Comic-Con 2010: Fringe

The Panel: Our-universe versions of Fringe's gorgeous Anna Torv, studly Joshua Jackson, dapper John Noble, dead-sexy Lance Reddick, elegant Blair Brown, adorable Jasika Nicole, and executive producers Jeff Pinker and J.H. Wyman. (In case you couldn't tell, I'm kind of obsessed with this cast.) Entertainment Weekly's Ken Tucker moderated in his trademark deadpan-witty tone.

What They Talked About: They managed to pack quite a lot of stuff into an under-one-hour panel. The producers discussed last season's themes of duplicity and "the road not taken," Noble detailed how the characters' alternates are not different people but merely versions of the same folks who "made different choices," Jackson confirmed that he wasn't jealous of his castmates for getting to play more than one character ("I can just be in the audience... and judge them harshly. 'You know what this is missing? Peter.'"), Nicole described her delight in playing the "machine" Alt-Astrid, and Lance Reddick looked cut as hell, even from far away.

Most Valuable Panelist: Josh Jackson. I swear, this guy is the most eloquent, quick-witted, and intelligent celebrity of his generation. He's also got a great sense of humor. At one point during the audience Q&A;, the panelists decided to ask questions back. One girl was stumped by the question, "Why does Gene have polka dots?" so Jackson poured some water in his cup and gurgled it into the microphone to simulate the sound of a bong. Needless to say, the girl got the question right.

Best Question From the Audience: I was a big fan of the girl who declared her love for John Noble and asked him for a kiss. He totally blushed (and chucked a Hershey's kiss at her). But overall, the questions from the cast to the audience were better. Or, in Lance Reddick's case, the long, awkward pauses as he tried to come up with a trivia question were better. Nay, hilarious.

Missing in Action: Uh, series creator J.J. Abrams. But he was probably busy or something.

Most Exciting News: The Season 2 DVD comes out on September 14! Don't worry, they talked about more stuff. It looks like we'll learn more about Astrid next season—in fact, Nicole has already seen Astrid's apartment! And we'll get some more information into the established-but-vague emotional connection between Nina and Peter. One good thing to know is that the producers are very much in favor of sexytime between Peter and Olivia. On a more mature note, I found John Noble's discussion of William Bell quite fascinating; he mentioned that in the Fringe world, Bell is not God (a theory I have toyed with for awhile) and that he's actually just as inconsistent as Walter, so we shouldn't take everything he says at face value (including that open-ended final interaction between the two of them).

Quotables: When asked about the kiss between Broyles and Nina Sharp, Blair Brown referred to Astrid as "our love child." And Jeff Pinker called the twice-retired Leonard Nimoy "our Brett Favre." But I think my favorite quote came from Reddick. After trying to spit out his trivia question and getting major laughs every time he stopped himself, he said in jest, "I'm just gonna talk over you because you guys are rude!"

But Wait, There's More! Anna Torv said that taking off the redhead wig is really exhausting. She also confirmed that the character Sam is in fact real (and not a figment of Olivia's imagination, as many fans have hypothesized). Ken Tucker thinks that Alt-Nina should be called "Nina Sharper." And Pinker and Wyman went into great detail about how the show strikes a balance between the mythology episodes that the fans want and the serialized/standalone episodes that the networks want—they call 'em "myth-alones." Heh.

The Big Picture: Fringe fans don't just love one member of the cast—they love 'em all. And rightfully so—this group of actors was engaging, informative, and of course, easy on the eyes. I am so pumped for next season.