"Racebent" characters have long been making appearances on sites like Tumblr, but they’ve been picking up heat recently. One of the most popular and frequent, at least on my dash? Hermione Granger as a woman of color, most often black.
For the first time, I was seeing Hermione’s subtext brought out into text.
I'm mostly too old and not-with-it to know what the kids are doing on Tumblr, so I haven't seen this before. But I love it, hard. If I'd been an actual 14 year old when reading the Harry Potter books, I'd have cosplayed the shit out of Hermione Granger.
Lucida Grimbrow, Ravenclaw alumna. She's a teacher of wizarding ethics and bookseller.
My geekery would probably be much easier for me if I didn’t think so much, but I also think that would just enable me to be passively part of the problem. And I’d like to be a part of the solution. If only to make it easier for me to enjoy the geekery.
Catching up on "summer movie" reviews. Seems strange to feel like I'm playing catch-up here, since summer doesn't actually start until Friday…
Anyhow, I'm digging out the old movie rating system:
5 *s = "WOW!" 4 *s = "Good." 3 *s = "Stupid fun, decent, or at least not bad enough to get 2 *s." 2 *s = "Bad, but not awful; or awful, but enjoyable either despite or because of that." 1 * = "The best part was the end, because then it was over." no *s = "*Deep, pain-filled sigh*...I will never get that [insert running time here] of my life back."
First up is the most recent one I've seen: Man of Steel. My prediction was: good action, mediocre plot, bad gender. So, how did it do?
Well, the action was good, sometimes. I think the story held together better than I expected. I liked the themes they chose to focus on (hope, use of power vs. restraint, and self-determination), though I don't think they did them as well as they could have. And, the gender stuff was less aggressively bad than I'd thought it would be. So, I have quibbles, but I think it was entertaining. It's definitely worth watching, if you're into the idea of a Superman movie (or a movie with Henry Cavill in it). It's especially worth it if you, like the gentleman I recently overheard at a coffee shop, "just want to see a big, loud movie, where Zod and Superman break some shit, and Superman eventually saves the day, and Lois Lane is a hottie."
But, therein lie the quibbles. (And, herein lie the spoilers.)
Editor’s Note: We will be running the Death Watch each Friday, courtesy of our buddy Brandon. Two things to keep in mind: 1) There WILL be spoilers of any and all past episodes. 2) Do NOT spoil any future events. At all. This is a zero tolerance policy, much like the reviews. Any comment with any spoiler gets deleted. Other than that, please enjoy our most awesome new weekly edition of “Game Of Thrones” Death Watch.
—TK, Pajiba
I like the idea, and have been having a similar conversation with my brother. Working only from the TV episodes through 3.1 (we haven't read the books), we agreed, before the start of the season, that Tywin is in imminent danger of shuffling off this mortal coil. He's competent, which makes him a threat to others; he's influential, which makes him a threat to others; his death would cause all sorts of trouble, which makes killing him a good narrative choice; and he's a Lannister, which makes him a likely target for Lannisters and non-Lannisters alike.
He's not happy about it, but he knows I'm probably right.
We also agreed that Shae is *decidedly* unsafe. As is Jorah Mormont.
Dude, you know what you did.
Speaking of being unsafe...as I've said to my brother, I believe that there are just too many Starks running around. In keeping with that, I think Rickon should have a higher death-ranking than Sansa.
Don't look so pleased. I think his ranking should be higher, but I don't think yours should be any lower.
Hers is probably just about right at a 4, but I'd bump his up to 6ish, given his lack of development, so far.
I also include the family direwolves in the Stark head count, and would put Grey Wind's odds of biting it higher than Ghost's right now -- they're both in highly perilous circumstances, but I feel like Ghost is not yet done saving Jon Snow's ass.
I know, Robb. Take it as a compliment, though. Despite the fact that you're at war, I honestly think your direwolf is less necessary for your survival than your brother's is for his.
