SciFi Weekend: More From San Diego Comic Con

This week and last week, instead of a single weekend post, there have been a series of posts with news and clips from San Diego Comic Con. Here are the posts so far:

Torchwood: Miracle Day Comic Con Preview

Game of Thrones Panel

Unaired Scene from Lost

Cast interviews from Doctor Who and the big news that Karen Gillan says she will be returning for Season 7

Merlin Renewed For Fifth Season

Doctor Who: The Second Half of Season 6

Doctor Who Panel (Post also includes link to the interview in which Karen Gillan stated she will be returning for Season 7.)

Matt Smith and Karen Gillan on Craig Ferguson

Video of Karen Gillan on Craig Ferguson

Torchwood: Miracle Day Comic Con News & Episode 3 Comments Videos include the Torchwood Panel Discussion and a link to the sex scene shown in the U.S. on Starz but cut on BBC.

Craig Ferguson Interviews The Doctor

Fringe (And Peter Bishop) At SDCC

Dexter at San Diego Comic Con

The Thursday Night Genre Comedies: Big Bang Theory & Community

Dexter at San Diego Comic Con

Above is the Dexter panel at San Diego Comic Com.

Next season, Dexter will skip ahead so that he is beyond the death of Rita and beyond Lumen moving away. Entertainment Weekly has some more information on next season:

  • Dexter (Michael C. Hall) begins the season with worries that the apple won’t fall far from the tree when it comes to his son, Harrison. Will the little guy be a killer, too? “That’s a fundamental fear that Dexter has, that’s where he’s at,” Hall told the crowd. “He knows he doesn’t want his son to show those traits and he doesn’t want to encourage them. That’s a constant fear and consideration.”  That’s where religion comes in! “His son is only going to get older and more in need of guidance, and Dexter feels ill-equipped to provide that. As a result he is motivated to find ways to do that, including giving him spiritual grounding .. something that Dexter hasn’t cared about.” Executive Producer Sara Colleton would like to add to that. “Dexter knows what he doesn’t want to pass on to Harrison, so he starts this journey that snowballs into a huge evolved plot for the season. It’s initiated by his desire to define faith … which is by it very nature, undefinable. It’s done in true Dexter style so it’s a lot of fun.”
  • Mos Def showed up but unfortunately, didn’t tease much about his new character Brother Sam. Dang. However, he’s dang glad to be here! ”I’ve been a fan of the show since day one. I bought the DVDs. If I wasn’t here, I’d be out there asking the same questions. `What happened to Rita?’”
  • Colin Hanks, however, teased a little more about his new character, Travis. A little. ”I really can’t give away too much. We want to keep it a fun surprise. But the one thing I can say is you’re gonna see some stuff this season that you have not seen in previous seasons. It’s exciting and I may or may not be a part of that.
  • C.S. Lee said his character Masuka has some shenanigans in store. “Interns are coming up this year.  Women and men. He probably gets into some trouble with some interns.” What about a real romance? “We all know him as a flaming crotch but there are other signs to him,” Lee said. “You’ll see more this year this season.”
  • What’s next for you, Hall, when Dexter is over? (Don’t worry, fans: No one said anything about ending the show yet). “I didn’t know Dexter was in my future back when I was a funeral director,” he said. “Hopefully it will be something I can not quite imagine.”

They also posted a longer trailer for season six than the one that I previously posted:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RsvGslI_KcM&feature=player_embedded

Fringe (And Peter Bishop) At SDCC


Above is the Fringe panel from last week’s San Diego Comic Com. The clip below was also released:

Joel Wyman has revealed on Twitter that the title for the first episode of season four of Fringe will be A Sort of Homecoming. I wonder if that refers to Peter in the teaser clip above.

Jeff Pinker and Joel Wyman also discussed Peter’s fate in an interview with The Hollywood Reporter:

Joshua Jackson joked to THR that he would like his alter ego to return to the cult sci-fi drama in a “flash of light,” when the time came. Wyman, however, wasn’t as giving. “You know, that is an assumption,” he replied when asked about how Peter would return to the series. “He will not be another identity.”

“For us, we are really using Peter’s story this season to explore a lot of the basic rules of the show, which are choices and connection,” Pinkner added.

But Wyman and Pinkner were adamant in dispelling any theories that questioned whether the events in the season finale actually happened.

“It really happened,” Wyman reassured. “What we are trying to do from a conceptual standpoint is have the audience understand that it happened and you know it did happen. We watched it and there has been a catastrophe and it needs to be righted. It will either right itself properly or it will go in a very negative way. Now you have to understand what those repercussions are going to mean.”

