Our Comic Con started early this year with a lottery win to see a screening of DC Entertainment's new series Titans. Even that came with added bonuses, namely Brendan Fraser coming on stage to tell us about Doom Patrol -- a show featuring characters dealing with physical disabilities instead of models -- and Kaley Cuoco's blink-and-you-miss-her Harley Quinn introduction.The new-and-flashy Titans came off as ultra-violent and not particularly appreciative of history. Sestra deemed it character assassination -- and Dick Grayson's "f--- Batman" comment seemed to back that up. The powers-that-be apparently wanted that line of dialogue to be polarizing ... and it was. Half the audience greeted that sentiment with uproarious laughter and cheers as the rest of us shifted uncomfortably in our seats.
I thought the standout among the superheroes in the Titans family was Teagan Croft as Rachel, there seem to be a lot of places to take that character in the future ... and that will include a Season 2 as the show runners confirmed that it had been green-lit.
The next day it was on to the Javits Center. Day 1 is usually about getting as far through the vendor room as we can, but we wanted to see early arrival Dean Cain. So we jumped on to his line and waited ... and waited ... as the scheduled autograph time came and went. After an hour of that, we took off.
But we tried again later in the afternoon and guilted our way onto the line when it was about to wrap up for the day. Cain is very gregarious and engaging. In checking out our "Sibling Cinema" shirts and spotting the #10wordmoviereviews hashtag, he exclaimed, "I can read 10 words!" We also talked about Season 11 of The X-Files, since our other hashtag is #XFilesrewatch. He fondly recalled filming Lois and Clark when both shows were in their respective heydays. Although his handler gave us the move-along, Dean continued the conversation.Sestra asked him which movie we should do a 10-word review of, and he mentioned Gosnell, his then-upcoming film on the story of Philadelphia abortionist Dr. Kermit Gosnell. (We definitely plan to get to that one when our schedule allows.) Spotting our Christopher Reeve Foundation Superman dog tags, he said he had gotten that too and met Reeve's wonderful children during his travels. Dean put us -- well, our Sibling Cinema business card anyway -- in his back pocket. And we got big hugs before and after our selfie snap.
After a hearty day of shopping, we went to the lively Neil DeGrasse Tyson StarTalk panel -- another lottery win for us. The "Hollywood astrophysicist" often took a backseat to his guests -- theoretical physicist Brian Greene and comic Chuck Nice -- while mulling over the topics of Doctor Who's time travel, the quantum physics of Ant-Man and Stranger Things' parallel universes.
It's difficult to convey how much fun the three discussions with a recap, but in simplest of terms -- the group voted thumbs-up on the idea of Doctor Who wormholes, mostly down on the seismic Ant-Man changes and split on parallel universes.
Put succinctly by the man himself, "The universe is under no obligation to make sense to you." After excellent advice to wanna-be writers/creators to make sure what they present makes sense within the universe it exists in, DeGrasse Tyson shared an emotional letter to NASA he penned for the anniversary of that organization and his own 60th birthday.
Day 2 was full of fun interactions with more celebrities, including Alex Kingston -- close to Sestra's heart as River Song in Doctor Who, but just as close to mine for the vibrant production of Macbeth I attended at the Park Avenue Armory four years ago. During our quick photo op, I told her how amazing I thought she was in it. She halted and responded "That really means a lot to me." As that moment did to me. Meeting David Tennant -- Sestra's Doctor and my No. 2 -- consisted a lot of smiling and no small amount of perspiration (for me, at least).
We also did the Lois and Clark photo op with Dean Cain and Teri Hatcher -- although the volunteers attempting to keep us in line with shouts of "Lewis and Clark!! Lewis and Clark!!" were simultaneously off-putting and amusing. When we got to them, I heard someone ask Hatcher how old she was. Teri declined with a polite joke and smiled when I backed her up with a "Yeah, Teri!" Ever-attentive Dean noted we had changed to our Wonder Twins shirts and exclaimed, "10-word movie reviews"! That's the kind of publicity we like.
As Sestra went off to our third lottery win -- for Karl Urban's The Boys -- I started a line to meet the authors of an amazing Apollo graphic novel. Matt Fitch and Chris Baker told me they had just flown over from England and I was their first fan. They seemed as excited to meet me as I was to greet them. Matt's space interest had been passed down from his dad, who was very much into the Challenger story, while Chris became interested in it more recently. Then Mike Collins was brought into the fold. I told them when I first heard about their book, I thought the original Apollo 11 astronaut Michael Collins (also an artist) might have contributed. Of course, Mike Collins -- who has worked on the Dr. Who series and drew the Sherlock: Mind Palace coloring book -- is no slouch in that department. In fact, Mike was unable to attend the con due to ongoing Dr. Who obligations.
When I reunited with Sestra, I heard about how she "borderline fan-girled" at The Boys signing, which included Simon Pegg as well. She told me she "broke the assembly line" by engaging in conversation with Urban, that included some side chat from Jack Quaid (described as "such a little flirt.") Sestra described it as being akin to the conveyor belt on the uproarious I Love Lucy candy episode in which everything got backed up and off track. I think she enjoyed being the cause of the backup in this case.
A few weeks earlier, we went back and forth before committing to the Doctor Who panel at the Hammerstein Ballroom, and so glad we ultimately decided in its favor because it was a wild and wacky one with Kingston, Tennant and Matt Smith. I think Kingston convinced them to go an unconventional route, so it featured the actors interviewing members of the audience -- including those dressed like their Doctor Who characters and children. It was a great way of getting around a traditional Q&A session.When the audience did get to pose some questions, David got adorably unnerved when he was asked about what transpired on the set of "The Doctor's Daughter," the Doctor Who episode that featured his future real-life wife, Georgia Moffett. T-he details remained private on that, but Tennant felt a lot more comfortable bemoaning the budget during his years on the show. "We only went to Rome on green screen because HBO was leasing sets," he quipped. Meanwhile, Matt Smith and his compatriots got to travel to New York and go to Spain and other exotic locations to shoot the show.
One story I hadn't previously heard was how Tennant and Smith both stayed in the same flat -- at different times, of course -- while they were starring in the series. Smith teased that he thought about how Tennant went about memorizing the "incredibly wordy dialogue" within the same confines.
All three of them sound genuinely thrilled to be part of the show's legacy and threw their support completely behind the incoming 13th doctor Jodie Whittaker. We were really hoping she'd make a surprise appearance, but a late-night show had her booked that night, so it wasn't to be. To tell the truth, I didn't really remember we wanted that until we were heading home.
Our last day at NYCC was an abbreviated one, but was highlighted by a photo op with Smith. We told him how much we enjoyed the previous night's entertainment. He asked "Was that fun?" while giving us fist bumps. Before and after that, we went to world premiere pilot screenings of a couple shows (Legacies -- the latest spinoff of The Vampire Diaries and The Originals -- and Roswell, New Mexico), both helmed by Julie Plec. I think we both preferred the latter, which kept the spirit of the original series and stars the affable Nathan Parsons. Sitting behind the casts each time, we got a darkened glimpse at their reactions to the inaugural showings. And aside from one power-hungry line coordinator for Roswell, it marked a fine end to this year's incarnation of the con for both of us.
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