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Braver souls than I are in San Diego now, surfing the massive throngs of fandom and covering the panels at Comic-Con. A few reports from the first day’s sessions:
* Entertainment Weekly asked Con-sters what they thought of a screening of J. J. Abrams’ Alcatraz. (The implicit question seems to be “Is it the next Lost?” Having seen the pilot, I’d have to say “Is it the next Fringe?” is the more relevant comparison. Of course, the pilot of Fringe only barely hinted at what Fringe is at this point.)
* Maureen Ryan has an extensive roundup of yesterday’s Game of Thrones panel with George R. R. Martin, the producers and numerous actors. (Some vaguely spoilery references toward the end for those who have not read the books, and references to upcoming characters.) Lots of great quotes—Jason Momoa seems to be quite the cut-up—but maybe of most interest to fans of the series are David Benioff’s comments about translating future books: namely, he expects that with book three (assuming HBO picks up the series for a third season), the show will stop directly corresponding one season to one book: “‘Storm of Swords’ [the third novel] is just too big. We don’t know yet whether it will be one and a half seasons, maybe it’s three seasons.”
* And MTV premiered about five minutes of footage from the new Beavis and Butt-Head (above), which, despite my earlier doubts, seems like it actually might work. I’ll reserve complete judgment until I see full episodes—the Cornholio storyline in this clip is just like vintage B&B (they haven’t lost a step), and on the other hand it’s just like vintage B&B (haven’t we already seen this?)—but MTV reality material like Jersey Shore seems to need the B&B treatment even more than Stone Temple Pilots videos did in the ’90s. (“This is like a family tree, if your family was made of whores.”)
* Oh, and HitFix’s Alan Sepinwall moderated a panel for Wilfred, which, despite the presence of Elijah Wood, prompted precisely zero Lord of the Rings / hobbit questions. I’m proud of you, Comic-Con.