Comic Con '10 Days Two and Three
Aug. 1st, 2010 09:07 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
lazypadawanSo, I've returned from a week in Hawaii where I did absolutely nothing fannish except look up the Celebration V exclusives price list and catch up a little bit on the news on TFn. Things go down a lot easier with Hawaiian music and the crash of the waves in the background ;).
Friday was the annual Star Wars Day but for the first time in a long time, heck, since I first started attending Comic Con in 2004, there was no Star Wars Spectacular in Hall H. It made sense to me because last year's "Spectacular" so wasn't, and most of the celebrity gawkers, novelty-crazed fanboys, paparazzi, and gossip bloggers who inhabit Hall H all day aren't terribly interested in what's going to happen in Clone Wars.
I overheard as much when I went by the Official Pix booth to check on Dee Bradley Baker's schedule. Anne Neumann said he'd be there 11 a.m. but still had no idea how much autographs would be until he got there. While waiting for Anne to get a spare moment, Steve Sansweet dropped by (still can't get over the beardlessness) and signed his recent book on his collectibles for a fan. The guy asked why there wasn't a Spectacular this year and Sansweet said there wasn't a new movie or celebrities, so there wasn't a point. The fan asked, "What about the live action t.v. show?" And Sansweet replied, "I wish I knew."
Folks, I take this to mean there will probably not be any planet-shattering news at Celebration. It's entirely possible news on when we'll see the live action show, the saga on Blu-Ray, or 3D versions of the movies is being kept only among the highest levels of muckety-mucks at Lucasfilm until the convention. But I also know from years of toiling in an office that if something that big is about to be sprung, there's always chatter about it beforehand. If something important is on the horizon, Sansweet would have at least heard inklings about it even if he didn't know specifics. So there you go.
Because of yet another bout of sinus headaches, I had a slow start on Friday and spent a good chunk of the morning looking for trading card stuff, without success. Note to Topps: nobody sells those six-card widevision-sized pockets anymore, so don't bother.
Before heading off to lunch, I went back to Official Pix and got Dee Bradley Baker to sign a lovely shot of Captain Rex shooting at something. I have a theory that everyone associated with Clone Wars is awesome, and Baker is no exception. We got to talk a minute or two about the show and he was really psyched for Season Three. He told me that the season will open with a story arc about the clonetroopers seen in "Rookies" from Season One. He also told me that Clone Wars is the only project he works on that he catches when it airs. He loves the writing and thinks the animation looks best in high definition on a large screen.
After lunch, I got into line for the Clone Wars panel, which was already quite long. I was a little concerned I wouldn't make it inside but make it I did. Lucasfilm's Pablo Hidalgo moderated the panel, which included Dave Filoni, Kilian Plunkett, and a former ILM guy named Joel Aron, who joined the show's technical team. Most of it was techie talk, first about the season finale and about a trip back to Kamino in Season Three. Kamino couldn't be featured before because the technology to animate water wasn't there until now. This was followed by a new trailer for Season Three, which most of you have seen already. The most surprising thing was seeing Cad Bane wield a lightsaber! No way! I suspect they're holding back the sexy stuff until Celebration, though. A short Q&A session followed and of course, the very first thing asked was, "Why is Cad Bane using a lightsaber?" Didn't really get an answer of course ;). Filoni is always an entertaining guy and he was great with the many kids who got up to ask questions, even making time for one last question from a youngster.
After the panel, I got in the world's slowest moving line for autographs from the three guys who star in the Travel Channel's "Ghost Adventures." Since Travel Channel was sponsoring their visit, the autographs were free! Gotta love that! If you've ever seen "Ghost Adventures," I can tell you that Zak and Co. are pretty much the same in real life as they are on t.v.. Zak was all buffed and tanned, and wearing rock star sunglasses. Just about everyone walking up to the table took pictures with them (I did too) and the people in front of me even had the trio talk with someone on their cell phone. A few times, Zak got the crowd to cheer. At one point, someone in line shouted, "You have to do the Whaley House!" Zak got up on the table and shouted, "Who wants to go to the Whaley House with us?" More cheers. I did ask them if they planned to come back to San Diego for any "lockdowns" and they said they definitely want to come back. There was someone I didn't recognize across the way who had supposedly been on "Ghost Hunters International" and "Paranormal State." Given that you had to pay there for autographs, her table wasn't terribly busy. I also glimpsed the Soup Nazi from "Seinfeld" signing at another table.
The paranormal theme continued when I went to Pinkberry across the street and saw the guy who stars in Sy Fy's "Destination Truth" surrounded by excited fans.
The stars really came out though on Saturday.
