Comic-Con 2010

Yes , it has gotten ridiculously crowded and many of the programs no longer focus on science fiction or fantasy, let alone comicbooks. Still I continue to be drawn to Comic-Con like a junkie to her fix. I adore being in a room full of people who love the same TV shows and movies I do. Plus I thrive on the spontaneity of not knowing exactly what's going to happen next at the Con. It would break my heart not to go to Comic-Con only to find out later I had missed a once-in-lifetime sighting of my favorite TV star or film director.

So here are the highlights of this year's Comic-Con, which we attended Thursday and Friday:

Flashmob: The Hoff

Not able to get into the much coveted Hall H, where most of the big-name movie stars (e.g., Angelina Jolie; Will Ferrell) were hawking their upcoming films, we decided to walk into the Gaslamp district for lunch. I was grumping about having missed the Tron panel, when Tim yelled, “Look!,” pointing to a double-decker bus, blasting loud music. “It's David Hasselhoff!”

Sure enough, there was David Hasselhoff (star of Knight Rider and Baywatch) dancing atop an open-air bus, surrounded by scantily-clad women, and lip-syncing to one of his songs. Now we’re not Hasselhoff fans at all (who even knew he could sing?); but seeing him stop traffic with his crazy performance was so unexpected that we joined about a hundred others as they followed him down the street, whooping and hollering. Before we knew it, the Hoff, as he’s affectionately called by his fans, was dancing on the sidewalk while the crowd went wild.

“Only at Comic-Con!” I yelled to Tim, as he madly snapped photos. It was my very first flashmob! (Click here to watch one of several YouTube videos of the scene.) My mood perked-up considerably!

Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog

Among the most formidable fans on the planet are those who follow Joss Whedon, the mastermind behind the popular Buffy the Vampire-Slayer, Angel, Firefly, and Dollhouse TV shows. Whedon also writes best-selling comicbooks, featuring characters from his shows, and wrote and produced Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog, a 45-minute musical that premiered on the Internet two years ago. I own the DVD and the Dr. Horrible soundtrack, which I love.

With nothing else to do Thursday night, we made our way back to the convention center, where we joined about 400 other Dr. Horrible fans to watch the DVD and sing along with the film. Lyrics and an abbreviated script were distributed, directing everyone when to yell things (e.g., callbacks, such as, “Damn Big Hero!” or “How evil is it?”) at the screen. (It makes a lot more sense if you know Dr. Horrible!) Whole families were there, singing and having fun—it was an absolute riot. Even Tim got into the act, yelling and singing along. His favorite song: “A Man’s Gotta Do [What a Man’s Gotta Do].” (Again, it makes a lot more sense if you know Dr. Horrible!)

Ballroom 20


Determined to see the panels of at least some of my favorite shows, I arrived at the convention center at 7:30AM on Friday. Lines were already forming for Hall H and the smaller Ballroom 20. I queued up for Ballroom 20, since that’s where the cast of The Big Bang Theory, one of our favorite sitcoms, was scheduled to appear at 12:30PM. Tim joined me around 8:30AM.

An interesting assortment of fans (approximately 3000) got up early to wait on line with us. Standing next to me was a woman from Canada, who was there to see the stars of True Blood, the HBO vampire series that was being featured at 5PM. Others were waiting to see celebrity panels from Stargate Universe, Caprica, Bones, and, of course, Big Bang Theory. You can usually tell fans’ allegiance by their costume or choice of t-shirt, though we ourselves tend to wear nondescript Disney and sports-related [Tim] clothing.

We entered the ballroom at 9:30AM and sat next to a woman in full-blown military gear from Stargate Universe. Most of the people around us were there for the duration and so had packed enough food for the entire day. We brought pastries and apples.

First up was Stargate, which I’ve never seen, and then Caprica, which is one my fave SyFy Channel shows. Tim read the newspaper while I cheered and made note of upcoming plot developments. But, really, the both of us were just marking time till the cast of The Big Bang Theory arrived.

