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Sunday, July 28, 2024

San Diego Comic-Con 2024 Recap: Doctor Who, Bob's Burgers, and The Great North News and Thoughts | Fandom Update

 

Let’s just say that this summer has been uh...interesting. I did lay out what happened in the past few days in the Emmy nomination article and a lot more things have come out since the release of that post. Try the Earth breaking records when it comes to the heat (nothing new on that), just now, the Canadian soccer team participated in the New England Patriots challenge in spying on opposing teams, a global IT outage that grounded flights, and the current president dropping out of the race weeks before the convention. 

And we might be expecting more shit going into August and that’s not the Summer Olympics currently taking place. But aside from that, it’s that time of year again. It’s convention season and here we are, folks—the Super Bowl of nerdom, San Diego Comic-Con. And your boy...is in the comfort of the house for another year in a row. Last year’s Comic-Con was something because of the strikes that affected everything, but now, back to normalcy...during a consequential election season. Y’all, register to vote this November.



We begin with the Doctor Who panel since they’re up first and the one I need to get through the quickest before getting to the nitty gritty of the night, that being The Great North and Bob’s Burgers. It’s a while since Doctor Who last had a panel...I think two years because I remember the 2021 convention was pre-recorded and still at home. So now, going into 2024, we got ourselves a panel with showrunner Russell T. Davies alongside actors Ncuti Gatwa and Millie Gibson in their first-ever Comic-Con...Ncuti and Millie I mean because this is their first time since being casted as The Doctor and Ruby. And there’s not a lot to come out but some important stuff for the upcoming second season of Ncuti’s run as The Doctor and, of course, the upcoming Christmas special.



First off from the panel, we got a cast list for the upcoming spin-off of Doctor Who that was announced from the panel. The first time Doctor Who gets a spin-off since...well, a disaster known as Class. We got the cast list for the upcoming spin-off of Doctor Who “The War Between the Land and Sea” showing a few names on the graphic above with the likes of Gugu Mbatha-Raw, Russell Tovey, and a few familiar faces from the primary series having their time in the limelight in the spin-off, Alexander Devrient and Jemma Redgrave. Devrient as the soldier whose name escapes me but Jemma, of course, as Kate Stewart, head of UNIT, so it looks like it’s a spin-off that should be focusing on UNIT when having Kate in tow. Would not be surprised if Mel was there and the same goes for...I guess Rose and we haven’t seen Sherly since the 60th Anniversary. You know we haven’t seen in a really long time? Osgood. What the fuck?! Though the first two actors, this ain’t their first rodeo when it comes to doing anything Doctor Who-related. Mostly Tovey, who played Alonso from “Voyage of the Damned”. However, it looks like there’s one name that is omitted from the casting list that leading up to the panel thought that it was everyone’s shortlist.



Yeah, gotta bring up the character of Martha Jones (played by Freema Agyeman). It’s been 14 years since the small scene with Martha along with Mickey in “The End of Time Part 2”, which was the last time we saw Freema on the show. Mind you, Martha wasn’t there in that group circle scene with the past companions in “The Power of the Doctor”. So, when it was announced that a Doctor Who spin-off with UNIT was in the works, everyone thought that it would be high time for Martha to make a return to Doctor Who. Don’t forget, Martha is a part of UNIT long after leaving the TARDIS as seen in Series 4’s “The Sontaran Stratagem” and “The Poison Sky” two-parter and because it’s a UNIT spin-off series, and Martha is a part of UNIT, you’d think that we’re gonna have her return to the lore of the show...that didn’t happen and I have seen the comments on Twitter, they were not happy that the rumors are considered false. So, will it cause an effect on the spin-off because a character that we haven’t seen in a long while not making the cut? I hope not but knowing how big of a fandom Doctor Who is, especially in the age of social media...either they take the news civilly or turn into a cesspool. And this is not an offense towards the fandom.



More news coming from the panel and we got a sneak preview for the upcoming Christmas episode of Doctor Who set to air later this year. Bridgerton star Nicola Coughlan will be the guest star for the special and the name of her character, Joy, and a description of the character as the preview takes place when going through the intro of the sneak preview from Coughlan, who was supposed to be at the panel but opted out because of doing other things, thus, the prerecorded video to the panel. And the preview for the upcoming special pretty much shows The Doctor traveling through time and carrying a tray with a sandwich and pumpkin latte for anyone to take. Traveling from war-torn London during the Blitz to present-day London where Coughlan’s character checks in at a hotel and comes across a Silurian. Yes. the Silurians are back for this year’s Christmas special. And we got the episode name for the special, titled “Joy to the World”. So, should be an interesting episode once it drops on BBC iPlayer in the UK and Disney+ internationally (BBC One on Christmas Day).



