Panel rookie no more!—ComicCon '11: some reflections

Get ready for a big wrap-up ... even video below! .... because the phenom that I've only tasted since 2006—an eon ago now, it seems—this year was a very different Comic-Con experience for me, as it was planned. I gave up purely fanboy moments ages ago—even though I still make sure to find one or two, like Chuck before, Looney Tunes this year. [See yesterday's photo.]

I barely got around the exhibit floor, and had to apologize to a lot of boothing buds that I didn't get to see—but I was still present enough to be struck by all the sudden elbow room, even at midday Friday and Saturday. You could breathe! But was this due to a big dropoff at the "long sold out" show?

Hardly—just the effects of the big push do centralize events out of the Convention Center and into the bigger adjacent hotels. Lots of events, and new maps to show it all—big program book/app revamp. (And thumbs up for it to SDCC staff). Seems to be working, too—and ending all the talk of recent years about taking mushrooming SDCC to L.A. or Vegas—that, and the city bond issue recently passed to expand the convention center soon.

No surprise, as the city tourism booth folks told me that nothing brings it to San Diego like Comic-Con—other events at most are 1/5 the size and money impact of SDCC. So locals sit up and listen when this fandom barks ...and even tax themselves more!—a far cry from all those years of being dissed by the hotel help and diner waitresses, ridiculed in so many cities while at cons, even as they added to the tax base and local economy just as much as any straight-laced trade show or sports event. There's another culture sea-change for fandom!

And here's another:  The first thing to hit me on Thursday, though, in a tweet-exchange I shared with dear @Televixen: even more teenage girls, streaming into the center, en masse. NORMAL ones. Not even of the anime/manga cosplay variety: these looked like "ordinary" freshmen, like they skipped 4th-hour cheerleader practice or a mall meetup to come over to Comic-Con for the day's kicks. In a pack. Over and over. I wish I'd snapped a few of them without seeming like a weirdo ... but the Twoint is: "Corner is turned: How much longer can we call fandom "geek"?

Friday I had the pleasure of hosting Alison White, our creator-producer-actress of the L.A. Comedy Awards-nominated webseries "Divine White's Introduction to Hollywood" that coaxed me back onscreen as a guest star . OK, so it's not really genre—unless you count as the Brits as aliens!—and then Sunday I scooped up two licensee vidchats I'll get up ASAP with Dana at Andovos high-end costumes and Neil Bulk with the new TNG CDs released by LaLaLand Records. Their presence, as well as Roddenberry's and those of say IDW and CBS and Hallmark, for starters, made sure there was a Trek look to Comic-Con, even in an off (ie, non-movie) year.

But most of all, I had my serious hat on for just one thing, like never before: my commitments. A longer-than-normal table slot in prime time Friday and Saturday in Autograph Alley?—thank you Katherine! It cut down my con roving time, but I learned long ago for me a SDCC table wasn't about "sales bucks" but about having a stated place where anyone could find me in this sea of humanity—old friends, new business contacts. Indeed, this year I look up to see a fellow approach, saying he had done all the official translations into Japanese for my TNG Companion editions, and wanted to meet me! How cool is that? So thanks, Norihiko Nakajima, for tracking me down!


The topper, though, was my DEBUT for Comic-Con—thanks Eddie!—in what would be the oxymoron of a "solo panel." Here's a truism: You can do the same thing for 10 years, but no one takes it seriously until you NAME it—so, my slideshow... ahem, "Trek: Between the Cracks" ... finally came to SDCC. But, running low on prep time to puff it into an SDCC-worthy level, and up against all Saturday-night competition... anxiety reigned until Friday night's prep. Then, even a sinus cold Saturday couldn't stop us, and the result—a whoopin' 500-some SRO crowd seemed to have a good time.

Best of all, at the end of the hour,  that crowd got the WORLD PREMIERE of our first public promo trailer for The Con of Wrath, featuring teaser clips of Harve and Walter, along with my intro. Thanks to DP Neal Hallford for helping there...

If you were in 7AB that night, too, thanks much for sharing your time with us... (and if you took any pics of me, feel free to share! Just use LN.com's contact form.) I trust you learned and laughed, equally... and hope you can give The Con of Wrath's webpage and Facebook page a look and a Like—especially the small-donor and thank-you's gifts page.

And thanks to the mob that stuck around afterward, including current ST Magazine writer Dwayne Day—good to meet!

