Peeking at the past and the future

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.