The real tragedy is that I don't have time to get nachos before we start.
Bob's Burgers Panel: Production Gossip, Thoughts on Lockdown, and a BBM Sneak-Peek
Get ready to get ready, kittens! Out of a sunny and enthusiastic, albeit sparsely-attended, Springtime return to the SoCal con-season, wafted a strong smell: an essence emanating from a moderately-packed ballroom in the north-end of the Anaheim Convention Center, this first weekend of April 2022.
No, it wasn’t the notorious Con Stank: an accumulation of days’ worth of unwashed polyester, wool and Spandex, hourly-exponential body odour, multiple dudes sharing single hotel rooms and nasty, non-food, overpriced nacho cheese. (Well, okay, it was that, too.) It was the unmistakable aroma of artisinal burgers … Bob’s Burgers. Easily the main entrée of WonderCon Anaheim (WCA) 2022, a serene Sunday-morning panel carried excitement on the wind, through a rabid fanbase that was all (bunny) ears.
So, you know when you’re set to go out for the night and you know you look amazing and you’re ready to walk out the door? Then, something pops up and you have to kill time before leaving: your friend’s running late ‘cause traffic's vile on the 5; your husband decides to run to Trader Joe's for wine and snackies, and to the car wash “real quick”; a manufactured virus is running amok through the neighbourhood; or whatever. What do you do in that interim? You turn up your getting-ready tuneage, pour a glass of wine, dance around the bedroom and fuss in the mirror.
Sometimes, your husband gets back from TJ's way too quickly and you get caught in the middle of a frantic, curling iron roll-up; so you have to unroll it, fast, snag your hair, curse, unplug the iron and dash out the front door, forgetting to change Hulu on the way out for your dog, because he likes to watch Family Guy or It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia whilst you’re gone.
Other times, you have way too much time and, though you berate yourself in the mirror repeatedly to stop applying already, you can’t stop yourself and your glitter game goes into overtime and you eventually leave the house looking ridiculous.
Sometimes though, you get Goldilocks-time: it's just right. You have enough time to change dresses, whilst keeping everything else the same, do a quick, hair touch-up, re-brush your teeth after your getting-ready Shiraz, and reapply lipstick … plus, add your Urban Decay all-nighter setting spray that you’d totally forgotten earlier. Dear, Urban Decay …
During the Sunday-morning WCA panel, moderator and series-creator Loren Bouchard shared with fans that The Bob’s Burgers Movie, like most everything else on the planet, was delayed more than two years due to the stupid pandemic. The entire movie was produced remotely, with everyone separated: a most undesirable situation which led to myriad hiccups and holdups in production.
Apropos of Goldilocks-time, and overdoing the glitter, some panelists admitted the end-product is likely better than it would have been, because there was so much extra time to fuss over, and fix, certain elements.
Sometimes, your husband gets back from TJ's way too quickly and you get caught in the middle of a frantic, curling iron roll-up; so you have to unroll it, fast, snag your hair, curse, unplug the iron and dash out the front door, forgetting to change Hulu on the way out for your dog, because he likes to watch Family Guy or It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia whilst you’re gone.
Other times, you have way too much time and, though you berate yourself in the mirror repeatedly to stop applying already, you can’t stop yourself and your glitter game goes into overtime and you eventually leave the house looking ridiculous.
Sometimes though, you get Goldilocks-time: it's just right. You have enough time to change dresses, whilst keeping everything else the same, do a quick, hair touch-up, re-brush your teeth after your getting-ready Shiraz, and reapply lipstick … plus, add your Urban Decay all-nighter setting spray that you’d totally forgotten earlier. Dear, Urban Decay …
During the Sunday-morning WCA panel, moderator and series-creator Loren Bouchard shared with fans that The Bob’s Burgers Movie, like most everything else on the planet, was delayed more than two years due to the stupid pandemic. The entire movie was produced remotely, with everyone separated: a most undesirable situation which led to myriad hiccups and holdups in production.
Apropos of Goldilocks-time, and overdoing the glitter, some panelists admitted the end-product is likely better than it would have been, because there was so much extra time to fuss over, and fix, certain elements.
Thank God for variants!
Sunday morning is a rough time to attend a panel, especially in costume. Saturday nights at a con are generally epic. Dork-epic, sure; but that's still exhausting. Nevertheless, Bob’s Burgers fans are a valiant bunch and, thanks to the curative powers of Starbucks, a bevy of bunny ears, burger suits and black Converse with tube socks filled the ballroom by 10am. The Belcher Brigade was rewarded for their early-morning efforts with, not only official The Bob’s Burgers Movie posters and enamel, rubber ducky “crew” pins, but also were treated to a six-minute sneak peek of 2oth Century Studios’ upcoming feature film.
*Aside: The panel commenced some fifteen minutes late, as organizers scrambled to fill a noticeable dearth of seats in the ballroom. (Perhaps an effect of too much Saturday-night dork-fun, or lingering covid-restrictions, despite an April 1st, 2022 change in policy from California Public Health Department, lifting all covid vaccine- and negative-test-mandates for large gatherings. Perchance this rigidity played a part in an overall, underwhelming con-attendance?)
