Superman
Celebration 2005: Interviews with John Schneider & Margot
Kidder
Here is a report to us from the 2005 Superman Celebration in
Metropolis, IL. Special thanks goes out to Jeremy and Michael
Lee for the note-taking. Their report is posted, as written,
below. Thanks to both of them! For some of the photos taken
by Jeremy Lee at the celebration, click
here.
The "Super
Panel" was highlighted by John Schneider and Margot Kidder
but also featured Noel Neill, Mark Waid, Steve Stanley (Artist)
and Lin Workman (Comic Artist). Questions were from a wide
variety of Superman topics including the comics, classic movies,
the new film and of course Smallville. I will try to keep
the Q and A on just Smallville.
These are paraphrased Q and A's but you have our word that
they are accurate and from the sources.
Q: (to Margot) How do you feel now that your character has
been killed off of the show? (Smallville)
A: Well I love the show, I love being apart of the Superman
myth in both the films and TV, but the producers (Smallville)
really didn't think the character was working the way they
wanted her ultimately to work. I am in total agreement of
that and I am glad that they went ahead and went in a different
direction with that part of the story arc.
Q: (To John) What have you heard about the rumors of Jonathan
dying?
A Well I have heard those rumors, but I can tell you that
it won't happen this season. I was notified three days ago
that I would appear in all the episodes for season 5 and (holds
up his cell) and Annette just emailed me and told me that
her agent has notified her of the same for her character.
(the crowd went nuts at this news! notice in pic labeled Johnreadsmsg
that he reaches for his cell phone to read the message from
Annette) I know they were thinking of a possible heart attack
maybe as early as this season, but there was a lot of fans
that protested and emailed the network and from that the idea
was scratched.
Q: (To John) How much longer do you think Smallville will
run?
A: (laughs) the answer to any question like that is, as far
as you can drag it out. No, seriously, Smallville continues
to be one of the flagship shows for the WB and I forsee it
being around for a long, long time with no end in the near
future.
Q: (To John) When will we see Clark in the "super suit"
or will we?
A: Well, if it happens, it'll be the last frame of the last
episode. We have tried to give subtle gestures to the suit
by Clark wearing a lot of red and blue, but the show is about
Clark growing up. . .when he becomes Superman Clark's story
is over and the story of Superman begins.
Q: (to John) Will we ever see Superboy in Smallville?
A: I think we have missed the opening for any appearances
for Superboy, but who knows what could happen?
Q: (To John and Margot) Where do you see your characters heading.
. .
A: (John answers) Well. . .she's dead and my time is coming!
(Crowd laughed!)
In a special note, John moved the crowd when he pointed out
a young man in a wheelchair dressed in a Superman shirt and
said that being a fan of Superman wasn't silly, it was about
hope and about believing in something good. He said, "You
see it's about how we raise our kids, do we want to raise
young men and women who can go out and become Superman or
do we want to raise them to become Lex Luthors. Thank you,
(to parents of the boy in wheelchair) thank you for raising
him right and thank you for bringing him here today. . ."
The crowd reached it's peak at that moment and tears even
came to some people's eyes. I know that Michael and I were
both speechless. John really was a class act and made us proud
to be Smallville fans yesterday in Metropolis.
The rest
of the questions varied from classic TV, film and comic questions
of Superman to even questions of John and the Dukes of Hazzard.
John did say he would attend the premeire of the film but
was not in it.
Pictures by: Michael Lee
Notes by: Jeremy and Michael Lee
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Superman
Celebration 2005: Interviews with John Schneider & Margot
Kidder 
