I’ve been going crazy the last month or so, trying to figure out a way to go to Comic-Con. It was about as easy as getting the Babel Fish, but I refused to give up, and earlier today, I finally put the junk mail on top of the satchel.
I am actually going to Comic-Con this year!
I’ll be there from Thursday, July 24 until Saturday, July 26. I’m on a publishing panel with Pocketbooks on Thursday called “Star Trek without a blueprint.” I’ll be there representing volume three of the Star Trek manga, which I think comes out next week.
This is an exciting time for Star Trek, filled with uncertainty and opportunity. I think it’s safe to say that there’s a lot riding on the new movie, and how it fares will likely affect all of the ancillary Star Trek markets, like conventions, novels, comics, manga, etc.* I don’t know if that’s what “without a blueprint” means, but if it does, it’ll be an interesting conversation. (Of course, it could also mean that CBS is giving much more freedom to people who want to create within the Star Trek universe, rather than forcing them to adhere to a pretty narrow blueprint. That will also be an interesting conversation. My point is that it’s going to be interesting, and certainly worth the price of hotel, airline travel, and all the other expenses associated with coming to the show just to watch a one hour panel before you turn around and go right back home.**)
The rest of the show, I’ll be set up with my friend Rich and his partners in crime***, who are letting me crash their booth. We haven’t finalized my signing schedule, but once we do (and I know the name and number of their booth) I’ll update this post.
This will be the only convention I’m attending this summer other than PAX, so I’m really, really excited and grateful that Marco from TokyoPop, and Rich and his partners from awesomeland were able to help me thwart the cleaning robots.
* I remember hearing, during a negotiation for a convention some years ago, that Enterprise was doing so poorly with the fans that it had really hurt convention turnout. I don’t know if that’s true or not, but I heard it so many times from so many different people, it was either a well-worn talking point or legit. If the new movie doesn’t do as well as everyone hopes, we could be hearing about the death of Star Trek again, though I’ve come to believe that Star Trek is a mighty zombie in science fiction that simply can’t be killed. There’s a good reason it’s still relevant and inspiring to legions of fans forty years after it debuted, you know.
** This statement is completely false. Except for the interesting part. It’s absolutely going to be interesting. Also, “interesting.”
***I’m not sure if Rich has minions, but if he does, I’m sure that they will be there, too. Hey, maybe I’ll fill out a minion application!
That is cute. Where is this at? I went to one this year already so I doubt that I will be able to go to another. I go somewhere once a year. Due to the cost and do to the fact that I have three very small children. I have a Very hard time finding someone to look after them.
Kristy Star
Star Trek Zombies? What kind of damage do they do?
I have just discovered that ST:TNG is airing every Monday night 6 – 10 p.m. on the SciFi channel. All you fans tune in.
Somehow I never knew you did a voice in The Secret of NIMH. I was just watching it for nostalgia’s sake and saw you in the credits. Neat!
Nice! I had a surprise “I get to go!” myself. I’ll come look you up at Rich’s booth.
Wil, that’s awesome news. I found your blog a few years ago but lost track of it. I found it again recently and was disappointed ComicCon was crossed off your list. Now I’m undisappointed. 🙂
Sweet, you’ll be close enough to my booth for me to throw stuff at you!
I’m going for the first time this year. I’ll try and come look you up.
But Wil, what about GenCon? Not to work, but just to throw down some dice and hang with the cool kids?
Julian
All days are sold out except Thursday…have to ask for the day off! I will see you there.
I have my ticket for Thursday. I will see you there!
WOW. OK, you are speaking on Thursday, and the only tickets available are for Thursday (and Sunday)… What is this? kismet? kharma? something going right for a change in the cosmos? I am not sure, but I will move the local stars and my schedule to make sure that I get to be there. Um… if I buy your stuff while there on Thursday, you’ll sign it for me, won’t you??
Wil, I admit I laughed when you mentioned getting the babel fish! I know, right?! I had Infocom’s Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy too, and that f&*$ing babel fish puzzle is what caused me to give up on the game. I think I got as far as putting the towel on the hook, but after that, pffffbbbbttt.