At 12:15PM someone brought musical instruments on stage to do a sound check. Hmmm, very suspicious—were the actors going to treat us to a musical number? Then sheets with lyrics to the Big Bang theme song appeared. Obviously we were going to participate in another sing-along! But instead of the actors, out walked Barenaked Ladies, who proceeded to perform the show’s theme song! Now I don’t know Barenaked Ladies (BNL) from a hole in the ground, but I do know they’re a world-famous alt-rock band, so I started screaming along with everyone else. It was one of the most exciting surprises we’d ever experienced at a Con, as you can see for yourself here.

Buoyed by the appearance of BNL and a terrific Big Bang panel, I asked Tim if we could stay for the 3PM Q&A session with Joss Whedon, creator of Dr. Horrible, etc. (see above). He said yes, though we were both pretty hungry by then (pastries and apples don’t go very far!). We read magazines through the Bones panel and then, finally, Joss came out to roaring applause. (I think it was Entertainment Weekly that called him one of the current “gods” of pop geekdom.) He announced several projects he’s working on and then took questions from the audience. After almost an hour, a strange-looking man in a hat and obviously fake mustache approached the mic and asked Joss which actor he enjoyed working with the most.

“What a weird question,” I thought to myself, when Tim whispered excitedly, “That’s Captain Hammer!!,” referring to Dr. Horrible’s arch-nemesis.

“Huh?” I said, scratching my head.

Joss then coyly responded that his favorite actor was Nathan Fillion. Before we knew it, the man at the mic began removing his hat and fake mustache, revealing that he was indeed Nathan Fillion, the actor who plays Captain Hammer. (Good eye, Tim!) If screams could be harnessed, San Diego would have had enough energy to light Pet Co stadium for a week! Quite the thrill.

Star Trek

I noticed that episodes of the classic Star Trek series were being screened at the Marriott, so we ended our day adventuring through the “final frontier.” The hotel ballroom reminded me of the old Star Trek conventions Karen and I used to attend in the late 1970s when a big part of the festivities involved watching 35mm episodes of the show. This was in the dark ages before VHS, so getting to watch Trek back then was a very big deal. Not so much today, of course, when Star Trek reruns play every day on TV—not to mention the countless repackaged DVD collections, many of which I own—still it was fun reliving my youth with like-minded fans.

The audience at the Marriott was small but hardcore. We watched “Arena,” first—the episode where Kirk fights the cheesy-looking lizard creature called the Gorn. We affectionately laughed at the sillier moments and yelled out warnings to characters about to be killed. Even Tim, who had never watched Star Trek till he met me, got into the spirit and yelled at the screen. It was cathartic and fun, even though a normal person would have thought we were insane! We left after two episodes.

Tim’s reward for being such a good sport: free Ben & Jerry’s ice cream samples outside the convention center. Here he is with Cherry Garcia.










P.S.

We hopped the train back to L.A. at noon on Saturday. As crazy as it was on Thursday and Friday, the Con is always much worse on the weekend, so we fled. Nevertheless, I was sad to go, because I really, really love Comic-Con.
Where else can I feel so completely removed from the real world?

There’s talk of moving Comic-Con to Los Angeles (hooray!) after the San Diego contract ends in 2012. We’ll see. Until then, I’ll be schlepping down to San Diego come July.

Diners, Drive-Ins and Comic-Con 2009

Despite reserving my hotel room a year ago and buying my four-day pass back in February, it looked like I was going to miss last weekend’s Comic-Con due to work and family obligations. But just as the sky is always darkest before dawn, late Friday I decided I couldn’t stand it and, like a junky, declared I had to go to Comic-Con! Though Tim didn’t have a ticket, he came along, too, lured by the promise of eating only at restaurants sanctioned by Guy Fieri. We were on the road south by 7:00 the next morning.

Our first stop was El Indio, one of Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives’ best San Diego eateries and our personal favorite Mexican restaurant. I had a plate full of taquitos for breakfast—YUM!

Tim then dropped me off at the convention center. The Con was strangely quiet at 9:30AM. In fact, for a moment I actually forgot it was sold-out (125,000 tickets!) and thought the recession had finally conquered geekdom. But reality set in as soon as I ran into a nest of Predators and the fun began. I wasn’t in the mood to stand on long lines to see panels about True Blood or Lost, so focused my energies on the massive exhibit hall instead. The big themes this year: TV remakes (new versions of The Prisoner and the cheesy 1980s series V), sequels (Iron Man, Twilight), 3-D (Avatar, Alice in Wonderland, Tron), and anything having to do with vampires.

