Comic Con 2009 report!

This is my late Comic Con report for 2009! As you all know, after each Comic Con it takes a while to readjust to the real world and process everything that happened over those 5 magical days. It also takes awhile to get your pics online in various places and edited. Last year I promised myself that I would see more panels and wander the floor less. I did that, though I wished I'd tried to get into more panels that I didn't feel like bothering with or didn't think I'd get into. Like LOST. I'm so kicking myself for not trying to get in. The whole cast was there! *sigh*  Anyways, onto the report.

Weds night is Preview Night. I took the day off from work so that I'd be able to leave early and see all of Preview Night.I got to S.D. around 4ish and went to the Con with commodoremarie , saklani2 and Sabrina. I didn't see any of the fall shows they were screening (V, Human Target and The Vampire Diaries), but I did get a good look at what they had on the floor this year. And I got free books from the usual publisher booths. God, I love free books. Esp when they turn out to be good and/or when the author skyrockets to success and you can say "Yeah, I met them at CC before they got big" (Hi, Max Brooks and Frank Beddor!).

Thursday had quite a few fun panels going on, even though I only made it to two of them. I really, really wished I had stuck to my original plan and gone to the Female Power Icons panel with Sigourney Weaver, Elizabeth Mitchell (The awesomely awesome Juliet on LOST) and Zoe Saldana (new!Uhura).

One of the panels I did go to was the "Tipping Point for LGBT Portrayals in Comics" panel. This is the disasterous panel I wrote about on Thursday (the day it happened). Perry Moore, the author of the awesome YA novel "Hero" and the executive producer of the Narnia movies, was a surprise panelist which thrilled me to no end. I want to again apologize to him for blogging that I thought he might have been drunk during the panel (he read my blog and wrote a very sincere and apologetic reply setting the record straight). I really wish I had read his response in time to visit him at his booth at his invitation. Ugh. He's a crazy nice guy. I would encourage you all to read his book "Hero". It's really good. It's about a kid coming to terms with his sexuality and wanting to be a superhero in a world very much familiar to those of us who are familiar with the JLA of the DC universe. 
Perry Moore!
Uh, I forgot to change the alignment of these two pics. Oops. I also went to the "Mad Science: The Science of Science Fiction" panel. It was really fun! The panelists were really cool! They were: Phil Plait, Discover Magazine contributing editor and Blogger; Jaime Paglia, Co-creator and executive producer of Eureka; Keven Grazier, Science Consultant on Eureka and Virtuality; Jane Espenson (!!!!), Executive producer on Dollhouse, Battlestar Galactica and Buffy; Rob Chiapetta and Glenn Whitman, staff writers on Fringe; and Ricardo Gil da Costa, Neuroscientist and consultant on Fringe.   












Some other Thursday meetings and hijinks are as follows: I met and got a pic with author Terry Moore (not to be confused with Perry Moore!) who writes Strangers in Paradise and Echo. My friend Dayna went to his panel and told me that he's trying to get a live action show of Strangers in Paradise on Showtime!!!     I also met and ran into "Kel" of Keenan and Kel and Good Burger fame. He's doing a new animated series now.  

Some hijinks with annikaa and I "falling" into the Stargate!                 
F After we lost lost our balance and really started falling into the Gate!  

While walking the floor, annikaa and I ran into a booth way in the back, along the wall, where Adam Baldwin, Edward James Olmos, James Callis and Michael (?) Hogan were signing! Well, we had to stalk it, of course. Annika took this pic of me and Adam Baldwin!   Is it conceited to think that I look really good in this pic? lol Oh, this is the most awesome pic ever! Me, lijeyeshaveit  and Edward James Olmos!!!! When we gathered around him for the pic, he squeezed us into a bear hug and said "Come on, act like you like me!" LOL   You better believe that we totally freaked afterwards! I told Taffy "Okay, we have to walk away calmly where he can't see us." We walked calmly away and then screamed and jumped up and down in fangirl euphoria! Every time we looked at the pic on her camera we "squeed and said 'OMG!'" lol    James Callis and Michael Hogan of BSG.         
 
Friday Stuff! 

  The best thing about Friday may have been the Stargate: Universe panel. Well, that and getting pics with Naoko Mori and John Barrownman!!!!! But more about that later. *g* So, the SGU panel. Ok, we in the SGA/SG1 fandom have been wary of this new show since it was announced. And in the SGA fandom that wariness was more bitterness and anger than anything else. The way the show was marketed to Gaters was basically Stargate 90210. They talked about a younger, hotter cast and edgier stories. They was clearly an epic fail on the part of their marketing dept. The cast members range in age from 20s-50s and yes, they are hot, well, some of them but it's not what we thought it was. I think the show is going to fix a lot of problems fans have had with the previous shows. The preview they showed blew everyone away. It looks really, really good. I'm excited for it. OH, and FINALLY they have given us our first openly gay character! Yay!   Uh, apparently I only got pics of the creators/writers and not the cast. *puzzled* Epic fail for me, I guess. But Robert Carlylse and Ming-Na (and the rest of the cast) were awesome. Okay, I feel bad enough to search Google for pics for you guys. See how much I love you!   Three people of color! A black, an Asian and a Latino! Good job, Stargate! And a Lesbian! This is the diverse gate. lol
 















Now for some major awesome. I got another pic signed by John Barrowman so that I could meet him (again) and get a pic with him. He burped on me! Poor John was mortified and told people that "Poor Niala here got the worst of it!" but I told him that oddly enough, I still felt privileged. He then laughed and hid his face. Yeah, the life of a fangirl. Not always glamorous, but always fun! I can say that I got burped on by John Barrowman *dreamy sigh*    Naoko was sooo nice! And she lives in LA now! I love you, Tosh!   