I also link Samwell Tarly's ranking to Jon Snow's, which puts him at the relatively safe end of the impending death spectrum, for the moment.
Really?
Having somehow escaped death in the season cliffhanger, I don't think he'll get offed until Snow is there to witness/be traumatized by/be either powerless to prevent or somehow responsible for his death, because that's how much Snow's life sucks.
Oh.
I think Ygritte is safe, for now, and for similar reasons: she's also not going to get killed before she can help complicate Jon's life a bit more.
Don't look so worried, Snow. I'm sure the Night's Watch will understand. I mean, it's not like you...
Ok, um...but she would never--
Yeah, OK. But you already knew you were screwed, right?
Tyrion sees what I did there.
Robb's lady, on the other hand, is a goner. I don't know that she's likely to go in the next few episodes, but she's *definitely* on my most-likely-to-go list, so we'll cross that bridge when we come to it.
There, too.
What do you think -- who's most likely to get axed? Or stabbed, or defenestrated, or poisoned, or set on fire, or...
And remember -- no spoilers from the books (or the interwebs)!
I really like the first X-Men movie. It had problems (not just Halle Berry and her accent, though...yeah), but it was enjoyable, the relationship between Wolverine and Rogue was compelling, and Patrick Stewart and Ian McKellen really classed the joint up. I thought that X2 was better paced, but less emotionally compelling, though still very enjoyable. Best not to speak much of X-Men: The Last Stand, so I'll just point out that, even in that mess, Stewart and McKellen remain great; Jackman has some really good moments (including one in which James Marsden briefly overcomes the Scott Summers effect); and Berry even acts past her accent long enough for a really compelling scene. "X-Men Origins: Wolverine" was disappointing, despite good performances from Hugh Jackman and Liev Schreiber. Jackman continues to be good enough as Wolverine that I will go to see "The Wolverine" when it comes out. "X-Men: First Class" was two movies: a bad one (starring James McAvoy, Jennifer Lawrence, January Jones, and Nicholas Hoult) and a good one (starring James McAvoy and Michael Fassbender), so, I haven't been getting my hopes up for "X-Men: Days of Future Past." Oh, I was always planning to go see it -- I knew Bryan Singer was coming back to the franchise, and I knew McAvoy and Fassbender would be there, so I wasn't going to skip it. But I haven't been getting my hopes up. Yeah, I know it's based on a popular storyline from the comics. I (mostly) didn't read the comics, but know about the story from the loose adaptation done for the 90s cartoon, which I did watch, and which I loved. The bits of it that I remember most fondly? The Phoenix Saga, the Nightcrawler episode, and -- you guessed it -- the Days of Future Past arc. And Gambit. I'm still mad about Gambit being wasted in "Wolverine."
Anyway, I've been doing a good job of not getting my hopes up about "Days of Future Past," despite its potential to be good. Then, this morning, Rowles at Pajiba went and got all giddy about the latest casting news, which I was behind on (because I didn't want to get my hopes up), and now I know that it will also involve Patrick Stewart and Ian McKellen (new to me), and maybe even Jackman (news). Even this, I might have been able to resist getting excited about, but then I saw the projected release date:
July 18th, 2014.
Happy belated future birthday to me! I mean...surely the magic of my birthday will increase the film's overall fantasticness, right? No, seriously -- the first one was released a couple of days before my birthday and, while it definitely had problems, it was also kind of awesome! Remember how good Wolverine and Rogue's relationship was? Remember the cage fight? Remember...sorry, I got distracted by remembering the cage fight. What was I saying? Oh, yeah -- my point is that it is now impossible for me not to get excited about this movie. (Singer + 2 Professor Xs + 2 Magnetos + Wolverine) x My Birthday = AWESOME. Birthday "X-Men" was great, and maybe birthday "Days of Future Past" will be, too! And, maybe they can even rehabilitate Gambit. I mean, Sabretooth started out as one of the problems in "X-Men," and ended up one of best parts of "Wolverine." If they recast him and...
