How many times did you ride it?

Facts, myths, stories, and photos of the Universal Tour ride that opened in 1979 and closed in 1992.
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Big Al
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Re: How many times did you ride it?

Post by Big Al » Wed Jun 22, 2011 5:59 pm

I forgot to mention the Red sea!....that one was pretty cool too! :byyourcommand:


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Re: How many times did you ride it?

Post by GoldCylon » Wed Jun 22, 2011 6:06 pm

Well the moved the road, changed the name, but did put a few of the older homes on the block. Also the Lake House currently there replaced the house that was used in Greetings from Earth episode. The current house was from the John Candy movie The Great Outdoors. The house was in a different location closer to the tram route compared to the much more modern looking Greet Earth house.
I never knew about the foam rocks behind the BOG building.

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Re: How many times did you ride it?

Post by Big Al » Mon Jul 04, 2011 3:03 am

It's really to bad it's gone ...I really loved going through it...and the lasers.....That was the first time I saw real lasers up close and it blew me away every time.....The smoke I guess was Co2....but when you entered BoG it had a very unique smell...not a bad smell...but it kinda added to the experience.......I never went through Bog after they changed the script but I have seen the other videos with the new script.......

I have always had it in the back of my mind of how cool it would be to maybe create a 1/4 scale working replica of BOG with working lasers!

Now that we have high power diode lasers it might be posible?........The 2 green V shaped columns might be a challenge ....then again maybe not.

Think about it ...how hard would it be to make sevo operated 1/4 scale Cylons .....Minature Lcd screens for the two sitting Cylons...Very easy to get surplus mini screens these days......

It would be a fun project!

The Cylon tank would be easy to animate......

Any thoughts?

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Re: How many times did you ride it?

Post by Big Al » Mon Jul 04, 2011 3:15 am

Space Ace wrote:The only time I rode BATTLE OF GALACTICA was in 1986 of Universal Studios Hollywood and I still recall the script that went something like this...

TRAM TOUR GUIDE: Larry, <to the driver> what's going on here? Are we shooting here or something? What is this, some kind of spaceship or something...uh-oh!

We come around a bend in the road and spot a strange looking alien vessel blocking our path. To one side of the ship is a 2-man vehicle with the familiar looking Cylon Centurions aboard, one driving the other operating a laser cannon in back as one of the two machines threatens us.

CYLON: Halt, foolish humans. You have blundered into a Cylon battlezone...you are now our prisoners, do not attempt to escape...move forward immediately or we will blast you...

TRAM TOUR GUIDE: Uh, <nervous> we like to go inside your spaceship but we're on a tour right now, so we got to go, bye-bye.

Suddenly the Centurion manning the laser cannon opens fire, shooting a so-called blast of laser bolts over our heads before the driver again threatens us.

CYLON: Move...

TRAM TOUR GUIDE: Yes sir, anything you say. <then speaks to guests> Ah, ladies and gentlemen it looks like we're about to be captured by a Cylon battle cruiser. What will happen inside is anyone's guess.

Our four-vehicle tram rolls into the spaceship and we find ourselves confronted by other Centurion machines, two of them stand before their great leader on his throne in the center of the chamber.

CYLON LEADER: By your command...

IMPERIUS LEADER: Speak, Centurion.

CYLON LEADER: These strange looking earth-creatures have been captured while attempting a sneak attack on our battleship. Their general is called tour-guide.

TRAM TOUR GUIDE: General?!! No, wait a minute, I'm not a general, we weren't attacking anything! <tries to protest>

IMPERIUS LEADER: Silence, foolish mortals! Your fate is sealed. What's the standing order of your Imperius Leader?

CYLON LEADER: By your command, the total extermination of the life-form known as man...

Now it looks as if we are all doomed. The great leader of the Cylon Empire realizes his plans are about to be foiled and orders his machine servants to blast off immediately but before it happens a secret compartment opens from a so-called blast on the other side and into view emerges Apollo or Starbuck to the rescue!

STARBUCK: Stop! In the name of the Twelve Colonies of Man, I demand the release of the humans.

IMPERIUS LEADER: Destroy him!

Laser guns erupt as the Centurions open fire on Starbuck but he ducks and dodges the bolts and returns fire, taking down the robot soldiers with ease before shouting to us onboard our tram vehicle.

STARBUCK: Get out of here, I'll be all right! <waves for us to escape>

Then the tram speeds through an EXIT on the other side of the attraction as music is played in the background while a recorded voice drones on.

RECORDING: A single heroic Colonial warrior has rescued the earthlings from the clutches of the evil Cylons. Mankind has one more chance...

Wasn't there somthing about "these Humans will make a tasty treat for our Ovion alies" then the bugs squeek a bit?

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Re: How many times did you ride it?

Post by GoldCylon » Mon Jul 04, 2011 1:57 pm

The script changed a few times. I have seen at least 3 scripts, but I don't recall ever seeing date stamps on them so not sure when each one was used, and you are correct about the Ovion comment about the tasty treats.

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Re: How many times did you ride it?

Post by Big Al » Mon Jul 04, 2011 5:52 pm

:cylongold: I knew there were at least 2, the original that coinsided with the series in the 70's and I knew they changed it for the 80's as people forgot about the series and trended towards the 80's come back movie. but I didn't know about a third one.

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Re: How many times did you ride it?

