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greensparty · 4 months ago

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2024 Super Megafest Wrap-Up

This is the season of comic conventions. Just a few weeks ago I got to cover Fan Expo Boston. This past weekend I got to cover MetroWest's super fun Super Megafest at the Verve Hotel in Natick, MA. The last time I attended was in 2016 when I got to chat with William Zabka. This year was loads of fun!

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I must be in the right place if the Ecto-1 is parked outside!

Here are some of the highlights of the Super Megafest guests I got to speak with:

Roger Christian

Production designer and set decorator Roger Christian is a significant part of the Star Wars Universe. He won an Academy Award for his Set Decorating on Star Wars Episode 4. He was also a 2nd Unit Director on Star Wars Episode 6 and Episode 1. With so many Star Wars spin-off series now on Disney+ and films in development, I asked if he might possibly return to the Star Wars Universe? He said "They have such a different attitude about it now without George Lucas. When they were doing The Clone Wars, I got them some stuff that I had and they interviewed me. It's just kind of a different mode." He is also working on a book and a documentary about his experience with Star Wars.

Christian is also a director and I wanted to ask him about directing the 1985 music video for Arcadia's "Election Day". He said "A friend of mine, George Miller who directs the Mad Max movies, they'd asked George to do it, but he said 'I can't do this, but here's Roger Christian'. I met with the managers and came up with some ideas at the time. I thought the song was amazing, they were big. So I got the job and had to go to New York. I met Simon Le Bon and Nick Rhodes and hung out. They took me to see Tina Turner live. When I heard the track I had an inspiration of Jean Cocteau's Beauty and the Beast [the 1946 film]. We went to Paris to film it. There was this film Round Midnight where they re-created some famous jazz clubs, so I was able to use that. It stands up today". I remembered getting that 45 single from my sister at the holiday. I remembering seeing it on V66, which was based in Natick and now I was meeting the music video directing in Natick!

Bruce Kulick

Musician Bruce Kulick was the guitarist for Kiss from 1984-1996, the era after the classic line-up and without make-up. He's done some solo albums and has played with a number of other bands, but as a longtime fan of Kiss, I always enjoyed that era of Kiss. The 1993 live album Alive III is one of my favorites of all the Kiss live albums. I asked Mr. Kulick if he had a favorite Kiss album he was on? He said "Each one of the albums I was on I had highlights. I always felt that Revenge was a great album. A real no-compromise kind of vibe. I got to find a good voice of lead playing too. I had a great time working with Bob Ezrin too." That's also a great album as the late great Eric Carr recorded some tracks before he died in 1991. Mr. Kulick said "He got to do the video and some background vocals on 'God Gave Rock 'n' Roll to You II'.

Ron Rudat

The Father of G.I. Joe, Ron Rudat designed every G.I. Joe figure that was released by Hasbro from 1982-1986. Countless figures I, myself, played with constantly as a kid. [Full disclosure: Ron's son is a friend of mine from college and I knew of him, but never met him until this convention]. I asked if he had a favorite G.I. Joe figure? He said "Everyone asks me that. I always say, they're all my favorite figures."

Christopher Atkins

Everyone knows actor Christopher Atkins for his starring role opposite Brooke Shields in The Blue Lagoon. But I know him for a a film that I worked on. In 2001, my friend Dan Hannon was a producer on the indie film The Color of Water, which filmed in NH. He brought my friend and I in as production assistants. I never saw the final film, but I asked Mr. Atkins about his memories of filming that movie? "There were spectacular views of that location. The lake was crystal clear. It was one of the most scenic locations, besides Blue Lagoon, that I've ever filmed at." He said he actually lives in New England now and is in the process of raising funds for a film to shoot here.

Nicholas Hammond

After getting his start as a child actor in Lord of the Flies and The Sound of Music, actor Nicholas Hammond is known to genre fans as the first live-action Peter Parker / Spider-Man after he appeared in the TV series The Amazing Spider-Man (CBS 1977-1979) and the three TV movies that aired between 1977 and 1981. In the last Spider-Man movie Spider-Man: No Way Home with the multiverse of Tobey Maguire and Andrew Garfield joining Tom Holland, I asked Mr. Hammond if he just wanted to see him join in as well? He laughed and said "Well, I would've liked to. I think the fans would've thought it was really fun to have all of the Peter Parkers in one film. You never know, it may still happen in the future, but that was a golden opportunity to do it. I mean I'm not an executive at Sony, I don't know why they do that they do, but I do know it annoyed a lot of fans. I got an awful lot of response to that myself. I mean these things happen, but I would've loved to have done something like that just for the sheer fun of being part of all that again. But at the same time, I'm very grateful I created the character. I feel proud of the fact that something we did for very little money back in the 70s has grown into this huge franchise globally that the whole world loves."

