Thinking about the topic of con questions today…
I’d say – other than the cringey, boundary-violating personal questions – the questions I feel the most frustration over are the ones about some aspect of the show that David and Gillian don’t have anything to do with. Stuff like:
Is [guest star] going to be in the next season?
When are the Blu-rays coming out?
What is the meaning of [mytharc plot point] and does it relate to [other mytharc plot point]?
Something something the comics?
I’m not sure what con it was, but I could swear that someone at a revival-era panel asked HOW MANY EPISODES THERE WOULD BE. Like, you get to the mic after waiting in the line and THAT is the question you’re burning to ask the actors who play Mulder and Scully? (to be fair, they were probably asking Chris Carter, but STILL)
To me, this is like having Julia Child come to your house to cook a meal for you and you’re like, hey, so glad you’re here, the garbage disposal isn’t working, can you get under there and poke around and see if you can fix it? It’s tangentially related to what she does, she might even be able to do it, but like…it’s Julia Child. She could be cooking you coq au vin. You have one hour max with her, and any time she spends trying to figure out your broken garbage disposal is time wasted – not for her, FOR YOU.
My favorite kinds of questions are the ones where they’re asked for their thoughts on, not the plots of episodes or the administrative details of production, but their experience of filming episodes. (Recent ones, preferably, so the memories are fresh!)
Off the top of my head, here are some examples of the kinds of questions I, PERSONALLY (I’m not trying to tell y’all what to do…just making suggestions), would love to hear:
You had a couple of new directors this year; how was that experience?
Gillian, did you have fun filming stuff for social media (we had fun watching it)?
David, how did Brick like set life?
Were you guys really eating those muffins/how were they?
Gillian, did you really have to jump down a trash chute?
David, how were your hours and hours of driving the Mustang? Did you crash into any poles? Lol public joke that has been shared with us previously
How was the weather while filming this year? (Seems like it went from hot all the way down to cold.) At least no howling snowstorms this time?
It sounds like you got to ad-lib a bit on This; how was that (some of the dialogue was so much fun)?
Tales of the blobfish? (You know Gillian will jump at any chance to get going on that blobfish)
Gillian, we loved the Scully wig this year; was it any more comfortable than the old one? (or even: What was up with the mid-season wig change?)
Questions about the characters can be fun too; I just think they don’t always know the answer (or sometimes haven’t really thought about it and then feel defensive about that). But I’m a fan of the ones that skew less to “explain canon/create character backstory” and more to “speculate on something funny.” How about:
What are Mulder and Scully’s doppelgangers from Plus One up to right now?
What did Scully whisper to Mulder in the church? (I think folks have already mentioned this one)
What are Mulder and Scully naming their baby? (ditto) (I also think suggesting “Magnetite” would be hilarious)
Why do you guys give poor Skinner such a hard time, and how much free babysitting are you about to hit him up for?
Is William/Jackson just in Scully’s mind all the time now asking her questions about how to do laundry and how long you should microwave a hot dog for?
I personally am the most interested in XF-focused questions, but of course you can always ask them about their other projects as well, not to mention charities/favorite causes, which they always seem glad to be able to talk about.
I feel sometimes like these Q&A panels, in a certain way, are almost like awkward first dates between us and the panel. We all WANT the conversation to flow freely, but it can be tricky to get that to happen. It’s our job (and also the moderator’s job, but unless we have our beloved Paley Guy, that’s a bit of a crapshoot) to feed them questions that will inspire them enough to get them talking. It’s their job (a job, in my opinion, that they did not do great with at NYCC 2017) to pick up the baton and try to spin an engaging story even when the questions aren’t the greatest. So all we can do, I guess, is try and throw them good openings in hopes they will pick them up and toss good answers back to us. #appallingly mixed sports metaphors
My fondest wish for this panel – if it is a panel with both David and Gillian, which I certainly hope it is but nothing’s guaranteed, I suppose – is that they’re in a good mood and the questions are good and they don’t feel creeped on or attacked but they do feel appreciated, and we ALL have fun and it will serve as a kind of happy epilogue to the end of the series. A Nutcracker finale, if you will. Where they come out one more time and all the drama is over and we’re all like “what a time we have all had watching this crazy show, thanks for doing it” and they’re like “what a time we have had making this crazy show, thanks for watching it” and we all part on good terms and buy overpriced t-shirts on the way out. At best, I would love for it to be kind of a virtual hug and a “finale” in a way that MS4 wasn’t.
It’s a lot to hope for, but nevertheless, that’s my hope. :)
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