Comic-Con: 'Stargate Universe' not just for 'Stargate' fans

"Stargate Universe," the latest spin-off of the popular "Stargate" franchise on the newly renamed Syfy, hit Comic-Con in a big way Friday morning.

We know a lot of fans were unable to make it into Ballroom 20 due to the long lines, so we blogged the panel for your enjoyment...

Representing the show today are co-creators Brad Wright and Robert Cooper, and stars Robert Carlyle (Dr. Nicholas Rush),  Brian J. Smith (1st Lt. Matthew Scott), Elyse Levesque (Chloe Armstrong), David Blue (Eli Wallace), Alaina Huffman (1st Lt. Tamara Johansen), Jamil Walker Smith (Master Sergeant Ronald Greer), and Ming-Na (Camile Wray).

10:43 a.m.- After the audience is shown an intense trailer for "SGU," Wright and Cooper--who also co-moderated the panel--introduce the cast. Ming-Na comes out videotaping the crowd, much to the delight of everyone.

10:45- Cooper thanks the fans for allowing them to start their 16th season in the "Stargate" franchise: "The reason we're here is because of you."

10:46- Wright has a fan question from a Zap2it reader to answer: Can people who have never seen an episode of "Stargate" watch the new show? Wright says that non-fans can indeed watch "SGU." He asks the audience to raise their hand if they have not seen any version of "Stargate," and is surprised when decent number of fans raise their hands. Wright jokingly tells everyone who has their hand raised to leave the panel.

10:48- "Stargate" vet Richard Dean Anderson will be appearing sporadically throughout the first season of "SGU," while Amanda Tapping is in the pilot.

10:51- Smith and Levesque tell a hilarious story about their experience on the convention floor. Not only did they admit that they nerded out and posed for photos in front of the Stargate replica at the MGM booth, but a worker there asked them if they would like to enter to win a guest role on "SGU." Awkward.

10:56- Time for the fans to ask their questions. The first fan wants to know why "SGU" won't be on network television. Wright jokes, "I would like to air it on all the networks, actually. It seems to work for Barack Obama." On a serious note, he says Syfy has been very good to them, airing five years of both "SG1" and "SGA," so this was the natural fit.

11:00- Carlyle admits he wasn't quite sure about taking the role of Dr. Rush. Turns out, he felt he wasn't the "typical" "Stargate" guy when he was approached about the show, but Cooper convinced him that they weren't looking to make the "typical" "Stargate," and the rest was history.

11:02- A fan notes the strong, intelligent, beautiful women in the first two shows, and wants to know what characteristics the creators were looking for with the "SGU" women. The women on the panel look slightly horrified that the man just implied that they were none of those three characteristics. Ouch. Wright quickly comes to their defense, saying that all the women at the table possessed those qualities.

11:06- Blue is the resident sci-fi fan of the group. He says he has seen every "Stargate" episode, and "pretty much every sci-fi show out there." Wright jokes that in Blue, they got an actor/technical advisor.

11:08- Wright ducks behind the moderator podium when a question about the cancellation of "SGA" comes up. Cooper admits that there were still some story lines to tell, but that he "think[s] it's unfair to say that after 5 seasons and 100 episodes...that it's [a] premature [cancellation]."

11:13- Big things are going to happen very quickly on "Stargate Universe," Cooper promises.

11:18- In the first season, there are some very "alien aliens" made entirely out of computer graphics.

11:20 -"When I got this [role], my mom said, you're going to be the next Levar Burton!"-- Smith.

11:24- A fan asks if this "Stargate" series will continue the tradition of killing off their doctors, and Cooper informs the audience, "We kill the doctor right away in this one." The audience laughs, but then Wright clarifies that Cooper wasn't kidding. Hmmm.

11:29- And we're done!

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