So, yes—a more serious Con for me, more work-mission-oriented and tiring, less friending and partying. General trends were obvious as well, mostly for the better .... but overall: Unique and ever-fun as always.

Especially when you consider I got two shout-outs: the panel, previewed by the Nikki Finke bunch at deadline.com (see 7:30 p.m.)—pretty funny, sadly accurate!

And, finally, the showstopper: my old college buddy Steve Myers, now anchor at ABC Channel 7 in Amarillo, threw this special tag out Thursday to close a network feature on Comic-Con. He  shared a little code with all those Panhandlers whom I bet had no clue what he was talking about:

And oh—you want a happy ending, even after that? Literally, on my way out the front door Sunday on final exit, I was able to trade my SDCC "big bag" adorned by Fringe for the one featuring LooneyTunes' Bugs and Daffy. Seriously—just as I stepped outside.

So that's it: a few random thoughts on all things Comic-Con and Me.
Okay, okay, a token costume shot, too:

What ComicCon and fandom are really all about

Forget the bucks and booze and bigscreens and parties and promos... here's what it's all about:

I spied this mom sitting ahead of me, neither one in cutesy costume—but she's just making sure her son knows the classics ... in this case, a newly remastered Blu-Ray LooneyTunes with Daffy in "Duck Twacey" that's about to roll...:

Congrats to George Takei for another honor: the state Hall of Fame!

Per George's tweet today:

Amazingly, the California Hall of Fame was only begun in 2006, as the brainchild of former First Lady Maria Shriver, and to date has just 65 members from all eras and walks of life, not counting George's 2011 class. It is certain he's the first from Starfleet to be there, although a certain original Jedi Master moviemaker made it in 2009 ...

DVR ALERT: My "Proving Ground" Trek mission Tuesday and the late Ryan Dunn—I'm curious about it, too

Can't remember when I've had a situation like this....

But make sure to watch it at Tuesday at 8 PM Eastern/Pacific on G4!

The "Star Trek" episode of Proving Ground, that is. The series is a bit of Mythbusters meets Jackass, and indeed was produced by much of the Jackass crew—including co-host Ryan Dunn—to explore the question, "Could [fill in the blank TV /film/game/etc] really work in real life?"

I had to play coy at the time with the tweeting and what-not during the shoots in April, but I've been waiting for three months to be able to promote this episode that I appear in. Or, do I? As the "Star Trek Consultant" for three bits of a few seconds each, I have no clue even whether I wound up or not on the proverbial cutting room floor in this half-hour ep—which included scenes shot out at iconic Vasquez "There be Gorns here!" Rocks.

Because all bets, of course, were off after the tragedy last month that ended the life of the full-speed daredevil Ryan, only a week after the show's premiere. The show was held up after only one airing until feelings sorted out, and then the decision made to resume airing July 19 in the same Tuesday timeslot—at the insistence of Ryan's family, it was reported. Still, as was evident at the G4 booth at Comic-Con just last weekend, the network is definitely downplaying the series out of respect, or awkwardness, or both; there's certainly no trailer of the Trek episode at the website right now.

So, who knows what we'll see Tuesday night? Join me in watching, will you?

And see if the Trek "away mission" gadgets and gags—and the eternal practical jokes on co-hostess Jessica Chobot and the crew alike—work as well as expected.

I'll be back this week with more to show and share, no matter what happens onscreen Tuesday night.

STV: Ira Steven Behr, Part I—on "Alphas," "DS9"... and what about that manuscript?!

Congrats to Ira Steven Behr, showrunner for the new SyFy Monday-night hit Alphas—according to early numbers and critical response—and thanks to him for sitting down for yet another talk about it... but this time, on guerilla-cam for Trekland.

Can I tell you a story? On my second working trip to Hollywood—but the first not be crazed, not on an insane deadline and for longer than five days—Ira was my very first interview subject during his first year on DS9. At the time I had no idea he'd just had a run-in with a well-known genre magazine writer. And his first sentence to me was, before I ever sat down on a chair in his Hart Building office: "You aren't going to fuck around with my quotes, are you?  You better not. Because I'm tired of being honest and being misquoted."

Welcome to Hollywood and Trekland, Larry.

But what a bonding moment. So thanks for sharing again, Ira—my ST VI Blu-ray audio-mate. I guess I faked the trust thing good enough.



And everybody else, stay tuned for the rest with Ira next week ...and for more new eps of Alphas on SyFy Mondays at 10 pm ET/PT. As for DS9 and The 4400—you can find 'em on DVD (October for Netflix).