The pavilion on the top level had a bunch of retro t.v. stars signing autographs...people like Dirk Benedict, Richard Hatch, Erin Gray, and perennial favorite Elvira Mistress of the Dark. People entered a lottery just for the privilege of lining up to get autographs from the cast of "Mythbusters." I considered getting into a line for Drew Struzan but he was only signing a new book and there were no longer any copies to be found. After registering for 2011, I went back downstairs and saw that Billy Dee Williams had just shown up for an autograph session. It wasn't too expensive--$40--so I thought, "What the hey."
Now, I had heard a lot of horror stories about less-than-charming encounters with Billy Dee over the years, even from outside of Star Wars fandom. But he patiently posed for pictures from fans walking by and he was pleasant and polite to me. I could have gotten a picture of him from his old Colt 45 ads signed but I went with a classic Lando pic instead. Billy Dee has aged and I know he's had health problems over the past few years, but he still looked good for a 71-year-old. His eyes are much lighter in person too, almost an amber color.
After I bade Lando farewell, I walked past a booth just time to see Chevy Chase and several cast members from "Community" pop out. People stopped and held up their digital cameras. The same thing happened a short time later when LL Cool J appeared at the CBS booth. I just missed Milla Jovovich appearing at another booth to promote a new "Resident Evil" movie.
One thing I noticed about Comic Con this year was that there seemed to be fewer people, even on Saturday. Had they capped attendance? Was everybody in Hall H? Did a lot of people bail after buying passes for various reasons? Did a lot of passes go to industry people? Don't get me wrong, there were still crowds. But it wasn't nearly as crowded as it had been the past couple of years. Some of the people working the vendor booths acknowledged the economy was biting them in the rear. There wasn't as much buying going on and people have come to expect freebies.
By the way, I did poorly on the swag this year. I managed to miss just about every giveaway, except two sessions of t-shirt giveaways to promote the Knights Of The Old Republic multiplayer game. They'd show the game trailer on the big screen at Lucasfilm's "pavilion," then they'd give away shirts if you waved your arms around a lot and went "woooo." They passed me over twice, and after that I thought, "Screw it."
Speaking of freebies, I saw on CBS's schedule that participants in a scheduled panel about crime-solving and technical stuff were supposed to sign autographs. I'd considered going to that panel, which included Pauley Perrette from "NCIS" (goth chick Abby) and Kirsten Vangness from "Criminal Minds" (Garcia). But with the option of getting more free autographs, I figured I'd do the latter since I couldn't do both. I got into line almost an hour and a half beforehand. While standing around in line, Ashley Eckstein walks by and says, "I like your hat!" I was wearing my Swarovski crystal SW logo hat, heh heh. The line was slow and eventually they had to speed it up because the session was only an hour. I was disappointed to see that Vangness wasn't signing but I did get autographs from everyone else, including Abby herself. Perrette was really nice and she pretty much looks the same in real life as she does on the show, and has the same bubbly personality. I can tell you though that while some of her tattoos are real, the spider web on Abby's neck isn't.
After getting more Pinkberry, going back to the Her Universe booth to buy the zip-up hoodie, and picking up a non-SW related onesie for my soon-to-be-born niece, I was done for '10.
No, I did not see Harrison Ford, who made a surprise appearance to promote "Cowboys and Aliens." I think this is the first time he'd appeared at Comic Con. No, I did not see Natalie Portman, who showed up to promote "Thor" during the Marvel extravaganza on Saturday evening. I didn't even stick around for the Her Universe panel, because it was scheduled late and I had to finish packing to leave Sunday morning. Having seen some of these Hall H things, they're really not all of that impressive anyway. The stars do some red carpet poses for the press, they're trotted out at Hall H, they park at a table for a little while, throw in a couple of comments, then they leave. As far as I'm concerned, you haven't really done Comic Con unless you at least take questions from the people. This is becoming more like a Cannes Film Festival junket and less like a convention. Even George Lucas is taking questions at Celebration.
Which gets to my next point. I enjoy Comic Con. I have a good time at the show. But as one of my co-workers has said, it's the T.V. And Movie Con and the programming is increasingly getting away from the traditional genre stuff at the heart of comics and their fans, and becoming a bit too dominated by Hollywood. I have no doubt that they're the ones who want this moved to Anaheim or L.A. just to make easier on themselves. It's understandable they'd want to promote comic book-themed movies or sci-fi or fantasy or video games. I don't get why the remake of "Hawaii Five-O" or the aforementioned "Community" would make the cut at this con. And the organizers, who need the studios, aren't going to start saying no any time soon.
Moving Comic Con from San Diego would be like moving Mardi Gras out of New Orleans. But if that tragedy were to pass, I say they ought to start over from scratch, making it more fan-centered and more genre-friendly. It's fun to see beloved t.v. stars who actually want to meet their fans but I could do without the A-listers hopping in and out of their limos for a few pix, then splitting before catching any geek cooties.
