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Universal Studios (literally) on fire!

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http://www.knbc.com/news/16449640/detail.html

Let's see... Hill Valley set gone, one soundstage down, King Kong attraction gone, classic film reels gone... unfortunately, they didn't take the Simpsons ride with them. Let's hope they can get this under control!

A Goon in a Gaggle of 'em

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That's very sad news. The video is breathtaking.

“First feel fear, then get angry. Then go with your life into the fight.” - Bill Mollison

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I heard about this this morning. Were the Back to the Future set and the Psycho house destroyed? The article doesn't say. They also mentioned a film vault on TV today- I hope there were no films destroyed.

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Mielr said:

I heard about this this morning. Were the Back to the Future set and the Psycho house destroyed? The article doesn't say. They also mentioned a film vault on TV today- I hope there were no films destroyed.


"Fire at Universal Studios destroys a vault containing 40,000 videos and reels. A "Back to the Future" set also burns."

So they lost a lot.

“First feel fear, then get angry. Then go with your life into the fight.” - Bill Mollison

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More info:

"The studio's film vault, which is lined in concrete and lead and contains irreplaceable film negatives, was not affected."
http://www.variety.com/article/VR1117986693.html?categoryid=13&cs=1

"Fortunately, nothing irreplaceable was lost," said Ron Meyer, CEO of Universal Studios. "The video library was affected and damaged, but our main vault of our motion picture negatives was not."

http://edition.cnn.com/2008/US/06/01/studio.fire/index.html



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Mielr said:

More info:

"The studio's film vault, which is lined in concrete and lead and contains irreplaceable film negatives, was not affected."
http://www.variety.com/article/VR1117986693.html?categoryid=13&cs=1

"Fortunately, nothing irreplaceable was lost," said Ron Meyer, CEO of Universal Studios. "The video library was affected and damaged, but our main vault of our motion picture negatives was not."

http://edition.cnn.com/2008/US/06/01/studio.fire/index.html


That's great news!

I think it's amazing that they had the theme park open today during all of this. I would not want to be breathing in that smoke. God knows what was burning and now in the air.

“First feel fear, then get angry. Then go with your life into the fight.” - Bill Mollison

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YES! Thank god the negatives aren't gone.

A Goon in a Gaggle of 'em

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You know, I wish Universal Studios would have a Battlestar Galactica ride. I remember in the early 80's they had Cylons walking around the park, and some props on display from the show, but a full blown BSG ride would be a great idea. Now that it's one of the most popular Sci-Fi shows on T.V., I think it would be a welcome attraction. With this fire, they now have the room for it.

“First feel fear, then get angry. Then go with your life into the fight.” - Bill Mollison

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I doubt they'll kill King Kong for a short Galactica attraction; the fire didn't actually hit any of the rides, so it would have to be just like how King Kong worked.

A Goon in a Gaggle of 'em

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I had heard something this morning about the Psycho house being damaged- but I haven't heard/read anything more about it since, so I'm hoping that was a mistake.

There are few movie houses as iconic as that one.

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You know, they tell a story of how Jim Carey jupmed out of the house one day at a tram dressed as "Mother". It's on wikipedia, but this I know for a fact because they sometimes tell you that on the tram.

The psycho house is fine, trust me - it's nowhere near the burned down areas.

A Goon in a Gaggle of 'em

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I actually almost laughed when I first saw the news report today and asked myself, "Gee, I wonder if Back to the Future's courthouse square got burned down again?" And, sure enough, I was right. It was burned down by a security guard back in 1990, and the 1885 courthouse square also burned to the ground a few years later. And now the rebuilt courthouse square burned down!

There is no lingerie in space…

C3PX said: Gaffer is like that hot girl in high school that you think you have a chance with even though she is way out of your league because she is sweet and not a stuck up bitch who pretends you don’t exist… then one day you spot her making out with some skinny twerp, only on second glance you realize it is the goth girl who always sits in the back of class; at that moment it dawns on you why she is never seen hanging off the arm of any of the jocks… and you realize, damn, she really is unobtainable after all. Not that that is going to stop you from dreaming… Only in this case, Gaffer is actually a guy.

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On another topic, Universal's kindof losing it I think. No longer do they part the waters or have the creature appear, instead just some King Kong '05 props. The collapsing bridge has an excuse though, as it really IS collapsing. Still, I remember fondly the parting of the waters; why stop it? Damn PC... I'd bet that has to do with it.

