10. Starship Smackdown

If you've never been to a Starship Smackdown, you're missing out on a fun and funny exercise in geekdom. Six expert panelists debating and voting on which starships from science fiction cinema and television, both popular and obscure, would win in a battle only becomes more fun when you mix things up by powering those ships with random supercomputers or putting random fictional captains at the helm. About twenty ships -- ranging from the Battlestar Galactica to the craft that brought baby Kal-El to Earth -- were pitted against each other in battles sometimes decided by a landslide, other times depending on the audience to break the tied vote. You know you're attending a fun debate when the final battle consists of a Captain Needa-helmed D7 battle cruiser losing to a Death Star captained by Jack Sparrow.

8. The Venture Bros. Blog Podcast

Only about eight individuals had the pleasure of partaking in the Venture Bros. podcast put on by Marc Ilagan of The Venture Bros. Blog, but for Venture fans, this was a heck of a fun time. Sitting around, chatting about our favorite cartoon, and drinking beer -- that's hard to beat. Keep an eye out for the podcast on the VB Blog soon, and you'll even get to hear some VB ruminations from yours truly.

7. Cowboys & Aliens Test Footage

The title alone of Cowboys & Aliens tells you that the director in charge will have to walk a fine line to keep his film from becoming ridiculous. Despite the awesome things he has done with Iron Man, it is doubtful that many people were entirely sure that Jon Favreau would know how to handle this movie. Fortunately, a peek at a test-footage scene from the film gave us all the confidence we need. Forgoing all opportunities for tongue-in-cheek moments or winks at the camera, Favreau is playing this one straight. Even the director himself seemed caught off-guard by how good it looked on the big screen.

6. Everything on the Battle: Los Angeles Panel

It's doubtful that many people were really excited about hearing about this "alien invasion hits L.A." flick called Battle: Los Angeles. What can be so special about that? Well, director Jonathan Liebesman surprised us all. Combining a classic alien invasion story with District 9-like realism and putting a military focus on it, Battle: Los Angeles looks like one of the more intense sci-fi films we've seen since, heck, District 9 itself. It is now officially on the radar.

5. TRON: Legacy Footage

The TRON: Legacy sneak peek didn't reveal a lot that we didn't already know about the movie, but it was fun to see nonetheless. This is probably the most highly anticipated sci-fi film of the year, and we got to watch a full eight-minute clip from it. Though the 3D could not be fully appreciated in the enormous Hall H, it was still pretty awesome.

4. Zack Snyder's Sucker Punch Trailer

There's no other way to put it: Zack Synder's Sucker Punch trailer kicked ass. Featuring women fighting dragons, robots, golems, and German WWI soldiers, on apocalyptic wastelands, distant planets, battlefields, fantasy worlds, and Japanese courtyards, this may have received the best reaction of any possibly-science-fiction movie trailer revealed over the weekend. If Snyder ever quits filmmaking, hopefully he'll make a career out of trailer development.

3. Ryan Reynolds Recites the Green Lantern Oath

No one had heard Ryan Reynolds, the actor playing Hal Jordan in the upcoming Green Lantern film, recite the famous Green Lantern oath until this panel. Responding to a question from a little boy about what is was like for him to say it, Reynolds threw his chips in and let us hear for ourselves. It was cool to hear, but even more rewarding was the look on the kid's face. So clearly amazed was the boy, that Reynolds did an impromptu signing of a Green Lantern comic book for him. That's something he's not likely ever to forget.

2. Avengers Assemble!

How can you top the panels for two of the most highly anticipated films of 2011? You bring out every main character actor, some until now unconfirmed, and a fan-favorite unconfirmed writer/director (Joss Whedon) for an even bigger 2012 film, AND have them introduced by Samuel L. Jackson and Robert Downey, Jr! Phew. The Marvel panel as a whole was hit-or-miss, with a definite high point hit during the Thor footage, but this little treat stole the show and provided a massive live teaser for The Avengers. The downside, of course, is that now we're all excited for something that's two years away. Damn you, Marvel.

1. Harrison Ford Shows Up

There are few people on this earth who could single-handedly outdo Marvel's Avengers round-up. One of them is an actor who had never attended a Comic Con before. That man is Harrison Ford. When Ford, who rarely makes big public appearances, walked on stage for the Cowboys & Aliens panel, the applause was so loud and enduring that, despite his attempts to keep a straight face, the actor could not keep himself from laughing. For the man who played Han Solo and Indiana Jones, this was the opportunity for thousands of pop culture fans to express their thanks. He didn't get much of a chance to talk during the brief panel, but his appearance was enough.

Thanks for coming, Harrison. We hope you'll be back soon.