Hammond as Sam Wanamaker in OUATIH

The other big thing I know Mr. Hammond for was his portrayal of director Sam Wanamaker in Quentin Tarantino's Once Upon a Time in Hollywood (which I named my #1 Movie of 2019). I asked him what it was like working with QT and making the film about that era in Hollywood? He said "Funny enough, Quentin is a big fan of this Spider-Man series as well. He ran the pilot episode in his movie theater in Hollywood the New Beverly Cinema as a double feature with Tobey Maguire's first Spider-Man. I've always been a fan of Quentin Tarantino and when I heard he was running the pilot at his theater, I said to my manager 'I'd just love to meet him'. I had no idea he was making another movie. So I went in and met with him. We talked about Spider-Man quite a lot and he began talking about westerns that I'd been in back in the 60s and 70s. He asked if I had ever worked with Sam Wanamaker, I said I knew who he is. And that was the end of the conversation, I thought that was a really fascinating chat. Then soon after, I got a call asking if I wanted to play Wanamaker in the movie. It came out of the blue, but it turned out to be one of the best things I've ever done in my life. I just loved every minute of it. For me it was like time travel, because being on that set where everything was immaculately reconstructed like it was 1969, I first went to Hollywood in 1970 as a grown-up. So I just walked in and it looked the way everything had looked when I first arrived in Hollywood. It was huge fun to do and Wanamaker was such a big theatrical kind of guy. It was great playing a character that was so fun like that."

Wesley Eure

Actor, musician, author, producer Wesley Eure is known for playing Will on Sid and Marty Krofft's Land of the Lost (CBS 1974-1976), while he was on Days of Our Lives at the same time. But in addition to Land of the Lost, another staple of my childhood was the Nickelodeon game show Finders Keepers (1987-1989), which Eure produced and hosted. That was the era of game shows where you had a limited amount of time to ransack a room or an obstacle course. What was his experience like? Eure says "It was so much fun! We shot 5 shows a day, a whole week. They brought in schools. It was in Philadelphia on an IMAX theater that was tall enough for the two-story set of all the rooms."

Kathy Coleman

Speaking of Land of the Lost, Eure's co-star Kathy Coleman was there as well. I asked what her favorite creature on Land of the Lost was? Coleman says "Probably Dopey. He was my pet brontosaurus. I got to ride him and I loved riding horses, so it was just a fun day on the set."

Jackson Bostwick

Actor Jackson Bostwick is known for the title role in TV's Shazam! (CBS 1974-1976). But I was excited to ask him about playing a sentry in the 1985 sci-fi comedy My Science Project. Bostwick says "It was fine. We shot that in Tucson. They blacked out the city. But it was fun. Good cast. I enjoyed it, a good two weeks out in Tucson."

Sid Krofft

There were a ton of staples of 70s and 80s pop culture at this year's Super Megafest, but the one who co-created so much of my childhood TV intake was Mr. Sid Krofft (who turns 95 this month). The puppeteer, TV creator and producer and his late great brother Marty created many shows I got into when I saw them in syndication as a kid, notably The Banana Splits Adventure Hour (NBC 1968-1970), H.R. Pufnstuf (NBC 1969-1970), The Bugaloos (NBC 1970-1972), Sigmund and the Sea Monsters (NBC 1973-1975), Land of the Lost (NBC 1974-1977), and Pryor’s Place (CBS 1984-1985). All shows I remember fondly as a kid and really enjoyed watching the wacky almost drug-induced puppets getting into crazy situations each episode. In addition to the children's shows, he reminded me that he did 26 series including Donnie & Marie (ABC 1976-1979) and The Brady Bunch Hour (ABC 1976-1977) as well. He says "I've had and I'm still having the most incredible career. This is my 84th year in show business. Before television, I was a performer. In 1946, I was here [Massachusetts] with the Ringling Brothers Barnum and Bailey Circus. When the big top sat 15,000 people. I'm a puppeteer and one of the biggest honors I ever had was when the biggest star in the world was going out on her first tour, for a whole year we toured the country and I was her opening act. It was Judy Garland." I asked Mr. Krofft of all the shows he produced or created what stood as his personal favorite? He says "It has to be your first child, which was H.R. Pufnstuf. Before that I only created and built the costumes for The Banana Splits. That's what got us into television since that was a big hit, the network asked us to come up with an idea. We never did a pilot. We sold everyone based on an art show of the characters and the executives would sit around and I would tell them the story with pictures. So that's how it all happened. I'm still working! I tell everyone when they ask me where I came up with all my ideas, ever since I was 10 years old, I went left. Everyone else goes right. So take the chance and go left!" I fully agree. Mr. Krofft is truly a TV legend and he could not have been any nicer!

For info on Super Megafest

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