Sunday’s gold panel brought us a tired Jared and Jensen, but that never seems to stop them from being up for chatting with fans. Jensen ribbed Jared for being in his trailer “drinking wine” while Jensen was filming a fight scene in the mud, which sounds pretty intriguing actually.
They J’s had dinner with Peter Roth, head of the CW, the other night, and the outcome of that chat seems to be that Roth is game for Supernatural to keep on going as long as we’re watching and Jared and Jensen are up for it. In other words, let’s keep going!
I’m writing this having seen episode 3, which makes everything said about the relationship between Dean and Sam and their mother extra poignant. Jared said that after his real life mother saw the scene where Sam brings Mary a cup of tea, she called him to complain that he never does that for her. Awww.
Supernatural was new to Atlanta, and so was I – this was my first trip to a city that was warm and welcoming (and had some fabulous food). I’m in the thick of work obligations and pulling together the new book, so this will be a drive by con report, but I wanted to share some of the photos and some of my favorite moments. So here goes!
This is Part 1, Friday and Saturday. Sunday coming up soon!
Briana Buckmaster and Kim Rhodes are always a great way to kick off a con, and this time was no exception. Briana talked seriously about how much she enjoyed playing Donna as a character who looks like her – “so I don’t have to hide”. She’s also not eager to have Donna get involved in another relationship if/when she’s back on the show, never mind how nice Brendan Taylor is. After all, Donna already found love – with Jody. It may not be a romantic love, but it’s definitely love.
Now that Season 12 of Supernatural has premiered, there’s a sense of excitement in the fandom that’s absolutely exhilarating. I just finished my review of the premiere, so it’s time to sit down and try to remember what happened last weekend at Toronto con. Luckily, it was pretty memorable.
Warning: Long post ahead! With probably way too many pictures (or is that even possible when we’re talking about Supernatural??)
Torcon, as it used to be hashtagged, has been a special con ever since that time three years ago when Rob Benedict had a stroke near the end of the convention. His fellow Supernatural actors, along with fans and Creation staff and volunteers, were instrumental in saving his life that night – and nobody who’s at Torcon ever forgets it. I spoke with Rob a few hours before the premiere episode last week about his experience on the show at the end of last season, but we also talked a bit about the cons and how emotional they are. Especially this one, and especially the Saturday Night Special. We almost lost Rob, and that makes every time he takes the stage that much more special. Look for that interview here soon – and for Rob’s powerful chapter in our new book, Family Don’t End With Blood, which will be released in May. Until then, here are some of my favorite moments from this year’s Torcon, and lots of pretty pictures.
The hotel didn’t get any better on Sunday, but it was even harder to care when we had Jared and Jensen and Julian to entertain us, not to mention Rob and Rich.
I had a chance to chat with Megan Padalecki, who was there to sell her new book, Little Moon. The tiniest member of our family absolutely LOVES her first book, Big Mo, so of course I had to buy this one too. I introduced her to Monica, the production manager for Family Don’t End With Blood, and they totally hit it off. In fact, they sort of geeked out together in animated conversation about printing stock and such things that are far above my pay grade. Meanwhile, I chatted with Jared’s lovely parents, who wanted to know all about the new book and how their son’s chapter had turned out (AMAZING!!!) Soon the Padaleckis will have two published authors in the family, I said, which put a smile on their faces.
Jared and Jensen took the stage for the morning gold panel looking amazing (not a shock, I know) and seeming well rested and in a good mood. Texas agrees with them, I think – they always seem to be in an extra laid back good mood when they’re in their home state.
I only made it to part of Dallascon, thanks to a poorly scheduled department retreat (at least I thought it was poorly scheduled…) I flew in on Saturday afternoon, but luckily for me, Ben Bella (the publisher of our new book) is located in Dallas, so the production manager offered to pick me up. I had never met Monica, but she’s not only the production manager for ‘Family Don’t End With Blood,’ she’s a fellow Supernatural fan, so I was pretty sure we’d hit it off.
We did. In fact, we hit it off so well that we talked excitedly about the show and the boys and the book and the conversation was so scintillating that we missed our exit and ended up downtown. Oops. Scenic tour of downtown Dallas, and then we finally found the Westin. Not the Westin garage, which was hidden around a handily disguised U turn, however. A few more wrong turns (it was a theme of the day) and we finally made it into the garage, only to find large portions of it covered by stacks of building material and reams and reams of rolled up discarded carpets. Which meant very few parking spots. What the hell?
Eventually, in desperation, Monica proved her superior parking skills and parked the car sideways in several half-blocked spots with stacks of building materials in the other half. That wasn’t the only problem with the Westin, it soon became clear. The entire hotel was under construction – as in, the lobby was inaccessible and lots of men in hard hats standing on giant cranes were literally taking the place apart. With very loud drills and jackhammers and who knows what else. I repeat. What the hell?? Did they not remember they had booked a convention for thousands of people this weekend??
I was having flashbacks to my dismal hotel experience in Vegas last spring before long. There was only one restaurant open in the hotel and it was woefully understaffed and overwhelmed, which meant that there was no way to grab a quick bite when you have 45 minutes between panels. There were four elevators but at any given time usually only one or two were actually working, the others repeatedly getting stuck between floors and then taken out of commission. To add to the fun, they continued to do construction work on the escalators that took people from the ground floor to the convention floor, so there was literally no way to get between them but the already inadequate elevators. At times there were 100 people packed into the lobby entrance trying to get from the first floor to the second. Argh.
That said, the con itself was excellent. The seats were big enough and comfy (woohoo!), the stage was just the right height, and the guests were in great moods. Oh, and there were fangirls. Some of my favorite fangirls, who I hadn’t seen since Houston con a long long time ago – that went a long way toward forgetting just how awful the hotel situation was. (They did comp con guests one night, which I do appreciate).
