Comic-Con At Home: Time Lords at Petco

Before he packed Hall H on the final day of Comic-Con, Matt Smith enjoyed a more intimate meeting of fans at Petco Park with fellow Doctor Who castmate Jenna Coleman and Stephan Moffat.

First off, Nathan Fillion continued his hosting duties, and welcomed his guests. Of course, there were some people who begged Matt not to go, but if he's got to go....

It puts Jenna in an interesting situation: she is the one with the most seniority on the show, since she'll be the first Companion who sees her Doctor change bodies since Rose Tyler in 2005. She's up for it, though.
The first question was the cast being asks where they were when they found out the show had some openings. Matt said his mom texted him about the search for a new Doctor. He got the script for "Eleventh Hour" under top secret conditions, and he had to keep quiet until it was finally official. Jenna, meanwhile, recalled holding an avocado at a supermarket when she was told Amy and Rory would be leaving. Moffat, of course, was writing for the show when Russell Davies asked him to take over.

Moffat also says that each writer that tackles an episode should write as if they owned the show. They basically give their personal stamp to each episode.

The cast were then confronted with the idea of a "bucket list", which isn't as well-known in Britain. Matt said his list would include Jennifer Lawrence, and conquering time travel. Take that what you will.
They also talked about how big the fandom for Who can be. Jenna talked about two people at Heathrow who were talking about building their own TARDISes

A fan asked Matt how it feels to be the youngest man who play the Doctor, and how it's strange since the Doc is about a thousand years old. He says if you think about all the things The Doctor has seen, he has no choice but to move forward in life with youthful enthusiasm, or it'll become too much.
His only advice to the actor who becomes #12? He would just wish that person luck.
But what if that person is Nathan? Matt:  "You're going to have the best time. Please don't be better than me...."

Oh, and a Firefly fan suggested what it would be like if the TARDIS suddenly landed, maybe in the 26th century, near some Big Damn Heroes...

Moffat did admit to being a big fan of Firefly. Personally, one thing would be certain: River would be able to handle the TARDIS almost immediately if she had the chance.

So, here's the panel, a little shorter than the other ones but still chock full of Time Lord goodness

Picked The Wrong Year To Skip Comic-Con

Looks like I picked the wrong week to quit sniffing glue.--Lloyd Bridges, Airplane!

I've been going to Comic-Con since 2004, when Sarah Michelle Gellar finally decided to go to plug her new movie, The Grudge. I discovered some new shows that we still remember, including Bones and Lost. It was big, but not and airy, and getting into any panel you want was a reality, not a pipe dream/deep delusion that it is today.

This year would have been my tenth straight Comic-Con, except I am still in between jobs. I send resumes to hundreds of prospective employees, and about nine out of ten of them automatically throw them away. So, I have to stay home.

This year looked like slim pickings to me compared to previous years, mainly because the Harry Potter and Twilight franchises, which really packed the con in years past, are over. Not to worry, because other franchises have taken over, including Marvel, Hunger Games, and the Hobbit. TV has also taken over, with its wealth of genre shows from Arrow and Walking Dead to True Blood and Game of Thrones to take over for past classics including Buffy the Vampire Slayer (natch), Battlestar Galactica, X-Files, and Smallville.

For those who think comics aren't that important at Comic-Con anymore, think again. Some titles pull in the fans, including the perennials such as Batman, Superman and Spider-Man, but comics connected with TV shows (even Adventure Time and many Dark Horse titles) keep them as a major part of the con. Toys are also getting bigger, thanks to Mattel, when they roll out models exclusive to the con.

What I'll miss most of all if that I can't cover stories for Whedonopolis. I am at my happiest when I write a story that, for the most part, wind up as exclusives that no other internet news site has. Did any other website interview Alexis Denisof and Amy Acker just before Much Ado About Nothing premiered at the San Francisco International Film Festival..and came back for the movie's first officials weekend? Did anyone else talk to the original Slayer, Kristy Swanson, when she was in Sacramento for a small con in Sacramento? I did that, and I am sure I would have found a story at Comic-Con no one else could find.

So, what will I miss?

the panel for Intelligence, featuring Sawyer from Lost as the first internet-connected secret agent,
an EW panel that includes both Matt Smith and David Guintoli (and the Grimm and Doctor Who panels, too),
the 5th anniversary of Dr. Horrible,
a panel for Agents of SHIELD which should include lots from the pilot,
Joss of course,
maybe a preview of The World's End (Pegg and Frost's version of This Is The End),
what's next for Geek and Sundry,
the Veronica Mars movie,
how Amy Acker will try to break up Husbands (think scorned ex-fiancé who won't accept being the wrong gender for one of them),
the Eric Andre Show (mostly because of how he greeted Tea Party supporters with hoods...on TV),  How I Met Your Mother,
Matt Smith with Chris Hardwick at the Balboa (will burritos be included again?),
and the annual showing of Once More With Feeling.

