Movie Magic was a documentary series which focused on the creation of film and television special (SFX) and visual effects (VFX), and was broadcast in the US by the Discovery Channel.
Seventy approximately twenty-five minute episodes were produced and broadcast over five seasons between 1994 and 1997. Each episode focused usually on specific scenes of one or sometimes three movies, so for example, if the subject matter of the episode was Aerial Effects, it showed behind the scenes footage of aerial fights or airplane crashes, and interviews with the effects people, explaining how the scene was done. And mind you, in those days it wasn't just all CGI. People had to be insanely creative and inventive for each movie and each effect scene, that's why those featurettes were, and are, so interesting. You see people being presented with a problem and collectively trying to figure out how to solve it, how to create onscreen what is in the script.
At the time this TV series aired, for me it was the only way to see the Making Of featurettes for any movie. Movies that we could rent in VHS rental places didn't have special features, and VHS tapes were not available to purchase yet at the time (where I grew up). I grew up in Europe until 2002 so I had absolutely no access to any bonus material. Special packages were released in US, UK and Argentina for T2 Terminator 2: Judgment Day with the Making Of documentary VHS. All I had was those Movie Magic episodes.
They run from Monday to Friday midday, and for me that was the first ever glimpse behind the curtain in the Oz castle, and also a closer introduction to some of the legends in the field. Many episodes focused on movies I wasn't familiar with, but it didn't matter much because the subject matter, and seeing how each scene in each film was created, was interested enough. However, if an episode featured a movie I knew, that was triple exciting. And so I didn't have to wait long to see my first ever glimpse at Behind The Scenes footage from T2, as it appeared in Episode 7 of the first Season titled "Action Miniatures", focused on Miniature work. Even though the TV series focused on the then-current films, it did occasionally show something from few years back. It was 1994 and good few years had passed since the premiere of my favorite film, and it was such a surprise to see T2 (briefly) featured in that episode I literally stood up and ran closer to the screen.
The effect team featured in this episode were the Skotak Brothers - for newer fans, these two were excellent miniature model makers and photographers, and were James Cameron's friends and frequent collaborators (Aliens, The Abyss, T2, Titanic). It was the first time I got more familiar with this fantastic duo
Even though this particular episode's subject was a 1993 film called Heart and Souls, there was a relatively brief talk about Skotaks' work on T2 (Sarah's Nuclear Nightmare), featuring Jim Cameron himself
From then on, I eagerly anticipated every episode and hoped for more Terminator footage. I was not disappointed. Very soon I was more closely introduced to the legendary Stan Winston. His work shown on that show just wowed me, and he was featured in quite a few episodes, along with his key team members, Shane Mahan, John Rosengrant and Richard Landon
Some episodes were even specifically devoted to him, like Episode 11 of Season 3 titled "Stan Winston: Creating With Character" and from then on I thought of the Cameron/Winston team as inseparable, and admired Winston just as much (even thought his name sounded appropriately like the word "Wizard"). To see footage of T-1000 being sculpted, Terminator endoskeletons being operated, was just wow. That first glimpse into making all these classic characters and scenes was simply fascinating.
Naturally, digital effects of T2 also had a spotlight in the Movie Magic series, but surprisingly not as much as one would think, and the main focus was not on ILM, but a smaller company called Pacific Data Image which had few tasks on T2, one of them removing cables, which was a subject in the Episode 14 of the first season titled "Digital Enhancements"
While Movie Magic rarely shown older films, it did feature The Terminator in one episode in the first season, called "Miniature Pyrotechnics". This episode introduced me to Joe Viskocil, a miniature pyrotechnician who did explosions for both The Terminator and T2, giving them somewhat stylistic and consistent look - something I noticed even as a kid. The episode showed the destruction of the tanker truck and the model work that went into the scene.
One of the last episodes to feature Terminators was one from 1997 which featured Universal Studio's Terminator 2 3D: Battle Across Time. It showcased the endoskeleton being prepped and performing on set for Jim Cameron. Stan Winston was a co-director of the film-attraction sequel. Most of the footage was later released as a part of Making of T2 3D documentary which was included on some DVD and Bluray extras, but this Movie Magic episode also includes Winston shop scenes not seen anywhere else.
Some of the first season is available online in a so-so quality, but unfortunately most of the show isn't. It was supposedly released on Laserdisc a while back. Once you've seen all the extras on many DVD/Bluray editions, there isn't much you wouldn't have seen by now, but there are still some golden nuggets here and there, and every interview was new and specifically conducted for a particular episode. Also at the time, that was the only glimpse into the behind the scenes of The Terminator, T2 and T2 3D
Go back to http://www.jamescamerononline.com/TerminatorTrilogy.htm
