Scary Kitty's Comic-Con 2011 Adventure...
...Or, Why Fridays Suck.
Don't get me wrong, I had fun just getting to go (and I'll never say no to an excuse for a relaxing train ride down the Southern California coast), but it seemed to me like most of the interesting stuff on the Comic-Con schedule was all happening on the days that I didn't have a pass for. Pity, as I would've liked to have seen the Secret Circle screening/panel on Saturday; I never read the SC books (unlike The Vampire Diaries), so I'm hoping that I'll enjoy SC better than TVD since I won't be bogged down with so many preconceived notions of what the show ought to be. The previews look good, and I'm cautiously optimistic about the comments coming out of Comic-Con, so...
Then there's the asshattery of the pre-registration situation. As I had expected, they closed the line about the time that my train was pulling into San Diego, so I'll have to go with online registration when it opens later this year. In previous years, online registration has been a breeze, but for some reason, they totally frakked it up for 2011 registration. Supposedly sales of the refunded passes back in June went much more smoothly, so hopefully they've learned a few lessons. And for those who have been panicking about everything being sold out at this year's con, no, nothing is sold out yet. Apparently they decided to release a limited number of passes at pre-reg each day (I was hearing somewhere between 2200-2600), but the bulk of the passes for 2012 are being reserved for when online registration opens to the public sometime this fall. That's passes of all levels, 4-day with Preview Night, 4-day without Preview Night, and single days. Guess I'm going to have to start stalking the Comic-Con website for announcements on when they'll open up online registration. I've got a feeling it's gonna be nuts again.
With only one day, I really didn't want to waste time waiting in long lines for big panels, so that left me with smaller panels that were easier to get into. I spent the morning and early afternoon trolling the exhibit hall, which seemed kind of, well, bland compared to previous years. Maybe it was the down economy, maybe there just weren't as many really big name projects out there to throw lots of promotional money at, but the various booths looked to be the same old cages with silkscreened canvas walls that were there last year. Even the Lucasfilm/Star Wars pavilion looked rather tame. Ah well. Unique swag seemed to be pretty rare, too. Or maybe I just kept missing it.
In the afternoon, it was off to the Marriott for the Military In Film panel, moderated by Jon Huertas (who happens to be a veteran of the US Air Force and chairs the Screen Actors Guild's Armed Forces Task Force. And before you ask, no, I don't watch Castle *shrugs*). He was joined by the liaisons from each of the services to the entertainment industry, who regaled us all with tales of some of their best (and worst) experiences working with Hollywood. One rather funny (in an 'OMG, they didn't!' sort of way) was about one production that wanted a "old, rundown, haunted ship" for their movie; the Navy jokingly referred them to the Coast Guard, who in turn suggested they hire a commercial outfit with beat up boats. Snicker! The Transformers films were noted several times as being particularly good at accuracy and respect to the military, as was the Iron Man films. I always knew there was a reason why I liked them, LOL! There was a huge line of people who didn't get to ask questions as they ran out of time... only 45 minutes? If they hold that panel again next year, methinks they'll have to double the timeslot.
The other panel I attended was the Girls Gone Genre panel with Gale Anne Hurd, Jane Espenson, Marti Noxon and Marjorie Liu. OMFG, this was FUN FUN FUN! Lots of stories about how they got to the top of their game and how they view female characters; there was one very interesting comment from GAH about how she is drawn to female characters who are ordinary women thrown into extraordinary situations and must reach within themselves to find the strength to deal with those situations. Damn, what she could've done with Elizabeth Weir... And, of course, there was lots of ranting about the old boys' network in Hollywood (including quite a few amusing pokes at James Cameron. Hee!). I think there might have been a version of this panel last year as well; I'll have to keep an eye out for a 2012 version.
Now if only I could experience at least one Comic-Con trip where nothing went wrong with the trains. This year it was my return train being late by nearly an hour, so I didn't get back until nearly 11:30pm. Ouch.
