Wizard World Convention in Chicago by embers

GENERAL DISCUSSIONS

Wizard World Convention in Chicago

POSTED BY: EMBERS
UPDATED: Sunday, September 5, 2004 15:02
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Friday, August 13, 2004 9:03 AM

I arrived last night and there is a lot of excitement about Joss' appearance here on Saturday & Sunday.
A lot of the people here were in SanDiego
(I wish I had been there, because of course Joss won't be bringing the Serenity crew with him this time).
I had a fun morning, but exhausting.
I got registered and then wandered around the convention:
I saw beautiful orginial drawings of Pogo for sale for $1,500, so I bought a t-shirt.

I saw a lot of comics by new independent artists.

I stood in line for an hour to get Amber Benson's autograph & photo (she is so sweet, she used to play Tara on Buffy).

Tomorrow will be even more crowded and exhausting...(they expect 60,000 people to attend all together).

I couldn't find the Fireflyfans table to save my life,
but a lot of tables haven't been set up yet....

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Friday, August 13, 2004 12:59 PM

REDCLAIRE

I'm so jealous! I wish I could go! Keep the updates coming, embers. I read that Joss is the guest of honor, I'm so excited for him!

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Saturday, August 14, 2004 7:27 AM

EMBERS

I waited in line for almost 2 hours this morning
but I have my ticket to Joss' Q&A in my hot little hand
evidently the tickets that ran out the most quickly were for autographs
but I should be able to my autograph from Joss tomorrow at the VIP meet & greet
(knock on wood)
I have to say that this convention is VERY difficult
with regard to talks and autographs...
it is all geered for promoting new games & toys
but they are really disappointing the fans who
want to see the guests
(I won't get to see anything of Kevin Smith at all
because the auditorium is tiny and I had to choose between
seeing Joss or Kevin Smith ... no context IMO)

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Saturday, August 14, 2004 4:13 PM

STEVEFRECHETTE

I just got back from Wizard World - Chicago where they played the trailer. On that note I have three words for ya...

Oh...my...God!!!!

It was simply amazing! It started with what looked like a bank robbery, Zoe shot out the camera, there was a really badass shot of them all walking very scope-ish, there was a great shot of the ship accelerating in space, The Operative (forget his real name) is seen walking up to Inara at what appeared to be the entrance of a temple, Mal is saying some badass phrase while Jayne gets friendly w/ Vera in the backgroud, Wash uses the "insteresting landing" line, River is hiding under a ceiling clinging to both sides w/ her feet, and then final shot that I remember is of River, on the ground whispering..."Reavers...", very creepy stuff!

All in all I think it was just about 30 seconds, but it seemed too short. And in fact it was funny b/c when they popped in the dvd it was just a little homemade one w/ the title saying "Serenity" and under the video preview was "Comic-Con roll" I believe...

Joss is a great, hilarious, and kind man...an hour was simply not enough.

I actually asked him (for those of you who were there) about the Serenity trailer (he called me as 'You there w/ the Blue Sun shirt'); and he basically said how he needs to finish the movie first obviously, but he just started talking to the marketing people so they're not really sure as of yet. Overall, I was so nervous when I asked that I forgot my real question and just asked that. WHOOPS! Still, an overall humbling experience however~!

btw...for the people that were there, this guy had the nerve to get up and ask Joss to auto his buffy: the musical script and then proceeded to take up more time afterwards by trying to get his address to people that took his picture. ass....NOONE takes my joss time away!

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Sunday, August 15, 2004 8:33 AM

EMBERS

Quote:
Originally posted by stevefrechette:
Oh...my...God!!!!

