I recently attended London Film & Comic Con which was held at the Olympia in London, England. This was my third year in a row attending Showmasters’ flagship event and I was curious to see how they tackled the problems from last year’s event which led to a number of unhappy people. By contrast this years’ event was a lot more memorable and was a big improvement on last year.
There were two things that immediately struck me about the event this year. The first was that Showmasters had made a great decision in the changes they had made for the event this year. The two most notable changes were having the use of two halls (compared to one last year) and having the traders be on one floor and the guests on the other floor. The traders were spread out across the ground floor and the guests were on the upstairs floor. They also kept other areas of the event close to each other like having all of the photoshoot areas be reasonably close to each other. These changes made a big difference and the additional hall gave attendees a lot more space to walk about in.
The second was the overall atmosphere among attendees at the event. Everyone I met was very upbeat and happy even if they were in a hurry. Last year it was clear that a lot of people were anxious and the mood change compared to the mood on the Saturday of last year’s event (for example) couldn’t have been more different. London Film & Comic Con is one of, if not the, biggest conventions in Europe so it was great to see a lot of people looking relaxed (including yours truly but I’ll get into that more soon).
I knew the first day of the event, Friday, would be quieter and not as busy as the following two days so I intended to get as much done on the Friday as possible. This meant meeting four guests that were attending the whole weekend (and one that was only attending on the Friday) and buying the exclusive Obi-Wan Kenobi figure at the A1 Toys stand so that I wouldn’t have to worry about doing those on the Saturday or Sunday. I didn’t expect, however, that I would have completed my haul on the first day by 1:30pm! That gave me a lot of time in the afternoon to take pictures, record video footage and wait for my interviews in the afternoon (more on that later…).
I started the day by immediately going to the A1 Toys stand to buy the Obi-Wan figure. For some reason I assumed I’d need to get a ticket or wristband (something like that anyway) so I could queue up to buy the figure. However, when I got to the stand people were just queuing up like normal so I joined the back of the queue. I will preface this next bit by saying that no event is perfect (more issues to be mentioned later) even though this was my favourite LFCC so far and I doubt the organisers were aware of this. However, the Obi-Wan figure was being sold for £49.99 yet was advertised for £44.99. I still bought it anyway because it was a figure I really wanted but I don’t like it that the stall changed the price and decided to charge more. There could be reasons for why it was increased but I still think that if it’s going to be advertised at a certain price it should be sold at that price. Great figure though and not a complaint I can direct at the organisers of the event.
With the Obi-Wan figure bought just ten minutes after arriving at the event, I set off to the guests hall. The first guest I met was actor Jamie Harris (Gordon in Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D) who was easily one of my favourite guests of the weekend. Jamie’s father was legendary Irish actor Richard Harris so acting runs in the family clearly. The next guest I met, just a few tables down from Jamie, was actor Julian Sands (Gerald Crane in Gotham). Julian was very laid back and it was a pleasure to meet him as well. The third guest I met was Stephen Bayley (TK-421 in Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope). I didn’t know a lot about Stephen going into the event but he was a really nice guy. I got great interviews with all three of these guests and they shared some great stories with me (Bayley also revealed that he was recently an extra on an upcoming comic book movie so you’ll definitely want to listen to his interview to find out which one).
I also met Aaron Stanford (Pyro in X-Men) and Laurie Holden (Andrea in The Walking Dead) on the Friday. They were both very nice to talk to and it was great to meet both of them.
The three Friday interviews were recorded in the late afternoon after I had completed my haul for the day.
Saturdays are almost always the busiest days at conventions, particularly at London Film & Comic Con, and I had a lot planned for the Saturday of this event with ten guests I was planning to meet. The first two guests I met were Jasper Jacob (Captain Yorr) and Mike Havord (Colonel Jendon) from Star Wars Episode VI: Return of the Jedi. Both were pleasant and I enjoyed meeting them. The next guests I met were the two Alans. Alan Austen (Carbon Freezing Stormtrooper, a Hoth Rebel and a Bespin Guard in The Empire Strikes Back) was attending his first event and it was nice to meet him. Art director Alan Tomkins was a guest I was excited about as I love anything to do with behind the scenes work on films and he didn’t disappoint. He was a very nice person with great stories. The next guest I met was Pip Torrens (Colonel Kaplan in Star Wars: The Force Awakens) and he was another great guest to meet. I was able to record interviews with Pip and the two Alans later in the day and it was really great to hear their stories.
