Save Your Carry-On. Save the World (Pt. 1)

Ok kids, we’re back. Quite possibly with a vengeance.

Over the past week, we’ve been biding our time at the base of the Rocky Mountains. You see, my sister-in-law is now a newly minted 2nd Lieutenant in the United States Air Force, and we got to witness it all. There was pomp. There was circumstance. There was cross-country air travel with a small infant. Get ready to party!

But even before we could test how a 3 month old child would react to non-exit row seating and subpar in-flight movie selections (read: Bridge to Terabithia), we had to get on the plane first. And the best place to board planes, we’ve found from experience, is at airports. Funny how things work out that way. When you are traveling with a baby, it’s best to minimize the number of steps in the process. With two parents, one can be dropped off and stand guard over luggage and kin while the other desperately tries to find a place to park in the econolot.

Katie = Terminal Sentry
Chris = Econolot Nomad

However, if it weren’t for my trip to the lot that time forgot, I wouldn’t have seen Zachary Quinto getting off a shuttle bus upon my return to the terminal. You see, I didn’t know his name was Zachary Quinto at the time, so I didn’t say anything to him. Surely, you don’t know about whom I am typing either under the name Zachary Quinto. For all you care, he’s just another guy at another airport with no other claim to fame than having the most obscure initials on the planet. But what if I called him by another name?

What if I called him Sylar?

NBC’s largely successful sci-fi drama Heroes may have produced an underwhelming season finale, but that will in no way detract from the series’ frosh effort. And the villain of Season One was a twenty-something white guy with a penchant for sawing people’s heads off with his finger and absorbing their special power. So with each murder, he grew stronger and harder to defeat. He’s Mega Man, but with a heart of stone.

And he likes to fly domestically out of Dulles Int’l Airport.

Normally, this would be an awesome story to kick off a vacation. “Dude, I saw someone famous at the airport this morning!” “That’s awesome! Who was it?” “It was SYLAR – the guy who has the power to furrow his brow and set of a nuclear bomb at any time!!!”

Needless to say, this guy’s probably not going to make it through the TSA without taking off his shoes and belt.

Surely, there must be a line that can delineate the real world from Hollywood, something that would make me breathe more easily that I’m entering the baggage check area a few yards ahead of a man capable of the eradication of life by merely blinking. After all, actors and their characters often assume very different appearances. It’s not like Jack Nicholson goes to Lakers games dressed like the Joker. (Although it should be noted that the Joker just requested a trade from L.A. as well.) Here’s the problem with Mr. Quinto.

He’s dressed just like he’s on the show.

He wore a pair of blue jeans, a gray t-shirt, Chuck Taylors, and a black hoodie sweatshirt. Yeah, pretty much exactly like he looks on the show. Granted, he was clean shaven, and also was wearing a beat-up Pittsburgh Pirates cap, but he could have walked right off the set and into the terminal. (From his iMDB profile, that makes sense, since he’s from Steeltown. Our sincere condolences.)

And for the record, I didn’t stop him and say hello, really only because I didn’t know his real name and didn’t what to call him Sylar to his face. I feel that famous people only want to be approached by actual fans, and I think that actual fans would know enough to know the guy’s real name.

Well that, and I like my skull to stay in one piece for the flight. Makes wearing the in-flight headphones a lot easier and much less gross.