Friday was the annual Star Wars Day but for the first time in a long time, heck, since I first started attending Comic Con in 2004, there was no Star Wars Spectacular in Hall H. It made sense to me because last year's "Spectacular" so wasn't, and most of the celebrity gawkers, novelty-crazed fanboys, paparazzi, and gossip bloggers who inhabit Hall H all day aren't terribly interested in what's going to happen in Clone Wars.
I overheard as much when I went by the Official Pix booth to check on Dee Bradley Baker's schedule. Anne Neumann said he'd be there 11 a.m. but still had no idea how much autographs would be until he got there. While waiting for Anne to get a spare moment, Steve Sansweet dropped by (still can't get over the beardlessness) and signed his recent book on his collectibles for a fan. The guy asked why there wasn't a Spectacular this year and Sansweet said there wasn't a new movie or celebrities, so there wasn't a point. The fan asked, "What about the live action t.v. show?" And Sansweet replied, "I wish I knew."
Folks, I take this to mean there will probably not be any planet-shattering news at Celebration. It's entirely possible news on when we'll see the live action show, the saga on Blu-Ray, or 3D versions of the movies is being kept only among the highest levels of muckety-mucks at Lucasfilm until the convention. But I also know from years of toiling in an office that if something that big is about to be sprung, there's always chatter about it beforehand. If something important is on the horizon, Sansweet would have at least heard inklings about it even if he didn't know specifics. So there you go.
Because of yet another bout of sinus headaches, I had a slow start on Friday and spent a good chunk of the morning looking for trading card stuff, without success. Note to Topps: nobody sells those six-card widevision-sized pockets anymore, so don't bother.
Before heading off to lunch, I went back to Official Pix and got Dee Bradley Baker to sign a lovely shot of Captain Rex shooting at something. I have a theory that everyone associated with Clone Wars is awesome, and Baker is no exception. We got to talk a minute or two about the show and he was really psyched for Season Three. He told me that the season will open with a story arc about the clonetroopers seen in "Rookies" from Season One. He also told me that Clone Wars is the only project he works on that he catches when it airs. He loves the writing and thinks the animation looks best in high definition on a large screen.
After lunch, I got into line for the Clone Wars panel, which was already quite long. I was a little concerned I wouldn't make it inside but make it I did. Lucasfilm's Pablo Hidalgo moderated the panel, which included Dave Filoni, Kilian Plunkett, and a former ILM guy named Joel Aron, who joined the show's technical team. Most of it was techie talk, first about the season finale and about a trip back to Kamino in Season Three. Kamino couldn't be featured before because the technology to animate water wasn't there until now. This was followed by a new trailer for Season Three, which most of you have seen already. The most surprising thing was seeing Cad Bane wield a lightsaber! No way! I suspect they're holding back the sexy stuff until Celebration, though. A short Q&A session followed and of course, the very first thing asked was, "Why is Cad Bane using a lightsaber?" Didn't really get an answer of course ;). Filoni is always an entertaining guy and he was great with the many kids who got up to ask questions, even making time for one last question from a youngster.
After the panel, I got in the world's slowest moving line for autographs from the three guys who star in the Travel Channel's "Ghost Adventures." Since Travel Channel was sponsoring their visit, the autographs were free! Gotta love that! If you've ever seen "Ghost Adventures," I can tell you that Zak and Co. are pretty much the same in real life as they are on t.v.. Zak was all buffed and tanned, and wearing rock star sunglasses. Just about everyone walking up to the table took pictures with them (I did too) and the people in front of me even had the trio talk with someone on their cell phone. A few times, Zak got the crowd to cheer. At one point, someone in line shouted, "You have to do the Whaley House!" Zak got up on the table and shouted, "Who wants to go to the Whaley House with us?" More cheers. I did ask them if they planned to come back to San Diego for any "lockdowns" and they said they definitely want to come back. There was someone I didn't recognize across the way who had supposedly been on "Ghost Hunters International" and "Paranormal State." Given that you had to pay there for autographs, her table wasn't terribly busy. I also glimpsed the Soup Nazi from "Seinfeld" signing at another table.
The paranormal theme continued when I went to Pinkberry across the street and saw the guy who stars in Sy Fy's "Destination Truth" surrounded by excited fans.
The stars really came out though on Saturday.
