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Wizard World Minneapolis took place last weekend (May 5-7) at the Minneapolis Convention Center. We’ve already posted a zillion photos, talked about the great cosplayers and music.
Before we talk about the various panels, I will touch on some of our general thoughts about the show. Compared to other entertainment gathering, such as the Renaissance Festival, the Wizard World shows offers more entertainment, especially if you have children. If meeting celebrities aren’t your thing, you can still enjoy a magic show, video gaming, or people watching... there’s a little something for everyone.
Of course, we like sitting down to hear our favorite celebrities talk or fans talking about various comic book-related topics. It’s a great place to meet other fans and learn something.
With the exception of the main auditorium (which was only used on Saturday), the majority of panels were held at four rooms on the same level as the main Wizard show floor. This was a big improvement, as previous years, you had to take the escalator or elevator down a floor. The one Creative stage, in the same room as the Entertainment Stage, was not a great choice to hear anything, especially if they were blasting music at the bigger stage.
FRIDAY, MAY 5
For the first night, May 5th, there weren’t any celebrity panels since many of them did not land until Saturday. We did sit through a variety of comic book panels, including “Funny Folks: How to Draw Humor Comics” to hear Bob Camp, Guy Gilchrist, and Phil Ortiz, talk about their work with Ren & Stimpy, The Simpsons, and Nancy. If you’re not familiar with the latter, Nancy is a widely distributed American daily and Sunday comic strip, originally created by Ernie Bushmiller. Although Danny Fingeroth still moderate a few panels, he’s taken a step back with this current Wizard show.
You could learn how to self-publish your comics with Victor Dandridge or how to create your own YouTube channel with RealBreakingNate or character acting with Karl (Captain K) Brevik, the versatile cosplayer swapped identities throughout the weekend, including costumes/personas for Dale Gribble (King of the Hill), J. Jonah Jameson (who also helped judge the costume contest in character) and Sexy Gandalf as part of the Hogwarts panel.
The “Superhero Movies” and “Marvel v DC” panels seemed to go hand-in-hand. We were surprised to learn that local radio personality Brian Oake (of the Current), was a massive die-hard Marvel Comics fan. His guest appearance was a surprise and a delight.
Over in the “First They Came For Batman... Then They Came for Chuck Berry and Prince” a panel about rock music and censorship, with moderator Danny Fingeroth, and Alex Lubet, Scott Currie, and Colleen Doran (who stepped in as a last minute replacement for original guest Barbara Schulz).
SATURDAY, MAY 6
Saturday, was, as usual, the biggest day. Personally speaking, if you had one day to go to Wizard World, make it the Saturday show. The biggest draw are the celebrity panels, which included current Doctor Peter Capaldi. Originally scheduled with co-star Jenna Coleman, but she had to bail out at the last minute for filming conflict.
Capaldi was in great spirit, talking and volunteering some great insights into the world of Doctor Who. His wife, he confessed, was rather “embarrassed” about the nerdiness of it... especially when he would secretly sneak home a Doctor Who magazine every once in a while.
When asked what other shows he’d like to star in, he thought about it and mentioned that he’d like to appear in Game of Thrones, mostly because one of his co-star Maisie Williams (Arya Stark).
On his very first convention appearance, Charlie Sheen was over 30 minutes late to his panel. Winning! When he did appear, with surprise appearance by Kato Kaelin. The OJ Simpson-related personality wasn't announced on the schedules, but ended up hosting the Entertainment Stage for Saturday and Sunday, among other things.
When asked if he’s ever been to Minneapolis, Sheen said he appeared twice, once in 1987 and once in 1997, filming Major League and Major League: Back to the Minors. The follow-up question about those film, Sheen said he’d be delighted to appear in any future Major League sequels.
One of the films that he turned down was Hollow Man, which Kevin Bacon ended up replacing Sheen, because (spoiler alert) the character ended up raping a woman. Kaelin quickly asked what other films he turned down, which we were surprised to learn that he didn’t accept White Men Can’t Jump.
