Aug 4, 2024
Tom Corbett, Space Cadet TV series costumes (1950)
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Tom Corbett, Space Cadet TV series costumes (1950)
Umbrella Academy TV Prop: Photos of Five Photos by wadescott [eBay]
A Storybrooke Map! ✨
Hello, and welcome to another episode of Erica Obtains and Geeks Out Over an Official Map of a Fictitious Place!
The official map: Storybrooke!
Because I’ve only seen a bazillion people trying to figure it out, so I thought I’d see if I could hunt something down. And I did! This is a map made for and used in the show's production! And I'm excited to share it!
(And I know it might not be the only “official” one they made over the course of the show, but this one was in the third episode of Season 1, so it has some hierarchy in my book!)
I decided to revisit my research on the Freddy the Flute Props used in the Pufnstuf TV Show and Movie to come up with a better "conclusion " ( in quotations since its really all still speculation. ) on how many Freddy the Flutes were made for the Show and Movie production. Last time I did this I came up with the conclusion that there were around 27 which looking back is inaccurate , However there are more than just 5 Freddys made , most of which cant be explained by the new " Face parts can be swapped out and replaced " theory.
Starting with the Hero Freddy puppets from the original TV Show
( as seen in Image #1 and the video after it.)
Hero Freddy #1 is permanently stuck in a sad expression and its highly unlikely any of the face pieces could come off without damaging the puppet. Not to mention alot of the diamonds and holes are differently placed between the 3 Hero puppets with some having less diamonds than others.
Hero Freddy #2 is the iconic one used in a majority of close up shots and is once again unable to have any of his features removed as in order for them to move consistently without falling off they'd have to be glued on , not to mention if you take a good look at the inside of the mouth which i circled green you can see the foam rubber used to make the body flexible has the mouth molded in permanently happy state which helps give the mouth its shape , and once again
Hero Freddy #3 is one of the more distinct ones and the easiest to declare as it own puppet cause altho it has a similar mouth mechanic the way it moves is completely different to the other two as instead of making the head lean back it pushes and pull only the nose and upper lip making it more impossible to swap out features since theyd have to be securely attached or molded in so Freddys lips or nose wouldnt fall off mid scene. This Freddy also has even more differences with his diamonds with some being broken off by the time the first episode started filming which only one was fixed with the very top on never being fixed , which makes it obvious this flute is also its very own puppet , meaning its highly unlikely any of the Hero Freddys used in the show were one of the same just with swapped features as each one has too many differences in proportions , functionality and diamond and hole placements.
Moving onto the Movie Hero Freddys ( image #2 and Video #2)
Out of any of the Hero Puppets to have any feature swapping it'd be #4 and #6 as altho aside from differently sized eyes they are genuinely nearly identical to each other and after hours upon hours of analysis I'm confident Hero Freddy #4 and #6 are one in the same and the only likely instance of the " Face parts can be swapped out and replaced " theory being likely.
However Hero Freddy #5 from the film is one i can 100% confirm is not one in the same with any of the previous Hero Freddys from both the Show and Movie , as the nose and eyes are very secured to the face and to the point where the eyes and nose have melted into the body of the flute in recent times as this one is the only Hero Freddy to have survived to our knowledge. He also have very different diamond placements and less diamonds overall compared to the other 2 Hero Freddys used in the film not to mention the far smaller flute holes on his body.
So In terms of how many Hero Puppet Freddys were made for both productions it'd be a total of 5. 3 from the TV Show and 2 from the Film.
Now regarding the Static Freddy props ( Image #3) this is where it got a lil bit harder but i think i got close to identifying them all. I also grouped the TV Show and Movie Static props together since some are shared between the productions most likely cause they aged better compared to the Hero Flutes which were prob already badly damaged and unscreenworthy by the time the Movie was being filmed hence why new Hero Freddys were made.
Static #1 is one that is very distinct and different from the others as this one lacks a nose which can be seen as early as the Intro Sequence. aside from that hes very on model with Hero Freddy #2. Hes also very stiff and sturdy.
Static #2 is prob the most accurate to the Hero Freddy #2 and one of the most on model , he is also more noticeably flexible compared to some other static Freddys.
Static #3 is Very off model and its most notable feature is the large forehead which is cause by the all flutes features such as diamonds and holes being placed lower than usual. Not used often but can be seen in several shots from both the TV show and Movie , Hes also very stiff and sturdy.
Static #4 is one that is used in a few shots but is most prominently seen in several promotional photos taken to advertise the show. He has a very flat nose and is another one that is flexible , this is also the flute used for when Pufnstuf hid him under his belly in Ep.1 " The Magic Path."