*Sigh* If I'm lucky, I'll forget this excitement and lower my expectations by the time the movie actually comes out. In the meantime, I obviously need to watch old-school X-Men cartoons while I pack.
eta: Patrick Stewart says, "Slow your roll." Well, not in those words, but...
Pajiba (via Deadline) reports that Joss Whedon will be back on television "on a network that's not Fox and with a show no one would dare cancel." I think they're letting their enthusiasm get the best of them. I'm excited that it's not Fox -- that much, we agree on. But I have to admit that I'm a little bit McKayla on this one. I have......feelings about it. It's possible that Whedon will write a well-crafted, smart, fun, pilot script about S.H.I.E.L.D.'s attempts to protect the world from various supernatural baddies. It's even possible that that script will retain much of its original character (or even get improved) from script to screen. And maybe ABC will cast the show with people who can act, or who can, at the very least, be compelling in whatever their roles are. IF this pilot actually gets made, AND it gets aired, I will watch it. But, even if the pilot is good, I'll be surprised if it's something I want to continue watching. Maybe this is because I'm not familiar with the S.H.I.E.L.D. comics, but nothing about the movie S.H.I.E.L.D. has ever made me think I wanted it to be the main idea. Avengers? Yes. S.H.I.E.L.D.? Not so much. And what will the show actually be about? I don't mean what will they *do* -- they will protect the world from various supernatural baddies. But, what will be the show actually be about? Is there a story there past what they do? And is there any chance a weekly TV series -- especially one that will be selling itself as an action-hero show -- will be given the time to develop that story in a way that makes it interesting enough for me to watch? Fox or not, they'll still need to generate ratings numbers, and I really get the feeling that the version of a S.H.I.E.L.D. show I'd be most likely to watch and enjoy for more than the first episode is not the version of a S.H.I.E.L.D. show that will have enough of an audience to survive on the budget it will need to do it well. And there's a lot that could go wrong here, from trite, dumbed-down storytelling to bad acting to lack of diversity in the cast to all of the huge gender issues that run rampant in both television and the comics world. And then there's Dollhouse.
All of which is to say that, while I can't wait to see what Whedon et al. try to do with this, I'm not entirely optimistic. As I said when I got news of HBO's American Gods plans, I'm not *completely* sure it'll be a tragic failure, and at least the pilot will be good? It's a big question mark, and I'm not impressed, yet.
Today, I'm spreading the word about a film project that I'm very excited about:
WONDER WOMEN! is a documentary film that examines the relationship between popular representations of (super)powerful women and society's anxieties about the power of everyday women. The film features interviews with an array of Wonder Women, from Gloria Steinem to Lynda Carter. Yours truly even sat down with the director, Kristy Guevara-Flanagan, to talk about Buffy's place in the ranks of Wonder Women!
The film will be making its world premier in March, at the South by Southwest Festival. But before then, Kristy and her filmmaking partners need support to cover the costs of preparing the final festival print. Please check out the WONDER WOMEN! Kickstarter page, and consider supporting the fundraising drive with a donation of $1 or more. There's just about 2 weeks left to make the funding goal, and they're very close -- every dollar counts!
Finally treated myself to Clan Building, volume 2 -- the collection that spans the second half of the all-too-short-lived Gargoyles comic, including the unreleased material. It was fun to have just a few more "episodes" of one of my favorite things. Lots of familiar faces, and some *serious* drama. Also? This is the cover.
I hadn't heard about this encounter before now, but I love it! As someone who already believes that the stories we tell are important, that TV and films both shape and reflect us (sometimes in ways we don't acknowledge or even understand), and that speculative fiction can be a particularly powerful way for us to imagine human possibility, I find the idea of MLK telling Nichols to stay with Star Trek for the greater good quite moving. And it puts me in mind of another SFF character that broke racial barriers, at least for this viewer:
NYPD Detective Elisa Maza
Elisa Maza was one of many awesome things about Gargoyles, the utterly fantastic animated series that ran as part of the Disney Afternoon from 1994-1996. One episode of the show, entitled "The Journey," aired on ABC in Disney's One Saturday Morning programming.
