My Space Classics: Comic-Con 2008--You Gotta Have A Gimmick

From My Space, July 2008 (and in honor of the end of Fringe)

It's not enough to get the biggest and most popular TV and movie stars to convince fans at Comic-Con to see the latest movies or TV shows. Very attractive trailers or even full pilots won't be enough. Sometimes you have to go the extra mile to promote interest.
If anyone took the extra mile, it was Fox TV with its promotion of Fringe, about an oddball scientist who is joined by his son and and FBI agent to investigate strange phenomena which could be part of a more sinister conspiracy of abusing science and technology. People had several chances to see the pilot during preview night and the first day of the four-day event. Just in case that wasn't enough, they had this....



These large balloon billboards were spotted in downtown San Diego as part of a scavenger hunt. People went to the Fox booth to get special cards that would direct them from one place to another.



If you were on the right track, you got much more than a cookie....



You got a bottle of ginger ale (which I still have) , plus directions to the next clue, guiding you to....



People were eventually sent to a parking garage, where they went to the top to get a backpack, t-shirt and a chance to see the pilot. I would have stayed, but I wanted to get to the Balboa to see Rifftrax Live. But then, I met up with ...



A roving gang of Rocking Sexy Jesuses, who were there to promote the comedy, Hamlet 2. They had some free tickets to a sneak preview, and I snagged one...from someone else. Still saw most to Rifftrax, though.
HBO took a different approach. They invited adults to happy hours at various restaurants near the convention center. People spotted girls wearing fans and this..



"Tru Blood" is the blood substitute that vampires drink so that they don't bite us. The show looks at what would happen if vampires try to be as respectable as the living..and a mind-reading waitress.
What could be the most interesting promotion was at the Best Buy booth, which plugged the DVD release of Harold and Kumar Escape From Guantanamo Bay. In order to get a poster signed by Kal Penn and John Cho, you have to do something interesting...



Mine was a bit too small, but I got my signed poster.
I was hoping to get a signed poster from the cast of Terminator: Sarah Connor Chronicles. Thing is, they closed the line before the doors opened at the big exhibit hall. Suspicious? Sure, but that's Comic-Con for you.

Joss is keeping us posted

It's been great that Joss Whedon has been keeping us posted on Dollhouse, and several other things, in Whedonesque. I copied his post from last Saturday, and put it in my web page where future reviews of Dollhouse will exist. He submitted another one early Wednesday morning, talking about some of his favorite things, including Patton Oswalt. It's great news Patton may soon be seen at a Dollhouse near us. I suggest he could be someone who almost finds out what's going on while hooking up with an Active (not Eliza Dushku, but someone else). That would be something to look forward to.

There was also an article about someone asking Joss about True Blood and Twilight, which feature vampires in love with human girls as opposed to Slayers. He had the right attitude with this comment: "If people want stories about girls who love vampires, they should have them...It's not like I came up with it. It's always deeply romantic or deeply interesting or deeply scary, or all of the above, and that's going to be mined long after I'm gone."

Also, True Blood and Twilight are both based on best-selling books. Their fans will support these shows, as well as Whedonistas will support their type of vampire romance. We're just paying attention to True Blood and Twilight because people will compare them to Buffy or Anita Blake or whoever else.

Meanwhile, a friend of mine at work asked me if I watched Pushing Daisies. Of course, I do. I was at the Mobile Pie Hole Tour, and I have season one on DVD. Anyway, she was worried about how few people are coming back to the show, and are leaning towards Knight Rider or Old Christine. Apparently in these sour times, with an intense election and Wall Street going down the drain despite lower gas prices, people don't like whimsy...no matter if it's well-done.

Well, I sure do, because I know for all its charm and bright colors, there is a dark side. We had to deal with Ned, the guy with the Magic Touch, deal with telling not-dead-anymore-unless-he-touches-her-again Chuck he accidentally killed her dad. If you saw all of season one, you know it really was an accident. Not only that, we find out a big dark secret from one of the aunts (Lily is Chuck's mom, not her aunt), which Chuck now knows but can't go to the said aunt to discuss it at length. Thing is, this season will deal with family. We had a peak at Emerson Cod's family, and it looks like we look at Ned's past as well. Not only that, we find out Gina Torres will be dropping by, too. She's the reason why I am going to a CreationCon in Burbank in a little more than three weeks. This will finally complete the Serenity Cast Experience for me.

Well, November will be an interesting month. After the election, which seemed to have started just after Bush's second inauguration, we can look to the future. With any luck, it will include Pushing Daisies. I can understand if it loses to the final chapter of the fifth game of the World Series, but if it also loses to the Obamamercial, too, ABC get a lawn mower and use it on Daisies. If it's going to be that dumb, though, it should allow extra time to wrap up the story. Whimsy must be respected, even if it's decided that it's too expensive..which I suspect will be the excuse ABC uses to yank the show. We shall see, as we send "What the...have you got bad Chocolate Pudding for Brains" pies to ABC if they dare do such a thing.