Leap Back 2009 Blog

feldon30

Forum Technician
Jul 13, 2005
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In addition to Donna's LiveJournal page, I will be blogging from the Convention show floor and posting photos and hopefully give folks an impression as if they were actually there. Hopefully there will be lots of updates from everyone and more than enough info for folks at home to enjoy. :)

http://www.leapback2009.com/blog/


My previous experience is covering the Sony FanFaire '08 specifically EQ2.

Look forward to seeing you all there and letting the folks at home feel like they're a part of the action. I will be reading and responding primarily to Comments on the blog by the way, so please use that system if you want to make suggestions/comments.

Best Regards,

Morgan
 
I too say thank you for putting up the blog for those like me who couldn't make. It's also nice to see some of the members on this site, to put a face with the username.
 
the displays room is Deborah Pratt's private collection of memorabilia.

That's one of the original handlinks, yes.

Surprise guest today was Liz Torres!!
 
Back in Houston.

Scott came out and sang Somewhere in the Night with Velton Ray Bunch performing the music. He thanked Deborah Pratt (who came out of the wings) and joked with her a bit.

Then it was on to the Scott Bakula vs. Jay Schwartz trivia contest (his publicist and close friend who donated a ton of his QL memorabilia at the event and it was auctioned off early in the morning and more was to be auctioned at 4pm). That was a riot.

Then Don came on and of course he said that QL should have gone on for years afterwards. He is currently working on NCIS of course and also 3 movies. No word of any QL projects.

Dean Stockwell was able to join us via phone. He was calling from somewhere there had recently been snow (Utah?). It was a bit hard to understand for him and for us, but Scott and Don made the most of it and brought up some old stories. :)


Earlier in the day, Deborah Pratt was reading from her new Quantum Leap novel which picks up after the end of the show with Sammy Jo Fuller trying to get the project going again.


It was real thrill to hang around with MJ (QLDamsel), Brian (owner of this site and CEO of the Con) who put this whole thing together (and he does a pretty good impression of Al the Bartender in the right attire ;) ). I also got to hang out with Brian's friend from grade school John, and I cannot leave out Mike whose forum nickname escapes me but he is a prominent contributor in the writing sections and just a great guy as well.

And yes, every second of every day was videotaped so I am really looking forward to the DVDs. ;)

Again, I am really looking forward to others posting their recollections, their stories. And I really hope all those folks who had $1,000+ cameras with 8 inch long lenses will share their photos. I took what I could with Rebel XT but did not have the telephoto lens necessary to get the best possible shots. :) And I didn't see any of the early Friday morning stuff or the Costume Contest Saturday night. I know there are some amazing photos out there and hope to see them. :) Shoot me an e-mail if you need a place to put them.


What else can I say?

Scott IS going to make a signing appearance in Britain which he had not done before. He tries to keep his appearances around the county to a minimum why? Because he loves his family and wants to spend as much time with them as he can.
 
Another post and then bed for this Tired Leaper. :)

As I mentioned above, a last-second surprise was Liz Torres who came out and joined the panel with Brad Silverman, John D'Aquino, and that was just great. She was quite funny and as always surprised at just how supportive we all are.

I want to take a moment to say something about Brad. 2 different fans came up to the microphones and had questions specifically for Brad. Both of them had debilitating illnesses that they have had to deal with recently or for many years, and they both shared with Brad that watching him had been an inspiration to them and helped them keep going.

The next words out of Brad's mouth were probably some of the best wisdom I've heard in a long time. :) I can't even recall the exact wording but he said you just have to put yourself out there and tell people what you want to do and don't let yourself get stuck. I think his speech in response to that question will be a highlight of the DVD for certain.



Well I'm signing off for the evening. I still have a ton of photos to post. Some from Saturday and of course a ton from today.
 
P.S. I will merge all my comments that I'm posting here with the Blog so they're in both places.
 
Well campers, er...LEAPERS, the weekend was exhausting as we all put in iron man hours to attend and work the convention. Dean Stockwell calling into the convention was awesome and it would have been perfect if Dean could have been beamed in as a hologram.

:p

The trivia contest etched Sam Beckett's social security number into my brain, 563-86-9801. Scott vs. Jay trivia was fun but the questions were easy and swiss cheese.

The auctions were INSANE. I will never ever figure out why novelty handlinks were never made and put out on the market. I think a handlink cell phone would be the coolest thing. To smack the damn thing to get better reception.

I also wondered if the handlink in display room was real or fan made.

Deborah Pratt seduced me as only she can in the voice of Ziggy.

I'm just hoping to hell my pictures with Scott and Don turned out as I unfortunately found out that the camera I was using has a tendency to BLUR. I posted pics on MySpace and Facebook and my friends are *****y about me not using a flash.

I made some new friends in the left part of the front row.

AL CALAVICCI IS MY WINGMAN as I mingled with some attractive ladies...who swooned at my trivia knowledge.

Q: Name all of the slang terms Al used to describe Tina's breasts in Dr. Ruth.


Loved the Q&A session with Scott and Don, but unfortunately it was all pretty much rehashed answers. The only thing I did not know was that the LEE HARVEY OSWALD episode was inspired by Don's son going to see the movie JFK and buying into Oliver Stone's crap about the conspiracy theories.

I found it funny at the end of Sunday during the video tribute that Mirror Image had Georgia On My Mind playing and yet spelled Becket...with one t.


Oif.....


Now I must go watch the DVDs with skewered music in them.
 
Mirror Image is still a rough episode to watch. Yes, the misspelling of Dr. Beckett by the intern (?). The DVD of Mirror Image has the correct music. Not sure why Season 2 has the wrong music but Season 5 has the right music for the same scene.

Jay Schwartz said something about a forthcoming boxed set of QL and hoped that Universal would get it done before the convention because then they would have sold stacks of them.
 
It's nice that I now own the DVDs that I won via the raffle. I was one number off from winning the QL jacket. Grrr...so close.

I believe Jay said that the USA DVD BOX SET would be out for Christmas...gee, hrm....TIMING.

I think it would be cool if the box was holographic so that when you handle it the images change and shift.

Like I said though, from the questions asked during the Scott and Don Q&A....the only questions that I found interesting was the back story of Lee Harvey Oswald and one woman asked about the alternate ending to Mirror Image. She basically took my question, but didn't quite ask it right.

Don's answer was good though. He filmed Mirror Image as a season finale not knowing that NBC pulled the plug. Once he knew that, he had to somehow hack and slash the ending. HOWEVER, if Don didn't realize NBC was officially pulling the plug, how come he made the episode in series finale format?

Typical series finale format brings back key characters of the series. Don had to have some sense that it could have been the final episode and brought Quantum Leap back to its root and introduced Al's Place to take Quantum Leap into another direction.

If you watch the Sciography, we really didn't learn anything new from the Q&A. Asking questions about a Quantum Leap movie is old and tiring. As far as a proposed sixth season of the show, Deborah Pratt said she gave Sam a daughter in TRILOGY as a hint to the sixth season and continuation for the show in general.

Other than that, for the fans who haven't watched the Sci-Fi channel's Sciography on Quantum Leap PLEASE DO SO. It's very well done and informative. Heck, the Sciography is all most a decade old now. It originally aired in August 2000.

I wanted to tell Don Bellisario (when he was talking about damn near getting into a fist fight with Oswald and that a Marine could easily make the shot that killed JFK) that there's a Penn & Teller: B.S.! episode about Conspiracy Theories and that Penn & Teller actually demonstrate how Oswald's shots from the sixth floor made JFK's head jolt the way it did. There's also a 2003 ABC documentary hosted by the late Peter Jennings that demonstrates it also in 3D computer graphics.

I still want to know the evolution of special effects in the series. The leap effect evolved throughout the series. The imaging chamber door evolved. How come in the final episode we don't see more of Project Quantum Leap in a a panic that there's nobody in the Waiting Room because Dr. Beckett has leaped into himself.

If Dr. Beckett leaped into himself, how come he landed in Al's Place and not back in the Waiting Room. I suppose "that's the way it is!"

We should have asked Don Bellisario, "When Sam leaped into himself in Al's Place, how in the world did he get the wardrobe and his wallet when the leapee is wearing the fermi suit?"

Where did the fermi suit go? Shouldn't it be laying in a clump on the Waiting Room bench?

Also, when Dr. Beckett first leaped in 1995, did Tom Stratton (the first leapee) land in the Accelerator Chamber? Thus causing the Project personnel to transfer the leapee to the Waiting Room.

In the fan film A LEAP TO DI FOR. Dr. Fuller instructs the Project personnel to transfer the leapee to the Imaging Chamber. Don't they mean, the Waiting Room?

A LEAP TO DI FOR was a pretty good flick, but the guy playing Sam Beckett looked like Jim Carrey and even sounded like Jim Carrey. I'm still chuckling over it.

I told the women next to me in the front row, if JIM CARREY/SAM leaps into THE MASK...*in the words of Al Calavicci* "That's it, I'm outta here!"
 
I am slightly embarrassed by how I did during the Trivia Contest.

I did OK and got a few that no one else did. But there were a few I knew and did not answer but I was dead tired and in a daze. I had actually laid down in my room before that and had just woken up and walked to the Ball Room in time for my name to picked.

I can't remember her name but one of my teammates knew everything! So the pressure was off me to even try that hard. Some I was close on - I said April 8th 1969 was the date Tom Beckett died. Right date wrong year - it really was 1970!!!! I should have known that!!!
 
I am slightly embarrassed by how I did during the Trivia Contest.

I did OK and got a few that no one else did. But there were a few I knew and did not answer but I was dead tired and in a daze. I had actually laid down in my room before that and had just woken up and walked to the Ball Room in time for my name to picked.

I can't remember her name but one of my teammates knew everything! So the pressure was off me to even try that hard. Some I was close on - I said April 8th 1969 was the date Tom Beckett died. Right date wrong year - it really was 1970!!!! I should have known that!!!
My name was called for the trivia contest, but I was upstairs in my room getting dressed. If only I had hurried faster! :banghead And I knew Miss Cornmuffin, and Deke's Dragon. Ah, well. Better luck next con. ;)

PS, I think you guys did great! All of you!
 
My name was called too for the trivia contest. I was eating the BG Holiday Inn restaurant with Julie who dressed up as Beth Calavicci for the costume contest, Kendrick and the red haired woman who won the LEAP BACK background during the auction.

I would have bid on that too, but I had enough to carry.