Comic Con - Friday

The day of the Dr. Horrible panel. Got to the Center about 8:45, because I was expecting line ups. Yeah, already about 5-600 people in line in front of me by the time I got there! The line was already outside of the Center! So yeah, I decided I was gonna have to be there even earlier on Sat. and Sun. And I am NOT a morning person. Ah, what I will do for a good seat.

So the Stargate panels were first in Ballroom 20. Now, I haven't watched SG in, like, forever, aside from catching the occasional episode if there is nothing else on. I have nothing against the show - don't get me wrong. I just stopped watching after about season 4 or 5, because it went off the air in my area, and I just never caught up. I fully mean to at one point. But come on, Ben Browder was there. I mean, Ben Browder! Absolute gorgessity. Not only is he physically attractive (and what, he's 46 now? omg....), but he's smart and funny and by all accounts a class act. Yet another reason to lobby pro-cloning. :) Chris told an amusing story about how he had been cast as a baddie on 24 - only to be fired for not being black enough. Seriously? SERIOUSLY? Damn, that is Hollywood for ya.

The SG Worlds panel was next. Since I don't play any online games, I kinda blanked out, but it looked like it could be fun. The Atlantis panel was after. You could tell the large number of Browncoats in the room, simply by the cheers that Jewel received. It was an amusing panel, and Robert Picardo sounds like a riot. Very dry humour, but funny as $&%^.

There must have actually been a fair amount of just SG fans there, because it did take a while to clear / fill the room between panels. I think Ballroom 20 seats somewhere between 4000-4500 people, so it ain't exactly small. There wasn't much movement in the front rows (we die hards always show up early), so most of the leaving / entering was towards the back.

Anyway, on to the Joss (Dr. Horrible) panel. I'm sure it is plastered all over You-Tube, so anyone who wants to see it can listen to all the answers, so I'm not going to go through it all here. But I have to cover one minor point that annoys me. When you have pretty much everyone involved in a project up on stage, together, at one time... it is a good idea to actually ask questions about the project. I know it is Joss. I know you have some burning questions that you just MUST have answered about some random incident in Buffy S3. But really... now is NOT the time. A large chunk of people in the room are actually interested in the CURRENT project, i.e. Dr. Horrible. Some people have good Dr. Horrible questions. And by directing so many other Joss related questions at him - you're wasting everyone's time. Seriously. Suck it up, and move on. I felt bad for the panel, because everyone was up there asking "Joss this, Joss that". The other folks didn't really have much to do. At least ask Joss Dr. Horrible questions, so that the other panellists can at least chime in every now and then. I *get* that Joss has a huge number of fans that just have burning questions about this that and the other thing. But you have to recognize the appropriate time to get questions answered. When the panellists are there for a short period of time, when there are 7 (was it 7?) other people up on stage, and when they are there to promote a specific project, and when most people want to hear about that project - IT IS NOT THE TIME. Gawd.

Anyway, after the panel, there wasn't much that excited me, so I wandered around the other half of the exhibition hall. LOVE some of the costumes, though you can totally tell who is being paid to be there, and who are just the amateurs. Maybe at some point I'll stop being lazy for long enough to make my own costume. Or not. Anyway, got back to the hotel around 4:00 for a break before evening programming.

That evening was the Sci-Fi Eureka / Atlantis premiere, followed by the Dr. Horrible viewing. When I got back to the Center, the line was HUGE, but got in line anyway. We were told then that the line was cut off, as there wouldn't be enough room in 6B for us all (only seats about 1200 I think). Yeah, that line was close to rioting. The Con people told everyone that there would be some Dr. Horrible showings in other rooms - but dammit, I actually wanted to see Eureka. So I said *#$&% it, and stayed in line anyway. Some people left, but a good majority stayed in that line. And when the doors opened - there was more than enough room for *everybody*. There were even some empty seats. I swear, some of the Con staff is on crack. Way to piss off a whole bunch of people.

Anyway, the Eureka premiere was awesome. Man, I love that show. So witty. The Atlantis premiere, while good, totally lost me, because I don't watch the show and as a result, had no idea what was going on. But yay Jewel! Tee hee. Then - the main event. Dr. Horrible. Of course, everyone wandered to to introduce the screening. Joss threatened us with death if anyone sung flat. :) Seeing the whole thing, at one time, on the big screen, was quite a neat experience. Eric loved it - and he hadn't even heard anything about it until I started babbling to him. Joss and Co. sat at the back in empty seats. I envy whoever was back there, and suddenly had NPH plonk himself down beside them. They all left right after, which kinda sucked, as I thought maybe they would have answered a few more questions or something, but whatever.

We walked back to the hotel after that. Yes, again with the walking. But it was kinda fun to walk past all the bars, with everyone enjoying an evening out. You could tell they were mostly locals - looked like very few con-goers in the bunch. We were all headed back to go to sleep to get ready for the next day.