If you missed my previous write-ups, check out my Preview Night and Day 1 recaps, and listen to the TV Times Three podcast where I recap the entire weekend’s activities.
My second full day of San Diego Comic-Con 2023 was once again packed with activities. As I stepped out of my hotel for the morning, I was greeted by a welcome sight—a free donut truck thanks to Gala Games! The guy in the truck was surprised when I asked for the coconut donut—they must typically be a hard sell. I was on my way to a scheduled appointment, and fortunately the donut came in a plastic container, so I was able to put it in my bag for later.
Quantum Leap HQ Activation
NBC took up its usual spot in the Gaslamp for a special Quantum Leap HQ activation. I had a 9am press time before the activation officially opened at 10am, so I checked in and got in line.
When it was my group of ten’s turn to go in, they first had us use tablets to enter our names and take our own photos. Then, as we entered the Quantum Leap HQ, there were stations labeled with each our names and photos. Once I was standing in my spot, a welcome message from Dr. Ben Song (Raymond Lee) began to play. He explained that we would be leaping into several different bodies to help stabilize the timeline after three NBC shows had gone wrong. Another engineer working on the Quantum Leap project then rushed us through a hallway and into our first leap.
We now found ourselves in the middle of a Law & Order episode, as police officers on a city street. There were 5 evidence markers on the ground and the detective in charge explained that a journalist had been murdered, and that we would need to look on the ground to find anything suspicious or out of place, and put it in an evidence bag. She split us into 5 groups of 2, and I was assigned Section 2. I immediately zeroed in on the flip phone on the ground and put it in a bag. The detective congratulated me, saying “Good job, no one uses these anymore, that’s obviously suspicious.” Once all the evidence was found, we were told that the case was solved, and the detective pulled a cord on the wall to reveal a black “Executive Producer Dick Wolf” sign, along with the signature Dun Dun sound.
Next we were rushed back into the hallway, and this time we leaped into an episode of The Voice as contestants. We were told to sing along with the lyrics to “Don’t You Forget About Me” that were being shown on the screen, and after we finished, the judge’s chair spun around, but it was just an intern.
We were then rushed back into the hallway again, and this time we were told that Chucky had escaped. We found ourselves entering a storage room with boxes and boxes of Chucky dolls, and had to use barcode scanners to try to find him. Nothing seemed to work, so the person in charge had someone scan one of the boxes at the far end of the room. This caused a locker to swing open and reveal a dead body inside.
We were then rushed into the final room and a video of Dr. Ben Song told us our mission was a success. He also said that there was video evidence of Chucky surprising us (though this seemed to be broken for our run through). We were each handed a pin as we exited the activation.
COZI TV’s Roseanne/Lanford Days Activation
Next we headed down to OTA channel COZI TV’s activation, which was inspired by the Season 5, Episode 15 of Roseanne, “Lanford Daze”. The area was made out to look like a carnival, with games you could play to win prizes like bags, scripts, posters, stickers, tattoos, magnets, DVD seasons and more. So we played things like a laundry toss, basketball toss, ring toss, balloon popping, baseball throwing, a dunk tank, etc. and racked up some swag.
Throughout the activation there were some recreations of scenes from the episode, as well as scheduled performances by actors resembling the characters. When we went, there was a “Loretta Lynn” musical performance on the main stage. We had also timed our visit so that we would be there when The Lanford Lunch Box would be serving free “loose meat” sandwiches, which were like sloppy Joe’s without the BBQ sauce, but with a pickle. They actually tasted quite good.
As we were heading back, we passed a food truck handing out popsicles to celebrate the fourth season of the truTV comedy Tacoma FD.
Next, we headed over to the convention center to check out a panel in Ballroom 20. But before the one we were interested in started, there was another panel called “Audience is King”, which had actor Jon Heder (Napoleon Dynamite, Blades of Glory) and others present on the panel in the room, and a very odd looking/acting TJ Miller (Silicon Valley, Deadpool) joining in remotely. The panel was about some sort of AI- and community-driven animated show. Most of us lost interest pretty quickly—it looked like really bad South Park-style computer animation.
