Mistwell
Crusty Old Meatwad (he/him)
I went to the San Diego Comic Con this year, like most years for the last couple of decades. This year, because I saw so much cool stuff, I wrote up a report on my live journal (in three parts). Since a lot of it is stuff y'all might be interested in, I'll repost it here.
2005.07.17 22.32
Comic Con 2005
So, I've been at San Diego Comic Con International 2005 since last Thursday. My friend Jonah of http://www.comicbookresources.com was able to get me a press pass to get in at the last minute (thanks Jonah!). I didn't abuse the press pass (though I thought about it once or twice when facing big lines for some things).
The time was split between comics-related stuff, movie-related stuff, and television-related stuff. So, I will split my posts to this blog in that manner as well. Anyway, this is the television-related stuff.
2005.07.17 22.37
Comic Con 2005, Part Two
Wow. HUGE number of new television series we saw this time. Here is a list of what I saw.
1) Bones. New series in the Crime-Solving-Without-Police genre started mostly by CSI (Medium, Numbers, The Inside, etc..). We saw the pilot episode, and this one looks pretty good. Not as good as Medium, but not as bad as The Inside (which I still watch but the lead female annoys the heck out of me with her model-looks and waifish build and wearing high heels while on stake-out silliness). Bones is about a crime-solving team that focuses on the bones of dead victims. They can tell all sorts of things about the life of the person through their bones, create 3D recreations of their face, etc. The lead female in this is at least someone I can believe actually works in law enforcement, and she is an adult instead of the child they chose for The Inside. I'll give Bones a try when it comes out.
2) Supernatural. We saw the pilot episode, and had a panel with most of the folks involved. New series on the WB about two brothers whose mother was killed by a supernatural creature when they were young, and whose father has been hunting various supernatural beasties along with one of the brothers since the death of the mother. Series starts with the other brother, who is about to go to med school and who has a girlfriend and is on the way to a fairly normal and happy life, gets sucked into the family business of supernatural-creature/evil hunting. The show was well written. However, because it is the WB, the actors are too young, and they go way out of their way to show scantily clad girls at every opportunity. It's annoying when you see a show intentionally skew young for no good reason beyond the network it is on. Still, I'll give it a chance because it's an interesting subject and well written otherwise.
3) Battle Star Galactica. We saw a panel with most of the folks involved in the show (every major role except Adama, plus producer, director, and lead writers). Interesting stuff coming up for this show. SPOILER ALERT - DO NOT READ THE NEXT SENTENCE IF YOU DON'T WANT SPOILERS. [[[So, half way through the season the Pegasus comes back, which is another Battlestar headed by Admiral Cain, played I think by Michelle Forbes (who was Ensign Ro Laren from Star Trek Next Gen) in a season two two-parter episode and will be a mid-season cliff-hanger for season two involving the humans going on the offensive. Spoiler done]]]. Apparently, the actors in BSG have NO IDEA AT ALL what is going to come in the future for the series or their own roles. They were really funny as a panel, much like last year and the year before. The actors all seem to get along very well, and the woman who plays Boomer was once again in-character for the panel, briefly letting the audience know that they were all being kept alive merely because the cyclons wished it so, and they could be dealt with at any time. The actor playing Baltar was also briefly toying with the idea of staying in character, speaking with his internal-partner the cylon fembot for a bit. He made it clear he himself has not been told if she is a chip in his head, a transmission, really her, or his character going crazy. The woman playing Starbuck showed up late due to traffic and got no-end of crap from the rest of the panelists for being late. All in all it was a great panel, as always, and this looks to be a good second season coming up.
4) Cartoon Network: Adult Swim panel. The crowd was surly and vicious once again for this panel, just like last year (which featured some guy from the back of the room yelling to the creators that their new project sucked and they can do better). Fortunately, this time the crowd also struck back and put the hecklers in the place a bit. Anyway, a TON of new stuff coming out this year for adult swim. Way too much to name. A lot of it looked good, and some not so much. To me, I was just happy to hear that there is a Aqua Teen Hunger Force moving coming out (a real movie, in theatres, featuring both alien races and the robot ghost, holy crap!). They creators were there, and pretty funny as usual. They answered a question I wanted to hear about - why FryLocke. I mean yeah, he is a box of French fries, but what's with the Locke. They explained that he was a D&D type nerd in the 80's who thought putting Locke on the end of any name made it sound cooler. Yeah, okay, funny enough reason I suppose...but watch the D&D cracks
Anyway, the network is doing GREAT with this line of cartoons and will only be increasing it. More new "Harvey Birdman, Attorney at Law" coming up. No more sealab 2022, though the creators are working on something new. Space Ghost Coast to Coast will be back. They are going ahead with Squiddibles, which looked retooled and funnier this time. More new Robot Chicken, which I will have to check out as Seth Green was very funny on the panel. Lots of other stuff. They gave us free aqua teen hunger force green socks as well, which was nice. Same folks that gave us a Harvey Clock and Sealab T-Shirts and other stuff in the past.
