Wizard World at Minneapolis Convention Center (03 May 2015)

With a late start on Sunday’s show, due to the late night Wizard World Official After Party, left us with only a few two panels, before giving us just under an hour to do last minute shopping in the main room.

Brent Spiner

We got in early to get a good seat to see Brent Spiner, who is most famous for playing the android Lieutenant Commander Data from Star Trek: The Next Generation. Spiner was a delight, you can tell he’s done this a thousand times. With all the cameras and phone going up to snap a photo of the actor, he even posed for us before answering any questions.



Spiner had the audience eating out of his hands, who were mostly diehard Star Trek fans…. who are sometime a little too quirky. When moderator Aaron Sagers‘ request to keep the questions brief, the very first fan read a rather long-winded love letter to Data. Without even acknowledging what was said, Spiner just said, “yes!” and then jokingly agreed to marry the (male) fan.



Some interesting came out of the Q&A, for example, everyone at the rehearsal thought Data’s name was pronounced “dat-ta”. That is, until Patrick Stewart (Captain Jean-Luc Picard), said “day-ta”. Since then, the pronunciation stuck.



As for Data’s quirky movements, it was because of his contact lens and layers of makeup. Spiner couldn’t actually see so he would often move his head around to get a view… unknowingly adding to the character’s unique look and style.



The next film we will see Spiner in will be Independence Day 2, which is said to be in theaters around July 4, 2016, exactly 30 years from the original theatrical release of the first film.

James & Oliver Phelps

James & Oliver Phelps (the Weasley brothers), had the most people I’ve ever seen in room 100E! It was completely full, with the first four sections reserved for VIP attendees. Unseated fans had to stand up along the wall and also overflowed into the hall. I knew Harry Potter was popular, but who knew it was this popular, especially after the final movie Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows (Part 2) ended three years ago in 2011.



The mostly teenage girl audience eagerly lined up for the microphone to ask all sort of Harry Potter-related questions, which the Phelps did their best to answer. Sometime I felt they were almost disappointed to learn that the Phelps are really into real-world sports (soccer) or that they enjoy going to concerts and just being normal boys their age.



Although it wasn’t quite answered, one of the question they started out with was how to tell the two apart. Of course, James (or was it Oliver?) said he was the good-looking one.



Wizard World Comic Con‘s next show is taking place right now in Philadelphia (May 7-10).



Photo Gallery of Wizard World Minneapolis from May 2-May 3: