Whew... exhausting day at Comic con - Day 4 - Saturday
Well I thought I was getting down to the convention hall early, but there were people an hour ahead of me, and the doors were opened early....
The shuttle bus left me at the far Southern end of the building, near Ballroom 20, but the line was stretching to the North, and as fast as I could walk I saw the line getting longer and longer stretching away from me....
so, being the weasle that I truly am, I cut into line!
*hangs head in shame*
You see there was this gap, and the people causing the gap weren't paying much attention, I think they were on their cell phones, so I just stepped into the line.... and no one said anything to me, so I stayed in the line.
The room filled to capacity for Bionic Woman (I think it was at least 1/2 people not wanting to miss Heroes), which is a new show by the people who make Battlestar Galactica:
David Eick - Exec Producer of both Bionic Woman and BSG
Glen Morgan
Jason Smilovich
It looks awesome:
Michelle Ryan is Jamie Summers, the Bonic Woman and she used to be in East Enders (she's British)
Katee Sackhoff is in it! Our own Starbuck from BSG!
Mark Sheppard has a reoccuring role (yay)
No one got up to leave when the TV Guide Hot Picks panel started, and no one knew what to expect...
but it turned out we got to see more of Michelle Ryan (see above) and David Eick, and
Ira Behr and Jeffery Combs from 4400
Skeet Ulrich from Jeracho
Matt Dallas of Kyle XY
Masi Oka and Tim Kring of Heroes
it was a lively panel... but mostly everyone wanted the real event:
The Heroes panel was pretty awesome super cool (I'm going to avoid the 'a' word after over using it yesterday)
Jeph Loeb was the moderator
Jack Holman wore a T shirt that said "I'm just a paper salesman" - his happiest moment was episode 11 when he became a series regular
Noah who plays Mica - very smart precotious kid
Greg Grumber - plays the Policeman was wearing a T shirt "Milo is My Hero"
Ali Larter plays Nicki and Jessica
James K. Lee plays Ando (Hiro's buddy)
Masi Oka (Hiro) was wearing a 'Hayden is my Hero' t-shirt, which he removed (to reveal another t-shirt underneith) to give to a fan who brough him a gift... he also instinctively went under the table to check the sound system when they started having feed-back problems... he is too cute and funny for words.
Hayden plays the Cheerleaders biological Dad & politician... is it spoilery to say he is returning, at least for a while
Zachary Quinto our bad guy also appears to be returning, at least for the beginning...
Sendhil Rama looking very handsome, and he gave a faked passionate kiss to Greg Grumber... (fan fic writers?)
Dania Ramerez is a new character, we may have seen her once in S1 (I don't recall)
Milo who plays Peter had a VERY short hair cut...and was very nice and charming (and not sure if serious actors should have such over the top fans)
Tim Sale who did the artwork/comics
Tim Kring the creator...which was a huge panel! The did a good job of including everyone...
One questioner did ask if there would be any women characters who were not cheerleaders or strippers...
but since they already introduced the new one (I don't know what she does though)
AND they felt that the cheerleader AND stripper have gone WAY beyond that now... that it wasn't a fair question.
There will be a new show/kind of a spin off...but it might run during the break of Heroes, it wasn't clear, is called Origins, and it will not use any of the Heroes characters, writers, directors etc... It will be an anthology of stories of others around the world discovering powers, and will be completely different actors & directors & writers in each.
Kevin Smith came out, he'll be doing the first one.
But clearly he hadn't started working on it yet, and Origins won't be airing until April & May of 2008. Kevin Smith wanted to write about the two Gay heroes... because those two Japanese Dudes are Gay, right? (meanwhile Greg and Senhil are snogging again) And he is hoping he won't bring about the end of Heroes, since he appeared on Veronica Mars and that got cancelled.
The Ballroom really emptied out a lot after Heroes, I was kind of shocked because next up was Battlestar Galactica, and I was very excited about that!
David Eick - Exec Producer
Ronald Moore - Exec Producer and Head Writer
eric Story the Sci-fi channel's VP of New Programming
Mary McDonnell who plays Laura Rosslyn
Katee Sackhoff who plays Starbuck (and had changed into a really nice dress for this 2nd panel)
Tricia heller who plays 6
and then showing up later..SPOILER ALERT: .a surprise because she will be un-boxed:
Lucy Lawless!
additional spoiler: there will be moe Adana/Kara scenes! END OF SPOILERS
The next and final season looks great...I'm sure it will be.
