The most magical time of year is upon us again. No not Christmas, San Diego Comic Con! Whether you love Toys, Collectibles, Video Games, BBC Classics, Walking Dead, TV Series or Blockbuster films of any kind (Marvel, DC, novel adaptations, etc), there is ample reason to be excited for this event.
Though not everyone can be there – or glued to their computer screen with 20+ tabs open – , so I’m rounding up the biggest highlights of each day so that you too can be a part of the action. So let’s kick off Day 1 (Thursday) of SDCC
Doctor Who Season 9 Panel:
The Doctor Who panel was in full swing for its 9th Season. Peter Capaldi, Jenna Coleman, Michelle Gomez, and Steven Moffat all arrived at Hall H where moderator Chris Hardwick was ready to recap Season 8 and explore some of the new adventures they’ll have in Season 9. Capaldi captured the crowd’s love from the get go by admitting that this is the first time he’s ever stood in front of 7,000 people in his life. Though from here on out it was all about the ‘relationships’ between the characters.
Clara and the Doctor … Coleman and Capaldi spoke about how their relationship has evolved on the show. The Doctor now realizes that he is still the good guy. Sure he has to make tough calls, but its ultimately with the best of intentions and that was something that Clara had to know first before she trusted this new Doctor. She almost lost faith in him after “Shoot The Moon” but now they’re both in a better place and are excited to explore all of time and space together again.
Though the ‘relationship’ talk didn’t end there as Michelle Gomez is confirmed to return as Missy – The Master in a more feminine form. As we learned in the Season 8 Finale, the Doctor and the Master are truly forlorn friends that have found themselves on opposite sides of the battle field. The Doctor keeps trying to help/stop his former friend, whereas The Master/Missy keeps trying to get the Doctor to see things his way. This relationship will continue to be played out in Season 9, but when we meet up with Missy again in Season 9, she’ll be decidedly different. As for what has changed with her remains to be seen; but speaking of Season 9 …
The trailer released by BBC One is full of incredible stuff, including an appearance by Game Of Thrones regular Maisie Williams – whom I suppose is playing a young Clara? Whatever surprises Season 9 has in store – hopefully also explaining the Doctor’s ‘borrowed face’ as this is Capaldi’s second role on the show – Doctor Who returns September 19th
Hunger Games: Mockingjay Part 2 Panel:
Kicking off the Day’s festivities well enough was the Mockingjay Part 2 Panel – signifying the final installment of the Hunger Games series. Francis Lawrence (Director ) Jennifer Lawrence, Liam Hemsworth, Josh Hutcherson, and Willow Shields all took the stage and Conan O’Brien had the honor of moderating. And with Conan at the wheel, it’s no surprise that the humor flew! Throw in Jennifer Lawrence’s usually amazing sense of humor along with some stellar love-triangle banter between her Josh and Liam, and this might have just been one of the funniest Panels to ever grace Hall H.
Though it wasn’t all humor. Fans also got a look at the first FULL trailer for Mockingjay Part 2 and it was incredible. From tons of explosions to all the Districts marching on the capitol, this was the trailer we all needed to see. Now whereas this first trailer wasn’t released to the general public – yet – we do all get to enjoy a #Unite With Us teaser showing off Katniss and her fearless band of choreographed badasses. As for the full trailer, we shouldn’t have to wait long as Mockingjay Part 2 us set to ‘catch fire’ in theaters on November 19th
And if you want to watch the full Panel and all the laughs, crazy questions and animal sounds – yah – Flicks in The City has got you covered!
Sherlock Panel – Christmas Special & Season 4:
The Bad News: Sherlock Season 4 won’t start filming until early 2016.
The Good News: Moffat did share some of the ‘themes’ and directions for Season 4.
The Great News: We got our first teaser video for Sherlock’s 90-minute Christmas Special coming out later this year! That’s right, FOOTAGE!!!!!!
It looks like all those Victorian Era leaked images were spot on and the Christmas Special will indeed feature an old-timey setting as Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s masterpiece returns to its original setting. For those of you thinking this is a dream sequence or – dare I say it – a Doctor Who/Sherlock Crossover, no. The Christmas Special will be its own thing, but there will still be a lot of joking references to the original series – as you can tell from largely Watson centric Season 2 episode Te Hounds Of Baskerville.
Though moving on from the Christmas Special, we do know a few things about Season 4. Last season of course left off with Sherlock about to go DEEP undercover – to his death – for murdering Charles Augustus Magnussen (CAM) when a video of Moriarty saying “Did you miss me?” played all over England. So what does this mean? How did he survive? Well Moffat of course didn’t answer any of these questions, but he has said that fans have overlooked a key fact in answering the Moriarty question. Then again, he said the same thing about Sherlock’s faked death and more or less avoided any confirmation on that last season. So we might never know how Moriarty did it. Though we did learn that Season 4 will be all about consequences and will have a lot of emotionally trying moments. Does Moriarty have a lot of nasty revenge planned? Was the Moriarty tapped faked and now Sherlock and friends must deal with those repercussions? Who knows. All we know for sure is that we need more Sherlock … and answers!
Noteworthy Attractions & Collectibles – DC Costumes, Assassins Creed Experience & More:
DC’s Panel might not be until the weekend, but they are already setting the bar high by showing off not only the Batman, Superman, Wonder Woman and Armored Batman suits from Batman v Superman; but also presenting many fan-favorite and updated costumes from the Arrowverse – most notable an updated Flash Costume for Season 2.
Now if you want to see costume character you can own, go check out Hot Toys always impressive showing. From Avengers figures to Star Wars spaceships, Hot Toys brought it all. It’s hard to find toys with this level of quality, which is what lets people see these heroes and costumes in such great detail – albeit in a smaller scale than DC’s life-size display.
Though if you don’t like the stuffiness of the show floor and prefer to stretch your legs, then look no further than the Assassins Creed Experience. This attraction is in it’s second year and is looking even more epic! Ubisoft and Assassins Creed won’t have their Panel until tomorrow (Friday), but this course will give you the full experience of being an Assassin in Victorian London.
Additional Highlights:
Find Day 2 (Friday) Highlights Here
Find Day 3 (Saturday) Highlights Here
*Special Thanks to IGN, Nerdist, DC Comics, Hot Toys, Ubisoft and many others for helping me be in multiple places at once*
The Insightful Panda 