Deborah Pratt on
Computers & Technology
w/ Marc Cohen
January 27, 2007
Thanks to Melissa Overall for
this exceptional transcription.
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 Listen to Deborah Pratt on the Marc Cohen Computers
& Technology show (Saturdays from 9am to 11am PST) as she talks about her "The
Vision Quest" series and Quantum Leap!
Click here for audio (3.2 MB)
Transcript:
Marc Cohen: It's 9:06 on Talk
Radio 790 KABC. I'm Marc Cohen, on Computers
and Technology. As always, happy to spend my Saturday morning with you. Got
a great show for you today. Good friend of mine Deborah Pratt is in here,
who has created a brand new science fiction book, called Vision Quest; and
an online website, and um, uh, there's a million things, so we'll just talk
about it in a second and tell you what it is. Uh, also a little bit later on
the show, there's a number of new Palms out. Uh, Cingular has a new Palm
out; the Palm 750. So we're gonna talk to Palm and see what their new things
are. If you wanna call us, we're at 1-800-222-KABC. That's 1-800-222-KABC.
Call early; if you call later, it's harder to getcha on the phone, so call
right now. Well, Deborah, welcome! Delighted to have you!
Deborah Pratt: Thank you! It's fabulous to be here. You look great.
Marc: Well, thank you. You, too.
Deborah: [To audience] You can't see him, but he looks great.
Marc: Oh, I do, don't I? I really do, thank you. Uh, [indistinct] Deborah's
sister is sitting here with us, waving "hello" to everybody. Uh, you did
this little show. I don't think many people remember it, because it didn't
do very well. It's this little show called "Quantum Leap." Which was, in my
opinion, probably one of the greatest television shows ever. I mean, I loved
this show. It ran for five years.
Deborah: Yes.
Marc: Of course, I'm kidding about people not [indistinct] about it. It was-
Scott Bakula was the star of that show.
Deborah: And Dean Stockwell.
Marc: And Dean Stockwell, who- I can't believe I'm actually gonna date
myself. I remember Dean Stockwell from a movie, "The Boy with Green Hair."
Deborah: Yes.
Marc: [indistinct] Which he had to be- You know, my grandparents told me
about it. That's the reason I know about it. He was a little kid in it.
Deborah: Eight.
Marc: He was eight years old?
Deborah: Before that, he did "The Secret Garden."
Marc: Oh, did he really? You mean the one that's currently done?
Deborah: No, no, no. He did the original "Secret Garden."
Marc: Same movie.
Deborah: Same movie. Right, right, right. He played the little crippled boy.
Marc: You know, I kinda do remember that. And so you did that? Now, you
wrote in twenty-four episodes of that?
Deborah: Yeah, twenty-four.
Marc: [indistinct] And then you started a show called "Air Wolf," which was
very popular, with Jan-Michael Vincent.
[SFX: Helicopter]
Deborah: [laughs]
Marc: Oh, very good!
Deborah: Yes, that's true.
Marc: [indistinct] There was this [indistinct]- In fact that was a very
futuristic helicopter for the time. When-
Deborah: It was.
Marc: When was that series on?
Deborah: Uh, it was on eighty-four, eighty-five, eighty-six, eighty-seven.
Marc: Okay, so that was a pretty futuristic helicopter.
Deborah: It was very futuristic, and when the show went off the air, a South
American military group tried to buy it, thinking it was-
Marc: Thinking it was real?
Deborah: Yes.
Marc: Oh, how funny. So you- Now you have written a sci-fi book.
Deborah: It was a trilogy of books.
Marc: A trilogy called "Vision Quest." Now the question number one: Well,
what's the book about?
Deborah: Uh, the book is a classic, uh, Joseph Campbell epic [indistinct].
It's um, you know, along the lines of Harry Potter and Star Wars in that
sense it's a science fantasy. But it's not a galaxy far far away. It's
Earth, a hundred and thirty years in the future. It's based on the science
and technology of today and the fact that we are cloning, that we are into
nanotechnology, that we are genetically splicing human genetics into
animals. So we're already living with altered species that we've created.
And so the projection is, what's that world going to be like? It's a coming
of age story, told through the eyes of a young man. It's also a coming of
age story of the earth.
Marc: You're combining this with a number of things. Uh, you're gonna be
combining this as a animated adventure for television, for DVD.
Deborah: Uh, actually, the first deal that we have is for mobile phones.
Marc: For mobile phones. So your mobile phone-
Deborah: All cliffhanger [indistinct] episodes.