Don't get me wrong, I had fun just getting to go (and I'll never say no to an excuse for a relaxing train ride down the Southern California coast), but it seemed to me like most of the interesting stuff on the Comic-Con schedule was all happening on the days that I didn't have a pass for. Pity, as I would've liked to have seen the Secret Circle screening/panel on Saturday; I never read the SC books (unlike The Vampire Diaries), so I'm hoping that I'll enjoy SC better than TVD since I won't be bogged down with so many preconceived notions of what the show ought to be. The previews look good, and I'm cautiously optimistic about the comments coming out of Comic-Con, so...
Then there's the asshattery of the pre-registration situation. As I had expected, they closed the line about the time that my train was pulling into San Diego, so I'll have to go with online registration when it opens later this year. In previous years, online registration has been a breeze, but for some reason, they totally frakked it up for 2011 registration. Supposedly sales of the refunded passes back in June went much more smoothly, so hopefully they've learned a few lessons. And for those who have been panicking about everything being sold out at this year's con, no, nothing is sold out yet. Apparently they decided to release a limited number of passes at pre-reg each day (I was hearing somewhere between 2200-2600), but the bulk of the passes for 2012 are being reserved for when online registration opens to the public sometime this fall. That's passes of all levels, 4-day with Preview Night, 4-day without Preview Night, and single days. Guess I'm going to have to start stalking the Comic-Con website for announcements on when they'll open up online registration. I've got a feeling it's gonna be nuts again.
With only one day, I really didn't want to waste time waiting in long lines for big panels, so that left me with smaller panels that were easier to get into. I spent the morning and early afternoon trolling the exhibit hall, which seemed kind of, well, bland compared to previous years. Maybe it was the down economy, maybe there just weren't as many really big name projects out there to throw lots of promotional money at, but the various booths looked to be the same old cages with silkscreened canvas walls that were there last year. Even the Lucasfilm/Star Wars pavilion looked rather tame. Ah well. Unique swag seemed to be pretty rare, too. Or maybe I just kept missing it.
In the afternoon, it was off to the Marriott for the Military In Film panel, moderated by Jon Huertas (who happens to be a veteran of the US Air Force and chairs the Screen Actors Guild's Armed Forces Task Force. And before you ask, no, I don't watch Castle *shrugs*). He was joined by the liaisons from each of the services to the entertainment industry, who regaled us all with tales of some of their best (and worst) experiences working with Hollywood. One rather funny (in an 'OMG, they didn't!' sort of way) was about one production that wanted a "old, rundown, haunted ship" for their movie; the Navy jokingly referred them to the Coast Guard, who in turn suggested they hire a commercial outfit with beat up boats. Snicker! The Transformers films were noted several times as being particularly good at accuracy and respect to the military, as was the Iron Man films. I always knew there was a reason why I liked them, LOL! There was a huge line of people who didn't get to ask questions as they ran out of time... only 45 minutes? If they hold that panel again next year, methinks they'll have to double the timeslot.
The other panel I attended was the Girls Gone Genre panel with Gale Anne Hurd, Jane Espenson, Marti Noxon and Marjorie Liu. OMFG, this was FUN FUN FUN! Lots of stories about how they got to the top of their game and how they view female characters; there was one very interesting comment from GAH about how she is drawn to female characters who are ordinary women thrown into extraordinary situations and must reach within themselves to find the strength to deal with those situations. Damn, what she could've done with Elizabeth Weir... And, of course, there was lots of ranting about the old boys' network in Hollywood (including quite a few amusing pokes at James Cameron. Hee!). I think there might have been a version of this panel last year as well; I'll have to keep an eye out for a 2012 version.
Now if only I could experience at least one Comic-Con trip where nothing went wrong with the trains. This year it was my return train being late by nearly an hour, so I didn't get back until nearly 11:30pm. Ouch.