Comic Con Day 3 Recap, Part 1
I waited in my first seriously longass, snaky line at Comic Con on Saturday for about an hour, starting before the exhibit hall even opened. The Futurama panel started at 10, immediately followed by The Simpsons panel. I chatted with the middle-aged guys in line behind me who were from San Diego and learned that in a couple years, the Comic Con might move to L.A. or Vegas because it’s really become too big for San Diego.
(Vegas would be great for me… that’s a very easy drive from Utah! Though if it’s the middle of July, the weather could be quite miserable even with less humidity. San Diego weather this past weekend was in the seventies but definitely uncomfortable at times because of the high humidity; I realized how spoiled I’ve become with Utah’s delightful average 20% humidity.)
When I finally filed into the huge ballroom, the front section was already filled (with people who had been waiting in line since 6am or so). I could see a few seats open, but wasn’t sure if maybe people were just milling around… so I asked one of the ushers (who, incidentally, was a young Scotsman whom I recognized because he’d stood near me on Friday’s trolley ride into town) if there was a single seat available closer to the front. Indeed there was: 8th row, just right of center. Holy crap! (Thanks, Mom, for embarrassing me at a young age but ultimately teaching me that the “squeaky wheel gets the grease.”)
Before I was fully settled in my new seat, the ballroom lights dimmed and four huge projector screens (two in front, two in the middle) showed the audience a preview of the upcoming 3rd Futurama straight-to-DVD movie, Bender’s Game. If you like D&D or anything to do with fantasy genres, this will be a Futurama movie for you!
The lights came back up and the Futurama panel assembled on stage: Matt Groening, David X. Cohen (Executive producer), Eric Kaplan (head writer), Katey Segal (voice of Leela), Billy West (voice of Fry, Professor Farnsworth, Zoidberg, etc.), John DiMaggio (voice of Bender), Maurice LaMarche (Kif, Morbo, Lrr, etc.), and another guy whose name I don’t remember.
They talked about the future of the show and in response to the question “Will it ever come back on TV,” Matt Groening informed the crowd that this was the first Comic Con attended by studio execs at FOX, and if we cheered loud enough they might listen… so of course everyone cheered very loudly.
Someone else asked if Leela and Fry were ever going to get together, and while there was no Official Statement, Katey Segal informed the crowd that there was definitely some kissing in the 4th DVD. Billy West started making kissy noises and then Katey turned to him and they shared a tiny kiss on stage… to which Billy remarked in Fry’s voice, “I finally got lip!”
The panel discussed how well-educated the writers and staff were, and a ton of people have master’s degrees and three even have PhDs in various math and science fields. No wonder I love that show! The panel was over too soon… but then again, I’m definitely a Futurama fan and might have been happy to spend the whole day just watching episodes in the huge room with a bunch of other fans. At the end of the panel, while everyone else left, Matt Groening took the mike for a brief interlude between the Futurama and Simpsons panels.
While you’re waiting for Part 2, check out the photos I uploaded from Comic Con on Flickr.
