~What, no one responded to our gratuitous taunting yesterday? Bummer. Anyway, if I wanted to be like the con reports off the Buffy list I could tell you what we had for breakfast before we left... but I won't.~ *Crossiants.*
~We hit San Diego a little before 11 o'clock, which I thought was hideously late, since I'm used to sick-'n-twisted cons that start at 8 AM. This one started at 10:30 AM, and can we pause for a moment to beg that whoever runs this con comes and runs SyndiCon next year?~ *Yeah!* ~If you don't mind. *glare*~ *laughing* ~Anyway, we got there, we got tickets for the 3:30 panel on Buffy and then got food (to eat makes our con going good). And wandered for a few hours, checked out dealers room, said, "Oh, my God, can't believe we're here. Cooool!" a lot, came up with a web design company, you know, normal fennish things.
2:30 we grabbed a stretch of pavement and waited in line for the Buffy panel. About a half and hour before it started my friend Cath showed up and joined us (this girl really has to see Buffy, she really, really does!) The let us in and we got seats in the second row!!! It was about 15 minutes before the panel began and we were chatting away when the guy in front of us turned around and said, "Are you on the mailing lists?" "Sure," says Celli and Lizbet. "Hi," he said. "I'm Scott."~
*I get to talk about Scott because, well...I talked to Scott a whole bunch. Great guy, really great guy. When I told him I was a writer, he actually asked me questions about it and was very interested. I was soooo impressed.
Scott was, until last Wednesday, in the publicity department (I think) of WB. He's now working in the Kids WB area, and is (whatashock) a writer as well. But he's still going to be the Buffy/'Net liaison, mostly because he likes it, I think.
One major note from Scott: there was some concern about the theme--those of you on mail lists probably noticed he was asking your opinions of it. When he went to TPTB with reams of paper saying "We LOVE the theme!" they decided not to change it. Whew!!!!*
~Well, about five minutes before the panel began, Scott looked at two of the four seats that he had saved and said, "Forget it, they are not showing up... you two want the seats?"~ *Can you say, duuuuuuh?* ~Which meant that Celli and I got front row, 4-seats-from-center seats at the panel.~ *Breathe, Lizbet* ~Breathing.~ *Breathe.* ~We said that a lot yesterday. Anyway, panel started, and....~ *Breathe. ~Breathe.~ *Breathe.* Nick is sooooooooooooooooooooo much cuter in person. I mean, wow. His face looks a lot narrower and finer-boned and I mean.... wow.~ *a-e-i-o-whoo-boy!* ~What she said.
The panel was disappointingly short, but very cool. Nick and Joss mostly did the talking. Alyson jumped in a few times, and got a few zingers in. ("I answer all *my* mail. *g*") The set is an extremely friendly one; Nick and David are apparently really close friends now. David, BTW, couldn't make it because he spends most of his time back east in Ithaca with his family. Gotta love a family guy.... sigh.
On to details. The Anointed One will be back (so, Perri, you might just get your wish to see Colin the Boy From Hell bite it on screen).~ *Kenny moment!* ~Joss said, and I quote that, "We're not done with the Master," which can mean a whole lot of things.~ *And that's the one that going to be the most misquoted everywhere.* ~Buffy merchandise... SOOON!!!! Nick cracked some joke and Joss glared at him and said, "Do you want some lines in the next episode?" (Side note: these people were so much fun to watch and listen to on stage. Hard to believe they were up until 5 AM finishing the first episode of the new season.) Someone asked if Angel was coming back. "With a vengeance," Joss said.~ *Yum.* ~Ditto. Um, random tidbits and quotes:
"We're actually going to be importing teachers from the LA Unified School District" -- When asked if teachers would start avoiding Sunnydale High because of the combat-zone conditions.
Each season gets a story arc, so that if the show gets cancelled at the end of a season, the show would be tied up in a bow. (THANK YOU JOSS!!!!!)
Whether or not Invisible Girl would come back: "They're so cheap to hire!" But it would be cool to do something with that... someday. (Gee, can you vague that up a little for me, Joss?)
....or Catherine the Great: Ditto. He might pan past the trophy case and see her trapped in there.... GOOD!
"Ms Calender is coming back, and Giles is jonesing for her."