The next guest I met was Caroline Blakiston (Mon Mothma from Return of the Jedi) and she was another guest that was nice to talk to. After I met Caroline I had to wait to meet the bigger guests I had picked up VQ tickets for at the start of the day (it was just before or around lunchtime that I met Caroline). The next guest I met was Elden Henson (see above) from Marvel’s Daredevil series as Foggy Nelson. It was really great to meet him and get a picture and an autograph from one of my favourite Daredevil characters. I then met Michelle Gomez (Missy in Doctor Who) and she was pleasant as well. She was also one of very few guests that said my name correctly on the first try! I then had to wait in queues for a while to meet Faye Marsay (Shona in Doctor Who and The Waif in Game of Thrones) and Natalia Tena (Tonks in Harry Potter and Osha in Game of Thrones) but they were very nice. Although, here’s a funny story with the latter. We were told in the queue by a staff member that due to the number of people wanting to meet her Natalia wouldn’t be personalising anymore autographs. However, when I got to the front of the queue that wasn’t the case (perhaps she wasn’t aware of the crew member saying that). The awkward thing for me was that because my name isn’t the common spelling of the name (more people would be familiar with “Rory”) I had my name written on a sticky note which I was giving to guests so they knew how to spell my name. Unfortunately when I was told by the staff member that she wouldn’t be personalising anymore I put said sticky note away and it got stuck in my pocket. As you can imagine the autograph has “Rory” on it instead and as the queue was moving so quickly I wouldn’t have had a chance to spell it out anyway. Looking at it in a positive way though it does give me a funny story to talk about!
This brings me to probably my biggest issue with the event this year. I can see why the decision to have the Game of Thrones guests in the same area would make sense. However, they ended up so busy that there were so many queues in that area that ended up being very difficult to get through and caused problems for a number of attendees. I do have to commend Showmasters for fixing this problem and moving the Game of Thrones guests into a number of different areas on the Sunday though so the problem didn’t happen again.
The Sunday was a more relaxed day as I only planned to meet four lesser-known guests that I knew wouldn’t be very busy. Stuntwoman Wendy Leech was very pleasant and the first guest I met on the Sunday. I then met Frazer Diamond (son of Star Wars Original Trilogy stunt co-ordinator Peter Diamond) who I’ve known for a long time online and it was great to finally meet him in person. I recorded an interview with him later in the day that was around ten minutes long and it was a very enjoyable chat. The third guest I met on the day was Mike Stevens (Colonel Cracken in Return of the Jedi) and he was a nice guest to meet as well. The fourth and final (both on the day and the course of the weekend) guest I met was actor Dixie Arnold, who played a Resistance Soldier in The Force Awakens. I also recorded an interview with him and he was very talkative as well. I had to leave the event an hour early to catch a plane but I had done everything I felt I needed to over the three days. The three days were very productive and as a result I had very little energy left afterwards.
In summary, I had a great time at London Film & Comic Con this year. Out of the three London Film & Comic Con events I’ve been to this years’ one was by far my favourite. All of the guests I met were fantastic and I’m amazed that I was able to record eight fantastic interviews during the course of the weekend. Buying the Obi-Wan Kenobi figure was also a big highlight. I’m looking forward to seeing what Showmasters have planned for next years London Film & Comic Con.
By Ruari Williamson
*The opinions in this article are those of the writer and do not represent the views of all of the Everything Geek Podcast staff*.
You can watch our footage from London Film & Comic Con below:
I recently attended Star Wars Celebration Europe at the ExCel Centre in London, England. This was my second time at a Star Wars Celebration event having attended the one in Germany three years ago. While the event in Germany was great, this event was even more memorable for a number of reasons. The biggest highlight was getting to meet a lot of Star Wars friends I’d made online over the years. I’d met some in person before (at the event in Germany in the case of same of them) but I got to meet a lot more like-minded people that just soaked up Star Wars for three days.
Among them, I spent a lot of time with fellow staff members Dan and Daniel, in addition to running into George in the autograph hall on the Saturday (and seeing him again on Sunday). I also spent a lot of time with our friends at The Star Wars Underworld team (more on them in the next paragraph), in addition to meeting other podcasters and Star Wars fans. I also managed to miss a proposal between two good friends, Ed proposing to Lizzi, by just five minutes. Is it really that hard to wait five minutes? Jokes aside, spending a lot of time with like-minded people was the most special part of the event for me and it was great getting to see so many people I know online in person.