Marc: Is this kind of like a throwback to the old days of the old Space
Rangers series?
Deborah: [smiling] Yes. Flash Gordon.
Marc: Flash Gordon.
Deborah: Absolutely. So it has all kinds of great action adventure. But
there's a whole [pause] spiritual under [indistinct], cause it's the
re-empowerment of humanity.
Marc: So you're seeing- You'll see how long of an episode will you see on
your mobile phone?
Deborah: Um, right now we're looking at about two minutes.
Marc: And how frequent will those be?
Deborah: Uh, we're setting all that up as of right now.
Marc: Okay.
Deborah: I mean, the episodes probably will start about eight months away
from actually, uh, releasing those. So the book will come out, it'll
hopefully build a following. Uh, [indistinct] entertainment has given a deal
with us. You can get wallpaper now from the site. If you go to the site-
Marc: And tell us, uh, where- Where's the site, by the way?
Deborah: Uh, The Vision Quest - remember the "The" - Vision Quest dot com.
And, uh, you have to become a Questor [pause] to get to the really cool
stuff. [indistinct] It's a community-based website right now.
Marc: Now, these have gotten [pause] extremely popular all of a sudden. The
community- come MySpace. Um, there are a million different kinds of spaces
that are trying to create communities. [indistinct] Which is a uh, um,
similar kind of-
Deborah: It's a three-dimensional avatar, which is where we wanna go.
Marc: And so- And this is kind of a model for those of you out there who
were trying to figure out [indistinct] to be as [indistinct] and creative as
Deborah is. [indistinct] created business using all of the media and all the
[indistinct] things. So I know, one of the questions you wanted to ask- We
wanted to ask the audience too, uh- What, where do you wanna see the
internet go? I mean, how do you wanna use the internet? [indistinct]
Deborah: Absolutely. But also what is the technology that's out there? I
mean, that's what I love about coming to do this show. Uh, the concept
behind The Vision Quest is through the power of [indistinct] we can manifest
reality. You know, uh, we're living in a world that's so fear-based right
now. [pause] And it's making an ugly future for us, so we really have to
start thinking in that direction. And the idea of creating a virtual future
online where we're going; so head to the site and, and put in your input,
your artwork, or- or, um- uh, communications, or forums and all of the
above. My favorite question is -and you're the [indistinct] people that know
this- Where are we going, technology-wise, if we can really exclude it? So,
we were doing a, uh, we did a launch of the book. And we were setting up a
live feed from our, uh, from our base in New Zealand. [indistinct] have
people able to watch the launch, worldwide. We're really looking for a
global audience here. I guess I'm [indistinct] oh my God. I'm on this show,
this is incredible. We can really discuss what technology is out there, to
really help the world on, one mind, one world. I think about the
[indistinct] world that we can create.
Marc: Let's actually get a phone call from [indistinct] this caller at
Laguna Beach. How you doing, Dan?
Male Caller: I'm doing great. How you doing?
Marc: I'm great, thank you.
Male Caller: Um, you were talking about- In order to get this information,
you need to be a Questor, but you didn't tell me how I can become a Questor.
Marc: You send me a million dollars in cash, and I'll forward you the
secret.
Deborah: [laughs]
Marc: No, no. It was a hundred thousand, I'm sorry. [indistinct] So, how do
you- How do you become a Questor?
Deborah: Well, when you come to the site, [indistinct] one of the first
things you see on the left-hand panel is [indistinct] Questors. You- you put
in your Questor name, you know, whatever you wanna be called by, and your
password; and that opens up a, uh, plethora of sections of the, uh, website.
So you explore, to see what's coming, to get involved, and watch videos
[indistinct]. But that pretty much opens you up to be able to get into the
chat forums-
Marc: Hey, Dan, have you done this kind of thing before? [indistinct] I'm
sorry, Dan?
Male Caller: Oh, okay. No, that's all I needed to know.
Marc: Okay, cool. Thank you very much.
Deborah: Thank you.
Marc: 1-800-222-KABC, if you wanna call. Uh, and then if you get online, so
you become a Questor. And then you become a part of this online community.
Deborah: Right. And like MySpace and YouTube, we're really looking to the
community to contribute, um, artwork, uh, [indistinct]. In the book- you've
read the book.
Marc: Uh, huh. It's great, by the way.