Aside from that, other stuff comes out from the panel, and a few to say the least for the new season slated for 2025. Varada Sethu, the actress whose character will be joining the TARDIS along with The Doctor and Ruby for Season 2 (or Series 15), the character has a name from Russell. Belinda Chandra is the name of the new companion. Actor Jonah Heuer-King joins the show for Season 2 for an episode, that’s also from the panel. And then, of course, the whole thing with Mrs. Flood since the end of the latest season. Thankfully, that won’t be abandoned with Davies promising to the fans that the mystery regarding the character will be revealed. Because if you can remember, spoilers for “Empire of Death” by the way, we see her in all white, wearing a white jacket and a white umbrella, up the roof like she’s Mary Poppins and telling the viewer as if she’s breaking the fourth wall about Ruby’s story getting a happy ending because, again, spoiler alert for the episode, found her birth mother and The Doctor, according to Flood, gets the short end of the stick.



Thankfully, that’s going to be resolved but it all depends on how things will play out going into the next season. I mean, this isn’t like with the whole thing with Susan Twist appearing in every episode of Season 1 (Series 14) or the TARDIS groaning since “Wild Blue Yonder” which ultimately led to the return of Sutekh. As for who I think Mrs. Flood is...that I don’t know because there’s like a bajillion number of theories on who she is. Ranging from The Rani to a character that we haven’t seen in the Classic series or in the audiobooks making their visual debut or maybe it’s one of The Trickster’s brigade...there’s a lot to connect the dots on who Mrs. Flood is, so I might as well let the show play out when it comes to the identity to get a better understanding.



Bob’s Burgers is next on the docket and there’s some interesting stuff that came out from the panel. Rather, from an interview leading up to the panel with Entertainment Weekly. We know that Season 15 is slated for September 29 with a lot of questions regarding the dates of September 8, 15, and 22 with Season 14 not truly done just yet. We know in advance on how many episodes we’ll get for Season 15 and I’ll let the tweet down below tell you...



Yep, thirteen episodes. Thirteen episodes for Season 15 of Bob’s Burgers once it begins on September 29 and it looks like we’re gonna bullrush things to make sure we don’t repeat of what happened with Season 14 with the various amounts of hiatuses that led to portions of the fandom going full doom and gloom about the show’s fate. So, thirteen episodes for Season 15 starting on September 29, and if we bullrush through this as the tweet implied from the panel, and if you include the gaffs from the NFL Playoffs, the Super Bowl (which FOX will air this upcoming season), and I guess either the MLB playoffs and/or the World Series, we should probably be done with the season till we get to March. That is what I can think of when it comes to what the tweet is saying.

Other than that, we got some stuff from the panel because I had to listen to a recap of what went down over on Instagram that I was unable to find through Twitter. Showing the animatics and sneak previews for future episodes and everything that the majority of us want to see in our eyes, probably from the comfort of our own homes. (editor’s note: putting it out that this piece was saved on Friday because there was a lack of information that was coming out that day hours after the panel from both Bob’s Burgers and The Great North. Editing this on a Sunday, two days after the panels, and now there’s a sleuth of information thanks to someone recording the panel, though didn’t record the previews, which is fair I guess. So, there’s that. Y’all would probably tell me in the comments to post the Doctor Who info first before doing Bob’s Burgers and The Great North but it’s best to do all three into one. It saves time and don’t want to push myself before we get into September. Already worn out from doing the double matches of the voting tournament with the group stages.)



We got the cast list for the guest stars and the characters they’ll be voicing for the upcoming season. Might as well list out the usual suspects who will be participating in Season 15 of Bob’s Burgers. The guest list, that being the voice actors and their characters will go as the following, or just better to just read the image above. So here goes, the guest cast and characters include the following: Aparna Nancherla as Susmita, Chelsea Peretti as Chelsea (more appearances with Chelsea now on the show after a small appearance in “Butt Sweat and Fears” and being underutilized), Gary Cole as Sergeant Bosco, Jim Gaffigan as Henry, Tim Meadows as Mike the Mailman, Andy Kindler as Mort, Megan Mullally as Gayle, David Wain as Courtney (so Courtney is coming back since...well, Season 13 with “The Plight Before Christmas”..sorry Alex fans who wanted him to return but he’ll likely appear in a background cameo), Jenny Slate as Tammy, Kevin Kline as Mr. Fischoeder, Zach Galifianakis as Felix, Abbi Jacobson as Megan, Molly Shannon as Millie, George Wallace as Mr. Huggins, Damon Wayans Jr as Arnold, Betsy Sodaro as Betsy, Sarah Baker as Rena, and Jari Jones as Marshmallow (her photo on Instagram at the recording booth for the upcoming season). Though there’s a few on the list that caught some by surprise that the cast brought up from the panel.



