodes they’ve filmed, the episode was written by the Writers’ Assistance on the show.

Jack made specific mention of the studio and the network and he says they’re the best he’s ever worked with and they’re really lucky to have them working on the show.

Steve Jinks is an openly gay character, the point was to keep the show as real as the world is.  It’s just who he is and they don’t make a big thing of it. He says this is the way the world is turning into and it’s nice.

If they had their own artifact:

Saul – it would measure the true size of our audience rather than what the Neilsen ratings say!

Jack says the one he wants grows hair,

Joanne says she’s not specific but it’s food related

Alison says she wants a guitar that guides her to play whatever she wants

Eddie says he wants one that says “no, I’m not David Boreanaz” He said one day he’s going to write a book “Living in the shadow of Boreanaz”

Jack confirmed they are in the very early stages of working on the Warehouse 13 spin-off with HG Wells. They’re in the process of figuring out who’s going to be in it, where it’s going to be set etc.

Claudia says it would be really interesting to see Claudia as a “Dark Willow” (re Buffy).

In the future we’ll learn more about Mrs Fredderick and who she is and where she came from but there needs to remain a lot of mystery about her character.

Saul says they unsung heroes of Warehouse 13 are the design team in the art department, what they’re able to do with the budget they have is incredible.

Jack says that QMx are making such great props for fans to purchase that they’re starting to use their teslas and farnsworths (QMx have a booth in the exhibit hall at San Diego Comic Con so check them out!) on the show!

This season in addition to Warehouse 2 we’ll see a little bit of Warehouse 12 and a tiny bit of Warehouse 9, they mention a couple of others but it’s expensive.

After a couple of people asking questions were wearing fez hats it was mentioned that they actually feature a fez in an upcoming episode.

Refresh this page for updates!!

========

Fans were treated to an impressive trailer showcasing what’s on the cards for the coming season, including some amazing guest stars like Felicia Day, Ming Na, Wallace Shawn and Stan Lee.

The space story presented a challenge for the entire town to rally behind, it was a bit of a leap of faith for the writers but something they thought they could pull off.

The changes after they went back in time,Colin Ferguson said “like a real relationship there are problems that come up and you have to make a choice whether you’re going to sort it out or cut and run… I don’t know”, he said jokingly, “I think something good happens.’

A number of cast members have directed episodes this season, Salli says she couldn’t’ believe the episode she got to direct it’s a huge episode and kicks off a lot of what’s going on in the season, she took it very seriously, the episode is 4:15.

Felica Day is coming into a show with an strong cast in a role that was seems like it w2as specifically created for her, she says it’s terrifying, like coming into someone’s family reunion and you’re the plus one and don’t know anybody.  She’s done a lot of guest spots and when you go on the set you don’t really feel like part of the family but with Eureka she did and it’s a testament to them about how generous and giving they are and it was so easy to find her footing as the character and as a person.

She said it was like the most beautiful gift to be given such a great role and to be given one with in the Eureka family.

The writers have a wish list of guest stars and Wil Wheaton and Felicia were among them.

Colin Ferguson says he tries to bring some of himself to the role, he says he’s goofy and a little odd and he figured if he could get some of that into a role it might work, in the past he was always told no, that’s not what we want but when he auditioned for Eureka they said “That’s what we’re looking for!” Ferguson also said some of the tone is set by the reaction from the viewers.

Neil Grayston says that sometimes he felt he was just there to be the butt of the joke guy but then they did the whole timeline shift which got him to reexamine Fargo and how he talks to people. He says it’s been great to have Farbo be adult and mature and have real relationships with people.

Neil says the Warehouse 13 crossovers (there’s another one this season) have been mostly self contained, that the cast are awesome and it’s awesome hanging out with them.

There’s a Christmas episode coming up too and Jamie Paglia says they decided to do it last year’s was well liked by the viewers and they weren’t sure there was anything else they could do however they came up with the idea of doing an animated episode! The episode isn’t fully animated but there are animated moments. It was interesting for Paglia to watch the cast do voice work.

Wil asked Felicia what it was REALLY like working with them (noting Syfy demanded he ask), Neil got up and walked around and then a impromptu musical chairs started up which got roars of laughter as Felicia recounted some silliness on set involving pants..and crotch wafting!

The episode commentary podcasts will return and they’re trying to get more of them involved.

They’d love to do more crossover episodes but it’s a matter of scheduling.

The second half of the season they weren’t able to make everyone’s schedules work but they did get Neil over to Warehouse 13.

Jamie Paglia said  Wil convinced them to go to Phoenix Comic Con and after meeting Stan Lee he asked them when they were going to put hi on the show. Getting to write something for Stan was like a dream come true. Wil Wheaton said they day Stan Lee was on the set everyone became 12 years old again.

 

We’re here at San Diego Comic Con and we’re going to try and keep a running blog on what’s going on during the day.  Refresh this page frequently for the latest additions.

 

 

—

Exhibition Floor.

We took a walk around the exhibition floor this morning and things started off  nicely without too much crowding but it didn’t take long for that to change and before long there were people everywhere.

California Browncoats – Booth A7 & A8

We stopped by the Browncoat booth run  by charity California Browncoats and bought some shiny merchandise and admired the rest.  The California Browncoats will have a number of celebrity guests dropping by for signings.  Check their twitter account and their website for updates on who’s going to be stopping by, but drop by and see them regardless because you never know who will stop by randomly without notice.

