This is it folks. This is the big one. As we speak, people from around the world are making their final preparations for the mass geek exodus to San Diego this week for the 40th Annual San Diego Comic Con. This is the time every year where San Diego becomes Nerd Mecca for a few days as the largest comics and pop culture convention in the US takes place. As with the trend from the last few years, this show is going to be MASSIVE in scale. The passes sold out months ago. Over 150,000 people will be at the convention center every day of the con. The lines will be long, the big panels will be impossible to get into and I will be surrounded by the unwashed nerd masses for days on end. And you know what? I wouldn't have it any other way!
As with last year, I will be attending the con and will be doing my best to cover the event to the best of my amateur nerd-blogging ability. I'll be setting up a flickr set for all the photo's I'll be taking and will try to post articles when I can throughout the day.
As I am only one man and will not be able to cover even 5% of what con has to offer, I am making a conscious choice this year to forego the big panels with the hollywood stars. I figure you can find that sort of coverage from dozens of other websites that have teams of well paid staffers who can afford to spend 4 hours in line to hear what Joss Whedon has to say about season 2 of his crappy show Dollhouse. I can't waste that kind of time, so I've resolved this year to seek out the hidden gems of Comic Con. I'm on the hunt for those smaller panels, the ones overlooked by the average con goer nowadays who's there to see their favorite TV show panels or movie panels. I'm looking for the quirky panels, the fan made panels, the ones made out of love for the subject matter, not those trying to sell a product or a show to the masses.
As such, I am putting together my list of the panels I will most likely be attending at this year's Con. They range in size from small to medium, and they're the one's I highly suggest checking out once you realize the line to see James Cameron's panel is about 4 miles long and stretches all the way from one end of San Diego to the other.
Unfortunately, due to a friend's impending wedding this Saturday, I will only be able to attend the Con Wednesday, Thursday and Friday. I will try to make up for this lack of weekend coverage though in two ways. 1.) I will try to give the best coverage I can for the three days I am there for. 2.) I will still be including a list of suggested panels for those days I won't be able to make it to the con.
With that said, let's get on to the list. Here's the schedule of panels that I will be attending (assuming I can get into them).
Wednesday - 07/22
Wednesday is preview night at the Con. It's not a full day. The doors don't open until 6pm and there's really only one panel going on. It's a big panel full of pilot screenings for a bunch of upcoming TV shows. I'm going to avoid this like the plague and will instead be wandering the exhibit hall floor taking pictures and generally being giddy and acting like a little kid who's been let loose in Toys R Us on a $10,000 shopping spree.
Thursday - 07/23/09
10:00am to 11:00am - Room 2- Fan's Guide To Comic Con
This panel is a must-see for all con attendees, both newbies and veterans alike. It's put on by Con experts and all around good guys Matt Jeffrey, Wes Strawther and Jesse Lopez. In their panel they will distribute invaluable advice to people who have never been to SDCC before and will offer up some interesting perspectives for experienced Con attendees as well. Trust me, as a 19 year veteran of the Con myself, even I found out cool new things about the Con by attending this panel in the past. And if past years at the panel are anything to go on, the slideshow itself that goes along with the discussion will be hilarious. That alone is worth checking the panel out for. All of the cool bits of information are just bonus. This panel is both entertaining and informative, and is a great way to start off the convention.
11:00am to 12:00pm - Room 2 - Secret Origins of Comic Con
Want to know how all this Comic Con nonsense got started? Here's the panel that will tell you. A group of the founding members of the convention will be on hand to tell stories about SDCC's early beginnings back in 1969 when a group of kids started it all.
12:30pm to 1:30pm - Room 6A - Battlestar Retrospective
Ok, so this is the one panel in which I'm breaking my own rule of avoiding the big TV show panels. However, this isn't the big Battlestar Panel that you think it is. This is the Retrospective that is put on by Richard Hatch (the original Apollo and Tom Zarek in the new series) and the composer of the new BSG, Bear McCreary. They've put on this panel for the last two years, and from what I've been told it's mainly a fan centric panel that is just about gathering together and enjoying the awesomeness that is BSG. Hatch and McCreary will show cool behind the scenes bits from the show and will show their appreciation for the fans and their love for the show because that's the kind of real professionals these guys are.
3:30pm to 4:30pm - J. Michael Straczynski: Professional Writing
Ok, I am definitely not attending this panel. Nor do even suggest going to this panel. I've only added this because I can't stand J. Michael Straczynski and think he's a horrible hack writer who has all but destroyed the character of Spider-man. I am including this on this list because I'd like to offer up a free opportunity here for people to earn my undying respect, and even possibly some free schwag, to anyone who has the balls to go to this panel and ask Mr. Scraczynski the following in the Q&A session:
"How does it feel to be considered by many fans to be the man who has written the worst Spider-man stories ever and who has single handedly undone many of Spidey's greatest stories by making Gwen Stacey Pregnant with Norman Osbourn's children? How do you look at yourself in the mirror sir? And how do you dare show your face here at Comic Con where you should rightfully be banned from?"
Oh, and if you add "Geek-tastic.com sent me" at the end of that, I promise to make sweet love to you. Of course, I'll need video proof that this happened first. I have standards, afterall.
5:30pm - 6:30pm - Room 30CDE - The Physics of Hollywood Movies
I've never heard of this panel before, so it may be new, but it sounds like a lot of fun. Per the panel's description, they're going to be taking a humorous look at the real life physics behind some of our most beloved hollywood action scenes and how hollywood has a tendency to completely ignore the laws of said physics. They promise to look at everything from Iron Man to 2001: A Space Odyssey. Science and comics nerdiness combined into one panel? Hell yeah! Count me in!
6:00pm - 7:00pm - Room 6D - Mad Science: The Science Behind Science Fiction
This takes place at the same time as the Physics of Hollywood Panel, so chances are I won't be able to hit it unless I can't get into the other panel, but I wanted to list this here too because it sounds cool. Continuing with the Physics of Hollywood's panel of blending science and nerdiness, this panel promises a more serious discussion of the ethics of science exploration and how the improper application of it can lead to mad science. Panelists include some amazing TV writers like Jane Espensen (Buffy, BSG, Dollhouse) and an actual neuroscientist who is the science consultant for the TV show Fringe.
6:30 to 7:30 - Room 30AB - The Anthropology of Star Trek
It's science, it's Star Trek. How can you go wrong? Learn all about the anthropological themes of the greatest Sci-fi TV series of all time including topics on politics, religion, technology and more.
In case you couldn't tell, I'm a sucker for panels that mix science and comics or sci-fi geekyness.
7:30pm to 8:30pm - Room 10 - GeekRoundTable Live
This is another must-see panel that everyone should attend. Here's your chance to meet the amazing cast of the GeekRoundTable podcast (and yours truly) as we record a live podcast in front you, the audience. For those of you who may have missed last year's panel, you missed out on the funniest rant against Furries ever made as well as a story about a random run in many Con's ago with a very well known Comic Book Legend and his "lady of the evening" in a hotel in San Diego. Who knows what kinds of things will get talked about this year. It's going to be a ton of Fun. Jokes will be made, stories will be told, you'll laugh, you'll cry, in the end you'll walk away knowing you've just witnessed the single funniest panel at the entire convention. Be there or be square.
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