Hawaii Five-0 Press Conference and Panel!

I kicked off my Comic Con Friday by attending a Hawaii Five-0 press conference, and I'm in the room waiting for the panel itself to start as I write this. Live blogging ahoy!

Notes from the press conference:

- In trying to avoid the pitfalls that may come with remaking a beloved classic television show, the writers attacked the script as its own thing, trying their best not to put pressure on themselves. They realize it's a classic source and are doing their best to protect that as they write.

- There are lots of Die Hard references and the show does have a bit of a Die Hard tone to it, involving the dark tone and humor.

- The casting process took a very long time, but came together when Daniel Dae Kim signed on. He was extremely passionate about the show from the start, which brought a great energy to the process. Grace Park auditioned for the show like any other actress out there.

(Grace, by the way, is gorgeous. As all hell.)

- They were skeptical about casting Alex O'Loughlin at first since he has big shoes to fill with McGarrett, but as the show progressed he slipped easily into character. Having faces that are a bit lesser known (well, to people other than us sci-fi geeks) made it easier for everyone to focus on the characters themselves.

- Shooting in Hawaii played a huge role in the show, the island itself becoming something of a fifth character. While there's the gorgeous vacation spot everyone knows, there's also the seedy underbelly of it that the show is going to dive into and focus on. The producers talked to Daniel a lot to get a feel for what it would be like filiming in Hawaii on a constant basis. Cause, you know, he filmed some TV show or something there. Nothing we've ever heard of, I'm sure.

- The show will be mostly episodic, though they'll have different levels of stories. In each episode the A story is the procedural aspect, the B story is a character story, and the C story will be an ongoing season arc. The pilot opens up with a few mysteries to be solved over the course of the season.

- Though they pay tribute to the original actors and show, they didn't talk to any of the original stars. Doing their best not to have this be a show all about impressions of certain characters became the most important aspect, and as such the show became very much about the characters.

- Having the show set in Hawaii lets it go a bit further than most procedurals these days; they'll get to do fugitive stories, city vs jungle vs water stories, and bring in some international flavor. Speaking of international, they do draw actors from Hawaii, trying to keep that aspect of it true to the island.

- Daniel was excited with the differences between H50 and Lost. He wasn't in a jungle, he joked, was filming in climate controlled situations. Also, he was clean. And his clothes didn't have holes in them. He's also happy to have people come watch the show and start to realize he isn't just Jin anymore, and has much more range.

- Grace talked a bit about her character, saying she was a rookie cop, who meets the main cast right off the bat. She's a female cop in with the guys, and while she's a big tomboy who likes to get down and dirty, though the female aspect of her character isn't entire lost.

Sadly my laptop sucks at keeping a charge, so I won't be live blogging this panel today! I will be back today with info from the Walking Dead and Spartacus: Blood and Sand panels, however. Til then, follow me on twitter for real time updates!

(PS. The Hawaii Five-0 Clips they're showing right now are pretty damn SWEET!)