Fan Expo Canada 2018: Panels

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Since this was my first time at Fan Expo Canada, I wanted to attend as many panels as I could fit around seeing everything else. I think I did pretty good. If you were following us on Twitter during the weekend, you might have seen some of the live tweets I did during each panel that I attended. Here is what I learned at each panel along with some never seen before pictures!

Power Rangers: Amy Jo Johnson and Jason David Frank

These two are fun people and their panel is funny! Jason David Frank loves to take selfies (pretty sure he took 3 selfies from the stage), Amy Jo will make up zords. And Jason will also answer the question, but not answer the question …and sometimes it just ends up in the gutter. If you have the chance to go to their panel in the future, go. You won’t be disappointed!


Karen Gillan

Karen is super gracious and she is eloquent when answering questions. She has so many different projects on the go, so it was interesting to see where she’s taking her career next. Turns out she’s heading into the path of directing and her debut feature film is about the high suicide rate of young men in the Highlands of Scotland. She filmed it in her hometown of Inverness as an homage to her hometown. Can’t wait to see it in theatres! Sidenote: She’s got a hidden talent, and let’s just say it’s an interesting way of singing.


An Evening with the Cast of Back to the Future

I decided to splurge and buy a ticket to this special panel with the cast of Back to the Future: Michael J Fox, Christopher Lloyd, Lea Thompson, and Tom Wilson. I loved the trilogy when I was growing up, and this was probably the only chance I got to see and hear Michael J Fox talk in person since he doesn’t travel back to our hometown. Yes, I grew up in the same city as MJF. So, for me, it was an absolute honour and privilege to meet him in person. What I did learn was that the whole cast hated filming in the DeLorean. That was the topic for the whole night, aside from the cast reminiscing on how they filmed all three movies back-to-back.


William Shatner

Another iconic Canadian. William Shatner was joined on stage with comic artist John Byrne and their publisher, Chris Rile. This was my first time going to Mr. Shatner’s panel, so I wasn’t sure on what to expect. Would he only speak in single sentences? Nope. Turns out, he only answered a total of two fan questions because he really likes to talk. His answers take a mind of it’s own and digresses, but somehow he can tie it back to the original question. And he will incorporate actual science in his talking points as well. It was a very intellectual panel, which was the most interesting.


Jennifer Morrison

I was super excited when Jennifer Morrison was announced as a guest at Fan Expo Canada! She wasn’t there for ONCE Con Vancouver, so I was happy to be able to see here in Toronto. Again, she’s another person who is super gracious to her fans. Her panel was moved from the main panel room (106) in the North Building to one of the larger rooms in the South Building. There are a lot of Oncers and House fans who filled up the room fairly quickly. I was lucky enough to have made a new friend while at the con and it turned out we were both heading to the same panel post photo-ops. We were able to help each other get into the panel. There was still a huge line outside hoping people would leave so that they could sneak in. This made it hard to hear inside the room since I ended up in the very back. The doors in the back kept opening and closing and the sounds from outside the room carried in. It also didn’t help that the microphones were not working at the start of the panel, so I really couldn’t hear the questions nor the answers. But that got fixed part way through the beginning of the panel and the rest of the session was good. If you ever want to know how to organize your fridge, Jen Mo is the one to ask.


Jodi Benson

Of course, being a Disnerd, I had to go to Jodi Benson’s panel. How could I not? This is Ariel we are talking about here! We first met Jodi at Fan Expo Dallas earlier this year and her panel there was just fabulous. Her panel at Fan Expo Canada did not disappoint! She was so lovely and gracious to all the fans. And as usual, her panel was packed! She did the same thing at FXC as she did in Dallas and ended her panel with a performance of “Part of Your World”. If you want to see this performance, check out our YouTube video below from the convention! And to be honest, she still sounds the same!

 


The Dragon Prince

This is another panel I was excited to go see. I was bummed that I had to miss this one at SDCC, so I made sure I was able to go to the panel this time around. Disclaimer, I am also a little biased about this show only because someone from my family had worked on the show and told me it was something worth watching on Netflix. And sure enough, we were given a sneak peak of the full trailer and the very first episode of the show! It was not a lie. If the rest of the first season is anything like the first episode, the show is gonna be a fun adventure! I already have a ton of questions about the characters and where they are headed! And what’s even cooler is this show was produced in Vancouver! Shoutout to YVR actors and VFX talent! Be on the look out on Netflix, as the entire first season comes out on September 14th!


Wreck-It Ralph 2: Ralph Breaks the Internet

Wreck-It Ralph 2 definitely made a huge splash at FXC this year. They had a panel and a booth in the showfloor (check out our Instagram for the shenanigans at the photobooth!). This panel was definitely the most intriguing since we’ve all seen the trailers that came out earlier this year. Academy Award winning producer Clark Spencer (Zootopia) was the panelist and he brought with him lots of clips of the film that is currently still in production. Hence the reason why they had asked everyone to turn off their cellphones and any recording devices were not permitted to be used during the panel. It was quite interesting to see the process on how the animation team at Disney created the world that is the Internet. Clark talked about the storyline for the movie and showed us in-production clips throughout the entire panel. Without giving anything away, I will say this: the Internet is all about the cat videos and cat memes. The animators had to dig really deep to get the end result that we see now in the trailers. Can’t wait for this movie to come out!

Mark Sheppard

What can I say? The panel started late and the volunteers were ushering people into the panel room as quickly and efficiently as possible without any hysteria from fans. Massive kudos to the volunteers who have the lineup system pat down for this room. Mark’s panel was in (I believe) the 2nd largest panel room in the North Building. The line snaked from the front doors of the room all the way around the back hallway before popping back out to the main lobby. I think they got everyone into the panel room with a few standing by the back wall. Mark took over entertaining the crowd at the front of the room. As the start time for his panel trickled past and people were still filing into the room, Mark took over from then on, “helping” the volunteers usher people in and then it kind of was the Mark Sheppard show from then on out. The moderator was told to just sit there. The whole panel, Mark was walking up and down the room handing his microphone to the fans to ask their questions so that everyone could hear. His answers were mainly “No”. Fun panel!


Back to the Future: Tom Wilson and Christopher Lloyd

I had to. I just had to. Tom Wilson is such a funny guy during his panels and how could I not attend a panel with Christopher Lloyd in it? Best part? Tom Wilson knows which questions the fans are going to ask, so he brought a ukulele and serenaded us with the answers to the top FAQs to “speed up the panel” or so he says. Sassy! And the cutest was when a young child had the final question for the panel and asked Mr. Lloyd to say “Great Scot!”. Great question kiddo, great question!

 


Cary Elwes

As you wish. Iconic words from an iconic character. Cary Elwes was the final panelist in the main panel room in the North Building. It felt right to end my very first Fan Expo Canada experience with Westley (Princess Bride).  For the most part, the panel was all about The Princess Bride and Cary’s memories on set. It was a wonderful panel and was a great way to end the con. He has a new role in Stranger Things Season 3 as the new high school principle, so be on the look out for that!


Holy moly that was a total of 11 panels over the course of 4 days! I think that was the most number of panels I have ever attended during one convention. It was definitely a ton of fun and I hope y’all enjoyed the live tweets! You never know what other panels I will be live tweeting from at the next convention, so keep your eyes peeled on all our social medias!

Stay nerdalicious!

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