'Horrible,' as in really good

 Friday, July 25

Sharon:

SAN DIEGO -- Today started out early and ended a lot earlier than we expected. We arrived 3 hours early for a 10 p.m. screening of "Tropic Thunder" that we had been invited to, but we never made it near the front door to the theater before they said, "All full," and invited us to wait around until 1 a.m. So here I am, writing instead. Not that there's anything wrong with that.

The day began with much more promise. While Josh held our space in line for the highly anticipated "Watchmen" panel, I inched my way through the crowds in Exhibit Hall for must-haves, such as the Comic-Con exclusive Marvel MiniMates figures.

What, you missed the "must" there?

Last night we did some missing, too, as in not attending the "RockNRolla" panel with director Guy Ritchie and star Gerard Butler ("300"). One of the hundreds of red-shirted volunteers told some of us now waiting for the "Watchmen" gang about people -- OK, women -- who had come straight from work the night before and waited overnight to see Gerard Butler. All I could think of was, these are the older versions of the screechers at "Twilight." The middle-aged me realized not only am I not a screamer, I would never wait that long for anyone I don't know. Of course, I once drove to Detroit to see a Bruce Springsteen concert and made it back to work the next day. But I digress ...

On Thursday night, during the "Stargate: Continuum" and "Stargate: Worlds" event, I realized that my electronics had died: My batteries were dead in both my tape recorder and camera. I was standing next to Shaun Farrell of Adventures in Scifi publishing, who volunteered that I link to his podcast, which I am doing now. It's amazing the number of bloggers out here who do this for a living.

This morning, we hustled to be at the con by 9 a.m. for the 11:55 "Watchmen" panel and felt lucky to be in the first couple of thousand people in line. Someone announced that the big Hall H seats 6,500 people -- it seems like at least twice that.

Everyone from "Watchmen" was here, including artist Dave Gibbons, who collaborated on the book with writer Alan Moore. Gibbons couldn't say enough about watching his work come to life during the time he spent on set, but Moore was still keeping his distance.

That's OK, because director Zack Snyder and his excited cast were all assembled on stage: Bill Crudup, Malin Ackerman, Carla Gugino, Jackie Earle Haley, Matthew Goode, Jeffrey Dean Morgan and CMU's Patrick Wilson. An extended version of the trailer that precedes "The Dark Knight" in theaters was shown, and then Snyder and cast members talked with awe about the project and the work that they had tried to re-create. While Crudup buffed up for this role -- part of which was spent covered in a suit with dots all over his body to play the tall, blue Dr.Manhattan -- Patrick Wilson got to pack the pounds on his usually slim frame as Nite Owl. He joked about being able to "sit around with a carton of Haagen Daz and a couple of beers" while everyone else was getting into shape, but then he got serious about he fell hard for his character.

"He's so down all the time yet he has this light in his eyes," Wilson said of Nite Owl, who's down on his luck when we first meet him. Wilson wound up rooting hard for him even as he portrayed him. And then, of course, there's the costume. "Every day I got in the suit was a gift." The suit gives Nite Owl an identity and helps him feel more like a man. Overall, "it was just awesome," Wilson summed up the experience.

We spent the rest of the afternoon avoiding Kevin Smith,who was all over the place promoting the Pittsburgh-filmed "Zack and Miri make a Porno." He's even emceeing the "Battlestar Gallactica" panel tomorrow. But today, we went where our hearts led us,and mine led me to Joss Whedon's "Dr. Horrible" panel, with all the stars and creators of the Internet sing-along sensation.

Nathan Fillion (Capt. Hammer) was particularly silly, just like his character. He and Whedon have been collaborators for a long time, on "Buffy" and "Firefly/Serenity," so they have an easy rapport. Neil Patrick Harris, who plays Dr.Horrible and is newer to the Whedon-verse, was soaking it all in. The Whedon clan who worked on the Web version of "Dr. Horrible" said there would be a contest for the upcoming DVD: Fans can submit videos to join the Evil League of Evil, where Dr.Horrible longs to be, and the top 10 will appear on the DVD. So, if you've always dreamed of being a bad guy in a superhero suit, get out that video character and watch  the Net for details.

