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The $199 Bargain
(continued)
Now that we were on the
lower lot, we had completed our park visit and we were guided to a gate near the
Backdraft stage where our private tram was waiting for us. Since this was our
vehicle, we were told we could leave any belongings on it and the driver would
watch them for us as we got on and off it the rest of the day.
We weren't leaving just yet though, as it was time to visit a sound stage. Instead
of seeing the Crossing Jordan sets as the website promised, (which had been struck since the show was
canceled), we got to visit the nearby Stage 28.
Built in 1924 this stage plays a unique part in Universal's history. While two
thirds of it, as you can see above, is in regular use (Xavier was very excited to
tell us that Britney Spears filmed her Toxic video here), its the other third
that is of real interest to film buffs everywhere. This is the stage where Lon
Chaney was filmed as the Phantom of the Opera - and where a good portion of the
original opera house set remains standing to this day.
This is a fascinating thing to see, with the old stories about the stage being
haunted only adding to the creepy atmosphere. We don't have time to go into
detail about it's history here, but
this website will tell you more about it.
After some explanations from our guide about how sound stages work and how
sets are built, we boarded our tram and headed off to the production area of the
studio.
In our case the
weekend timing of our tour just about insured we were not able to see the sound
mixing facilities or the Foley stage (where sound effects are recorded). We were
also reminded that this was the one area where cameras were not to be used.
But some work was going on in adjacent Stage 12, which because of its large size
was used in the past to film the original Frankenstein, Back to the Future and Jurassic Park,
and a friendly worker suggested we go around to the back where the giant doors were
open to see what was being built.
Imagine our delight when we walked up to the door and saw a full blown Aztec
temple, about four stories high, which had been carved out of foam blocks. It
turned out that this was a major set for the National Treasure sequel that
Bruckheimer is producing for Disney. In an era where computer graphics and green
screens take the place of elaborate sets this was quite a surprise and even our
guide was impressed we had been able to get a good look at it.
We boarded our tram again and headed off to the newest addition to the VIP
tour the "Staff Shop, Mill Shop, Sign Shop and Lighting Department."
Here again the weekend timing of our tour insured we were not able to see very much going
on.
We peeked past locked gates, went down shuttered hallways, and were told what was done behind
the closed doors. This is a huge facility and it was interesting to actually
learn what goes on here.
 But other than a
few views of the rest of lot the regular public won't get to see, this was
pretty much a bust. It was really no problem since our time there was quick and
we were off to another part of the lot we all really wanted to see.
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