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Visual Effects
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The three biggest projects that Universal Hartland did in its short life were Buck Rogers in the 25th Century (feature and 2 seasons of television), Battlestar Galactica/Galactica 1980, and Airport '79, The Concord. Despite a heavy involvement in these big projects, Universal Hartland managed to squeeze in a number of smaller projects. Universal Hartland also worked on overflow opticals from Universal Title. I do not have record of all the overflow opticals and matte painting that Universal Hartland provided. |
Hartland Credits
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Features: Buck Rogers in the 25th Century Airport '79, the Concord Cheach and Chong's Next Movie Get Smart, the Movie |
Television: Battlestar Galactica Buck Rogers in the 25th Century Galactica 1980 Sheriff Lobo Cosmos forgot name of UFO thing | |
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Other projects: Countless overflow opticals from Universal Title. comemrcials (Laker Airlines) Space Shuttle simulation for NASA ABC Motion Pictures Buck Rogers models for Studio Tour |
After the original crew left: The Thing Horizon Pavilion (Disney EPCOT) |
| Kenneth A. Larson worked on some of these smaller projects and others he did not. Those he worked on are noted below. Photos are not available for all of these smaller projects. |
Cheach and Chong's Next Movie
 Cheach and Chong's Next Movie, 1979. |
| I never saw this movie, so I can't comment on it beyond saying that we built the model of Bongo Rose. We originally made a bottom that looked UFO-like, then had to rebuilt the bottom to match an electronic amulet that one of the characters wore throughout the movie. |
Get Smart, The Movie
| Jena Holeman made a matte painting for Get Smart, The Movie. There was a scene where Agent 86 skied up to a cabin and then fell back down the hill or something. The cabin was on a Universal sound stage and the rest of the background was a matte painting. I do not have a photo of this. |
Sheriff Lobo
| This was almost too simple to mention. Ken Larson made a box with a light inside that would simulate a falling star against the backing. There were other small jobs for other Universal Television shows of the time. |
Cosmos
| The opening sequence of the Karl Sagan Astronomy series for PBS included a grand fly-through of the galaxy and our solar system. The Universal Hartland Model Shop received the finished planets, then added mounting armatures. Several planets, including Jupiter and the light planet (a planet so developed and populated, the entire surface looked like an aerial shot of Los Angeles) were shot on Hartland stages. |
UFO show (I can't remember the name)
| The model for this TV movie was finished when it arrived at Universal Hartland. The producers were not happy with the look so several Hartland model makers spent about a week making it look better, then repainted it. It was shot on a Hartland stage. Ken Larson did not work on this model. |
Laker Airlines
| David Jones took an ordinary model kit and turned it into one of the nicest small aircraft model I have ever seen. He used a newly developed silver tape and it looked like a real shrunken airliner on his model bench. The model was shot on a Hartland stage. |
NASA Space Shuttle
| Understand that Universal Hartland predated the Space Shuttle. Universal Hartland and Metavision teamed to make a simulation to show the public how the space shuttle worked. |
ABC Motion Pictures
| Universal Hartland shot a flying logo for ABC Motion Pictures. The letters were made from highly polished faceted jewel like glass crystal. They were glued to a plate of glass. No one know how to attach them without bubbles showing. Pete Gerard came up with a solution and this logo was shot on a Hartland stage. |
Universal Studio Tour
| Universal Hartland had the Buck Rogers molds and so Universal Studio Tour decided to include some Buck Rogers models in its now Visual Effects Stage attraction. Two Draconias and four Draconian fighter models were built. |
The Thing
| Some of the effects for John Carpenter's, The Thing were shot at Universal Hartland. Hartland had been closed for about a year and none of the original crew remained by this time. |
Horizon Pavilion (Disney EPCOT)
| Shortly after The Thing left the building, Walk Disney Studios rented the facility to begin work on several Visual Effects sequences to be shown at the end of the ride portion of the Horizon Pavilion and the newly opened EPCOT in Florida. By coincidence, some of the original Hartland crew were reunited for this project. This was because by this time, we had gone our separate ways and established ourselves in the world of Visual Effects. |
Other Projects
| Countless other small project passed through the doors of Hartland, most only touching a few members of the crew and unknown to the rest. To my knowledge, The Horizon Pavilion was the last production to use Universal Hartland. The equipment was scattered, much of the Model Shop and Machine Shop equipment going to Universal Studios Special Effects Department. |
| Universal Hartland Visual Effects was not spelled with an "e", it was not spelled "Universal Heartland Visual Effects." We did visual effects more than Special Effects, but on occasion, we did do Special Effects also. |