Granted, I'd be lucky to see half this stuff, or even a third, if I was able to go this year. I was lucky to be at the Firefly panel thanks to lining up many, many hours ahead of time. Comic-Con has gotten so big, you have to stand in line at 6 AM to see anything...even if it's for something at 6 PM. That's why if I did get a ticket to the Nerdist podcast taping at the Balboa, I really wouldn't have to go to the Doctor Who panel the next day. Of course, I would have wished I could get him to autograph a burrito but that's unlikely. Who can autograph a burrito?

Fortunately, thanks to YouTube and similar sites, someone will be smart enough to record as many of these panels as possible, and I can still see them. Sadly, I wouldn't be able to find a story no one else finds, but I can still see what happened eventually.

Missing Wondercon and Comic-Con this year has been a real bummer this year, but I am glad I am still useful to Whedonopolis. I still wrote stuff about the SHIELD show, and two articles about Much Ado in San Francisco. I just wish I had some idea about whether people are reading my stuff, or even like it. The old Whedonopolis site measured how many hits my articles got, and I knew people actually read my articles.

Then again, there's one big reason why I'm mad I can't go....the swag!
I could always use another big tote bag that's really a portable billboard to the next big TV show, movie, comic book or whatever. It's still cool.
Sure, I found really rare swag that was never offered for sale, like a t-shirt from an early Butt Numb-A-Thon Harry Knowles hosted, or a Moonite t-shirt that recalled the day they accidentally put Boston on Red Alert six years ago. Still, it would be nice to have a foam TARDIS, a Kick-Ass 2 hat, or a plastic Captain American shield or Thor hammer...or a Mockingjay pin.

I will say I have done pretty good overall. Who else has way too many Joss autographs, but still has one framed...and even a picture? Last year, I got Tarantino's autograph on a Django Unchained poster, which is more valuable since he won an Oscar for Original Screenplay. I still have the dog tags from the Inglorious Basterds premiere, and a few other posters that can't be found anywhere else.

So, I have to stay home, but someday, I'll be back. Maybe I can return in time for Avengers 2.

Comic-Con: the TARDIS Has Landed

Hall H at Comic-Con has been th home for the biggest events from the Avengers to Twilight, Cowboys and Aliens to Amazing Spider-Man.
It was the obvious choice for the Doctor Who panel with Matt Smith and Karen Gillan. It's safe to say that was packed very quickly.
Others, however, found another way to see Matt and Karen: all they had to do is pay around 40 bucks, and see some nerd rant about things before the main event.
Since this nerd is Chris Hardwick, and it's his Nerdist podcast, that's OK. He filled 4th and B with hundreds of Whovians very quickly, and even had a second show.

I was in the middle of the audience, and managed to get some good pictures of Matt and Karen...



and even something that never happened to Tom Baker, or Katy Manning...



See, they give out burritos after every Nerdist show, and what you see above will never happen again.

Matt and Karen talked about how they got on the show and settled into their new roles. Karen said she was stunned about how big we Yanks are for the Doctor. Well, it all started with PBS, then DVDs in the years when we had no new Who episodes. That's how...and those Dr. Who cons we used to have in the 1980's. Both were a big hit with the fans. If only I got my burrito cover signed by them.

Before that, it was still really good, especially Chris talking at length with Wil Wheaton. We found out about Wil's experiences at Comic-Con back in the days when it was just about comics, and maybe a movie or two. He had a great story over how he was reluctant to speak to Adam West until a Playboy playmate helped break the ice. We also found out both Wil and Chris are MST3K fans. They truly have taste.

After this, I may consider going to a Dr. Who con in L-A next February. It's not as expensive or crowded, for one thing, and it should be a hit.
Now I found out who was at the second show: Doug Benson, Judah Freidlander (world champion of the world, that is), and the Rifftrax/MT3K crew. Either way, I would have been just happy, but I prefer being with Doctor Who. That doesn't happen too often, and I might bump into Mike a lot sooner.

So, getting back to Doctor Who, they just posted the preview for the rest of the season. First off, it's about four weeks away, and they'll be rerunning the first half like crazy. Second, it's has some trippy visuals, like Hitler, a forest, ans River Song wearing an evil monocle. She better be kidding, or Amy will tell River she's a bad daughter (just remember the last two minutes of the last episode). That being said, that is nothing compared to being threatened by a puppet version of the executive producer, Stephen Moffitt...



There was also a question about whether we will some of the companions from days gone by. Dr. Martha Jones and Donna would be possibilities, but how about Tegan or Nyssa, or Ace? I have a wild idea: we find out Victoria Waterfield wound up marrying a descendant of Jaime McCrimmon. Hey, why not? If they could find Ian Chesterton, and the temptation is too great, that would be the ultimate...and Donna's grandfather would be the one who would arrange it.

If you couldn't be there. here's a link to the article from the Nerdist website. You can download the podcast directly or by iTunes.