Saturday:
I had to wait almost 2 hours to get a ticket for Joss’ Q&A, by going to that I wasn’t able to get a ticket for anything else on Saturday…including not getting into his autograph line (which also took a ticket, but I’m expecting to get the autograph tomorrow, Sunday). I went to see if a line had formed about 2 hours before Joss’ talk was to begin and I found Raven from the Vulkon board there…so I decided to go ahead and wait and insure that I would be in front for the Q&A (I had spent all day Friday on foot walking around looking at everything, and Saturday was the most crowded day so since my feet hurt, I was happy to go ahead and sit). Around 4:30 they ended the Kevin Smith’s talk and people started clearing out and Joss came up to the hall wanting to duck into the restroom. He accidentally headed into the Ladies’ room…but he was pulled away and as he was redirected to the Men’s room he was heard to say, “I’m the guest of honor, I can go wherever I want.”

I could have sat in the front row, but the dais was a little high, so I decided I preferred back one row on the aisle. I had a great view and took about 20 photos...I'm sure some of them will come out! My notes are rough, so this is NOT a transcript, just my notes and recollections (he actually expanded and said more on many topics but I couldn't write it all down, or remember it all).

--------------------------------------------------
Joss Whedon Q&A at WizardWorld convention in Chicago 8/14th
I apologize for anything that comes out of my mouth, I was filming until 1 am and then flew directly here.
The cast of Serenity are the nicest people I’ve ever worked with, and so talented.
So if the movie sucks it is all my fault.
But keep it to yourself, pretend to like it.
I’m very fragile.

I don’t have a speech but there are musical numbers and juggling…. Well not so much.

Question: What was the most important transition in BtVS for you?
Answer: I could never top Angel turning evil, it was:
‘what it is like to sleep with a man…’
well, what I’ve read it is like…in spite of the British boarding school tradition…

Question about Ats movies?
Answer: there is a chance…but w/the WB regime change, sometimes people try to distance themselves from the old regime. But there is interest at Fox production in making it, there is no firm answer. But it could be shown elsewhere other than the WB.

Question: why did you end Ats as a cliff hanger?
Answer: DON’T CALL IT A CLIFF HANGER!!!!
I’m only answering this one more time…in order to be a good person you never get to stop fighting.

Question: more Fray?
Answer: yes, but it is a question of time, do have more ideas.

Question: Tips on writing to new writers?
Answer: Yes, a tip: ‘write really well.’
I’m bad at tippage. But there are two things about writing:
1. write because you need to, need to write all the time. So that after you finish writing you relax/unwind by writing. There is a difference between someone who ‘can’ write and someone who needs to write.
2. write about something (this sounds really strange)…and not necessarily about a message or a moral, but with content. So that you write about something that fulfills a need.

Question: BtVS cartoon?
Answer: we have 3 minutes animated rough cut in limbo

Question: will you direct X-men III?
Answer: that sounds like a yummy treat, but right now I have other X-men to worry about, the astonishing ones. The drawings are great but I still have to write it well, I thought I could coast.

Question: could you do the dance of Joy?
Answer: I am holding myself up with the podium; I could do the dance of utter exhaustion….
[Joss stand back, strikes a pose, and falls heavily to the floor] – cheers
when Joss stands again he says something about having to work on the middle of that dance.

Question about whether he would want to direct someone else’s script on X-men III?
Answer: I could see collaborating with someone (names most of the wonderful Buffy/Ats writers) but I can’t see directing something that is completely somebody else’s. It would be an interesting challenge and therefore I wouldn’t do it.

Question about Serenity Trailer?
Answer: it comes out April 22nd and we still have to finish it….
But have the DVD of the clip shown in SanDiego in his bag (people take DVD to set it up), his girly backpack mentioned in OMWF commentary…
Someone is making fun of the back pack…and Joss is offended.
Someone says Andrew would like it, and Joss says ‘Andrew ROCKS, and Andrew likes my backpack’…Joss goes on to say:
“I am a girly man. I am a girly American. If you didn’t know that you shouldn’t have sat so close.”

Question about early X-men having empowered women and the influence on Buffy?
Answer: Yes, Chris Claremont’s Xmen did influence. Then there was a period of a lot of exploitation disguised as women’s empowerment and I stopped reading comics as much. But to some extent that does go hand in hand; Buffy isn’t hideous. But she is a person in her own right.

