"You don't have to write absolutely everything down." "Oh, right. God, I should write _that_ down."
These notes are cobbled together from those scribbled in notebooks by bizarreoptimism and me during DCAU, Robot Chicken, and James Marsters events at New York Comic Con. The Marsters notes have a BS6 quasi-spoiler, which is in white.
DC animated stuffage, Friday, October 8, 2010
Superman Shazam
James Garner, George Newburn
All Star Superman Feb/March 2011
"Best movie we've done." ~Bruce Timm
"[Dwayne McDuffie] embraces the genuineness of Superman." ~Bruce Timm
the comic is corny but modern, what DC _didn't_ want from Superman for forty years
Alexis Denisof! Also Anthony LaPaglia, Arnold Vosloo, and Ed Asner! But _Alexis Denisof_!
deliberately pushing PG-13 rating on previous movies, backing off of late
Batman Year One next year some time
for Wonder Woman, "We got cautioned on beheadings, impalements, and dismemberments."
Robot Chicken panel, Friday, October 8, 2010
(all quotes ~Seth Green unless otherwise noted)
"The reason you guys haven't seen a lot of new stuff is we've been making it."
"Are you guys anti-Zach Efron? That's like being anti-kettle corn."
"Can you guys calmly storm the aisles?"
"One [upcoming Twilight parody] is the Twilight video game. A lot happens in that game."
"I work on a lot of things, but I'm not working as hard as someone who busts concrete for a living. At the end of the day, I play with toys and am living my dream. But it is a lot of work to live your dream!"
"We cut a lot of stuff that's not funny enough to be on television, and then we put things on television that shouldn't be."
"I don't know if you know this about Kratos, but he fills his swords with blood by having sex with them, and we thought that was a ridiculous thing for a video game."
"My favourite thing about that is that thousands of gamers are having an intimate experience with me that I'm not there for." (on doing a voice for Mass Effect)
Person #1 billion begins with "I have two questions...", so he democratically poses the question to the crowd - "Should we allow two questions?" "No!" "How about two-fold questions?" "No!"
"That was kind of like a revolution when we realized that we could make robots break dance." ~on the Voltron Dance
"We're not in any direct competition, so there's really no need in me hating [Zach Efron]."
Efron is apparently very nice and genuinely interested in what the animators do
"If he spends four years, maybe six years, not doing anything, he'll still be more relevant than anyone else in this room." (about Macauly Culkin)
"This is how it starts, guys. Next thing you know, there's a Macauly Culkin in Germany doing a lot of television." (after an almost certainly tongue-in-cheek request for DNA samples from Green and Culkin
"I'll work with you any time. We don't have to be in drag." (to Culkin)
ControlTV sounds terrifying.
(after checking - and double-checking - to make sure all children present have their ears covered; on their Avatar parody) "The song is called 'Blue Rabbits Fucking'."
"I think it was the Barenaked Ladies who said 'Haven't you always wanted a monkey?'" (while answering a question about why they chose "Stoopid Monkey")
"I don't know if you know, but we're kind of geeks." ~Matt
"Uh... We wanna make more stuff...combining toys and animation...and comedy."
"I hope we didn't hurt Stevie [Wonder]'s feelings, but I don't think anyone showed it to him."
"I don't wanna get into a fight with Stevie Wonder."
"To do a parody of a show like [Jersey Shore], you would really have to go out there, because isn't that what it's doing every day?" ~Matt
"People tell us that they got their children into Star Wars by showing them Robot Chicken, and we're like [spreads arms confusedly]."
Breckin Meyer is apparently insane. Awesome. "We'll just put him in the booth, and he'll go so far off script. SO FAR."
James Marsters Q&A, Friday October 8, 2010
"When you kiss a microphone, you sound like _God_."
~ "Hawaii 5-0" -- he'll be in 2-3 episodes a year, but the regular characters will talk about his character all the time.
[On the set-up of Brainiac's return to "Smallvi--" er, on what happens to Brainiac in the comics] - "In the 35th century, every human being liquifies ... [*shrugs*]"
"What you hope for, is that the costume reinforces the choices you've made. And I hate to be weird, but all those weird characters are me."
~ Was at first Trek convention with pointy ears, homemade communicator, and blonde afro. "And I was never more beautiful in my life."
"These conventions are deeply beautiful."
"Filming a television show is like going to ... well, I've never _been_ to war ... And the enemy is Time."
"If anyone would have photographed me when I was 24, I'd be in jail."
"How are you doing tonight?" "I'm doing excellent. I had a beer."
"I spent the first two years HATING David [Boreanaz] ... and it took me two years to realize that he was supporting me."
[Recounting a conversation he had with David Boureaunwhatever during a break on a very Spike-heavy episode] "How do you do this? 'Horse racing. Horse racing. Don't look left. Don't look right. Just RUN.'"