Next the room emptied out again for the Matt Groening Futurama panel (not empty, but the BSG fans left, and fewer people filled in so you could see more empty seats than before)
I was personally hoping to hear Matt Groening talk about other things, but he didn't speak at all...it was the voice actors, and it was entertaining...but I'm more of a Groening fan (particularly of his old Life in Hell series) than a Futurama fan.
Last but not least was Joss Whedon's panel... I thought the room was at least 3/4 full, but it was definitely true that there were seats available so fans could arrive late and still get in....
This has been widely reported already...at Whedonesque... so I'll just recap and see if there were things in my notes that weren't texted live to Whedonesque:
Joss is excited about his free interweb book which is available at MySpace Dark Horse Presents:
Sugar Shack with artwork by Fabio Moon
August 21st the Serenity Special edition comes out with some new extras attached (they showed teaser clips)
And Joss wanted to answer the question: what have I done for you lately?
He is still rewriting Goners because the studio had notes on how to make the script better...
he has written a script called Cabin in the Woods with Drew Goddard whichis the horrow film to end all horror films
(but it isn't sold yet)
He is in talks/negotiations (unexpectedly) so there is a real possibility that Ripper may get made. Joss had dinner with Tony Head, and the BBC wants to do a 90 minute show... But the deal is not set.
He said he is coming to the end of what his wife calls My Merry Marvel Midlife Crisis...
He can't stop writing Buffy, it is like a drug. He knows how Season 8 will end, and he knows what will be in Season 9! He isn't giving Brian K. Vaughan very many notes, and when he is finished with his arc then Joss will do two more one shoots, and the next arc will be by Drew Goddard.
He added later that in Season 9 they would all be 80 and Xander would have an incontenance problem - it is a 6 issue arc...
He is turning is focus to things on film however, he wants to do more filmed work...
He is writing a score for a short film ballet starring Summer Glau called The Serving Girl (and where do you get to air short film ballets? Just wondering)
Someone asked if there would be more Fray? He said 'yes...' and then said that maybe he shouldn't have said that... So I wasn't sure how to take that. He didnt say anything about what form it would take.
It was a wonderful session, but actually I have to say it was a f*cking long time to sit in one room! And I'm not sure I would want to do it again even though I really enjoyed it a lot!
Tomorrow I'll see Marti Noxon and have my last chance to check out all the booths in the exhibition hall....
The shuttle bus left me at the far Southern end of the building, near Ballroom 20, but the line was stretching to the North, and as fast as I could walk I saw the line getting longer and longer stretching away from me....
so, being the weasle that I truly am, I cut into line!
*hangs head in shame*
You see there was this gap, and the people causing the gap weren't paying much attention, I think they were on their cell phones, so I just stepped into the line.... and no one said anything to me, so I stayed in the line.
The room filled to capacity for Bionic Woman (I think it was at least 1/2 people not wanting to miss Heroes), which is a new show by the people who make Battlestar Galactica:
David Eick - Exec Producer of both Bionic Woman and BSG
Glen Morgan
Jason Smilovich
It looks awesome:
Michelle Ryan is Jamie Summers, the Bonic Woman and she used to be in East Enders (she's British)
Katee Sackhoff is in it! Our own Starbuck from BSG!
Mark Sheppard has a reoccuring role (yay)
No one got up to leave when the TV Guide Hot Picks panel started, and no one knew what to expect...
but it turned out we got to see more of Michelle Ryan (see above) and David Eick, and
Ira Behr and Jeffery Combs from 4400
Skeet Ulrich from Jeracho
Matt Dallas of Kyle XY
Masi Oka and Tim Kring of Heroes
it was a lively panel... but mostly everyone wanted the real event:
The Heroes panel was pretty awesome super cool (I'm going to avoid the 'a' word after over using it yesterday)
Jeph Loeb was the moderator
Jack Holman wore a T shirt that said "I'm just a paper salesman" - his happiest moment was episode 11 when he became a series regular
Noah who plays Mica - very smart precotious kid
Greg Grumber - plays the Policeman was wearing a T shirt "Milo is My Hero"
Ali Larter plays Nicki and Jessica
James K. Lee plays Ando (Hiro's buddy)
Masi Oka (Hiro) was wearing a 'Hayden is my Hero' t-shirt, which he removed (to reveal another t-shirt underneith) to give to a fan who brough him a gift... he also instinctively went under the table to check the sound system when they started having feed-back problems... he is too cute and funny for words.
