Ahhhh my travelers managed to survive yesterday’s battles despite some unfortunate and painful defeats. They started the day with such high hopes of success too, only to be met with frustrating losses towards the end of their day. Fortunately, whilst I was holding down the home fort, I was able to achieve some amount of victory by scouting the twitter feeds for much desperately craved information about our Vikings! Let me note here, that was a most daunting and exhausting challenge in itself and by the end I felt as though I had been in the midst of the battle myself! I will get to those results soon. First let me share my warriors’ experiences because they truly did try and I must give them credit, thanks and appreciation for all of their efforts!
As I said, they began the day with high hopes of great success… Their first victory came in being able to get into the Big Bang panel discussion. I have mentioned, have I not, that my warriors are self admitted Trekkies, science and history geeks and proud to call themselves dorks, nerds, geeks or what ever other label you might pin on them. Their obsessions and passions include a wide range of genres besides just Vikings or Outlander. So because of that, they are in their highest glory and excitement at being at a place filled with so many of their idols and their peoples!
After their success with Big Bang, they attended a panel preview of new Fox show, Lucifer. Lucifer is an upcoming American television series that is set to air on Fox, and it is a loose adaptation of the comic book character created by Neil Gaiman for the comic book series The Sandman and its spin off comic book series Lucifer written by Mike Carey, both published by DC Comics‘ Vertigo imprint. The series was officially picked up on May 9, 2015 for the 2015–16 season and it is scheduled to premiere in 2016.
The series will focus on Lucifer, “who is bored and unhappy as the Lord of Hell and resigns his throne and abandons his kingdom for the beauty of Los Angeles, where he gets his kicks helping the LAPD punish criminals.”
Cast and characters
- Tom Ellis as Lucifer Morningstar: The Lord of Hell who is bored of his life, abdicates and becomes consultant at the Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD). running his own nightclub called Lux along the way.
- Lesley-Ann Brandt as Maze: Lover, confidante and a devoted ally of Lucifer Morningstar. She is the war leader of the Lilin, a race descended from Lilith. Lina Esco was originally cast for the role.
- Lauren German as Chloe Dance: A homicide detective who aids Lucifer as he helps the LAPD solve crimes. The character description describes her as someone who is “repulsed and fascinated” by Lucifer as they work together to solve a murder.
- Kevin Alejandro as Dan: A LAPD homicide detective who is not a fan of Lucifer mainly because of the hellraiser’s connection to his wife and daughter. Nicholas Gonzalez was cast as Dan and shot the pilot episode.
- Rachael Harris as Linda: Lucifer’s therapist
- D. B. Woodside as Amenadiel: An angel that heads to Los Angeles planning to convince Lucifer to go back to Hell.
Sadly my warriors encountered their defeat in the afternoon… They made an attempt to storm the gates of the Vikings Panel but were thwarted in their efforts by the massive crowds and others also waiting in line. I do not hold ill wishes against them for this failure, they tried their hardest and felt much pain at the resounding loss. Not wanting to call the afternoon a total loss, they headed to their next destination, a panel discussion for Cosmos. They arrived there only to find that the much anticipated event had been cancelled! This completely devastated them and they chose to retreat themselves to the beach for the evening to lick their wounds and regroup for another day of battle.
As I mentioned earlier, I spent most of the afternoon yesterday deep in the trenches of twitter battle to retrieve Vikings information and news, so all was not a total waste on the Vikings front. I will try now to provide you with some photo recaps of the Vikings experiences as well as the latest rumors regarding the upcoming season.
First, before anything else because I know that you all want to see it if you haven’t yet… and believe me, you do want to see it- and see it again and again! Here is the official trailer!
