Day 2 of SDCC 2015 – Lucifer and Live Tweets
Hi! Welcome back!
Where I focused yesterday on geek culture, today turned out to be more about actual content that’s out there for us to consume.
My friend Rob wanted to check out the Lucifer pilot screening. I haven’t read the books, but he has and he wanted to see what they were doing with the series. They showed the full pilot, and I really liked it. Tom Ellis is hilarious and charming. Lauren German was strong and I think the two have a very strong chemistry together. But my biggest problem with the show is it’s another CSI X (or as Rob corrected me…Law and Order X). Do we really need another show with a female cop and a mysterious male lead with super natural powers/background? We have Sleepy Hollow and we HAD Forever. Do we really need to repeat this same formula over and over again? It’s getting a little stale. That being said, I’m planning on giving Lucifer a shot because it really was very funny.
I also had the chance to go to the Sense8 panel. It was unofficial (i.e. Netflix didn’t pay for any actors to show up) but J. Michael Straczynski was all we needed. For those of you not in the know, Sense8 is about 8 people from all over the world who are mentally and emotionally connected. It’s beautiful, complex, ground-breaking and I will definitely be focusing an upcoming post on it in the very near future. Anyway, Straczynski explained that there isn’t any news about wether or not the show will be renewed, but they are hoping to hear the verdict in the next week or two. They are waiting for Netflix to do their due diligence. We’ll have to keep our fingers crossed. I absolutely love this show and it would be a crime if it wasn’t renewed. This panel also marked my first attempt at live tweeting, so it’s a little rough, but you can find all my notes on my twitter page. The thing that struck me the most was Straczynski’s response to a question concerning critics saying the diversity (especially regarding gender and sexuality) of the show was too “in your face.” He explained (this is very paraphrased) that Science Fiction expects you to set your parameters and then stay within the box. He said very specifically, “We said, ‘the box is bad.'” I have to say, J. Michael Straczynski is one of my new favorite people.
In between, I went to a panel that covered a topic that is extremely important to me. The Diversity and Queer Gaming panel dealt with how diversity in gender, ethnicity and sexuality is changing in gaming. I’m gay and identify as a “gaymer” but even that label was challenged as not being inclusive to a broader range of gamers. This is a very hot topic in the gaming community right now. GamerGate focused the discussion on women, but race and sexual identity are finally starting to be discussed as well. Josh Trujillo (editor, Death Saves-Fallen Heroes of the Kitchen Table) led a panel which included Matthew Michael Browne (video game product manager), Matthew Conn (filmmaker, Gaming in Color), Philip Jones (filmmaker, Gaming in Color), Jenni Villarreal (Loot Crate) and Keith Lapinig. The six panelists talked about their experience with being minorities in the gaming community and fielded questions from the audience on where this discussion is going. Please, if you are a gamer and are not part of the discussion of diversity in gaming, please step outside of what you know and become part of the conversation. This is a big issue that isn’t going to change unless everyone makes it a priority.
WELL! That was quite the soap box to end on. We ended the day with the annual Worst Cartoons Ever panel, but it’s late, I have another big day tomorrow and I need to get some sleep. So that will have to be covered another day. Have a great night and Keep it Geek!