The next few paragraphs will be mainly focused on the Friday of the event. Friday was the day Star Wars fans had been anticipating for such a long time as it marked the first day of Celebration Europe. However, the event really began for me a lot earlier. Myself, Dan and Daniel had decided to join the overnight queue to get wristbands for the Rogue One: A Star Wars Story panel. The panel was naturally very popular when it came about. However, not as many people were queueing overnight as we were expecting so we all knew we would definitely get wristbands (nice to be sure though!). Daniel spent most of his time elsewhere in the queue, but myself and Dan had asked our friends at The Star Wars Underworld (Chris and Dominic) in advance if we could join their group in the queue. They kindly allowed us to and we spent all night talking and waiting for 6am when the wristbands would be given out. We also joined in on The Star Wars Underworld’s live show and I may have created something called the “unapologetic apology”. Don’t ask… come 6am and we were quickly able to get our wristbands for the Rogue One panel. While most of the group quickly dispersed to either get some sleep or food, I went back around the hall so I could pick up my ticket for the Hasbro exclusive Kylo Ren figure.
Friday was one of the most eventful days of the event. I arrived at the venue around 10am knowing that the first panel I wanted to see, “Ahsoka’s Untold Tales”, would be starting at 11am. However, I discovered that there was a massive queue for people to have their bags checked. Having found Dan wandering around too, we both joined the queue. It was great that security was so tight (no one’s safety can be taken too lightly after all) but by the time we got to the panel it had already started. Fortunately there were a couple of free seats near the back and so we were able to enjoy the panel after being worried that all the seats would have been taken by the time we got in. We learnt a lot about the untold stories of Ahsoka on The Clone Wars and what’s to come in the upcoming Ahsoka novel. The panel also revealed that an Ahsoka Tano Funko Pop! figure (based on her appearance in Star Wars: Rebels) will be released this year.
Upon leaving the panel we immediately set about finding the Forbidden Planet booth where the Kylo Ren exclusive figures were being sold. My ticket said I had to purchase it by 1pm and I managed to do so with 20 minutes to spare. As I didn’t plan to meet any of the autographing guests on the Friday I was able to relax until the Rogue One panel which myself and Dan also attended with The Star Wars Underworld crew.
There have been a lot of differing opinions on the Rogue One presence at Celebration Europe. Yes, the panel wasn’t perfect. Everyone (even major companies like Lucasfilm) can suffer technical difficulties and it was unfortunate that a major spoiler was dropped during the panel. However, neither took away from the experience and I thought the Rogue One panel was amazing. Gwendoline Christie was an excellent host and seeing all of the cast on stage was brilliant. The moment when Ben Mendelsohn entered the room in the costume of his character (Director Krennic) is something I will remember for a very long time. The behind the scenes reel was really good (maybe I’m a little biased as we all know that I love behind the scenes material) and the exclusive short trailer was great too. Getting to take pictures of the actual costumes from Rogue One was another highlight for me.
Saturday was another very eventful day. Saturday’s tend to be the busiest at conventions and Star Wars Celebration Europe was no exception. I still managed to get a lot done on the Saturday which I was happy about. I had planned before the day that I would mostly spend the morning taking pictures and video footage which included the Hasbro action figures on display (including the Black Series Jyn Erso 6-inch figure that was revealed at the Rogue One panel the day before) and various cosplayers at the event. I knew my afternoon would be very busy (between Rebels and meeting guests) so I made sure to take as many pictures and as much footage as possible in the morning.
In the afternoon I met Matthew Wood (voice of General Grievous) who, along with Sam Witwer (voice of Darth Maul in The Clone Wars and Rebels), had been added as autograph guests only while the event was going on. Before the event they were said to only be doing panels. Wood is someone I had wanted to meet for a long time and it was a pleasure to finally meet him. We had a funny moment where parts of the Lego Star Wars: The Freemaker Adventures panel were playing while we were talking and he overheard him doing the Battle Droid voice. Really funny timing on that one.