Other sources will tell you that the ABC episode I speak of was actually the first of 13, the beginning of a spin-off called something ridiculous, like "Gargoyles: The Goliath Chronicles." This is patently untrue, as the monstrosity that aired on ABC was not at all the same show, and should, for the most part, be forgotten. Or disavowed. Or stabbed until killed. Dead. It may help you to know at this point that, in my mind, Heroes will be easy to marathon when I finally get around to it, because it only ran for one season. I also maintain that The Matrix was an excellent movie and had no sequels.
But I digress.
Elisa Maza was notable to me because she was a serious badass -- a lady cop with a great old car, a killer roundhouse, and serious attitude, she flew with the Gargoyles, taking on baddies from mobsters to mythical creatures to an uber-rich supervillain diabolical enough to have his own TV Trope. She also had Fantastic Disney Hair.
As if all of that wasn't enough to make her my favorite, here's a picture of her family:
HOLY CHARACTERS OF COLOR, BATMAN!
Seated is a young and uncharacteristically pale-faced Elisa Maza. Standing, far left, is her dad, Peter Maza. On the far right is her mom, Diane Maza. The younger man is Elisa's brother, Derek, who later becomes an important character in his own right. In the middle is Beth Maza, the youngest of the family. We meet all save Beth in "Deadly Force," about halfway-ish through Season One, when shit gets so real that a worried Maza family gathers at Elisa's hospital bedside. At that first intro, it's clear that Diane Maza is African American, and that Peter Maza is not. I believe it's not until Season 2 that we're told he's of Hopi descent. I remember my response being something along the lines of, "Wait, so Elisa Maza's really, really not white? Sweet!"
It doesn't seem like it would be a big deal, a random cartoon character being multi-ethnic. But something about the way that it was handled, as if it were the most normal thing in the world, made her that much more exciting. Maybe it was the fact that I loved that show, that I thought that character had a lot of good things going. Or maybe it was the fact that, thinking back, I couldn't remember another black female character on a cartoon I'd loved since Shana (Jem, 1985-1988) and Diana (Dungeons and Dragons, 1983-1985).
Shana, far left. Her hair was truly outrageous.
Diana (aka The Acrobat). I never understood why she was wearing a fur bikini.
But I think it was more than that. For me, Elisa Maza was an animated descendant of Lt. Uhura - a female character of color making it look perfectly normal for brown women to kick ass and wield power. Instead of outer space, she traveled through time, around the world, and through the streets and skies of Manhattan, encountering new life and new civilizations of her own.
Of course, Elisa Maza traced her lineage back to the Enterprise in more explicit ways: Diane Maza, a native New Yorker whose ancestors hail from Nigeria, was voiced by none other than Lt. Uhura herself, Nichelle Nichols.
I'm going to say something now that hurts me a bit (*deep breath*): this new picture of H. Cavill as Superman
Click picture for ginormous version
does absolutely nothing for me. Ok, not *absolutely* nothing. I don't like the way the suit looks. The texturing looks fine on Spiderman, but I don't like it here. And, I'm beginning to feel like texturing on superheroes is the equivalent of distressing on jeans. Don't like. And I really don'tlike the way his hair looks. I've seen Cavill with better hair both as himself and as other characters. And I don't love the look of him, but as I said before, I'm withholding judgment on that. The first pictures I saw of Tom Welling, when they were just starting to promote Smallville, had him looking not at all Clark-ish enough for my taste, but then he turned out to look very much the part. So, yeah -- I'm not loving this picture.
Now, let me be clear: unless the trailers stink it up something *really* awful (like G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra awful), I will see it. Because I might like it. I seem to be in the minority on this, but I like Superman, and I feel like there's a great Superman story possible. I don't expect Zach Snyder's movie to tell that story, but it could still be fun to watch...