As for Ira's book ...we'll have to be patient.

This year—we're panelizing at Comic-Con! Come see!

Forget Carmageddon.

There's this mass mashup of people and genrehood looming next weekend off the real San Diego Freeway called Comic-Con International, and if you can survive the crush of humanity, we'll be there in a bigger role than ever before.

I mean, I was one of those who never attended comic-cons because, well, I wasn't a comics guy. The Hollywood invasion of CCSD took a while to sink in—that, and Trekland getting a little less hectic—before I finally made it for a day in 2005, and full-time in 2006. In fact, kiddies, I'm now such a battle-hardened Gaslamp veteran I recall when there were "only" 60,000 attendees on hand—not today's ceiling-bumping 125,000.

I'm proud to say the 2011 powers-that-be have accepted my good ol' "Star Trek: Between the Cracks" grab bag show for a panel slot, and big news is we'll have some exclusive, first-ever sneak-peek looks at raw clips from The Con of Wrath, our documentary now underway about Trek's most amazing meltdown-turned-miracle ever.

Of course we'll also have the regular review of Trek goodies, trivia and stories—amped up to Comic-Con scale—and including Divine White too.

So here's your invite to come by and chat up during the panel (aww, who needs those other Saturday night prime time parties, cool panels or Masquerade line-up?) ... or two sessions in Autograph Alley, as in recent years.. This time, don't forget like you always do to bring your TNG Companion to be signed, because I was one name among a million and you had no idea...

Here's the specs:
FRI: 2:30-7 pm, Autograph Alley AA22 (Sails Pavillion)
SAT: 2:30-7 pm, Autograph Alley AA22 (Sails Pavillion)
SAT: 7:30-8:30 pm, Rms. 7AB: "Star Trek: Between the Cracks"

Hopefully we will catch you at a few other clambakes that weekend as well!

Once again: Fangirls rule

So I saw this story come across the Interwires today—I'm sure you did, too— and could not help but noting, once again:

What A Different World it Is Today in fandom.

Mila Kunis:  ...Let me give you my rundown of the series in order of most favorite to least favorite. ... Okay. You should know this list is an ongoing argument between Seth MacFarlane and myself. But I have it: The Next Generation; the original series; then Voyager ... then I have Deep Space Nine. Then last is Enterprise.

GQ: Did your Star Trek fandom extend further than just watching the show?

Mila Kunis: Uh, I went a little bit further. ...

I mean, come on: Mila Kunis? This is cool news, and I totally know she's for real as a Trekfan: Trek is cool again since JJ '09, but we're not to the point yet where it's YA Hollywood A-List resume cred. But note that she didn't go shallow with a Kirk-vs-Picard-ohI'mfemaleIbettermentionJaneway easy out. No, friends, she went for the more penetrating series-on-series level to easily dispense her Trek cred.

The whole "story" and layout just made me stop and realize, once again, that I wonder where people of her persuasion—and by that, I mean female—were 10 or 20 years ago, before the big Geekgirl Revolution in fandom generally, and Trek fandom particularly. Yes, I'll admit to indulging the chauvinist hormonal fanboy that's still in me, as well as the sentimentalist.

Or then again—am I a falling victim to old "no girls" stereotypes and perceptions, even of my own eyes and years? The kind of needed meme-busting I railed about on startrek.com?

One thing is for sure: Reality or not, this article and promo alongside hot pictures of Mila is a reflection that's there sure a new truth in MEDIA meme realities, at least. And, in the end, the medium is the message, you know.

STV: Long-lost chat! Alphas/DS9's Ira Steven Behr—novelist?

In honor of Ira Steven Behr's new show Alphas premiering this week on SyFy (he's the showrunner, just not the creator—sound familiar?) ...

...Here's a vidchat he and I did, pre-HD, that was ready to go but delayed in posting at Trekland.com from back in December 2008, during the Hollywood writer's strike and just after the end of his show The 4400. I taped this just after we'd had lunch and recorded our joint audio commentary for the Blu-ray edition of ST VI: The Undiscovered Country.

The passion, idealism and, yes, a slightly twisted dark side all come through in Ira's years of running DS9--as well as his stint on UPN's Twilight Zone redux, and especially The 4400. What's you don't sense by merely watching his series, though, is that Ira is a hoot. And he knows his Hollywood stuff.