He added, “Peter sacrificed himself. He was a selfless hero. There are sacrifices; a sacrifice wouldn’t be hard if it was easy.”

Before they decided to go ahead with the finale, there were discussions about the events that unfolded that would affect the trajectory of the series.

“Before we decided to actually pull the trigger and do that season finale, we convinced ourselves that it happened and we were willing to play with consequences,” Pinkner said. “I think it ends up in a place that is really kind of beautiful.”


There was also a second teaser released. Plus below is an interview with Anna Torv:

Quote of The Day

BREAKING: Round-the-Clock Congressional Sessions Bad for Business, Say Prostitutes –Andy Borowitz

Craig Ferguson Interviews The Doctor

Craig Ferguson interviewed Matt Smith and Karen Gillan of Doctor Who when they were in town for last week’s San Diego Comic Con. The interview with Matt Smith aired last night and is posted above. The interview with Karen Gillan aired Wednesday and was posted here.

Boehner Passes Bill Which Never Had A Chance

In perhaps one of the most brazen demonstrations of incompetence and lack of concern for one’s nation from a government leader we have ever seen, John Boehner has devoted the last few days to pass a bill which had zero chance of becoming law, as opposed to seriously working to prevent a crisis next week. Boehner got his bill passed and, as expected, the Senate voted it down. The Senate has also been searching for a deal which could pass:

Senate Democratic and Republican leaders are having intense discussions to come up with a bipartisan solution for raising the debt ceiling.

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) told reporters that he needs ideas from Republicans sometime Friday if Congress is to meet the Aug. 2 deadline.

A Senate GOP leadership aide said the two sides have until early Sunday morning to reach an agreement.

The two sides are discussing trigger mechanisms that could be used to build bipartisan support. Such triggers would force Congress to carry out another round of deficit reduction before the 2012 election.

At the moment, it is difficult to see them reaching an agreement, but perhaps Republicans will be more willing to compromise when we get down to the last minute. The failure of Boehner’s bill might at least serve the purpose of allowing them to argue that they had no choice but to accept a compromise Senate bill to prevent economic catastrophe.  On the one hand, one would think that country club Republicans aren’t anxious to see their investments wiped out.  On the other hand, the Tea Party members who have been pressuring Boehner don’t show any signs of ever facing reality.

David Letterman: “Top Ten Ways Barack Obama Can Win Over The Republicans”

David Letterman: “Top Ten Ways Barack Obama Can Win Over The Republicans”

10. Show up to next meeting in a Captain America uniform
9. Burn everyone a really cool mix CD
8. Bribe them with free tickets to a ‘Larry the Cable Guy’ show
7. Raise the debt ceiling, but do it with a fun sound effect
6. Do something about the heat
5. Swap places with another guy named Barack Obama — hey, don’t miss the new reality show ‘Same Name’ Sundays at 9:00 p.m. on CBS!
4. Put Chuck Norris on the nickel
3. Like I’m the right guy to ask for advice on winning people over
2. Don’t be such a poor sport when they call him a socialist, foreign-born, radical Muslim who’s trying to destroy America
1. Kill bin Laden again

Quote of the Day

“Jeb Bush may run for President. Bush Presidencies are like ‘Caddyshack’ movies. They should have stopped with one.” –David Letterman

Torchwood: Miracle Day Comic Con News & Episode 3 Comments

Above is the Torchwood Panel at Comic Con. By Part 4 of the videos, John Borrowman is singing.

I previously posted the season preview for Torchwood: Miracle Day presented at the San Diego Comic Con here.

There are also many videos on line with interviews with the cast and crew. In the above video, Jane Espenson discussed Torchwood, along with writing other genre television shows.

Reportedly the series gets darker by Episode 5, and major events occur in Episode 7.

There are some mild spoilers regarding Episode 3 below.

The third episode of Torchwood: Miracle Day, Dead of Night, was the weakest of the season so far. Highlights include an homage to Doctor Who in the clip above. During a raid on PhiCorp, Jack remarks that it is “bigger on the inside than on the outside.”

The episode did build up the conspiracy more, but also was weakened by having two of the main characters wander off for a couple of gratuitous sex scenes. The scenes were cut from the version to be shown on the BBC this week. The scenes includes both homosexual sex between Jack and someone he picked up in a bar, interspersed with a heterosexual sex scene between Rex Matheson and Dr. Vera Juarez.  A video of the sequence is available here.

Quote of the Day

“Sarah Palin’s documentary, ‘The Undefeated,’ will be available on Pay-Per-View and On Demand by Sept. 1. The movie will be shown in English, with English subtitles.” –Jimmy Fallon