San Diego Comic Con, Day 2 (technically Day 3, if you include Wednesday’sPreview Night) is almost at a close. My plate wasn’t too full today. Comic Con is made a little easier when you stop spending the entire day trying to get into Hall H and Ballroom 20 events, as I’ve done long ago. No offense to the tenacious folks who try (and succeed) getting into those crowded venues, but I’m a 51 year old man with really bad arthritis in my joints. As a result, I don’t have the patience to wait all day and to sit in the rear rows of a 6,000-seat hall, watching big name press junkets with video clips of movies/shows I’ll see in a couple of months (or watch on YouTube in my hotel that very night). To those that do wait? I salute both you and your tenacity. I’m afraid I’m just at an age and condition where I have to pick my battles a bit more carefully.
“Masters of the Web” panel; an informative discussion about developing your own online presence/brand; taking place outside the San Diego convention center, at the San Diego Library’s Neil Morgan Auditorium. Many events relating to Comic Con take place all over downtown San Diego now.
This morning I attended a couple of smaller, off-site panels at the San Diego Library in the Neil Morgan Auditorium (a far smaller, more intimate venue than the 6,000 seats of Hall H). The first event was “Masters of the Web” (which included filmmaker Robert Meyer Burnett and TV personality/podcaster Scott Mantz). It was an informative discussion about how to develop your own online ‘brand’ (be it for a website, YouTube channel, blog, or other online presence).
Writer/producer Marc Scott Zicree presents some of the cast and crew of his crowdfunded adventure series’ pilot,“Space Command.”Cast and crew of “Space Command”; a very promising new adventure series.
The second panel was the one I’d really been waiting for… the unveiling of the first completed half hour of “Space Command”; an independently-funded series pilot from the mind of author/scriptwriter Marc Scott Zicree (“The Twilight Zone Companion,” “Star Trek: The Next Generation”).
The proposed series will (hopefully) follow the adventures of a young crew on a small spaceship patrolling our solar system (like a smaller-scale, but no less adventurous answer to Star Trek), promoting values of kindness, humanity and optimism.
The half hour of footage I saw today mixes adventure with social commentary in the best sci-fi tradition. There’s an underlying theme of altruism being the key to humanity’s continued survival; for example, a bitter mechanic (played by “Star Trek: Voyager”‘s Robert Picardo) extends kindness to a disaffected worker-android he repairs (the android is effectively played by “Star Trek: Discovery” actor Doug Jones).
I appreciated the crew members with the names “Lt. Bradbury” and “LeGuin,” named after two of my favorite authors; Ray Bradbury and Ursula K. LeGuin. Bradbury was also a personal friend/mentor of Zicree’s. Also appreciated some of the books seen on a bookshelf (including titles from Bradbury, as well as Zicree’s own “Twilight Zone Companion”). The “When Worlds Collide”-style rocket launch was a real gas, too!
The first completed half hour was very promising but the remainder of the first series is unfinished, pending further funding via crowdsource donations. If you’re interested in pitching in? Go to Kickstarter.com and look under “Space Command” to donate to this promising series. As a passionate fan of the online seriesStar Trek Continues, you could say I am a true believer in crowdsource-funded entertainment!
Something I saw on the way to the San Diego Library; “Purge City”…for all your “Purge” needs (promoting the new The Purge TV show, based on the popular movie series).
After those two panels, I was generally free to roam the convention in my Fred Flintstone cosplay and take pictures. Lots and lots of pictures.
So, without further ado, here are more of today’s pics:
Full-size “Bumblebee” Transformer robot in the main Dealer Hall…Deadpool, the indestructible & foul-mouthed Marvel superhero, hosts a “Super Duper Dance Party” of animatronic bears, parodying “Chuck E. Cheese” and Disneyland’s defunct “County Bear Jamboree.”Full-sized replica of “the mighty Chewbacca” (from Star Wars, to anyone living in a cave since 1977…).Full-size mannequin of the “Battle Angel Alita” cybergirl…Authentic screen-used costume from Marvel’s “Thor Ragnarok” (2017).“Hulk SMASH!” The Gentle Giant booth; featuring beautiful recreations of cinematic creatures, past and present. I still remember seeing that very Hulk torso at my very first San Diego Comic Con, back in 2004…From Star Trek Discovery; miniatures of a spacesuited Michael Burnham (Sonequa Martin Green) doing combat with the Klingon ‘torchbearer’ Voq (Shazad Latif).A recreation of Star Trek Discovery‘s resident Kelpian, “Saru” (Doug Jones).A No-Face from the amazing Hayao Miyazaki animated fantasy, “Spirited Away” (2001). I only saw this modern animated classic for the first time about a year and a half ago. It is my wife’s favorite movie of all time…Wonder Woman, Mario Brother and Lt. Uhura cosplayers: I met these three delightful ladies at one of the booths near Artist’s Alley. They got a kick out of my Fred Flintstone cosplay, and it turned out they were all passionate fellow Trekkies like myself. We had a nice talk about cosplay and positive body image. I encouraged them to try to attend the Las Vegas Star Trek convention next month, if they can still get tickets. Hope to see them again!