2009 Comic-Con [Wrap-Up]: Chuck Versus San Diego Comic-Con
So this is late but better late than never right? Enjoy my thoughts on the panel.
As I mentioned in my previous article about the Chuck panel, the line was so long and I was so far back in it that I missed the first 20 minutes, which means that I missed the show-stopping performance by “Jeffster.” Totally bummed about that one. You can see a video of it here.
First of all, the panel consisted of the show’s creators Josh Schwartz and Chris Fedak and almost the entire cast: Zachary Levi, Yvonne Strahovski, Adam Baldwin, Joshua Gomez, Sarah Lancaster, Ryan McPartlin, Vik Sahay, Scott Krinsky, and Mark Christopher Lawrence. The only significant cast member who was missing was Julia Ling. From where I was sitting, the only thing more evident than the love-fest going on between the cast and the fans was how much all of the folks on stage really seemed to get along with one another. One of the coolest things to happen during the question and answer time crystallized both of these thoughts. A little girl approached the open mic and asked Zachary Levi who he was closest to among the cast. He said: “you may be the most adorable little girl I’ve ever seen in my entire life. You should be bottled, and your parents should just bring you around ‘oh, a little adorable? Here you go.’” He went on to say that the entire cast got a long really well before adding that Joshua Gomez really was one of his best friends in real life.
Well, on to the panel discussion and I’ll pick up with where I came in. First off, Chris Fedak mentioned that, unlike Superman, where Clark Kent goes off to the Fortress of Solitude and basically immediately becomes a superhero, Chuck is the story of a hero whose powers are unfolded much more slowly over the course of several seasons. This season is about dealing with the discovery of his newfound physical powers. Josh Schwartz also interjected that “something traumatic” would happen between Chuck and Sarah. When the crowd kind of groaned, Schwartz interjected that it would be “very, very good.”
As we all know season 2 ended with Chuck displaying some serious, “intersect-induced” Kung Fu skills (recently dubbed “Chuck Fu” by a fan.) Well, apparently there’s going to be a “glitch” in the process: the powers will be short-lived. He will only be able to access those abilities for short bursts, and not on an ongoing, permanent basis. After all, according to Fedak, the intersect was designed for a super-spy like Bryce Larkin, not a “big emotional guy” with “lots of issues” like Chuck. Plus, from a more practical perspective, if Chuck became an instantaneous superhero, he would no longer need handlers, and Sarah and Casey would have just been written out of the show. Correspondingly, when Zachary Levi was asked if he had been working on his Kung Fu moves this off-season he basically said “no.” (However, he did say that he “had been doing a lot of virtual fighter, it’s been very intense, my thumbs are worn to the bone.”) One really great suggestion came from a member of the audience: they asked if there would be any side-effects from utilizing the intersect for physical powers like not being able to walk for half an hour or something. Schwartz said: “great idea” and looked at Fedak and said: “write that down.”
It was also mentioned that since Awesome found out Chuck’s secret at the end of last season he would begin to be “submerged” into the spy world. Sarah Lancaster then blurted out that since Awesome would be more preoccupied, maybe “Morgan could tend to Ellie,” drawing a nice reaction from the crowd, not to mention Joshua Gomez and Ryan McPartlin. Josh Schwartz nipped that thought in the bud with a curt “not happening.” On the subject of love interests, Schwartz did bring up a couple of possibilities, one for the upcoming season and one for some season in the future. First, Carina (Mini Anden) will be making a return appearance from season 1 with two possible connections: Morgan will try to make a move on her, again, and may be successful this time (much to Josh Gomez’s surprised delight), and it was hinted that she could actually be Sarah’s sister. The other, more distant romantic possibility could be between Casey and Ellie at some point “when Ellie and Awesome’s relationship is on the rocks.” Not sure how serious to take that one though.
One thing that was to be predicted was the slew of Firefly/Serenity references involving Adam Baldwin. He claimed that his inner monologue on the show when he grunted was just “the name: Joss Whedon” drawing a big reaction from the crowd. Schwartz and Fedak feigned hurt feelings at the reference to another writer to which Baldwin replied, “it’s Comic-Con, I gotta throw him a bone.” Later on, someone from the audience asked if there would be any “action figures” for the show and Baldwin interjected: “I want another one” in reference to the “Serenity” toy in his likeness. To which Zachary Levi (at Joshua Gomez’s suggestion) proceeded to demonstrate how his action figure would beat up Baldwin’s as he screamed out “not too ‘shiny’ now are you, Jayne?”
One nugget Schwartz dropped out there was that the show could actually return earlier than had been previously announced, but nothing for sure as of now. In the meantime, there is a new website about the show to tide us over: chuckmeout.com. Concerning the DVD release, two of the features will be “Captain Awesome’s tips for being Awesome” and Casey’s “If you want to be a Spy.”
When a fan asked Zachary Levi what Superhero Chuck drew the most from he said that there was definitely a “Peter Parker vibe” going on with Chuck, but that personally he would like to be Deadpool “…but apparently Ryan Reynolds gets all the jobs.”
In all, the Chuck panel was a complete blast and was one of the highlights of Comic-Con for me. I can’t wait for Season 3. Judging from the reaction of the crowd, it would appear that I’m not the only one who feels that way.
