Comic-Con 2005: Day 1

After a much needed eight hours of sleep, I continued my vacation by going down to the convention center for the 2005 Comic-Con. The parking lot at the trolley station was already full, so I headed downtown and found parking near a shuttle stop. The shuttle got stuck in traffic, but I still got there before 10 AM and quickly obtained my pass. The day started out poorly because they were making everyone line up in rows upstairs to enter the exhibit hall. By the time my row was let in, all the doors to the hall were already wide open! Way to control the crowds.

I headed straight to the Diamond Select Toys booth hoping to buy the Welcome to the Hellmouth Vampire Darla Figure. Only 1500 of these figures were made and they had been on sale for over a day, so I was afraid they would be sold out. Luckily, there were stacks of them left so I bought one. The DST booth also announced autograph signing by various actors, including Clare Kramer, who played the hell goddess Glorificus on Buffy the Vampile Slayer season 5. I finally decided to get her autograph (which did cost $15, including a 8x10 photograph of her). She was actually very nice. She asked my how my day was and signed the photo "Keith, Y Best Wishes, Clare Kramer". Very nice. Something to frame and hang on my wall.

Most of the day was spent wandering up and down the halls looking at all the exhibits. This is no easy task since the hall is so big - just ask my legs! The only panel I wanted to see today was the Battlestar Galactica one. They had a producer and some of the cast. This show must be popular because the room was almost full and the audience was very loud. Other than showing a few previews of season 2, there wasn't much to see. After that panel was a presentation of Bones, a new drama on Fox. They ended up showing the pilot episode in its entirety. The episode started off really good, but ended rather abruptly. The star of the show, Emily Deschanel, and supporting actor, David Boreanaz, spoke after the screening. I must say that David Boreanaz is a much better speaker. He was both very funny and intelligent sounding. Emily Deschanel played her role as a forensic anthropologist perfectly, but when answering questions she sounded like an idiot with her silly giggle.

I had some time left so I walked over to the Star Wars Spectacular, hosted by Steve Sansweet. I was an hour late and didn't see any surprise guests they might of had. When the Q&A started, I headed out the door and ended up at an Irish Pub drinking beer and eating a chicken boxty - very tasty. Now I need to rest up for the biggest day - Saturday.