I had missed Johnny Depp, who made a surprise appearance on Thursday (boo hoo!), so was on the lookout for whatever celebrities I could see. Nichelle Nichols, Uhura of the original Star Trek, was there (as usual), selling autographs for $20; but this was not nearly as scandalous as Mark Hamill (aka Luke Skywalker), who was selling his signature for $100 (the nerve of some former science fiction icons!). I also saw Edward James Olmos and James Callis from my beloved Battlestar Galactica, plus the entire cast of the TV show Chuck (the boys were all sporting summer beards).

I was bopping around quite satisfied with myself, when suddenly everything ground to a halt. It was a complete human gridlock. I was grumbling, until someone announced that Jon Favreau, director of Iron Man 1 & 2, was standing atop the two-story G4 (TV’s gaming channel) booth! Everybody burst into spontaneous cheering. I called Karen.

“Quick, turn on G4!” I yelled. “I’m in the background screaming and waving at Jon Favreau!”

“Where are you?” she answered, not knowing I had decided to go to Comic-Con after all. Not surprisingly, she couldn’t see me through the hordes.

As always, the attendees’ costumes were a highlight of the day. My favorites: (1) an amazing yellow Bumblebee from the Transformers movies and (2) Darth Vader in a smoking jacket, which made me laugh out loud. Women seemed to be more voluptuous than ever—some wearing hardly anything at all—while fans of all ages continued to dress like the Joker, in all his incarnations, Batman, Klingons, and various Star Wars characters.

Meanwhile, back in the real world, Tim had gone to the movies. We reconnected after 2PM and headed over to our hotel. As promised, we ate dinner at Luigi’s, a small pizza joint that Guy Fieri loves. To say we were disappointed would be a huge understatement, especially since we’ve had much better pizza at our own LaRocco’s in downtown Culver City. In keeping with the theme of the weekend, we then went to see the latest Harry Potter film at Horton Plaza. Back at the hotel, we could see fireworks exploding above Sea World. It was a perfect evening.

I was tempted to return to the Con Sunday morning, but had breakfast with Tim instead at the Studio Diner, yet another of Guy Fieri’s recommendations. Located next to San Diego’s only fully functioning film studio, the restaurant is decorated in kitsch movie memorabilia; but again, the food was nothing spectacular. Could Guy actually be losing his touch?

We hopped in the car and headed back to L.A., but not before stopping once more at El Indio for some last minute taquitos. YUM!

Comic Con 2008 (Day 3)

The lines were far too long to get into the panels we really wanted to see (“Terminator: the Sarah Connor Chronicles” and “The Office”), so we stumbled into a presentation by horror author Dean Koontz instead. It was wonderful and surprisingly relevant to the class I’m teaching this summer at UCLA.

Better yet was the next panel on “Dollhouse,” the upcoming TV show by the enormously popular Joss Wheadon, creator of “Buffy the Vampire-Slayer” and the much lamented science fiction/western “Firefly.” I was thrilled to share the same air with someone whose talent I admire so greatly.

But the true highlight of the weekend was sitting through the “Battlestar Galactica” panel, while Tim fetched our luggage and saved my place on line at the train station. It was the perfect end to a glorious three days, even though I did have to lug the framed “Incredibles” print five blocks to the train station. I’m already counting the days till next year!

Comic Con 2008 (Day 2)

Too excited to sleep, I woke-up at 5:30AM and emailed Karen about the con. I was distressed to read in USA Today that Hugh Jackman had made a surprise appearance at the “X-Men” panel on Thursday while we were still on the train. Bummer!

The doors opened on Friday at 9:30AM so we boarded the Comic Con shuttle at 8:45AM, along with a couple of elves and an entire family of Star Wars characters. It was madness at the convention center.

“It’s like Saturday,” someone yelled in amazement. “Only it’s Friday!”

