depressing movie and tv photos...

batguy · Sep 5, 2016

The Orca boat rotted out from sitting. You could see the front end of it visibly bending down over the years. Then in the mid-90s they tried to pick it up when they briefly transformed that pond area for one of the Flintstones live-action movies. It broke in half when they lifted it. They reportedly scrapped the carcass after that.

Right after JAWS filming ended they had sold it to a local east coast person guy. He undid much of the prop appearance work. (The Orca was not "OMG, it's THE ORCA!" until after the movie came out.) He just used it as a boat for a few months. Then when the movie hit big, Universal bought it back from him (at a hugely inflated price) to put it on the backlot ride. But it never again looked all detailed like it did during the movie.

I suspect the loss of the authentic prop-Orca appearance probably contributed to its demise. Over the course of 15+ years Universal's people probably began to forget that it was the real Orca. It looked more like just a quick & dirty backlot prop imitation to the untrained eye.

If The Berg had been too concerned about the Orca's fate then I don't think he would have allowed it to rot out for years like it did. The bending hull was already visible 10 years before they scrapped it. If he went out & sat in it then he must have noticed the front half was full of water.

Halliwax · Sep 5, 2016

batguy said:
The Orca boat rotted out from sitting. You could see the front end of it visibly bending down over the years. Then in the mid-90s they tried to pick it up when they briefly transformed that pond area for one of the Flintstones live-action movies. It broke in half when they lifted it. They reportedly scrapped the carcass after that.

Right after JAWS filming ended they had sold it to a local east coast person guy. He undid much of the prop appearance work. (The Orca was not "OMG, it's THE ORCA!" until after the movie came out.) He just used it as a boat for a few months. Then when the movie hit big, Universal bought it back from him (at a hugely inflated price) to put it on the backlot ride. But it never again looked all detailed like it did during the movie.

I suspect the loss of the authentic prop-Orca appearance probably contributed to its demise. Over the course of 15+ years Universal's people probably began to forget that it was the real Orca. It looked more like just a quick & dirty backlot prop imitation to the untrained eye.

If The Berg had been too concerned about the Orca's fate then I don't think he would have allowed it to rot out for years like it did. The bending hull was already visible 10 years before they scrapped it. If he went out & sat in it then he must have noticed the front half was full of water.

so sad... but very true :cry

trymypatience · Sep 6, 2016

halliwax said:
thats a different story from what I was told. I have a family member who lives out there, the boat was bought or given too and now sleeps in a large garage. For a donation u can get a piece of the boat. All the metal framing is there, a couple years ago while my father was out sports fishing he went to go get me pictures of the boat. That's when he realized it was moved and only the frame left behind. We got in touch with my cousins and they said it was moved and now privately owned, this could all be completely wrong but I have seen on here people saying for a donation you can get a small piece of the boat as well, so I thought the story I was told had some truth

Quite right, I did miss out part of the story. The owner of the fibreglass version did remove it at the point where it was pretty much a shell then cut it into pieces that were sold with Jaws Martha's vineyard collectors edition. http://jawsmovie.com/2011/03/preorder-jaws-memories-from-marthas-vineyard/. I've got the book myself which is a fantastic read for any Jaws fan but never managed to get a hold of a piece of the orca.

Halliwax · Sep 6, 2016

trymypatience said:
Quite right, I did miss out part of the story. The owner of the fibreglass version did remove it at the point where it was pretty much a shell then cut it into pieces that were sold with Jaws Martha's vineyard collectors edition. http://jawsmovie.com/2011/03/preorder-jaws-memories-from-marthas-vineyard/. I've got the book myself which is a fantastic read for any Jaws fan but never managed to get a hold of a piece of the orca.

I always wanted to just see it but I was too late

supposedly the woman who owns it is pretty tough lol my cousin is trying to get in touch with her to see if I could just visit and take a picture when I go to the vineyard for my jaws sight seeing

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Betamin · Sep 6, 2016

I took pics of things at the Orlando location back when they still had the Jaws, King Kong and the BTTF ride. I can't remember what all was sitting back there rotting away, but I do remember one of the later Jaws sequel sharks was sitting out there, cracking and cooking in the sun. I'll have to dig around and see if I can find the pics. I got a few of their Bates Motel location, which had the house partially painted and partially aged for various scenes.

JediMichael · Sep 6, 2016

I'm glad they had kept the time machine train from BTTF3 at Universal. Although the back part hasn't been attached to the train for a long time now. I actually just read not to long ago that they were thinking of turning the train into a Harry Potter train, but thankfully, the lady that wrote the books told them NO.

KrangPrime · Sep 6, 2016

JediMichael said:
I'm glad they had kept the time machine train from BTTF3 at Universal. Although the back part hasn't been attached to the train for a long time now. I actually just read not to long ago that they were thinking of turning the train into a Harry Potter train, but thankfully, the lady that wrote the books told them NO.

I have a picture with the train around the time the animated series came out.

was it the actual movie train, or a backup?

nice to know it's still around.

JediMichael · Sep 6, 2016

NeilT said:
I have a picture with the train around the time the animated series came out.

was it the actual movie train, or a backup?

nice to know it's still around.

Hey, I do to. I must have been 11 or 12 next to the animated guys. And from what I've read, its the real deal sitting there.

Mola Rob · Sep 6, 2016

[/URL

JediMichael · Sep 6, 2016

This is back in 2007. Not sure if they still have the train there or not, as that area is now the Simpsons ride.
I know I have a pic when I was younger, but not sure where online.