A Goon in a Gaggle of 'em

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Bad news:

"It looks like more was damaged or destroyed in today’s Universal Studios fire than anyone previously thought. I've learned that Universal Music, which is a completely separate company and owned by Vivendi (which owns 20% of NBC Universal), rents space in the huge video vault housed on the studio lot. But one source tells me that, as a consequence, inside the video vault that was billowing thick black smoke were 1000's of original Decca, MCA, ABC recording masters from the last century including a wide range of music from Bing Crosby and the Andrew Sisters to Judy Garland and The Carpenters. "This is a tremendous loss in music history. A very sad day indeed. It's too bad they saved the videos that they have backups on instead of the master recordings in which they do not, although they may not have had a choice since the fire had already engulfed much of the music side of the vault," a source just told me. Universal Studios can't confirm what has been damaged or destroyed music-wise at this point because it doesn't yet know what exactly was housed in the storage rented to Universal Music."

http://www.deadlinehollywooddaily.com/update-universal-fire-burns-music-history/

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Does this not make people remember the soundstage in england that was burnt down by kurick when filming the shining. Empire strikes back needed the sound stage and it had to be rebuilt,LOL.

“Always loved Vader’s wordless self sacrifice. Another shitty, clueless, revision like Greedo and young Anakin’s ghost. What a fucking shame.” -Simon Pegg.

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Soundstages have been burned before but never in the heart of an actual corporation with film vaults and a century-old heritage.
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I'm surprised they even had original master recordings I remember reading somewhere that studios threw the old magnetic reels and tapes out in favor of digital copies in the 80's, apparently Universal was not one of them.

Does this mean that the masters for the back to the future scores were burned were not they released on mca records and tapes?


Vivendi sounds familiar are they are videogame company?


by the way Howard the Duck is available on dvd and uncut if you live in the u.k. PAL speedup and all that if you want a copy and live in the u.s.a.

“Always loved Vader’s wordless self sacrifice. Another shitty, clueless, revision like Greedo and young Anakin’s ghost. What a fucking shame.” -Simon Pegg.

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Let's just say Vivendi have their fingers in a lot of pies.
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Apparently, Vivendi owns the Motown back catalog, among others.

UPDATE (good news this time):

"MASTERS NOT DESTROYED BY UNIVERSAL FIRE: Reports that this weekend’s fire on the Universal Studios back lot destroyed a video vault which housed thousands of original Decca, MCA and ABC recording masters, including a wide range of music from Bing Crosby and the Andrews Sisters to Judy Garland and the Carpenters, are unfounded. A UMG spokesperson insists: "Thankfully, there was little lost from UMG's vault. A majority of what was formerly stored there was moved earlier this year to our other facilities. Of the small amount that was still there and waiting to be moved, it had already been digitized so the music will still be around for many years to come. And in addition to being digitized, physical back-up copies."

Apparently, the writer of that other article jumped the gun.

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FanFiltration said:


You know, I wish Universal Studios would have a Battlestar Galactica ride. I remember in the early 80's they had Cylons walking around the park, and some props on display from the show, but a full blown BSG ride would be a great idea. Now that it's one of the most popular Sci-Fi shows on T.V., I think it would be a welcome attraction. With this fire, they now have the room for it.


I remember those days! I remember when the Tram Tour had a BSG section with Cylons and lasers and all sorts of cool shit. Ahh. The 80s. How I miss thee...

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Universal is now admitting that they've lost some 35mm prints. I guess they had to- I saw some news footage last night that showed charred bits of film laying in the rubble.

Unfortunately, we may never know the extent of the loss, because studios are loath to admit their carelessness for fear of bad publicity.

There was a terrible fire that destroyed many original tapes at Atlantic Records in 1978, and they tried to cover up the magnitude of the destruction by just saying something was "missing" when a tape was not found.


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Well, according to thestudiotour.com, Kong will not be returning. It's a good thing I have home videos.

A Goon in a Gaggle of 'em

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Darth Chaltab said:

*starts humming Mr. Sandman in Eulogy for the BTTF set*


No real need for that, as it wasn't the real BTTF set anyway, but it's still a little sad.

There is no lingerie in space…

C3PX said: Gaffer is like that hot girl in high school that you think you have a chance with even though she is way out of your league because she is sweet and not a stuck up bitch who pretends you don’t exist… then one day you spot her making out with some skinny twerp, only on second glance you realize it is the goth girl who always sits in the back of class; at that moment it dawns on you why she is never seen hanging off the arm of any of the jocks… and you realize, damn, she really is unobtainable after all. Not that that is going to stop you from dreaming… Only in this case, Gaffer is actually a guy.