After I met Matthew Wood (for what it’s worth I missed the proposal because of checking when the other guests I wanted to meet in the autograph hall would be back) I left to join The Star Wars Underworld crew and queue up for the Star Wars: Rebels panel. The Rebels panel was another big highlight from Celebration for me. The two episodes that were screened to attendees were excellent, the trailer was fantastic and Executive Producer Dave Filoni, Witwer, Tiya Sircar (voice of Sabine Wren) and stage host Warwick Davis were excellent to listen to. It felt amazing watching the episodes and the trailer in a room full of other fans that were reacting to what they were seeing. Even though I’m not the biggest follower of the “Legends” material I got swept up in the excitement of Thrawn’s return. That’s a testament to the passion that everyone in the event has for the franchise.
After the Rebels panel I met Anthony Daniels (C-3PO), Daniel Logan (Young Boba Fett) and Al Lampert (Daine Jir) before calling it a day. All three were very nice to meet and a good way to end the Saturday.
Sunday was the final day of the event and very busy for its own reasons. I had decided not to attend any panels that day so I could focus on shooting video. I had picked up a VQ ticket for Carrie Fisher early in the morning so I could focus on shooting the video and meeting other guests until the afternoon. In that time I also met David M. Santana (one of the core Stormtrooper actors in The Force Awakens) at the Topps booth. I interviewed David earlier in the year so it was a pleasure to meet him in person. I later met Sam Witwer and it was great to talk to him. I’d interviewed him on another podcast I used to do and we talked about that for a little bit. In the afternoon when I went to check on Carrie’s number (I had #219 or thereabouts and she was still below 200) it looked unlikely that I would get to meet her. However, thanks to a nice staff member (who was letting people with numbers just over 200 in anyway even though she was only at numbers 1-200 at around 30 minutes from the event closing) I was able to meet Carrie which was fantastic. However, funny story here. By the time I got out of there the event was closed and I had left two posters at The Star Wars Underworld’s booth so I didn’t have to carry them around all day. Security were already encouraging people to leave and the lights were switching off, but they kindly allowed me to race into the hall where the Underworld booth was, get my posters back and come out again. Quite a way to end another magical experience at Star Wars Celebration.
In summary, I had another great experience at a Star Wars Celebration event. Spending time with so many friends was easily the highlight over the three days. However, the Ahsoka, Rogue One and Rebels panels were all incredible highlights as well. Meeting great guests like Carrie Fisher, Anthony Daniels, Matthew Wood, Sam Witwer and others was the cherry on the icing on the top of the cake (too descriptive?). I was also able to pick up one of my most wanted Star Wars: The Clone Wars action figures in Sergeant Bric, the Kylo Ren exclusive figure and other great purchases. I’m already looking forward to attending another Star Wars Celebration.
By Ruari Williamson
*The opinions in this article are those of the writer and do not represent the views of all of the Everything Geek Podcast staff*.
You can watch our footage from Star Wars Celebration Europe below:
Thor: Ragnarok is only a few weeks into months of planned production and has a long way to go until the film itself has wrapped up filming. It’s possible that the crew wanted to film all of The Incredible Hulk’s scenes within a few weeks so that Ruffalo could work on other projects as well.
Thor: Ragnarok is scheduled for release on November 3rd, 2017.
Thoughts on this news? Are you looking forward to seeing the role The Incredible Hulk plays in Thor: Ragnarok?
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Warner Bros. have announced that the sequel to this years’ Harry Potter spin-off Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them will be released on November 16th, 2018.
The announcement was made by President of Creative Development Greg Silverman and President of Worldwide Marketing Sue Kroll at Warner Bros. Pictures.
The film’s director David Yates (who previously directed the Harry Potter films Order of the Phoenix, Half-Blood Prince and Deathly Hallows Parts 1 & 2) will be directing the sequel as well.
The sequel will also bring back producers David Heyman, J.K. Rowling, Steve Kloves, and Lionel Wigram, in addition to Executive Producers Neil Blair, Rick Senat, and Danny Cohen. Rowling, the creator of the Harry Potter franchise, will pen the script for the sequel as well.
Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them is scheduled for release on November 18th, 2016.
Thoughts on this news? Are you looking forward to the release of Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them?
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The first TV spot for the highly anticipated film Rogue One: A Star Wars Story has been released.
You can watch the TV spot below:
The TV spot is 30 seconds long and consists of footage seen in the first teaser trailer released for the film. Further TV spots (as they come out closer to the release of the film) will likely include new footage.