5) Triangle. New series they were pushing hard at the con. I didn't go to the full panel on this, just saw the trailer. Dean Devlin and Rockne S. Obannon (Farscape creator) are teaming up with the Sci-Fi Channel I think. About the "mysteries of the Bermuda Triangle as a group of desperate people are haunted by their experiences with it". They gave out cool pens on the floor, which was nice. I'll give the series a try, but then I give any new sci-fi series a try once...
6) Threshold. New series. I missed most of the panel, and I am really kicking myself for that since it looks quite good. I saw the tail end of the panel, and the actors were getting along well and joking with each other in the way that most of the good series usually start out when I first see them at the con. These guys were laughing about some dog on the set that had a farting problem, and discussions with Legal over whether they could show the lead male actor scratching his butt beneath the underwear, or did it have to be on top (beneath won apparently). Anyway, the posted synopsis was: "it's a suspense thriller produced by Brannon Braga (Star Trek), David S. Goyer (Batman Begins and Blade,) and David Heyman (Harry Potter). Panel participants were Carla Gugino (Sin City), Charles S. Dutton (Roc), Brian Van Holt (House of Wax), Rob Benedict (Alias), Peter Dinklage (The Station Agent), and Brent Spiner (Star Trek: The Next Generation), and executive producers Braga, Goyer, and Heyman. Premiering in September on CBS, Threshold is a suspenseful drama about a team of experts who are assembled when the U.S. Navy makes the chilling discovery that an extraterrestrial craft has landed in the mid-Atlantic ocean". Looked good from what I saw, and I grabbed a poster of it too. I'll definitely check this one out.
7) The 4400. Great panel about the second season of this relatively new show. If you are not watching this show (on USA network I think), you are really missing out. Posted synopsis: "exploring the travails of the 4400 people who all at once returned in a ball of light to Earth. Though the returnees have not aged physically, many reappeared with dramatic abilities ranging from enhanced reflexes to precognition. NTAC (National Threat Assessment Command) is the government agency responsible for keeping track of the returnees and investigating all things related to the 4400." Most of the stars, producers, directors, and writers were there. Lead writer revealed that he had in fact plotted out more of this show than most shows (he was previously from Deep Space 9 apparently), due to more-than-usual lead time to write the show (and he apparently writes it often out of the Jerry's Deli near where I live, in Studio City). They showed us the premiere episode for this season (which also aired tonight) which was quite good and very different from most of the show. They hinted that this season is about to really take off after this episode. There was lots of discussion over whether or not the baby is evil (the actors have no idea but the guy who plays the father of the baby defended the baby as "just having some issues to work out"). They were being pretty tight lipped about where the show was headed, but it looks like a great cast and crew, and it should be good for this second season.
8) Lost/Invasion/Night Stalker - I totally missed this panel folks. Sorry about that, as I really wanted to check it out (and Lost premiered last year and was a great panel). Here is the blurb: "First, from writer/producer Shaun Cassidy (Cold Case, American Gothic, Cover Me) comes Invasion, a suspenseful tale of a splintered family trying to rebuild their lives after experiencing a devastating hurricane and its mysterious aftermath that has seemingly "invaded" their town. Cassidy will show you an early glimpse of the show and participate in a Q&A.
Then Buena Vista Home Entertainment will reveal the secrets of the upcoming Lost: Season One DVD release with exclusive sneak peeks into the DVD bonus features, plus a special Q&A panel featuring actors Josh Holloway (Sawyer), and Maggie Grace (Shannon), along with co-creator/executive producer Damon Lindelof, executive producer Carlton Cruse, and writer Javier Grillo-Marxauch.
Finally, producer Frank Spotnitz (The X-Files) presents a sneak preview of his new show, Nightstalker, and divulges some early insight on what you’ll see in the fall. This suspenseful mystery follows L. A. crime reporter Carl Kolchak (Stuart Townsend), as he attempts to piece together unexplained crimes while on a quest to find the seemingly unrelated answers to his wife’s bizarre murder. "
That's all I can remember off hand about television stuff at the Con, though I know there was more on the floor that I missed.
