Comic-Con ‘09: Astroboy and Battlestar Galactica Panels

There were three significant sci-fi themed panels at Comic-Con on Thursday: Astroboy, Battlestar Galactica, and James Cameron’s Avatar. Alas, despite waiting three hours in line for “Avatar”, I only managed to catch the final 5 minutes or so of the panel, just enough to hear Cameron saying that he plans to show the first 15 minutes of “Avatar” for free in Imax theaters. I was not, unfortunately, in time to catch the 25 minutes of footage that Cameron brought with him. Earlier in the day, I did manage to catch the “Astroboy” and BSG panels. Observations from the two below.

The big news coming out of the “Astroboy” panel was that Samuel L. Jackson and Charlize Theron have roles in the movie. In the case of Jackson, director David Bowers called it a cameo. He didn’t say either/or about Theron’s, though.

Attending the panel were Bowers, producer Maryann Garger, Astroboy himself Freddie Highsmore, and the impossibly lovely Kristen Bell, who I have to admit, comes across as incredibly down-to-Earth while at the same time looking like someone dropped out of the Heavens into our lap. Yes, I think I’m in love.

The panel showed a new trailer and two clips from the movie, including a scene towards the end where Astroboy takes on the humongous Peacekeeper, a massive robot powered by the villain Stone (voiced by Donald Sutherland). A couple of scenes in the clips weren’t finished, but I have to admit, I didn’t know a whole lot about Astroboy going in, but my nephews are going to love this thing. The CG animation is incredible, and there are plenty of humor and action-adventure to make the kids cheer. If this movie doesn’t become a hit with the kids, I’ll eat my sock.

And oh yeah, butt machineguns? Yes. Butt machineguns.

The Battlestar Galactica panel was sort of a lark. I had gotten into Hasbro’s panel on G.I. Joe, but when I realize it was just about the toys, I bailed. The BSG panel with Richard Hatch was around the corner. After another long wait in line, we were in.

Unfortunately there wasn’t a whole lot of news from the panel. I’m not even sure why they held it this year, it’s not as if they were really there to promote anything BSG-related except Bear McCreary’s upcoming concert at the House of Blues (guest starring Katee Sackhoff, we’re told). The panel opened with a sort of documentary on the making of BSG, but truth be told, it was little more than a self-congratulatory video about how great the show is, and gosh darn it, it’s the best thing, in, like, the whole universe or something.

A couple of curious notes, though: actor Edward James Olmos (Adama) referred to the 9/11 terrorist attacks as “the 9/11 situation”, while actress Rekha Sharma (Tory) made the most retarded statement I had ever heard out of a Hollywood actress’s mouth — she makes the grand proclamation that there are no bad guys “especially in war”. Oh really, Rekha? Try telling the Jews during World War II that. Or the Chinese. I’m just saying. See, this is why some actors should only speak in public when they’re reading lines someone wrote for them.

Unfortunately Sharma and Olmos weren’t at the panel. It was just Richard Hatch, a couple of producers, the aforementioned Bear McCreary, and I believe actress Nicki Clyne, though to be honest, I don’t watch the show enough to recognize her, and since she was a surprise guest, they didn’t have her nameplate made up for her. She only got one question, and I didn’t really catch what Hatch called her, but I believe it was Nicki Clyne.

And here’s a shocker: the show actually had an honest to goodness science adviser, who was also on the panel. I kid you not. I wonder if he ever explained to Ron Moore why people are flying around space with faster-than-light engines, but they haven’t discovered wireless phones, eye lasik surgery, or acne medicine for poor Adama.

The rest of the panel was mostly fans gushing about the show and the people on the panel answering questions. Disappointingly, there were no videos or clips, not even to promote the upcoming Caprica TV show. If you absolutely loooooooved BSG, I suppose this is your panel. I guess the one piece of sorta-news that I got from the panel was from Hatch, who said they were months away from starting production on a Battlestar Galactica movie based on the old show when it was called off by the studio. They were that close, apparently.

To give them credit, the panelists were quite funny and quick on their feet, so it was entertaining throughout. Even if you were inclined to believe they thought way too highly of themselves and their show. Plus, no one plugs like Richard Hatch. I believe he tried to get us to sign up for a dating service towards the end there…

Tomorrow, the Farscape reunion panel, The Prisoner, and Legion…