OMG. I am now officially glad I did not try to go to this.

newcj | February 24, 20:58 CET

Pictures anyone?

kerfuffle | February 24, 21:05 CET

A similar situation had occurred on Friday, Topalian said, when fans were lining up at 7:30 am in order to get a limited number of tickets for autographs. Originally, NYCC announced that the tickets would be distributed beginning at 3:00pm, but given that they already had far more people in line than they had tickets, the call was made to distribute the tickets to those who were in line early.

I read about this in someone's report about getting Stephen Colbert's autograph. I don't understand why they run things this way. Why not just sell advance autograph and panel tickets along with the general admission? Their own report indicates that making people wait in line for this creates hazards for the people and safety and cost issues for the city in question as well as crowd control issues for the con.

The lines occur at any time. I remember when I went to see Joss and the Angel writers some years back in San Diego -- it wasn't even the first day of the con. I arrived after noon and there was a long line (though it moved quickly). I think that's fine for people who wait until the last minute to buy day tickets as I did, but why make advance ticket buyers wait as well? Considering the attendance levels at these events it's just asking for trouble. Besides if they sold advance tickets for autographs and panels they could not only better plan for attendance but more people would probably buy advance tickets, thus reducing even the day ticket lines.

[ edited by yourlibrarian on 2007-02-24 20:24 ]

yourlibrarian | February 24, 22:22 CET

Says a lot for a show that went off the air four years ago that fans are willing to queue up that early. Anyone here go to the panel?

Simon | February 24, 22:25 CET

I didn't get into the panel. Curse them. Nicholas Brendon didn't show up for the panel, but did for autographs, he is pretty sick, but came anyway, and Elizabeth Anne Allen didn't even come.

hitnrun017 | February 24, 23:18 CET

BTW, it was crazy cold last night in NY. I was outside for short periods (walking), I can't imagine what it would have been like for hours, sitting/standing still.

jam2 | February 24, 23:23 CET

Says a lot for a show that went off the air four years ago that fans are willing to queue up that early.

I agree. The tenth anniversary of the premiere is coming up, but you'd never know it elsewhere. Fox should have honored this anniversary with ads for the DVD's, while FX should consider a Buffy weekend, including the movie. It may be too late, but I hope some other channel out there would consider it.
But as for the NY Con, they should have had ways to handle the crowds wanting to be in the panel, especially with the cold weather.

[ edited by impalergeneral on 2007-02-24 23:49 ]

impalergeneral | February 25, 01:43 CET

I'll put up some pictures on Flickr when I get a chance.

areacode212 | February 25, 05:44 CET

I was there! Elizabeth Anne got a gig on "Close to Home" and they wouldn't let her fly out for fear she wouldn't get back in time. My personal opinion was that the biggest problem with the panel was the fact that the fans were asleep and the only questions that got asked were lame, lame, lame. Even Jonny being Jonny wasn't enough to get people going. A well-attended panel doesn't count for jack if nobody says a damn thing; I was disappointed in y'all. :-(

But nowhere near as disappointed as I was in how disorganized this event was. Jiminy Cricket, folks, if you're going to hold an event for 50k people, educate your staff and volunteers, come up with a viable system and for G'd's sake don't try to make people stand in line for another level of admission AFTER they've bought and paid for their tickets on the 'net. It makes folks cranky.

OzLady | February 25, 06:24 CET

I agree. I didn't attend the panel but was lucky enough to be like 5th in line at the autograph session, it seemed well run, but when I went back up later, wow, it was out of control, autograph lines getting in the way of other autograph lines, way to hot, it was hard to breathe, the staff was useless and took like 5 minutes to get from one booth to another. I was pretty dissapointed, not worth the 8 hour trip. The only good part was meeting the stars.

hitnrun017 | February 25, 06:40 CET

"I didn't get into the panel"

I don;t understand why they stopped letting people in. I was in the room and there was plenty of room for more people.