Question about games based on Firefly/Serenity?
Answer: yes, definitely looking at games and looking at Dark Horse comics. But right at the moment I have to work on the movie, I’m not as bright as other people so I have to work harder than other people.

Question: why did you kill Anya?
Answer: I had to kill somebody (someone called out that you could kill Andrew…someone else called out Kill Dawn).
Speak not against Andrew in my presence. (Joss says in ‘important serious voice)
I needed to kill someone and STILL have Buffy smiling at the end, so it couldn’t be anyone from the core group or her sister.

Question: will there be any surprise Buffy or Ats stars in ‘Serenity’
Answer: it would be a surprise to me.
There is a fine line between making a movie and having a party at my place.
I wanted to keep it a separate world, and there were no roles that I felt anyone was perfect for.

Question: why did you kill Tara?
Answer: I still feel that it was the right thing dramatically…
(comment shouted out: you brought back Spike and Joss said “that was contractual; not that I don’t love James…”)
but I did want to bring back Tara…

The organizers got the DVD loaded and we watched the clip…short but amazing!
When it ended Joss said that ‘Serenity’ will be a BIG story and it is going to surprise you.

Some question shouted out about Morrison’s Xmen and Joss responded that he loved Morrison’s Xmen.

Question about tie-in novels about Firefly?
Answer: If I do my job right then that will happen.
But hard to let go of the reins of the story.
I can’t read every novel and monitor it’s content and how they are writing the characters. So it was hard to let go of those reins on Buffy, and even more tentative about Firefly.

Question: Can I ask three questions including this one?
How long will you be writing X-men? And will you ever write musical theater?
Answer: well your first question was silly; and I am planning on 12 Astonishing men, for a year… I promise I won’t ‘fray’ out on you…even though the 6th issue is causing me a lot of problems. But the movie is almost done….
And I would love to do a musical, its going to be called ‘ANDREW’. I would love to make an original film musical, something that hasn’t been done since South Park.
I’m sick of Vampires…
Well I’m no sicker of Vampires than the next man, but he is sick of Vampires…
But maybe a Buffy musical film, after all I’ve done it before…

Question: if you could go back in time what would you have changed?
Answer: I can’t answer that question, when someone threw us a curve ball it makes things better. I wish we had done more with Dawn. When Oz left that was hard because I had a whole year’s arc. But if that had happened then we wouldn’t have met Amber Benson.

Question about what happens when an actor complains, heard that SMG was unhappy in Season 6?
Answer: There was a time when Sarah wasn’t fully on board, she went to talk to Marti Noxon and said that ‘I’m feeling uncomfortable, I’m losing my understanding of the character’…but the interesting thing was that Joss said he had had just that same discussion w/Marti on that same day. Joss felt that they were very much in sync, that it was almost psychic scary.
I threw a curve ball to Alyson: ‘by the way, gay’ and she had no problem just replying, “where are the pages?”.
The most important thing is the communication/collaboration on the characters. The characters become more like the actors. You write for the actor slash person…. I knew that Willow could go to the dark side because I knew Alyson was capable as an actress.

Question: favorite villain?
Answer: the Mayor; a great gentleman and actor. He asked me ‘do I care for Faith or am I just using/manipulating her?’ and I hadn’t even thought about it…but I decided he really cared for her, and that Father/daughter relationship was a beautiful thing that came out of that question.

Question: is there anything besides the Buffy movie you wish you’d never done?
Answer: is there anything I would wipe from my resume/memory?…Alien creatures come to mind…
But every project is like raising a serial killer, at one point it is just your baby.
I recently watched ‘Alien Resurrection’ and I felt that I could see the seeds of my idea it in, which were more fully realized in Buffy.

Question: have you started a sequel to Serenity?
Answer: only when I brush my teeth. There are always things you want to explore, directions you want to pursue. Adam Baldwin wants to wear a kilt (which will have to wait for the sequel).

