Comic-Con Panels 2011 - Thursday [#SDCC]

Originally, all the panels were going to be in one post, but when I actually sat down to write said post, it became apparent that I was going to need to separate them by day. 

Welcome to Thursday! I totally forgot to take notes on the first day because I was just so excited to be there, so these little snippets are based on my memory. If you want to watch the whole panels themselves, I'm sure you can find them on youtube. I don't re-watch panels as I feel like I lose some of that "being there" feeling if I do. The things that I remember are probably the most interesting to share, anyway, right? Maybe I'm just a kook.

Hope you enjoy!

Burn Notice: The Fall of Sam Axe

"I cheat on my wife all the time. I just do it in front of a camera" - Bruce Campbell

Technically, this was a Burn Notice prequel panel, but everyone in line, and eventually the announcers, were calling it the "Bruce Campbell Panel". Even last year, when Campbell was just one of several people in the Burn Notice panel, it was still the Bruce Campbell panel. This time, it was just the show creator, Matt Nix, and Bruce, and the former basically interviewed the latter rather than having a moderator.

The thing about Comic-Con is that a non-genre show will get a nice big crowd if it has a genre actor that people love in it (see also Ringer and Castle - except I didn't go to the Castle panel, so you can't really see it). Bruce Campbell was really hilarious. He was truly a great start to the weekend. As a hilarious geek god, he doesn't disappoint.

At one point, a girl got up to ask a question. She was dressed in Slytherin robes (and to tell you the truth, always seemed kind of angry, she probably belonged in Slytherin). But, this girl had brown hair and glasses, so Bruce called her "Harry Potter" and started yelling, "Where's your hero now??? Harry Potter is dead!! Harry Potter is dead!!" before the poor girl could even ask her question. I'm not sure Bruce has actually read the Harry Potter books....

The man is a bit of a nut. He threw DVDs of the show into the audience, yelling "shield your eyes!"Nix then told everyone that he had asked the USA execs if Bruce could give away DVDs and they said "Absolutely. As long as he doesn't throw them." Whoops. Anyway, Bruce yelled a lot and the more he yelled, the more popular he was. "Bruce, I know you like to maintain an antagonistic relationship with your fans..." was the beginning of one of Nix's questions. Nix also mentioned that Sam's use of a chainsaw in this movie was pretty epic for him. He had wanted to put a chainsaw in Campbell's hand since before he started working with him.

Bruce told us that his acting preparation was to just show up. He freely admits that all the characters he has played were "him." For The Fall of Sam Axe, which was a prequel to Burn Notice, his entire thought process about the character was something along the lines of "thinner" and "less grey." Good thing he is just so naturally awesome.

Anyway, nothing could really be bad about 45 minutes of Bruce Campbell. Snazzy outfit, too.

Covert Affairs

I have seen some of the first season of this show, and, when I attend a panel like this, the very best thing the panelists can do is to make me intrigued about future development. They did a pretty good job of this. I don't think it will ever be my favorite show, but I'll probably watch more now.

I love love love Peter Gallagher; he is a very charming man. On this show, however, I don't find his character that likable. I think that's probably the number one thing I dislike about the show. I want Sandy Cohen. That may be unreasonable, but who says I'm a reasonable person? That being said, Gallagher was extremely charming during the panel. As I mentioned before, he gave a little "eyebrow salute," accenting his most notable feature, and he was very sweet to all the question-askers. He was one of those that just seemed so excited to be there, and said so on twitter as well.

The clear fan-favorite character was Auggie, played by Christopher Gorham. He is extremely likable, blind but still a badass, and his abs could cut glass. I had a hard time separating him from his Ugly Betty character, Henry, at first, but he's growing on me. I like that he works really hard to play a blind guy realistically.

Psych

Guest stars, guest stars, guest stars. Wow. This season is going to be interesting. I'm looking forward to William Shatner's cameo. He filmed the little Comic-Con-specific introduction with them this year. Other guest stars for the season include Tom Lenk, Kristy Swanson, Tony Hale, Keenan Thompson, Jaleel White (sweet!!!), Malcolm McDowell, and Danny Glover (even though he's too old for this s*#!). Also confirmed was the return of Cary Elwes in his recurring guest role as notorious art thief, Pierre Despereaux. Well, they said he was coming back and I inferred the rest. If he came back as a different character, that would be dumb.

Psych is a good show, but I've never been head-over-heels about it. The last couple of seasons have been pretty great, though, and the clip that they showed at this panel was very exciting. It was classic Lassiter, who is most definitely my favorite character. They seem to have won back the geek fan base that they may have lost in the first season when Shawn and Gus go to a Con and Shawn repeatedly disrespects Gus' geek tendencies and destroys his precious childhood comic book (Shawn vs. The Red Phantom). I don't know how others felt about that, but it definitely rubbed me the wrong way.

The best part of the Psych panel, in my opinion, was the singing. There was an awesome 80s spoofy music video of "Don't You Forget About Me," Dule Hill singing in his awesome falsetto, and The Friendly Indian's live rendition of the Psych theme song, which is one of my favorite original theme songs of all time. Seriously, people, the art of the theme song is becoming lost.

The cast also assured us that they will never run out of obscure 80s references for the show, due to the rich cultural time that was the 80s. Good to know. 

Ringer

Here's a fun fact for you. Sarah Michelle Gellar has only been to Comic-Con twice. Once for The Grudge, and once for Ringer. Does that make absolutely no sense to anyone else? Maybe they told her she had to get back in good with the geek community by showing up. I highly doubt that the panel for a brand new, non-genre show would have gotten Ballroom 20 treatment (the 2nd largest venue) at Comic-Con without her.

