The biggest and best pop culture and comic book convention in Kansas City’s history was held this weekend as Planet Comicon 2013 filled the Bartle Hall at the Kansas City Convention Center with thousands and maybe even tens of thousands of fans of everything from Doctor Who to superheroes, Star Trek and Star Wars, to video games and anime.  It’s first day downtown was a big success with lots of happy fans talking with their favorite comic book and fantasy writers and artists and TV and movie actors.

Here’s a photo gallery of what we saw from Elizabeth C. Bunce’s Booth on Artist’s Row and walking around today.

Meeting Firefly’s Hero of Canton and Chuck’s John Casey–Adam Baldwin.

Our favorite comic book legend, Howard Chaykin, at his first Planet Comicon appearance and first Kansas City show in eight years.

With borg.com writer and author Elizabeth C. Bunce at Booth 545 in Artist’s Alley.

With comics legend Neal Adams, artist on the best Silver Age comic book series ever–Green Lantern/Green Arrow 76-89.

The longest lines were for Big Bang Theory’s Wil Wheaton.

Panels with Wheaton and George Takei drew the biggest crowds of the day, filling the big ballroom with a standing room only crowd.

Tough guys Adam Baldwin and Lou Ferrigno had their own end of Celebrity Row.

Fan favorite Peter Mayhew (Chewbacca in Star Wars) returned to Planet Comicon for his third appearance.

Star of the new G.I. Joe movie as Snake Eyes and Star Wars: The Phantom Menace’s Darth Maul, Ray Park had his first appearance at Planet Comicon today.

Back to the Future DeLorean at Planet Comicon 2013.

And it wouldn’t be a Con without lots of fans in costumes.  Here’s who we saw today: 

Don’t Blink, it’s a Weeping Angel from Doctor Who. Doctor Who represented the biggest grouping of costumes at this year’s show, with many Doctors out and about.

This hawk cawed all day, staying in character well into the evening at the official Con after party at Alamo Drafthouse.

Our own Elizabeth C. Bunce in Marion Ravenwood attire met up with this Indiana Jones walking by the booth today.

One of the Green Arrow costumes at this year’s show.

Team Buy More’s Nerd Herd is alive and well, ready to meet Chuck’s Adam Baldwin.

The Justice League plus one Bane. But they had nothing on the Muppets Swedish Chef and Chicken in the background.

The people behind this year’s Planet Comicon and the Elite Comics crowd at the Planet Comicon after party at Alamo Drafthouse, also attended by the classy Mr. Howard Chaykin (not pictured).

Thanks to everyone who visited the booth and everyone who made Day One of this year’s show a big success.

C.J. Bunce
Editor
borg.com

After a crazy day of an insane volume of fans storming Bartle Hall in Kansas City Saturday for the biggest Planet Comicon event in more than a dozen years of events, it seemed like everyone came back Sunday for Day Two with aisles jam-packed again.  And for fans of all things borg like us, it was a banner day, meeting up with the original Bionic Woman herself, Lindsay Wagner, and the current writer on Dynamite’s Bionic Man series, Aaron Gillespie.

First up–Bionic Man cosplay.  The idea was inspired by my own large-sized action figure as a kid.  Originally planned by DW and me for SDCC 2012, it seemed a great fit for a borg.com tie-in, too.  Always looking for something original for other fans to enjoy, we’d never seen anyone re-create Steve Austin, the Bionic Man, at any convention ever, or posted online anywhere.  As the idea developed we decided it needed something more–and we moved from the character to the 1970s action figure itself.  With bionic eye, inserted arm circuitry, a pair of classic red and white striped Adidas Dragons, the classic red track suit, and the key identifier–the patch that was used as the official fan club badge and stuck on the chest of every Bionic Man action figure, which makes sense for the toy but would never make sense on the show–we had all but one thing left.   Decades ago you could find plastic hair at costume or theatrical shops but go searching and you’ll come up empty.  So we searched for full face masks that could be altered and came up with a JFK mask that could be cut and repainted, which seemed to do the trick.  Add some spirit gum (which may never ever come off my face) and temporarily lose the goatee, we found contact lenses from a UK retailer, made the patch from transfer paper using Web images and interfacing, and temporary tattoo material, and we have the Six Million Dollar Man large-sized action figure.  We got some good reaction to it at the Elite Comics Halloween event last year, and when we saw Lindsay Wagner as a guest of this year’s Planet Comicon it was obvious I was going to wear it to the show.

Lindsay Wagner and CJ Bunce cosplay bionic action figures

This past week I concocted another thought–I wonder if anyone has ever enlisted the help of an actual actor as part of a cosplay project for the character that actor portrayed?  So I tracked down (no pun intended) a blue track suit to match the later version of the Bionic Woman action figure and with DW’s speedy patch work we had an outfit for Ms. Wagner.  Would she go for it, and could I ask her without being one of those pushy, annoying fans?  As I’d hoped, Ms. Wagner lit up when she saw me at the opening of today’s show (she seemed to really like the bionic eye) and was more than happy to snap a few photos wearing the Bionic Woman action figure outfit–and the best thing was no plastic hair was needed for her as the original figure had “life-like” hair.  Win!   Thanks, Lindsay!  She was a gracious participant in my plan and I am in her debt.  And we got to chat with her about her role on Warehouse 13 on the Syfy Channel–she’ll be back again this next season!

I had hoped to meet up again with Bionic Man writer Phil Hester but he had to cancel his appearance this year.  I mentioned that to long-time friend of Phil, Ande Parks (one of my favorite Green Arrow creators), and he mentioned that fellow Iowa native Aaron Gillespie was a surprise addition to the Con, so I tracked him down through the help of comic book writer Dennis Hopeless.  I had a great chat with Aaron about his series. 

borg.com editor CJ Bunce and Bionic Man writer Aaron Gillespie at Planet Comicon 2013.

We also attended a novel writers panel moderated by Ande Parks with borg.com writer Elizabeth C. Bunce as one of the panelists.  A great discussion of the process behind writing novels!

Novel writing panel at Planet Comicon 2013.

And of course, more cosplayers in cool costumes crossed the floor Sunday.

E.C. Bunce and Kate McCormick in 1880s TARDIS Polonnaise bustle gown.

Doctor Who was the biggest theme again today and we caught this excellent red borg Dalek speeding through Artists’ Alley:

Dalek at Planet Comicon.

Finally, my favorite costume of the show, this excellent Predator!

Predator at Planet Comicon 2013.

And continuing my self-proclaimed status as the world’s biggest Green Arrow fan, I kept up my decade-long tradition of asking artists to create their take on Green Arrow and Black Canary, whether or not they have drawn them before.  Dream Thief artist Greg Smallwood created an awesome piece for me–I love his classic Green Arrow and the action from Black Canary!  Here is a pic of Greg with the art.  Thanks, Greg!  I will post a better view of the work later this week with another piece I commissioned at the show.

Dream Thief artist Greg Smallwood at Planet Comicon.

Congrats to Chris Jackson for another great show.  It was great seeing William, Justin, Shawn & Christina, Greg H., Damont, J.P., Freddie, Matt, Chris, Todd & Maria, David M. & Jenny, Jai, Diane, Kevin, Dayton, Ande, Todd S., Laura & Scott, Neal & Mrs. A., and Howard, and meeting Greg S., Ant L., James G., Matt, Katie, John, Charlotte N., Dennis H., Amanda, Lindsay, Adam, and Aaron G.  Thanks to all the new friends we met, all the folks stopping me for photos with the Bionic Man, and everyone who visited me and Elizabeth C. Bunce at Booth 545!

