I started off Saturday/the third day of San Diego Comic-Con back at the Petco Park parking lot, wandering around looking at the other booths before they opened for the day. Xfinity had re-created some sets for Orange is the New Black, Game of Thrones and Luke Cage. There was a Voltron truck. And there was a creepy-looking bus that was home to the IT VR experience (I don’t think any amount of money—real or Ecoin—would have got me to step foot on that bus!).
Once everything officially opened, I went back to the Mr. Mercedes installation, hoping they had restocked their t-shirts for the day—the previous night they had only had white t-shirts left in size large. Unfortunately they were still out of the colored t-shirts. However, this morning the ice cream truck was open and they were handing out Mr. Friendly’s Ice Cream pops and a Mr. Friendly pin. I also got a chance to try out the prize vending machine, where I received a stress ball with the smiling Mr. Mercedes logo on it. I ate the ice cream on my way to the FXhibition installation for my Legion Mixed Reality Experience reservation.
My Legion appointment wasn’t until 10am, but they let me into the FXhibition area early, so I wandered around while waiting, checking out some of the other things that were there for the other FX shows. For Archer, they had water taps where you could fill up your water bottle or these mini spritzers they were handing out. At the American Horror Story kaleidoscope you could get a glimpse at the upcoming season. For The Strain, they had IVs of sun tan lotion as well as some props from the series. And at the Snowfall area they had stools where you could sit and get your shoelaces tied in different ways inspired by various FX shows. Among the other things in this area was a crane machine where you could try to win some exclusive swag from your favorite FX shows.
The Legion Mixed Reality Experience was an extremely interactive, one-on-one experience. When I arrived, they put a hospital bracelet around my wrist, identifying me as David Haller, and from that moment on, that is what everyone referred to me as. When it was my turn, the door to the treatment center opened and a doctor welcomed me in, asking me all kinds of questions to assure that I knew who I was, why I was there, and if I remembered anything about what had happened. I played along, and the doctor seemed pleased.
I was led down a hallway to a small exam room where the doctor and a colleague in a business suit handed me an augmented reality headset and started to test my abilities. I tried to focus my mind and sight on certain objects in order to make them levitate, and waved my finger into the air in order to select and move objects in the room. As I was being tested, I could hear strange sounds and knocking all around me as well as a voice in my headset telling me to play along and that she would help me to escape. I could also see flashes of light and movement behind me, but I couldn’t tell what exactly was going. It really started to make me feel paranoid, especially since I wasn’t able to look behind me. At one point the voice in my headset told me that I shouldn’t trust the people in the room, and that I needed to run, so I quickly made my way towards the door but when I turned around I saw The Angriest Boy in the World running towards me, and had to use my powers to freeze him long enough for me to escape the room. Once outside, breathing heavily, I was back in another hallway where a technician told me the experience was over. He took my photo and removed my headset. It was a very strange but exciting experience. The actors never broke character and remained serious the entire time—even when I was having a lot of trouble with the basic levitation tasks and their script called for them to say “enough with the easy tasks, let’s try something a more difficult”.
There were no photos allowed inside the activation, but FX provided the following promotional photos and video which help give an idea of what it was like inside:
Afterwards, I headed inside the Hilton Bayfront for a long day of press rooms.
First up was Syfy’s Wynonna Earp. This was a really well-run room and we got to speak with everyone—showrunner Emily Andras, comic writer Beau Smith, and stars Melanie Scrofano (“Wynonna Earp”), Tim Rozon (“Doc Holliday”), Dominique Provost-Chalkley (“Waverly Earp”), Shamier Anderson (“Agent Dolls”), Katherine Barrell (“Nicole Haught”), Tamara Duarte (“Rosita “) and Varun Saranga (“Jeremy”). Check out our videos from these roundtable sessions.
Next up was The CW’s Riverdale. It was cut kind of close, but we did manage to speak with everyone—executive producers Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa and Sarah Schechter, and stars KJ Apa (“Archie Andrews”), Lili Reinhart (“Betty Cooper”), Camila Mendes (“Veronica Lodge”), Cole Sprouse (“Jughead Jones”), Madelaine Petsch (“Cheryl Blossom”), Ashleigh Murray (“Josie McCoy”), Casey Cott (“Kevin Keller”), Hayley Law (“Valerie Brown”) and Asha Bromfield (“Melody Valentine”). Check out my videos from these roundtable sessions.
