It's kinda fun going to Chiller on a Friday. If you go on a Saturday, the lines are just unbearable -- or at least a good amount of the throng is. And if you go on a Sunday, well, you risk the fact that your celebrity is tired of talking about the same thing over and over and over. So Mark and I have settled into the Friday groove, although the secret's definitely out that pre-show tickets are the way to do it.
And the early bird catches Veronica Cartwright! The movie and television veteran was ready to go at 6 p.m. sharp, with a table full of 8x10s and a binder containing more shots, in case a fan wanted something else.
Mark was agog at seeing Gus Grissom's wife from "The Right Stuff," and of course, she also was indelible in "Alien." But I talked with her about "The Witches of Eastwick," in which her character suffers humiliations galore at the hands of Jack Nicholson's little devil. Veronica said she had a great time working on that, which just goes to show that the more torturous the action may be on screen, the more fun the actor might be having off of it.
We also spent some time talking about her pivotal four-episode stint on "The X-Files." In half of them, she worked with my favorite TV director -- the late great Kim Manners. (He's happily become a discussion point between me and actors he had worked with, because they all love and miss him.)
She told me he would sit in the back of the room and project a call of "Action" that almost scared her. Even better, when show star Gillian Anderson got tired, she would often get giggly and Kim could be heard going "no, no, no, no!" in an unsuccessful attempt to stop the giggles.
During her first two-part appearance on the show, Veronica's character Cassandra Spender was abducted out of a wheelchair on a bridge full of people. She did the entire stunt, revealing that they actually shot it backwards, with her starting up at the highest point and being lowered down. And Gillian called to her "bend your knees" to reflect the fact that she was supposed to be unable to move them on her own.
No one else was at their tables yet, so we went to stand on Robby Benson's line and waited for the silver marker on Veronica's autograph in my X-Files yearbook to dry. And waited and waited and waited. But the time was well spent, I performed lines from "Ice Castles" for a woman standing behind us. The funniest one was blind Lexie reaching out and crying "Nick! Nick!" And when people started crossing in front of us to get to other parts of the room, I used that one a lot.
Can't really say much about Robby Benson, because he didn't say a lot, but he chuckled at the "Nick, Nick" recreation. One of my earliest crushes, he still looks great, but I kind of got the "move along vibe" before I could mention how much I loved "One on One" or that I just recently saw "Harry & Son" and "Die Laughing."
Had a hard time finding John James' table, because he had no banner and there was kind of bottleneck on that side of the room, but we eventually did. And he was as charming as Jeff Colby could have ever thought of being on "Dynasty."
We discussed how different the two Fallons on the show were, he said Emma Samms was just as sweet as can be, while Pamela Sue Martin was a spitfire. I recalled that a couple years ago, I met Pamela Sue at a table about 10 feet away from where he was sitting. He said she had tried to come back for this year's event, but it didn't work out.
We also had some laughs when taking the photo, particularly since I had told him that he was the actor most women were jealous of me getting to meet that day. Plus my line: "Twenty dollars to touch John James? I'll take that deal!" Followed by Mark's line: "Make that $25" and then John's line: "Make that $30."
Next we stood on line for Brooke Smith, who wasn't there yet due to a late flight. And that gave us some quality time with her Chiller next-door neighbor, Brenda Strong.
I saw the gorgeous statuesque actress and her handler struggling to take a selfie, so I sent my photographer -- Mark -- over to do it for them. She was very grateful, I told her how great I thought she was on "Sports Night" and she deemed me a smart lady for knowing her from that great and unfortunately short-lived series.
Then later, we noted a couple of spelling mistakes in Brenda's banner. She grabbed a magic marker and quickly remedied the situation as best she could, to lots of cheers and applause from those in the immediate vicinity.
It was Brooke Smith's first convention and she didn't even get to eat her Chinese food with a line queued up and ready to see her. Knowing that everyone throughout the weekend would be talking "Silence of the Lambs," I went with my other favorite part of hers -- the starring role in "Series 7: The Contenders." No one else on the line even knew what I was talking about when I asked whether they'd seen it.
