Storytime with That's Normal: Outlander at NYCC

If you are a That’s Normal fan, you may have noticed we have an Outlander obsession around here. [I am happy to report as I am currently sitting next to her in bed (#fakelesbiansforlife) writing this, NIKKI is even on her first read through Outlander! She’s getting SO close to a full-on obsession with Jamie Alexander Malcolm MacKenzie Fraser, I can feel it] This past weekend we had a full on Outlander take-over on all our social media accounts because we were at New York Comic Con to join in the Outlander fun. Unfortunately I wasn’t able to be there and Beth doesn’t love Jamie enough to make the trip from TN to NY (KIDDING), BUT we had the perfect fill-in. My friend Natasha was attending NYCC already & is a HUGE Outlander fan so she went her in our place. She KILLED it on Instagram & sharing info she learned for Twitter. Below we have her account of her weekend of Outlander plus answers to fan questions & a gallery of images! We present you:

Storytime with That’s Normal: Outlander at NYCC Edition

The signing

On Friday I went to the book signing with Diana Gabaldon & Ron Moore.

Unfortunately it was very rushed and they only allowed one item to be signed. I think a lot of people had no idea who Ron was, and he wasn’t really offering to sign people’s books. I think he felt awkward. I immediately asked him to sign mine and told him I was so happy he was making the show happen because I loved what he did with Battlestar Galactica. He grinned really big then and gladly signed my book. I introduced myself to Diana and gave her the That’s Normal button and the card for the blog. She was so gracious and complimentary about the blog. She and her husband think it’s hilarious!

If anyone can read the French she wrote in my book I’d love to know wtf it says!

The NYCC Panel

Next up was The Starz Friday night panel which had a behind-the-scenes video showing footage of men in Highland period clothing, sword fighting practice, Ron shooting a musket, Sam practicing Gaelic (A language that sounds like someone clearing mucus from the throat never sounded so sexy), sets being built and Cat riding a horse.

At the end Sam and Cat say hello to Comic Con-goers and apologize for not being there since they’re filming in “bonny Scotland”. But they leave us in the capable hands of Ron and Diana. And then Sam says “Come along, Sassenach” and ever woman in the audience died a little inside.

Ron also presented concept art for Lallybroch:

concept art for Leoch, the castle stables, and a field with a man and woman close together in the distance about which Ron teasingly says “Oh no, who are they? They’re so far away…I can’t tell.” Jerk! We wanna see them in costume together already!

The Starz Fan event on Saturday

On Saturday Starz had a private event for fans. We were invited earlier in the week and others won tickets online or got tickets at the booth inside the convention hall. I got there an appropriate amount of time for normal NYCC lines- 15 minutes in advance. But the people in line were CLEARLY not convention-goers. They had been there for a long time because the line was crazy long, and I instantly got sad. A blog reader named Jenny approach me in line to get a button and we became fast friends. She’s been following TN since the Twilight days. I then spent about 5 minutes trying to “casually” take a photo of some weird dude with a red dye job and a tartan scarf. Pretty sure he was cosplaying Jamie.

It was more than a little bizarre (not that I have room to judge, having been wearing a Luna Lovegood costume at Comic Con the day before). But whatever. After this someone pointed out to me that my ticket actually entitled me to go to the head of the line! So Jenny and made our way quickly there where we met Carol and Tracey of My Outlander Purgatory.

They were really nice ladies who love TN as much as we love MOP!

Diana and Ron finally arrived and everyone was herded inside and seated for the event. The same video and concept art was presented that I had seen the night before. This time fan were allowed to ask much more detailed questions. Ron and Diana were so patient and kind. I can’t say enough good things about them! They are really ready and willing to make the fans happy. I recap (what I remember from) the questions below!

After the questions, a bagpiper (yep! That happened) led everyone upstairs to a rooftop restaurant for lunch. This bit was so nice of Starz to do for us all. The food was out of this world and the free wine was flowing. Jenny and I had a lovely time chatting and meeting other fans.

At the end of our lunch, we lined up to meet Diana again and take a photo. She remembered my name from the day before! Woohoo!

What I learned

Here are some things we learned from the panel and fan event:

The first scenes filmed this past week were of Claire in France during WWII. It shows what she’s been up to as a nurse while she and Frank were apart. This problem means that Sam spent the week snacking on cheetos and watching TV.
Frank will appear through the season in flashbacks so that we can learn more about his and Claire’s relationship. Ron explained that he was really surprised that after Claire and Jamie got married, the second she is left alone she decides to get the hell out of the 1740s and back to Frank. He thought Claire and Jamie would live happily ever after. (HAHA) This is the scene (Claire reaching the stone circle) Ron is most looking forward to seeing filmed. He says it’s extremely important to understand exactly why she feels such a strong pull to get home to Frank. He also says that the scene is great cliff hanger ending to an episode.
Jack Randall will also have more screen time, but since the story strictly is from Claire’s (and sometimes Jamie’s) POV, as he has to interact with them. That means there won’t be any side plots about him, or pretty much anyone else. Everything in the show has to revolve around the two main characters. (YAY!)
Claire and Frank will visit the ruins of Leoch on their holiday in Scotland. That way, when Claire arrives there later in the story, she will already know the place.

Concept art of Claire and Frank visiting the ruins of Leoch

Diana is most looking forward to the seeing the wedding night come to life. (Um, HELLO) She saw the audition and was amazed at how perfect it was. However, she has not actually met Sam in person. They only fan girl over each other via twitter.
Diana will likely have a cameo in the show at some point. She is going to Scotland next month to see the filming progress.
Ron’s wife was the biggest fan of the book and bothered him a lot about giving it a chance. So he read it and immediately understood how good it would be as a TV series. He flew to Diana’s house and spent two days there with her immersing himself in the world of Outlander and prepping himself for presenting the concept to Starz. His wife is now co-costume design for the show, and he feels very obligated to not screw up the adaptation for her and for the fans.
Diana won’t say how many more books she still has to write. She is not certain at this point. She would like to see Lord John have his own spin off show someday.
If the show is successful they plan on keeping the same actors going forward rather than to recast older actors.
Someone asked Ron how he’s going to get a bunch of cows to run through a prison. “Yeah it’s on my mind. I still have to figure that one out.”
Someone asked how graphic the show will be be given that it’s Starz and that sort of thing is to be expected by them. Ron: “You’ve read the books and you know exactly how graphic it’s going to be!” (YES)
Ron says all the cast and crew have homework constantly reading the books though certain people have refused to read the second book yet. (Any guesses on WHO?!) Maybe they don’t want later events to taint their approach to the characters? Ron told Sam that the book is to be his Bible. They are also committed to doing to series as accurately as possible with historians, herbalists, and military experts all on the job!

HUGE thanks to TN (and especially, you Bekah for getting me the hook up) for trusting me with all of their social networking super secret passwords. Mwahaha! I had SO much fun. And thanks to my new friend Jenny for hanging out & sending in many of your pictures for us to post!

Select an image below to scroll through the gallery!