[On "DragonBall Z," which BizOp and I obviously have to watch, now] "I get down to Durango, it's a thirty million dollar picture, no one's even HEARD of Stephen Chow ..."
"I was like, 'Joss, that's the _wrong_ decision. The _right_ decision is that he [tries to be good enough for Buffy] and fails every time in a comedic way.' Next thing I know, I'm naked with Sarah Gellar, wearing a sock."
[On reading the Dresden Files series for audiobook] "How many deep-voiced British wizards are there in the WORLD?"
[After being asked if he has considered playing the main character in a Dresden Files movie] "I am not a tall man."
"Unless we film with midgets. Gandalf me. Gandalf me!"
Audience Member: "Do you miss being blonde?" / JM: "NO."
"The truth is, I can do any accent that I can be hired for."
[Quoting ASH after the first day of JM filming BtVS] "'You fucking prat, we don't say it like that!' God bless Tony Head."
Audience Member: "_Would_ you make a good wife?" / JM: "I would make an _excellent_ wife."
"I would _love_ a husband right about now."
[To Joss Whedon] "'If I look cool, isn't it your fault?' 'Yeah, but you have those _cheekbones_.'"
"When you ask an actor to cry, it's like, 'Oh. Now I can let go.' ... That's the hard thing, to laugh without looking like an idiot."
"[Joss Whedon] has moved the ball a significant amount in the right way. Towards self-empowerment."
"John [Barrowman] is a _hero_. I trust him. And I would rather kiss him than any other person I've kissed on film."
~ "Apocalypse Now" (which we now ALSO have to watch) affected him more than any other film.
Audience Member: "So that was a real fire [when Spike was exposed to sunlight]?" / JM: "Oh, YEAH. That was before computers. Don't we _all_ feel old, now?"
"When I looked into David [Boreauwottiz]'s eyes, I never really knew what he was going to do."
"When I do female characters, I don't think about playing a female. I just pitch my voice up and feel what I'm feeling." [adding to this as best as I can remember:] "We're all human, man. Male, female, black, white, gay, straight -- we're all just human."
[About either MacBeth or "A Doll's House"'s Torvald; I've forgotten] "He decides to do evil, but he is a human from beginning to end."
"Every human being is interesting enough and beautiful enough to be stared at for a long time. The problem is, we actors cover up our weirdness."
After being asked about being embarrassed about William's wig: "I really loved him. William is in my heart....I got really defensive of him when I was on set: 'Don't you make fun of him.'"
"Television and movies are a great time to hit the pause button and talk to your kids."
JM: "Have you ever BEEN to an orgy? ..." / Draca: "I wasn't _invited_." / JM: "... It's not a good idea."
"How do you tell the world, 'You are ruining the world'? It's a very hard message, and only science fiction can tell it."
"My favorite project, without exception, was 'Buffy' ... The acting was good, but the writing was _great_." [Because the writers exposed themselves.]
[Quoting Ben Edlund, who wrote "The Tick" and "Smile Time," after he expressed disappointment that he didn't have a more substantial role] "'James, I gave you the best part. You're gonna be remembered _forever_ for this.' And he was right."
~ Ghost of the Robot is reforming, this time with his son
"[After saying how great it is that each generation reinvents the vampire myth, a la 'Twilight'] -- _HOWEVER_*, if you're going to be a vampire, BE A VAMPIRE. Don't be a gentleman about it, go feed." * This was the best "however" ever spoken. The correct inflection cannot be captured in text, but it was amazing, had us laughing _quite_ a lot, and became part of our vocabulary throughout the remainder of the weekend and probably for the foreseeable future.
"Vampires - keep 'em alive. [*thumbs up*]"
"I _have_ superpowers; I can bring people together and get them to love each other. But, if I had a superpower, it would be flying. But I'd also need invincibility, because I would smack into things."
"I was always the nerd on set saying, 'Oh my God, we have our fingers on the pulse of the world; let's learn our lines. You wanna learn our lines?' And everybody's like, 'We're _tired_.'"
~ Aw, he's talking about High Plains Invaders [WHICH BIZOP ALSO _ALSO_ HAS TO WATCH NOW, BUT I SAW IT WHEN IT PREMIERED] -- he rewrote part of the story because he didn't think some of what was originally written made sense for his character. And then he sang a song he wrote from his character's point of view because he _still_ wasn't entirely satisfied.
[And, from BizOp's own memory -- so she hopes she got it mostly right...which wouldn't be necessary if I had managed to write it down myself while trying to catch up -- when JM was discussing his experiences as a theater director/producer and how he would occasionally wish he had such a role while filming BtVS and drama was running particularly high:] "And I'm standing there thinking, 'You're fired, you're _fired_, you're FIRED! ... oh God, was that out loud?? No, no, I was just thinking it ...'"
