Recycled Props

[Scott]

Universal always recycled props within the tv series produced at the studio. Here's a example of pistols previously used in Battlestar Galactica and Buck Rogers in The 25th Century appearing Princess Metra.

[Duvessa]

Makes a lot of sense to me, especially back then. Sci-Fi has always been rather expensive. You'll see a couple of items from Buck Rogers even make their way int Star Trek TNG, and even Voyager.

[Josh]

I makes me wonder what kind of budget they had for the show.  It seems like a lot of the props in the show can be found in other 80's sci-fi tv.  Another example is the computer banks in the pilot episode can be found on several 80's TV shows.

[Scott]

I'm guessing they probably had anywhere from 700,000 to almost 1 million per episode. Yep those computer banks go several years back in various productions.  The car they steal from Kroll was originally build for the Logan's Run tv series 10 years before Otherworld. It was rented from Dean Jefferies for use in this series.

[Hyperpup]

What they had to work with was basically the studio owned props, which were the guns and uniforms and the rented props which were computer terminals and vehicles and some set decorations. Modern Props did a brisk bit of business with Universal on alot of its scifi shows so that is why alot of computer terminals and data banks look familiar. They simply reused rentals that were seen in other shows like Buck Rogers and Battlestar. When they could save money by using prebuilt hand props from their own vaults then they would.

[Scott]

What they had to work with was basically the studio owned props, which were the guns and uniforms and the rented props which were computer terminals and vehicles and some set decorations. Modern Props did a brisk bit of business with Universal on alot of its scifi shows so that is why alot of computer terminals and data banks look familiar. They simply reused rentals that were seen in other shows like Buck Rogers and Battlestar. When they could save money by using prebuilt hand props from their own vaults then they would.

Correct....I think the sci-fi prop rental business kicked into high gear in the late 70s and early 80s. While Universal owned a large amount of hardware of their own, they did rent quite a bit. Didn't Modern Props actually go into busniess around 78 or 79?

[Hyperpup]

What they had to work with was basically the studio owned props, which were the guns and uniforms and the rented props which were computer terminals and vehicles and some set decorations. Modern Props did a brisk bit of business with Universal on alot of its scifi shows so that is why alot of computer terminals and data banks look familiar. They simply reused rentals that were seen in other shows like Buck Rogers and Battlestar. When they could save money by using prebuilt hand props from their own vaults then they would.

Correct....I think the sci-fi prop rental business kicked into high gear in the late 70s and early 80s. While Universal owned a large amount of hardware of their own, they did rent quite a bit. Didn't Modern Props actually go into busniess around 78 or 79?

Yeah, I'm not sure excactly when Modern Props went into business but your dates sound right. I do know they opened a shop in Canada only as recently as 2000-2003 to capitalize on the amount of productions being shot in Canada.

[Canaacap]

Actually, I think the hovercraft that Logan, Jessica and Rem drove around in from the TV series "Logan's Run" simply made a street appearance for a few seconds in the premiere episode of Otherworld, as a utility vehicle in Sarlax.

Now, I'd sure like it if Logan's Run was put out on a DVD set.  It was one of many short-lived TV series I got attached to in the 1970s.  And it had a super-cool theme song I can still play in my head.