My next press room was for the upcoming FOX series The Gifted, which is a Marvel series set in the world of mutants. We got to speak with stars Stephen Moyer (“Reed Strucker”), Emma Dumont (“Polaris”), Jamie Chung (“Blink”), Percy Hynes White (“Andy Strucker”) & Natalie Alyn Lind (“Lauren Strucker”). When Stephen Moyer sat down he told us he brought his daughter with him—we all thought he was making a joke about being paired with his daughter from the show, but he did in fact bring his actual daughter to sit at the roundtable with him. Unfortunately, most of the actors were left at the tables a little too long and we ran out of time, leaving several actors in the room that we never got to speak with—Amy Acker, Sean Teale, Coby Bell and Blair Redford. Check out my videos from these roundtable sessions.
Next I stopped by the Star Trek: Discovery press conference, moderated by star Rainn Wilson. They’ve assembled quite an impressive cast for this latest series in the Star Trek franchise, I just wish the show was being aired on CBS instead of the paywalled CBS All Access service. Jason Isaacs had to leave almost immediately as he was headed off to be in a wedding in LA. One of the highlights was an emotional speech given by Sonequa Martin-Green as she almost came to tears when asked about taking over the mantle pioneered by Nichelle Nichols. There were also questions about whether/if they will do futuristic tech since this series takes place before the original series, and whether or not we will see Tribbles (we will!).
Next up was Syfy’s The Magicians, which was an incredibly packed room. We got to speak with executive producers Sera Gamble & John McNamara, and stars Jason Ralph (“Quentin”), Stella Maeve (“Julia”), Olivia Taylor Dudley (“Alice”), Hale Appleman (“Eliot”) and Summer Bishil (“Margo”). Unfortunately we ran over time and never got to speak with Arjun Gupta (“Penny”). Check out my videos from these roundtable sessions.
By the time I made it next door to the press room for Syfy’s The Expanse, the room was even more packed than my previous one. Since there weren’t really any open seats, I just headed upstairs a little early for my final press room. I was going to have to leave this press room for The Expanse early anyway, so it was just as well.
My final press room of the day was Syfy’s upcoming scripted paranormal/horror series Ghost Wars. While the cast arrived a bit late, we still finished on time and got to see everyone. This was because they actually circulated the talent around the roundtables in their entirety before sending anyone off to the press line. I wish all the rooms ran this way!
Those present were creator/showrunner Simon Barry, executive producers Chad Oakes & Michael Frislev, writer/executive producer Dennis Heaton, and stars Vincent D’Onofrio, Avan Jogia , Kandyse McClure and Meat Loaf. It was amusing when one person at my table referred to Meat Loaf as “Meat Loaf”—he immediately responded by telling to journalist to call him Meat, after all he wasn’t referring to the journalist by both his first and last name! Check out my videos from these roundtable sessions.
After wrapping the pressroom, I booked it to the NBC Party, since I was already running an hour late. The party was in a new location this year, the basement-level Oxford Social club. The party was Midnight, Texas themed, so the cast was there wandering about the party. By the time I got there, I only saw author Charlene Harris and actor Peter Mensah. There was an open bar, passed appetizers and a dessert table—mini pecan pies and red velvet cupcakes. They also had some custom Midnight, Texas-themed drinks, and there was a station where you could take an animated GIF of yourself over the poster for the series. It was quite dark and loud in this new space—the past few years the party was held on a rooftop, which made it a lot more conducive to having conversations. Also, in past years there seemed to be more food available as there was usually a buffet in addition to the appetizers. So after leaving the party, a few of us wandered about the Gaslamp, to look for a pizza place where we could use up some of our remaining Ecoin balance. The first place we checked out had a huge line, but then we found another place next door. I got a slice of pepperoni and jalapeno, leaving me with 5 Ecoins left to spend on Sunday. Afterwards I headed back to the hotel to pack and prep for the final day of SDCC 2017.
(Check out all of our SDCC 2017 Daily Recaps: Preview Night | Day 1 | Day 2 | Day 3 | Day 4)