But she seemed reallllly excited when I presented my "Series 7" DVD cover. She told me that Will Ferrell is a big fan of the movie, that it's becoming more difficult to find for sale and she thinks he's been hording all the copies of it for himself. She said she had just introduced Marilyn Manson to the movie.
I kept saying over and over how brilliant she is in it. Brooke played a pregnant woman forced to participate in a reality game show in which she has to win several times to gain her freedom. It's very very funny, but there are some scary truths about the world that also reveal themselves during the course of the film.
And then ... THE most embarrassing thing when I accidentally copped a feel while we were taking the picture. I was just trying to move arm as she put hers around me, but then it was the reverse Julie Warner instead! (You might remember that a previous event, while trying to get past me in a crowded room, the actress brushed against my chest.) I guess that makes us even Steven, Chiller!
Going to New York Comic Con is always a bit of a crapshoot. You never know what's going to happen and even the best game plan can fall apart due to circumstances beyond your control. You just have to go with it, and hopefully, everything turns out well in the end.
It starts months earlier when tickets go on sale before the guests are announced. They sell out that day, and you hope that there will be something there for you. I guesstimated there would be some kind of presence for "The X-Files," since the revival starts airing on Fox in late January. And not only was that the case, but the U.S. premiere of the first ep was set to be screened for those lucky enough to get into the panel. More on that later.
My sister and I planned to go three days, the first would be the vendor room day, squeezing through aisles and getting bounced around by people with backpacks sometimes bigger than they are. Our major find that day was the "Batman" Michael Keaton shirt that Lor saw and didn't get at the last one. And we happened upon that in a rather unusual way. We were having trouble finding the vendor and had almost given up hope, when I ran into a guy wearing that exact shirt. He even knew where the vendor was who had it. Score!
On the second day, I had two main objectives -- seeing John Larroquette at "The Librarians" panel and meeting Frank Spotnitz, the No. 2 man on "The X-Files" who was there with his new show, "The Man in the High Castle." Only problem was at one end of the Javits Center, "The Librarians" panel was going on, and at the other end, the line was forming for the free "High Castle" signing. It was a tough call, but I left the panel to go stand on the line. That turned out to be a bad decision.
I got text messages from Sis about the panel while I sat on the cold floor on the line. I was told that the people from the show would only be signing items provided for them, so getting an autograph on my "X-Files" yearbook seemed to be out of the question. And then when the signing started, Frank wasn't even there! He had missed his plane and the signing as a result. I got autographs from the rest of the cast and told them I was looking forward to seeing more of the show, which still was true. But I would have had plenty of time for that as it turned out, because the line wasn't as long as expected and Lor caught up to me before it was over.
The next plan was to go to "The Librarians" signing, and hopefully John Larroquette would be there. I was a little dubious, the old crapshoot coming into effect. Outside we had our picture taken by the show's 3-D art work, and I was told that yes, he was scheduled to be among the cast signing. So more sitting on the cement floor in hopes that I would get to meet an actor I have followed faithfully since his four-time Emmy-winning work on "Night Court."
Got to that line four minutes after it opened, and by the time Sis caught up, it was already capped off. But she sat with me anyway, at least she would get to see John. There was some concern over whether I could get my "Night Court" script signed, because of the restrictions on "The Man in the High Castle." But I would get to meet him at least, right?
But it turned out better than expected. Because even Lor got to meet him and get her script signed too. When I went up to him, I exuberantly said, "Hi John, I'm Paige!" And he said "Hi Paige" in that deep voice that resonated down to my toes. I told him that my sister and I still watch "Night Court" episodes and we quote lines to each other all the time. Got a bit of a mock eye roll there, but even that made me laugh. When Lor got her script signed, he even recalled that particular ep.
So I went from feeling low to being at the top of the world. Back outside, I did some public service. Earlier, I had been the first person to ask a con newbie dressed as Captain Jack Harkness from "Doctor Who"/ "Torchwood" for a picture. And now the person he had come with couldn't find him. I scoured the crowd for about 20 minutes as she walked up and down looking for him. He was taken aback when I grabbed him and said she'd be right back and to wait there, but it all worked out. Con Rule No. 1: Always have a meeting place!
