More Comic Con '09 Stuff (Friday)
Jul. 26th, 2009 01:40 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
lazypadawanFirst up was the annual Official Star Wars Fan Club breakfast at the Marriott right next door to the convention center. I got there at the unholy time of 6:50 a.m. and found a seat on the far left side of the room at one of the tables. Most of the folks there were from far-flung locales; one lady from New York told me that the lines at Comic Con were out of control and it wasn't any fun for her anymore. Two guys planned to get in line for Hall H right after the breakfast. We had a late arriving pair from Sacramento, one of which was a guy dressed up like Quinlan Vos.
This year we got scrambled eggs, two good-sized sausages, home fries, and a tomato along with the usual plate of pastries. I have to say we get pretty decent meals at these things. No mimosas or Bloody Marys though. That would make things even more interesting, heh heh. The speaking guests were a guy from Hasbro, who I think is there every year, and everyone's pal, Clone Wars supervising director Dave Filoni. Filoni showed up with his trademark hat, but like a good Italian lad, he removed it while eating. So yeah, it was the first time I'd ever seen Filoni without a hat. He later took off the hat during the Star Wars Spectacular. While he spoke, he was very excited about Clone Wars Season Two. In fact, everybody I spoke to or listened to who was connected to the show couldn't hide their enthusiasm for the next season. We were told expect more darker stories, darker Anakin, and more bounty hunters. CW voice actor James Arnold Taylor was signing autographs the whole time.
Interspersed with all of this was the annual raffle. Every now and then Mary Franklin would get up and pull more numbers for exciting prizes. At the previous breakfasts, I'd won nothing. But at last my number came up...for one of the biggest, bulkiest prizes available: a stone sculpture of Jabba's house band from Gentle Giant. One guy actually won an even larger prize, and that was a huge speeder bike thing with a 12" scout figure from Sideshow, but unlike me, he got a certificate to pick it up right from the booth. In my case, I had to take the two boxes right there. When I went up to collect the prize, I had to say into a microphone my name and where I lived. When I said, "I live right here in San Diego," Mary Franklin said, "Good, you don't have to ship it anywhere!" Everybody at my table oohed and ahhed over the figurine set. Have to say, it was one of the cooler prizes that day, aside from the Sideshow speeder bike, Bonnie Burton's handmade stuffed bantha, and maybe the new toy that lets you levitate a ping pong ball in a tube.
Meanwhile, I ran into two people from D.C. and a couple of local fans at the breakfast. That was cool. My gift bag--from Hallmark--included the free t-shirt, the free exclusive Smiling Luke figure, and a couple of other assorted knicknacks.
After the breakfast, I had to lug the box to the convention center and wait a half hour until doors opened. Then I checked the box at coat check and made a beeline for the Del Rey booth at the Star Wars pavilion. That's because if you were one of the first 50 people in line for the authors of "The Star Wars Atlas," you got a free copy! Well, fortunately, I was one of the first 50. Yay! While in line, a guy from work walked by, so we talked for a few minutes. When I got up to the table, I said hi to Dan Wallace, who used to write for my fanzine way back in the day. He gave me a hug and then told the guy next to him, "Do you know who this is? This is one of the people who published Blue Harvest." As it turns out, we'd run something by him once too!
Once I got my book, I saw the huge line for the Hallmark ornament and decided to abandon all hope of getting one. I walked around for a little bit, then went upstairs for the two Clone Wars panels in room 7AB. Of course, there was a big line. At first, I was pessimistic that very many people would leave after the Hasbro panel. But I guess enough did leave because the line started to move. It moved slowly though. Then I got super annoyed when Comic Con staff pulled a woman a few people ahead of me out of line and had her go right in to the room. She was a busty blonde in a Slave Leia costume. What is this? A South Beach nightclub? I'm still steamed about that! Eventually I got into the room after the presentation, on the design aspects of the show, had started, stepping all over people to cram myself into a chair in the middle of a row. I noticed though that one of the unfortunate souls I'd stepped over was supercollector Gus Lopez.