Oh, and I did say that I don't *absolutely* hate the picture. So, I'm hoping that's angry face, and not Blue Steel. I like it that maybe there will be some AngrySuperman. And I'm very excited to see the first Billowy Cape shot, because that cape is obviously going to billow well.
This morning, TNC links to Matt Yglesias' response to TNC's first column in the NY Times. Which happens to be about X-Men: First Class. I happen to agree with what I think is TNC's main point, that the film positions itself historically and, in the process, erases or ignores a major part of that history. In fact, as I wrote to a friend yesterday,
He's totally right, by the way. I was actually most annoyed by the way that it adopted the language of the civil rights movement (mutant and proud? really?!) and played up Xavier and Lehnsherr's MLK/Malcolm X resonances, but only in a way that could have been ignored/missed by people who don't already know about those resonances.
I was also unhappy with the fact that all of the brown mutants ended up on Magneto's side. I think Yglesias is correct in that Magneto is right -- homo sapiens sapiens cannot be trusted as naively as Xavier seems to. But, again, I have to side with TNC on this one. Magneto is right, but only up to a point. As TNC says in his response to Yglesias:
If Xavier's integrationist attitude is naive (and it is), I'd argue that Magneto's faith in violence and ethnic nationalism is equally so. For me, that really is the beauty of the film. I don't think it can be reduced to who is "right." As Magneto says, Xavier thinks all humans are like Moira. And as Xavier replies, Magneto thinks all humans are like Shaw.
I cannot support Magneto's intended (at the end of this film) or actual (in the earlier films) response to that, which is not a fight for equality (violent or otherwise), but a lifelong misson of world domination (very very violent), with disregard for the lives of both "normal" human beings and mutants. And seemingly having forgotten, ironically enough, that genocide and the mass mistreatment of groups on the basis that you consider them less than you are both BAD BAD THINGS.
*This has been your a.m. geek out. Now back to regularly scheduled nerding, as I finish the last of my grading for the quarter. Expect to see a bit more activity around here, now that the school year is loosening its death grip.
This review has spoilers in it. X-Men: First class is highly entertaining and, in some places, good. Its goodness seems to me to have less to do with the actual writing, and more to do with the pathos the main actors are able to generate. Fassbender & McAvoy are saddled with some unfortunate dialogue, and Erik Lehnsherr/Magneto's storyline is definitely richer and more developed than Charles Xavier's. I think Fassbender was stronger than McAvoy, but that may just be because his role is more evidently angsty, while McAvoy is often stuck giving pep talks. In substantive narrative terms, I feel like I know exactly how Lehnsherr became Magneto, and why he is the way that he is. It's less clear to me, though, how Charles Xavier, as presented in this film, actually *became* Professor X, not just in name, but in personality. Despite that, the Erik/Charles dynamic is often enthralling to watch.
The villains are more of a mixed bag. Sebastian Shaw is definitely a little cartoony, but Kevin Bacon deliciously creepy and menacing. January Jones, on the other hand, seems every bit as hollow as an actress as Emma Frost, Shaw's right-hand-woman, is as a character. Azazel and Riptide aren't really characters at all, more like mutant-power-props (I don't think we're ever even told Riptide's name).
The junior mutants are a little bit more than props, but often feel like filler, and the younger actors who take the spotlight are less talented than the older ones. This means that they do not have the skills to elevate the material (it's possible that Edi Gathegi, as Darwin, is an exception to that in his final scene). For the most part, Havoc, Banshee, and Darwin feel like plot devices -- inset here for comic relief or a bit of pathos. Beast is given a bit more to do, which is unfortunate, because Nicholas Hoult is pretty thoroughly unimpressive as an actor.