The good news? It spurred me to buy the official Infocom cheat book with answers in invisible ink, which was TOTALLY AWESOME. It was loaded with fake questions and fake answers so that you wouldn’t accidentally spoil the game while flipping through the cheat book! I wish I still had it!
I’ll be at SDCC too, hope to see ya!
Cool! That is awesome!
My birthday is July 25th. Man, that would be a cool birthday present if I could attend Comic-Con.
I posted a recent picture of Wesley Crusher (one of the two cats we named after you) on my Flickr site tonight. http://www.flickr.com/photos/mycatranch/2651800892/ =^..^=
Just to continue on the “babel fish” reference, I just poked around looking for something online relating to the Infocom “invisible ink” cheat book. Sure enough, it’s right here:
http://www.csd.uwo.ca/Infocom/Invisiclues/hhgg/
Sure enough, it’s as clever as I remember. Sample clue:
How can I buy some whiskey?
1. You can’t.
2. There’s no whiskey in the entire game, let alone in the Pub!
3. It’s not a very good pub, is it?
Wil,
Could there be the possibility of a impromptu WWdN Twitter meet up?
“Nacho cart number 2 in 10 minutes” or ongoing pictochat
Via Bad Astronomy’s new digs (my emphasis):
I was hoping it would be you considering Phil’s previous man crush posts! Yay Wil!
Nice to hear you’ll be at SDCC. Keep your eyes out for the ten Doctors (yes, there’ll be ten on Saturday, but the rest of the con, there’ll be a few of me… him… them.)
I’ll be one of them as the tenth Doctor.
Yay! Comic-Con just got cooler. Glad to know you’ll be there. I’ll buy you a pint. BTW, you have some fun mail coming your way via Darth Vader. 😉
I recently saw that your neighboring author in Vol 3 is none other than David Gerrold. Very cool.
Just avoid the Vogon poetry, and don’t drink the milky tea. 😉
Sweet! I’ll be there on Friday and Saturday. A WWdN meetup via Twitter would be awesome.
Wicked awesome you are going to Comic-Con! I picked up (and you signed) JAG and THDOOL at the LA Festival of Books, so now I hope I can buy/get an autograph for DB!
Yay! I’m glad you’ll be at SDCC. It’s my first time at this con. Now there’s at least one person I know attending. I can buy copies of your book for my friends without paying postage for each. Although I’m going to have to lug them on the plane in that second suitcase I have to pay $50 to use ($25 each way). 8^(
For this just over 2 weeks vacation, I should just stuff everything into one suitcase on the outbound leg and include a duffle bag. Then on the way back, I’ll put all the nonbreakables/ok-to-squashables into the duffle and put the more delecate stuff in the suitcase.
Maybe I should mail back my clothes. I wonder if they weigh less than $25 postage.
Some of us don’t get twitter on our gotta-pay-for-text phones. If there’s a meet-up, can you spread the news so that all of us can get it?
See you soon!
“It was about as easy as getting the Babel Fish, but I refused to give up, and earlier today, I finally put the junk mail on top of the satchel.”
Pffftthh! Babel fish are easy. Both “tea” and “no tea”? That’s hard!
And yes, I got the joke without even clicking the link, and would have got it twenty years ago while playing the game on my Commodore 64. :^D
Oddly, I actually liked Enterprise. I enjoyed it far more than DS9 or Voyager. In fact, it rated up there with STNG. My main problem with it was its time slot and my inability to remember when it was on or find it – it kept moving in my market.
Wil that IS FREAKIN AWESOME!!! I was beyond desappointed when you said you weren’t going and now you are going: YAY!!! My first SDCC and I FINALLY get to meet Wil Wheaton!! That is the best news ever!! Thank you god! You have no idea how long I’ve been wanting to meet you! Suddenly flying from Canada to San Diego and spending aweful lot of money just got totally worth it for me! See you there! Annie 🙂
Hi Wil! My first message on your board. 🙂 Just wanted to ask you to not neglect twitter and your blog during your time at the Comic Con. 🙂 Keep sending those updates for people not lucky enough to be there.
For those who wonder what Wil Wheaton is like in person, a good friend of mine from college met Wil a year or so ago at a comic book convention. Friend’s name is Craig C., and Craig told me Wil was a class act and could not have been nicer.
