Hey folks, Harry here with another WonderCon report to tack on to Quint's posting. Sounds like it's a helluva convention thus far. Here ya go...

Hullo Harry,  

I just came back from the WonderCon where they showed us six minutes of Batman Begins.  Christian Bale was there to answer a few fan questions. Bale's most applauded comment concerned the question, "Did you treat Batman and Bruce Wayne as one character or two separate characters?"  To which Bale replied, "...Batman is the main character and Bruce Wayne is his mask." The peasants rejoiced. Bale was very kind, but tried to stay on the topic of Batman Begins, pressing the point that he believes all of us who have been disappointed with the recent Batman franchise will not leave this one unsatisfied. He, also, promised a great deal of gloom and anger.  

As for the six minute viewing, we met Bruce Wayne as a boy encountering bats for the first time, his parent's murder, a couple of fight scenes inducing self discovery, and ultimately the Batman himself taking back Gotham City. We were told that we were very special people tonight, and after watching that trailer, we definitely knew we were. Of course, Christian Bale helped sweeten the deal too.  

Also, I was able to catch Joss Whedon and the cast of Serenity. It was a very light Q&A with answers ranging from a possible Spike movie to the tongue in cheek hopelessness that Serenity will never be completed. As for the infamous "will there ever be another Buffy movie?"  Joss coolly responded, "I'm really not the person you should be asking." Also, he finalized that him and Cassaday will be doing a second year of the Astonishing X-Men!  

The scene they showed us from Serenity was quite good. It had all the trademarks of Whedon without it feeling indulgent - it was witty, jarring, and immediately interesting. Actually, it would have been nice to see more, a lot more. As for the cast, they were happier to be in Whedon's presence than most of us fans, and we fans were happy campers.

Abigal

Ahoy, squirts! Quint here with another look at WonderCon. The below is a geeky as hell report, although if this guy's shitty movie detector isn't beeping during the FANTASTIC FOUR trailer, then either his isn't working or mine's busted. Anyway, lots of good info on a couple of the big geeky flicks of the year. This report is followed up by a smaller, more detailed look at the BATMAN BEGINS footage shown. Enjoy!

Hey Harry....

Just got in from the San Francisco wondercon....

After spending several hours in one big convention room I wanted to drop a quick line and give a hint of what went down here in San Francisco this afternoon....

KEVIN SMITH

I got to the Kevin Smith panel a bit late.... but I have to give a quick run down of what he proposed would be his version of "The Passion Of The Christ"...... It would start with Jesus being put on trial and going to his death, carrying his cross.......but just before he could be nailed to said cross, ninjas would come flying onto the scene and save Jesus' ass last minute in a beautiful ballet of ninja action...... only to be revealed as Jay and Silent Bob..... the rest of the movie would be Jesus trying to get a job, having no skills to speak of...... He had us all laughing at this point...... Now, I'm no big fan of Smith's..... Dogma being his only film that really got me going..... but, man!!! Can he ever work a crowd...... from talking about his brother's homosexuality in such a loving and crass way, to his paise of Jason Mewes for his sobriety..... I have to admit, I kinda fell in love with the fella.

FANTASTIC FOUR

Next up was Julian McMahon doing his bit to promote the Fantastic Four...... Now, I don't know..... I think the fan boys just wanna hate this one. I saw the trailer and I thought it was pretty good.... But Julian is just so damn charming and sexy that he could sell a crowd of people on just about anything...... They showed a clip of Vondoom visiting a doctor about the changes he is going through. He doesn't get the answer he wants to yhear and kills poor doc with the line "I think I need a second opinion."   Ok, not the best scene but by far not as bad as the best moments of "Catwoman" or "Electra" so I am going to keep my fingers crossed on this one.

BATMAN BEGINS

The big thrill of the afternoon was....................... Christian Bale coming out for his one and only comic convention for "Batman Begins". Now, we all know that the geek community can be a little..... off putting at times..... and Mr. Bale was kind and gracious to every single person who asked him a question..... But, keep in mind, this was a totally unannounced visit, so the room was fuckin' PUMPED when the man walked out onto the stage...... He discussed how hard it was to work in the Batsuit and how he worked that uncomfortability into the Batman attitude, which I thought was a great way to get into character..... he also discussed how amazing his fellow cast was and how they were all very aware that they were making the Batman movie we all have clamored for for years........ This was followed by 7 minutes of clips from the movie.... WOW and HOLY FLOCKIN' SHITE!!!! The movie clips were amazing...... Young Bruce and Rachel playing on the Wayne Manor grounds.... Bruce falls into the cave..... Bruce and parents at a play where Bruce gets scared and so they leave.... waliking to their doom....(even in clip form that ally scene with the murders sent chills down my spine)...... Bruce learning to fight...... then WHAM BAM shots of Batman in action.............. the final shots..................... Batman being sprayed with some fluid.......then that Superbowl shot of Scarecrow with the lighter...... he lights Batman on fire!!!!..... Batman, engulfed in flames, flails around the room before diving out a window and falling, in a ball of fire.......................

HOLY SHIT! That was the highlight of the day!

REVENGE OF THE SITH

I foolishly stayed for the "Revenge Of The Sith" panel............... All I'm going to say is, I payed my $20.00 for the damn hyperspace membership. Why not show us the new trailer or the 1st new episode of the Clone Wars 'toon?!?!?!? It was just the usual lucasfilm..."This is what we have on the slate this year" followed by the Hyperspace episode 3 web docs.......... (yawn).

Then I went to my favorite local bar and tied one on before coming home to contact you.

All in all......... Kevin Smith, Julian McMahon..... they rocked..... Christian Bale...... WOW! TOTAL SHOCK......... I am still looking forward to Episode 3........ All is fine in San Francisco tonight and all us geeks have PLENTY to look forward to this year.

BEYOND THUNDERDOME,

EROCSKYWALKER

And now we have T.R. with a little more detail on the BATMAN BEGINS footage that was shown.

Hello! I just got home from wondercon in San Francisco where Christian Bale made a surprise visit. They showed 6 minutes from batman begins (different scenes stiched together) including a scene that has the scarecrow spraying batman with the fear spray (or whatever its called) then lighting him on fire! Batman then falls of a building engulfed in flames! Also Mr. Bale added theses two bits of info. He signed on for 3 batman films. The director did not. thanks for your time!