Now, like so many others, my first reaction was, “Ohhh My Gods, WTF!” Ok, it still is that reaction, but after having had some time to calm down a bit, I reminded myself of a few important things. These promo trailers are made up of so many different clips spliced together in such way as to cause the most shock value, panic and drama. They are often put together out of context or sequence and lead you make assumptions on what will take place. Keeping that in mind, we should not draw too many concrete conclusions on the events as they occur in the promo trailer. What we do get for sure from this series of clips is that Yes, Ragnar has survived and looks much healthier but no less happy. Yes, Floki seems to be paying dearly for his involvement in Athelstan’s death, and it appears that Bjorn takes some hand in his arrest. Aslaug does seek out the Seer to find out whether she might gain some power and status… and Ragnar does not seem too happy with her. Speaking of unhappy, Gisla appears none too happy about her wedding to Rollo- but then he doesn’t look all that happy about either? It appears that we do get to see this Royal Wedding- which is a plus for so many of us waiting for this event! We also get to see some not so wedded bliss afterwards… unless of course you think having your wife attempt to slit your throat is an indication of wedding bliss?
Rollo’s supposed betrayal of his own people is mentioned but we really have no reason behind it or that battle as yet, so I think it’s unfair to jump to immediate conclusions. I will say that Rollo had to make some difficult choices on his road to power and those choices often involve decisions that might not sit well with others. I remain on Rollo’s side!
I will provide a more in depth look at the trailer after I get through the rest of this Comicon weekend! The panel discussion and various interviews confirmed the added episodes for next season with much of the reason being due to the increased interest in the show and the massive following it has developed. So many fans have voiced their desire to see more episodes that the powers above have listened! Other news that has fans curious is that of a new relationship for Ragnar. Michael Hirst commented that he did much historical research to assure that this relationship would have been plausible during that time period… all he would confirm or verify is that it is a human, not a bear as Alexander Ludwig (Bjorn) suggests, or a goat as some of us might think. I will share now that recently I came across a video audition clip of some unknown actress reading for the part of Yidu. (Try as I might, I have not been able to track it down again) Anyway, during this reading, the character of Yidu tells a little of her past, her voyage and then must decide whether to accept a proposition to become part of the King Ragnar’s household and accept bedding with him. A second portion of the reading involved a conversation between Ragnar and Yidu where he asks her about her past, asks her to share her secret and offers to share his secret with her.
There was some discussion about the previous Bear clip, and about Bjorn? Alexander Ludwig commented that the Bear’s resume is probably more famous than anyone in the cast since the Bear is the same one of Anchorman fame. He also added some explanation for his run in with the bear- after finding that Porunn has left, Bjorn sets of his own solitary quest to put his life in some better perspective. During that quest, he encounters the Bear, his own immortality and it plays a role in his decisions about his future.
The panel discussion is not yet available to watch, but rest assured that when it becomes available, I will share it here as quickly as possible! From the twitter feeds, it was awesome and our Clive Standen was a huge hit when he tossed T-shirts out to the audience!
Clive also consulted the Seer for answers… and took a great selfie with all of the fans! Three cheers, Hands up, and voices raised in appreciation of our Clive!
Here are some additional pictures of yesterday’s Vikings Fest and the cast out and about with the fans!
Now back to my own fearless warriors and what’s on their agenda for their last day at Comicon. As I said, they made retreat last night, took some time to regroup, refocus and approach today with a new battle plan… They awoke with renewed optimism- a new day, a new plan! They were determined to succeed this time…
Even the youngest one amongst them was determined… I am told that she have been exposed to a bit too much of Spiderman? She came down the stairs this morning with one simple greeting to her fellow travelers, “I’m back!” Yes, her Mother is attired in R2D2 apparel… I did say this is a group of true and highly proud Geeks!
Their revised battle plan has paid off… They were successful in gaining entry to the grand ballroom where they will remain for the day and attend all of the events offered there including Once upon a Time, Grimm, a Seth Macfarlane panel on animation, and the final crowning glory of OUTLANDER!!!
This is from their first event… Once upon a Time.
Most recent update… sitting in on Norman Reedus discussion
Ok, I am off for now to attend to other priorities… I shall return later this evening with an update on the rest of the day at Comicon and hopefully news and pics of Outlander!