Post by Big Al » Mon Jul 25, 2011 4:02 pm

Going to my storage shed sometime this week and hope to find my old Super 8 gear along with the projector and film reels that I shot of BOG when I was 13 or 14 will keep you posted....If the mice haven't eaten them :wtf:

Not sure How i'm gona transfer them though :huh:
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Re: How many times did you ride it?

Post by GoldCylon » Mon Jul 25, 2011 4:22 pm

I did a Google search on transfer, and sent my Super 8 off to a place in Colorado. It wasn't cheap, but worth it.

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Re: How many times did you ride it?

Post by Cylon-Knight » Mon Jul 25, 2011 4:25 pm

Was it a good quality tranfer? Did the quality of the return video match the original (which I know is no HD Blu-Ray, etc.) I have some 8mm tapes (not the OLD 70s kind, but 90s) I want transfered to digital files.
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Re: How many times did you ride it?

Post by Big Al » Mon Jul 25, 2011 4:54 pm

Just a quick note......My reels aren't much different than the one's that have been posted by other people.....I have downloaded alot of them and they look just like the ones I have ....shot from the tram.....I do think my camera was superior to those of the day...so maybe I got some footage that is different? .......

My camera had a 10 to 1 manual/electric zoom and a low light capability, 1,18,24 fps, Macro lens for filming bugs???...Sound on sound....(2 audio strips on the film) auto and manual control of the iris, 50, and 200, cartridge capable so.....It was pretty sophisticated for a super 8 mm at the time it had more fetures than a home Video cam and it wasn't untill years later those features appeared on home movie and home video cameras and I think they made those cameras for making industrial training films because if I remember 16 mm was the standard of the day for those projects and to produce somthing in 16 mm sound was very pricey ......in 1978 my camera was $1100.00 ......I was a spoiled only child. :lol: :lol:

One more thing when you panned around to the left to see the tank, your frame would be filled with the backs of the heads of the other people in the tram so the shots are framed like this,

Bottom of the frame: Backs of Peoples heads and the tram seats

Top of the frame : inside of the fiberglass tram canopy

Middle: Center portion of the Cylon Tank

Just what I remember
Last edited by Big Al on Mon Jul 25, 2011 8:55 pm, edited 2 times in total.
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Re: How many times did you ride it?

Post by Cylon-Knight » Mon Jul 25, 2011 5:01 pm

WOW - I bet your footage will be WAY better than the rest of what's out there. Can't wait to see it digitally re-mastered in IMEX ;)

I hope there are some good shots of the Cylon Tank at the start... I think that was soooo cool.
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Re: How many times did you ride it?

Post by Big Al » Mon Jul 25, 2011 6:29 pm

These are not my pics but this is my camera

[attachment=2]Elmo 1012 sxl 1.jpg[/attachment]
[attachment=1]elmo_1012 2.jpg[/attachment]

Here is the 200' cartridge (About 13 Minutes) equal to 4 standard cartridges that were 50' each or about 3 min.

[attachment=0]200 foot_cartridge_3.jpg[/attachment]




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Re: How many times did you ride it?

Post by Big Al » Mon Jul 25, 2011 7:19 pm

I don't know how much footage I have of the tank because I always positioned myself on the very right side of the tram so I could hang over the rail and always tried to get somewhere in the middle cars #2 or # 3 so I could get un obstructed shots of BOG (Wasn't easy but I did it)



The Tank was on the left side of the tram so I had to shoot it across all the people sitting on the left.

Depending on what car you were in was the view you got of the tank.

The tram would stop at the first car so the tour guide could interact with the cylons in the tank.

My goal at the time was to get as much footage as I could of the Lasers.

My Body pod for my camera was kinda intimidating for the rest of the guests too :nah: so they usualy let me sit where I wanted to but I never sat on the left side.

It seemed that all of the atractions at that time with action were on the right side of the tram, BOG, Jaws, The view of the collapsing bridge as it re assembled it self, I think the flash flood was on the left but I don't remeber.

Atractions like the Ice tunnel and the parting of the red sea didn't matter where you sat!

It was fun because at the time in the 1970's, the media was still using film cameras for the news and sometimes they thought I was with the local news or a film student from UCLA. LOL!

That camera rig allowed me to meet alot of the actors and technical personnel that worked on the animal actors stage, the connan stage, the wild west stunt show guy's ....and I became friends with the technical director and the camera man from the screen test theater.....I spent alot of time with my friend Don Martin in the booth (Very cool in the summer time, booth was airconditioned) and I learned alot about film and video technology of the time.

Never got to meet the BOG guy's I guess because they were on the tour and not on the hill.

I had alot of fun with it!
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Re: How many times did you ride it?

Post by Big Al » Sun Jul 31, 2011 8:35 pm

:cylongold: Storage Shed Update!

I made it to the storage shed and found my BSG TOS DVD set!!! ....Yahoooo!!!!.....also found my super 8 projector!!!.....Yahoooo

Bad News,.........I did not find the reels .....but not to worry I know they are there and I could only search for so long because it was about 102 outside and it was a little hotter inside the shed.....

So I had to give up but I will be going back soon......I WILL FIND THEM!!!!
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Re: How many times did you ride it?

Post by GoldCylon » Sun Jul 31, 2011 11:47 pm

Very good news. Hope the reels are stored low to the ground to keep heat minimal to keep the damage down, but the thing that has he asking how well did these cameras before under low light. Good lux level?

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