Nerdist has an amusing list of Our Favorite “Comic-Cons” in Pop Culture. Of course we all know Chasing Amy and the Simpsons and Entourage—the latter being the one thing that really cemented Comic-Con in douchebag Hollywood’s heart for all times. But knowing roman à clefs go all the way back to the Wonder Woman TV show—a fact which we did not know!
In ”Spaced Out,” the third season episode of the old Wonder Woman television series from 1979, Diana Prince goes undercover to recover some stolen crystals from a jewel thief at a Science Fiction Convention at a Los Angeles hotel. The con in this episode is as stereotypical as it gets regarding how America views geek culture, especially back then; all the conventioneers are your typical “Revenge of the Nerds” style dorks with pocket protectors and giant thick rimmed glasses who slobber all over Lynda Carter as if she’s the first female they’d ever seen. OK, in fairness, it was Lynda Carter.
Checking IMDB, this episode was written by one Bill Taylor, a name not hallowed in the halls of nerddom—was he hanging out with Kirby and the gang or just another lookie-loo?
Not mentioned on he Nerdist list, doubtless endless episodes of The Big Bang Theory and CSI.
The greatest con on film remains, of course, GalaxyQuest.
The WB video says “Sorry, this content is not available in your location.”
No matter, we don’t care;
an episode of Castle took place at a fan convention. But maybe that was Sci-Fi more than comics. Good episode though, with Nathan Fillion (Firefly) mentioning Joss Whedon in his dialogue.
The Petunia-con in “Cerebus” was the best!!!
Hey! Rene Auberjonois! Cool.
[SPOILERS]
AHA! You can’t hide from the Internet!
http://archive.org/stream/starlog_magazine-021/021_djvu.txt
Full text of “Starlog Magazine Issue 021”
“It seems that Bill Taylor, a grad student at UCLA, avid SF fan and frequent convention goer, had submitted and sold a script to Wonder Woman. lt was a story in which powerful gems are stolen and smuggled out during the inanities of an SF con. The gems are stashed in a cane which is the grand prize at the costume competition. Ergo, the need for way-out getups. ”
Background footage was shot at Galacticon. Two masqueraders’ costumes were borrowed for shooting on the soundstage a few days later.
Robby the Robot would seem to be a nexus, but not really… the only movie which comes close is “Gremlins”, and that’s an inventors convention. (Keep an eye out for Steven Spielberg in a wheelchair, and Chuck Jones.)
Lessee…. TV Tropes…
http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/FanConvention
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Live Action TV
One episode of CSI: Crime Scene Investigation involved a Furry convention.
Vanity Fair and MTV also had hilariously misinformed “documentaries” on the Furry fandom, complete with supposed explorations into a furry convention.
Conventions and CSI seem to go well together; aside from the Furry Convention, they also had episodes involving a convention for dwarves and one for large people.
And one for Astro Quest, the Fictional Counterpart to Star Trek.
Community had an episode set at an Inspector Spacetime (fictional Doctor Who-like show) convention.
The episode “The Real Ghostbusters” of Supernatural has Sam and Dean attending a convention for fans of the novel series based on their lives, which most fans assume is fiction. Hilarity Ensues.
JAG: Harm, Mac and Bud stay at a motel in “Father’s Day” where a Quantum Leap convention is held.
Cruise of the Gods, a 2002 one-off BBC Two comedy-drama about a convention for a long-cancelled sci-fi show called Children of Castor taking place on an ocean liner (the obvious comparison being the annual “Who Cruise”).
[SNIP}
Western Animation
In an American Dad episode, the Villain of the Week is hiding in a convention, and the only way to get to him is using Steve’s proficiency in elven language.
Freakazoid! chased Caveman and was chased by Fanboy during a convention.
The Caveguy episode was notable, as Freakazoid talks to the fans in lieu of his creator, and scares Caveguy off by speaking Klingon to him
In an earlier episode, while trying to escape from Fanboy (who was trying to become his sidekick), Freakazoid fell into a sci-fi convention. He then finally got Fanboy off his back by pointing out Mark Hamill and tempting Fanboy with the more glamourous prospect of Jedi Knighthood.
The Simpsons had Homer saving Mark Hamill from psychotic fans. In another episode he attended an Itchy & Scratchy convention as the voice of Poochie.
The battle in Robot Chicken between Star Trek and Star Wars fans at a scifi convention.
Phineas and Ferb has an episode set at a “Sci-Fi and Fantasy Convention,” with Phineas being a Sci-Fi fan, Ferb being a Fantasy fan, and Candace being an Otaku for cutesy Japanese character Ducky Momo. The Sci-Fi and Fantasy sides actually get into a war, until Phineas and Ferb come up with a plan to remind them that that they’re all nerds there, and that Hate Dumb is stupid.
Kung Fu Panda Legends Of Awesomeness had Po attend a kung fu festival (or, as they call it, “The Fest”), where fans act out famous battles and trade action figures. Shifu forbids him from going, but that’s only because he’s going there too and doesn’t want Po to find out. Hilarity Ensues when Po accidentally paralyzes Mantis and he gets mistaken for an action figure.
On one episode of Dexters Laboratory, Dex and his friends go to a Star Trek convention, but end up at a doll collectors convention instead.
The Cleveland Show had an episode when Cleveland goes to San Diego Comic-Con with his family to promote his new comic. An earlier episode had Cleveland taking his son to a fan convention to show the horrors of not losing your virginity, only to come home with a bunch of merchandise.
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See also: fandom
I personally like the Supernatural episode where Sam and Dean end up attending a Supernatural Convention.
http://www.comics.org/issue/28157/
I wonder if Iron Man No. 72 (Jan. 1975) was the first fictional depiction of ComicCon. It’s called the “San Diego Con” in the story.
Roy Thomas, Frank Brunner and others appear in the story, “Convention of Fear.” You can read it in Essential iron Man Vol. 5.
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