C.J. Bunce
Editor
borg.com

If you have any doubt Patton Oswalt (Dr. Katz, Professional Therapist, Starsky & Hutch, The King of Queens, Dollhouse, Community, Caprica, Burn Notice) is a genius, or comedian, or improv performer, good actor, or all-around cool guy, this week should remove that doubt.  borg.com writer Jason McClain is a fan of Parks and Recreation and has championed the series at borg.com here before.  To advertise Oswalt’s guest appearance on the show last night NBC released this completely improvised scene of Oswalt performing a filibuster before the show’s city council.  It illustrates a lot about how this guy’s brain works and that he’s solidly a genre fan like the rest of us.  

So check out Oswalt’s vision for the next Star Wars movie (a cool Boba Fett opener!), tying in the Marvel Universe (Moon Knight!  Wolverine’s clone daughter X-23!  Hercules!) and some good ideas you could actually see J.J. Abrams taking seriously (um, minus the Chewbacca one, that is), as well as a good recall of tidbits of Star Wars and Marvel trivia. 

The background extras really had their work cut out for them by keeping straight faces, although you can see five young guys in the back that are totally engaged in Oswalt’s story almost ready to crack.

Bravo!

C.J. Bunce
Editor
borg.com

Last night at 7 p.m,. across America theaters showed a one-night only event–the world premiere of the remastered release of Star Trek: The Next Generation two-part episode “The Best of Both Worlds,” including specifically the cliffhanger Part 1, which arguably is the most important Star Trek episode and one of the best episodes of any TV series to hit the airwaves.  Why the best?  It featured a constellation of concepts that came together at just the right time, airing at the end of Season 3, the season where the NextGen cast and writers became comfortable in their roles and produced several incredible episodes, including ”Who Watches the Watchers,” “Yesterday’s Enterprise” (the other contender for best NextGen episode), “Captain’s Holiday,” “Hollow Pursuits,” “The Most Toys,” and “Sarek.”  

The stakes were never greater in a Star Trek episode than in “The Best of Both Worlds,” with the beloved Captain Jean-Luc Picard assimilated by The Borg, turned into the leader Locutus who had all of Picard’s memories and strategies to use against his shipmates.  It also featured something we all wanted to see–Jonathan Frakes’s Commander Will Riker as Captain of the Enterprise-D.  Its cliffhanger ending at the end of Season 3 created a devoted fan following who waited with bated breath all summer and came back for Season 4 and thereafter stuck with Star Trek as loyal fans to this day.  The Star Trek franchise might not be as successful today were it not for this great two-part episode.  

In last night’s theatrical showing, the slow and clumsy members of The Borg collective on the TV screen became even more menacing at 30 feet tall–we like these villains today because of what Patrick Stewart showed us portraying their cold-blooded leader.  The surround sound emphasized tension in the episode’s score that took on an even greater meaning for viewers.  The two most notable factors of the remastering process were LCARs panels you could almost read the letters from, and the detail of the Enterprise-D exterior shots–which are so clear they probably should have been redone to show digital people through the windows since the big screen version emphasized the look as painted squares.  And we were reminded that this episode really belonged to guest star Elizabeth Dennehy, who as Commander Shelby, showed us one of the strongest female characters to appear on TV in an episode that is very much about promoting a woman in Starfleet despite some surprising bits of sexism infused from a 1990 sensibility (like Admiral Hanson discussing “an old man’s fantasies” with regard to Commander Shelby, and Riker and other male crew constantly commenting about Shelby in the ship’s corridors should make you wince).  On the big screen scenes that may have skipped by back then really show how far we’ve all come in even twenty years.  It’s no wonder so many tie-in novels have been written about Shelby’s tough as nails character in the more than two decades since Part 1 first aired on June 8, 1990.  Worf (Michael Dorn), Data (Brent Spiner) and even Wesley Crusher (Wil Wheaton) all come across as very funny on the big screen, too–you forget how the late, great Michael Piller’s writing was always so clever and sharp.

The Fathom Events series continued its great single night programming including parts of the Blu-ray features before and after the showing.  One thing to be aware of if the single edition release of “The Best of Both Worlds,” Parts 1 and 2 is the same version shown last night–the TV series almost needs inserted commercials, especially at least some kind of break with Riker’s last word at the end of Part 1.  Part 1 and Part 2 slid into each other so quickly the impact of Riker’s stunning cliffhanger line was lost to anyone viewing the episodes for the first time.  Also, inserting a documentary in advance of the show which step-by-step revealed plot points of the show further would spoil the episodes for those dragging a friend along to see the episodes for the first time.  But Dennehy’s interview and the blooper reel afterward were great additions.  The crowd laughed loudly at every bit of the blooper reel.  And the documentary that aired before the main feature included some fun interviews with cast members as well as master art designer Rick Sternback, make-up man Michael Westmore, composer Ron Jones, and special effects modelmaker Greg Jein.

With next week’s release of the Season 3 Blu-ray set it’s a great time to re-watch this superb season of television.  Pre-release steep discount Blu-Rays of Star Trek: The Next Generation – Season Three are still available at Amazon.com as well as the discounted Blu-ray of Star Trek: The Next Generation – The Best of Both Worlds.  Star Trek fans who missed last night’s screening really missed a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to be dazzled by this key pair of brilliant episodes.

C.J. Bunce
Editor
borg.com

When does the creative spark begin, and when do you follow through with it?

We chat at borg.com each week about some of the best artists, authors, writers, actors, makers and doers around.  Every creator is at a different place in a spectrum between wanting to do something and accomplishing their goals.  Some may want to be the best out there.  Some may want to get that first project in the hands of readers and viewers.  Whether you’re trying to get that first comic book published, the first novel in the hands of an agent, the first movie playing on the big screen, everyone has to start somewhere.  One route many people take is creating fan versions of existing properties.  Some succeed by starting with fan fiction–either by writing a short story with the further adventures of a popular character, making a full comic book story, or a full-length novel.  For legal reasons these won’t make you money, but they will allow you to work on the creating process.  If you’re really successful at fan fiction you may just end up being noticed–noticed by someone who may give you more opportunities to do what you like to do, or better yet, your big break.

We found four fan works you might not have seen before that we think are worth taking a look at.  First up, a long time ago in a small village in Ireland… there was a nine-year-old Star Wars fan named John White.  Today John has two one-of-a-kind websites, one focusing on a 200-page comic book he wrote as a kid adapting Star Wars to comic book form in Star Wars: Age 9, and the other adapting Alien to comic book form in Alien: Age 11.  Before you brush off the idea as “yeah, my kid does stuff like that” actually take a look at John’s knowledge and talent with layout, color, and design at such a young age (like the panel of the Millennium Falcon above).  John has also filled in the gaps as a grown-up with new work and his new work could easily be found in the pages of today’s DC Comics, Marvel Comics, Dark Horse, etc.  Check this out from one of what I’ll call his “special edition” pages from Star Wars: Age 9:

And how about this stunner John-as-adult added to his Alien: Age 11:

He was good then and his work is great now.  I will only say this–if one of our readers in the comic book publishing industry (say, at Dark Horse or Dynamite) sees these pages and signs John, I just want credit for putting you both together.  I know I’ll be buying his first book.  John’s spark was ignited at 9 years old.