Okay, enough TV, on to film.
2005.07.17 22.32
Comic Con 2005
So, I've been at San Diego Comic Con International 2005 since last Thursday. My friend Jonah of http://www.comicbookresources.com was able to get me a press pass to get in at the last minute (thanks Jonah!). I didn't abuse the press pass (though I thought about it once or twice when facing big lines for some things).
The time was split between comics-related stuff, movie-related stuff, and television-related stuff. So, I will split my posts to this blog in that manner as well. Anyway, this is the television-related stuff.
2005.07.17 22.37
Comic Con 2005, Part Two
Wow. HUGE number of new television series we saw this time. Here is a list of what I saw.
1) Bones. New series in the Crime-Solving-Without-Police genre started mostly by CSI (Medium, Numbers, The Inside, etc..). We saw the pilot episode, and this one looks pretty good. Not as good as Medium, but not as bad as The Inside (which I still watch but the lead female annoys the heck out of me with her model-looks and waifish build and wearing high heels while on stake-out silliness). Bones is about a crime-solving team that focuses on the bones of dead victims. They can tell all sorts of things about the life of the person through their bones, create 3D recreations of their face, etc. The lead female in this is at least someone I can believe actually works in law enforcement, and she is an adult instead of the child they chose for The Inside. I'll give Bones a try when it comes out.
2) Supernatural. We saw the pilot episode, and had a panel with most of the folks involved. New series on the WB about two brothers whose mother was killed by a supernatural creature when they were young, and whose father has been hunting various supernatural beasties along with one of the brothers since the death of the mother. Series starts with the other brother, who is about to go to med school and who has a girlfriend and is on the way to a fairly normal and happy life, gets sucked into the family business of supernatural-creature/evil hunting. The show was well written. However, because it is the WB, the actors are too young, and they go way out of their way to show scantily clad girls at every opportunity. It's annoying when you see a show intentionally skew young for no good reason beyond the network it is on. Still, I'll give it a chance because it's an interesting subject and well written otherwise.
3) Battle Star Galactica. We saw a panel with most of the folks involved in the show (every major role except Adama, plus producer, director, and lead writers). Interesting stuff coming up for this show. SPOILER ALERT - DO NOT READ THE NEXT SENTENCE IF YOU DON'T WANT SPOILERS. [[[So, half way through the season the Pegasus comes back, which is another Battlestar headed by Admiral Cain, played I think by Michelle Forbes (who was Ensign Ro Laren from Star Trek Next Gen) in a season two two-parter episode and will be a mid-season cliff-hanger for season two involving the humans going on the offensive. Spoiler done]]]. Apparently, the actors in BSG have NO IDEA AT ALL what is going to come in the future for the series or their own roles. They were really funny as a panel, much like last year and the year before. The actors all seem to get along very well, and the woman who plays Boomer was once again in-character for the panel, briefly letting the audience know that they were all being kept alive merely because the cyclons wished it so, and they could be dealt with at any time. The actor playing Baltar was also briefly toying with the idea of staying in character, speaking with his internal-partner the cylon fembot for a bit. He made it clear he himself has not been told if she is a chip in his head, a transmission, really her, or his character going crazy. The woman playing Starbuck showed up late due to traffic and got no-end of crap from the rest of the panelists for being late. All in all it was a great panel, as always, and this looks to be a good second season coming up.
4) Cartoon Network: Adult Swim panel. The crowd was surly and vicious once again for this panel, just like last year (which featured some guy from the back of the room yelling to the creators that their new project sucked and they can do better). Fortunately, this time the crowd also struck back and put the hecklers in the place a bit. Anyway, a TON of new stuff coming out this year for adult swim. Way too much to name. A lot of it looked good, and some not so much. To me, I was just happy to hear that there is a Aqua Teen Hunger Force moving coming out (a real movie, in theatres, featuring both alien races and the robot ghost, holy crap!). They creators were there, and pretty funny as usual. They answered a question I wanted to hear about - why FryLocke. I mean yeah, he is a box of French fries, but what's with the Locke. They explained that he was a D&D type nerd in the 80's who thought putting Locke on the end of any name made it sound cooler. Yeah, okay, funny enough reason I suppose...but watch the D&D cracks
Anyway, the network is doing GREAT with this line of cartoons and will only be increasing it. More new "Harvey Birdman, Attorney at Law" coming up. No more sealab 2022, though the creators are working on something new. Space Ghost Coast to Coast will be back. They are going ahead with Squiddibles, which looked retooled and funnier this time. More new Robot Chicken, which I will have to check out as Seth Green was very funny on the panel. Lots of other stuff. They gave us free aqua teen hunger force green socks as well, which was nice. Same folks that gave us a Harvey Clock and Sealab T-Shirts and other stuff in the past.5) Triangle. New series they were pushing hard at the con. I didn't go to the full panel on this, just saw the trailer. Dean Devlin and Rockne S. Obannon (Farscape creator) are teaming up with the Sci-Fi Channel I think. About the "mysteries of the Bermuda Triangle as a group of desperate people are haunted by their experiences with it". They gave out cool pens on the floor, which was nice. I'll give the series a try, but then I give any new sci-fi series a try once...
