Seventeen years in the making...

I've been a diehard fan of The X-Files since the show's original run. And I've told the story quite a few times of how I got to the X-Files Expo late in 1998. Missed most of the day's action, but I did get to meet Nicholas Lea, who played Krycek, and he basically saved the whole day for me by being the nicest person and the complete antithesis of his cold-blooded character.

But there wasn't a chance to get photographs with the actors, so for years I've pondered the guest lists of conventions hoping that my path would cross with Nick's again. And then the early list for Dragon Con in Atlanta came out. My sister had wanted me to go to that con to experience the incredible event that is massively spread out over four hotels. With Nick scheduled to be there (and more recent favorite John Barrowman of Torchwood also announced), the die was pretty much cast.

Now early September isn't really the best time of the year for me to be out and about on weekends, in fact, it's kind of diametrically opposed to that since it's the toughest time of my work season. But I figured if I'm walking around like a human zombie, I'll just look like a lot of other people who paid money to dress in costumes and do the same.

It was wild using walkways to get from hotel to hotel, with throngs of people needing to be somewhere that they were not. (I believe the projected total for the entire event was 70,000 peeps.) But everyone seemed to handle themselves respectfully and as a really huge mutual admiration society, even my T-shirts got pointed out on occasion. We all just got along, whether it was during the convention hours or later on, when everyone was imbibing and enjoy the weekend.

Both Sis and I had to decided to do pro-shot photo ops with John Barrowman. This man is the perfect person to do the convention circuit. And he's perfect because he GETS it, because he's an "ultimate fanboy" himself. Before his photo op, he stopped to work his crowd into a frenzy (not really necessary, we were kind of there already).

"You're all HERE!" he yelled as he perused aisle upon aisle of attendees -- some dressed up, like Lor as Gwen Cooper from Torchwood, and others like me, not. Apparently there weren't a lot of people at his autograph signing, maybe because we were queueing up for the photo. (To be fair, it was a little misleading about the circumstances of that signing and more of us would have been there had we known it would have been such a breeze.)

John gave us a brief rundown of the "rules," basically there wasn't a lot he wouldn't do in the shoot, just nothing that would harm him physically. I was kind of concerned about that myself, for although I wanted one of his trademark bear hugs, I had fallen down the stairs a couple weeks before and was still pretty banged up and achy. So I resolved to ask for a "soft hug." And damn if he didn't do it perfectly, you can't tell it from the finished product, but I'm very gently cradled in his big ol' arms. I could feel my heart pounding against his chest.

Even after the lines has been through, John hung around to keep Sis and the others laughing, but I had gone across the street to wait on the X-Files panel line. Although Nick and Jerry basically told stories I had read before, it was just fun to hear them talk about their experiences in person. I'd heard Nick's fan letter story about a child asking show heroes Mulder and Scully to help with evil in Ireland, but not the Jerry tale linked above.

Nick was asked whether he got called by Chris Carter to be in the XF revival that will start airing on Fox in January. He said the executive producer hadn't called him about being on the show. Ever the intrepid reporter, I followed with "Did anyone else from the show call you?"

I was definitely not a zombie when it came to meeting Nick in the autograph room. I even did most of the talking. First I told him about how he salvaged my day, then it was the story of the XF episode SR 819, in which my friend and I were calling each other during commercial breaks because we figured out the episode plot twist involving him. He listened most attentively and even seemed interested in the ravings of the loony fan (me).

Now at conventions, traditionally you get one autograph and one photo with each person. I got more of both. I picked out a photo, and off the cuff, Nick wrote "We'll always have Miami!" (referring to that almost ill-fated Expo) with a heart before signing his name. Then he signed the XF yearbook on the "SR 819" page, adding that he almost brought his 8x10s of Krycek in the episode's trademark Jesus wig, but he wasn't sure people would be into it. I told him I definitely would have picked that one if he had. Anyway, he signed the book and then started blowing on the signature to make sure it dried quickly.

And finally it was time for the picture I had been waiting for. And although if you wait for something for that long, there's always that chance you're going to be disappointed with the result, it couldn't have been further from the truth. He wrapped me up in a big hug, I even forgot that I was supposed to be worried about my bruised bones.

Then I went to meet Jerry, who played Deep Throat on the show and returned several times after, despite the fact that his character died at the climax of the first season. I also know him really well from the WKRP in Cincinnati episode "Fish Story," in which he plays an officer administering a drunk driving test to Johnny Fever and Venus Flytrap. The character actor didn't really remember the ep (after all it WAS from 1979 and he has done a considerable amount of work since then.)

He also gave me the "bonus" autograph, signing the XF yearbook and an 8x10, much to his handler's chagrin. In the handler's defense, he did know the WKRP episode I earlier referred to. Speaking of bonuses, in our great candid shot, you can see John Wesley Shipp AND Barry Bostwick behind us at their tables.

Later when Lor went to get her picture with Barry, he asked my name and shook my hand, even though I wasn't forking over any money for the privilege. We laughed about the jockey shorts he was autographing for fans of The Rocky Horror Picture Show.

Planning way ahead, I arranged my professional photo op with Nick to be on Saturday, hoping I would look a little less piqued on the second day of the event and with a long day of work in the rearview mirror. Although I treasure the picture I got, I think Lor did much better by both of us doing the candid shots a day earlier. But, I did get the added bonus of getting a "hi" wave of recognition when he came in and an extra hug before the picture, to the apparent disapproval of other fans around who didn't get that.

The convention scheduler wasn't on my side that day, because Jerry's solo panel was starting in another hotel when Nick's photo op began, but I got across to that fairly quickly. There was a great slide show of the character actor's work, everything from The Firm to Star Trek: The Next Generation. There was a lengthy XF segment, but no WKRP. One avid fan even mentioned an appearance on the TV version of Starman and I vowed to see that as soon as possible. On TNG, he portrayed Mark Twain and that set him off on a course in which he performed a program completely comprised of Twain material. He mesmerized the entire audience by recalling an entire passage by Twain off the cuff, in performance mode except for costume.

Although I watched only one episode of the show Continuum that Nick was on, I still went to the cast panel for the show and was duly entertained. Nick told us he got involved because show creator Simon Barry was a friend of his, but his character was killed off after eight episodes. He had a quick retort to the statement that no one ever really dies in sci-fi: "I keep hearing this stuff. I'm here to tell you it's not true. I'm starting to take it personally."

I was pretty wiped from just working my way through the crowds and from building to building -- remember I said at the start that I was at my lowest energy point of the year -- but all due props to Sis, who was completely in the spirit of things. She changed costumes two or three times a day. She did Stonecutters' singing duty, she was Gwen Cooper in the Barrowman photo shoot, she battled an unwieldly wig and was Magenta from Rocky Horror, there was some kind of Arrow thing going on, and impressed the hell out of her weary sister.

But as for me, like I said when I was winging my way back home to go back to work, "It's been fun Dragon Con, but I think we should see other people."