Preview night came with lots of people and lots of swag (swag article coming soon with a few costume pics). It’s basically wandering around with big crowds and scoping out which swag you want in the upcoming days–no guarantees though. (I still didn’t get my “Big Frakkin’ Bag” from Sci-Fi).
Stan Lee and Grant Morrison
10:45-11:45 Reinventing the Page: Stan Lee and Grant Morrison Talk Virgin Comics
To be honest, we really just went to this forum to get into the Dr. Who and Torchwood forum, but Grant’s got a new animated online series called MBX coming out which had some very interesting designs.
Stan also said something interesting about comics (which I thought might be the reason why I didn’t like Dark Knight as much as I’d thought I would). He started off by saying that he loved Superman comics and other DC comices, but as far as he could tell Clark’s biggest problem was worrying whether or not Lois would figure out he was Superman. He said he liked to know what the superheroes were worrying about in the meantime, their hopes, their dreams, etc.–and cited Peter Parker.
That was something I liked about the Spiderman movies (at least the first 2). It showed us Peter Parker, who also happens to be Spiderman instead of Spiderman who disguises himself as Peter Parker. I felt like in Dark Knight all we were getting was Batman mystique and not a lot of Bruce as we did in Batman Begins. Anyways, I appreciated the comment.
Producer Julie Gardner and Writer Steven Moffat
12:00-1:00 Doctor Who
I used to watch Dr. Who with my friend when I was 10 years old, and I loved it, but then for some reason they changed the schedule and I couldn’t find it and kind of left it behind. So going to this forum basically revived an old love, but revamped. They showed clips of the past few seasons with some of the scenes from the favorite episodes as well as upcoming.
Basically, I’m back with Dr. Who again. 😉
Steven Moffat recently became head writer, and he was extremely entertaining. He’s basically a grown up fanboy, which I think can make a show like Dr. Who more interesting. If you ever get a chance to sit in on a forum with him, do it, you won’t be disappointed.
1:00-2:00 Torchwood
Julie Gardner who produces Dr. Who also is working on Torchwood, which is a spin-off series of Dr. Who. My friend is a big fan, but I found the main actor John Barrowman to be a bit too crass for my tastes, and I’m not terribly interested in seeing guys kiss, so I’m going to pass on Torchwood. However, most people who like Dr. Who or the like have loved Torchwood, so if that’s your kind of genre, you’ll probably want to check it out.
2:00-3:00 Red Sonja: One-on-One
The re-imagined, etc., of Red Sonja–sans-mullet. They didn’t have any trailers to show, nor have they shot anything, so it really wasn’t very informative or enticing yet. Robert Rodriquez (Sin City) is heading up the project, and from their conceptual sketches it seems the movie will likely be of a similar flavor.
3:00-4:00 Disney: Race to Witch Mountain
I stood in line for about 1/2 hr for this, then gave up to go try and get a Michael C. Hall autograph, but my friend made it in. She said they stressed that it wasn’t a remake, but from watching the trailers she said it looks like a big waste of our time. I suppose only time will tell.
3:15-4:15 Capcom: The Making of Street Fighter IV
I stepped into this to make sure I made it into True Blood and Dexter. I didn’t see all of it, but the previews and pictures I did see makes the game look like a lot of fun. I don’t know if I’d buy it (fighter games aren’t my thing) but I’d definitely want to rent it or play it with others. They also showed an anime series clip they’ve been on, but not really something I’m terribly interested in. Anyways, the game looks interesting.
4:30-5:30 HBO’s True Blood
From the Comic-Con guide:
Based on the popular Sookie Stackhouse novels by Charlaine Harris, True Blood is created by Alan Ball, creator of HBO’s Emmy-winning series Six Feet Under. The series takes place in the not-too-distant future, when, thanks to the invention of synthetic blood, vampires no longer need humans for their fix and can walk freely, if not yet comfortably, among their living counterparts. With their integration into a small Louisiana town causing a stir, a love story ensues between Sookie Stackhouse (Anna Paquin, the X-Men films; Academy Award winner for The Piano), an innocent waitress with the unusual ability to read minds, and vampire Bill Compton (Stephen Moyer, The Starter Wife). The series also features Ryan Kwanten (Summerland), Rutina Wesley (How She Move), Sam Trammell (Judging Amy), and Nelsan Ellis (The Inside). True Blood debuts September 7 exclusively on HBO.
Stephen Moyer, Anna Paquin and creator Alan Ball
Seems vampires have become a very popular thing lately. (Yes, Stephenie Meyers was there, and no I didn’t make it.) Though the stories don’t seem entirely dissimilar to each other. I hate this exclusively on HBO (or Showtime) junk, but at least we’ve got the internet. 😉
Still, the trailer didn’t WOW me, and I don’t know that I’ll be following it from its premiere date to be quite honest. There’s only so much time for watching, and I don’t know if that will get a place on what I do have time for (especially with Heroes and Smallville upcoming).
One thing that was interesting, was Alan Ball’s response to the question: How much input do you take from fans about the show or do you consider their input?
He was very put out by this question and started sentences like “I don’t have time to look online…” and “It isn’t my job to take into consideration…” before realizing he’d said too much and backed down. Apparently Alan would prefer fans of his shows obediently and silently watch and applaud without saying anything more.
Isn’t it the fans who can help keep your show alive? Oh well.
Michael C. Hall and Julie Benz
5:45-6:45 Showtime: Dexter
Michael C. Hall was great. He kept moving the curtain a little, teasing us before coming out. It causes me to wonder how much of Dexter is Dexter and how much is Michael.
Having loved season one and loathed season two, I was eager but nervous about season three. Fans asked about them taking the show in a direction very different from the book. They basically said, “Hey, we can put together a good story. Just watch and see.” *cough Lila cough*
So the preview for season three was up on the screen and it seems Dex and Rita are going to get much closer, but I’m still 50/50 on whether or not the third season will bring improvements. I’ll still watch it, but likely with the idea that season three will determine whether or not I stick around for season four.
Another point of interest when someone asked how they felt about the edited CBS version (which I actually prefer) and airing it on CBS, one exec prod said: on a good night on Showtime you can get perhaps a million viewers. On a bad night on CBS you get 6 million viewers. So, yeah, we thought it was a good move.
END OF DAY
I had read that if you stood in line for the Star Wars Fan Awards you might get tickets to see a screening of Fanboys, which I wanted, but done standing in line already, my friend and I used the public trans system and headed back to our place. I made pretty much all of the forums I wanted to see, so I counted Day One as a good day. Day Two on the way…
Visual Crack with Dee 'n Mac 