And then there's Young Mystique. Jennifer Lawrence is not bad, though I wouldn't have pegged her as an Oscar-nominated actress from this performance. And I wish Raven/Mystique could have taken a blue foot to the backside of whoever wrote at least one repeated portion of her dialogue. (I get it, already! It was corny the first time, and got worse with every repetition!) But I think the main problems there are less with her performance than with the narrative itself. We know going in what choices she will make. The movie shows us the beginning of her relationship with Magneto, which is cool (and a little creepy). The movie provides some context for the worldview we know she will later have, but Mystique's participation in Magneto's separatist/supremacist movement, as presented in the movies, already made perfect sense. Given the extremity of her visible mutation, she cannot, as her normal self, pass for normal. And we know how well that's going to go over with the general, non-mutant population. But her mutant ability is shapeshifting (win!), and she can kick your ass (win-win!). So she's got some pretty kickass powers, and she's got what must at least feel like the moral high ground (I'd argue that it is, but only up to a point somewhere before full-scale terrorism, which is basically what the Brotherhood is about). So none of this is actually new. The newness in this film is the complication that it introduces.
I'm giving it 3 1/2 *s. Not quite a "good" movie, but highly enjoyable, and better than I expected. Not surprisingly, the love story is thin and the special effects, though pretty, are also a bit hollow, a bit too glossy. And there's a whole lot of yelling as a stand in for acting. But it was also genuinely funny at times, especially thanks to Cat Dennings, and Hemsworth makes a charming hothead. It's probably a problem, but also not a huge surprise that I came out of the film more interested in Loki than in Thor: he's a better character, with more complexity built in, and Tom Hiddleston pulled off some nice moments at various places on the Loki-spectrum -- a classic Iago-like poisonous whisper and a couple of glimpses of the son in need of a hug stand out in particular.
All in all, a good time.
5 *s = "WOW!" 4 *s = "Good" 3 *s = "Stupid fun, decent, or at least not bad enough to get 2 *s" 2 *s = "Bad, but not awful, or enjoyable despite its awfulness"
1 * = "The best part was the end, because then it was over."
no *s = "*Deep, pain-filled sigh*...I will never get that [insert running time here] of my life back."
Saw this trailer in the theater (ahead of Fast Five). Am Guessing I'll see it in front of Thor tomorrow (well, today) as well. It looks cool, but the memories of X-Men: The Last Stand and Wolverine are strong...
Oh, who am I kidding - I got totally excited, and I can't wait to see it! I don't know anything about Fassbender, but he looks appropriately intense. McAvoy doesn't look anything like Xavier to me, even a young one, but I like him, and I think he'll do well if they give him anything decent to do. And I guess I should start forming an opinion of Jennifer Lawrence, since I'll read and eventually see The Hunger Games...
I give the trailer 4 stars. Good, but not great. (Totally excited, though.)
5 *s = "WOW!" 4 *s = "Good" 3 *s = "Stupid fun, decent, or at least not bad enough to get 2 *s" 2 *s = "Bad, but not awful, or enjoyable despite its awfulness"
1 * = "The best part was the end, because then it was over."
no *s = "*Deep, pain-filled sigh*...I will never get that [insert running time here] of my life back."
So, HBO is in talks to make American Gods. Here's what I've said about it:
The conversation I had with my roommate after hearing the news was mostly about how I just assume they'll try to cast a white person as Shadow, which will be what it takes to make me not watch it. Feeling like they're going to mess it up will not be enough -- if it makes it to air, I'll watch it to see *how* they mess it up. But if they cast some white dude, or some dude who really just looks white, as opposed to looking like he's brown of some sort but people are not sure which sort (unless they're black, in which case they know he's black), I will hulk out, and I will not watch. Trust.
Anyway, Racialicious is talking about it today. Topics covered: Gaiman usually not being a jackass. Gaiman sometimes being a jackass. Hoping Gaiman will not be a jackass, and will have enough clout to keep the production free of jackassery. Gaiman's wife's.
So I think I'll make this the featured post for a while and update it with links as I make my way through the Whedon spotlight. If you're looking for new stuff that's not this, please scroll down. Thanks!