DC animated stuffage, Friday, October 8, 2010
Superman Shazam
James Garner, George Newburn
All Star Superman Feb/March 2011
"Best movie we've done." ~Bruce Timm
"[Dwayne McDuffie] embraces the genuineness of Superman." ~Bruce Timm
the comic is corny but modern, what DC _didn't_ want from Superman for forty years
Alexis Denisof! Also Anthony LaPaglia, Arnold Vosloo, and Ed Asner! But _Alexis Denisof_!
deliberately pushing PG-13 rating on previous movies, backing off of late
Batman Year One next year some time
for Wonder Woman, "We got cautioned on beheadings, impalements, and dismemberments."
Robot Chicken panel, Friday, October 8, 2010
(all quotes ~Seth Green unless otherwise noted)
"The reason you guys haven't seen a lot of new stuff is we've been making it."
"Are you guys anti-Zach Efron? That's like being anti-kettle corn."
"Can you guys calmly storm the aisles?"
"One [upcoming Twilight parody] is the Twilight video game. A lot happens in that game."
"I work on a lot of things, but I'm not working as hard as someone who busts concrete for a living. At the end of the day, I play with toys and am living my dream. But it is a lot of work to live your dream!"
"We cut a lot of stuff that's not funny enough to be on television, and then we put things on television that shouldn't be."
"I don't know if you know this about Kratos, but he fills his swords with blood by having sex with them, and we thought that was a ridiculous thing for a video game."
"My favourite thing about that is that thousands of gamers are having an intimate experience with me that I'm not there for." (on doing a voice for Mass Effect)
Person #1 billion begins with "I have two questions...", so he democratically poses the question to the crowd - "Should we allow two questions?" "No!" "How about two-fold questions?" "No!"
"That was kind of like a revolution when we realized that we could make robots break dance." ~on the Voltron Dance
"We're not in any direct competition, so there's really no need in me hating [Zach Efron]."
Efron is apparently very nice and genuinely interested in what the animators do
"If he spends four years, maybe six years, not doing anything, he'll still be more relevant than anyone else in this room." (about Macauly Culkin)
"This is how it starts, guys. Next thing you know, there's a Macauly Culkin in Germany doing a lot of television." (after an almost certainly tongue-in-cheek request for DNA samples from Green and Culkin
"I'll work with you any time. We don't have to be in drag." (to Culkin)
ControlTV sounds terrifying.
(after checking - and double-checking - to make sure all children present have their ears covered; on their Avatar parody) "The song is called 'Blue Rabbits Fucking'."
"I think it was the Barenaked Ladies who said 'Haven't you always wanted a monkey?'" (while answering a question about why they chose "Stoopid Monkey")
"I don't know if you know, but we're kind of geeks." ~Matt
"Uh... We wanna make more stuff...combining toys and animation...and comedy."
"I hope we didn't hurt Stevie [Wonder]'s feelings, but I don't think anyone showed it to him."
"I don't wanna get into a fight with Stevie Wonder."
"To do a parody of a show like [Jersey Shore], you would really have to go out there, because isn't that what it's doing every day?" ~Matt
"People tell us that they got their children into Star Wars by showing them Robot Chicken, and we're like [spreads arms confusedly]."
Breckin Meyer is apparently insane. Awesome. "We'll just put him in the booth, and he'll go so far off script. SO FAR."
James Marsters Q&A, Friday October 8, 2010
"When you kiss a microphone, you sound like _God_."
~ "Hawaii 5-0" -- he'll be in 2-3 episodes a year, but the regular characters will talk about his character all the time.
[On the set-up of Brainiac's return to "Smallvi--" er, on what happens to Brainiac in the comics] - "In the 35th century, every human being liquifies ... [*shrugs*]"
"What you hope for, is that the costume reinforces the choices you've made. And I hate to be weird, but all those weird characters are me."
~ Was at first Trek convention with pointy ears, homemade communicator, and blonde afro. "And I was never more beautiful in my life."
"These conventions are deeply beautiful."
"Filming a television show is like going to ... well, I've never _been_ to war ... And the enemy is Time."
"If anyone would have photographed me when I was 24, I'd be in jail."
"How are you doing tonight?" "I'm doing excellent. I had a beer."
"I spent the first two years HATING David [Boreanaz] ... and it took me two years to realize that he was supporting me."
[Recounting a conversation he had with David Boureaunwhatever during a break on a very Spike-heavy episode] "How do you do this? 'Horse racing. Horse racing. Don't look left. Don't look right. Just RUN.'"