As for the panel, I don't think the audience was really the problem. There was exactly ZERO prep from the moderator and really only one major buffy cast member (juliet landau.) with xander gone, we were essentially treated to an hour of random stories from the other actors about 30% of which were actually about buffy/angel and thats when we weren't just hearing random jokes.

The panel was immediately followed by a Battlestar Galactica panel which,a tlhough it had more fans at it, had about the same caliber of audience questions. The big difference in making that panel so much fun and such a success was a.) having two of the prime actors there b.) having some prepared content (video clips, ideas for what to talk about) and c.) having Kevin Smith as the moderator instead of, well, just some kid.

ajay42 | February 25, 06:45 CET

Was Dennis Christopher and Larry Bagby there? Sorry to hear about Elizabeth Anne Allen not being their but glad it was because of a job. So Bianca stayed this time. Not surprised abut Nick. And pouting that I missed Juliet. Although I am glad I missed it, I hate and loath big events, esspecially unorganized ones.

RavenU | February 25, 06:51 CET

Wow, I had no idea there was all that drama outside the events room. I walked in with my press pass and got in early, completely oblivious to all of the ruckus outside.

Anyway, the panelists were Larry Bagby, Bianca Lawson, Jonathan Woodward, Juliet Landau, Dennis Christopher, and James Leary. As mentioned above, Elizabeth Ann Allen couldn't make it, and Nick Brendon was supposedly fighting traffic on the West Side Highway.

I don't remember a whole lot of what was said (I attended LOTS of panels today) but here are some tidbits: Larry Bagby mentioned that, even though he's done lots of other things in his career (including a little movie called Walk The Line), his role on Buffy is what people recognize him for the most. Bianca Lawson, who said she had similar experiences, compared BtVS to her time on Dawson's Creek. She hypothesized that it was because Buffy appealed to a broader demographic than DC.

Dennis Christopher was thrilled to kill Wesley in the AtS finale. Larry Bagby said that they were told at the end of S3 that some of them wouldn't live to make it to college. He figured that Larry would die since he probably wasn't smart enough to get into college anyway.

A fan asked about what it was like working with Joss and how much freedom he gave the actors, e.g., adlibbing, etc. Juliet answered that though all the words of dialogue were set in stone, they were able to come up with other aspects of the character (e.g., Drusilla's swaying). Juliet found Joss's description of the Dru character interesting in part because of all the seeming contradictions (childlike, yet sensual; innocent, yet diabolical).

By request, she delivered some lines with the Dru accent (including "Spoike"), and said that many people were surprised to discover that she was American.

Jonathan Woodward told some amusing stories, but I'm tired and I don't remember any of them.

I don't think I learned anything that I didn't already know, for the most part, but I've never been to any Buffy con-type thing, so it was pretty cool. There was a 10th anniversary Buffy cake that Bianca cut. I have a pic of it, but a lot of my pics of this panel came out pretty bad.

Some other related tidbits from throughout the day:

• During the BSG panel (which immediately followed the Buffy one), Firefly came up at one point, and Tricia Helfer said that she once dated "Captain Mal", before she got the BSG role. Kevin Smith was hilarious as the moderator, by the way.
• Joe Quesada mentioned that Astonishing X-Men will continue with a new creative team once Joss leaves.
  
• Someone asked JQ who will follow Joss on Runaways, but Marvel wasn't ready to announce who this would be yet.
  

[ edited by areacode212 on 2007-02-25 04:55 ]

areacode212 | February 25, 06:53 CET

From comic book resources:
http://www.comicbookresources.com/news/newsitem.cgi?id=9792

Read to see why Kevin Smith said "Don't f*** with a browncoat" Amen.

CaptainB | February 25, 07:37 CET

That is hysterical, CaptainB.

TamaraC | February 25, 08:19 CET

Read to see why Kevin Smith said "Don't f*** with a browncoat" Amen.

I actually don't get how "Serenity" had anything to do with what was being said. Is something missing from the account that could explain why the comment from the audience member was made then?