The rest of the day, the auditorium went to the Buffy-verse. Buffy the Vampire Slayer fans gathered around to wait for Charisma Carpenter (Cordelia) and Nicholas Brendon (Xander), and then followed by James Marsters (Spike).
Before the chat, Carpenter requested no videos or photos during the panel. Instead, she would offer us the chance to photograph them before they start talking. A media photographer, who probably missed the announcement, decided to rush to the front of the stage to snag a photo. Immediately, Carpenter pointed him out and asked, “Who are you?” interrupting her train of thought. She really channeled her “inner b**ch” as she puts it. Embarrassingly, the photographer retreated to the back of the stage.
The fans asked the usual questions to these things, like tell us some backstage stories. Xander, who was “behaving” himself, told us about this time that he wasn’t wearing underwear and someone pants him during a scene. He seemed proud that he was so hairy down there, people thought he was wearing a merkin.
James Marsters came on after Carpenter and Brendon left the stage. Personally, it would make sense to include Marsters with the Buffy gang... but seeing as he was a “vampire”, that for whatever reason they had Marsters on his own. Of course, the first thing he did was photographed the crowd for his social media page.
John Barrowman’s One Man Show was entertaining as ever. Barrowman, who came on stage in a dress, actually prepared a series of comedic improvisation show. If you didn’t know, Barrowman is best known as the recurring character Captain Jack Harkness from Doctor Who.
The Nerd Off discussion was also a lot of fun. They pick the topic and have fans debate. Topics includes Star Trek vs Star Wars, Superman vs Dragonballz, and Pokemon vs Digimon. Even if you disagree with the winner of the debate, it’s still very fun to listen to fans fight it out.
SUNDAY, MAY 7
Sunday started with a great conversation with Micky Dolenz and Peter Tork of the 60s group and television stars of The Monkees. There were a lot of Monkees fans in the audience, and they all mentioned that they grew up or raising their children to listen to the Monkees’ music.
One of the thing that came out of the discussion was that the actors were musicians (except for Dolenz, but he would later learn), and begged the studio to let them write and play their own songs. The filming schedule was grueling and that also left little or no time to create original music.
When asked about the documentary Daydream Believers, they confirmed the film was accurate, but like most things, it was overly dramatized.
Regarding one of their big hit song, ‘Last Train to Clarksville’, Peter Tork said that he actually forgot to sing the entire lyrics in the middle of the song. When the producers asked them about it, they were so tired they just “la la la” that whole section.
The two reminisce about their successful 50th anniversary Monkees tour and was also happy to venues selling out their shows. Currently, Peter is in Shoe Suede Blues and they are working on a Lead Belly tribute album. Micky will be continuing a solo tour starting in June (starting at the Suffolk Theater in New York).
As a massive Star Trek: The Next Generation fan, we were also really happy to get Marina Sirtis to talk about her days as Counselor Deanna Troi. Originally, they had assigned Tony Kim, but she quickly dismissed him at the start of the panel. She prefer to talk directly to fans.
One of the best questions asked was why her character had a different costume vs standard regulation uniform. While the answer is actually quite long, it came down to the fact that Hollywood thought that she was “fat”, according to Sirtis.
She was very humble and she told us that before she was casted on ST:TNG, she was literally broke and had to fly back to England with an expired VISA. She didn’t have a home in America, so Gene Roddenberry sorted adopted her into their home.
After hearing her entertaining stories, she would put in her final say: that everything she has now is thanks to her fans. It’s the fans that gave her a career, it’s the fans that gave her a life... and she always made sure we knew that.
Before we talk about the various panels, I will touch on some of our general thoughts about the show. Compared to other entertainment gathering, such as the Renaissance Festival, the Wizard World shows offers more entertainment, especially if you have children. If meeting celebrities aren’t your thing, you can still enjoy a magic show, video gaming, or people watching... there’s a little something for everyone.