Sam Johnson, one of my friends you might have seen sporting a “red shirt” with me meeting Joss Whedon at Comic-Con last year, teamed up with his college friends this past year to make a new online audio fan-fiction series: Star Trek: New Beginnings.  Sam was influenced by old radio plays like the 1970s Star Wars recordings, as well as Star Trek fan fiction work like New Voyages and Tim Russ’s Of Gods and Men.  With friend Bernard Kyer and a crew of other friends they write episodes, read dialogue with a full cast of actors and then edit in familiar sci-fi sounds and music with Skype equipment and headphones.   Although they’d love to do visual work, as students they just can’t afford the equipment and sets necessary–yet.  Thirteen episodes are in the works for their first season and they’ve gotten off to a great start.

Check out all of the ongoing voyages of the Excelsior class starship Cochrane NCC-37819 here, and this first voyage:

And follow the Star Trek: New Beginnings project at their Facebook page here.  Sam and his friends are creating some great audio work.

One Star Wars fan film that has received a lot of attention is Star Wars: Revelations, which has one of the longest screen-times of any visual fan work at 47 minutes.  It’s an example of what you can do when you have more resources–not the resources for a multi-million dollar Hollywood production, but nearly 200 members of cast and crew and $15-20,000, enough to give viewers your vision in an awesome way.  It has a very Attack of the Clones vibe, interesting costumes, lots of digital effects, and you could see the new Disney Star Wars efforts taking story direction in similar places to Revelations.  And I think the holograms and lightsaber work is particularly incredible, especially for a fan-made production.

Director Shane Felux had a similar spark as John and Sam.  In a Force.net article he wrote:  “You could trace everything back to 1977 where sitting in a darkened theater I was whisked away into Star Wars.  It’s what led me to majoring in directing and acting.  You could maybe even say it was Kevin Rubio’s Troops that brought that spark, that desire to make a film into being again because it was Troops that brought on the new wave of fan films.  Films I had watched and decided would be a great stepping stone back into the world of directing.  I thought about it for awhile and realized that there would never be a “good” time to do it.  There was a full time job, a spouse, and now a child. It was only going to get harder.”  Read more at Force.net here.

Here is the trailer for Star Wars: Revelations:

And you can watch the entire film here:

The computer effects look like something out of the video game Star Wars 1313 that was due out from LucasArts that we previewed here.  Unfortunately with Disney dismantling the LucasArts division Star Wars 1313 seems to be in jeopardy.  Maybe someone like Shane could help get more projects like this going at the new Star Wars wing at Disney?

Probably the best Star Trek fan film and best fan production of any franchise might be Tim Russ’s Star Trek: Of Gods and Men.  Although it incorporates well-done original series story sets, props, and costumes, the real punch with Of Gods and Men is the willingness of so many former Star Trek actors to return to either reprise characters they originally played or take on new roles.  First and foremost is Nichelle Nichols returning as Uhura, Walter Koenig returning as Chekov, Tim Russ as Tuvok and Alan Ruck as Captain Harriman.  It also starred Star Trek’s Garrett Wang, Chase Masterson, J.G. Hertzler, Gary Graham, Ethan Phillips and Cirroc Lofton.  The story itself even has elements that were later seen in the Star Trek 2009 reboot film.  The ships, other special effects and sound track are also well done.  And because it is a fan film you can watch the three-part sci-fi drama online for free at the production website here or watch it all right now here:

The parallel universe Evil Captain Harriman is the best part.

Director Tim Russ was already a Hollywood professional–a successful actor in both Star Trek Voyager and Star Trek Generations, yet he still wanted to make a fan film.  And he made it happen.

As with all fan fiction, you have to remember these are made by fans, so they aren’t of the final quality you’d see on TV or at a theater so set your expectations accordingly.  Yet for the love of the worlds they explore they show off some great skills and illustrate what talented people can do when they come together, whether or not they are professionals.  And if there is something you want to do, whether it’s write, draw, paint, sing, build, or make, clear the way of whatever is holding you back and get started!

C.J. Bunce
Editor
borg.com

This year I continued my Comicon season by commissioning sketches from comic book artists of my favorite characters, Green Arrow and Black Canary.  I always like to let the artists do whatever vision they have with the duo and am always blown away by the results and at this year’s Planet Comicon it was no different.  It’s even better when you watch artists take on characters for the first time.

At Planet Comicon weekend itself, I met Greg Smallwood, who I found at Artists Alley with the forthcoming Dream Thief co-creator Jai Nitz.  Greg sketched this great piece for me, and I’d LOVE to see a series with this classic look.

Black Canary never before looked more like she was going to take everyone out of commission with that sonic scream!

I also asked my friend Damont Jordan to give me his take on Green Arrow and Black Canary and gave him a few weeks after the Con to take his time with it.  Somewhere we started chatting up adding extra characters and I threw out the idea of something like “oh yeah, why not include Super Grover, too.”  And BAM!  Check this out:

It reminds me of Mauro Cascioli’s Green Arrow covers from a few years ago.  I’m calling this “Don’t Sell Drugs on Sesame Street.”  Click on the image for a bigger view and you can see a lot going on here, from the perspective of two drug dealers, a bombed Speedy, and a floating Super Grover.  Great detail!  So my take on the story is Oliver and Dinah show up and find two guys selling to Speedy while he’s working at Mr. Hooper’s on Sesame Street.  Ollie puts an arrow in each guy as Speedy reaches for another hit.  The next part could go either way–more like Super Grover is coming along to help get rid of the thugs (maybe called in by Oscar the Grouch on his mobile phone as he watches from his garbage can?), but Grover could also be some drug-induced image one of the dealers sees as he is passing out from the arrow wound.  I’ll have to get the full scoop on this from Damont later this week.

Thanks to Greg and Damont for some great sketches–definitely they go at the top of my archive from 10+ years of Cons.

This month I also picked up the original Stephen Segovia cover art to one of the alternate covers for Bionic Man #1.  A lot of energy!

Keep coming back to borg.com for more original comic book art!

C.J. Bunce
Editor
borg.com

If you haven’t seen the incredible bestselling book The Hobbit, An Unexpected Journey Chronicles: Art and Design, check out our earlier review here at borg.com.  It’s a superb behind the scenes look at the artistry of the real-life wizards at Weta Workshop in New Zealand.  Weta hones in on the development of various species and beasts of Middle Earth in their new companion book in the Chronicles series: The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey Chronicles–Creatures & Characters.  As with the earlier book in the series, Creatures & Characters features first-hand accounts from the actors, makeup artists, digital effects specialists, dialect coaches, prosthetics technicians, movement coaches, and other artists and designers from the production.  High quality, close-up and detailed photos of every major character in the film will make this a must-have for Middle Earth cosplayers.

Weta Workshop designer Daniel Falconer has created a book equal to the first volume he created in the series while taking a different approach to the film’s subject matter. Where the first volume highlighted costumes, props and set design, the second volume focuses on make-up, prosthetics and hair creation, casting the actors for the differing Middle Earth races, stunt and movement work, and dialect creation.  As compared to The Lord of the Rings film trilogy, The Hobbit expanded its use of digital characterization, freeing up the production to create new fantastical scenes beyond what was possible before.  Actor and second unit director Andy Serkis and Gollum’s co-creators discuss the character’s role in the story and Serkis’s creation of the character compared to his work in the original trilogy.

Each creature group and race gets its own chapter: hobbits, wizards, dwarves, trolls, elves, stone giants, goblins, orcs and other beasts, with a chapter entirely about Gollum.  The actors share insights on the characters they played, giving a unique look at character development for film.  Particularly interesting because of J.R.R. Tolkien’s exploration and use of language in his stories, the production’s dialect experts discuss their rationale for using real-life language influences and even casting decisions to form the final look and feel of key characters.