First Look at The Continental: From the World of John Wick
In Ballroom 20, Peacock gave John Wick fans a first look at the upcoming 3-part prequel series The Continental: From the World of John Wick, and announced that the series will air across three consecutive Friday nights, September 22, September 29 and October 6.
A prequel to the blockbuster action franchise, the series will explore the origin behind the iconic hotel-for-assassins centerpiece of the John Wick universe through the eyes and actions of a young Winston Scott, as he’s dragged into the Hell-scape of 1970s New York City to face a past he thought he’d left behind.
The Q&A panel, which was moderated by Collider Editor-in-Chief Steven Weintraub, included executive producer/director Albert Hughes, executive producer Marshall Persinger, editor Ron Rosen, action director Larnell Stovall, and production designer Drew Boughton. I had been worried that having no actors due to the strike would affect this panel, but I think it actually made it better. It was a fascinating discussion about filming the action sequences, finding the look of the series, designing new rooms we haven’t seen before in The Continental, and more. The clips they showed were amazing, including a long, action-packed fight in a stairwell that looked like it could have been a single shot. John Wick fans have nothing to worry about—this looks like it could be just as good and as exciting as the films when it comes to the stunts, action and production value! I can’t wait to check this out next month!
Jurassic Park 30th Anniversary Activation
Our next scheduled event was a bit of a hike away, but the group of 5 of us quickly walked several blocks to the Jurassic Park 30th Anniversary activation, and got there with time to spare. The activation recreated many of the iconic scenes from the film and provided visitors with some fun photo opps. As we entered the main entrance (which was designed to look like the Jurassic Park gates), we were handed a map. We then walked through a tent and into a dark foresty area, where there was an egg incubator and some pieces of amber.
Next, there was a photo opp where you could lay down like Ned Landry and be sprayed by a Dilophosaurus.
Then there were photo opps where you could be the laywer getting eaten by a T-Rex while sitting on the toilet, be in the kitchen with the velociraptors, and trying to reactivate the power to the security fence in the control room.
Upon exiting the main area, we found ourselves facing the Gift Shop. They were also serving free dinosaur shaped chicken nuggets with a choice of sauces, and boxed waters with dinosaurs printed on them. A park employee was also walking around with a baby dinosaur, interacting with the guests.
Gala Games Party with Den of Geek
Just a block away from the Jurassic Park event was a party hosted by Gala Games and Den of Geek, so we headed over there next. They had free drinks and computer games to play inside, as well as a Mexican food truck and an ice cream truck outside. They handed us a t-shirt and pint glass with the Gala Games logo as we entered. It was one of the better parties I attended this weekend. It wasn’t overly crowded, and the tacos and boozy ice cream I had were quite tasty.
Jury Duty After Dark Experience
After a sketchy walk back to the main gaslamp area (I don’t think crack pipes were on anyone’s desired swag list), we made it to the line for our final event of the night, the Jury Duty After Dark Experience. We had priority line tickets, but it seemed like the link must have leaked as the line was ginormous. It took a while for us to get in, but once we did, it was a big open area.
The first thing we saw were some props from Freevee’s hilarious Jury Duty series. There was also a cake like the one from the series, along with some other small bites for food like tacos and chips & salsa, and a bar.
There were various stations where you could do some activities like find out which juror you were most like, but the biggest line (besides the bar) was forming for the prize wheel. Folks could spin a wheel to win a prize related to one of Amazon Freevee’s shows. The most popular prize seemed to be these stuffed unicorns for Primo, but there were also t-shirts for Jury Duty and Bosch Legacy, Judy Justice mugs, a tote for Neighbours, a Freevee bag, and a pad and marker for Alex Rider.
When it was my turn, I spun the wheel, and it landed on Alex Rider. As the guy handed me my prize, he made sure to inform me that this pen was special invisible ink! The other folks in my group generally got what they were hoping for—the unicorn (chosen as a “Your Pick”), the mug, the Jury Duty t-shirt, and the mystery prize (which was the bag).
Look for my Day 3 recap soon.