Rogue One: A Star Wars Story is scheduled for release on December 16th, 2016.
Thoughts on the first TV spot? Are you looking forward to the release of Rogue One: A Star Wars Story?
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HBO has officially confirmed the rumours that Game of Thrones will end after eight seasons.
The show, one of the most popular on the network, will air its final season in 2018 (with the seventh season airing in 2017).
However, some followers want to see the show go beyond eight seasons, including HBO’s President of Programming Casey Bloys:
“Yes. they have a very specific plan about the number of seasons they want to do,” Bloys said. “Believe me, as the new [programming executive] coming in, if I could get them to do more, I would take 10 more seasons. But we take their lead on what they think they can do the best version of the show.”
There have also been rumours about a possible Game of Thrones spin-off series. Bloys confirmed that there have been discussions on the subject:
“We’ve talked about it, it’s something I’m not opposed to, but of course it has to make sense creatively. I’m not sure that the guys could really wrap their heads around it when they’re just about to start production. It’s a pretty intense production, they’re about to start production soon. I’m open to it. The guys weren’t opposed to it, but there’s no concrete plans for it at this point.”
Thoughts on this news? What are you hoping to see in the final two seasons of Game of Thrones?
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DC Comics fans have known for a long time that Batman (Ben Affleck) would have a role in the Suicide Squad movie, as shown from footage of Batman in the trailers and marketing for the film. Interestingly, Affleck isn’t credited on the official cast list from Warner Bros. for the film. However, the cast list (and the release of the film) revealed another member of the Justice League that features in the film.
*Only read on if you want to know who the second member is as this is a spoiler alert warning.*
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The Flash (Ezra Miller) makes an appearance in the film. The cast list is in order of when the character first shows up in the film. This means that The Flash’s cameo comes after the first appearance of Captain Boomerang in the film.
The list (above) also indicates that the film will start by focusing on Deadshot (Will Smith). It doesn’t show the entire cast list though.
The Suicide Squad movie is in cinemas now.
Thoughts on this news? Did you enjoy this Justice League member’s appearance in Suicide Squad?
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Alden Ehrenreich (Hail, Caesar!, Beautiful Creatures, Supernatural, CSI: Crime Scene Investigation) was officially revealed as the young Han Solo actor for the character’s standalone film at Star Wars Celebration Europe last month. The announcement was made by directors Chris Miller and Phil Lord at the “Future Filmmakers” panel on the final day of the event.
The announcement followed months of rumours and reports that Alden would be playing the iconic role of Han Solo.
Miller also revealed that filming will commence on the film early next year (January/February).
The Han Solo anthology movie is scheduled for release on May 25th, 2018.
Thoughts on this news? Are you looking forward to seeing Alden Ehrenreich’s take on the iconic character of Han Solo?
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Star Wars Celebration Europe’s EA panel last month also officially revealed the fourth DLC for Star Wars: Battlefront. The DLC is titled “Rogue One: Scarif” and is a DLC based on the upcoming film Rogue One: A Star Wars Story.
The DLC was revealed by DICE’s Design Director Niklas Fegraeus. Scarif is a planet that will be featured prominently in Rogue One. Players will be able to play on the beaches of the planet (which have been seen in footage for the film), with Jyn Erso and Director Orson Krennic as playable characters in the DLC.
The DLC will be available around the time Rogue One is released on December 16th. However, it will be available two weeks early for season pass holders.
Thoughts on this news? Are you looking forward to playing the “Rogue One: Scarif” DLC on Star Wars: Battlefront?
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The EA panel at Star Wars Celebration Europe last month dropped a number of major announcements for video-game fans. One such announcement was the release of the trailer for the upcoming “Death Star” DLC for Star Wars: Battlefront.
You can watch the trailer below:
The trailer shows gameplay footage above the surface of the Death Star and in space surrounding the heavy weapons.
A number of game developers were attending the panel, including DICE’s Design Director Niklas Fegraeus. It was also announced that Chewbacca and bounty hunter Bossk are being added as playable characters. They also revealed that there will be multi-stage gameplay and, as shown in the trailer itself, players will be able to recreate the iconic trench run from Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope.
New vehicles, blasters and star cards will also be available with the “Death Star” DLC.
Thoughts on the trailer for the “Death Star” DLC? Are you looking forward to playing the Star Wars: Battlefront “Death Star” DLC?
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