We hung around in the same Ballroom 20 after Whedon & Co. left to see the Seth MacFarlane panels for the Fox TV animated shows "American Dad" and "Family Guy." I did this because I know how much Josh likes these shows, especially "Family Guy," and had the best time watching these talented and incredibly un-PC creative types. MacFarlane, in particular, has an amazing voice that he says he works on with a couple of 90-year-old former radio stars who were voice coaches for Frank Sinatra and Barbra Streisand.

For "American Dad," we watched the process from table reading to ink drawings to full-color animation. For "Family Guy," we saw what I have to say was an hysterical episode about an annoying song that is played over and over again ... I won't give it away. But Josh has vowed to download it and play it over and over again.

An interesting moment came when some of the suggestions for script changes (to the "Family Guy" Star Wars episode) from Standards & Practices were read aloud. Don't worry. There's no evidence that there are any plans for these guys to ease up on they craziness and the tweaking of all cultures and ethinicities, including "The Cleveland Show" spinoff, which will feature the voices of Nia Long and Sanaa Lathan.

When Mike Henry, who voices Cleveland, said their names and there was little reaction from the crowd, he felt compelled to note that they were a couple of great actresses of color, but he didn't know what that might mean to this audience -- perhaps the only serious moment of the day, until we were told sorry, no more seats for "Tropic Thunder."

Josh: 

I can't believe the thought even crossed my mind, but I might actually not go to the Heroes panel tomorrow!  I know, crazy, but hear me out.  Before the disappointment of missing Tropic Thunder (which my mother the editor will probably get Pittsburgh preview tickets for anyway), I had planned to sleep in a little bit and miss it.  Now I'm debating whether to skip it for the Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles or not.  I'm such a finnicky fan.

Oh well, I'll worry about tomorrow when it happens.  I didn't exactly argue with today's offerings.  Unlike yesterday, I was able to get some time with some anticapted games.  My highlight was at the booth for the Afro Samurai game.  It's a beautiful, gory hack-and-slash experience sprinkled with show references and bad language.

I also got some time with Soulcalibur IV, which looks beautiful in motion on an HD screen.  I played with Darth Vader, a PS3 exclusive character, and he played exactly the way he should have.  I won't pretend like I was any good, but it was still fun.  I also got some time with the Ghostbusters game and it was kind of lame.  The voiceovers by Dan Ackroyd and Bill Murray were a nice touch, but the blasting gameplay was boring and that stupid book monster wouldn't die! Okay, I'm chilled again. I didn't manage to get in any time with Stargate: Worlds,  because we blew a scheduled appointment for a one-on-one demo, but from a conversation I had with one of the creators, the mmorpg sounds like Star Wars Galaxies with more of an emphasis on long range combat. I hope to see more of it on Saturday. 

The highlights of the day by far were the panels for American Dad and Family Guy starring the amazingly talented voice of Seth MacFarlane.  We were shown a suprisingly funny episode of American Dad detailing the whole creation process, from table readings to storyboards to the finished product.  And who knew that Seth's wife Rachel was the voice of Haley?

It was kind of a disappointment that Mila Kunis (voice of Meg) didn't make an appearance at the Family Guy panel, but the half episode they showed more than made up for it.  The episode featured a random song from the 60's that is stuck in my head and will annoy my mom for weeks, but made for some of the best jokes I've even seens in a Family Guy episode.  The preview for the Cleveland show, which features a really talented voice cast as mentioned in the blog post above, was also hilariously un-PC.  The real treat though was getting to see the iintereaction between MacFarlane and Seth Green (Robot Chicken) who are obviously good friends who just happen to have competing shows.

Today also happened to be awesome T-Shirt day.  I came back to the hotel with something from Watchmen, The Spirit, A Charlie Brown Christmas, Stargate Worlds, and Blue Dragon.  If only I had gotten my Captain Hammer shirt! Oh well, there's always tomorrow. Good night world!  I know I'll sleep well.