A timely and beachy release date of May 27th, 2022, The Bob’s Burgers Movie takes place during Memorial Day weekend, in their vaguely mid-Atlantic harbour town of Oceanside. An unforeseen disaster threatens the family's anticipated Summer-earnings. As a burger joint in a seaside town, Summer is a make-or-break season for the entire year. Will this disaster destroy their restaurant and, thus, their lives? As Bob and Linda frantically try to adapt their business, Louise, Gene and Tina venture to solve a mystery which just might save the restaurant. Weaving together all this mystery, adventure and the daily stress of small-business ownership is, naturally, musical-theatrics … new songs, Linda songs!!!!
Will Bob and Linda make the best of a sinking situation? Will the kids solve the mystery? Will they all get back to life behind the counter, crafting artisinal burgers and divining pithy burger-names to write on the restaurant chalkboard? Will life imitate Tina’s “Jimmy Pesto, Jr. friend-fiction”? Most importantly - and this will be momentous, like learning a few of the Universe’s smaller meanings of life - will we finally learn the origin story of Louise’s bunny ears?! Only Memorial Day weekend 2022 will tell, and in theatres only, kittens! Get your tickets and get there in time to get your nachos before it starts.
*Aside: The panel commenced some fifteen minutes late, as organizers scrambled to fill a noticeable dearth of seats in the ballroom. (Perhaps an effect of too much Saturday-night dork-fun, or lingering covid-restrictions, despite an April 1st, 2022 change in policy from California Public Health Department, lifting all covid vaccine- and negative-test-mandates for large gatherings. Perchance this rigidity played a part in an overall, underwhelming con-attendance?)
A timely and beachy release date of May 27th, 2022, The Bob’s Burgers Movie takes place during Memorial Day weekend, in their vaguely mid-Atlantic harbour town of Oceanside. An unforeseen disaster threatens the family's anticipated Summer-earnings. As a burger joint in a seaside town, Summer is a make-or-break season for the entire year. Will this disaster destroy their restaurant and, thus, their lives? As Bob and Linda frantically try to adapt their business, Louise, Gene and Tina venture to solve a mystery which just might save the restaurant. Weaving together all this mystery, adventure and the daily stress of small-business ownership is, naturally, musical-theatrics … new songs, Linda songs!!!!
Will Bob and Linda make the best of a sinking situation? Will the kids solve the mystery? Will they all get back to life behind the counter, crafting artisinal burgers and divining pithy burger-names to write on the restaurant chalkboard? Will life imitate Tina’s “Jimmy Pesto, Jr. friend-fiction”? Most importantly - and this will be momentous, like learning a few of the Universe’s smaller meanings of life - will we finally learn the origin story of Louise’s bunny ears?! Only Memorial Day weekend 2022 will tell, and in theatres only, kittens! Get your tickets and get there in time to get your nachos before it starts.
*The Bob’s Burgers Movie creds (‘cause this stuff’s important, especially if you’re listed)
V/O Artists: Kristen Schaal, H. Jon Benjamin, John Roberts, Dan Mintz, Eugene Mirman, Larry Murphy, Zach Galifianakis, Kevin Kline
Directed by: Loren Bouchard, Bernard Derriman
Screenplay by: Loren Bouchard, Nora Smith
Produced by: Loren Bouchard, Nora Smith, Janelle Momary
Production Companies: 20th Century Animation, 20th Century Family, Bento Box Entertainment, Wilo Productions
Distributed by: 20th Century Studios
JennyPop’s been on the grill for a while. Read her inaugural TV-review when the cult-fave was brand-new: “Bob’s Burgers: Totally Rare”. (Fun fact: JennyPop rocks so hard, she totally won a Bob’s Burgers S1 DVD for said-review. So, yeah. That.)
*Easy-peasy prediction: We see a lot of sexy, teeny-weeny polka-dot bikini burgers at this year’s San Diego Comic-Con. All right!
Anyhoo, JennyPop knows her cons. Read her con-coverage and, even better, her published-articles from “The San Diego Comic-Con Official Souvenir Book”. She's the longest-running contributor (10 consecutive years until stupid covid interrupted life) with the longest name in the book. Jennifer Susannah Devore’s historical-retrospectives include Bongo Comics and The Simpsons, Betty & Veronica and Archie Comics, Batgirl, Catwoman, Tarzan, The X-Files, Conan the Barbarian and Peanuts. In their own, 2010 Peanuts retrospective, TIME magazine cited Jennifer's first SDCC article, a Peanuts-history titled “First Beagle on the Moon”.
JennyPop knows her pop-culture, kittens! Follow her @JennyPopCom on Insta and Twitter and Substack!
*Easy-peasy prediction: We see a lot of sexy, teeny-weeny polka-dot bikini burgers at this year’s San Diego Comic-Con. All right!
Anyhoo, JennyPop knows her cons. Read her con-coverage and, even better, her published-articles from “The San Diego Comic-Con Official Souvenir Book”. She's the longest-running contributor (10 consecutive years until stupid covid interrupted life) with the longest name in the book. Jennifer Susannah Devore’s historical-retrospectives include Bongo Comics and The Simpsons, Betty & Veronica and Archie Comics, Batgirl, Catwoman, Tarzan, The X-Files, Conan the Barbarian and Peanuts. In their own, 2010 Peanuts retrospective, TIME magazine cited Jennifer's first SDCC article, a Peanuts-history titled “First Beagle on the Moon”.
JennyPop knows her pop-culture, kittens! Follow her @JennyPopCom on Insta and Twitter and Substack!