Deborah: Thank you very much. We're very favored. We're getting very, very,
very good reviews on it. Um, in the book there are four knowledge orbs. And
in them contain not only the greatest knowledge of the universe, which we
have to crack; we need your help. We're also looking to find in the website
the greatest minds on the planet Earth.
Marc: I know. I'll volunteer.
Deborah: Oh, you're so good.
Marc: Pleased to do it. I am, really.
Deborah: And, uh-
Male Voice: They're all full up, Marc.
Deborah: [laughs]
Male Voice: That's right.
Marc: Who is that? Hello?
Male Voice: They're all full up, buddy.
Marc: [laughs]
Deborah: Um-
Marc: Hold that thought, cause we're gonna take a break and we're gonna come
back and talk about-
Deborah: Oh, okay.
Marc: I wanna ask you a little bit also- I wanna go back to Quantum Leap a
little bit. Is- I know there's a major fan base still floating around on
Quantum Leap.
Deborah: Yes, that's true. We've got a convention coming together for 2009.
Marc: Wow. We'll be right back. How- how did Quantum Leap come about? Then
we'll come back and break [indistinct]
Deborah: Actually, I was reading a book by, um, Stephen Hawking.
Marc: Um-hmm.
Deborah: And- and got to, uh, a chapter on quantum physics, and the fact
that particles can be in two places at one time. And loaned the book to Don
Bellisario, and asked him if he wants- You know he had been wanting to do an
anthology show, and so I had said what if you could be in two places at one
time? And we were looking for like a new hero show, and all that kind of
stuff.
Marc: Um-hmm.
Deborah: And so he came back, uh, with the idea that if he traveled through
time- Time and space is limited-
Marc: Um-hmm.
Deborah: Actually it was in the book, Stephen Hawking.
Marc: That's right. Hold that thought, cause, man space is limited, cause we
gotta go to commercial break.
[indistinct]
Marc: That was nice. [indistinct]
Deborah: Ba-dum-bump.
Marc: 9:30 on Talk Radio 790 KABC. It's time for Rick Williams and a KABC
News Update.
[cut]
Marc: Deborah Pratt, uh, one of the creators of Quantum Leap, um, Airwolf,
and the new uh, sci-fi book, uh, called Vision- "The Vision Quest." Uh, a
whole online community that we're talking about, that we're gonna talk
about, and I'm gonna take some phone calls before I do that, but I do wanna
ask- I wanna continue how the Quantum Leap, what happened to [indistinct]. I
loved that series. I was so angry when, uh, little red button. [indistinct]
I'm sorry. No, that was your fault, Mario.
Male Voice: I actually saw- I was actually working, uh, as a tape player on
Universal, uh, uh, in the studio, er, the sound stage right next to Quantum
Leap. An episode where he had- he worked- lemme see he had to play- Scott
Bakula had to play a, uh, wrestler?
Deborah: Oh, yes, right.
Male Voice: I was working there and got to meet all the wrestlers and
everybody, first of all.
Deborah: [laughs]
Marc: [indistinct] Deborah Pratt in the studio. One of the creators of
Quantum Leap, Airwolf, and a new book called "The Vision Quest," which we're
gonna talk about in a second. Uh, [indistinct] I'm sorry, go ahead.
Male Voice: Uh, uh, no, I mean I was probably done. Did you wanna say
something that important? Deborah wanted to say hello to a friend of hers
that's having a birthday today?
Marc: Oh, yes.
Deborah: Oh, yes! Oh my gosh! Ernest Borgnine, who was on Airwolf. He's
ninety years old today! It's so fabulous. Happy Birthday, Ernest!
Marc: Oh, wow. [indistinct] Actually, again, my grandparents told me about
this show. Uh, McHale's Navy. [indistinct]
Deborah: Yeah! Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Marc: Boy, he was a terrific actor.
Deborah: Was that a film before it was a TV show?
Marc: I don't know. [indistinct] I don't know. I know he won the Academy
Award for "Marty."
Deborah: Yeah.
Marc: A terrific actor.
Deborah: Terrific actor. Very [indistinct]. Somebody had asked me where to
get The Vision Quest books.
Marc: Oh, well hold that thought.
Deborah: Okay.
Marc: Mitchell? Do you wanna know where to get The Vision Quest book?
Female Caller: I- I have two questions, and that would be one, yes. I'm a
really- I'm a huge fan of uh, of Quantum Leap, and of Miss Pratt, for sure.
Marc: We all are.
Deborah: Thank you.
Marc: What's your question?