The Mad Professor · Sep 6, 2016

Though I am sad to know that the Jurassic Park Visitor's Center, props, and vehicles were left in place to rot in Hawaii, I was extremely happy that they got reused as is for Jurassic World (except the Jeep and the NVGs). It's amazing how quickly Mother Nature can reclaim her place without human interference.

batguy · Sep 6, 2016

I never liked that BTTF3 time train. That was my first reaction as a kid.

It looked like something out of an entirely different show from the DMC, and not in a good way. Nothing about its appearance or gadgets looked even the slightest bit functional.

Halliwax · Sep 6, 2016

The Mad Professor said:
Though I am sad to know that the Jurassic Park Visitor's Center, props, and vehicles were left in place to rot in Hawaii, I was extremely happy that they got reused as is for Jurassic World (except the Jeep and the NVGs). It's amazing how quickly Mother Nature can reclaim her place without human interference.

get out of here i didnt know that!! wicked cool!!

d_osborn · Sep 6, 2016

batguy said:
I never liked that BTTF3 time train. That was my first reaction as a kid.

It looked like something out of an entirely different show from the DMC, and not in a good way. Nothing about its appearance or gadgets looked even the slightest bit functional.

Yeah, the train was pretty terrible. I always thought if would have been cool if they ended it with Cowboy Marty in 1985 getting another telegram from the Western Union dude after the time machine bites it.

batguy · Sep 7, 2016

Yeah, the train was pretty terrible. I always thought if would have been cool if they ended it with Cowboy Marty in 1985 getting another telegram from the Western Union dude after the time machine bites it.

Not a bad idea. (Use the same telegram guy from 1955! He would be trying to figure out how on earth it looks like the same Marty from 30 years earlier.)

I didn't mind the concept of Doc & Clara & kids showing up in a new steampunk time machine. But the train they gave us looked like a prop from a throwaway scene in a cheesy sitcom.

Seeing that train in the theater as a kid, I literally remember thinking "if that's where BTTF is headed then it's a good thing they are ending it here. This has gone stupid."

CB2001 · Sep 7, 2016

NeilT said:
if this doesn't hit you, you have no prop heart ;o)

why couldn't they have sold them off or auctioned them off rather than destroy season 4 kitts?
\https://scontent.fewr1-2.fna.fbcdn....=d8ff8684e3c8c0d6947de488cf3291fa&oe=587EAE98

I think the auctioning off of props, costumes and vehicles and such wasn't around at that time. Many props, costumes and vehicles have ended up in the trash heap after they were done being used. Imagine all the animation cells that were used in many classic Looney Tunes cartoons. Many of them were thrown away in the trash because what they were concerned with was getting them on film. As far as Universal Studios were concerned, the show was no longer on the air and the vehicles were useless to them. But then again, Universal Studios did have a long history of not treating their props kindly. The last remaining Orca that was used in Jaws sat in the lagoon for years and the bottom became rotted out. Did they take the boat to get restored? No. They scrapped it. They did the same thing to the shark they had on display, which is the last known copy of the Great White from the original mold (which ended up being used as a display for a junkyard until recently when it was rescued when the junkyard was closed down). Even the Back to the Future DeLorean A-Car sat for years outside in the back lot, unprotected, and parts taken off of it for years. Universal didn't care about it. It took Bob Gale fronting up some of his own money to get the vehicle restored. The same is true with the General Lees at Warner Brothers. They had about six complete GLs that sat in their backlot after the show was complete. They sat out there up until the 1990s, when fans found out that there were complete GLs sitting in the backlot and Warner Brothers refused to sell them (it took the fans suing Warner Brothers to get Warner Brothers to sell the vehicles).

That's how things were with the studios. As far as they were concerned, the only thing that they considered important was what was put on film. It is sad that that they were just scraped like that.

KrangPrime · Sep 7, 2016

while i get fans being upset that warners would refuse to sell the cars, how could they legally sue a buisness to force them into being sold?

doesn't seem right to me.

by that logic, fans could sue sony into restoring the Ecto 1A that's being left to rot in storage.

JediMichael · Sep 7, 2016

I don't know why, but I always liked the time train. Guess it was the fact that it could also fly made it cool to me.

batguy · Sep 7, 2016

Warner Bros sold their stash of surviving General Lees voluntarily.

The buyers created a dummy corporation on paper for WB to sell the cars to. That was done to protect WB from future liability.

There were a few other Generals that survived in various ways but none were obtained by suing the studio.

robstyle · Sep 8, 2016

Studio ownership of vehicles and larger set dressing/props is somewhat of an in house gray area. Items are not owned by a person nor are they always created "legally". Cars are a liability as many times they are modified one way or another for filming, paper work is lost or never existed...

Lots of General Lee talk so:

and lastly:

This was the final resting place of the Firefly when Fox and the bulldozer was done with it.

and somewhat related, Laurel Canyon Stages is in the early phase of building all new sets so gone will be the sets used in everything including the Reaver ship from Firefly. It was last overhauled recently and slightly remodeled for Conman season 2. Youll also see in Conman a fresher looking ship. That was a completely new replica set build next door to the existing LCS ship.

depressing movie and tv photos...

Master Member

Legendary Member

Active Member

Legendary Member

Master Member

Master Member

Master Member

Master Member

Sr Member

Master Member

Master Member

Master Member

Legendary Member

Sr Member

Master Member

Master Member

Master Member

Master Member

Master Member

Master Member

Similar threads