Universal Studios Hollywood has new take on Special Effects Stage

The world famous Special Effects Stage at Universal Studios Hollywood has a fresh new look to go along with it's fresh new digs. They have moved it from the lower lot of the park to the upper lot. The show now makes it's home in the Castle Theatre which has been home to many previous shows over the years. The most recent of which being The Creature from the Black Lagoon musical stage show.

"Creature" didn't last long however (about a year), as it was met with horrible reviews from audiences. It was just another in a long line of stink bombs that the theme park has put in that theatre. The Previous two shows were Fear Factor Live, which survived a couple of seasons although, by all indications, it shouldn't have. Before that it was Spiderman Rocks that had audiences leaving the theatre shaking their collective heads. In fact the last good show to make it's home in that theatre was Beetle Juice Graveyard Revue and that was over 11 years ago.

Universal must have finally been fed up with all the failures on that stage and decided to go with a tried and true favorite in The Special Effects Stage.

In the past decade the SES has been tucked away at the back of the lower lot, but that wasn't always the case. It used to be that this show was in a great spot for public consumption as it was right at the old loading area for the Studio Tour. But when the Studio Tour moved to it's current location adjacent to the upper lot, the Stage became somewhat 'outta sight, outta mind.'

It sat next to Backdraft which, when it was first built in the mid nineties, was quite popular. But Backdraft has long been considered outdated. Guests typically would travel to the lower lot to ride Jurrasic Park and The Mummy coaster and venturing down to the end to see what was tucked away in the back was not high on their list of priorities. A shame really, because the Special effects stage has always put on a great show.

With that great show back upstairs in the public eye where it belongs, and yet again not far from the Studio Tour entrance, it should get the continuous crowds it deserves.

The previous show had a nice mixture of old tricks mixed in with some newer special effects to keep it current. The new show takes that same model and adds even more current special effects. The staging of it is quite different as the old stage had three different rooms the audience would get up and move to one by one. The new show keeps the audience in place and moves the show.

The new show has two hosts just as before, only this time they have a team of stage hands that fly the different effects and set pieces in and out as needed. The whole thing is pulled off without a hitch from a technical aspect. Although, the performances and jokes require a lot of tweaking. There is a considerable amount of attempts at pop culture references that fall flat with the audience. The jokes in which one of the presenters incorporates a cel phone to supposedly access the internet all seem forced. They come off like something a teenager would view as a desperate attempt by their parents to be hip and thinking throwing out some trendy terminology will accomplish it. And then there is the supposed stage hand character named "Jerry" whose purpose is to provide the comic relief. But outside of a few physical comedy moments, the bits with him don't really fly either.

However, if you can get past a few cheesy moments, it is quite a good show. And as they had in the past, the hosts and characters should eventually find some good moments over time and hopefully the script will be tailored to make the best of those moments. It is a new show and I figure it will be a well oiled machine like the previous incarnation within a few months. It is already the best show to set foot on that stage since the mid 90's so they certainly have that going for them.

The new Special Effects Stage show runs every hour on the hour all day. The show itself lasts a half hour.

For more information visit the Universal Studios Hollywood website