You can order The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey Chronicles–Creatures & Characters directly from Weta New Zealand here.  If you missed the original volume in the Chronicles series, you can find it here at Amazon.com frequently along with combination purchase deals.

C.J. Bunce
Editor
borg.com

TNT’s first season of Major Crimes was the surprise win of 2012.  It accomplished something very rare, taking a series–The Closer–that might otherwise have wound down after seven seasons, and used a change in cast to take the best ensemble cast on TV in a very different direction.  For fans of the series wanting to delve deeper into the decision to move the story of L.A.’s Major Crimes unit from a team bent on getting criminal admissions to settling cases, check out Major Crimes: The Complete First Season, available on DVD, next Tuesday, June 11, 2013.

The DVD set includes the ten season one episodes plus four behind-the-scenes features, deleted scenes showing some good acting by the cast that didn’t make the final cut, and a blooper reel.  The best of the features, “Major Crimes: Major Challenge,” examines the big hurdle for this spinoff series, and series creator/writer and executive producer James Duff reveals the challenges, rationale for story arcs, and casting decisions that resulted in the first season of Major Crimes.  Duff is open about the struggle the writers had, ultimately pulling the reality of national economic crises into the series as a key story element that grounded the first season episodes.  Here are three clips from Season One:

• The System
• Gang Wars
• Your Division Caught a Homicide

Series star Mary McDonnell and the rest of the cast discuss the characters in the feature “Crossing the Tape: Inside the Major Crimes Squad,” touching on Captain Raydor in particular.  Fans of the series actors cannot get enough of these types of interviews, and hopefully future season DVD sets include in-depth interviews with Lieutenant Provenza (G.W. Bailey), Lieutenant Flynn (Tony Denison), Lieutenant Tao (Michael Paul Chan), Detective Sanchez (Raymond Cruz), and Buzz (Phillip P. Keene).  This includes some insightful anecdotes, such as having show writers refer to Detective Tao instead as Mike to personalize the role and cut-through the possible stereotype of Michael Paul Chan’s character as just another Asian on TV.  Instead of focusing on featurettes tied to the characters from The Closer, the DVD set includes two features focusing on the new key roles: witness turned foster teen Rusty (Graham Patrick Martin) and the too-eager-to-please Detective Sykes (Kearran Giovanni).

The feature interviews with Graham Patrick Martin reveal why this smart actor and his character added a new, personal story element to the Major Crimes story, which helped make season one so successful.  The personal story elements found in The Closer that were part of Kyra Sedgwick’s Brenda Lee Johnson came through not in Major Crimes lead Captain Raydor, but through the ongoing plot thread involving Rusty, amounting to an interesting role swap recognized by producer Duff.

The gag/blooper reel includes a handful of botched lines resulting in some good laughs from the cast.  You could watch G.W. Bailey and the deceptively stodgy Mary McDonnell laugh it up all day.  Deleted scenes include some great ensemble performances that were worthy of airing.  The DVD includes performances by former The Closer regulars Robert Gossett’s Assistant Chief Taylor, Jon Tenney’s FBI agent Fritz Howard, and Jonathan Del Arco as coroner Dr. Morales.

The DVD set is a great way to get caught up on the series if you missed out last year, especially with Season Two’s first episode “Final Cut,” premiering next week.  Season One left us with Rusty as a full member of the Major Crimes family, having decided his real father doesn’t measure up to foster mom Sharon.  Provenza and his team are such a well-oiled machine at this point that we hope Season Two highlights each individual’s talents, much like the episode “Dismissed with Prejudice” focused on Lieutenant Mike Tao’s super-genius mad investigation skills, as well as more buddy episodes with Flynn and Provenza, and some development of the Detective Sanchez/Detective Sykes relationship.

Here are previews of Major Crimes Season Two:

Major Crimes Season Two premieres on TNT Monday, June 10, 2013, at 8 p.m. Central Time, and Major Crimes: The Complete First Season is available for pre-order now at Amazon.com with the release date Tuesday, June 11, 2013.

C.J. Bunce
Editor
borg.com

Huh?  San Diego Comic-Con is only 20 days away?

The Hollywood studios are in “engage” mode releasing details on their plans for this year’s big show.  One of the bigger draws will be the Ender’s Game panel in Hall H on July 18, and Summit Entertainment has announced that Harrison Ford will return to Comic-Con this year to promote the movie.  Ford surprised fans at the Cowboys and Aliens panel back in 2010, entering the hall in handcuffs.  You can’t get much of a bigger celebrity for Con fans than Han Solo/Indiana Jones himself.  If you missed borg.com’s preview of Ender’s Game, check it out here.

Also attending the panel will be Ender’s Game stars Asa Butterfield, Hailee Steinfeld and Abigail Breslin, producer Roberto Orci and director Gavin Hood.  Summit will have a booth with swag for convention attendees on the center’s show floor.  Adjacent to the Hilton Gaslamp hotel will be a full display promoting the movie and showcasing screen-used props and set pieces from the film.  The exhibit will be interactive and include as-yet unreleased clips of the film and sets from eight environments from Ender’s Game.

Summit Entertainment also released three new promotional posters (shown above), similar to the in-universe military propaganda marketing from Starship Troopers.  No doubt Ender’s Game will be one of the bigger blockbuster films promoted at this year’s Comic-Con.  It does not appear that Orson Scott Card, writer of the series of Ender novels, will be part of the promotional marketing events for the movie.

Ender’s Game hits theaters November 1, 2013.

C.J. Bunce
Editor
borg.com

We kicked off borg.com as a way to catch up on entertainment news, books and movies back on June 10, 2011.  We’ve posted what’s new each day to provide “your daily science fiction, fantasy, and entertainment fix” for two years now and continue to forge ahead as we tick past our 800,000th view by readers today.

We want to say thanks to you for reading.  It’s a lot of fun (and hard work) keeping up on all the great genre entertainment out there, be it on TV, in theaters, in books, or comics.  We also want to thank all the comic book publishers out there that provide us with preview review copies, as well as book publishers and TV and movie studios and collectible companies that allow us to give you first available previews and reviews.  We cover only what we’re interested in and excited about–we figure that if we like it, so might you.

Some of the most fun we’ve had is meeting new people as we keep up on the coolest happenings in the genre realm, some at conventions, some are friends we are grateful to chat with each week of the year.  And lucky for us, borg.com has allowed us to meet some of our own favorite celebrities over the past two years, sci-fi stars like Mark Hamill, Joss Whedon, Jonathan Frakes, Brent Spiner, Anthony Stewart Head, Scott Bakula, Adam Baldwin, Lindsay Wagner, Saul Rubinek, Zachary Levi, Eddie McClintock, Wil Wheaton, and Mark Sheppard.  Sci-fi and fantasy writers like Peter S. Beagle, Connie Willis, James Blaylock, and Sharon Shinn.  And comic book creators like Frank Cho, Jim Lee, Sergio Aragones, Neal Adams, and Howard Chaykin, and scores of other great comics creators like Mike Mayhew, Mike Norton, Michael Golden and Mikel Janin (and several not named Mike).

We met all these people in the pursuit of good fun and covering what’s new and nostalgic for borg.com.  And we continue to think about other favorites we’d love to meet in our journeys, like Alex Ross, Lee Majors, Dennis O’Neil, Linda Hamilton, Bruce Boxleitner, Alan Alda, Harrison Ford, Famke Janssen, Cary Elwes, Benedict Cumberbatch, Kelly MacDonald, Dan Aykroyd, Michael J. Fox, Jim Steranko, Steven Spielberg, Ksenia Solo, and Martin Freeman.  We dream big.  The sky’s the limit.