Nebula1400 | February 25, 08:36 CET

IIRC, James Callis was talking about some BSG scene where we saw spaceships during the daytime, and how he had never seen that before. Some audience member yelled out, "Serenity had them!!" Callis was like, "yeah, OK, great" and kinda rolled his eyes a bit. Then Kevin Smith said his "you don't fuck with a Browncoat" line. Callis did mention that he watched some Firefly, but hasn't seen Serenity yet.

[ edited by areacode212 on 2007-02-25 06:43 ]

areacode212 | February 25, 08:42 CET

I actually thought they were trying to reference that the fx in galactica are done by the same folks as did firefly and in fact repeated many of the stuff they were talking about in galactica from firely.

ajay42 | February 25, 08:44 CET

Thanks, Nebula1400 and areacode, I wasn't getting it either & just thought I was being insufficiently Browncoatular, or Ms. Thick Thickee from Thick Village. In Thickistan.

QuoterGal | February 25, 09:20 CET

I completely missed the panel since I didn't get there until late and had to wait in the mile(s) long line just to get to the door.

Once I got in, I bought my auto tickets and went in search of the booth. I ended up being about the 10th person in line or so. I'm glad I got there when I did, because it didn't take long for the line to extend down the length of the Galleria.

NB sounded terrible, but so sweet and JL was very gracious and appreciative of the fans coming out.

I was able to meet Hayden Panettiere (Heroes), as well, which was unexpected. Her line was actually much shorter than the Buffy stars, so I just jumped right in and that was that. I'm not sure what time she started signing, though.

Haikes | February 25, 18:21 CET

I had ordered a Saturday ticket online. I exchanged my barcode for a ticket & waited on the long & cold line, finally getting in just before 11. I raced to the Special Events Hall but the BtVS panel was over. I stayed for the BSG panel which happily was moderated by Kevin Smith. I then waited to meet the Buffy/Angel folks & met most of them (all but Nick who had gone for lunch & James who was in the restroom). It was fun to talk to Jonny again, who is always entertaining. When I mentioned a fellow Whedonesquer he whipped out his cell phone & called her, then saying "I think I woke her up...there's some kind of time zone thing." I told him about a shindig including the Bedlam Bards in the spring & he said the last time he saw them he "had a bottle of whiskey in one hand and Nathan Fillion's clothes upside down on my head." Nick was a half hour late getting back from lunch which was a bummer because it made me late to the Kevin Smith Q&A, which was hilarious. I missed Hayden Panettiere and Eli Roth (saw them both but didn't meet them). I met Buffy author Christopher Golden who was very nice. He was giving away signed copies of his book Myth Hunters. He asked if we'd met before & I said no. I should have joked that "all us Buffy fans look alike" but didn't think of it until afterward. I looked for Keith R.A. DeCandido but didn't see him there. They really need more than one entrance for such a well-attended con. Overall I had fun though and would return if they had guests I wanted to see.

[ edited by Yefa on 2007-02-25 16:47 ]

Yefa | February 25, 18:45 CET

I'll tell Chris you said he was nice, Yefa; that will mean a great deal to him as he was *wiped out* by the end of yesterday and was worried that he wasn't giving the signing his all!

This is a bit OT, but I have to say that my cousin Eli was a LOT lower key and more audience-friendly than he has been in the past. Some might say that it was because his folks were there, but I know for a fact that they love him regardless of how he acts in public *g*. I think Eli has settled into his fame now and is really able to enjoy his interactions with the fans, which makes me very, very happy.

OzLady | February 26, 04:50 CET

I was waiting since 7AM that morning but I made it in. After I finally got in, i made a mad dash for the Buffy panel and got a decent seat.

I enjoyed the fact that Ms. landau and Mr. Woodward invited us all into the VIP section.

Johnathan also fed me cake..lol

I THINK Chris was one of the nicest people I met that day. I wanted to give him a hug because he was still very charismatic after a long morning of work. It was awesome getting my buffy yearbook signed.

[ edited by thefatindian on 2007-06-10 03:05 ]

the FAT indian | May 28, 15:53 CET