Hayden plays the Cheerleaders biological Dad & politician... is it spoilery to say he is returning, at least for a while
Zachary Quinto our bad guy also appears to be returning, at least for the beginning...
Sendhil Rama looking very handsome, and he gave a faked passionate kiss to Greg Grumber... (fan fic writers?)
Dania Ramerez is a new character, we may have seen her once in S1 (I don't recall)
Milo who plays Peter had a VERY short hair cut...and was very nice and charming (and not sure if serious actors should have such over the top fans)
Tim Sale who did the artwork/comics
Tim Kring the creator...which was a huge panel! The did a good job of including everyone...
One questioner did ask if there would be any women characters who were not cheerleaders or strippers...
but since they already introduced the new one (I don't know what she does though)
AND they felt that the cheerleader AND stripper have gone WAY beyond that now... that it wasn't a fair question.
There will be a new show/kind of a spin off...but it might run during the break of Heroes, it wasn't clear, is called Origins, and it will not use any of the Heroes characters, writers, directors etc... It will be an anthology of stories of others around the world discovering powers, and will be completely different actors & directors & writers in each.
Kevin Smith came out, he'll be doing the first one.
But clearly he hadn't started working on it yet, and Origins won't be airing until April & May of 2008. Kevin Smith wanted to write about the two Gay heroes... because those two Japanese Dudes are Gay, right? (meanwhile Greg and Senhil are snogging again) And he is hoping he won't bring about the end of Heroes, since he appeared on Veronica Mars and that got cancelled.
The Ballroom really emptied out a lot after Heroes, I was kind of shocked because next up was Battlestar Galactica, and I was very excited about that!
David Eick - Exec Producer
Ronald Moore - Exec Producer and Head Writer
eric Story the Sci-fi channel's VP of New Programming
Mary McDonnell who plays Laura Rosslyn
Katee Sackhoff who plays Starbuck (and had changed into a really nice dress for this 2nd panel)
Tricia heller who plays 6
and then showing up later..SPOILER ALERT: .a surprise because she will be un-boxed:
Lucy Lawless!
additional spoiler: there will be moe Adana/Kara scenes! END OF SPOILERS
The next and final season looks great...I'm sure it will be.
Next the room emptied out again for the Matt Groening Futurama panel (not empty, but the BSG fans left, and fewer people filled in so you could see more empty seats than before)
I was personally hoping to hear Matt Groening talk about other things, but he didn't speak at all...it was the voice actors, and it was entertaining...but I'm more of a Groening fan (particularly of his old Life in Hell series) than a Futurama fan.
Last but not least was Joss Whedon's panel... I thought the room was at least 3/4 full, but it was definitely true that there were seats available so fans could arrive late and still get in....
This has been widely reported already...at Whedonesque... so I'll just recap and see if there were things in my notes that weren't texted live to Whedonesque:
Joss is excited about his free interweb book which is available at MySpace Dark Horse Presents:
Sugar Shack with artwork by Fabio Moon
August 21st the Serenity Special edition comes out with some new extras attached (they showed teaser clips)
And Joss wanted to answer the question: what have I done for you lately?
He is still rewriting Goners because the studio had notes on how to make the script better...
he has written a script called Cabin in the Woods with Drew Goddard whichis the horrow film to end all horror films
(but it isn't sold yet)
He is in talks/negotiations (unexpectedly) so there is a real possibility that Ripper may get made. Joss had dinner with Tony Head, and the BBC wants to do a 90 minute show... But the deal is not set.
He said he is coming to the end of what his wife calls My Merry Marvel Midlife Crisis...
He can't stop writing Buffy, it is like a drug. He knows how Season 8 will end, and he knows what will be in Season 9! He isn't giving Brian K. Vaughan very many notes, and when he is finished with his arc then Joss will do two more one shoots, and the next arc will be by Drew Goddard.
He added later that in Season 9 they would all be 80 and Xander would have an incontenance problem - it is a 6 issue arc...
He is turning is focus to things on film however, he wants to do more filmed work...
He is writing a score for a short film ballet starring Summer Glau called The Serving Girl (and where do you get to air short film ballets? Just wondering)
Someone asked if there would be more Fray? He said 'yes...' and then said that maybe he shouldn't have said that... So I wasn't sure how to take that. He didnt say anything about what form it would take.
It was a wonderful session, but actually I have to say it was a f*cking long time to sit in one room! And I'm not sure I would want to do it again even though I really enjoyed it a lot!
Tomorrow I'll see Marti Noxon and have my last chance to check out all the booths in the exhibition hall....