Serious research requires an eye for detail and immersing yourself in the subject matter.

Thanks to our great reader friends who share story ideas with us, too, from the U.S. and the U.K. and around the globe.  Keep ‘em coming!  We love tracking our readership in hundreds of countries each week, and welcoming new subscribers to our updates as well as those who follow us on Facebook, Twitter, and Tumblr.

Keep coming back–we’re already 20 days into borg.com: Year Three and forging ahead to our 1,000,000th site visit.

Best wishes,

C.J. Bunce
Editor
borg.com

Mulder and Scully will be back together again, at least for thousands of fans attending The X-Files 20th Anniversary Panel in Ballroom 20 at San Diego Comic-Con later this month.  In interviews in past years they have indicated a third movie or other X-Files reunion was possible and maybe they will share more about that as David Duchovny and Gillian Anderson join series creator Chris Carter and writer/producers David Amann, Vince Gilligan, Howard Gordon, Darin Morgan, Glen Morgan, John Shiban and Jim Wong.

We previewed here at borg.com last month another part of the 20th anniversary celebration–the continuing adventures of Scully, Mulder, the Lone Gunmen, the Smoking Man, Skinner and the rest of the paranormal in The X-Files: Season 10 monthly comic book series from IDW Publishing.

The X-Files ran nine seasons, from 1993 to 2002, with recurring roles and guests roles from Robert Patrick (Agent Doggett), Annabeth Gish (Agent Reyes), Mimi Rogers (Agent Fowley), Adam Baldwin (Knowle Rohrer), Michael McKean (Morris Fletcher), Veronica Cartwright (Cassandra Spender), Willie Garson (Henry Weems), Terry O’Quinn (Lt. Tillman), Leon Russom (Detective Miles), Darren McGavin (Agent Dales), Denise Crosby (Dr. Speake), Lucy Lawless (Shannon McMahon), Michael Bublé (submarine sailor), Cary Elwes (Asst. Director Follmer), and Luke Wilson as Sheriff Hartwell in the fan favorite episode “Bad Blood.”  It was also made into two movies: The X-Files: Fight the Future in 1998 and The X-Files: I Want to Believe in 2008.  And it had one spinoff–the short-lived 2001 TV series The Lone Gunmen, feature the quirky trio played by Bruce Harwood, Tom Braidwood, and Dean Haglund.

Since The X-Files David Duchovny has made a handful of movies, including this year’s release Phantom, plus he has starred in seven seasons of the Showtime TV series Californication.  Gillian Anderson has continued acting as well, returning to star in many mini-series in England where she grew up, including Bleak House, Great Expectations, Any Human Heart, The Crimson Petal and the White, and The Fall, and this year back to U.S. television as a recurring character in Hannibal.

If this is like your typical major Comic-Con anniversary panel for such a major sci-fi franchise, you can expect some surprise guests, maybe even Patrick, Gish, Rogers, Elwes, Harwood, Braidwood, or Haglund.  A big hit would be surprise visits from the likes of Mitch Pileggi (Skinner) and William B. Davis (CGB Spender).  Better yet, maybe one of actors behind one of the classic crazy, creepy monster/oddities will show.

You can also pre-register for a chance at one of 100 photo ops and autographs from Anderson and Duchovny after the panel at the Lightspeed Fine Art Booth #3745.  Check out details for the photos and signings here but expect them to go fast.  Anderson has events planned for July 18-20, 2013 (Thursday, Friday, Saturday).  She is scheduled to attend the an The X-Files: Season 10 Comic Book Panel (July 19 from 1:45-2:45pm) and also be signing at the Lightspeed Fine Art Booth.

The TV Guide sponsored The X-Files 20th Anniversary Panel will be held on Comic-Con Thursday (July 18, 2013) at 3:30 p.m. in Ballroom 20.  Plan to spend the night Wednesday in line for this one!

C.J. Bunce
Editor
borg.com

Matt Smith!  Eva Green!  Aaron Eckhart!  Tatiana Maslany!  Joss Whedon!

Nerd HQ returns again for its third year as an added stop for Comic-Con attendees next week from July 18-21, this time changing its venue to the home of the San Diego Padres at Petco Field, via the Gaslamp Gate.  As with past years the highlight of Nerd HQ will be its panel series with admittance limited to 250 attendees. We attended the first Nerd HQ back in 2011 and were able to talk to Zack Levi (Chuck) and catch the panel and autograph signing with Scott Bakula (Quantum Leap, Enterprise, Men of a Certain Age) discussed here at borg.com. Nerd HQ offers an option for those who could not get tickets to Comic-Con and those Comic-Con attendees who want to sample some of the events outside the annual “greatest show of the year.”  Compared to the large audiences at Comic-Con it also offers a more intimate opportunity to ask questions to major genre guests who are only a few feet away.

Tickets are for sale today beginning at noon Pacific Time, and with 250 seats per panel they will sell out quickly.  Each panel costs $22 with all proceeds going to charity.  Last year the events raised $140,000 for Operation Smile.

Here is the initial schedule of panels, the scheduled guests, and a quick link to where to buy tickets today:

Psych
July 18, 2013 9:00 AM
James Roday & Dule Hill, Steve Franks, Kelly Kulchak, Chris Henze

The Maze Runner
July 18, 2013 4:00 PM
Dylan O’Brien, Wes Ball, Wyck Godfrey, James Dashner

PBS Masterpiece Theater: Sherlock
July 18, 2013 5:00 PM
Steven Moffat, Mark Gatiss, Sue Vertue

I, Frankenstein
July 19, 2013 12:15 PM
Aaron Eckhart, Yvonne Strahovski, Stuart Beattie, and Kevin Grevioux

Orphan Black
July 19, 2013 3:00 PM
Tatiana Maslany, Jordan Gavaris and Dylan Bruce

300: Rise of an Empire
July 19, 2013 4:15 PM
Sullivan Stapleton, Eva Green and Rodrigo Santoro

Joe Manganiello/True Blood
July 19, 2013 5:30 PM

Haven
July 19, 2013 6:30 PM
Emily Rose, Lucas Bryant, Eric Balfour, Adam Copeland, Colin Ferguson

Joss Whedon
July 20, 2013 10:00 AM

Thrilling Adventure Hour
July 20, 2013 11:30 AM
Ben Acker and Ben Blacker, Paul F. Tompkins, Paget Brewster, Autumn Reeser, John DiMaggio, Joshua Malina, Marc Evan Jackson, Mark Gagliardi, Craig Cacwkoski, Hal Lublin, Annie Savage, Aaron Ginsburg

Doctor Who
July 20, 2013 2:00 PM
Matt Smith, Jenna Coleman, Steven Moffat

Check out the Nerd HQ/Nerd Machine website for more information and updates.

C.J. Bunce
Editor
borg.com

If you didn’t get to San Diego this year for the annual pilgrimage, or you just missed out on getting tickets to Nerd HQ, then borg.com will get you caught up right now.  Nerd HQ Day One, held at San Diego’s Petco Park, opposite San Diego Comic-Con International today, offered up some fun panels and we’ve included each in full below.  Note that you may want to skip ahead a few minutes on each video to get to the beginning of the panel.

Enjoy!