The panel was very interesting and I'm not an animation geek at all. We got to see some of the footage that ended up in the Season Two Trailer 2.0, hours before everyone else did. Woo hoo! They'd discussed that Ahsoka was originally supposed to have a skirt that twirled around when she fought. The concept drawings made it look like she was wearing a tutu. But the effect was too expensive to animate. They talked about all of the improvements made to the animation over Season One. During the Q&A, someone asked Filoni if they would ever do another CW movie. In a nutshell, no more theatrical releases. He feels CW is best suited for t.v.. Someone else asked if Boba Fett was ever going to appear on the show. Filoni cryptically declined to answer, but the nexu fell out of the bag during the Spectacular with a concept drawing for a Young Fett. The best question though was a woman (of course) who asked why Ahsoka wears a tube top. Filoni replied that George Lucas wanted Ahsoka to appear quick and nimble and I guess the skimpy outfit not only allows greater movement, it makes that movement easier to see. But hey, this is from the same guy who thought Indy having a fling with an eleven-year-old Marion was an awesome idea ;). Speaking of wardrobes, Filoni addressed Anakin and Obi-Wan's armor. He said that the armor was left on in part to pay homage to the Clone Wars microseries. Apparently, Lucas didn't mind the armor on Anakin too much because he said it looked Vaderesque, but he didn't care at all for the armor on Obi-Wan. Lucas said that Obi-Wan was too good; he didn't need the armor. What you see on the show now is a compromise but Filoni is aware that the boys don't wear armor in ROTS and he says that eventually, the armor will go away.
After that was an amusing panel moderated by Steve Sansweet featuring several of the voice actors from the show. Get a bunch of voice actors in a room and you're in for some great entertainment.
Once the panel was over, I ate a hot dog and the stuff I brought from home, got a Mrs. Fields cookie, visited the little girl's room, and got in line for Hall H. I was out there in the hot sun for almost two hours. If I could make a suggestion to Comic Con, it would be this: give out Hall H tickets in advance. Or at least set up a tent outside so people don't pass out from heat stroke. I'm a Florida native and I had a drink with me, so I was fine on that front but I didn't have any sunblock aside from my hat. So I put on a jacket to keep the sun off my arms. Which of course made me sweat like a hog. Finally I got inside the nice cold air.
Prior to the Spectacular, I had to sit through a panel for a movie called "Legion," some apocalyptic stuff that has "B-movie" written all over it. It has Paul Bettany but it also has Dennis Quaid and Forrest Whittaker. Quaid wasn't present and neither was Whittaker, so nobody could ask him how he went from winning an Oscar to appearing in a movie that looks straight-to-DVD/iTunes. After that was a panel for the movie "District 9." Peter Jackson was on hand, since he produced the movie. Jackson talked a little bit first about "The Hobbit." In case you are interested, the first draft is about done, Guillermo Del Toro is still directing, nobody's been hired, it's going to be two movies, and don't expect it out any time soon. Jackson also talked about the "Halo" debacle, in case you are interested. The end of that project led to this one, directed by a guy from South Africa. Having seen several minutes of the film it's a rather obvious analogy for apartheid, which ended what, 20 years ago? The aliens live in the shantytowns now and are treated like crap, only the aliens are a lot more violent in return.
Which gets to my next point. Once again, Hall H is home to red band trailers/uncut previews shown without warning to a general audience. While there wasn't any sex or nudity in anything shown, there were a lot of f-bombs, violence, and gore. After the "District 9" panel and before the Spectacular, I overheard a guy talk about Megan Fox's appearance at a prior panel and she was swearing quite a bit. Since Comic Con is Hollywood's lap dog and Hollywood's mission is to inure your children to sex, violence, and language that would embarrass a Marine drill instructor, I would simply say this: don't take little kids to anything in Hall H. Period. The convention organizers won't do anything about it, the studios don't care, and your average Comic Con actor/actress worries more about being "cool" to a bunch of fanboys and potheads than decent manners.
Can you tell I'm getting cranky? The Spectacular started over a half hour late, which in my honest opinion is bad form. Granted, I don't know what happened or why, but still, it made me very unhappy. The Spectacular kicked off with an apeparance by Anthony Daniels to promote the upcoming Star Wars In Concert series, kicking off in Anaheim on October 1. Looks cool. But I already knew about it. They were handing out postcards advertising it.
From there it goes downhill. "Attack of the Show"'s Kevin Pereira and Olivia Munn weren't any more amusing in person than they were on t.v.. I figured it was because I was really tired and by this time, I was really dragging. So the presentation seemed to be really dragging. No real news on Celebration V, a video game announcement about a new level of The Force Unleashed, etc. at a snail's pace. Then right before the table reading started with the whole CW cast, my phone rings. My mom decided to come pick me up and she was outside, like right now. At that point, I felt like I'd had enough, so I got up and left, picking up my big prize on the way out.
