If you want to know how much nerd culture has changed our world, you need only look at the reader response to NOW’s cover interview with David Tennant last week.
He’s intensely adored by Doctor Who fans, who tend to be smart, geeky folk with a predilection for lighthearted sci-fi. They’re a different audience from the Firefly crowd, and different again from Battlestar Galactica fans, who tend to be more serious-minded – unless they’re off writing Starbuck/Six slash fiction, but that’s a different issue entirely.
The sci-fi, fantasy and horror genres pitch a pretty big tent, and it’s called the Internet. The world changed in the mid-90s, when geeks on chat boards realized there were other people out there who shared their obsession with X-Files minutiae as the net has grown more sophisticated, so have the nerds who make it their kingdom. And since the nerds have more disposable income these days, the culture has shifted to favour them it’s a Comic-Con universe now, with Hollywood courting geek audiences with increasing regularity. (Sure, sometimes that results in movies like The Green Hornet and Green Lantern, but no system is perfect.)
This week, Toronto plays host to Fan Expo Canada, a massive gathering of SF, horror, anime, gaming and comics enthusiasts that takes over the Metro Toronto Convention Centre and inevitably spills out into our streets. Dozens of genre legends will be in attendance – including personal favourite Lance Henriksen – and yes, there will be people walking around in elaborate costumes, because that’s just how nerds roll. My Fan Expo weekend isn’t complete until I see an Imperial Stormtrooper waiting for the Spadina streetcar.
If you can’t make it down to the event – or the idea of walking through a hall full of zombie Ewoks gives you the creeps – there are still plenty of ways to geek out. Tonight at the Toronto Underground Cinema, horror icon Robert Englund will be dropping by for A Dream Date With Freddy, which consists of a rare theatrical screening of A Nightmare On Elm Street 3: Dream Warriors (you know, the good one) and a Q&A with the artist formerly known as Fred Krueger conducted by NOW contributor Andrew J. Parker. The show starts at 8 pm razor wear is discouraged but not prohibited.
And because John Waters has come far enough into the mainstream to be considered a geek himself, the Underground will be hosting his live one-man show This Filthy World Saturday night at 7 pm. If you’re lucky, he might throw in an extemporaneous Tab Hunter story, which these days is as geeky as it gets.
Oh, and speaking of geeky, I’d be remiss if I didn’t point out that Daniel Cockburn’s You Are Here has had its TIFF Bell Lightbox run extended through Sunday, Sept. 4 puzzle nerds and information fanatics really shouldn’t miss out.