The pavilion on the top level had a bunch of retro t.v. stars signing autographs...people like Dirk Benedict, Richard Hatch, Erin Gray, and perennial favorite Elvira Mistress of the Dark. People entered a lottery just for the privilege of lining up to get autographs from the cast of "Mythbusters." I considered getting into a line for Drew Struzan but he was only signing a new book and there were no longer any copies to be found. After registering for 2011, I went back downstairs and saw that Billy Dee Williams had just shown up for an autograph session. It wasn't too expensive--$40--so I thought, "What the hey."
Now, I had heard a lot of horror stories about less-than-charming encounters with Billy Dee over the years, even from outside of Star Wars fandom. But he patiently posed for pictures from fans walking by and he was pleasant and polite to me. I could have gotten a picture of him from his old Colt 45 ads signed but I went with a classic Lando pic instead. Billy Dee has aged and I know he's had health problems over the past few years, but he still looked good for a 71-year-old. His eyes are much lighter in person too, almost an amber color.
After I bade Lando farewell, I walked past a booth just time to see Chevy Chase and several cast members from "Community" pop out. People stopped and held up their digital cameras. The same thing happened a short time later when LL Cool J appeared at the CBS booth. I just missed Milla Jovovich appearing at another booth to promote a new "Resident Evil" movie.
One thing I noticed about Comic Con this year was that there seemed to be fewer people, even on Saturday. Had they capped attendance? Was everybody in Hall H? Did a lot of people bail after buying passes for various reasons? Did a lot of passes go to industry people? Don't get me wrong, there were still crowds. But it wasn't nearly as crowded as it had been the past couple of years. Some of the people working the vendor booths acknowledged the economy was biting them in the rear. There wasn't as much buying going on and people have come to expect freebies.
By the way, I did poorly on the swag this year. I managed to miss just about every giveaway, except two sessions of t-shirt giveaways to promote the Knights Of The Old Republic multiplayer game. They'd show the game trailer on the big screen at Lucasfilm's "pavilion," then they'd give away shirts if you waved your arms around a lot and went "woooo." They passed me over twice, and after that I thought, "Screw it."
Speaking of freebies, I saw on CBS's schedule that participants in a scheduled panel about crime-solving and technical stuff were supposed to sign autographs. I'd considered going to that panel, which included Pauley Perrette from "NCIS" (goth chick Abby) and Kirsten Vangness from "Criminal Minds" (Garcia). But with the option of getting more free autographs, I figured I'd do the latter since I couldn't do both. I got into line almost an hour and a half beforehand. While standing around in line, Ashley Eckstein walks by and says, "I like your hat!" I was wearing my Swarovski crystal SW logo hat, heh heh. The line was slow and eventually they had to speed it up because the session was only an hour. I was disappointed to see that Vangness wasn't signing but I did get autographs from everyone else, including Abby herself. Perrette was really nice and she pretty much looks the same in real life as she does on the show, and has the same bubbly personality. I can tell you though that while some of her tattoos are real, the spider web on Abby's neck isn't.
After getting more Pinkberry, going back to the Her Universe booth to buy the zip-up hoodie, and picking up a non-SW related onesie for my soon-to-be-born niece, I was done for '10.
No, I did not see Harrison Ford, who made a surprise appearance to promote "Cowboys and Aliens." I think this is the first time he'd appeared at Comic Con. No, I did not see Natalie Portman, who showed up to promote "Thor" during the Marvel extravaganza on Saturday evening. I didn't even stick around for the Her Universe panel, because it was scheduled late and I had to finish packing to leave Sunday morning. Having seen some of these Hall H things, they're really not all of that impressive anyway. The stars do some red carpet poses for the press, they're trotted out at Hall H, they park at a table for a little while, throw in a couple of comments, then they leave. As far as I'm concerned, you haven't really done Comic Con unless you at least take questions from the people. This is becoming more like a Cannes Film Festival junket and less like a convention. Even George Lucas is taking questions at Celebration.
Which gets to my next point. I enjoy Comic Con. I have a good time at the show. But as one of my co-workers has said, it's the T.V. And Movie Con and the programming is increasingly getting away from the traditional genre stuff at the heart of comics and their fans, and becoming a bit too dominated by Hollywood. I have no doubt that they're the ones who want this moved to Anaheim or L.A. just to make easier on themselves. It's understandable they'd want to promote comic book-themed movies or sci-fi or fantasy or video games. I don't get why the remake of "Hawaii Five-O" or the aforementioned "Community" would make the cut at this con. And the organizers, who need the studios, aren't going to start saying no any time soon.
Moving Comic Con from San Diego would be like moving Mardi Gras out of New Orleans. But if that tragedy were to pass, I say they ought to start over from scratch, making it more fan-centered and more genre-friendly. It's fun to see beloved t.v. stars who actually want to meet their fans but I could do without the A-listers hopping in and out of their limos for a few pix, then splitting before catching any geek cooties.
