Comic Con: Day One

Alright, just finished my first day ever of attending Comic Con, and though I could probably pass out on top of an elephant-sized porcupine in the snow because I'm so tired, I'm still gonna do this - so here are all the panels I checked out today:

Danny Elfman: This was Elfman's first time at Comic Con, and I have listened to literally dozens of his soundtracks, so I was thrilled to start off the weekend at his panel. Most of it was focused on his long time collaberation with Tim Burton (they made their first film together 25 years ago and have done 12 since), but he really underplayed their relationship: 'I think my phone number was the only one that Tim remembered. We just kept finding ourselves working together.' However, he did briefly mention their similarities and shared loves ('Tim loves Vincent Price, I love Peter Lorre'). He also detailed how overwhelming it was to transition from rock band Oingo Boingo to composing film scores, especially on his soundtrack for Batman, which was his first time handling a full orchestra. I also enjoyed how emo he was - when one person said his music always inspired her creativity, he responded "Well, I'm glad it didn't make you want to commit suicide, at least!" and when another asked whether he saw colors or tasted things when composing his music, he said "No, mostly it's just a thick grey haze. If it had a taste, it would be bitter."
The Big Surprise: A 25th Anniversary Box Set Soundtrack compilation of every Elfman-Burton Score, including 14 CDs and a DVD, set to come out late Novemeber.

TRON Legacy: I wish I could give some info about this one, but unfortunately the line was absolutely crazy and we weren't able to get in. And I mean crazy - the line queue was still completely full when they announced they had reached max capacity....
The Big Surprise: Hell if I know!

Burn Notice/Bruce Campbell: Alright, I'll admit it, I've never seen an episode of Burn Notice, but I was not going to pass up a chance to see Bruce Campbell in front of a live audience. Surely enough, Bruce stole the show - never letting his ego falter, he was all over the stage and popping out snarky jokes one after the other. Also, whenever he got a particularily good question from someone or found a particularily attractive girl, he would take out a wad of cash and throw $20 out to them. Pure class. (He also mentioned that one of his favorite movies is The Bridge on the River Kwai - good choice) Still, I have to give credit to the writers of the show, especially creator Matt Nix, for giving some really funny and interesting stories about both shooting and writing the show. Definitely a series I should look in to.
The Big Surprise: A USA studio exec came out and announced the green light for a Burn Notice prequel movie, starring Bruce Campbell as his character Sam Axe. This announcement earned him $20 from Bruce.

JJ Abrams/Joss Whedon: These two Gods among nerds were definitely one of the highlights of the day, giving a talk that focused primarily on both how writing and genre are affected by the constantly changing terrian of entertainment media. Specifically, both commented on the decline of long-arching serial television shows, pointing the blame at studio execs for not willing to gamble audience investment in shows (Abrams talked about how miraculous it was that he actually pulled off "Lost" while Whedon bitterly joked about "Dollhouse"). They also discussed their opinions on the use of 3D technology - let's just say not to expect any Abrams productions to be in 3D any time soon. Whedon, on the other hand, mentioned how cool it would be if Sergio Leone's Once Upon a Time in the West were in 3D. They also touched on how the internet is shaping new fanbases, specifically with "Dr. Horrible." However, they said this would require constant updates and uploads, which would place a lot of burden on writers/producers/actors to constantly give new content, which would require a whole new model.
The Big Surprise: Whedon officially announced he would helm The Avengers movie, while Abrams talked very briefly about his movie Super 8, which he'll team up with Spielberg for. However, no future Whedon/Abrams collabs are in the works :(

Dexter: Our favorite serial killer had a crazy season finale, and a lot of the talk on this panel was about that, and what direction the change will lead the character in this direction. Even though they kept talking about how much creative freedom was now given to them, they really didn't go into much detail about what that meant; still the new preview they showed looked bitchin (can I get away with saying bitchin? I don't know...) Some questions addressed was how much the show was based off of the original novel(s), "Darkly, Dreaming Dexter," and the shows exec prod Sara Colleten admitted after the first season, they completely went their own direction. Jennifer Carpenter (Debra) conceded that being strapped to a table with saran wrap was definitely one of the weirder things she ever had to do as an actress. Finally, when asked what advice he could give to a 'hypothetical' serial killer who followed Dexter's code, Michael C. Hall answered "well, it's like acting - if you have to do it, do it; otherwise don't. Just don't get caught and clean up after yourself." The producers had to comment that Hall's opinions do not reflect that of Showtime.
The Big Surprise: Not much, other than the fact that Hall condones vigilante serial killing.

Spike & Mike: For those who don't know (and apparently most people don't, judging from the mostly empty panel room), "Spike and Mike" is a duo who work relentlessly to gather some of the newest and best animated shorts from around the world and premier them at film festivals, and today they gave us a screening of their new compilation, "A New Generation of Spike & Mike." All of the shorts were wonderful and varied widely in tone and animation and was refreshingly different from everything else I had seen that day. One of the better ones, called "Penguin on the Left" was about a group of penguins who fall prey to sea lions and an evil drunken ship captain, finally leaving one left alive. This single penguin finds the captain's liquor and cigarettes, puts on some sunglasses, proceeds to get hammered, and then finds the captain's gun and shoots both the sea lion and the captain. Finally, a nature photographer comes across the penguin in a kayak and takes a bunch of pictures. When he gets out of frame, the penguin shoots him. Fun stuff - if you ever get a chance to check it out, I highly recommend Spike & Mike.
The Big Surprise: Um, the debut of their new show. That's pretty big.

Sushi Typhoon: In case you're unaware there's an alarming, growing fad in Japan for "Splatter Movies" - films that are so ridiculously gory and exploitative they are completely absurd. Naturally, I had to go to this panel. The people present were the same ones who brought us such classics as Tokyo Gore Police and The Machine Girl, and from the looks of it many more to come. They showed us previews to a number of films that are making their way to the US, including Ninja vs. Alien and Mutant Girl Squad (which were both premiering at Comic Con). One interesting thing in the panel was a little boy in the row in front of me who was really into the whole genre - I didn't know whether to find this funny or really unsettling. When they mentioned in one film a chainsaw would emerge from a girl's butt and slash people in half, he shouted "WHAT???" Exactly what we were all thinking.
The Big Surprise: Sushi Typhoon is now going to independently distribute its movies in the US, meaning more releases at a faster rate. Woo hoo.

Overall, first day of Comic Con was extremely awesome, and I can't wait for tomorrow. Alright, well, I fell asleep when I originally started writing this and now it's past tomorrow, but stay tuned! Hopefully I'll come out with the rest of it soon. For now, though, I'm going to sleep so I can get up at 4 AM to have a chance at actually getting in to the Harry Potter panel. Good Night!