Chapter 85: Studio Tour
Eventually, the drive was finally coming to its end and the journey's panderings and talks had to stop.
The distance from the Creed residence to Universal City wasn't exactly that long as they are all within San Fernando Valley.
It just so happens that human interactions and reflections made the build-up to the destination seem long.
With a parking spot secured, the three of them headed off to where they were told to go.
"Yey! We're here." Milla who had been quiet for quite some time was quite happy. The boring ride was finally over and her resentment for what has happened was long gone.
Her mother said that where they were going was a place that many stars are working on. How could Milla, who has been hoping to become one, not be excited by that fact?
If she was preoccupied on the way with her Charlie and comic book stardom, the implications of their arrival finally dawned on her.
Echoing her daughter's happiness, Galina was just ecstatic at the chance to step at one of the American film industry's product churners.
This wasn't Russia but the feeling it gave to an actress like her was the sense of belonging.
When Mr. Creed told her to have Alex be present at this studio complex, she was finally able to achieve the chance that she hoped she would be getting on the first official meeting with the relatively low-key Creeds.
Aside from the unreadable Alex, the means of old Creed is truly not to be underestimated.
Galina finally felt the results of her efforts that opened up the Sullivan entryway and let her get another glimpse at Hollywood.
Universal Studios were plastered on the big sign they saw on the way in and an unbottle-able feeling that swept them up has long taken over them.
It was the dream factory for little Milica and a hotspot of opportunity for Galina.
If factories churn out their corresponding, then filming studios like that they are visiting now are among the factories that churn out films.
Even though it wasn't exactly as straightforward and systematic as product factories, what was happening inside every building were props that would make films and films that conveyed worlds.
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While the duo was excited and thrilled, Alexander was more on an observing spree.
The Jovovich duo may hold Universal Studios with high esteem, he was much more objective from his standpoint.
The Universal Studios Lot was just the Universal Studios Lot to him. From Universal City Studios to Universal City to Universal Studios Lot and then quite simply Universal.
Whatever the name of the place was, it was quite an impressive feat to build a self-contained community complex that is dedicated to the filming of most TVs shows and movies.
People in the Hollywood industry really value film-making so much that they would go as far as making things as convenient and efficient as possible.
Of course, as curiously onlooking his companions were at everything, Alexander was on the same boat.
Even though he was always around the San Fernando Valley area for a lot of years, he really hadn't had the interest to visit this so-called film haven.
He was just interested in the finalized film product after all and can never really relate as to why people find it a novelty to visit filming studios.
That was in the past-future though and he had to change that mindset now. He is somehow delving his reach into Hollywood in this re-life and an income generator like studio visits should be considered.
He didn't need to understand why people do it, he just need to capitalize on why they do it.
Of course, owning filming studios is not high on his list of priorities as of but he still kept an open mind and wanted to learn more about studios and studio tours.
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Too bad, they weren't taking the much-advertised Universal Studio Tour, however, they did have the other alternative.
Miss Galina had been given directions and they navigated through the place that old Sullivan wanted them to reach. Fortunately, their guide was already prepared and they had a much more personalized tour.
It wasn't considered personalized because of its VIP treatment but because the guide avoided what was restricted to them and mostly toured them through whatever parts were made available and used for the filming of Back to the Future.
The three of them were just equally taking in what they were seeing along the way.
Not much could be seen from the other filming locations but a lot was going on when they came to the rented studio being used by Creed Pictures.
They saw a bowl engraved with Einstein. A lot of mechanical props that may or may not have a function. There was an abundance of clock-like mechanisms and even a big subwoofer of speakers.
Cardboard representations of what looks to be town. It may not be noticeable at first but there was a burned little toy car and version that wasn't that was perfect to fit the roads of the cardboard town. There is some sort of battery hooked to a wire.
Aside from that carboard configurations, there seems to be an abundance of posters and things that one can associate with the 1950s.
While the mother-daughter duo was clueless about the use of the props and set pieces they've seen, Alexander had much more insight as his schemes are what made them all happen.
He semi-created the Doc Brown of this timeline after all so he noticed that many of these film props were an amalgam of Emmett Brown's 1985 workstation and 1955 garage-esque assortment of inventions.
From these props and configurations, Alexander found the convenience of such film studios. If done properly, everything designed could be anything.
There was no doubt that the entire filming space inside has been utilized to simulate Marty's adventure in different timelines.
They had mostly been set aside though so the Back to the Future crew might have already moved on to other film configurations or towards specific locations that fit the sceneries they were going for.
It was only this time that Alexander remembered that he was essentially clueless about how this forcefully plundered film of his has progressed.
It was his first big project since the start of his re-life but it became relegated to something out of his control.
Old Sullivan was just way too tight on keeping film production stuff a secret to him that he could barely intervene or sneakily give out suggestions.
Alexander could only hope that everything would go well so that it won't fall into the same pitfalls that past-future time travel film trilogy had gone through.
Fortunately, old Creed had finally loosened the restrictions on him and he would get a glimpse of everything.
Frankly, he was worried and at the same time... rarely excited. Comic grinding made him content but filming was another new thing he is set to tackle.
For Alexander, this little personalized studio tour may have just begun.