There are some panels at Comic-Con that you walk out of thinking there was that one stand-out moment, and that's it, but what a moment! The
Falling Skies panel was
not that kind of panel.
Wil Wheaton was on hand to moderate, and while it was a tad disconcerting at first when he posed many of his questions to the actors in the form of "how do you think your character felt about...?" or "how do you think your character is going to move forward." that was mostly because it was such a different phrasing and approach to how many of the other tv panels had been done that day, so a moment was needed to adjust.
However, when one of the behind-the-scenes folks from the show made a comment about red-shirts (in the context of whether or not Falling Skies would have any characters who were red-shirts in the coming season) Wil Wheaton's reaction was positively hilarious, and without a doubt, scene stealing, he was, after all, as he pointed out, the on the scene authority on red shirts, having starred on a Star Trek series! The audience members around me who had seemed a tad leary of Wil Wheaton moderating were suddenly sounding like die hard Wil Wheaton fans, and the turn around in their asides was, to say the least, entertaining.
But what 'stole the show' so to speak, was the way Will Patton (Captain Weaver) kept tossing glares at actor Connor Jessup (Ben) throughout the panel, every time the concepts of trust and aliens came up. It was both priceless and hilarious, especially when it started seemingly to unnerve Connor Jessup slightly and had him asking Will Patton to quit it.
Moon Bloodgood confessed that her character and Noah Wylies would, finally, be moving their relationship that all important step forward, but it is hard to consider that much of a spoiler when the show has so clearly been heading in that direction since the pilot. Rather, it might be better stated that Falling Skies has spent every episode building a sense of community to the point that the audience cheers along side the characters for their victories and mourns alongside them in their losses.
Through their particulary strong creation of that sense of community, the show Falling Skies made me realize that it was that very sense of cohesion and community that a few shows I have felt disappointed by in the past were missing. Yet while watching those shows I could not place my finger on what it was they lacked, I simply felt some subtle touch lacking -- and yet, in Falling Skies whether it is when a scene has the camera moving down the line as trucks are being loaded catching snippets of conversation, or is moving down the chow line as people are serving plates, catching bits and pieces of interaction of friends and family, former strangers who are now interdependent neighbors, the show has relayed to their viewers that sense of tightness and community that I wish others had managed to have give me even half as well.
There was joy on the faces of these actors as they talked about their craft, and their plotlines with the fans who had gathered to listen. Leading me to wonder if another layer of that sense of community that the audience feels when watching the show doesn't also come through simply from the fact these actors so clearly enjoyed working together.
Wil Wheaton was on hand to moderate, and while it was a tad disconcerting at first when he posed many of his questions to the actors in the form of "how do you think your character felt about...?" or "how do you think your character is going to move forward." that was mostly because it was such a different phrasing and approach to how many of the other tv panels had been done that day, so a moment was needed to adjust.
However, when one of the behind-the-scenes folks from the show made a comment about red-shirts (in the context of whether or not Falling Skies would have any characters who were red-shirts in the coming season) Wil Wheaton's reaction was positively hilarious, and without a doubt, scene stealing, he was, after all, as he pointed out, the on the scene authority on red shirts, having starred on a Star Trek series! The audience members around me who had seemed a tad leary of Wil Wheaton moderating were suddenly sounding like die hard Wil Wheaton fans, and the turn around in their asides was, to say the least, entertaining.
Moon Bloodgood confessed that her character and Noah Wylies would, finally, be moving their relationship that all important step forward, but it is hard to consider that much of a spoiler when the show has so clearly been heading in that direction since the pilot. Rather, it might be better stated that Falling Skies has spent every episode building a sense of community to the point that the audience cheers along side the characters for their victories and mourns alongside them in their losses.
There was joy on the faces of these actors as they talked about their craft, and their plotlines with the fans who had gathered to listen. Leading me to wonder if another layer of that sense of community that the audience feels when watching the show doesn't also come through simply from the fact these actors so clearly enjoyed working together. 