Comic-Con International 2006: Part the third

JULY 21

A highlight on Friday was the Bruce Timm Retrospective; I greatly enjoy the style of animation he created for multiple Warner Bros. series that were based on characters in the DC Comics universe. This retrospective was done largely as an interview. The interviewer (whose name I unfortunately failed to make a note of) asked Timm questions about multiple aspects of the series, and he replied with lots of details.

A "clips reel" of highlights from each of his series for Warner Bros. was also shown, which the audience loved.

But the really BIG event on Friday was a presentation on the new movie "Snakes on a Plane." This occurred in the Hall H that I wrote about earlier. I knew that would likely fill up all 6500 seats, at least partly due to the fact the big star of the movie, Samuel L. Jackson, was going to attend. Another factor being the incredible build-up about the movie that has occurred on the Web for the last several months.

I admittedly got into the admission line late. By the time I was in the line, it was running along a considerable portion of the outside of the Convention Center, going around a corner of the building to one side of it, doubling back, going back around the corner, going inside, then doing some more snaking around (I know, bad pun! Sorry) before finally going into the Hall. So, by the time I was in the Hall, I ended up in a seat quite a long ways toward the back. Which was no worry because there were many large video screens hanging from the ceiling to display live what was happening on the stage, thanks to at least one camera that was near the stage.

The presentation for "Snakes on a Plane" was hosted by Kenan Thompson, who acted in the movie. First guest was David R. Ellis, the movie's director. The two of them chatted about making the movie, then the movie's chief snake handler, Jules Sylvester, came out to show some of the actual snakes that had been used during filming. He first came out carrying an albino python on his shoulders, that was one of the larger variety of pythons. After talking about snakes in general (including emphasizing that snakes are NOT trainable, so he prefers not to be referred to as a snake trainer. Oh, and he said he brought 450 snakes to the start of filming, and when filming completed, he had 500 snakes. :-) ), he moved the albino to the director's shoulders, and then brought out another python of the same type that had standard coloring.
After putting away the two pythons he and four of his assistants brought out to the stage an example of one the larger varieties of anacondas. All these people were needed because it was about 9-feet long (and not full grown)! Wow.

A major surprise was then unveiled. Namely, the world premier of a 10-minute continuous clip from the middle of the movie! As the lights went down, an announcement was made that there was to be NO photography of the video screens while the clip ran, which I thought was understandable. I'll just say about the clip that it was VERY intense. It really impressed me, and solidified my desire to see the film when it does come out in theaters, which will be August 18, 2006.

As the clip ended, and just before the lights came up again, we heard the one line from the movie that the Internet has already made famous. (For those who may object to profanity, I'll just provide a link to a site that reveals the line.) The lights came up, and there was Samuel L. Jackson, microphone to mouth. The crowd loved it!

The remainder of the presentation was lots of fun: Jackson answering several questions from Thompson about the movie, and the whole panel answering questions from several members of the audience.

(Part the fourth)
(Part the second)
(Part the first)

(My photos of the Con are available here.)