When I went online that night, I saw that a lot of people found the Spectacular disappointing. Frankly, until the live action show gets off the ground, the Saga is back out on 3D, or something, it's going to be like this for a while. Which makes me wonder if it's worth holding the Spectacular in Hall H anymore. A "state of the fandom" presentation is fine but maybe until things really get rolling again with something B-I-G, holding it one of the large ballrooms upstairs might be a better idea. At least you might be able to bring your kids along.
This year we got scrambled eggs, two good-sized sausages, home fries, and a tomato along with the usual plate of pastries. I have to say we get pretty decent meals at these things. No mimosas or Bloody Marys though. That would make things even more interesting, heh heh. The speaking guests were a guy from Hasbro, who I think is there every year, and everyone's pal, Clone Wars supervising director Dave Filoni. Filoni showed up with his trademark hat, but like a good Italian lad, he removed it while eating. So yeah, it was the first time I'd ever seen Filoni without a hat. He later took off the hat during the Star Wars Spectacular. While he spoke, he was very excited about Clone Wars Season Two. In fact, everybody I spoke to or listened to who was connected to the show couldn't hide their enthusiasm for the next season. We were told expect more darker stories, darker Anakin, and more bounty hunters. CW voice actor James Arnold Taylor was signing autographs the whole time.
Interspersed with all of this was the annual raffle. Every now and then Mary Franklin would get up and pull more numbers for exciting prizes. At the previous breakfasts, I'd won nothing. But at last my number came up...for one of the biggest, bulkiest prizes available: a stone sculpture of Jabba's house band from Gentle Giant. One guy actually won an even larger prize, and that was a huge speeder bike thing with a 12" scout figure from Sideshow, but unlike me, he got a certificate to pick it up right from the booth. In my case, I had to take the two boxes right there. When I went up to collect the prize, I had to say into a microphone my name and where I lived. When I said, "I live right here in San Diego," Mary Franklin said, "Good, you don't have to ship it anywhere!" Everybody at my table oohed and ahhed over the figurine set. Have to say, it was one of the cooler prizes that day, aside from the Sideshow speeder bike, Bonnie Burton's handmade stuffed bantha, and maybe the new toy that lets you levitate a ping pong ball in a tube.
Meanwhile, I ran into two people from D.C. and a couple of local fans at the breakfast. That was cool. My gift bag--from Hallmark--included the free t-shirt, the free exclusive Smiling Luke figure, and a couple of other assorted knicknacks.
After the breakfast, I had to lug the box to the convention center and wait a half hour until doors opened. Then I checked the box at coat check and made a beeline for the Del Rey booth at the Star Wars pavilion. That's because if you were one of the first 50 people in line for the authors of "The Star Wars Atlas," you got a free copy! Well, fortunately, I was one of the first 50. Yay! While in line, a guy from work walked by, so we talked for a few minutes. When I got up to the table, I said hi to Dan Wallace, who used to write for my fanzine way back in the day. He gave me a hug and then told the guy next to him, "Do you know who this is? This is one of the people who published Blue Harvest." As it turns out, we'd run something by him once too!
Once I got my book, I saw the huge line for the Hallmark ornament and decided to abandon all hope of getting one. I walked around for a little bit, then went upstairs for the two Clone Wars panels in room 7AB. Of course, there was a big line. At first, I was pessimistic that very many people would leave after the Hasbro panel. But I guess enough did leave because the line started to move. It moved slowly though. Then I got super annoyed when Comic Con staff pulled a woman a few people ahead of me out of line and had her go right in to the room. She was a busty blonde in a Slave Leia costume. What is this? A South Beach nightclub? I'm still steamed about that! Eventually I got into the room after the presentation, on the design aspects of the show, had started, stepping all over people to cram myself into a chair in the middle of a row. I noticed though that one of the unfortunate souls I'd stepped over was supercollector Gus Lopez.
The panel was very interesting and I'm not an animation geek at all. We got to see some of the footage that ended up in the Season Two Trailer 2.0, hours before everyone else did. Woo hoo! They'd discussed that Ahsoka was originally supposed to have a skirt that twirled around when she fought. The concept drawings made it look like she was wearing a tutu. But the effect was too expensive to animate. They talked about all of the improvements made to the animation over Season One. During the Q&A, someone asked Filoni if they would ever do another CW movie. In a nutshell, no more theatrical releases. He feels CW is best suited for t.v.. Someone else asked if Boba Fett was ever going to appear on the show. Filoni cryptically declined to answer, but the nexu fell out of the bag during the Spectacular with a concept drawing for a Young Fett. The best question though was a woman (of course) who asked why Ahsoka wears a tube top. Filoni replied that George Lucas wanted Ahsoka to appear quick and nimble and I guess the skimpy outfit not only allows greater movement, it makes that movement easier to see. But hey, this is from the same guy who thought Indy having a fling with an eleven-year-old Marion was an awesome idea ;). Speaking of wardrobes, Filoni addressed Anakin and Obi-Wan's armor. He said that the armor was left on in part to pay homage to the Clone Wars microseries. Apparently, Lucas didn't mind the armor on Anakin too much because he said it looked Vaderesque, but he didn't care at all for the armor on Obi-Wan. Lucas said that Obi-Wan was too good; he didn't need the armor. What you see on the show now is a compromise but Filoni is aware that the boys don't wear armor in ROTS and he says that eventually, the armor will go away.
