An Open Letter to Bruce Boxleitner

Dear Mr. Boxleitner-

I'm certain you don't remember me, but that's fine-you've done a lot of publicity tour stuff recently and you aren't expected to remember every single person who asks a dumb question at a panel. But if you're one of those Marilu Henner types, I was the lady in Toronto who asked you what it's like to have an action figure of yourself, and you gave me a very flirty answer. I was elated.

This shared moment however is not why I'm writing.

I'm writing to let you know that I did my best to fulfill the promise I made to you at the Toronto Fan Expo 2010. You were discussing box office opening weekend grosses, and you said "Please, everyone here, do something for me. Go see this movie twice opening weekend. No, actually, go four times-see it four times opening weekend." We all applauded and made it clear that this was our plan, and we would not fail you. After all, you fight for the users so we can fight for you, right? We all left that room even more impatient for TRON Legacy that we had been going in, most of us plotting how to cram in as many viewings as we could the weekend of December 17th.

Fast forward to December 12th. TRON Legacy is opening in less than a week, and I'm as excited for this as a child is for Christmas morning. I've been quite the TRON geek for many years, but this is obvious-I was at the panel after all. Anyway, it's 5 days until the premiere and I seem to have contracted the plague. Sneezing, coughing, chest aches, all of it. And as the 5 days dwindle to just one, I just keep getting sicker to the point where the day before the midnight showing (for which I pre-ordered tickets) I have a 102 degree fever. I'm weak, I'm shaking, and I'm 24 hours away from the movie event I've been anxiously awaiting since that crooked TR2N test teaser showed up online after ComicCon. I'm not happy.

After a night of fitful sleep, the fever breaks, and I'm back to normal in the morning. It sadly does not last. By mid afternoon the shakes are back, I'm coughing so badly blood vessels are breaking on my face, and my temperature is creeping back up and I can feel the effects of fever. By this point, it is around 3pm Thursday December 17th, and at 12:01 that night I plan to be in a theater fulfilling my promise to you.

Since I have until midnight, I decide to nap until the very last second before I need to leave to get a decent seat. After all, this is IMAX 3D we're talking about here-not the kind of movie you want to see while sitting way off to the side. It's difficult to sleep, and I'm taking my temperature during my wakeful moments only to find that I'm creeping slowly back up to 102 degrees. 102 degrees is what i'm at when I dress to leave for the theater at 10:30.

I was able to get a very good seat, and the wait wasn't much of a big deal-I watched TRON on my iPod while I waited.

While I was able to watch the midnight show, and the fever broke about 2/3 into the movie, I was completely exhausted when it was all over. Exhausted, and in love with an entirely new movie. I'm sure you're aware of this, but TRON Legacy is wonderful. If it does anything but sweep the technical Oscars I will be shocked. And Daft Punk deserves a best original score Oscar for sure.

I went home and slept. I had taken Friday off from work in anticipation of this late night event, so I was able to sleep for a nice long while. I woke up without fever, but still very very ill, but in decent enough shape to hit the theater for the second of the 4 showings I promised to see. The movie was fantastic the second time, so it wasn't all expectations and being swept up in the event of a midnight show-I truly love this movie.

So more sleep and more sickness fill my weekend to the point where I only feel the ability to be mobile once again sometime Sunday afternoon. At which time I decide to go to the movies and watch viewing 3. This time I was down to earth enough that I cried. This is a very touching movie as well. Although I contemplated going back to the ticket booth and buying another ticket for the next show as soon as it was over, I just couldn't. I had to go home and get into bed and stay there.

I tried to keep my promise to you, Mr. Boxleitner, I truly did. I had every intention and desire to keep this promise. However, fever kept me from doing much of anything, and I was only able to see the movie 3 times opening weekend, not the 4 I'd promised. Now, I did bring my husband with me for 2 of the 3 times, so I suppose technically I am responsible for 5 ticket purchases. However, I still feel as though I've let you down. I hope that being the #1 movie in America for the week of opening weekend cushions your disappointment in me for going back on my word. I'm assuming I'll be seeing it again, and I'll buy the DVD-every version Disney can throw at me, I'll purchase. And I'll be buying more toys, and of course I purchased the soundtrack. I'm doing my best to support TRON. I just can't do much with a fever, I'm sorry.

I look forward to seeing you at future comic book and geek culture conventions. My husband is a frequent convention guest, so I attend them often. You're always welcome to join us for dinner. I promise I will be well with thoroughly washed hands.

Thank you for understanding-

Xan