OMG, y'all -- THIS IS MINE!!! OK, first, they added that "in shows of Joss Whedon." Second, I didn't pick the picture. Third -- OMG, IT'S ME! GO READ IT! And then leave some comments on it.
*sigh* I'm falling behind, but here are things I *want to be reading:
So, over at the New York Times, someone named Ginia Bellafante wrote a "review" of Game of Thrones, in which she proclaims that "Game of Thrones is boy fiction" sexed up with "unhindered bed-jumping" "as a little something for the ladies, out of a justifiable fear, perhaps, that no woman alive would watch otherwise." I put review in scare quotes because, as far as I'm concerned, if you start with the idea that no one with boobs could possibly want to watch this and follow up, as she does, with the thought that nothing in this genre could possibly have anything worthwhile to say to anyone, you haven't really done much to make me feel like you're trustworthy source of information on whether or not it's worth watching.
Now, as a) a woman who is b) alive and would c) watch if I had HBO, I was planning a response to the "boy fiction" bullshit (I'll be sure to include that in the title of my class next time), but Joanna Robinson over at Pajiba has already made such a fantastic one that I'm just going to link to hers and leave it at that. The comments are also pretty fantastic, as is often the case on Pajiba. Potentially spoilerific, but fantastic.
So the highlight of day 3 was obviously the Doctor Who panel, which I've already posted about a little bit. It was moderated by Chris Hardwick, and the panelists were Toby Haynes (director of stuff, including Sherlock), Mark Shepard (that guy who's in all those shows you love) and Neil Gaiman (purveyor of awesome).
Before the panel, there was The Line. I got up early (for me, on a Sunday) and went to get in line, because I knew that Doctor Who + Neil Gaiman at Wondercon would be a fool. M. met me in line and was kind enough to supply me with caffeine (key on day 3 of con.). We got ushered into the big room and given free tees. In case you've forgotten, they look like this:
Then we found seats, got settled, and waited for the magic to begin. After the intros, there was a 6 minute preview (I mostly won't talk about the footage, partially because it makes no sense to me, because I am so far behind, and partially because it was lots of quick cuts and snippets that you will find better described other places). The big hype was that 2 episodes, I believe, are set in the US. President Nixon is involved.
There was much talk of Neil Gaiman's long-awaited episode, which was postponed for money reasons.
"They took other episodes out round the bike shed and beat them up and took their dinner money and gave it to my episode," Neil said. He also said the thing about how not to get caught up in all the history, which I liked a lot, and which I quoted in the post linked above.
And there was a lot of talk about the easiest/hardest thing about filming Doctor Who. Mark said that the easiest is the passion everyone brings to it, while the hardest is that TV is so much more distant than live theater, harder to connect with the audience. Neil said the hardest was realizing that reality is expensive, which makes making TV difficult. The easiest was the creative freedom. Toby said something similar, that the "dream killer" meeting, where all the production realities are brought out is most difficult, but that the best is how creative everyone gets to make it all work out.
Some fun footage, entertaining to listen to them talk about the behind the scenes fun, and I'll be super excited to see the eps. when I get to them.
Also on day 3: I went to great panel on female spies and private detectives. Speakers were Jennifer Stuller and Trina Robbins. I now absolutely need to read a graphic novel called Queen and Country, and I bought a book from Trina called Eternally Bad - Goddesses With Attitude. Also checked out a presentation on the Nikopal series, which I'd also like to read. So many books, so little time...
Seen around the conference that day:
Who you gonna call?
I petered out early on Sunday - after a full weekend of the crowd I was ready to call it quits. I'll have to pace myself better at ComicCon, there will be both a bigger crowd and since I won't have the advantage of being able to just go home to my own apartment every night. And since I'll be presenting on one of the days. We'll see how it all goes. I'm hoping at least that the fact that I won't also be teaching means that I'll be able to do daily updates, rather than saving it all until the week after to start posting about it...
