I always enjoy a good time travel caper and thusly often enjoyed the TV series Quantum Leap, which ran for five seasons from 1989-1993. I had previously met Dean Stockwell who played the role of Rear Admiral Al Calavicci (as seen here). At the time, I didn’t think that there was ever any realistic hope of meeting his co-star Scott Bakula, so I opted to just have him sign a head shot as opposed to a photo from Quantum Leap. I was incorrect, and it cost me. Apparently I was not done with encounters from this TV show.
Just a little over a year after the encounter with Stockwell, I found myself at the Wizard World Comic Con in Chicago on August 11, 2012 – with both Stockwell and Bakula in attendance. I greatly desired getting a photo with Bakula, and was even willing to begrudgingly pay the $80 to get it. And since I was already emptying my pockets, I thought that I might as well and go ahead with the $125 photo op that would include both of the Quantum Leapers. So I bought the ticket in advance.
As you may have read during my treatise admonishing the photo company that was taking these ‘professional’ photo ops, there was a bit of a problem with actually getting my photo. I showed up at 11:30am to get the photo at the time it was scheduled to begin, only to find that they had taken the pictures early and the celebs had gone back to their respective tables. That’s when I began my wild goose chase in order to get a refund that ended up with me calling my credit card company and canceling the charges.
But before the photo op incident took place, I had already visited the table of Dean Stockwell and purchased a signed photo from Quantum Leap. He was posing for photo for free with the purchase, so I took advantage and got another solo shot with him.
Then after the incident, I figured I’d put the feelers out for Scott Bakula. He was charging an outrageous $75 for autographs, so I purchased a ticket for that and waited in his non-existent line. OK, I do understand that he had played Captain Archer on Star Trek: Enterprise, but I found it a bit ridiculous that he would command the same prices as William Shatner. I don’t think anyone else did either, and that’s why he had no line whatsoever.
But here’s the irony: once I spoke to him, I found him to be one of the friendliest and most down-to-earth celebs I’ve ever met. He had no qualms about posing for a picture, and even went over to Stockwell’s table with me so that we could get a group shot, once I had told him how I had missed the photo op. He told me that he had warned the photographers that they shouldn’t be leaving the photo area so early. In any case, I got my Quantum Leap photo, although not a professional one, after all.
As a postscript to the story…Nearly two months later, the company who had sold me the photo op ticket, contacted me about the $205 credit card charge that I had canceled (which included both the Quantum Leap and the William Shatner photo ops). I explained the entire scenario and even conceded that I’d be willing to pay for the Shatner photo that I did in fact receive. They politely thanked me and I never heard from them again. Therefore, both photo ops ended up being free.
Sometimes the little guy ends up winning.
Celebrity encounters of the 2012 Wizard World Comic Con will continue…
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