Stars align set to align at Winnipeg Comiccon

You gotta ask the question.

In Robert Patrick’s five-decade career, the 67-year-old actor — who’s in town for this weekend’s Winnipeg Comiccon — has played a gambling addict (The Sopranos), a racist (Peacemaker), a terrorist (Die Hard 2), a bereaved father (The X Files) and dozens of other memorable American TV and film parts.

Sometimes weak, though more often, bold and intimidating characters — but, in any case, real men, with emotional ranges well beyond the robot he’s most famous for playing, namely Terminator 2: Judgment Day’s T-1000, a visual paradox of blob and blades whose only mission is to kill a teenage John Connor.

Still, the people want to know: what does Hollywood’s most iconic machine villain make of today’s AI boom?

“I think James Cameron said it best. You know, we tried to warn you guys with Terminator, and we tried to warn you with Terminator 2. It’s scary times. We’re even witnessing (AI-powered) drones being used for warfare,” Patrick says. “But I personally think that if AI can cure cancer and do positive things like that, I’m all for it … we should encourage it, but we should also regulate it.”

Patrick is likely to take many, many more questions about AI and all things Terminator this weekend, being among the most recognizable of the genre and cult-favourite stars at the three-day frenzy.

Other featured guests include Doctor Who star Catherine Tate, X-Men star Famke Janssen, WWE legends Kurt Angle and Mick Foley, as well as actors from Smallville, The Walking Dead, Starship Troopers and Stargate SG-1.

There will be the usual panels, autograph sessions, cosplay and the like for Comiccon, a worldwide phenomenon that has proven a flattering and gainful side-gig for many celebrities a little shy of the A-list.

“We also have a lot of Canadian creators that are there on our guest list, and that’s important to us … You want to make sure that there’s space for local creators,” says Comiccon representative Jason Rockman (also known as the singer for Canadian nu-metal band Slaves on Dope).

The event’s Artist Alley seats Manitoba talent like Captain Canuck creator Richard Comely and Auroraman writer Jeff Burton alongside Canadian titans like Marvel and DC illustrator Marcus To and Y: The Last Man co-creator Pia Guerra.

Winnipeg Comiccon — whose event schedule can be tracked through its COMICONNAV mobile app — is touting this year as a Stargate SG-1 reunion, featuring as it does four actors from the series: Amanda Tapping, Michael Shanks, Lexa Doig and Richard Dean Anderson.

The widely panned 1994 film of the same name that birthed the Stargate series had the dubious honour of popularizing Swiss author Erich von Däniken’s conspiracy theories that ancient civilizations, such as Egypt’s, relied less on their own ingenuity than alien-astronauts to build their greatest monuments. (“I’m not saying it was aliens … but it was aliens,” reads a popular meme showing Giorgio Tsoukalos, the wild-haired presenter of History Channel’s Ancient Aliens and most recognizable face and punching bag of this premise.)

And yet the plucky SG-1 series (1997-2007), which picks up where the movie left off, evolved into a more famous sci-fi fan favourite, spawning 10 seasons, spinoff series and new films, as well as an intriguing mythology that imagines sinister aliens impersonating ancient gods, like Ra and Cronus, to subjugate humans.

“Something like Stargate, it’s always had a fan base, but it seems to have this resurgence every five to 10 years that just blows me away,” says Rockman. “Like with anything in pop culture, there’s so many factors that are involved. But you may say to yourself, ‘Why is there a resurgence in something?’ And then you realize, ‘Oh, this streaming service just added all 14 seasons.’”

Stargate SG-1 popped up for Canadian subscribers of Crave in late 2024, and will soon find new life as MGM studios develops a fresh series for Prime Video.

While the power of major global streaming platforms, such as Disney and Netflix, to decide today’s hit TV shows and movies still runs strong, many are eying tech giants like Apple, Google and Amazon (all of which own major streaming services) for their growing grip on the media industries. And then there’s AI adding another dynamic to that power, as it shapes audience recommendations and even how TV shows and movies are made.

When it comes to AI’s most dramatic implications, Patrick, for his part, compares the AI boom to the atom bomb — the culmination of an awe-inspiring scientific revolution that’s also an existential threat.

“The atomic bomb was developed, and we got to the forefront of that. We kept it in control. Well, hopefully the same thing can happen with AI,” he says.

He waxes darkly philosophical one moment, recalling a tour of Elon Musk’s SpaceX during which he spotted a Terminator 2 Cyberdyne Systems prop (the fictional company infamously created Skynet, the self-aware AI defence network that launched a global nuclear strike). But at other times, he sounds like any number of boomers who grew up in the atomic age’s shadow, impressed by the way AI chatbots have changed everyday life.

“I own a Harley Davidson dealership … People (who work for me) are able to compose emails and get communications quickly with ChatGPT,” he says. “You’ll ask them a question. They’ll say, ‘Well, hold on a second. Let me check that out.’ Is it going to replace critical thinking? I don’t know. It can go hand in hand with it.”

While Patrick is used to telling stories and answering fan questions, he says he also does a lot of listening at Comiccon to the fans who have arrived by the thousands to meet guests like him.

“I hear stories over and over like, ‘My dad took me to see Terminator 2’ or ‘My mom and I used to love binge watching X Files,’” the actor says. “It has a big impact on me. It’s very gratifying, and it’s something that I’m really glad that I get to experience.”

conrad.sweatman@winnipegfreepress.com