First up, the Psych panel including series creator Steve Franks, and stars James Roday and Dulé Hill:

Next up, Seth Green and the Robot Chicken panel:

Then Nerd HQ featured a panel from those guys from the NASA Jet Propulsion Lab who created last year’s Curiosity Mars rover we discussed here at borg.com last August:

Next up is a conversation with members of the cast and creators from the new film The Maze Runner:

The great Doctor Who director/writer Steven Moffat was featured in this panel about the awesome British series Sherlock:

Finally, Nerd HQ showrunner Zachary Levi was featured in his own panel to round out the day:

Come back tomorrow for Nerd HQ Day Two!  Proceeds of the $22 tickets for each panel went to Operation Smile.

C.J. Bunce
Editor
borg.com

Following up on yesterday’s rundown of all the Nerd HQ panels, borg.com has all of today’s panels in full from Nerd HQ for you to watch from home if you weren’t one of the 250 people who saw it live at San Diego’s Petco Park, opposite San Diego Comic-Con International today.  Nerd HQ offered up even more fun panels including cast member from Orphan Black–their first Con panel.  Note that you may want to skip ahead a few minutes on each video to get to the beginning of the panel.

Enjoy!

First up, the Hannibal panel including series co-star Hugh Dancy:

Next up, the “Mystery” panel, which ended up featuring Chuck’s Zachary Levi, Rob Zazinsky from Pacific Rim, and Firefly’s Alan Tudyk and Nathan Fillion:

Then Nerd HQ featured a panel from the coming big screen release I, Frankenstein, including actors Aaron Eckhart and Yvonne Strahovski and films creators:

Next up is a conversation with members of the lead cast from the awesome TV series we at borg.com have been watching all season, Orphan Black, including the award-winning actress Tatiana Maslany and shows regulars Jordan Gavaris and Dylan Bruce:

Then Nerd HQ featured a panel from the coming big screen release 300: Rise of an Empire, including actors Rodrigo Santoro, Sullivan Stapleton, and Bond girl and The Golden Compass star Eva Green:

Joe Manganiello from True Blood was featured in his own panel to round out the day:

Finally, the last panel of the day featured a borg.com favorite series, the Syfy Channel’s Haven, featuring Emily Rose, Eric Balfour, Adam Copeland/WWF’s The Edge, and Lucas Bryant as well as Colin Ferguson, star of Eureka:

Come back tomorrow for Nerd HQ Day Three! Proceeds of the $22 tickets for each panel went to Operation Smile.

C.J. Bunce
Editor
borg.com

Nerd HQ continued its panel series today at San Diego’s Petco Park, opposite San Diego Comic-Con International.  borg.com’s own Jason McClain attended the enlightening and fun Doctor Who panel featuring Matt Smith, Jenna-Louise Coleman, and Steven Moffat (and some great questions from fans).  Again today all Nerd HQ panels were available to the rest of the world via live streaming video, which was watched live by more than 2,000 viewers.  Whereas Alan Tudyk hosted the panels yesterday, Nathan Fillion was the emcee for today’s panels, often asking his own excellent questions of the panelists.   (Note that you may want to skip ahead a few minutes on each video to get to the beginning of the panel).

Editor’s Note:  We updated yesterday’s Nerd HQ update today with the panel featuring the hilarious cast of Haven, which had not yet been uploaded when we posted last night.  So if you missed that one, check it out!

First up, don’t miss this great interview with Wil Wheaton, where he explains very well why Comic-Con and its genre fan attendees come together to make such a great event each year.  And he mentions this certain Sharknado cosplayer that Jason McClain caught a photo of today.

Sharknado, Syfy Channel’s latest monster mash-up TV movie is still trending on Twitter and we all agree this lady had her act together to get this costume ready in time for this weekend.  Here is today’s interview with Wil:

Beginning today Nerd HQ featured a panel devoted to the one and only unofficial King of Comic-Con, Joss Whedon (a great interview where he gets into things like Doctor Horrible and Angel as well as answers probably the awesomely nerdiest questions ever asked at a Con regarding the actions of Loki between Thor and The Avengers, which he answers very seriously):

Next up, the Riddick panel, shown at the outside venue, featuring Katee Sackhoff and star Vin Diesel (check out our post earlier today for the full length trailer previewed in part in the panel):

Nerd HQ featured a panel from the Thrilling Adventure Hour:

Next up is the Tiny Commando panel:

Don’t even think about missing this Doctor Who panel, with Matt Smith, Jenna Coleman and a very funny Steven Moffat, and all the questions you’d want to ask Matt Smith about his last season as The Doctor:

Next is the KickAss 2 panel featuring mainly the film’s creators including John Romita, Jr., and visited at the end of the panel by the film’s co-stars Christopher Mintz-Plasse and John Leguizamo:

This is a fun session with The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug and Lost star Evangeline Lilly, with some nice conversation with Nathan Fillion, too:

Finally, the last panel of the day featured Game of Thrones star Richard Madden chatting with Zachary Levi (lots of spoilers if you’re not caught up on the series):

Come back tomorrow as we wrap up coverage of Nerd HQ.

Photos by Jason McClain.

C.J. Bunce
Editor
borg.com

By Jason McClain (@JTorreyMcClain) in San Diego

In contrast to an upcoming post about Concrete Volume 1: “Depths”, I saw the magic of work on display Saturday at Comic-Con.  I attended three panels and they all gave me a glimpse of those special relationships that develop between co-workers.  From Matt Smith calling Steven Moffat “Moff” and Steven “Fat” telling Matt that he’ll be dying soon (on Doctor Who), you could tell a bond had developed.  The Being Human panel featured a question from an audience member named Audrey and that led Sam Huntington to comment that was his daughter’s name.  Then came a whole riff on whether or not this was his daughter time-traveling from the future, and then when Sam Witwer was on the other end of Audrey’s question, eventually Meaghan Rath dropped the mic and left the stage as it was one of many questions directed Sam W.’s way.  The smiles back and forth between those three and the continual riffing revealed how close they were.  However, neither came close to meeting the emotion of the Warehouse 13 panel.

(I so wish I had photos to share with you of Warehouse 13, but my phone died.  I would have looked to the ceiling, clenched my fists and yelled, ”PHONE!” but I didn’t want to interrupt the panel.)

The first emotion – excitement.  The panel started out like any other with introductions of the participants.  When the moderator came to Eddie McClintock, I didn’t see him up on stage because he ran up one of the aisles of the Indigo Ballroom as a human version of a t-shirt cannon.

The next emotion – mischievousness.  Apparently Eddie likes to tweet.  So, as the panel starts, Eddie has his fingers working furiously on his phone while Joanne Kelly tries to snatch it from him.  The moderator asks Saul Rubinek a question as the battle for the phone comes to a head and Joanne wins and slides it down the table to prevent Eddie’s distraction.  The question goes unanswered as the phone takes center stage and Jack Kenny starts to narrate the visions of the photos that he “sees” and a callback to an earlier Cialis reference.

The last emotion – sadness.  Now, this isn’t a solemn or grieving sadness, but rather the sadness that comes with saying good-bye.  Every good-bye has a tinge of sadness as the time we share with those we care about nears its current end.  There will be a tomorrow in the not too distant future, but many days of joy are forever left in the past.

It was the last Comic-Con for the cast.  The last six episodes for Eddie, Joanne, Saul, Allison Scagliotti, Aaron Ashmore and showrunner Jack Kenny.  The last month to spend the majority of everyday with their Warehouse 13 family. Joanne was the first to break and a helpful audience member ran a package of tissues up to her as she talked about how much the earnest love of the audience for the show meant to her.  Next came Eddie and Joanne loaned him one of her newfound tissues as he thanked Saul, Syfy and everyone for believing in him as the lead of a show.  Saul came next, but he kept his composure a bit better as he reflected on what he considered his best role of his life when he wasn’t even looking for it.  Last, as the panel wrapped, Jack broke as he recited the words to a song that said how much good-bye hurt.

