Holy forgotten crossovers, Batman!

[Earl]

In the early ’90s Universal Studios’ theme parks were messing around with the idea of giving guests Star Trek uniforms, shooting them on a partial set with a bluescreen behind them saying (more or less) predetermined lines, and then editing that footage, quick-and-dirty, into a video with sequences pre-recorded with members of the cast of Star Trek. I remember a mention in Starlog that this was in the works, but I had no idea it had been put into practice.


And the funny thing is… you’d never know who would show up at one of these things, but hey, everyone needs a vaction, right? Sad in retrospect, but also hilarious. Surely he presented this as part of his demo reel that landed him the gig at that other science fiction franchise.

Here’s to absent friends… who were shot on painfully overlit videotape.

---

Podcasts: theLogBook.com’s Escape Pod | Retrogram | Select Game | Don’t Give This Tape To Earl
YouTube: theLogBook.com Channel | Personal channel

[Steve W]

This was done in 1991? Before Michael did Babylon 5? So why was he in town to appear at a sci-fi convention? And was O’Hare a science fiction fan before B5?

I knew these things were real, since back in the day a friend of mine had gone to it. He showed me the tape, and I remember a couple of the participants looking totally giddy with joy, which made them look even more amateurish than this kind of thing usually is. I couldn’t get close to watching it all the way through, and it turns out I still can’t watch these things even now. It’s just too goofy.

[Earl’s previous regeneration]

Actually, you raise a good point, and I think the correct date is in the end credits: March 1993, which would’ve been after the B5 pilot movie aired, and thus why O’Hare would’ve been on the convention circuit. The framing video at the attraction was probably what was “copyright 1991” and thus why the uploader labeled it as such.

Still, that’s priceless. I’d rather see the goofy, hammy ones anyday, as opposed to a bunch of uber-fans taking it all too seriously. Unless they were capable of sending it up with a straight face, a la Leslie Nielsen deadpan – that would really be the best possible outcome.

[Author]

Posts