[On "DragonBall Z," which BizOp and I obviously have to watch, now] "I get down to Durango, it's a thirty million dollar picture, no one's even HEARD of Stephen Chow ..."
"I was like, 'Joss, that's the _wrong_ decision. The _right_ decision is that he [tries to be good enough for Buffy] and fails every time in a comedic way.' Next thing I know, I'm naked with Sarah Gellar, wearing a sock."
[On reading the Dresden Files series for audiobook] "How many deep-voiced British wizards are there in the WORLD?"
[After being asked if he has considered playing the main character in a Dresden Files movie] "I am not a tall man."
"Unless we film with midgets. Gandalf me. Gandalf me!"
Audience Member: "Do you miss being blonde?" / JM: "NO."
"The truth is, I can do any accent that I can be hired for."
[Quoting ASH after the first day of JM filming BtVS] "'You fucking prat, we don't say it like that!' God bless Tony Head."
Audience Member: "_Would_ you make a good wife?" / JM: "I would make an _excellent_ wife."
"I would _love_ a husband right about now."
[To Joss Whedon] "'If I look cool, isn't it your fault?' 'Yeah, but you have those _cheekbones_.'"
"When you ask an actor to cry, it's like, 'Oh. Now I can let go.' ... That's the hard thing, to laugh without looking like an idiot."
"[Joss Whedon] has moved the ball a significant amount in the right way. Towards self-empowerment."
"John [Barrowman] is a _hero_. I trust him. And I would rather kiss him than any other person I've kissed on film."
~ "Apocalypse Now" (which we now ALSO have to watch) affected him more than any other film.
Audience Member: "So that was a real fire [when Spike was exposed to sunlight]?" / JM: "Oh, YEAH. That was before computers. Don't we _all_ feel old, now?"
"When I looked into David [Boreauwottiz]'s eyes, I never really knew what he was going to do."
"When I do female characters, I don't think about playing a female. I just pitch my voice up and feel what I'm feeling." [adding to this as best as I can remember:] "We're all human, man. Male, female, black, white, gay, straight -- we're all just human."
[About either MacBeth or "A Doll's House"'s Torvald; I've forgotten] "He decides to do evil, but he is a human from beginning to end."
"Every human being is interesting enough and beautiful enough to be stared at for a long time. The problem is, we actors cover up our weirdness."
After being asked about being embarrassed about William's wig: "I really loved him. William is in my heart....I got really defensive of him when I was on set: 'Don't you make fun of him.'"
"Television and movies are a great time to hit the pause button and talk to your kids."
JM: "Have you ever BEEN to an orgy? ..." / Draca: "I wasn't _invited_." / JM: "... It's not a good idea."
"How do you tell the world, 'You are ruining the world'? It's a very hard message, and only science fiction can tell it."
"My favorite project, without exception, was 'Buffy' ... The acting was good, but the writing was _great_." [Because the writers exposed themselves.]
[Quoting Ben Edlund, who wrote "The Tick" and "Smile Time," after he expressed disappointment that he didn't have a more substantial role] "'James, I gave you the best part. You're gonna be remembered _forever_ for this.' And he was right."
~ Ghost of the Robot is reforming, this time with his son
"[After saying how great it is that each generation reinvents the vampire myth, a la 'Twilight'] -- _HOWEVER_*, if you're going to be a vampire, BE A VAMPIRE. Don't be a gentleman about it, go feed." * This was the best "however" ever spoken. The correct inflection cannot be captured in text, but it was amazing, had us laughing _quite_ a lot, and became part of our vocabulary throughout the remainder of the weekend and probably for the foreseeable future.
"Vampires - keep 'em alive. [*thumbs up*]"
"I _have_ superpowers; I can bring people together and get them to love each other. But, if I had a superpower, it would be flying. But I'd also need invincibility, because I would smack into things."
"I was always the nerd on set saying, 'Oh my God, we have our fingers on the pulse of the world; let's learn our lines. You wanna learn our lines?' And everybody's like, 'We're _tired_.'"
~ Aw, he's talking about High Plains Invaders [WHICH BIZOP ALSO _ALSO_ HAS TO WATCH NOW, BUT I SAW IT WHEN IT PREMIERED] -- he rewrote part of the story because he didn't think some of what was originally written made sense for his character. And then he sang a song he wrote from his character's point of view because he _still_ wasn't entirely satisfied.
[And, from BizOp's own memory -- so she hopes she got it mostly right...which wouldn't be necessary if I had managed to write it down myself while trying to catch up -- when JM was discussing his experiences as a theater director/producer and how he would occasionally wish he had such a role while filming BtVS and drama was running particularly high:] "And I'm standing there thinking, 'You're fired, you're _fired_, you're FIRED! ... oh God, was that out loud?? No, no, I was just thinking it ...'"