We fought our way through the crowds and headed upstairs to the “Big Bang Theory” panel. The actors were all very cute and had good chemistry with each other. Between panels, we dashed downstairs to the exhibits, where I bought a copy of “Shatnerica,” an encyclopedia about “Star Trek” captain extraordinaire William Shatner (2nd edition—who knew?!). We also fell in love with—and subsequently purchased—a framed, limited edition print of characters from Disney’s animated movie “The Incredibles.” They promised to hold it for us until Saturday.

The rest of the day was spent in dark rooms attending various panels: TV showrunners from some of our favorite shows (“Lost,” “Chuck,” “Pushing Daisies,” and “The Sarah Connor Chronicles”); the upcoming Star Wars “Clone Wars” movie and TV show (so boring, I read the Shatner book cover-to-cover while waiting for the panel to end!); a Q & A with “visionary filmmakers” Judd Apatow, Kevin Smith, Zack Snyder, and Frank Miller (funny); and finally a panel promoting Kevin Smith’s new film “Zack and Miri Make a Porno” (very, very funny). We left the convention center at 8PM, exhausted but happy.

What else did we see? After the previous day’s incident when I failed to take a picture because I was so flustered by the two faux Star Trek captains, Tim assumed control of the camera. As you can see below, he went berserk.

Comic Con 2008 (Day 1)

It’s July, so that means it’s time, once again, to schlep to San Diego for Comic Con, the largest pop culture convention in the U.S, if not the world! I was so bummed that we spent only one day at the con last year, I made hotel reservations way back in August so we could be there as long as possible this year.

Thursday/Day 1: We had tickets for the 11AM train, so I got up at 6AM to pack and get ready. As I’ve written before on this blog, what you wear to Comic Con is very important. Tim and I don’t do costumes, but we do wear carefully selected t-shirts that indicate our allegiance to certain TV shows and movies. This year I wanted to honor “Dark Knight” by donning the Batman t-shirt I bought in 1989 when the first movie came out. But after hunting for it for almost 20 minutes, I had a fit and declared a moratorium on all movie/TV t-shirts.

“That’s it!” I announced. “I have far too many t-shirts! I don’t care how good they look or how free they are, I refuse to bring home any more t-shirts!”

I could almost hear Tim thinking, “Yeah, right. We’ll see . . .”

We arrived at the train station an hour early and knew we were in the right place when a young man approached us wearing a shirt labeled NERD. Tim then elbowed me as Jim Parsons (Sheldon on the TV show “Big Bang Theory”) walked by. We were on our way.

Oddly enough, everyone on the train was going to either Comic Con or the Del Mar racetrack. Our heads almost swiveled from eavesdropping on so many interesting conversations. We learned not only which programs to attend at the con, but also which horses to bet on at the track! It was a lively trip.

After checking in at the hotel, we ran down to the convention center, where we had an hour to kill before our first panel. Mustering our strength, we dove headlong into the always crazy exhibit hall. Even on Thursday it was ridiculously crowded. At one point I thought I saw Avery Brooks (the captain on “Star Trek: Deep Space Nine”) walking alongside Patrick Stewart (my all-time favorite starship captain). I held my breath.

“Damn, you guys look good!” an exhibitor yelled, as everyone stopped to snap a photo.

Turns out the “captains” were just two fanboys in costume.

At 3:30PM, we went upstairs to stand on the first of many lines that weekend. The panel was on the new HBO vampire series “True Blood,” premiering September 7. Oscar-winner Anna Paquin, who plays a waitress who falls in love with a vampire, was there, as were several of her costars. We were handed red tickets to exchange for “True Blood” swag while we watched clips from the show. We then sat through a panel on “Dexter,” the Showtime series about a likable killer, played by Michael C. Hall. I was already in ecstasy!

Worried that it was getting too late to collect our swag, I motioned to Tim to hurry as we exited the room. We raced past the autograph tables and several former celebrities waiting to greet their fans. We then entered the “Fulfillment Center” and showed our tickets.

“Red tickets over there,” a bored staff member said, pointing to the right.