Me and Allison *g* of Eureka! Oh, Syfy channel turned this cafe on G St into the Cafe Diem from Eureka for the whole duration of the con!  Everything was Syfy in there. The menu, the servers, the decor...and they showed Syfy stuff on the TVs the whole time. It was really very cool and clever.    Yeah, forgot to turn this one around too. lol

An awesome cosplay group:
OH, speaking of....the Marvel Animation panel was awesome! Lots of good stuff coming from Marvel animation.  

Saturday!!


The big thing about Sat (for me) was the True Blood panel. Dayna and I sat through half of the Fringe panel (which was quite good. I'm going to give that show a second look now) to get into the True Blood one. Yeah, it took that long waiting in line for Ballroom 20. The whole cast was there including Charlaine Harris (author of the book series the show is spawned from) and Alan Ball (creator and writer of the show). The panel was awesome. Very funny, good questions from the audience and Charlaine is adorable! So southern! I got a True Blood goodie bag which contained a copy of the first book, a tee shirt that says "It hurts so good", a notebook and a coupon for True Blood! It's a real drink now. A blood orange soda. lol                                              














This woman was soooo cool and nice! She was helping out one of the artists in Artist Alley and we ended up chatting for a long time about Star Trek costuming. She made this amazingly authentic Deanna Troy outfit. She looks so much like her, too!                                                        














commodoremarie, saklani2, adafrog (I think she was with us during this time?) and myself happened to find out, purely by chance, that Michael Dorn (Worf of TNG and DS9) was signing for a show he does the main voice work for! Well, of course I had to go!       

I also met Brent Spiner! I think he's a bit germ phobic, though. He actually refused to shake my hand and did a fist bump instead. I should have known when I saw him slattering on the hand sanitizer! lol    

Dudes, Heroes sponsored a whole carnival for Comic Con!!! It was really cool!      

Sunday!!!!!  

Sunday used to be the kid's day of CC. Kinda slow, mainly for doing last minute shopping in the Exhibit hall. Not so this year. Sunday had major panels that were huge draws. Which ones, you ask? Oh, for some little shows like Torchwood, Doctor Who and Supernatural. We waited in line for 2 hours for the Doctor Who panel. It was David's first time at CC! It was very funny and they handled the questions and anger of the crowd regarding CoE very well. And by very well I mean RTD put it off for the TW panel a few hours later!! lol But David is a charmer. I love him so much. The dude from Guinness Book of World Records came on stage to present Doctor Who (aka RTD) with an award for Doctor Who! It was cute.        

Being Human panel was done before the Torchwood panel. I'm really excited to see this show. I remember seeing ads on BBC America, but seeing the cast and clips from the show convinced me that this is a show I need to be seeing! The basic premise is that a vampire, a werewolf and a ghost have to share a flat in Britain and learn how to cope with their conditions. The acting looks superb.                                    














Torchwood panel! Oh, John Barrowman, how are you so awesome? I totally respect the decision the writers made in CoE after hearing the panel. I don't *like* it, at all, but I feel like I can respect it now after RTD owned it and Julie Gardner defended it well. There was a lot of anger in the audience and they all handled it really well. I still think RTD was talking down to the fans at some points, but as Julie said it's his vision, his decision and he doesn't have to cater to us or make us happy. Harsh but true. OHHHHH, I should mention that in the Doctor Who panel they showed trailers for the next two Doctor Who specials. All I can say is "Oh My God". They look epic and amazing!!!! I nearly squeed my pants. Can't. Wait.                                                                              














The Guild!! I wanted to go to this panel soooo bad, but it was the same time/day as the SGU panel. I heard it was really good though. And totally packed! If you haven't had a chance to discover this hugely popular web series (that you can now get on DVD via Amazon), check it out. It's hilarious, well-written and knows its geek culture! Felicia Day (of Buffy, Doctor Horrible's Sing-Along Blog) is the creator, writer and star. I got a pic signed by the whole cast!                                            














Probably one of the funniest and totally WTF panels I went to was a panel for independent movies and filmmakers. One of these movies was "Paper Hearts" which has gotten a ton of buzz with the creator/star of this documentary/fiction Charylene Yi. Uh, let's just say there was a heckler in the crowd, insults thrown back and forth...and a giant dildo. Which some lucky person in the audience got afterwards. solarwind and myself were laughing so hard we were crying!   Another one of the movies was a 50's B movie homage staring Eric McCormack and a bunch of other celebs. It looked good.  














Before I go, I need to take a min to mention the non-Comic Con stuff we did. We had our traditional group movie viewing at the local theater. We all saw HBP and it was just as good the second time for me! We had dinner as a group at Bucca de Beppos, which was tasty as usual. And Sat was our yearly Slasher's Dinner! We had a very good turn out this year (like 40 ppl!) and a good time was had by all. I met the awesome fan artist Ani Bester and she drew me an original Hermione sketch just for being a fan! As usual, commodoremarie went about and beyond to provide us all with a good CC experience. She organized the activities and the hotel stuff (with the help of saklani2  and others)and made it goes as smooth as could be expected. There were lots of problems with hotel stuff and other details that caused her to lose out on some fun and enjoyment of the con, and we are all appreciative of her hard work.


See you all next year! It will be July again sooner than you think!