Stargate Atlantis at Comic Con 2008

by Glenda Glass

The panel for the hugely popular offshoot series Stargate Atlantis included stars Joe Flanigan, Robert Picardo, and Jewel Staite, along with executive producer Brad Wright and VP of Sci-Fi programming Chris Sanagustin.This panel had a very relaxed attitude with Robert Picardo commenting on the character Woolsey, how the character in the beginning was very timid and did a lot of number crunching. And now he’s been placed in charge of Atlantis and really stepped up.

Joe Flanigan commented he thought Tayla was hot and wished Shepphard could have a thing with Tayla, although that seemed unlikely as she just had a baby on the show.

 

Jewel Staite, a fairly recent addition to the show, said she is really enjoying her role. She previously starred in the show Firefly and the movie adaptation Serenity. She said to prepare for every Firefly show the prop guy would show her a box of tool props, and he would tell her to pick one and go pretend to fix something somewhere. This got pretty tiresome and her role on Stargate Atlantis has much more variety and substance. She also laughingly stated she hated the famous ruffled dress from Firefly.

Stargate Continuum

by Glenda Glass

Promoting the full-length feature Stargate Continuum, this star-studded panel included director Martin Wood, executive producer and writer Brad Wright, and most of the cast: Amanda Tapping, Richard Dean Anderson, Ben Browder, Michael Shanks, and Christopher Judge. Asked what they had been doing since the Stargate SG-1 series ended, Amanda Tapping expounded some on her online project called Sanctuary, recently made for syndication on the Sci-Fi channel, and Michael Shanks dropped that he would be making a surprise guest appearance on the new season of 24.Christopher Judge commented that it had been great working on the movie and having the old cast back together again, although some of the cast live within several blocks of eachother, and he and Michael Shanks often went out together with their wives.

When asked what they liked about filming Continuum the cast all agreed it was a great movie and loved filming in Antarctica, and had a great time together.

Richard Dean Anderson managed to inject more than a little humor into the panel with his off-beat comments and behavior. He also said that he really enjoyed the “frozen poo” of Antarctica, as the weather was so cold.

 

Amanda Tapping commented that after she and Ben Browder walked for awhile for a shot on the tundra for the movie, they had to stop and make snow angels, giggling like little kids.

Terminator Salvation Panel

By Alicia Glass

The highly anticipated next movie in the Terminator franchise is apparently a “reboot” of the series, a word that’s been bandied around a lot for remade or re-started movies at this years Comic-Con. That is to say, this Terminator is set in an alternate future where Judgement Day has already happened, and John Connor has to come in and save the day somehow, again. The few panelists there did their best to expound on how cool the many different robots in this new movie would be, and how they would focus much more on the villainous Skynet mastermind. I’m actually leery of the idea of a “reboot” of these movies, but with Christian Bale starring as John Connor, perhaps it won’t be a Judgement Day for the entire Terminator franchise.

Lost Panel at Comic Con 2008

By Alicia Glass

I finally made it into this panel when it was more than half over, as the lines for Hall H were utterly insane. Still, I was there long enough for a surprise visit from Matthew Fox who stars as everyones favorite doctor Jack Shephard, even after the shows producers said all the stars were hard at work on the new show season and wouldn’t be able to make it. The crowded halls reaction when Fox sauntered out on stage proved that the highly unpredictable show Lost is still a favorite for a legion of fans.

Warner Brothers Panel at Comic Con 2008

by Alicia Glass

Watchmen

The incredibly popular alternate world graphic novel comes to vibrant life as a long-anticipated movie. This particular movie and comic is really hard to describe, but I’ll give it a shot. In an alternate 80’s America where costumed heroes are the norm, a washed-up hero uncovers a conspiracy when his former colleague is murdered, and sets out to find the truth for himself, only to discover just how far-reaching the plot and it’s potentially disastrous consequences go, for the entire world.  It may sound odd, but really, the preview looked fantastic and was packed wall-to-wall, I really recommend seeing this movie.