Like they said as they talked in the Indigo Ballroom to a throng of fans, the love they have for each other shows on the screen.  The love the audience has for the actors showed as the applause and cheers rang out to encourage every word of appreciation and gratitude to their fellow Warehouse family members.  To paraphrase Joanne, the audience and the cast shared a love for each other for these great five seasons.

Seeing people that close, that open with emotions for each other made me smile many times and made me think of my best work friend, CJ Bunce.  CJ, thanks for hanging out during lunches, taking me to the Renaissance Faire and dressing me up in a costume, for going to comic book shops, for sharing the opportunity to write and for running around the world (well San Diego and Kansas City) to explore science fiction, fantasy and pop-culture with me.  That is a work friendship for which I am grateful and you and Elizabeth are missed in San Diego this year.  I look forward to seeing you both again next year or as soon as possible.  Though just like with the Warehouse 13 folks, another good-bye in the books will be tough, but oh so worth it.

Well that’s it!  San Diego Comic-Con International wound down today.  Our roving reporter, borg.com writer Jason McClain saw some great Hall H panels.  And Nerd HQ finished up four days of great in-person panels, continuing its series today at San Diego’s Petco Park.  Below are the four final panels of the weekend.

(Note that you may want to skip ahead a few minutes on each video to get to the beginning of the panel).

First was Tom Hiddleston, best known as Loki in Thor and The Avengers:

Next were two panels featuring Firefly stars Nathan Fillion and Alan Tudyk.  here is the first panel:

And here is the second panel:

Finally, the stars of Supernatural, Jared Padelecki and Jensen Ackles were featured in the final panel:

C.J. Bunce
Editor
borg.com

By Jason McClain (@JTorreyMcClain)

I’m not sure anyone likes to wait in lines.  When you wait in line at a restaurant it just means more time to get hungry and cranky.  When you wait in line to check-in at your hotel, it means more time holding your backpack or moving your luggage along beside you before you can deposit it on the floor of your room.  When you wait in line at the DMV, the post office or any government agency, you can really start to hate all government and think Ron Paul is amazing.  When you have only two minutes to make your movie and the line in front of you is full of teens not sure of what movie they want to watch, you might consider less strict rules on 48th trimester abortions.  I’m not going to say that waiting in line at Comic-Con is awesome, but I tend to get a lot less impatient in the realm of the Convention Center of San Diego during one weekend in July.

There are a couple of reasons why.  First, as a multiple attendee of Comic-Con, it has slowly dawned on me that there are thousands of people with the same interests as me that all crave the same scoops, information and presence of the creators.  Second, once I realized there are at least one hundred thousand people crowded onto sidewalks in a 30-block area, I thought that moving quickly in any direction is a lost cause.  Third, most everyone at Comic-Con is pretty damn cool, well “cool” in a wonderful nerdy way.

However, Hall H is a completely different breed of line.  It is Godzilla to the DMV’s Western Skink.  It is King Kong to your hotel’s Pygmy Marmoset.  It is the monster truck Bigfoot to your grocery store’s matchbox car.  Still, it’s Comic-Con, so even though it is the worst of the lines, it’s still pretty ok.

6,130 people can fit in Hall H.  (The next biggest space, Ballroom 20, can host 4,250 and the adventures in that line can be very similar.)  To give you an idea of what it is like to wait in line for a panel in Hall H, I’m going to construct a timeline from my memories and texts to describe and to possibly prepare you for years to come at Comic-Con.  Most times are approximate, though the first is spot on because it burned in my memory as the thought, “What the hell am I doing?” seared it in my mind.  Some events are fictional and others are exaggerated to improve your reading pleasure on the subject of lines.  I won’t tell you which ones.

4:03 a.m.:  Wake up before alarm clock rings.  Look at clock.  Try to figure out if it is possible to get more sleep.

4:04 a.m.:  Lie back down to try to get more sleep.

4:06 a.m.:  Realize sleep isn’t returning, start preparing for a shower.

4:10 a.m.:  Walk to shower.

4:11 a.m.:   Return to room because in the sleep-induced haze, I forgot my towel.

4:13 a.m.:  Start shower.

4:15 a.m.:  Finally figure out how to get the right temperature for the shower.

4:25 a.m.:  Return to room mostly dry and preparing to pack my backpack to leave.

4:45 a.m.:  Check out of room and start the long walk to Hall H.

4:46 a.m.:  Glance nervously at guy across the street yelling to himself about the dangers of cotton undershirts.

5:05 a.m.:  Arrive near Hall H and think that the line looks incredibly short.  Plop myself down on the grass to wait.

5:10 a.m.:  Realize I’m in the wrong line and start my trek to the back of the line of Hall H.

5:20 a.m.:  Arrive at the back of the line that almost reaches the ocean.  Turn around and start to move with the line to begin the long, drawn out trek back.  It’s still dark and I have yet to have coffee.

5:27 a.m.:  Text my friend hoping that maybe she is farther up in the line and I can go find her.

5:35 a.m.:  Get text back saying she is just now leaving her hotel.  I start to settle in for the long haul.

5:39 a.m.:  Start chatting with the folks in front of me and behind me.  Find one fan of Supernatural, one Sons of Anarchy fan, and many Doctor Who fans (though most are fans of more than one thing.)  Chatting continues for the rest of the day as we discuss jobs, favorite shows, favorite Comic-Con experiences and just life in general.

5:41 a.m.:  Discuss our chances of getting in Hall H.  The more that people line up behind us, the more my confidence is buoyed.  The Supernatural fan is wary and expressing some doubts for her panel at 10:15.

6:00 a.m.:  Volunteer with a pleasant English accent tells us they are starting the condensing process and that we should be moving shortly.

6:15 a.m.:  Start to move as it takes a while for the line movement to reach us.

6:30 a.m.:  Friend arrives!  Happy face!

6:31 a.m.:  Friend departs to go get coffee.  Sad face.

6:35 a.m.:  Friend texts to say that the line at Starbucks is just as crazy.  Really sad face.

7:00 a.m.:  Line stops just north of the outdoor bathrooms for the park as condensing finishes.  We all sit down and I break out my dried mangoes as not eating breakfast finally starts to hit me.  (I wasn’t hungry as I ate dinner including a peach/blackberry cobbler with vanilla bean ice cream at 10 p.m. the previous night. Mmmm, cobbler.)

7:10 a.m.:  One of the stars of Supernatural jogs by.  Many people recognize him.  I’m not one of them.

7:40 a.m.:  Friend returns with a venti Latte for me and three other coffees for other people around us as a peace offering for joining me in my place in the line.  Really happy face!

7:41 a.m.:  Coffee tastes great.  Tell friend Misha Collins of Supernatural jogged by.  She said she would have dropped the coffee and ran with him if I would have told her.  I think to myself, I’m glad I didn’t tell her.  I love my coffee.

7:45 a.m.:  Sun still not out and there is talk of possible rain.  Rain never comes because after all it never rains in southern California.

8:10 a.m.:  Coffee already gone.  Sad face.  Mangoes quickly depleting.  Fortunately, I also brought sweet potato tortilla chips, though those feel a lot less breakfasty.  Content face.

8:40 a.m.:  Line starts to move again!

8:55 a.m.:  We’re on the grass on the side of Hall H.  We’re getting close!