"What is it like going back to high school?" "I envy the people who die on our show." -- Nick (Alyson makes vowel sounds.) "She envies the people who die on our show too." -- Nick
(Have we mentioned that Nick is really, really cute in person? OK, I'm back.)
"Angel will be active."
When asked if Paul Reubens would appear on the show: "Paul Reubens is cooooool!" but there are no plans. If he was, it would be a different character.~
*The fan mail thing really, really needs to be explained or Alyson will be misunderstood. Someone asked if it was true that she gets by far the most fan mail (email and snailmail)--or more than Sarah. Joss said "I don't know but she gets a lot." Alyson said, "I answer mine." When she realized how that came out, she said, "No, no, I mean...Sarah does too. It's just that...she has people that help her." (Side note: she probably still gets mail from AMC.) Then she just looked miserable. I felt kind of bad for her--she obviously didn't mean it the way it's being repeated.*
~"When we pitched the idea to the network, they said, 'OK, go do that.'" -- Joss. Obviously, he has A LOT of creative control. But we knew this.
"How's the new principal going to die?" "How and when I say." -- God, ooops, Joss. A LOT of creative control. *g*
Armin isn't around a lot, and they have to film around his DS9 schedule, but they like him a lot and he is in at least one episode in the beginning of the season (I don't remember if it is the first one...)
"How do you play characters so much younger than yourselves?" "We're just very immature." -- Alyson
Someone had nothing but words of praise for the music on the show. Joss apparently feels about unsigned bands like he does about invisible girls -- very cheap to hire. *g* But he really loves the music. (Well, duh!)
Buffy soundtrack -- ASAP
"Is there going to be a Buffy: the Animated Series?" "We don't need cartoons, we have Alyson." -- Joss. Proving that we are not the only ones who adore her rubber face. *g*
"Buffy: the Next Generation"
"What projects to you work on in your off-time." "Alyson, did you want to do films or did you want to go to clown college or something?" -- Nick (He's cute *and* gorgeous. Be still my heart.)
"What about the novels?" "Which novel?" -- Joss "War and Peace." -- Alyson
Original novels are going to start to be released in September.
"Are any of you like the characters you play?" "Nah. They are all bits of me. They are very different." -- Joss
"Is Nick like Xander?" "Nah, he's had a woman." -- Joss
"Tony... he's just British." -- Nick
"I wanna be Angel. I could do it." -- Nick (who obviously couldn't shut up)
"Do you ever adlib your lines?" "You don't do improv when you've got a writer as good as this." -- Nick (see above about getting lines in the next episode, and make giant big sucking sound)
At this point, they started wrapping things up and I realized that we hadn't gotten a single little tidbit of information for next season. So little me in the front row started waving my hand wildly. Nick and Joss looked over at me and pointed just as the MC said, "OK, that's it."~ *And Joss said, "No, we have to take her question, she's--" And he never finished it.* ~Why do I feel like I just escaped the hangman on that one? Anyway, I asked if there was any details they could give us about next season. Joss hemmed for a minute, and then told us about Spike and Pricilla, Sid-and-Nancy type vampires who are bad guys. There's going to be a lot of love, and it's going to go badly for everyone.
And the panel broke with the announcement that they would be signing autographs in the dealer's room. Celli, Cath and I motored down there to grab spots in line but the autographs wouldn't start until Joss was done with the Alien Resurrection panel. (Yes, Beth, I know I swore I'd never wait in line for autographs again. But... but... cute guys! (Not) Teenagers!)~ *Yes, she lied, she's a bad person, can we move on now?* ~Buffy quotes, good for all occasions.
So, while in line, this person walks up to us and says, "Are you Lizbet?" Perri's friend Diane had found me on the basis of, "Short, blond and bouncy." And since I don't bounce, she really was working with a handicap. So we had a lovely time chatting with her while waiting in line. And then we had a lovely time chatting with Nick and Joss and Alyson while they signed our Buffy posters. Joss and Nick said, "Wait, aren't you the one in the panel who asked the last question?" Yup, that was me. I've already made an impression. A drooling fangirl impression, but what can I say? So we have posters with autographs, we grabbed dinner with Diane, and we headed home, getting there about 3 minutes before midnight.
Whew! OK, that's our con report. Hate us much? *g*
Lizbet and Celli
SunS Tag-Team Torture
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