6) Threshold. New series. I missed most of the panel, and I am really kicking myself for that since it looks quite good. I saw the tail end of the panel, and the actors were getting along well and joking with each other in the way that most of the good series usually start out when I first see them at the con. These guys were laughing about some dog on the set that had a farting problem, and discussions with Legal over whether they could show the lead male actor scratching his butt beneath the underwear, or did it have to be on top (beneath won apparently). Anyway, the posted synopsis was: "it's a suspense thriller produced by Brannon Braga (Star Trek), David S. Goyer (Batman Begins and Blade,) and David Heyman (Harry Potter). Panel participants were Carla Gugino (Sin City), Charles S. Dutton (Roc), Brian Van Holt (House of Wax), Rob Benedict (Alias), Peter Dinklage (The Station Agent), and Brent Spiner (Star Trek: The Next Generation), and executive producers Braga, Goyer, and Heyman. Premiering in September on CBS, Threshold is a suspenseful drama about a team of experts who are assembled when the U.S. Navy makes the chilling discovery that an extraterrestrial craft has landed in the mid-Atlantic ocean". Looked good from what I saw, and I grabbed a poster of it too. I'll definitely check this one out.
7) The 4400. Great panel about the second season of this relatively new show. If you are not watching this show (on USA network I think), you are really missing out. Posted synopsis: "exploring the travails of the 4400 people who all at once returned in a ball of light to Earth. Though the returnees have not aged physically, many reappeared with dramatic abilities ranging from enhanced reflexes to precognition. NTAC (National Threat Assessment Command) is the government agency responsible for keeping track of the returnees and investigating all things related to the 4400." Most of the stars, producers, directors, and writers were there. Lead writer revealed that he had in fact plotted out more of this show than most shows (he was previously from Deep Space 9 apparently), due to more-than-usual lead time to write the show (and he apparently writes it often out of the Jerry's Deli near where I live, in Studio City). They showed us the premiere episode for this season (which also aired tonight) which was quite good and very different from most of the show. They hinted that this season is about to really take off after this episode. There was lots of discussion over whether or not the baby is evil (the actors have no idea but the guy who plays the father of the baby defended the baby as "just having some issues to work out"). They were being pretty tight lipped about where the show was headed, but it looks like a great cast and crew, and it should be good for this second season.
8) Lost/Invasion/Night Stalker - I totally missed this panel folks. Sorry about that, as I really wanted to check it out (and Lost premiered last year and was a great panel). Here is the blurb: "First, from writer/producer Shaun Cassidy (Cold Case, American Gothic, Cover Me) comes Invasion, a suspenseful tale of a splintered family trying to rebuild their lives after experiencing a devastating hurricane and its mysterious aftermath that has seemingly "invaded" their town. Cassidy will show you an early glimpse of the show and participate in a Q&A.
Then Buena Vista Home Entertainment will reveal the secrets of the upcoming Lost: Season One DVD release with exclusive sneak peeks into the DVD bonus features, plus a special Q&A panel featuring actors Josh Holloway (Sawyer), and Maggie Grace (Shannon), along with co-creator/executive producer Damon Lindelof, executive producer Carlton Cruse, and writer Javier Grillo-Marxauch.
Finally, producer Frank Spotnitz (The X-Files) presents a sneak preview of his new show, Nightstalker, and divulges some early insight on what you’ll see in the fall. This suspenseful mystery follows L. A. crime reporter Carl Kolchak (Stuart Townsend), as he attempts to piece together unexplained crimes while on a quest to find the seemingly unrelated answers to his wife’s bizarre murder. "
That's all I can remember off hand about television stuff at the Con, though I know there was more on the floor that I missed.
Okay, enough TV, on to film.