It all came back to me recently that, aside from his DVD bonus appearances, most fans haven't had a real chance to meet Ira—so I was pleased when he let me hound him for a little catch-up chat outside Mulberry's Pizza. The guy who brought multiple mainstream Ferengis, the Bell Riots and swingin' Vic Fontaine to Star Trek is the real deal. (And he's even using a computer now—wow.)

We had a hoot with ST VI, and the Blu-ray edition subsequently saw the light of day—which is more than I can say for this chat ... until now! (Notice this clip is still 4x3 aspect, not HD, and lacks the STV endtag theme: I chose to keep it pristine here, and not re-edit.)

I didn't realize it going in that day, but we wound up talking mostly about his big project of the strike-caused hiatus... a novel!  So—did he ever finish the manuscript from '08? For the answer, stay tuned HERE this week, and see... and check out Alphas at 10 p.m. Mondays PT/ET on SyFy, with encore airings through the week.

(More Ira, and of a more recent nature. Coming up this week ...!)

RIP Ruth Roberts—and why she's more to us than a songwriter

We don't call this blog "Trekland" for nothing—in the end, amid all the fun stuff and funky facts, at heart it's all about the family with a Star Trek connection.

Today we got word of the passing of someone Trek fans may not recognize—unless you're a Mets fan, too!—but she had a pretty big hand in giving us everything from Locutus of Borg to Buck Bockai. And I just wanted to stop and mark the moment.

I'm talking about Ruth Roberts, 84, whose sizeable obituary in the New York Times actually cited her for her songwriting career, topped perhaps most famously by her co-credit for "Meet the Mets," the official song of that New York City National League baseball team since before its first game in 1963.

But the guy who preserved the wobbly writing of the "new" Star Trek during TNG's third season, allowed fans to submit scripts, hired the likes of youngsters Ron D. Moore, Rene Echevarria, Naren Shankar, Brannon Braga, and Ken Biller ... and yes, they guy who penned "The Best of Both Worlds" cliffhanger that propelled Star Trek to heights akin to Khan in 1982 and reboot Kirk/Spock in 2009 ... that guy, Michael Piller, was her son.

Roberts passed away Thursday of lung cancer at her Bronx home. Michael, ironically, died of cancer in 2005. Read about her life and, as with any parent, you can find out a little of what colored Michael's world—and thus, in turn what colored the universe he helped bring us on screen. It's all about the texture.

And so we remember Ruth Roberts. Even if we're not baseball fans.



But if you are...:

Join us on TrekRadio today—and send in your Qs!

The good folks at TrekRadio.net online are having me on live to guest in their "worldwide slot" today, Saturday July 2—and for a whole hour.

What a way to kick off your lazy long Fourth holiday weekend!

This latest stop in the media blitz to talk about summer cons, all things Trekgeek and of course The Con of Wrath is from NOON to 1 p.m. Pacific... that's 3-4 p.m. Eastern. Or measure it ... in your time zone.

They are allowing folks to submit questions in advance:
—Tweet to hosts @RadioRisa or @Radio_Kain
—Email to hosts risa@trekradio.net  or kain@trekradio.net live
—Or just join in on IRC chat during the show, and post them at the site.

Hope to hear from you all then!  I'll have some updates re: THE CON OF WRATH and—finally—some details on how fans can help.

Catch us on these new podcasts—and LIVE on Trekradio tomorrow!

Remember this? We had a heckuva time geekin' out on all things Trekland with author Dayton Ward, Jarred "Hey Star Trek" Formby and Damon "Geek Fights" Shaw—all thanks to Chris and Charity Wood hosting us in a wackydoodle wide-raning trek geeksters' roundtable in the "Life After Trek" podcast series over at their Subspace Communiques news site.

Well, now the concluding Part 2 marathon is now up, in which we cover JJTrek '09 and Enterprise and look to the future ... " The FUUUU-ture!" (Hope the false, forced vibrato came out.)

You should also take a listen to Slice of Sci-Fi when Michael Mennenga & crew had my (ahem) extended soapbox of a visit to talk about The Con of Wrath and what's up with what this sci-fi summer. (If time is short, we start at @ 9:20).  If you must demand your geek insight be of the sighted variety, they now offer the shows on YouTube—though I am but an enigmatic cypher and a logo, of course.

And coming up—an HOUR tomorrow, Sat. July 2, on live Internet global radio at noon Pacific/ 3 p.m. Eastern  at trekradio.net!

Whew.