I went to use a trailer port-a-potty, and the fates rewarded us for altruism. Because was I shocked when I came out to a stream of golf carts carrying the cast of "The Librarians"! They were going to do a photo shoot at the 3-D picture. With Lor taking pictures, I yelled through the crowd, "John! John!" Not only did John Larroquette stop and turn, he gave us a prolonged wave. Not prolonged enough for the camera to catch up, we just have his initial reaction, but another indelible moment for sure.
Frank Spotnitz was due to arrive in time for "The Man in the High Castle" panel, so I went to that and enjoyed hearing more about the Amazon series based on the Philip K. Dick book. D.J. Qualls told great stories, particularly about how he was cast in the show -- he was exhausted from working on another show and ignored requests to meet with the powers-that-be, until director David Semel told him to "get his ass down there." He was ultimately glad he did, calling the show the best project he's ever been involved in.
When it ended, I lingered long enough to see Frank talking with some people. I got out my book and went over to him to thank him for working so hard for so long on my all-time favorite series. He thanked me effusively and I presented the "yearbook." And this is how Comic Con works out when you least expect it. Then again, we didn't expect the torrential downpour that hit us as we walked back to Penn Station, but the book was miraculously unharmed.
The focus for our final day was all about "The X-Files." I even dressed as Dana Scully, my variation was "Scrubs Scully," since everyone seems to do the suit thing when they cosplay Scully. We went in early to get on the wristband line, once you have that band, you're in. We still wound up getting on the line for the panel/screening early, just so we'd have a better seat once we were in there. And 90 minutes later, we're situated a couple of seats away from the guys videoing the event.
They went to great lengths to prevent people videoing the show, night goggles were apparently being used by security to prevent it. But we saw the show that won't be on air until late January. It was a thrill to see those characters again, we cheered at everything -- including the opening credits which now feature everyone's favorite, Mitch Pileggi.
It really was a setup episode to pave the way for the seven-show revival, introducing some new characters. I was a bit concerned initially when comedian Joel McHale was announced as part of the cast, but he did an excellent job in a new role. The best scenes were the ones in which our mainstays related to each other. A lot has changed, yet it all remains the same.
And that could be said of the panel too. The guests were show creator/executive producer Chris Carter, who wrote and directed the first episode of the revival, David Duchovny (Fox Mulder) and Pileggi. It was moderated by XF podcaster Kumail Nanjiani, who basically geeked out through the whole thing the way any one of us who got to sit there and ask questions of them would. David and Mitch played off each other the way we've seen them do on gag reels over the years.
The audience got a chance to get in a handful of questions. And they weren't shy either. When Chris Carter said Mulder and Scully's relationship has been subjected to bumps in the road of life, one fan retorted, "You don't think they could survive a bump in the road after 20 years?" To which Chris responded. "Sounds like a network note."
We learned that the revival will be stand-alone episodes book-ended by conspiracy ones. And the happiest news for me (although I already knew it) was that my favorite XF scribe, Darin Morgan, penned one of them. Everyone who is into the show probably knows already who will and won't be back for the revival, but fans raised the roof at mentions of The Lone Gunmen and the show's baddest baddie.
After the panel/screening, I went to the meetup for fans of "The X-Files," and although there weren't as many there as I expected, we quickly bonded and ran through all the things we loved about the show. It was great to talk XF with people who can go into the most minute details -- and one of them was, in fact, the woman who had chided Carter during the panel about Mulder and Scully being able to overcome anything at this point. We discussed our favorite eps, and for the first time in recorded history, I found a fan who actually liked Mimi Rogers' Diana Fowley character.
And that's what Comic Con is really all about -- long lines and herding and pushing and shoving and cold floors aside. It can bring together people just as passionate about something as you are in a far more substantial way than you ever expected. And that's why going to a crapshoot never really feels like much of a crapshoot at all.
