Oh, Comic Con.
The San Diego Comic Con is the largest pop–culture (scif, fantasy, and so on) convention in America, and one of the largest in the world; over 130,000 people attend. It’s actually a madhouse, with a packed exhibit hall and hundreds of amazing panels and talks.
This year, I moderated a panel called The Science of Science Fiction: Canon Fodder – we talked about keeping the science straight in a pre-existing universe when you’re writing a prequel or sequel. I asked top-notch A-listers to be on the panel, and man, they came through. I had Jane Espenson (Buffy, Firefly, Battlestar Galactica, Torchwood: Miracle Day), Dr. Kevin Grazier (science advisor for Battlestar, Eureka, and the upcoming show Defiance), Ashley Miller (who cowrote X Men: First Class and Thor with panelist Zack Stentz), Jaime Paglia (co-creator and producer of Eureka), Jon Spaihts (who wrote the original screenplay for Prometheus, and Zack Stentz (cowriter with Ash Miller).
The room was packed, and the panel itself was a lot of fun (if you don’t believe me, read this io9 review and this Physics Central review). I cannot praise the panelists highly enough, and I really hope someone got video. It was amazing. And I must thank The Science and Entertainment Exchange for sponsoring the panel. Without them it literally wouldn’t have happened.
Phil Plait is a scientist and science writer, and, clearly, a devoted sci-fi geek. He writes the Bad Astronomy blog for Discover Magazine and only occasionally pens movie reviews these days … but he keeps the old ones up as an object lesson to himself to lighten up.
