Last night, we all took a trip down memory lane, to the glory days of Universal Studios, when Conan The Barbarian was so cool, they gave him his own stage show, housed in a cool-looking castle.
Back then, they actually shot movies at the Universal lot, and, if you were lucky, you could take the tram tour and actually see as much film work as you’d find on an average Vancouver street these days. I remember not being able to ride the tram down one of the magical backlot streets, because they were filming this movie with the kid from Family Ties, where they drove this cool car, and some stuff happened. It was a long time ago, so I don’t completely remember.
Anyway, back in those glorious days, before runaway production ruined so many lives and dashed so many dreams, taking the backlot tram tour would actually put you, the lucky tourist, in the movies!
You could ride across this collapsing bridge, and go through an actual avalanche, from the Six Million Dollar Man. You could ride through the actual Red Sea, parted by the commanding voice of our tour guide, with the help of his trusty driver.
Jaws, the real Jaws, would actually jump out of the water at the tram, with only the skills of the aforementioned driver to save tramloads of “Maui 1980”-shirted tourists from certain doom.
Of course, facing the dangers of the movies was exciting and all, but that was nothing, after you’d driven into an actual Cylon Spaceship, and faced down the wrath of the Imperious Leader, with a little help from this guy named “Apollo”, from the real Battlestar Galactica. It was the first real “event” of the tram tour, and it was my absolute favorite part. Even better than the Psycho house, or 1313 Mockingbird Lane.
Once, when I was doing that whole “Teen Idol” thing, I was invited to Universal to host Nickelodeon’s Kid’s Choice Awards. It was there that I met, and developed the hugest crush ever on, the one and only Debbie Gibson. (Who, in a bizarre twist of six degrees of separation, is good friends with one of the actors who I just worked with in ‘Neverland’. She told him to tell me “Hello”. Rock.)
Anyway, while we were at Universal, shooting segments for the awards show, they took us into the actual Cylon Spaceship, and let us experience it, “behind the scenes”. I got to put on the Apollo helmet, pick up the balsa wood gun, and lip synch, “In the name of the federation, I demand the release of the humans!”
It was beyond cool, even though I was like 15 or 16, and should really have been too cool for the whole thing, especially since I was hoping that Debbie Gibson would get lost in my eyes, and not be able to shake my love.
But, alas, the romance was not to be, and, although I did my best Apollo, they wouldn’t let me put on the whole costume and do it for real tourists.
The closest I ever got to being on Battlestar Galactica was running around the Enterprise, which wasn’t as good a consolation prize as you’d think.
A few years later, I read in the paper that the Battlestar Galactica attraction was gone, replaced by, get this, an escalator, that would transport tourists to the bottom of the hill, where they could wait in line for lame attractions like “ET’s Adventure” and something stupid from An American Tale. Billed, at the time, as the “world’s biggest escalator”, it failed to impress me the same way that balsa wood gun and FX smoke-filled room did.
Although I hadn’t ridden the backstage tour in years, I knew immediately that I would miss it forever.
I never went on studio tours again like the ones I did when I was 16.
Jesus, does anyone?

Looks like winter has decided to take the week off…it’s already 74 degrees here, and all the trees are blooming and blossoming, thinking that it’s spring. Didn’t that damn groundhog say there were 6 more weeks of winter? If this warm weather keeps up, I will have no excuses for my yard looking like Beirut.
Actually, I love spring. It’s warm, beautiful, and the perfect season to follow winter…problem is, spring doesn’t like me, or my wife.
At least, the pollen doesn’t like us. We’ve been sneezing and itching for the last 48 benedryl-hazed hours, with no end in site. And I have to do yard work today. Oy.
Last night, Anne and I watched “Amazon Women on the Moon“, the sort-of sequel to “Kentucky Fried Movie. I saw “Kentucky…” about 2 weeks ago, and, unlike a lot of topical 70’s comedies, it really holds up. And I’m not just talking about “Catholic High School Girls In Trouble”, either.
It was the first time Anne had seen “Amazon…”. It was cool to watch something that I’d seen so many times, with someone who hadn’t ever seen it before, and see her laugh out loud that jokes that I just smile at now, because I know they’re coming.
Speaking of stuff I’ve seen a million times, I introduced Ryan to “The Prisoner” day before yesterday. We sat and watched “Arrival” on Friday night, and “Free For All” yesterday afternoon. Ryan is really smart, and he totally gets the symbolism and deeper meanings of a lot of the themes in the show, so far, and he has come up to me a few times saying, “Wil! I totally know who Number One is!” I can’t wait to talk with him about it when we finally watch “Fallout”.
In other news, I finally finished judging the Something Awful vs. FARK photoshop contest. I’d check both sites on Monday for the results, and for SA to take some seriously nasty digs at me.
Oh, and WWDN has been reviewed at Epinions. Thank you to Tammy who wrote the review, and let me know about it.
Well, it’s time for me to grab a rake, crank up Zeppelin 4, and attack the yard.
Have a great Sunday, everybody!