Countdown to Comic Con 2014 - SciFi
San Diego’s Comic Con is one of the largest pop culture conventions in the world and has become not just a place for comic book enthusiasts as its name suggests, but one of the premiere events for those in the television, film, book, toy, collectible, and gaming industries to unveil new products and information about upcoming releases. Multiple panels and workshops feature actors, directors, artists, costumers, authors, and other guests. This year the event runs from July 24th – 27th and though many fans (such as myself) won’t be able to attend, I thought it’d be fun to go through the San Diego Comic Con Event Schedule and write about some interesting panels and workshops I’ll be keeping an eye on as I count down to Comic Con.
Note: All quoted descriptions of the panels and workshops are from the programming schedule found here.
Posts in this series:
1. Superheroes
Sci-Fi
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| Cast of the Battlestar Galactica (1978) series (c.) Universal |
"Richard Hatch (Tom Zarek, Captain Apollo), Jamie Bamber (Lee Adama), and Dr. Kevin Grazier
(science consultant for Falling Skies, Battlestar Galactica, Eureka) host a discussion and Q&A on the
upcoming Battlestar Galactica movie and where fans would like to see the story and characters go.
Panelists include Luciana Carro (Battlestar Galactica, Falling Skies) and producer Alec Peters
(Propworks, Battlestar Galactica auction, Axanar), plus surprise guests and theatrical trailers."
I was introduced to the original, short-lived, cult classic television series by my dad (who intro'd me to a lot of my favorite sci-fi shows, come to think of it). This story of a rag-tag group of colonists traveling in the last battleship, seeking the haven known as Earth and fending off attacks from robotic Cylons along the way, holds a special place in my heart, since it's one of the first sci-fi shows I remember watching. Our family didn't really get into the 2003-2009 re-imagined series, though that show did bring attention to the original. I think it's nice that this panel seems to have a nice spectrum of guests from both the new and old series, but it will be interesting to see how this new film develops and if it will pull more from the original or re-imagined series ..
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| Star Wars: Rebels (c.) Lucasfilm Animation |
The Heroes of Star Wars Rebels
Thursday July 24, 2014 6:00pm - 7:00pm
"The almost 20-year stretch of Star Wars history between
Episodes III and IV is a dark time in the galaxy that has
never before been explored on screen. The evil Galactic
Empire has tightened its grip and only a select few are brave
enough to stand against tyranny and ignite a rebellion. Join
Star Wars Rebels executive producers Dave Filoni and
Simon Kinberg as well as series stars Freddie Prinze, Jr.,
Vanessa Marshall, Steve Blum, Tiya Sircar, and Taylor Gray
for an exclusive preview of what's to come this Fall on
Disney XD in this eagerly awaited television series from
Lucasfilm Animation."
I had mixed feelings about the Clone Wars CGI series
(and actually, I need to finish watching the final season).
The storylines seemed to vary in quality and the Expanded
Universe fan in me cringed when the radically changed cultures of Dathomirians and (especially)
Mandalorians were introduced ... so I'm cautiously optimistic about Star Wars: Rebels. One nice thing
is that it will be taking place in a time period where there hasn't been a lot of expansion upon
(the "Dark Times" period between the Prequel and Classic movies). I haven't watched too much
Disney XD t.v. shows, but I found the briefly aired Tron: Uprising was fairly well written. Though
much of the Clone Wars staff will be working on Rebels, one new member I'm very excited about is
the inclusion of executive producer Greg Wiseman, who was a producer on one of my favorite
animated shows, Young Justice.
Star Wars: A New Dawn
Friday July 25, 2014 2:00pm - 3:00pm
"The new era of Star Wars storytelling begins in September with Star Wars: A New Dawn. New York
Times bestselling author John Jackson Miller, Shelly Shapiro (editor, Del Rey), Frank Parisi
(editor, Del Rey), Jennifer Heddle (senior editor, Lucasfilm), Pablo Hidalgo (Lucasfilm Story Group),
Vanessa Marshall (Hera in Star Wars Rebels), and Dave Filoni (executive producer, Star Wars Rebels)
discuss the planning and process of Star Wars: A New Dawn and present the list of upcoming
Star Wars novels from Del Rey."
When it was announced earlier in April that a new co-ordination effort for all future creative
development (e.g. films and media) by Lucasfilm would relegate and re-brand the previously published
Expanded Universe (EU) novels and media into "Star Wars Legends" --essentially thowing them into
an alternate universe (or AU) comic book fans may be familiar with --fan reaction was mixed, but that's
a blog post for another day ... Though I'm a couple years behind on Star Wars EU books (I need to read
the final book of the ominously titled "Fate of the Jedi" series), they are what made me a Star Wars
fan, so it will be interesting to see what this panel will reveal about the future of Star Wars
publishing ...
What's you're favorite sci-fi show? What are you looking forward to learning more about from
Comic Con? Why is the formatting on my blog so crazily messed up???
Note: 1/15 Updated labels
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2 comments
I'm kinda interested in SW: Rebels, but hope that they do a good job. SW: tCW was pretty good, but had some missteps, IMHO.
ReplyDeleteMost of the missteps I see in SW: TCW was the writing/storylines on some of the episodes ... I think at times they didn't know who their main focus or audience was --kids or adults. But I agree, I'm cautiously optimistic about the new series.
DeleteThank you for taking the time to share your thoughts! Comments are always welcomed and appreciated.