My adventures at AwesomeCon continued with getting up super early Saturday morning to see David Tennant! I’m a big fan of the new run of Doctor Who, and started with Blink, so he’s definitely my Doctor. Throw in Jessica Jones and him generally seeming like a good guy, and I was super excited to see him. He was on the big stage, which seats 5,000 people, which is insane. We didn’t get up super duper early, but we (my boyfriend and me) did pay for VIP tickets so the seats were pretty good. We even met up with two friends of ours, who are also big Who fans.
It was a bit of an awkward panel; they tried to combine science with science fiction by having him interviewed by a scientist and a science historian. The problem was that David Tennant didn’t write Doctor Who, he just acted brilliantly in it, so he had no insight into what real like science was consulted when writing the scripts, which is what they kept asking him. Before the panel I had thought maybe Tennant would be the moderator cracking wise while asking the other guys science questions. But that’s not what it was and it wasn’t what the audience wanted either.
Afterwards, I ran down to Artist’s Alley to buy a gorgeous print of little girl Rey by Penelope Gaylord (pictured above) while my boyfriend got in line for Felicia Day’s panel. It was a good thing he did, she was in a small room (only 500 people) and not everyone got in. She was as charming and funny as ever, answering the audience questions with wit and patience, when they’re probably questions she’s been asked a million times.
Next up I grabbed a cafeteria pizza from the he convention center. Next year I have to remember to bring some food.
Edgar Wright, last minute addition to the con, was next in the big room. Moderated by Felicia Day, who name dropped being friend with the creator of Movies with Mikey (I love you, Mikey Neumann!!) this was a great panel. We watched the Baby Driver trailer a million times while waiting for the panel to start, and I just kept getting more excited for the movie. Then we got to see the first five minutes of the movie, and I am SO ALL THE WAY IN!! I’m not much of a music person, more on this later, and this movie appears to make visual the rhythm and beats of the soundtrack. He talked about writing for specific songs, getting them all cleared before shooting began, and kind of shooting and editing at the same time to get the songs integrated into the movie. I can’t wait!
After that, I went back to Artist’s Alley for more signings (Unstoppable Wasp by Jeremy Whitley and Skeptics by Tini Howard). I had some Squirrel Girl comics with me for Ryan North to sign, but while deciding if I wanted to wait for him to return to his table I realized I was getting the beginnings of a panic attack from the crowd and noise. Recognizing this I knew I had to find a quieter place to take my pill and relax for a little while. I found out a very early line had already been started for Wil Wheaton (squee) so I want and sat as the seventh person in line. The room was pretty empty and quiet and I chatted a little with some other people and relaxed. I was so proud of being able to recognize what my body/mind needed. I’m not usually very good at that. No panic attack was had.
We got into the third row center for Wil Wheaton and I could not have been happier. Yes, he’s a fun actor (I especially enjoyed Eureka recently) but what I really love him for is his open blog and social media posts about life with depression. He’s probably not the first person who’s told me “Depression Lies” but he’s the first person I’ve listened to about it. It’s meant a lot to me. I didn’t tell him, no Q&A, no photo or signing for me, I would’ve just cried as I told him what it meant which would’ve been super awkward for both of us. But I’m glad I saw him speak and laugh with Claire Kramer moderating. An excellent end to Saturday!
FuzBubbles 