Day 2: Denver Comic Con 2017
Denver Comic Con offers impressive multi-track programming that covers comic books, cosplay, demos, education, gaming, literature, film, unity, sci-fi/fantasy, kid & teen tracks and even sci fi speed dating. As many as a dozen tracks run in a single hour, including a main event with a big name draw.
I attended main events for the first two days, but my third was spent doing interviews with Heroes’ Greg Grunberg & Wizard of Waverly Place’s Maria Canals Barrera, meeting fantastic, innovative artists (watch for upcoming interviews) and checking out the trade show floor.
Here is a recap of what Nathan Fillion, Kate Mulgrew, Millie Bobby Brown and Felicia Day had to say at DCC2017 on Day 2.
Nathan Fillion
The beloved actor filled the large theater to capacity and effortlessly amused fans for an hour. If you’ve ever watched Castle you have a fair idea who Nathan Fillion is. They share the same charm & charisma, the same easy humor and killer one-liners. In fact, my summary could best be summed up with those witty rejoinders.
Fan: Mr. Fillion
Nathan: Please call me your lordship.
Fan: What was your most hellish experience filming?
Nathan: You want to see me cranky, put me in a spacesuit.
Nathan: If you have to be typecast, be typecast as a super cool space captain. Or a gynecologist, which I did twice.
Fan: Do you like being an action figure.
Nathan: Yup.
Fan: Do you think bowties are cool?
Nathan: Yes, but I confess to wearing clip-ons.
Other fun details:
His niece gifted him with a Firefly Monopoly set for Christmas and when the family played he picked the Serenity piece and won.
Despite Firefly being 14-years-old and Dr. Horrible’s Sing-Along Blog being 10, both he and fans are still talking about it. And yes, he’d absolutely love to do more of each.
He also extolled Neil Patrick Harris’s many virtues and said they’re working together again on Netflix’s A Series of Unfortunate Events (and wait until you see Nathan’s impressive mustache!).
All in all, fans left grinning ear to ear for having shared some time with his Lordship.
Kate Mulgrew
I’ll readily admit I became a fan of Kate’s through Orange is the New Black. Certainly I was aware of her turn as Captain Janeway on Star Trek: Voyager, but I rarely watched the show despite being a devout TNG fan. I can’t really remember why I nixed the series, but after watching her panel it’s a decision I’d like to rectify. Of all the fantastic celebs I got to see, I think Kate had the greatest impression on me.
She’s been acting since she was 17 and boy howdy does the woman know how to command a room. She held the audience’s rapt attention the entire time and everyone groaned in unison when time was up.
She says she has “mad love” for Red, her Orange is the New Black character, and much like the Litchfield maven, Mulgrew is a den mother to her cast. Originally producers wanted the Russian cook to have just the tinge of an accent, but when Mulgrew slipped into the now familiar guttural dialect, which she smoothly switched into before our eyes to our utter delight, the show let her take the lead. As for that scene at the end of S5 (no spoilers), she called it harrowing, said she wouldn’t speak to Brad Henke who plays Piscatella during those days of filming and said it took seven wigs. For those unfamiliar with what I’m talking about, I’ll leave you to ponder that little tidbit and cajole you to watch the show.
When asked by a fan what she learned from playing Janeaway she said “everything,” calling her the “it” character of her life. A different actress was originally cast for the role but quit and Mulgrew was called in. The rest is Star Trek history, one she’s very happy to own as the only female captain. But paving that path wasn’t easy. She described rampant sexism, like the 7-9 higher-ups who stood off stage, arms folded over their chests, watching her every move in the beginning days because they wondered if they’d made a mistake placing a woman in the captain’s chair. There was also the struggle she had in convincing them to ditch Janeway’s ridiculous bouffant top-knot, padded breasts and boots so she could fully inhabit the role. And she refused to have Janeaway engage in a romantic relationship, which she felt would diminish and sexualize the character. Because of that producers decided to bring Jeri Ryan on as the sultry Seven of Nine and that was an obvious sore spot for Mulgrew as she felt the show could stand on its own without sexing it up. She spoke fondly, and with a little exasperation, about the “boys” in her crew, but mostly she spoke about paving the way. And if the avid trekkies in the audience were anything to gauge by, they’re grateful she did.
Millie Bobby Brown
The delightful young Brit at the center of Stranger Things shocked everyone when she said Eleven was originally meant to be a minor character who would sacrifice herself at the end of episode 8. Fortunately for us the Duffer brothers quickly realized that would be a grave mistake.
This sassy and adorable teen whose already meteoric rise is only going to go higher and higher, wowed the audience with a live rendition of Dreamgirls “And I’m Telling You I’m Not Going.” She also bragged with giggly excitement about being a prankster on both her Netflix show and the set of her new Godzilla movie.
And thanks to Eleven’s penchant for Eggos, Millie admits to liking blueberry best, but says most of the time she spits them out because she’d have to eat far too many while filming.
Felicia Day
The queen of geek is just as adorkable and revered as you can imagine, as evidenced by the too small theater being pack from top to bottom
She explained that her fan favorite web series, The Guild, which is currently celebrating its tenth anniversary, was born out of her garage and a desire to create opportunities for herself due to Hollywood narrow-sightedness.
Supernatural was touched on several times by fans, with Felicia admitting she was never a victim of their infamous prank wars, she’d love to go back as Charlie (rising from the dead somehow, and her favorite things about working on the show were her character’s novelty shirts, Canadian sushi and working with Jared and Jensen, who treat everyone on set as equals and as family.
Just from a fan perspective she’s thrilled to be on Mystery Science Theater 3000 : The Return because the original meant so much to her as a kid and she adores working with the comic genius of Patton Oswalt .
She also touched on Eureka, World of Warcraft, motherhood, her book, STEM, homeschooling, gender stereotypes, geek culture, starting a non-profit for girls, weird being your superpower and so much more. In other words, it was a gallimaufry of geeky awesomeness.
Click here to read about Day 1 with Khary Payton, Weird Al Yancovic and Gaten Matarazzo and Caleb McLoughlin.
You can view highlights and or watch full panels from DCC 2017, including those for Nathan Fillion, Kate Mulgrew, Mille Bobbie Brown and Felicia Day.
To see a full gallery of pictures and videos, check out our TalkNerdyWithUs Instagram.