Someone called out and asked if he ever reads Whedonesque.com and he replied, ‘yes,
that is the source to find out what happened to me that day.’

Someone stood to ask a question and it was just praise for his writing and the shows he has created, Joss interrupted him to say: ‘Best question ever!’
So finally the guy got the question out, where to you find it all?
Answer: It is everything I’ve ever seen, beaten together in a blender, sometimes not mixed so well, I’ve been told that often it is more theft than homage. It is Dickens, Twilight Zone, and a Channel ad…mixed together, everything feeds the beast.

Someone asked about the fact that Academe is getting into the act, that people are doing their doctorial thesis on Buffy, and that fans spend a lot of time discussing the shows in a serious way.
And Joss replied that he is deeply offended because really it is all just a way to try to meet chicks.
Then he got more serious and said that he thinks that studying pop culture, even when it is mindless entertainment, is valid to study because it effects the lives of people.

Someone else called out and asked Joss if he followed any of SavingAngel.org
And Joss replied in his sarcastic voice, ‘Nice job….because it was totally cancelled’.
But then he went to his real voice and said that it meant a lot, it was a lovely thing for this lonely strange group of writers; they appreciated that there were still people fighting for them.

Someone, remembering Joss’ comment about wanting to bring Tara back, asked how he was going to do that?
And Joss said that this will be his last answers, but it would be along one:
At some point early in S7, before things got really involved, Joss thought there would be an episode where Buffy was granted a wish, a real reality altering desire to be fulfilled. Anything she wanted (like being able to be with Angel…). Joss saw it as this huge decision and all kinds of possibilities would arise. And at the very end of the episode Buffy would walk in on Willow and show her her new shoes, implying that she had wished for the shoes. And Willow would be all shocked, thinking Buffy had wasted this incredible opportunity… But Buffy would say, ‘of course not dummy’ and walk out of the room, and there, behind Willow, would be standing Tara.
Someone shouted out asking about Kennedy, and Joss said that when Amber wasn’t available they had the new idea, which was Kennedy…to be able to talk about moving on from grief. That life goes on. And also to have one (but only one) happy couple in the Buffyverse.
-------------------------------------------------
later a friend came w/her family to meet me at the hotel for dinner, and when I was down in the lobby waiting I saw Joss (! JOSS !) sitting having a beer w/a couple of the organizers in the bar. I was very subtle, I sat where I could see Joss and watch the front door…. And when they finally showed up I made them walk over to the bar and look and they saw him (with some nudging on my part, LOL). But didn’t go over to bother him.
------------------------------------------------

Today I woke up really early, all excited about the VIP meeting, and it did not disappoint. Joss was relaxed and chatty, and not in any hurry at all; they may have had to start rushing for those at the end of the line, but I was near the beginning and I had all the time I wanted.
I went up w/my three things to sign and told Joss that I have bought 8 Firefly DVD sets for friends and family, and he jumped up and said 'I must hug you' then he signed my three things, personalizing the 'Tales of the Slayer' probably because Amber had done so on that one. Then we posed for a picture together (I hope it comes out), and I said 'Thank you' and he responded 'Thank YOU'...so sweet, so nice, and I am so happy!

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Sunday, August 15, 2004 4:18 PM

EMBERS

I'm so sorry I missed the Browncoats table...
I had searched for it on Friday, but on Saturday I was focused on seeing Joss...
I just saw myself in someone else's photo tho:

I'm the one w/the blue hair clip, unfortunately the flash worked better on my hair than on Joss!

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Sunday, August 15, 2004 4:31 PM

KERNELM

Yep, my camera sucks.

My Wizard World report:
http://kernelm.blogspot.com

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Sunday, September 5, 2004 3:02 PM

EMBERS

I finally got to my home and scanned in my photo w/Joss...I'll upload it at the BlueSunRoom

When I was in Oakland the only Firefly cast member there was Jonathan Woodward, who is terrific...really fun to talk to
and wishing he didn't get killed in ALL of Joss' shows (LOL)

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