by Sarabeth Pollock:
July 14th, SATURDAY—True Blood Day!
Saturday morning I arrived at the Convention Center at 6am to take my place in line for Ballroom 20, the 4000-person ballroom where many television heavy-hitters have their panels. The first panel started at 10am, but I had to get there early to make sure I had a seat for the True Blood panel at 4:30pm. Yes, I waited for ten hours for the True Blood panel. For those of you who have never experienced the madness of Comic-Con, the rooms aren’t cleared out between panels, so if you want to get a seat, you either camp out or get lucky. There was no chance I was going to leave this up to luck.
SyFy’s Warehouse 13 was the first panel of the day. The cast was very happy to have such a big crowd so early in the morning. One big “revelation” for the next season was that though they blew up the warehouse, that doesn’t mean the warehouse is really gone.
The next panel featured the cast of Once Upon a Time. I’ll admit that I’ve never watched the show, but after seeing the panel and watching the cast and clips from the show, I think I might add it to my must-watch list. The producers showed a hilarious tape from the show’s “sponsor,” a fictional dating website called “Singlebrooke,” a spoof on eHarmony and the town of “Storybrooke,” where characters from the show talk about what they’re looking for in ideal relationships. We also learned that Peter Pan’s nemesis, Captain James Hook, is coming to the show next season.
The next three hours were filled with the Fox Sunday night animation lineup. We started with The Simpsons. Yeardley Smith was the only major voice actor to appear. She flew into the San Diego on a helicopter that landed on the USS Midway. During the panel, creator Matt Groening was awarded the Comic-Con International Icon Award for his work in animation. The Futurama cast came out next, and Matt Groening engaged in a drawing battle with one of the other animators. The cool thing about this panel was the fact that audience members got to take home this art. There was a costume contest that generated a lot of laughs. After a brief break, the cast of Family Guy came out, followed later by the cast of American Dad. These two panels were hilarious. The only thing I took issue with was the fact that some of the people who came up for Q and A were bizarre (one guy was eating gobs of mayonnaise with a SPOON. Disgusting. He didn’t even have a question) and they wasted a lot of time by doing strange things to milk their time in front of the cameras. The screeners should have done a better job. The problem was that the members of the panels ripped on some of the other audience members who were simply nervous or had other issues, so it felt a little mean spirited. There wasn’t much news from either of these panels, just a lot of laughter.
Vampire Diaries was the penultimate panel of the day. Stars Ian Somerhalder, Nina Dobrev, Paul Wesley, Michael Trevino, Steven R. McQueen, and Zach Roerig were on hand for the panel, along with executive producer Julie Plec. There were a few clips shown from the upcoming season that look amazing. Ian Somerhalder and Nina Dobrev were cute sitting next to each other, and while they didn’t do anything overtly to signify that they are, in fact, dating, they did manage to sneak in a few furtive smiles at each other. I was really impressed by Ian Somerhalder. He made a point to emphasize how the fans mean everything to the show, and the cast is able to be there because of the fan support. There wouldn’t be a show without it. And after a poor fan started to compliment star Michael Trevino, the microphone was silenced (you’re not allowed to make personal requests of panelists, but it happens all the time anyway). Ian was the first to jump up and demand that the mic be turned on again. He didn’t want any fan to be censored. Eventually they turned the mic back on and the poor girl did have a question…it was a shame to see that after the mayo incident earlier, but at least she had someone standing up for her on stage. One major revelation is that Elena will need to rely upon both Damon and Stefan next season as she adjusts to life as a vampire.
At 4:30 it was finally time for the True Blood panel. Personally, I like anticipation. I like the feeling of letting the excitement build and build until the moment you’ve been waiting for finally comes. It works great with holidays, lines at Disneyland, movie releases…and the True Blood panel at Comic-Con. After ten hours waiting in lines and through other panels, when the lights went down, I was ready.
The moderator introduced the panel members, starting with our favorite werewolf Joe Manganiello. Ryan Kwanten came out next, followed by Deborah Ann Woll, Sam Trammell and Rutina Wesley. Alexander Skarsgard started to come out arm-in-arm with Kristin Bauer van Straten, but some meanie backstage made her return for her own introduction (Skarsgard stood up and held her chair, though). Stephen Moyer was introduced next, and his wife, a very pregnant Anna Paquin joined him. Beside her sat show runner Alan Ball.
Alan Ball talked about what was coming up for the last six episodes of the season. For anyone worried about the lack of sex so far, he promised that there will be three new romances and a lot of random hook-ups. And Alcide will “sexually eviscerate” another cast member as well. I don’t know what to think of that. The only thing that really comes to mind is Bill’s head-spinning (literally) sex with Lorena. He says he likes to play with the cast pairings each season to shake things up. We will also see the development of the storyline about Jason and Sookie’s parents. An audience member asked about the show/novel continuity, and whether or not we will see any weretigers. Alan said that nothing was planned for the remainder of his tenure with the show, but that doesn’t mean it can’t happen in the future. When asked about the decision to make Reverend Steve Newlin into a gay vampire, Alan said that it was something of a natural development, citing the way Steve looked at Jason while Jason was at the Fellowship camp.
When one fan asked the men in the group to flex their muscles, Alex and Stephen politely decline, saying that they never feel comfortable when Ryan and Joe are around. Ryan and Joe make it difficult for the other men to be naked, they said. However, when another woman wanted to see their stripper moves, Joe happily got up and demonstrated his body roll, followed by Rutina (and we know she’ll be dancing on the pole later in the season), and finally Alan Ball, who jumped onto his chair to show his moves. Anna laughed and said moments like these are why she loves her job.