After that was an amusing panel moderated by Steve Sansweet featuring several of the voice actors from the show. Get a bunch of voice actors in a room and you're in for some great entertainment.
Once the panel was over, I ate a hot dog and the stuff I brought from home, got a Mrs. Fields cookie, visited the little girl's room, and got in line for Hall H. I was out there in the hot sun for almost two hours. If I could make a suggestion to Comic Con, it would be this: give out Hall H tickets in advance. Or at least set up a tent outside so people don't pass out from heat stroke. I'm a Florida native and I had a drink with me, so I was fine on that front but I didn't have any sunblock aside from my hat. So I put on a jacket to keep the sun off my arms. Which of course made me sweat like a hog. Finally I got inside the nice cold air.
Prior to the Spectacular, I had to sit through a panel for a movie called "Legion," some apocalyptic stuff that has "B-movie" written all over it. It has Paul Bettany but it also has Dennis Quaid and Forrest Whittaker. Quaid wasn't present and neither was Whittaker, so nobody could ask him how he went from winning an Oscar to appearing in a movie that looks straight-to-DVD/iTunes. After that was a panel for the movie "District 9." Peter Jackson was on hand, since he produced the movie. Jackson talked a little bit first about "The Hobbit." In case you are interested, the first draft is about done, Guillermo Del Toro is still directing, nobody's been hired, it's going to be two movies, and don't expect it out any time soon. Jackson also talked about the "Halo" debacle, in case you are interested. The end of that project led to this one, directed by a guy from South Africa. Having seen several minutes of the film it's a rather obvious analogy for apartheid, which ended what, 20 years ago? The aliens live in the shantytowns now and are treated like crap, only the aliens are a lot more violent in return.
Which gets to my next point. Once again, Hall H is home to red band trailers/uncut previews shown without warning to a general audience. While there wasn't any sex or nudity in anything shown, there were a lot of f-bombs, violence, and gore. After the "District 9" panel and before the Spectacular, I overheard a guy talk about Megan Fox's appearance at a prior panel and she was swearing quite a bit. Since Comic Con is Hollywood's lap dog and Hollywood's mission is to inure your children to sex, violence, and language that would embarrass a Marine drill instructor, I would simply say this: don't take little kids to anything in Hall H. Period. The convention organizers won't do anything about it, the studios don't care, and your average Comic Con actor/actress worries more about being "cool" to a bunch of fanboys and potheads than decent manners.
Can you tell I'm getting cranky? The Spectacular started over a half hour late, which in my honest opinion is bad form. Granted, I don't know what happened or why, but still, it made me very unhappy. The Spectacular kicked off with an apeparance by Anthony Daniels to promote the upcoming Star Wars In Concert series, kicking off in Anaheim on October 1. Looks cool. But I already knew about it. They were handing out postcards advertising it.
From there it goes downhill. "Attack of the Show"'s Kevin Pereira and Olivia Munn weren't any more amusing in person than they were on t.v.. I figured it was because I was really tired and by this time, I was really dragging. So the presentation seemed to be really dragging. No real news on Celebration V, a video game announcement about a new level of The Force Unleashed, etc. at a snail's pace. Then right before the table reading started with the whole CW cast, my phone rings. My mom decided to come pick me up and she was outside, like right now. At that point, I felt like I'd had enough, so I got up and left, picking up my big prize on the way out.
When I went online that night, I saw that a lot of people found the Spectacular disappointing. Frankly, until the live action show gets off the ground, the Saga is back out on 3D, or something, it's going to be like this for a while. Which makes me wonder if it's worth holding the Spectacular in Hall H anymore. A "state of the fandom" presentation is fine but maybe until things really get rolling again with something B-I-G, holding it one of the large ballrooms upstairs might be a better idea. At least you might be able to bring your kids along.