You have a few guest actors who will be stepping into the show for the first time, that being Pam Grier and Ebon Moss-Bachrach. I thought for a moment there when seeing the list that Grier did a voicing role on the show before, but no, this is her first time. It’s mostly because she lent her voice to The Great North, voicing the character of Neckbone from the Season 2 episode “Slide and Wet-judice Adventure”. So, we got some newbies lending their voices to the show and also the return of a few familiar faces that lent their voices on the show before. You have John Oliver reprising his role as Ian Anderson, the pet agent from Season 7’s “There’s No Business Like Mr. Business Business”. Samantha Bee, we haven’t heard her voice in a while on the show, and mind you, she voices two characters on the show, but Thomas Lennon’s name was brought up, so Chuck (Lennon) and Pam (Bee) are back. Though the two names that were brought up were the focus of attention. You have Amy Sedaris returning to the show, not as Samantha, if you remember, she voiced Mort’s online date Samantha from Season 1’s “Weekend at Mort’s”, a lot of people were hoping for that character to return but no, she’ll be voicing a different character named Inga. Inga, of course, is the name of the housekeeper that Fischoeder mentioned in Season 13’s “To Bob or Not to Bob”, so I’m guessing this would be “Mr. Fischoeder’s Opus”.



But the name that I wanna guess caught everyone off-guard and it’s Tina Fey. So I guess Rachel Bisselbender, if you remember her as the substitute who had to conduct Gene’s class’ Christmas performance in “The Plight Before Christmas”, so she’s back. Which is a surprise to see and hear that a character who we thought it was a one-off because that’s most characters on the show, that and also knowing Tina Fey, is a busy person with other things to do outside of the show. And I guess the proof, or possible proof to confirm Bisselbender’s return would be that poster for the convention for this year outlining the aerial view map of Seymour’s Bay with each character popping up in various locations and you have a woman by what appears to be a doll shop by the frozen yogurt shop that looks oddly similar to Bisselbender. So uh...I guess you might as well come out and say that the poster might’ve spoiled her returning to the show.



We got some stuff for upcoming episodes from the panel aside from the descriptions that we got a few weeks ago with a few episodes following the release of the premiere date set for September 29. Holiday episodes, rather, we’re getting a Halloween episode for this season to make up for the lack of having one last season despite episodes like “Escape from Which Island” and “Fraud of the Dead” being spooky-like into the lineup. So, it looks like this year’s Halloween episode will be called “For Whom the Doll Tolls”, a murder mystery episode regarding a doll everyone wants for Halloween. And hopefully, the show doesn’t play hot potato with the whole thing regarding Tina and dolls. And I say that because if you remember, in Season 3 with “Full Bars” and “OT: The Outside Toilet”, you have Tina owning a doll, or a couple of dolls, for her costume as a mummy’s mommy and to have its scalp cut to dress Ollie up as Gene, only for Season 7 to roll in with “The Laser-inth” with her somehow developing a phobia when visiting Gretchen’s job at the mall at a doll shop, and then Season 9 in “Roamin’ Bob-iday” with Tina having the doll once more. You know where I’m going with this. Make y’all’s minds when it comes to Tina and the dolls if it’s going to be a Tina episode...which might probably be not and I wanna guess it might either be a Louise-centric episode or all three of the Belcher kids being involved.



Of course, we have another Christmas episode in the works for this upcoming season with “Dog Christmas Day After Afternoon” and should be an interesting one for this being the Christmas episode and if have seen the script cover for the episode, having Christmas as the episode theme of choice, a funeral for a dog’s owner, and, of course, a dog. And we got a bit of a snippet when it comes to what to expect for the episode with Gene accidentally giving the dog dark chocolate. Yes, you read that right, Gene gives the dog chocolate. And if you know anything about dogs, whether or not you’re a dog owner, those two don’t mix. Gene...God, I wanna go on a tangent on you for doing that but let’s save that for the review once the episode is released. Oh yeah, and it looks like a Tina-centric episode will be the starter for Season 15 with “The Tina Table: The Tables Have Tina-ed”, so it looks like we’re getting the full depth with Tina having her own show on the Wagstaff School News if y’all remember that at the end of Season 3’s “Broadcast Wagstaff School News”. So, a lot is in store for Season 15 once it premieres on September 29.



