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The Further Adventures of Rafael Pujals and Tim Ritenour

EP. II: 2003 San Diego Comic-Con

Sunday

Tim: The last day of the San Diego Comicon was upon us, and though a slight hangover loomed in the distance, there was one more day of investigative journalism looming ahead of myself. Unfortunately I would be flying solo today, as my esteemed colleague needed the day off. Since Sunday was a much smaller and more manageable day though, this was no problem.

Tim: The first panel of the day saw Quentin Tarentino, Daryl Hannah, Michael Madsen, and producer Lawrence Bender coming out to talk about Quentin's upcoming flick Kill Bill. This is the closest thing that Tarentino has ever done to a comic book movie, and you could hear the immense pride he had for the film in his voice. He described the film as a kind of "kung fu crime story put through the lens of a spaghetti western." In other words, a wholly Tarentino project.

He didn't mind the fact that the movie was being split into separate movies, because he had written it as chapters of a book anyway. Thus the serial nature of the film actually lends itself to such a decision. He then unveiled a special trailer for the film that will only be playing in selected art house theatres across the country. The trailer was hilarious, both skewering and embracing film cliché's with open arms. It received a round of hearty applause after it aired. A brief Q & A followed, with a few other interesting factoids revealed.

As of right now, Tarentino has no plans to actually film the proposed Vega brothers film. For those that don't know, the Vega brothers have been in two Tarentino films; one in Reservoir Dogs (Michael Madsen) and the other in Pulp Fiction (John Travolta). Too many years have gone by since those movies though, and Tarentino doesn't think he could go back and have Travolta and Madsen play those characters as younger. It just wouldn't be believable. He is toying with writing the script though.

There are no immediate plans for him to return to Alias anytime soon, though J.J. Abrahms has talked to him about it. He's been so busy with Kill Bill though, that acting in the near future is an impossibility. He would like to do it at one point though.

Before the release of Kill Bill, Tarentino is planning on taking a film festival on the road with him. In it, he would show an example of all the kinds of films that inspired him to create Kill Bill. Could be interesting. As I mentioned before, the film is equal parts bizarre, funny, and intriguing. Something that only Tarentino would bring to the screen. Which means if nothing else, the film is going to be memorable.

Tim: The next panel was presented by FOX Television. First they showed the pilot to Eliza Dushku's upcoming series, Tru Calling. Staff reporter Jason Lin is going to have a review for you guys soon, but I'll just chime in with my opinion. The show has an intriguing premise and a strong cast, which leads to a great deal of potential. The actual execution in the pilot was a little lacking though, with the writing approaching saccharine levels at some points. So there are some rough spots to get over, but that's fairly normal for a pilot. Given time this series could mature into something great. Unfortunately, since it's scheduled against Friends and Survivor, I'm not sure it'll have the time it needs.

Next up were two promo's for upcoming FOX midseason replacements, Still Life and Wonder Falls. Still Life is being executive produced by Marti Noxon (Buffy the Vampire Slayer), and is centered on the premise of a dysfunctional family unit slowly coming back together. The twist on the genre is that the ghost of the dead brother/son is narrating the drama. The preview itself had high production value, but didn't necessarily strike my fancy. Or to put it another way, if you enjoyed Party of Five you'll probably enjoy Still Life. For those with actual testosterone in their bodies though, I'm going to have to throw up a warning flag around this project.

The second preview was a show called Wonder Falls, which will be executive produced by Tim Minear (Angel, Firefly). We were shown the first six minutes or so of the pilot, and what I saw was fantastic. The premise revolves around a girl who works lives in the small town of Wonder Falls and works in a souvenir shop. Highly educated, she has no way to apply that education to anything remotely useful. Played completely to the comedic hilt, there is a wonderful deadpan sardonic quality to the whole thing. For reasons that aren't explained as of yet, the woman gains the ability to talk to inanimate objects. Starting with a deformed plastic mold of the lion. The beauty of this show is all in the delivery, so let me encourage everyone right now to give Wonder Falls a chance when it comes on the air. It seems absolutely brilliant right now.

Finally, the actual cast and crew of Tru Calling came out for a brief Q & A session. Those that came out were Eliza Dushku, Shawn Reaves, Jessica Collins, Zack Galifinanakis, and writer/executive producer Jon Harman Feldman. I felt kind of bad for them though, as the only person really being asked any questions was Eliza Dushku. And what wonderful questions they were. Some gems that stand out in my mind are:

"I really liked you in a cheerleading outfit Eliza. Do you think you'll wear a cheerleading outfit in your new show?"

Or how about:

"So if this show fails, will you do a Faith series?"

It's called tact, you might want to look it up.

My personal favorite was when a big sweaty man came up to the mic and started panting heavily in ways that raised all kinds of disturbing connotations.

"Eliza," he said between heavy pants. "I just want to know what you do in your free time."

Okay people, I know the girl is extremely hot. I think so as well. But there's no reason to be this damn creepy about the whole thing. My face was crimson in embarrassment for her. Eliza handled it like a champ though, laughing off the creepy questions and doing her best to honestly answer the fan questions. The one interesting fact about the upcoming show came from the head writer though. The format will lend itself to episodic shows, with a new victim being featured every week. Some times Tru will be able to save them, but sometimes she won't. It's very important to the writers to bring across the fact that Tru can't save everybody. There will be an overall story mythos running through the show though, revolving around the identity of the person who killed Tru's mother and how she came to have the powers that she does.

Tim: That was the last of the panels, and the rest of my day was spent wandering the main floor. Take a look at our pictures section to get a small taste of what that was like. I just want to give a special thanks to all the people who came out to make this convention what it was, fans and stars alike. It was a blast, and I'm already anxious for next year.

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