Dammit! The wife and I just decided last night not to go, since we were too late in deciding if she was going to go, now Friday is all sold out. I *might* still go Friday, but we’ll see. If I do go, i’ll definetly stop by your booth.
I know this is totally off topic, but do you have a rss feed for you blog? I don’t see any links and searching didn’t return any results from your page. If you don’t I hear good things about feedburner.
wink, wink, nudge, nudge, know what i mean? say no more.
That’s cool that you get to come down here. I met you at Mysterious Galaxy and mentioned the possibility of a Fark gathering. Would you still be interested? I know you’re busy at these things but if you have time it would be great to have a Guiness with you.
yay for Comic Con, can’t wait! I just moved and hope I can find my “Expendable” t-shirt in time.
If this is anyone’s first time there, be prepared for long lines for everything (coffee, food, and especially getting into the panels). but it’s soooo worth it.
Yay!! I’m so excited! You were my highlight last year at Comic-con and I hope to see you again this year!
I am so glad there are no cameras where I am right now.
My dance of joy is soo geeky.
So glad you are able to go!
Did you get anywhere with Creation on attending the Las vegas convention?
What happened to Creation Vegas?? NO NO NOOOOOOO….the one time i can get to the Vegas con. ERRRGHH! why do I have such luck.
Julian: I tried. I can’t go into all of the details, but the bottom line is that I am not welcome at their show this year.
Glenn: I’m as disappointed as anyone, believe me. You’ll have a great time, though; pretty much everyone who’s ever been on Trek is there.
BTW: In case anyone is curious the trick to getting the Babel Fish was to just block the hole in the wall that it kept going into after it shot out of the dispenser…
And the item you needed to do this could be found inside your robe pocket.
Provided, of course, you decided to put it in there back on Earth. 😀
Thanks for the reply Wil. I don’t want to toot my horn, but, you’re it..The last one..all DS9, All Classic, (including De) All enterprise, All Voyager, all Next gen, ‘cept you. May I hope you’re going to Comic Con 2009..I’m finally able to get to that con.
Wil, that is such a shame. At the end of the day it’s their loss!
Hi Wil – Sent you email re: The Internet Review of Science Fiction. This is just a cross-ping, but while I’m here: thanks for this blog, which makes me happy every time I visit.
Glad for you about the recent acting news and about Comic-Con; puzzled and disappointed for you about Creation. I was hoping my wild theories about spam filters and incompetent flunkies would explain everything, and then you said
“It turns out that my e-mails were going to people who are no longer with the company. The girl I spoke with this morning seemed very interested in bringing me out to the show, and though it would unprofessional to talk too much about the contents of our conversation, I felt that it was very positive and there’s a pretty good chance that I will end up being at the Big Honkin’ Vegas Convention this year after all. More details to come later.”
so I thought it would be fine. Now my least distressing theory is that incompetent flunkies messed everything up with spam filters, and then the valiant efforts of Ms. Interested and Positive came too late.
Oh well, sunny side of life and all that, I’ll be looking forward to your Criminal Minds episode. (I’m afraid we’ve blown our travel budget on Italy–damn exchange rate–so no West Coast conventions for us for a while)
Bahhhhhhhh, now I wish I was going! At least I just got to watch your episode of CSI…
I too was not a fan of Enterprise, though it came far from quashing my love of Star Trek. I’m certainly quite excited for the new movie!
Wil –
Long time lurker and first time posting on your site.
First off, just wanted to give props to you for your Hooters story about acting, and moving on with your life and using your celebrity to expose many topics to the rest of us.
Also enjoy your appearances on VH1.
That’s great to hear about Comic-Con, I hope to get there someday…
Anyways, I know you’re crunched for time but would appreciate any thoughts or comments about a fictional match up I created that pits the Enterprise against the SDF-1 of Robotech fame.
http://www.factpile.com/archives/247
No worries if you can’t, I know you’ve got more important things to focus on!
Thanks!
Paul
YAY! As long as it doesn’t clash with the Spaced panel/screening, I WILL get you to sign Happiest Days. 😉 See you there!