Simon Pegg dropped by Salt Lake City this past weekend to attend the first annual FantasyCon. Now I think it’s a small stretch to call Simon Pegg a fantasy star, but if it brings him to town I’m willing to go with it. Now as usual I’m not going to do a point by point recap of his panel, but more of my impressions and things that stuck out to me.

Tony Toscano of “Talking Pictures” fame came out and introduced himself as the moderator. He did a good job, letting most of the panel come from audience questions, but interjecting when he had an interesting followup. It’s always good when these hosts know when to get out of the way.

Simon Pegg then came out to thundering applause and talked about the various highlights of his career. It was pretty low-key, but a lot of fun. You could tell Pegg wasn’t used to this kind of thing. People kept whooping every time he mentioned one of his movies or co-stars and it took him a little while to get used to it. By the end of the panel he was able to get applause for saying the word, “sandwich.”

The first four of five questions came from children under the age of ten, which Simon had fun with. I was surprised how many children were familiar with Pegg. I mean other than the Star Trek movies, what would they know him from?

I was also impressed with the questions. There wasn’t a ton of gushing, rambling or inane thoughts. Way to go FantasyCon attendees. Color me impressed. They weren’t perfect but I’d give the questions an overall B+. Simon talked about “Star Trek”, the Cornetto trilogy, “Spaced”, his newer movies and how he approaches acting. And per usual, he wasn’t above throwing in the occasional prequel jab.

He did throw out a handful of F-bombs and then apologized to the parents in the audience. It was all very good natured. He explained that his favorite cast was probably the “Star Trek” cast even though, he wasn’t sure it would be that way when he started. He talked about the origins of the different Cornetto movies and how “The World’s End” was his favorite to act in. When asked if he’d be up for making a guest appearance on “Sherlock” because he’s friends with Benedict Cumberbatch and Martin Freeman, he said he wouldn’t turn down the opportunity if it was presented to him. And most importantly, he mentioned that he was meeting with Edgar Wright the following week to talk about what their next movie should be.

Overall I would think that no matter what Simon Pegg movies you’re a fan, you would have been happy with this panel. He covered almost everything, including and up to “Run, Fatboy Run.” If you’re a fan, I’d see if you can find any footage of this panel on Youtube. It was a lot of fun.

Apparently this was Pegg’s first convention and judging by his Twitter feed he had a good time. Here’s hoping he’ll continue to make the circuit. And if he does, be sure to check it out. It will be worth your time.

Trevor Nielson

Writer & Photographer at ComicCon.tips

Trevor began his forray into nerdom as a kid peddling his bike all the way to the local bookstore to purchase comic books. The boring superhero comics weren’t good enough for Trevor, he wanted the real ones. The ones with ducks. Now who's laughing while he’s on his way to cash in all those valuable Ducktales comics. Soon he’ll have his own money bin full to the brim. These days, to fill the time before the money bin construction completes (and begins), Trevor fills his time with photography, movies, television and comic book conventions. You can find his cosplay Meet & Greet mini-shoot and articles on this site as well as prints of his photographs being sold by cosplayers throughout the land.
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P.S. Trevor converted to Marvel & DC comics and movies later on, so no heartburn on that one, right?