Female Caller: I also wanna know how you would- [indistinct] the online
community. I mean you had [indistinct] putting you know, um, a story like
this onto the online community- How, how would something like that happen, I
mean there's a- There's a MySpace, and uh, I'm just kind of curious how
you're, how you envision that.
Deborah: Uh, at present, if you come to The Vision Quest dot com,
[indistinct] where you can get the book right now; we'll be on Amazon in
about three weeks, and then we'll be in book stores probably in about six
weeks. Um, but the community itself right now is a chat-based community, so
you can sign up to become a Questor. You'll see; it'll kind of walk you
through the whole process. And in that, it will start to build your profile.
You can come into the world, and learn about The Vision Quest storyline and
world. Um, there's little games that we're starting to put into it. And then
the ultimate goal for the community is to create a 3-D avatar environment.
So we're literally building cities, from the books, online. You can own real
estate in, have businesses in, we'll bring in sponsorships so you can go to,
uh, a store and buy a product, in the virtual world for your avatar, and at
the same time buy it for yourself. It will be shipped to you- I mean, we're
probably two to three years away from completion on some, on that scope. But
the idea of creating this community- Literally, we're asking the, the
Questors to build the future.
Marc: There you go.
Female Caller: That sounds great! Well, thank you very much. Now, that's The
Vision Quest dot com?
Marc: The Vision Quest dot com.
Female Caller: Thank you.
Deborah: Thank you very much.
Marc: Thank you. Call 1-800-222-KABC. We got some open lines; give us a call
about computers, or Vision Quest. Uh, tell- Quantum Leap started in what
year, Deborah?
Deborah: Eighty-nine.
Marc: Eighty-nine, and it ran for five years.
Deborah: Four- Actually four and a half. We came in mid-season. And, uh,
moved six times in the span. The Leapers always followed us.
Marc: Any idea -and we gotta go to break in a second- how many Leapers are
still out there, that followed the, uh, the show?
Deborah: Um, there are sixty-three active sites.
Marc: Wow.
Deborah: So, um, I know that I'm in touch with people from London, and uh,
[pause] Germany-
Marc: They're all over. Thousands of people still follow the show.
Deborah: Exactly. They're following.
Marc: It's been off for a long time.
Deborah: But you know, it's in syndication big time.
Marc: Oh, you can still see it.
Deborah: You can still see it. It's picked up some fans.
Marc: If you have never seen the show, it is a really terrific TV show. I'm
Marc Cohen on Computers and Technology. Deborah Pratt, author of The Vision
Quest, a new sci-fi- A brand new sci-fi book that you can buy at The Vision
Quest dot com, and join the online community. [indistinct] take some phone
calls; we'll talk some more about that. Deborah, one of the creators of
Quantum Leap, uh, Airwolf, and a million other movies, and all kinds of cool
stuff.
Deborah: Not a million, but- I wanted to say that in the book, I really
wanted to challenge the readers. There's some technology that I created,
including communicators.
Marc: Um-hmm.
Deborah: Um, cause I was thinking, uh, Jules Verne-
Marc: Yeah?
Deborah: When he wrote, uh, "Journey to the Center of the Earth"
[indistinct] I mean, all those [indistinct] never done that.
Marc: Right.
Deborah: And I think science fiction writers over the years have always
challenged- [indistinct] technical people-
Marc: Right.
Deborah: -to say, "yeah, you could do that."
Marc: Was it DaVinci that came up with all the original [indistinct], of all
the futuristic things?
Male Voice: Yeah.
Deborah: Yeah, pretty much so.
Male Voice: Actually, when I was a kid, I used to have a, um, I would have
like three records, and one of 'em was a record of, uh, it was a
[indistinct] record of "Journey to the Center of the Earth."
Marc: Oh, that was a great story.
Male Voice: Aw, man! That was fantastic! I used to love listening to that.
Deborah: If you remember the technology in it, it was amazing, even then.
Male Voice: Yeah.
Deborah: We've got some good stuff in Vision Quest. [indistinct]
Marc: Yes. Okay, so let's go back to the book. Uh, The Vision Quest, which
is a website-
Deborah: The Vision Quest dot com. That's also the name of the first book
is, "The Vision Quest, The Age of Light." Because in the future, I'm
counting on the fact that we've-
Marc: Light?
Deborah: We have enlightened ourselves.
Marc: Ah. Oh that kind of light.
Deborah: Exactly, yeah. That kind of enlightenment to be a better
[indistinct] communication, that we no longer look at each other as, uh,
black, white, or yellow. We're humans; we've finally reached our humanity.