 

QMx – Booth 2944 & 2950

One of the most striking things on the San Diego Comic Con exhibition floor this year is the full scale replica TARDIS. Doctor Who fans need to make this their number 1 place to stop by during the convention. Take a photo of yourself by the TARDIS and then check out all the amazing items QMx have for sale and get a sneak peek at some of the fun prototypes they’re working on.

QMx are licenced to make collectable and often limited edition items for Firefly, Serenity, Dr Horrible, BSG, Star Trek, Warehouse 13 (their stuff is so good the show is now getting some of their props made by QMx!) and Doctor Who.

Ballroom 20

Covert Affairs: the panel started with a fun scene where the characters played on the Comic Con theme.  Annie was undergoing a lie detector test after she snuck off to Comic Con, she claimed she was working on a lead and had intel that someone was disguised as Captain America. They then showed a preview of what’s coming up and opened up for a Q&A session with the guests. Peter Gallagher joked about how thrilled he was that they used one of his eyebrows on the Comic Con logo. The panel finished with a bloopers reel.

Psych: USA Network continued the theme by starting the Psych panel with a clip playing on those attending Comic Con and including William Shatner with a pineapple.  This was followed by an introduction and live song performed by the panelists.  Fans were treated to a sneak peek at what’s coming up in Season 6.

 

Once again the amazing California Browncoats setting up their booth at San Diego Comic Con in their usual spot on the exhibition floor (Booths A7 & A8). To find them enter the foyer, then go all the way down to Hall A, after you enter the exhibition hall walk straight through to the back and then turn right and walk all the way down till you find the tables & chairs in the open seating area, you’ll find the Browncoat booth right there on the corner.  they have lots of fantastic merchandise to buy including some new items and some special comic con exclusives including a “Shiny” pint glass and a FireFrog poster.  Be sure to save lots of cashy money for your visit as everything’s for charity.  This year the California Browncoats are supporting several charities including:

This weekend marks the epic nerd event of the year when 150,000 fans converge on San Diego for Comic Con International. It’s getting more and more difficult to attend the event with tickets selling out within an hour of going on sale. But those that don’t manage to secure a badge to comic con won’t have to miss out on all the fun this year.

Stars like Zachary Levi, Nathan Fillion, Seth Green, Felicia Day, Zachary Quinto, Dominic Monaghan, Aisha Tyler and more will be participating in panels held at the off-site location run by The Nerd Machine.  Nerd HQ is located just a couple of blocks away from the convention center.

Panels are limited to 250 people making this one of the most intimate set of events in San Diego this weekend.  Some of the panels will be followed by an autograph session with the guests.  Tickets can be purchased online and the schedule can be found on the Nerd HQ website.

In addition to the panels there are ticket free events going on at Nerd HQ over the weekend and Xbox stations are available for hours of gaming fun, the “Nerd Quest” Scavenger Hunt and parties so if you’re in or near San Diego check it out!

Proceeds from the events held at Nerd HQ will go to Operation Smile.

 

Finally some long awaited news on the Joss Whedon horror flick “Cabin in the Woods”. In a deadline.com exclusive it’s been revealed that Lionsgate has made a deal with MGM to distribute the film.

A release date hasn’t been announced yet though speculation puts it around October this year.

The coat worn by everyone’s favorite captain!. This is the officially licensed Browncoat based on the coat worn by Malcolm Reynolds (Nathan Fillion) in Firefly and Serenity! Also seen (from this supplier!) in Castle episode “Vampire Weekend” when Castle’s character dresses as a “Space Cowboy” for Halloween.

Serenity Malcolm Reynolds Browncoat Replica You too can be a space cowboy! The officially licensed Browncoat. Based on the coat worn by Malcolm Reynolds (Nathan Fillion) in Firefly and Serenity ! Designer quality! As worn by the dashing Captain Mal Reynolds (played by Nathan Fillion) of the good ship Serenity, this replica suede coat is going to get you into (and out of) plenty of adventures! On the other hand, it’s such high quality that you may want to keep it safe and sound in your home collection. Officially licensed and available in a very limited run, this western-style duster features 100% real suede, fully functional brass buckles, smooth leather cuffs, gun flaps at the sides, detailed stitching, and a woven Serenity label. Order yours today! Nathan Fillion is Captain Malcolm Reynolds, a hardened veteran (on the losing side) of a galactic civil war, who now ekes out a living pulling off small crimes and transport-for-hire aboard his ship, Serenity. He leads a small, eclectic crew who are the closest thing he has left to family; squabbling, insubordinate, and undyingly loyal. The original Browncoat, Mal will never stop fighting for his independence or for the freedom of his crew, and he will never stop flying… not ever! Keep flying with your very own officially licensed Malcolm Reynolds Browncoat! For any true fan, this is the one item you cannot live without. This rugged Browncoat is constructed entirely from high-caliber, genuine cow suede with pebbled leather cuffs. A western-style duster complete with gun flaps and custom-designed brass buckles, you too will be a renegade when you put it on! Serenity: Malcolm Reynolds Browncoat – Sizing Chart S M L XL 2XL Chest 36 40 44 48 52 Waist 31 35 39 43 47 Sleeve 24 24.5 25 25.25 25.5 Finished Length 40 41.5 43 44.5 46