Here are the three panels I'm excited to read about from San Diego Comic Con this week.

I probably won't ever go to San Diego Comic Con. I don't like crowds, and from what I've heard, SDCC takes the cake as far as that goes. However, this doesn't mean my "Google Fu" isn't top notch. I play a good game when it comes to following up on things that interest me. So in case you are one of those people that likes to know what I'm interested in hearing about this week from the many panels at SDCC, I'm posting about the three I'd attend if I were there.

The Expanse. It seems like forever since season 3 ended with all of the ring gates opening up, revealing entrances to 1300 individual systems spanning an entire galaxy (and each one with either something interesting or a habitable world to explore). I saw on social media last week that season 4 has now been all wrapped up and post-film production (and editing) has begun. People who follow the industry closely believe season 4 will hit Amazon Prime sometime in September or October, and I'm super excited. In the meantime, I want to read what the panel at SDCC dares to reveal! There is most certainly going to be a trailer, and I hope that the authors who are known collectively as James S.A. Corey reveal the title to the sequel of their book, Tiamat's Wrath. I simply must know where all of this is headed. Breadcrumbs are much appreciated. The panel takes place on Saturday, July 20th, from 1:00 to 1:50 in the Indigo Ballroom at the Hilton San Diego Bayfront.

The Witcher: A Netflix Original Series. Henry Cavill is Superman no more! Now his new role is to play the lead in The Witcher (called Geralt of Rivia). My friend James played the video game, and he really loved it. And Cavill's makeup job in The Witcher has got people buzzing that he looks a lot like Legolas did in The Lord of the Rings movies. I do plan on reading The Witcher books, which are a series of short stories and novels written by Andrzej Sapkowski going back to the 1990's when fantasy was just starting to explode on the market. The saga consists of the following books: Blood of Elves, Time of Contempt, Baptism of Fire, The Tower of the Swallow, and The Lady of the Lake. The panel takes place on Friday, July 19th, from 2:15 to 3:15 p.m. in Hall H (good luck to anyone trying to get access to Hall H).

Terminator: Dark Fate. I've seen every Terminator movie. I've only really loved Terminator and Terminator 2: Judgment Day. Both of those movies were directed by James Cameron. But this doesn't mean that I'm not a sucker for everything Terminator. I kind of like the universe, because I kind of like apocalyptic tales. There's a lot of interesting things that could come out of this movie, like answers to the questions: 1) Did Judgment Day never happen? 2) Will Judgment Day still happen? 3) Why is Sarah looking for vengeance if she won in Terminator 2? That Terminator as a franchise has moved beyond the fears that my entire generation had of World War 3 has probably never occurred to studio execs. Which means that (from my point of view) the thing is doomed to tank at the box office. However, what do I know? I mean...the fears of the new generation are all centered around climate change. However, this doesn't mean Terminator won't get my money yet again. There's something fun about watching these machines take on people in action-packed sequences that makes me want to watch with my butt glued to the chair. And I like that Arnold and Linda Hamilton are back (we haven't seen her in a long time!) It'll be interesting to see how Linda's character has grown through the years. The panel for this movie takes place on Thursday, July 18th, from 11 a.m. to noon in Hall H.

San Diego Comic Con is the king of conventions but it is logistically impossible for most fans to see any of the good panels.

This weekend, San Diego Comic Con exploded the internet with all kinds of stuff that I'm interested in. There was the first trailer for Aquaman, the first trailer for Godzilla: King of the Monsters, new trailers for Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald, the first Shazam! trailer, the first trailer for the second season of Star Trek: Discovery, and a bunch of stuff for television. The only problem is that everyone else in the world also finds these things interesting. Nerd and geek culture is obnoxiously huge these days, and it's not hard to see why. Simply put, the kinds of things we are able to visualize (thanks to the power of computers) is nothing short of pure fantasy. Anything that can be thought up can be realized (if it is able to be drawn). It's kind of crazy.

The dark side of all this is that a regular schlub like me has absolutely no chance of seeing any of this at San Diego Comic Con. I've never been there to verify this truth, but when I read about what people have to do in order to get into these events and forums, it's just seems downright impossible. There are people that camp out for a week just to get into a specific hall. And this has nothing to do with getting a ticket, which is probably impossible to get as well without some kind of super duper internet connection.

Anyway, it seems like the enjoyment of these kinds of things has really moved onto, "If you want to hear the news first, you need to subscribe to this online magazine or twitter feed and follow me so that I can get it for you." I guess I'm complaining that I wish it wasn't this way. I wish that people who legitimately were interested in these kinds of events could (without too much trouble) get a ticket and then show up at a hall about 30 minutes before an event aired, and then get to see (and hear) all the cool stuff. But there's just too many people for the San Diego event center to handle (and the event center is reportedly enormous). So to simplify...there's just too many people...and that kind of sucks. Unofficially, I've heard that one million people attempt to purchase 55,000 passes.

So I guess I'll just continue reading about these things online and wishing that someday, I might see it live. But I doubt it. I just don't have the stamina to camp out for a week to get into a hall for an event panel.