Posts: 82
From: Lambertville, NJ, USA
Registered: Aug 2014
posted January 21, 2018 08:03 AM
I recently purchased some large empty reels on eBay and the seller graciously included two 400' Super 8 sound films. One was the 12 minutes Saturday Night Live spoof LAST VOYAGE OF STARSHIP ENTERPRISE with John Belushi, Chevy Chase and Elliot Gould. I'm curious how this came to be on Super 8. Did a company release many episodes of SNL on Super 8 or was this a unique situation? Any info would be appreciated, oh Super 8 mavens!
posted January 22, 2018 11:42 AM
I wonder if this was the same company that put out the black and white episode of "Monty Python's Flying Circus", which i believe was a 400ft?
-------------------- "All these moments will be lost in time, just like ... tears, in the rain. "
Posts: 82
From: Lambertville, NJ, USA
Registered: Aug 2014
posted January 22, 2018 01:14 PM
Unfortunately there is white leader spliced right up against the first frame so I can grab any info. The color is good, although the NBC peacock in at the tail of the clip! The first minute or so has a semi-transparent black box in the center of the frame, which just makes it more confusing. But it is indeed funny!
Posts: 5468
From: Nouméa, New Caledonia
Registered: Jun 2003
posted January 22, 2018 01:26 PM
On that days, some people making a print by taking the material directly from TV (resulting flickers) or, for a better resut, using Kodachrome film stock to do positive-to-positive print from 16mm/35mm source. You will see splices for every 50 feet.
Usually the print would be silent, but if they had extra money, they could add magnetic track later after getting the print from lab and add the soundtrack.
If that is your case, your reel will be one of a kind.
Posts: 1592
From: United States
Registered: Jun 2003
posted January 22, 2018 03:03 PM
I sold a super 8mm print of this some time ago. If I remember right it was a REEL IMAGES release (NOT the Steve Osborne company). It had decent color, no splices, and you could see it was made from video tape to film. I believe it was produced because of that very popular SNL sketch. I think it's listed in one of my old catalogs...
Posts: 1733
From: Brooksville, FL
Registered: Jun 2003
posted January 22, 2018 03:56 PM
According to Dr. Demento the musician the starship enterprise was always going forward because they could never find reverse just my two cents worth on this subject
Posts: 82
From: Lambertville, NJ, USA
Registered: Aug 2014
posted January 22, 2018 04:36 PM
Seems more like what Joe is describing than Winbert. I'll grab a screenshot in the next few days and post. Thanks for all the replies!
Posts: 2941
From: Croydon, London, UK
Registered: Aug 2004
posted January 22, 2018 06:46 PM
I have a print but I'm afraid I've so far been unable to find it. If I do, I'll check whether it has the original leader, but I'm sure it's a US release from one of the smaller distributors, so I think Joe is likely to be correct.
Posts: 953
From: Sunland, CA, USA
Registered: Dec 2006
posted January 22, 2018 11:24 PM
I have a 16mm print of Pecos Bill which was made from a video to film source, but looks very good, from Image Transform. But that SNL skit looks a bit videoey.
posted January 25, 2018 11:37 AM
Come to think of it, i have a super 8 print of "Duck Rabbit Duck" or is it "rabbit Seasoning" (it's the one that doesn't take place in winter) (Warners cartoon, Bug's Bunny), that was filmed on Kodachrome home movie stock and then put together and I don't know if they just used sound super 8 home movie film or added the track laterm, but it's in perfect sync and while it's obviously not as good as a print made directly from a celluloid negative, it actually looks better than some super 8 prints that i have seen in the past from assorted super film companies!
-------------------- "All these moments will be lost in time, just like ... tears, in the rain. "