Entering the world of Comic Con for the first time was a doozy. Not only did I see my creative hero Joss Whedon, I also saw in-person gorgeousness of Tahmoh Penikett and Joshua Jackson. Growing up in Texas, I never had access to either of the coastal Comic Cons. I was the weird one growing up, incessantly talking about what just happened on Buffy the Vampire Slayer or worried about whether Serenity would ever get made. On February 8th, 2009, in a little convention center in Midtown Manhattan, I found my people.

I got there around 11:00am, expecting to see all of the panels I wanted—NBC’s Chuck featuring producers Josh Schwartz, Chris Fedak, and star Yvonne Strahovski, FOX’s Dollhouse featuring creator Joss Whedon and star Tahmoh Penikett, and FOX’s Fringe featuring writer/director Jeff Pinkner and all of the stars including Joshua Jackson, Anna Torv, and John Noble. I wasn’t sadly mistaken, but I was mistaken in thinking that I could possible find all of the correct rooms in the large, airport like convention center or that I could find the press room to get my highly coveted paper badge.

I wandered around a while, clearly an outsider to the mega-fans (clearly, because I had no idea where the line ended, where to get my badge, and that I was not wearing some kind of hideous special costume/sign of allegiance to my favorite show). As I tried to find my way to the Chuck panel, I realized there was a long line of Dollhouse diehards already forming for that show, which didn’t even start until 12:15pm. I quickly abandoned Chuck in the hopes of my seeing the creative God that is Joss Whedon. Known to the world as that-guy-who-made-Buffy, here he was the mastermind behind Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Angel, Firefly, Serenity, Dr. Horrible’s Sing-Along Blog, and Dollhouse. Basically, he’s the Pope.

I plopped myself down at the end of the line, prepared to wait over an hour, when a enthusiastic young woman assures me that she can entertain me for at least that long. Her shirt read, “Voldemort Can’t Stop Barack.” At least she would be interesting. The time passed quickly and soon I we were in the panel room.

When Joss and Tahmoh came out, it was pandemonium, polite pandemonium, but still. It was the strangest feeling to know that there were so many people who felt as strongly as I did about these shows. It quickly got underway.

Joss Whedon talked about the making of Dollhouse, the infamous lunch date with Eliza Dushku (star of Dollhouse) that lead to the show’s creation, and how much he has a mancrush bromance with Tahmoh Penikett. He was such a funny, self-aware, brilliant guy, it was clear why so many see him as a professional role model. He respects his actors, the characters he creates, and loves these worlds just as much as everyone in the audience. He even questioned Tahmoh about how on earth could “you let Baltar go in your place!!???” The audience erupted with laughter, knowing that their idol was just as nerdy as them.

As for Tahmoh Penikett, I’m making an early prediction now that he will be the next David Boreanaz: hot/dreamy guy on a Whedon show that will eventually become a strong/classy leading man.

Way too soon, the panel was over and Fringe moved into position. During the down time, the audience was treated to commercials for Fanboys, the CollegerHumor Show, the possibly fake Zelda movie, and some kind of Bond satire pitting Daniel Craig and Pierce Brosnan against each other.

As soon as the audience got a glimpse of the cast walking on stage, some idiots in the audience yelled out Mighty Duck quotes to Joshua Jackson. There were no Pacey references like I had expected, but I soon realized no one in this room would ever have watched Dawson’s Creek. Puh-lease. So the actors came out and discussed their show, rather demurely. It was much more fun when it was just Joss and Tahmoh because they didn’t worry about interrupting each other or generally being polite. This panel had seven very polite panelists and John Noble. John Noble plays Walter Bishop, the slightly crazy, adorable old scientist who had recently been checked out of a mental hospital in order to help with Fringe science cases. During the entire panel John was staring out into space, in the opposite direction of the moderator, just smiling. He was clearly the guy everyone loved and listened to amongst the actors, and the audience got a taste of it on Sunday. He even stopped by for Comic Con Day 2 with fellow co-star Jasika Nicole to sign autographs.

In general the panel wasn’t nearly as entertaining as Dollhouse, but Jeff Pinkner did have a great anecdote about the Observer, a mysterious man(?) who is always at the site of every case and has something to do with the overall arch of the show. Apparently the writing/producing staff of Fringe has been trying to get this actor to show up at real life historical events. They even made a deal with FOX, and got the Observer on the sidelines of the Superbowl%