Of course, we like sitting down to hear our favorite celebrities talk or fans talking about various comic book-related topics. It’s a great place to meet other fans and learn something.
With the exception of the main auditorium (which was only used on Saturday), the majority of panels were held at four rooms on the same level as the main Wizard show floor. This was a big improvement, as previous years, you had to take the escalator or elevator down a floor. The one Creative stage, in the same room as the Entertainment Stage, was not a great choice to hear anything, especially if they were blasting music at the bigger stage.
FRIDAY, MAY 5
For the first night, May 5th, there weren’t any celebrity panels since many of them did not land until Saturday. We did sit through a variety of comic book panels, including “Funny Folks: How to Draw Humor Comics” to hear Bob Camp, Guy Gilchrist, and Phil Ortiz, talk about their work with Ren & Stimpy, The Simpsons, and Nancy. If you’re not familiar with the latter, Nancy is a widely distributed American daily and Sunday comic strip, originally created by Ernie Bushmiller. Although Danny Fingeroth still moderate a few panels, he’s taken a step back with this current Wizard show.
You could learn how to self-publish your comics with Victor Dandridge or how to create your own YouTube channel with RealBreakingNate or character acting with Karl (Captain K) Brevik, the versatile cosplayer swapped identities throughout the weekend, including costumes/personas for Dale Gribble (King of the Hill), J. Jonah Jameson (who also helped judge the costume contest in character) and Sexy Gandalf as part of the Hogwarts panel.
The “Superhero Movies” and “Marvel v DC” panels seemed to go hand-in-hand. We were surprised to learn that local radio personality Brian Oake (of the Current), was a massive die-hard Marvel Comics fan. His guest appearance was a surprise and a delight.
Over in the “First They Came For Batman... Then They Came for Chuck Berry and Prince” a panel about rock music and censorship, with moderator Danny Fingeroth, and Alex Lubet, Scott Currie, and Colleen Doran (who stepped in as a last minute replacement for original guest Barbara Schulz).
Superhero Movies: Tim Davis, Brian Oake, Timothy Lammers, Tony Kim, Dave Schrader |
SATURDAY, MAY 6
Saturday, was, as usual, the biggest day. Personally speaking, if you had one day to go to Wizard World, make it the Saturday show. The biggest draw are the celebrity panels, which included current Doctor Peter Capaldi. Originally scheduled with co-star Jenna Coleman, but she had to bail out at the last minute for filming conflict.
Capaldi was in great spirit, talking and volunteering some great insights into the world of Doctor Who. His wife, he confessed, was rather “embarrassed” about the nerdiness of it... especially when he would secretly sneak home a Doctor Who magazine every once in a while.
When asked what other shows he’d like to star in, he thought about it and mentioned that he’d like to appear in Game of Thrones, mostly because one of his co-star Maisie Williams (Arya Stark).
On his very first convention appearance, Charlie Sheen was over 30 minutes late to his panel. Winning! When he did appear, with surprise appearance by Kato Kaelin. The OJ Simpson-related personality wasn't announced on the schedules, but ended up hosting the Entertainment Stage for Saturday and Sunday, among other things.
When asked if he’s ever been to Minneapolis, Sheen said he appeared twice, once in 1987 and once in 1997, filming Major League and Major League: Back to the Minors. The follow-up question about those film, Sheen said he’d be delighted to appear in any future Major League sequels.
One of the films that he turned down was Hollow Man, which Kevin Bacon ended up replacing Sheen, because (spoiler alert) the character ended up raping a woman. Kaelin quickly asked what other films he turned down, which we were surprised to learn that he didn’t accept White Men Can’t Jump.
The rest of the day, the auditorium went to the Buffy-verse. Buffy the Vampire Slayer fans gathered around to wait for Charisma Carpenter (Cordelia) and Nicholas Brendon (Xander), and then followed by James Marsters (Spike).
