Day 1: Thursday (7/21/16)
San Diego Comic Con (SDCC) just wrapped up its first day, and it was a doozy. In case you're unfamiliar, San Diego is one of the oldest comic book conventions around, and it's grown out of its original roots into a massive celebration of all things geek. Whenever a sci-fi movie or superhero show is about to hit the screens, it usually hits SDCC first. This means that there are three glorious days of constant geeking out for anyone lucky enough to be there and a steady stream of awesome news for those of us on the sidelines. Here are some of the coolest things we learned Thursday!
Marvel's Netflix Explosion
When Daredevil came out it had a tough job ahead of it; The last time somebody filmed Daredevil wasn't exactly well-regarded. The show was amazing and a smash hit for Netflix and Marvel alike. Then they rolled out Jessica Jones, which was maybe even better! One of the show's highlights was Mike Colter's (often shirtless) performance as Luke Cage, and last night we got our first look at his solo show (mostly comprised of him beating people up with a door he ripped off of a car while "Shimmy Shimmy Ya" plays in the background). We also got a less-detailed look at the Iron Fist series (a character whose friendship with Cage is a highlight of the comics), an announcement for more Daredevil, and a teaser for the big team-up show, Defenders.
More Hamilton...Sorta
Lin-Manuel Miranda announced that he's preparing to get tipsy and revisit the story of Alexander Hamilton and Aaron Burr for Season 4 of Comedy Central's Drunk History. The show is pretty much what it sounds like. It started on Funny or Die as a web series where historians would get drunk and excitedly talk about their favorite secret historical oddities and injustices. Meanwhile, comedy stars would act out the events exactly the way they were described by the drunk historians. This coming season includes four Arrested Development alums, Ed Helms, Aubrey Plaza, Ronda Rousey, and Dave Grohl. It sounds awesome!
Luc Besson and Valerian
Luc Besson is the director behind Leon the Professional and The Fifth Element. He's really good at bright, surreal filming. His new movie is Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets, and it's something he's wanted to make pretty much his entire life. Valerian is a longstanding French sci-fi comic from the '60s—it's sort-of the French cultural equivalent to Flash Gordon. Besson has worked on it since the '90s, just to get the special effects up to his standards. Given his flare for off-beat visuals, it's bound to be gorgeous!
New Comedies
From Men in Black to Galaxy Quest, you can't beat a good sci-fi comedy! A few new ones were teased at SDCC. Among them was People of Earth; It centers around a journalist who's interviewing alien abductees for a story. They're an odd, eclectic group of people, and he's ready to write them all off until he's abducted himself! Powerless was also announced; It's an office comedy from DC Comics about ordinary people in a world packed with superheroes. They work in an insurance office specializing in superhero damage, which is really similar to Marvel's comic, Damage Control. Powerless has a great cast, including Vanessa Hudgens, Alan Tudyk, Danny Pudi, and more. Here's hoping it lives up to its potential! We also got our first real look at Amazon's adaptation of The Tick, starring Peter Serafinowicz. (That wasn't at Comic-Con, but it's no coincidence that the news dropped today.)
Animation
DC gave us a new look at its upcoming Justice League series, and we also got a look at some of the LEGO sets that are tying into The LEGO Batman Movie. (If you're not following that movie, you should be. Both trailers have been amazing!) Netflix and Amazon showed off their respective reboots of Voltron and Thunderbirds—both of which are getting a lot of love for being more nuanced than the originals. Machinima unveiled the latest chapter in the Transformers mythos with Combiner Wars, and Nickelodeon topped off a nostalgia-filled panel with a new Ninja Turtles short from Invader Zim creator, Jhonen Vasquez. (There's some gross-out horror, but you can watch the short here.)
Star Trek Turns 50
After premiering the movie on an outdoor IMAX screen for conventioneers Wednesday night, Star Trek continued the celebration today. There was a gorgeous "50 Artists. 50 Years" art show (that's about to start traveling the country), a special panel celebrating their 50th anniversary, and a couple of panels about reaching their golden year. This won't be the last we hear from them this week, and it's pretty exciting! A lot of the earliest conventions like this centered around Star Trek; It's a homecoming as much as it is anything else.
(Featured image via Wikipedia) (Image via Flickr)
Did you know...
- Jennifer Aniston's star-defining role on friends started a hair craze in the 90s that even lasted into the early 2000s. Called "The Rachel," Aniston's shoulder-length haircut had grown-out bangs and highlights styled to perfection. A hairdresser in Detroit noted that at the peak of its popularity, 40% of her business was devoted to recreating "The Rachel." Too bad that it was notoriously difficult to maintain on your own at home.
- In February 2020, Jeff Bezos bought the most expensive property in California: a $165 million mansion. It was designed for Jack Warner (the former president of Warner Bros. entertainment company). It took a decade to construct (spanning the 1930s and 40s). It comes complete with 9 acres of Beverly Hills land, a main house, a guest house, a tennis court, a golf course, and terraces.
- When Rihanna debuted her famous red locks in 2010 (around the same time she was featured on Eminem's "Love the Way You Lie"), she started a red-hair trend. Over the next twelve months, she changed her hairstyle 13 times—more than once a month! But that came at a pricey cost. Sources say the annual price tag came out to $1,168,000 on just her hair.
- Paris Hilton not only lives in a mansion, she also built a doghouse mansion for her Chihuahua. It's 300 square feet and includes air conditioning and heating. It comes decked out with designer furniture, a chandelier, a pink paint job, second-floor balcony, and enclosed "yard." It's not enough for you to live in luxury. Your dog must, as well.
- In the summer of 2007, Joh Hamm became a household name when Mad Men premiered to critical acclaim and strong ratings. Just over a year and a half later, Ellie Kemper stole America's hearts (and Dwight's and Andy's) when she became the new receptionist on The Office. Before they were famous, Hamm was Kemper's high school drama teacher!