“Mr. Fredrickson” from Pixar’s 2009 animated film,“Up.” That movie broke my heart into little pieces. It’s one of my favorite Pixar movies, even if the first ten minutes are simply painful to watch…“Resident Evil” zombie attacks a group of civilians holed up in an abandoned police car…!A handmaid from “The Handmaid’s Tale” (the popular Hulu series based on the book by Margaret Atwood). I accidentally caught her smiling, but it’s okay; I like to think her smile indicated hope…It pays to ‘divide and conquer’ at conventions sometimes: While I was at the “Space Command” panel, my intrepid wife walked past a window in a random building near our hotel and saw the cast of “Star Trek Discovery” being interviewed (!). I can make out Doug Jones (Saru), Anthony Rapp (Lt. Stamets), Mary Chieffo (L’Rell), Mary Wiseman (Lt. Sylvia Tilly) and possibly (?) Wilson Cruz (back to camera), who plays Dr. Culber. I think I also see Shazad Latif (Voq/Tyler) in the upper right corner, but I could be mistaken…Cosplayers dressed as “Cornelius” and “Zira” from “Planet of the Apes”; they looked amazing! We took a couple of group pics of ourselves for their camera as well…“The Walking Dead” interactive attraction, across the street from the convention center at Martin Luther King Promenade Park…“The Walking Dead” (and “Fear the Walking Dead”) interactive attraction, across the street from the convention center, at Martin Luther King Promenade Park…Crossplay Thor and Loki…“I found Waldo(s)!” Volunteer “Waldos” who passed out freebies to the audience in the Neil Morgan Auditorium at the downtown San Diego Library.Upper-level view looking down at of a portion of the massive Dealer Hall inside the San Diego Convention Center. As I said in a previous post, walking through San Diego Comic Con really racks up steps in your FitBit…A really convincing “Admiral Adama” from 2003-2009 version of “Battlestar Galactica”; in my humble opinion, one of the finest series ever to grace television. So say we all!Excellent recreations of Bert and Mary from”“Mary Poppins”…Velma, Shaggy and Scooby from “Scooby-Doo”…Actress Erin Gray (from 1979-1981’s “Buck Rogers in the 25th Century”); a childhood TV crush of mine. I still remember seeing her at my very first Comic Con back in 2004…A handmade “Borg” costume from “Star Trek: The Next Generation” (1987-1994). They were also seen in “Star Trek Voyager” (1995-2001) and the TNG spinoff film, “First Contact” (1996).“Mace Windu” from the Star Wars prequel films. His lightsaber changed colors…A new generation spacesuit, from the NASA booth. For this display, the back was hollowed out so that people could walk into the suit from behind and get their picture taken (appearing to wear it), as the woman in the pic was doing at the time…The Simpsons’ “Tapped Out” game (don’t ask; I haven’t watched the series in decades).“Ellen Ripley” does battle with an “ALIEN”!“Iron Man” suit…Spacesuits from “The Big Bang Theory” (2007-present) and “Firefly” (2002): Soyuz capsule spacesuit worn by actor Simon Helberg (“Howard Wolowitz”) and the suit worn by actor Nathan Fillion‘s “Malcolm Reynolds.”Sadly, this LEGO recreation of the current 13th Doctor was as close as I got to new series’ lead Jodie Whittaker this week. There was a “Doctor Who” event in the infamous Hall H on Thursday, but the line to get into Hall H began forming on Wednesday (and possibly earlier, according to rumor…). Sorry, but I’m not sleeping on pavement to attend a press junket that I can watch on YouTube the following night…“Captain Hook” from Peter Pan…Me, in my Fred Flintstone suit (one of three that I brought with me) posing with a drag crossplay “Ursula” from “The Little Mermaid.”
Well, that about sums up Day Two.
My arthritis forced me to retreat back to the hotel around 4 pm or so, but it was a full day. Tomorrow I’m going to try to attend panels on “COSMOS” and “The Orville” (two series both coproduced by Seth MacFarlane and Brannon Braga). If I can’t get into those? I have backup plans. We’ll see. I won’t sweat it, one way or the other.
To me, half of the adventure of Comic Con is to not have your day too planned; leave yourself some wiggle room to observe, interact, and to simply have a good time. Waiting an entire day (or more) in long lines is just not my idea of fun. I used to wait in seemingly interminable lines quite often, but now I do so only for truly special events, not big-ticket press junkets. If I can’t get into an event, there are plenty of other things to do and see here. I mean, this is freakin’ San Diego Comic Con, right?
More to come in the days ahead, including a recap at the end.
This looks awesome, would love to do this one day! The Planet of the Apes costumes are super, maybe I’m biased because its one of my favourite films though…
This looks awesome, would love to do this one day! The Planet of the Apes costumes are super, maybe I’m biased because its one of my favourite films though…
Me too!
This was definitely my top articles on the year, very did not receive upfront
pay. I have met nothing but genuinely kind people on AC.
Which he read my articles specifically was ideal. http://www.spaliberia.org/smf/index.php?action=profile;u=403