Before the chat, Carpenter requested no videos or photos during the panel. Instead, she would offer us the chance to photograph them before they start talking. A media photographer, who probably missed the announcement, decided to rush to the front of the stage to snag a photo. Immediately, Carpenter pointed him out and asked, “Who are you?” interrupting her train of thought. She really channeled her “inner b**ch” as she puts it. Embarrassingly, the photographer retreated to the back of the stage.
The fans asked the usual questions to these things, like tell us some backstage stories. Xander, who was “behaving” himself, told us about this time that he wasn’t wearing underwear and someone pants him during a scene. He seemed proud that he was so hairy down there, people thought he was wearing a merkin.
James Marsters came on after Carpenter and Brendon left the stage. Personally, it would make sense to include Marsters with the Buffy gang... but seeing as he was a “vampire”, that for whatever reason they had Marsters on his own. Of course, the first thing he did was photographed the crowd for his social media page.
John Barrowman’s One Man Show was entertaining as ever. Barrowman, who came on stage in a dress, actually prepared a series of comedic improvisation show. If you didn’t know, Barrowman is best known as the recurring character Captain Jack Harkness from Doctor Who.
The Nerd Off discussion was also a lot of fun. They pick the topic and have fans debate. Topics includes Star Trek vs Star Wars, Superman vs Dragonballz, and Pokemon vs Digimon. Even if you disagree with the winner of the debate, it’s still very fun to listen to fans fight it out.
Charisma Carpenter (Cordelia) and Nicholas Brendon (Xander) |
J Jonah Jameson |
Intro Cosplay |
SuperKayce |
Doctor Who Fans |
Tom Cook |
Nerd Off |
Creative: Danny Fingeroth, Gordon Purcell, Clinton Hobart, and Colleen Doran |
Commander Mark |
I’m not a Sidekick |
Greg Sulkin |
Gordon Purcell |
John Barrowman’s One Man Show |
James Marsters |
Charlie Sheen |
Peter Capaldi at Wizard World Minneapolis, Minneapolis Convention Center (06 May 2017) |
SUNDAY, MAY 7
Sunday started with a great conversation with Micky Dolenz and Peter Tork of the 60s group and television stars of The Monkees. There were a lot of Monkees fans in the audience, and they all mentioned that they grew up or raising their children to listen to the Monkees’ music.
One of the thing that came out of the discussion was that the actors were musicians (except for Dolenz, but he would later learn), and begged the studio to let them write and play their own songs. The filming schedule was grueling and that also left little or no time to create original music.
When asked about the documentary Daydream Believers, they confirmed the film was accurate, but like most things, it was overly dramatized.
Regarding one of their big hit song, ‘Last Train to Clarksville’, Peter Tork said that he actually forgot to sing the entire lyrics in the middle of the song. When the producers asked them about it, they were so tired they just “la la la” that whole section.
The two reminisce about their successful 50th anniversary Monkees tour and was also happy to venues selling out their shows. Currently, Peter is in Shoe Suede Blues and they are working on a Lead Belly tribute album. Micky will be continuing a solo tour starting in June (starting at the Suffolk Theater in New York).
As a massive Star Trek: The Next Generation fan, we were also really happy to get Marina Sirtis to talk about her days as Counselor Deanna Troi. Originally, they had assigned Tony Kim, but she quickly dismissed him at the start of the panel. She prefer to talk directly to fans.
One of the best questions asked was why her character had a different costume vs standard regulation uniform. While the answer is actually quite long, it came down to the fact that Hollywood thought that she was “fat”, according to Sirtis.
She was very humble and she told us that before she was casted on ST:TNG, she was literally broke and had to fly back to England with an expired VISA. She didn’t have a home in America, so Gene Roddenberry sorted adopted her into their home.
After hearing her entertaining stories, she would put in her final say: that everything she has now is thanks to her fans. It’s the fans that gave her a career, it’s the fans that gave her a life... and she always made sure we knew that.
Marina Sirtis |
Guy Gilchrist |
Security Gaps At Hogwarts |
Guardians Podcast |
Barry Bostwick |
The Monkees |
How To Build A Geek Brand |
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