GHOSTS panel proves an apt metaphor for Comic-Con 2023

By Daniel Rasmus

Paranormal advisor Aaron Sagers stood on the Ballroom 20 stage alone. It appeared like he was about to interview some precise ghosts because the seats on the dais subsequent to him, that are often stuffed with vibrant panelists, sat empty. What would usually be a raucous, behind-the-scenes actor, producer, showrunner, and director celebration of the present they collaboratively create, had as an alternative, in Star Trek converse, “de-evolved” right into a screening of an episode of the present everybody had seen, a trivia contest, and an prolonged behind-the-scenes section.

Sagers confirmed the Ghosts Season 2 finale, which, in a manner, made us all Samantha throughout the working time as we projected Isaac, Albert, Pete, Trevor, Flower, Hetty, Thor, Sasappis, and Nigel into the empty dais seats. Who would sit the place? What would they are saying? Able solely to undertaking the characters into these seats. For many, this occasion would have been their first expertise of the actors in an actual area.

Some may nonetheless discover themselves bemused by Rose McIver’s charming New Zealand accent. Asher Grodman’s evaluation of his position would paint him as greater than a pantless participant. Sheila Carasco’s insightful solutions in full, articulate sentences would bely her character’s drug-addled eternity. And whereas we didn’t study something new in regards to the actors who painting the house owners and ghostly residents of Woodstone Estate, we did study just a few issues about Ghosts followers, most pointedly, that they don’t seem to be Star Trek followers.

The trivia contest, which was the one viewers engagement supply, may have, as Sagers quipped, “gone better.” He was referring to the final lack of particular data in regards to the present, the type of particulars that Star Trek followers famously hoard in a treasure trove of trivia recall, usually extra instantly and with extra intimacy than these related to this present.

Sagers and the CBS workers ended up spoon-feeding solutions to the grateful followers as they vied for swag. No one cared that they didn’t know the solutions. Most of the viewers didn’t know the solutions. Just a few folks randomly shouted out guesses, some appropriately, to assist their fellow Ghosts fan alongside.

In an everyday San Diego Comic-Con 12 months, trivia would have been a warm-up or an add-on. The actual draw was a stage stuffed with actors offering attendees with a private contact, a element unique to that room, not less than for the second.

That this was a Ballroom 20 occasion, a fairly full one, spoke to fandom’s stalwart dedication to the exhibits they love. The Ghosts panel was the proper reflection of a panel in a interval the place writers and actors picketed up the 5 Freeway in Los Angeles. It was a fan occasion, and not less than on this at some point in July 2023. It was okay to assist these on strike and to be happy with merely being followers. Once resolved, the actors, showrunners, and writers will return.

The Ghosts panel mirrored an odd Comic-Con, not less than an odd fashionable Comic-Con, the place followers have come to count on spectacle and new disclosures, together with distinctive, unique moments. This 12 months, nevertheless, San Diego Comic-Con returned to its roots, changing into a purely fan occasion, with power coming not from the preternatural world of Hollywood, however from the bumps of baggage and backpacks alongside the present flooring, from elbows touching within the too-tightly packed program rooms, and from the enjoyment of recognizing shared love for concepts that attempt not simply to entertain, however to interact the creativeness, and in a manner, assist viewers and readers create their very own worlds.

The empty Ghosts stage pressured the viewers to create their very own story about what might need been. And whereas telling tales might solely be a part of Comic-Con’s mission, fueling creativeness is what attracts attendees to San Diego every July. That they needed to work a bit more durable this 12 months to create their very own moments might be factor for them and factor for Comic-Con’s resilience.