The Classic TV Shows You Should Catch Up With at Comic-Con

There’s no small shortage of new and returning television favorites competing for your attention at the San Diego Comic-Con. Just one glance at our day-by-day calendar of panels and events is enough to make a TV fan’s heart beat faster. But don’t let all the shiny new toys distract you from some of the vintage offerings that Comic-Con preserves like classic comic books that have been bagged-and-boarded in a plastic sleeve. Here are our curated picks for the retro panels that are worth stealing away from Hall H and/or Ballroom 20 to attend.

Re-Imagining the Very Best of Battlestar Galactica for a New Generation

Who can possibly unite both generations of Battlestar Galactica fans? Richard Hatch, who played Apollo on the 1978 original series and Tom Zarek on its 2004 re-imagining. The actor plays emcee at Comic-Con’s annual BSG panel, discussing the franchise’s illustrious past (Galactica 1980 and Blood & Chrome excepted, of course) and its potential future. (Thursday, July 9, 10:30-11:30 a.m., Room 6BCF)

Star Trek
Five months removed from his February passing, Leonard Nimoy receives the Comic-Con equivalent of a Vulcan burial, with the panel They’re Not Really Dead as Long as We Remember Them presided over by Free Enterprise writer and all-around Trek guru, Mark A. Altman. Other notable Trek passings, like TNG showrunner Maurice Hurley and Grace Lee “Yeoman Rand” Whitney will also be observed, but Spock’s shadow will obviously loom the largest. (Thursday, July 9, 4-5 p.m., Room 23ABC)

Larry Nemecek’s Trekland: 2015 Losses, Rumors, and Birthday Edition will also pay homage to Nimoy, while marking other significant dates in Trek history, like the May 13, 2005 finale of Star Trek: Enterprise that kicked off the “Decade Without Trek.” (Thursday, July 9, 8-9 p.m., Room 28DE)

Finally, Gene Roddenberry’s son, Eugene, will host a Roddenberry Entertainment Presents panel that will tease the company’s plans to mark Trek’s 50th anniversary in 2016. (Thursday, July 9, 12:30-1:30 p.m., Room 24ABC)

Miami Vice 
Crockett and Tubbs won’t be in the house (neither will Michael Mann, for that matter), but their old boss Marty Castillo aka Edward James Olmos plans to be on hand to explain to all those Comic-Con whippersnappers why those Miami cops were so revolutionary in their ‘80s heyday. Miami Vice may seem like an odd fit for this particular convention, but let’s not forget that, at the time, Don Johnson and Philip Michael Thomas were like Day-Glo superheroes. (Thursday, July 9, 6-7 p.m., Room 29AB)

Warner Archive Collection’s Atom Ant Animation Spectacular
Not to be confused with Marvel’s diminutive insect hero, Ant-Man, Atom Ant is faster than a cockroach and able to leap hovering bees in a single bound. The Hanna-Barbera creation is 50 years young this year, and scores a new set of DVDs for his birthday. See, kids? Ants can be super cool. (Friday, July 9, 11 a.m.-noon, Room 25ABC)

Lost in Space: 50th Anniversary

The surviving stars of the ‘60s space odyssey reunite for a loving tribute to the source of the immortal catchphrase, “Danger, Will Robinson!” (Friday, July 10, 2:30-3:30 p.m., Room 24ABC)

Sid & Marty Krofft
It may look cheesy now, but if you were a kid in the ‘70s, the Sid and Marty Kroft-created adventure series Land of the Lost was a headlong plunge into a crazy, immersive world populated by creatures with names like Sleestaks and Pylons. That seminal Saturday morning adventure series is celebrated with a cast and crew reunion on Saturday, July 11, 10-11 a.m. in Room 29AB. Later that same day, the Krofft brothers take their turn in the spotlight— joined by moderator, Cesar Millan — to talk about their past and present work. (Saturday, 12:30-1:30 p.m., Room 5AB)  

Joss Whedon
With no Avengers movies to promote anymore, it appears that geek god Joss Whedon will be staying far, far away from San Diego. But his fanbase will celebrate in his stead by dusting off his pre-Marvel archive, starting with the 2008 viral sensation, Dr. Horrible’s Sing-Along Blog, which will receive a special sing-along screening complete with a costume contest. (Thursday, July 9, 8:30-10 p.m., Room 6BCF) 

And if you can still carry a tune after four days of convention food, join in the Buffy Musical: Once More With Feeling screening, followed by a Q&A with Juliet “Drusilla” Landau. (Sunday, July 12, 2:45-4:15 p.m.) Finally, don’t flee San Diego until you’ve had a chance to chat with other Browncoats at the Firefly hootenanny, Browncoats Meeting Room, where you’ll never be able to take the sky from me or anyone else. (Sunday, 3:00-4:00 p.m. Room 14A)

Avatar: The Last Airbender and The Legend of Korra
These beloved animated series may be relatively recent classics, but classics nonetheless. The good folks at Comic-Con have programmed two ways for fledgling Avatars to relive the adventures of Aang and Korra, with a Nickelodeon and Dark Horse-hosted panel on Friday, July 10, 2015, 10-11 a.m., Room 25ABC, followed by a fan-organized event on Saturday, July 11, 10-11 a.m., also in Room 25ABC.

Babble on With the Cast of Babylon 5

Sci-fi television wouldn’t boast the densely serialized mythologies the genre is known for today without J. Michael Straczynski’s ambitious (and, at the time, foolhardy) attempt to create a five-season novel for TV. It didn’t work out quite the way the writer hoped, but two decades on, Babylon 5 holds an important place in long-form storytelling. The show’s sizeable ensemble cast — among them Bruce Boxleitner, Mira Furlan, and Stephen Furst — assembles to receive their well-deserved recognition. (Saturday, July 11, 2-3 p.m., Horton Grand Theatre)

Sixty Years of Gumby
He’s Gumby, dammit! Actually, that vintage Eddie Murphy Saturday Night Live sketch probably won’t be screened at this celebration of all things green and bendable. Expect lots of clips from Gumby’s many animated television appearances, though. (Sunday, July 12, 11 a.m.-noon, Room 29AB)

Official Sailor Moon Panel
Like the song goes, you gotta get in tune with Sailor Moon and what better time than on the eve of VIZ Media releasing all 200 episodes of the ‘90s anime favorite on Blu-ray? (Sunday, July 12, 1-2 p.m., Room 6A)

Comic-Con International: San Diego runs July 9-12.