Sunday, January 26, 2014

Karen Gillan Has A Thrilling Evening in San Francisco


It's been several months since Karen Gillan flipped her wig at Comic-Con in San Diego, revealing a bald head as part of her role in Guardians of the Galaxy. This past Saturday, she sported a nice short hairstyle when she was one of the guest stars of the San Francisco Sketchfest's annual broadcast of the Thrilling Adventure Hour. It took place at the Marines Memorial Theater on Sutter. The place was fairly packed for both performances. Most were long-time fans, but some were there to see her, Kevin Murphy from MST3K, David Foley from Kids in the Hall and Jason Ritter from Parenthood.

She was featured in the first part, a new adventure with Sparks Nevada, Marshall on Mars. He had to deal with a new sheriff who really doesn't want the job (Foley), his alien sidekick learning about sarcasm, and an invading alien empress (Gillan) and her confused yet deadly robot servant. Her accent seemed to be a blend of Glascow and Park Avenue, but the crowd was very happy to see her. Aside from Guardians, she'll be in a horror movie called Oculus, about an evil mirror, that's coming in April.

Part two was a time-travel adventure with Colonel Tick-Tock, which was really out there compared to Peabody and Sherman. He tried to get the Wright Brothers to invent the airplane despite interference from a mischievous being from the Blue Dimension (Paul F. Tompkins). Let's just say this guy was so annoying Q from ST:TNG would punch him in the mouth. This wasn't as strong as the first two parts, but I did like its version of Kitty Hawk, whose plans to cause and cure cancer were kind of odd....at first. Anyway, John DiMaggio from Futurama and 2000 other cartoon shows was one of the brothers.

The third part, Beyond Belief, about a swanky couple who encounter strange events, was a good closer. Imagine this couple at a vacation house, encountering a troubled romantic couple that may remind people of The Little Mermaid and The Incredible Mr. Limpet. Add some singing forest creatures who want a happy ending...or else...and you've got one weird story. Aside from Tompkins, it had Paget Brewster from Criminal Minds (just in time for the 200th episode) and Jason Ritter from Parenthood.

Kevin didn't have a specific role, but he was in the chorus for the ads, and one of the forest creatures. He's also pretty good with the ukelele.

Of course, there were the traditional ads for Work Juice Coffee and Patriot Cigarettes
Here's another link to the TAH with this demo reel.

Oh, I did get Karen's autograph, the first one connected with Dr. Who since I got John Barrowman's autograph several years ago. Now, if only Matt Smith can be persuaded to have a thrilling adventure that lasts an hour.


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