Regardless, she looked fantastic and she was charming and sweet, and Ringer definitely looks intriguing. With Sarah playing both (all?) of the female roles, surrounded by hot, broody men, I will be checking it out. I'm hoping she'll be kicking some serious ass. Concerns from the audience seemed to be that it was too mysterious. We don't want another LOST on our hands yet, do we? I'm not sure I can take it! We were assured that all questions would be answered eventually.

This show seems to be an adjustment for SMG, stunt-wise. She was used to doing potentially dangerous things on Buffy yet she has she has to keep fighting for them to let her do anything on Ringer. "Oh, I can do X. I did it all the time on Buffy" is met with shock and nervousness from the crew. Fun fact: Kristoffer Polaha was almost Riley on Buffy. He was their second choice.

Sarah loves the flashback aspect of the show because anything could happen. She alluded to wanting to have "history" with all the hot men, either through Siobhan or Bridget. She says she has only filmed a couple of scenes so far where the twins actually talk to each other, and that hearing her "twin's" dialogue in her ear helps.  She also joked about how, no, she didn't get paid twice as much for playing two characters.

One issue with the show is that they had only filmed the Pilot and then re-shoots to complete the first episode, so the cast hadn't completely gelled yet. They weren't quite as jokey and familial as most casts are at these types of panels. One other noteworthy thing was that Ioan Gruffudd* (Mr. Fantastic) had this really intense stare out into space as other people were talking. It was a bit unnerving and funny and I really wish I had managed to snap a picture of it. All my photos are apparently of Sarah, however, because she definitely spoke the most and had the most questions. One of the funniest parts of the panel was when she answered a question meant for the show creators, assuming it was for her, and then was really embarrassed.

It's hard to explain the premise of the show. Basically Sarah plays two twin sisters, one of whom is missing and the other takes over her life. To really get the gist, I would watch this first-look video from the Con.

Game of Thrones 

When I met George R.R. Martin last Sunday, and I got my approximately 15 seconds to talk to him, I told him his Comic-Con panel was my favorite. George (you know, we are best buds, first name basis and all that) said that Jason Momoa totally stole the show during the panel. I can't disagree, but George was a great moderator, and I made sure to tell him so. Here's a pic of George and me, in case you're interested. I was lucky enough to be in the first 50 people so I got him before he was all burned out, and I got to hear him speak. Actually, it wasn't luck at all, it was me driving to Denver a few weeks ago and getting to Tattered Cover before the bookstore opened.

The man is totally hilarious, by the way. I could watch a whole panel of him talking to himself, Joss Whedon style (more to come on that when I get to Saturday).

In my overview post, I already talked about the zaniness of the Game of Thrones panel, specifically Jason Momoa's antics. There were other delicious tidbits, however. For example, when the various cast members were asked how they wanted the whole saga to end, most answers were unimpressive except for Peter Dinklage's "Dance Number." Please tell me he wins the Emmy.

Momoa, in addition to his previously chronicled outbursts, talked about his character's heavy braid. Apparently, the dreadlock wig he wore as Ronon on Stargate Atlantis was much more cumbersome. Who knew?

Emilia Clarke says she doesn't get recognized with her natural hair. I can see that. Daenerys' coif is rather distinctive. 

One of my favorite things about this panel was that most (if not all) of the cast has read the books and loved them, Emilia Clarke in particular. No wonder they were able to play their characters so perfectly. The casting people from this show should go consult on The Hunger Games and One for the Money.

TV Guide Magazine: Fan Favorites

The most important thing to take from this panel is that Matt Smith is a True Blood fanboy. Also, whenever Nelsan Ellis appears in public, there will be someone asking to be called "Hooker." Seriously, it happened here and during the True Blood panel on Friday. 

Basically, TV Guide Magazine put together a panel of fan favorite shows and characters. This was a good idea, though I'm not sure Johnny Galecki is the fan favorite Big Bang Theory character. Don't get me wrong, I love Leonard, but I would go with Sheldon (Jim Parsons) for the favorite. There was a rumor that Jim wasn't going to make Comic-Con at all, so it was good that Johnny was there to represent.

I think they nailed it on the favorite characters from True Blood. The mains may be hot, but who doesn't love Pam** (Kristin Bauer) and Lafayette (Nelsan Ellis)? Matt Smith was so hilariously starstruck sitting next to them. He mentioned at least three times during the weekend that True Blood was his favorite show (more on that when I get to Sunday). When it came to the level of screaming from the audience, however, Smith definitely seemed to edge out the competition. It became apparent to me at Comic-Con just how big Doctor Who is in the states.

Again, they nailed the "fan favorite" with Jorge Garcia. He was technically there to promote Alcatraz, but we were all there to see Hurley. Zach Levi, self-proclaimed "King of the Nerds," was also in attendance. I thought that NBC did a great job promoting Chuck for the Con and it's obviously a fan favorite. I was ready for some sort of lackluster treatment, given that it's the final season, but they really pulled out all the stops. More on that when I get to the Chuck panel. 

My only complaint about this panel is that they spent so much time showing clips, there wasn't as much time for questions. 

And that's it for Thursday. I didn't go to the Showtime panel because I had to grab some dinner and head off to w00tstock (more on that later, too). Sacrifices must be made and compromises struck.

*Every time I see a name or word in Welsh, I think of Blaidd Dwrg. I am such a Doctor Who nerd.
** Pam is actually my favorite character from the novels, too.