We were each handed a backpack containing a “True Blood” comic book, the paperback novel “Dead Until Dark”, on which the show is based, and, of course, a t-shirt. Tim got a white shirt that said “FRIENDS DON’T LET FRIENDS DRINK FRIENDS.” Mine was red and admonished that “REAL BLOOD IS FOR SUCKERS.”

“I LOVE THEM BOTH!” I squealed, completely forgetting all about my t-shirt moratorium.

Comic-Con 2007

Comic-Con hit San Diego again with a big "BANG! POW!" last weekend. What started 38 years ago as a rather casual annual gathering of local comicbook collectors has turned into a mega-million-dollar extravaganza that attracts some 130,000 fans and media hounds from around the world. According to the LA Times, Comic-Con has become a “pop-culture” phenomenon.

Since getting into the con on Saturday was such a nightmare last year, Tim and I decided to go on Friday instead. Activities began at 10:30AM, so we reserved seats on the 7:20AM train heading south. We arrived at L.A.’s magnificent Union Station at 6:40AM.

“What do you think the geek factor will be on the train?” Tim asked before we even got to the station.

“HUGE!” I replied.

And sure enough, the train was overrun with young fan-boys and -girls wearing dark t-shirts sporting the logos of various rock bands and science fiction movies. Clothes—and, of course, costumes!—are a big part of the Comic-Con experience.

The train arrived in downtown San Diego at 10:10AM. From there, it’s a 15-minute walk to the Convention Center—just enough time to make the first big panel presentation of the day at 10:30AM. Warner Bros. studio was sneak-previewing its upcoming movies, including “Get Smart,” the remake of one my favorite 1960s TV shows. Although the movie’s main star, Steve Carell (who plays secret agent Maxwell Smart), wasn’t listed in the program, Tim and I were betting he would indeed show-up since Comic-Con has become the biggest movie-hype fest on the west coast. We raced off the train.

Thank goodness for advance online registration because we were able to run right in and get our convention badges. The line outside the Warner Bros. event, however, was daunting. Even though the auditorium (the infamous “Hall H”) holds 6,500 people, the room was already at capacity, so we gave up and headed over to the exhibits. Boy, was I grumpy the next morning when I read that not only did we miss Carell, but The Rock (who plays super Agent 23) was also there.

The exhibits were a rush, as usual. Some of the creative geniuses behind the sci-fi classic “Blade Runner,” including actresses Sean Young and Joanna Cassidy, were there signing posters for the 25th anniversary DVD of the movie. At the Disney exhibit, we stood on line to see an enclosed display of costumes and photographs from the most recent installment of “Pirates of the Caribbean.”

The most impressive exhibit, though, had to be LucasFilms, which showed clips of the various “Star Wars” movies on three screens that could be seen from just about anywhere in the hall. At one point, everyone in the immediate vicinity looked upward as Luke Skywalker proceeded to use The Force to destroy the impenetrable Death Star. As a group, we’d probably all watched that scene over a thousand times total—still, there’s nothing quite like seeing “Star Wars” again on a big screen.

LucasFilms also provided a mini-exhibit of “Vader Project” artworks from the “Star Wars” convention back in May. Our favorites were “Carmen Mirandarth,” made up to look like Carmen Miranda, and political satirist Robbie Conal’s tribute to the Dark Lord (Dick Cheney) and his minion (George W. Bush).

After walking around and gawking at exhibits for about three hours, I insisted on sitting down. So we made our way back to Hall H, where clips from the upcoming movie “Shoot ‘Em Up,” starring Clive Owen, were about to be shown. Now I’ve loved Clive Owen since he played the title character in Disney’s movie “King Arthur,” so I was absolutely thrilled when he and director Michael Davis came out to talk about their new movie and answer questions. Owen, who usually plays a rather stoic leading man, was funny and very cute. The audience—all 6,500 of us!—adored him and the film.

On that high note, Tim and I left the con and headed into San Diego’s Gaslamp district to get something to eat. The geek factor was huge there, too, but we didn’t care because we were officially geeks now ourselves. After gobbling down a couple of tasty pizzas, we made our way over to the train station, where we boarded the Amtrak back to reality. Only 360 days left till next year’s Comic-Con . . .

7/30/07