WonderCon 2008 - Finish What You Start

I was just going to pop in and out of Moscone South where WonderCon was, but I actually had a good time at the few things I did attend. Bad weather or not, I hope to go back tomorrow for the movie preview onslaught.

Today I started out by cruising the dealer's room. I came across the autograph bank, and didn't see anyone of note, but there, towards the middle of the gigantic room, was a line of tables for more autographs. The names above them announced people who mostly weren't there, although I noticed that Peter Mayhew (of Chewbacca fame) had quite a line. There, though, in a quiet corner was a little old lady, with longish white hair. Could it be...?

It was, and the sight shocked me. It was Noel Neill.

I grew up watching Noel, who was the second, and better, incarnation of T.V.'s Lois Lane, the Lois to George Reeve's Superman. And, of course, when George shot himself, her Lois Lane career ended. I saw her pop up in Christopher Reeve's Superman movie, as a train passenger, watching as Superboy whizzed past the locomotive. But I hadn't seen her since. I had wondered if she was still with us.

It's a bad photo, and I'm sorry for that. But, if you can, notice the Superman emblem underneath her jacket. If she's still there tomorrow, I'll try to get her autograph.

I showed up half an hour early for J. Michael Straczynski's talk, mostly because I just wanted to rest. Joe came in promptly at 4 pm, grabbed the microphone, and, once the technical difficulties of the microphone were figured out, dove right in.

"Before I take questions, if you take nothing else away from me today, take this: Finish what you start." He went on to say that you might think the project will be great when you finish it, but you never finish it, and it still has that "but it'll be great" attached to it. Finish it. Finish everything. And be judged by it. And learn from it.

Then he said: everything is driven by character. Wow. I really liked that. Many people, he added, spend too much time trying to get their character into certain situations so we'll see how they'll react. If you write the character well enough, those situations will come.

He took a poll of those who had come to see him, and the smallish room was packed. About one-third were writing "prose." About one-third were writing screenplays or scripts. And the other third were writing comic books. Kind of amazing.

He took many questions, and they all had serious questions, questions which necessarily had to be answered in the space of minutes. But each person who asked laid bare themselves, almost to ridicule. One woman wrote morning, noon and night but didn't want to share any of it with anyone. One guy -- no, make that several -- said he was distracted by creating other characters, and losing focus. Joe gave good advice to each. I'm really sorry I'll miss his hour tomorrow. I'm also sorry I have nothing for him to autograph; the guy is one of the most gracious writers/producers I have ever met, gracious with his time for the fans.

After JMS's talk was through, I went over to Hall A, which is where trailers and film panels are presented. It's the largest programming hall, and I'll be spending my entire day here tomorrow. I expect to lose my place several times as I get up to go to the bathroom. It would really help if I had someone with me. That's why Ricky is so valuable at Comic Con; actually, he's valuable for many reasons, but that one always comes to mind when I do the miniature Comic Con in San Francisco.

Of the panels and trailers I saw, I can kinda tell: Forgetting Sarah Marshall is a dud. It's written by a favorite comic actor, Jason Segel (from How I Met Your Mother), and has some wonderful people in it (Kristen Bell,

Mila Kunis), but, ohmiGod, when you realize that they show you the best at the trailer, it suddenly hits you how bad this thing is gonna be. Since I am not a fan of Judd Apatow's stuff (he's the producer), I shouldn't be surprised that I didn't like the clip.

But even worse: Journey 3-D, starring Brendan Fraser. They kept talking about the visual effects, and I have to say some of them look awesome. The award-winning visual effects supervisor was onboard for the film; James Cameron, who did the Abyss and Terminator 2, etc., was onboard. Why don't they talk about the award-winning SCRIPT writer? Because the story doesn't mean much to these filmmakers. Oh, and by the way, Journey 3D is based on Jules Verne's classic, Journey to the Center of the Earth. Good story, bad screenplay.

However, Wanted looks fairly interesting and a dazzling cast. And charming James McAvoy was there to tell us about it. How incredible that James came all the way up to see us when he will obviously be at the Academy Awards tomorrow night to cheer on Atonement!

Now, THAT's pushing your film. And we appreciate it.