And then, we get to The Great North where, unlike Bob’s Burgers this season, despite the premiere of Season 4 pushed to January of earlier this year and Season 5, once again, slated for January with unanswered questions about the dates of September 8 and 15, had a season where things truly pick up. I mean, they did with Seasons 2 and 3 following the success that was Season 1 but Season 4 of The Great North feels like you’re watching prime Bob’s Burgers all over again. Like the Bob’s Burgers panel, there were some Q&As, descriptions of certain episodes for the upcoming season, and sneak previews (which, again, were not shown in the YouTube video of the panel due to not wanting to spoil anything).



There’s probably not a lot that I can find from the videos that were posted through one of the Discord servers that I’m in aside from the cast, a few cast members to be exact, that being Dulce Sloan (Honeybee), Aparna Nancherla (Moon), and Paul Rust (Ham), reflecting their time on the show, especially with the show’s fourth season, that’s one video. Though looking back to the video of their interview think brought up an episode with Wolf thinking that he had done something and wanting to prove to himself that he’s innocent as if he’s been encased in a genjutsu. You gotta see the video of the interview yourself. And also an upcoming episode with Wolf and Honeybee working with their business, only for a dispute to kick in.



But then comes the interview from the Molyneux sisters in another video about certain episodes that we’ll expect for Season 5. One of which being a horror-type episode regarding a creature in Alaskan lore being the center focus. So, a cryptid is what they’re explaining and we know that Moon has a thing for that, so uh...Moon episode? I know that it sounds like a Halloween episode but knowing that the season starts in January, fuck it, might as well say that Halloween isn’t an October thing. So it’s pretty much the co-creators trying out new things for the show and this would be one of thing. Plus, it sounds like something coming out of a horror film, and according to the Molyneuxs in their interview, knowing Wolf and Honeybee being movie buffs, it should probably boil down to what not to do in a horror film.



But the thing that caught me and everyone, whether at the panel or at home watching the live feed on Instagram after the panel, bringing up a big loss for the family coming that could shake up the show and upon hearing that, I was like “Ayo, what the fuck? Where did that come from?! What do you mean by big loss? Is someone is going to be sent packing?!” It might be a person or maybe not. Hopefully, it’s not Dirt because she’s in her 80s and has the character recently introduced, only to be sent packing. If I were to guess, it probably comes down to a character that we didn’t even know existed until they brought it up and just found out they died. Though, wouldn’t rule out an object that might be going through a loss. I’m looking at you, the Mighty Kathleen. Could be going out of the way of the Going Merry on One Piece. So let’s see how all of that pans out and hopefully, that change won’t result in the show preparing to jump the shark. No one wants that and I pray that won’t happen here.

So, I think that should do it for the Comic-Con panels for the three shows...well, aside from the other news like the third season of Demon Slayer, the Blacksmith Village Arc, coming to Toonami on August 10, some stuff coming from Rick and Morty: The Anime, Uzumaki, the long-awaited series that have its goal post moved one too many times finally have its date revealed for the Fall, and upon everything else. Though no news on renewals for The Great North with Season 6 or Bob’s Burgers with Season 16. We know that Solar Opposites got renewed for a Season 6 at Comic-Con (and also news of the revival of Clone High getting the axe after two seasons), so it would sound like doom and gloom might be clouding over The Great North and Bob’s Burgers but calm down, it’ll get renewed eventually...and with that, I might’ve jinxed it.

That should do it for the Comic-Con panels with my half-assed reaction to each of the panels for this year’s convention. Hopefully, next year should be the year I should attend but knowing the cost, scheduling, and social anxiety, and hoping that the US doesn’t turn into a dictatorship for 2025, seriously, register to vote this November, would be the time I would at least visit there. Other than that, out goes another Comic-Con and now, we begin a new season...in about two months and it’s gonna be a doozy.

Follow me on Tumblr, Twitter, Instagram, Mastodon, BlueSky, and Threads for updates and behind-the-scenes stuff. No matches this week because the group stages in the 2024 race have concluded. August 4 is the start of the playoffs of the voting tournament with the Wild Card Round. And y’all should know the drill by now...



Donate over at PayPal, Patreon, and Ko-fi pages to help your boy out in both improving the bills and keeping the lights on to pump some content for y’all to embrace my BS. And until the next time, wear a mask, get vaccinated, register to vote, and a reminder that you’re loved, you’re beautiful, ignore the haters, and I’ll see y’all later.

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