Ryan and Deborah Ann reminisced about their Rock Ban scene together. Ryan admits that he had been practicing the John Cougar Mellancamp version of “Cherry Bomb,” so when it came time to shoot the scene he was a little confused. Sam talks about his bad luck with the ladies, though he admits he’s still hung up on the red jumpsuit Kristin wore in the second season. Kristin still can’t believe the yellow sweat suit fad Pam started.
Newcomer Chris Meloni was asked about the music he is listening to at the moment (“Tool…I’m a big Tool,” he replied, tongue in cheek), and whether or not he’d ever consider a cameo appearance on Law and Order. He was open to anything. Ryan said he enjoyed wearing the He-Man onesie in the last episode. Stephen Moyer received praise from the cast for the episode he directed this season. Alex said that it speaks volumes about Stephen’s ability; he can direct, edit, and act in the same episode and still maintain such a high level of professionalism. Anna said that she couldn’t look at her husband (Moyer) when he had the burn makeup on last season. Kristin joked that she still has a few pieces of Pam in her office. An ear here, a lip there. Kristin teared up when Alex started talking about the scene where Eric releases Pam. Those two are so close in real life that their chemistry is palpable on screen as well. Alex was asked if he had considered playing the lead in the movie version of Fifty Shades of Grey, but he admitted that he hasn’t read the book yet…
The best thing about this panel was seeing how close the cast is. They genuinely seem to get along well and care for each other. And they aren’t afraid of laughing at each other. At the end of the panel, the cast and audience gave show creator Alan Ball a standing ovation to thank him for all of his hard work over the years. It was a great ending to an awesome panel.
After the panel concluded, I left the convention center and drove up to La Jolla to attend a book signing for Shadow of Night by Deborah Harkness. You can read my review of her new book at DarkMedia.com.
Saturday was a long but very awesome day.
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July 15th, SUNDAY—Doctor Who Day!
Sunday at Comic-Con is very different from the other days. Sunday is kid’s day, you see, and so the already crowded exhibit hall floor is packed with kids and strollers. It’s rather hectic. However, this particular Sunday was also Doctor Who day. My sister and I decided that we wanted to wait in line for a chance at getting autographs from the cast. After a two hour wait, they ran out of raffle tickets and so our hopes were dashed. The line for Hall H (the massive black hole of an auditorium that holds 8000 people) had been miles long and if we weren’t already inside there was no way we’d get in…until we got a text from a friend who had passes for the hall. I didn’t question it.
We went in and were graced with amazing seats for the Doctor Who panel. Matt Smith, Karen Gillan and Arthur Darvill were there, along with writer Stephen Moffat. Matt said that the world would be a better place if the Comic-Con. Arthur said his voice was raw from talking to so many eager fans. Karen was pleased at the ginger representation all around the Con. The eager crowd was treated to scenes from the upcoming season. One trailer featured a scene from the Wild West in America (Moffat explained that if you want to shoot scenes from the American West, you must head to…Spain). Another trailer showed scenes from an episode entitled “Dinosaurs on a Spaceship.” Yes. Dinosaurs. On a spaceship. So cool. Moffat talked about how the upcoming season revolves around the biggest question of all: Doctor who? Jokingly, Matt hoped it wouldn’t be something anticlimactic like “Keith” or something.
The cast answered questions from fans. One person asked if they observed any strange habits about each other over the course of working together. Matt said that Karen tends to pick her lip when she gets nervous, and she retorted that Matt makes a funny noise when he’s trying to focus. They both agreed that Arthur turns into a curmudgeonly old man when he’s grumpy. Matt revealed that the sonic screwdriver flick developed by accident when he was trying to use the new device. Arthur would love to see an episode featuring the Doctor in a band, while Amy (a classical pianist) would like to see something revolving around a piano, while Matt would like a return to Atlantis. In terms of favorite costumes, Matt likes the tweed/bow tie/fez combo, Karen likes the Kiss-o-Gram girl, and Arthur likes his Roman Centurion costume.
Moffat was tight-lipped about plans for next year’s 50th anniversary of the series, and moderator (and host of The Nerdist) Chris Hardwick was busted by Matt Smith at a party while dressed as David Tennant’s incarnation of the Doctor (he tried to explain that it’s because he’s pointier and can’t get away with dressing as 11). There was some good natured banter between Moffat and Hardwick when Moffat said that British actors are practically better than American actors at playing American characters (a reference to how many Brits play leading roles in American film and television), to which Hardwick teased about kicking the British out of the colonies for taxing our tea. Moffat did say that next season we would see more Daleks in one episode than ever before.
When asked about taking pieces of the TARDIS home as souvenirs, the cast all admitted to taking items here and there. Karen says she has a pair of binoculars she couldn’t part with. She also said that she cried for two weeks when she found out she was leaving the show. Chris Hardwick tried to reassure the crowd in a somber moment that we can trust Stephen Moffat not to damage our hearts with his stories, and that the nature of the show is the ever-changing cast. In a touching final moment, the audience got to bid farewell to the Ponds with a rousing standing ovation.
The rest of the day at Comic-Con on Sunday was spent grabbing last minute, must-have swag from the exhibitors.
All in all, the 2012 Comic-Con experience was amazing. I’m surprised, in retrospect, that I didn’t see much of a presence from The Hunger Games franchise. You’d see someone dressed as Katniss every now and then, and maybe an Effie Trinket here and there, but that was it. It will be interesting to see what happens in 2013 when there are no more Twilight movies to promote.
Thanks for following me on my Comic-Con journey this year. See you in 2013!
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DarkMedia contributor Sarabeth Pollock is an avid writer, reader, and pop culture fan. Follow her on Twitter at @SarabethPollock, check out her blog at http://sarabethpollock.wordpress.com and check out her coverage for Day 1 and Day 2 of the 2012 San Diego Comic-Con!
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