9:10 a.m.:  We’re loaded into chute three.  Hall H is near!  Happy face!

9:15 a.m.:  Chute one starts to load into Hall H.

9:27 a.m.:  Chute two starts to load into Hall H.

9:39 a.m.:  Chute three starts to load into Hall H.  Very happy face!

9:41 a.m.:  Chute three stops moving.

9:42 a.m.:  People start rationalizing why we’re not moving.  People are moving to the center of the aisles!  It’s dark inside and it takes a while to find a seat!  Monsters and/or aliens have eaten a number of Comic-Con attendees and they are slow in Hall H to realize that those seats can be refilled!

9:55 a.m.:  Line creeps forward 10 feet.  Only 120 feet or so to go!

10:15 a.m.:  Line hasn’t moved in a while.  Fortunately we sit under a tent so that my perfect skin isn’t subject to the sun’s harsh rays through the clouds overhead.  I finish my mangoes.

10:16 a.m.:  Friend laughs at me for speaking my thoughts aloud regarding my “perfect” skin.  I am declared the worst person in the world by all the people around me.

10:18 a.m.:  Fortunately the protestors on the sidewalk with signs of religious messages choose this moment to start up their megaphones and mechanically scream towards their captive audience (which in some societies might be regarded as torture) and so my title of worst person in the world is revoked.  I try not to let the relief show on my face.  Hidden relief face.

10:45 a.m.:  We give up on Supernatural but think there can’t be a big overlap between Supernatural fans and Breaking Bad fans.  We could get inside!  Happy face!

10:46 a.m.:  Friend who was there only for Supernatural leaves along with the other Supernatural fan.  The line to Hall H has claimed its first two casualties.

11:00 a.m.:  Friend calls who just arrived in San Diego.  I had said I would save him a place in line, but can’t make the offer now.  It’s been almost six hours for those around me, and letting someone in now would break the Comic-Con unspoken code.  (We all know it, but I have no idea what it is.  It involves a sword in a stone, not being a dick, and a cape.)

11:05 a.m.:  Police come to tell the religious protestors that in order to protest they must keep moving and not stay in one place.  The police get a standing ovation.

11:07 a.m.:  Mistaking the protestor talking into his megaphone as him staying around, the police get a standing boo.

11:10 a.m.:  Protestors start to move away!  Chants of “Na, na, na, na; na, na, na, na; hey hey hey; good-bye” start up.

11:15 a.m.:  15 by 15 people are going inside.  We’re only 45 people back from the promised land of Hall H.  Such a happy face!

11:20 a.m.:  Protestors march back by with megaphone and we just start to ignore them.  Then come comic fans with signs that read, “Bring back that one show that we like!” and “Galactus is nigh” run forward to march alongside the protestors and a cheer erupts from the denizens of the line.  Happy face for any entertainment.

11:45 a.m.:  Volunteer comes out to say that they’ve closed Hall H for any new entrances to Breaking Bad.  He doesn’t expect anyone to leave before Doctor Who, and proclaims to all, “This is now the line for Community.”

11:46 a.m.:  My new friends and I start to rationalize.  People that like Breaking Bad don’t watch Doctor Who.  Meth and time travel are totally different things.  My friends that watch Breaking Bad don’t watch Doctor Who.  I bet the aliens and monsters are just taking a break from eating attendees and they’ll start again at noon when it’s lunchtime.  The line to Hall H claims more casualties as they escape the plastic tape confines to wander around the rest of the con.

12:15 p.m.:  There is no movement in the line.

12:20 p.m.:  Slight movement and my new friends and I are only 13 back from getting inside.  It has been slightly over 7 hours since we got in line.

12:25 p.m.:  We get the nod to go inside!  I want to make such a happy face and celebrate, but I look back at three chutes still filled to the end and our chute that still has plenty more that want to get in.  I remain subdued for their sake until I get inside Hall H and then thrust my fist in the air like Judd Nelson at the end of The Breakfast Club.

12:27 p.m.:  I take my seat in the very back row of the auditorium and watch the panelist speak of the 50th anniversary of Doctor Who, watch a preview of the 50th anniversary episode and watch a preview of the made-for-BBC movie on how Doctor Who started.

1:30 p.m.:  Panel ends.  I move up closer, as it seems like everyone is leaving before Community enters Hall H.  I call my friend who arrived at 11 am and tell him that he could make it in to see Community.

1:40 p.m.:  Friend calls from outside.  Line is still impossibly long.  He returns to floor of the convention center.

1:50 p.m.:  Community panel starts with Dan Harmon dressed as Iron Man (costume created by Rob Schrab) followed by a taped message from Joel McHale as Howard Harmon who introduces moderator Chris Hardwick and the fun begins as people keep trickling in.  Hall H personnel hand out free red plastic cups (though much hardier) emblazoned with Community.

2:45 p.m.:  I leave as it is only an hour and fifteen minutes for me to get some food and catch my train.

That’s my abbreviated story of my time at Hall H this year.  Was it worth it?  Yes, because the whole day passed amid a bunch of people with the same interests and I got introduced to a new show, Supernatural by these friends in line.  I watched the pilot and second episode when I got home last night and I can see watching many more.  That’s a favorite part of Comic-Con – no matter what you love as a nerd, there’s always room for more.  More shows, more comics, more movies and more friends.

The History Channel pulled out all the stops at San Diego Comic-Con this weekend for its Vikings series.  If you didn’t catch the first season of Vikings, which we previewed earlier this year here at borg.com, you missed out on a series that rivaled Game of Thrones.  Vikings publicity was all over Comic-Con and we even landed great swag–this exclusive SDCC 2013 comic book prequel for the series, just begging to be made into a monthly series.  Vikings writer and creator Michael Hirst (who also wrote the comic story) was on-hand along with book artists Dennis Calero and Anthony Spay for signings.

You could also land a set of four exclusive lenticular trading cards at the Vikings events:

At the Vikings panel in Room 6A the studio previewed this special Season 2 clip to fans:

The History Channel also released this great preview for the Blu-Ray release coming October 15, 2013:

If that wasn’t enough, you could also get wet in a competitive Viking Waterway experience and get photos holding painted Viking shields on a mock longboat.

Cast members Travis Fimmel, Katheryn Winnick, Clive Standen, Jessalyn Gilsig, George Blagden and Gustaf Skarsgard attended the panel.

We’ll have more information on the Blu-Ray and DVD releases as we get closer to the October 15, 2013 release date.

C.J. Bunce
Editor
borg.com

San Diego Comic-Con goers got to see a sneak peek at the first view of the unprecedented, Kickstarter-generated, 91,000+ fan-supported Veronica Mars movie last weekend.  Even more cast members than you would imagine are back for this reunion movie, including of course Kristen Bell as Veronica, but also Jason Dohring as Logan, Tina Majorino as Mac, Percy Daggs III as Wallace, Ryan Hansen as Dick, Enrico Colantoni as Keith Mars, Krysten Ritter as Gia, Chris Lowell as Piz, Sam Huntington as Luke D’Amato, Francis Capra as Weevil, Ken Marino as Vinnie Van Lowe, Brandon Hillock as Deputy Sacks, and Duane Daniels as Principal Clemmons.

Check out the sneak peek of Veronica Mars, the Movie:

And until this gets pulled down from YouTube, you can watch the full SDCC 2013 Veronica Mars panel here:

Now’s the time to get caught up on the three years of the series if you haven’t seen it yet.  It’s worth it!

Veronica Mars, the Movie does not yet have a firm release date but is expected in early 2014.

C.J. Bunce
Editor
borg.com