And, uh-
Marc: We're all [indistinct], is that what you're saying?
[indistinct]
Deborah: [indistinct] in a way, um, because their humanity is new to them.
Remember the forgotten powers [pause] uh, and and are trying to teach
[indistinct] so; we, uh and Edgar Cayce, and uh, Jesus Christ and all the
people who say "do as I do?"
Marc: Um-hmm.
Deborah: They were serious.
Marc: [laughs] Well that's good to know.
Deborah: Everything. You can levitate. You can, you know, telecommunicate.
You can, uh, go negative. And [indistinct] I've talked to people who've read
the book and said, "You know I had an experience in my life where, uh, I
walked through a situation where I should have absolutely been killed,
[indistinct]." It's usually fear-driven; I don't know how many people have
experienced that, where suddenly, you're someplace where you shouldn't have
been and you get out of it because-
Marc: Right.
Deborah: It's something that you consider phenomenal. And it true that we
have the power to do that.
Marc: Well, when we come back from break, I have to talk about how I
realized the power, that the universe was kind of messing with me. Like I'd
have a remote-control next to me, and I'd look to my right, and it would be
gone. And I haven't moved it.
Male Voice: That's not the universe. That's old age. That-
Deborah: [laughs]
Marc: Well, you know I- I have to tell you. I had a talk with the universe;
I said, "You're messing with me, aren't you? I know you're messing with me
[indistinct] It's amusing, I'm sure." I said, "You're messing with me," and
I swear to you, ever since then, the stuff just reappears.
Deborah: The same thing happens with my glasses.
Marc: Yeah! And socks.
Deborah: It's the power of thought.
Marc: All right. We'll be right back, talk some more about that.
[cut]
Male Voice: Don't laugh, Marc!
Deborah: Don't laugh! It's happened to you, Marc [indistinct].
Marc: All right. Just forget about it, sorry. 9:45 on Talk Radio 790, KABC.
Deborah, I guess we're running out of time. The Vision Quest dot com.
Deborah: The Vision Quest, The Age of Light. [indistinct]
Marc: Book- I'm losing my voice, which [indistinct]. Uh, tell us about- How
much is the book, by the way?
Deborah: The book is twenty-one fifty-four, plus tax. And shipping and
handling.
Marc: Twenty-one fifty-four?
Deborah: Yes.
Mark: Yikes?
Deborah: [laughs] Special price means that I had to cover certain things,
and we didn't want to go higher, so-
Marc: And you can buy it [indistinct] You are autographing books?
Deborah: [indistinct] We ordered this first group, um, from my website, from
The Vision Quest dot com website. We will be on Amazon, uh, in about two to
three weeks. We will be in book stores; I think Barnes and Noble in about- I
think it takes four to five weeks. So we're, we're coming out there in all
forces, and I can you know, ask people to kind of make a better world.
Marc: Nice idea. It really is. Mike, to you- Do we like that idea? Mario's
not that crazy about it, but we- Mike and I want a better world.
Deborah: Quantum Leap, uh, time travels into the future, into the past. So,
yeah, we can make a better future.
Marc: Isn't that great? And if you've never seen Quantum Leap, watch it on
TV, cause you'll get an idea of what a-
Male Voice: It's a great show!
Marc: -great writer-
Deborah: Thank you. Thank you.
Marc: -Deborah is.
Marc: That was a really [indistinct] show. Come talk to me for a few, uh,
few seconds. What are you doing today?
Female Voice: Actually celebrating Mardi Gras. I'm excited. The show has-
Deborah: That's right.
Female Voice: -Emeril Lagasse's top three chefs, live from New Orleans,
sharing everything about Carnival; [indistinct] cocktails; and Creole versus
Cajun. We're gonna have gumbo galore. [indistinct] And we're celebrating the
Super Bowl [indistinct]. Actually, we're, we're not going to be in studio,
but we're gonna encourage you to go to New Orleans, bring back tourism. It's
really the way to, if you will, continuous rebirth. So we're going to honor
New Orleans. Wait til you hear this delicious [indistinct], guaranteed to
make you hungry.
Marc: All right how hungry [indistinct]?
Deborah: My Mom is from New Orleans. She makes the best gumbo anywhere.
Sorry, Emeril.
Female Voice: The best anywhere?
Deborah: Anywhere. Sorry.
[all laugh]
Marc: All right, thank you so much for being here.
Deborah: Thank you, Marc. What a pleasure.
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