The squeezable Freddys is where i hit a bump cause after hours of cross referencing i couldn't come to a solid conclusion whether of not these 2 are the same or very similarly built props , as they both serve the same purpose of squeezing water out of Freddy. Some things are different while some things are very similar and since we dont get that good of a look at either its hard to say but at most there were 2 made and at least 1 if they are indeed the same.
Static #5 is one that is from what i could find not one that was used often as i could only find him being used clearly in Ep.7 " The Birthday Party." although we dont get a good look at him we can see that the top of the flute is more short and stumpy compared to the others and looks a tiny bit more on the angry side expression wise.
Mushroom Freddy is one of the easiest to identify as hes the only Freddy to be a pure green color with his formerly light gold accents turing a dark gold under any lighting , most likely done to make him look sickly. However the Green Freddy was only ever used in closeup shots as when the camera was far away from Freddy they took the mushroom cap and just placed it on some of the other Static Freddys , mainly Static #4.
Worm Freddy was only ever used in Ep.2 " The Wheely Bird" where Freddy crawls to Witchiepoo's Forest , The Puppet one used here is very distinct and only ever used for the crawling scene , while the posed static worm Freddy was used for one shot so we dont get a good look at him to confirm whether or not its a new flute or one of the other Static Freddys posed. So just like Squeezable Freddy at most there were 2 Worm Freddys made depending if you believe the posed Static Worm Freddy is its own thing.
Static #6 is easily the hardest to identify as he was only seen in 2 shots but the feature that makes this one stand out is Freddys coloring , Moreso the lack of color in some spots as it seems like this Freddy never got some of his lighter gold accented added to him and its most visible on the top ring around Freddys forehead where its the same color as the main body of the flute instead of the proper light gold.
The Movie Transformation Flutes are easy to identify and explain as they were more simple flutes made for when Freddy is in various stages of transforming into a magic flute , starting from a normal silver flute , to a golden flute with no face then to a flute with a face but no diamonds before using one of the main Freddys at the end of his transformation.
then last but not least the one thats given me a headache for years , the Static Freddy that was sold at auction in the 2000's. For the longest time i couldnt find a match but thanks to a fellow Krofft friend here on facebook ( who i wont name to protect their privacy unless they wanna reveal themselves. ) had told me this Freddy was never used on screen as allegedly it was one of the first ones made by the art department , kinda like a prototype and that's most likely why when it was auctioned off it was in such incredible shape as if this is true it was most likely never used on screen and never went through major wear and tear like most other Freddy the Flutes did.
So my conclusion on the possible number of Freddys made? Although we cant 100% confirm , based on my new research and all the comparisons on the low end there were around 13 static Freddys made between the Tv show and Movies Production or on the high end around 15 if you want to count the other Squeezable and Worm Freddys as their own thing. In terms of Hero Puppets no more than 5 of those were made based on my evidence and new research. But once again this is all speculation as theres no real way we can confirm how many were made 100%.
Thank you for reading and I hope everyone has a great day!!
Wait, Zhao Yunlan's gun is actually a...?!
(I've never claimed production meta for @guardianbingo before, but after the amount of time and research I put in on this, I feel like I've earned the "Zhao Yunlan's Gun or Whip" square, haha)
SO. GUYS.
Maybe this is something fandom as a whole figured out back in 2018, but I, who didn't hear of Guardian until 2020, did not realize until now and I need to share the knowledge because when I finally noticed, I made an unholy sound.
I've tracked down where Zhao Yunlan's gun came from -- or at least, what it most likely started as. Not the in-universe dark-energy-maybe-uses-bullets-maybe-doesn't-device-that's-best-not-thought-about-too-long, but rather the actual fake-steampunk-revolver-that-is-best-not-looked-at-too-long-because-it's-awful prop.
Y'know, this disaster:
I was actually working on a different Guardian Bingo fill and needed to look something up for continuity, so I'd flipped through a couple of episodes at super high speed trying to find a scene. As luck would have it, one of my skips forward happened to land on the scene I screencapped above, when ZYL confronts Zhang Shi.
Normally we don't get this clear (or this stationary) a shot of the godawful gun prop. I'd assumed all along they had just taken a plastic gun, glued some extra bits and bobs on it to make it look fancy, and hit it with some dry brushing (fun fact: you can watch the paint flake throughout the series; check out the top of the barrel and the side of the cylinder in the above screenshot!) to make it look #steampunk like the abandoned aesthetic of 25% of the show (as I've said before, I have theories about what happened in preproduction, but that's another post). This sort of thing is exactly what I've done for cheap cosplay weapons or background props for film work that aren't going to be seen at HD detail range.
Anyway, since the detail showed up better here than in other shots, I paused the video to look at the random screws and hex bolts (why??) they'd glued on it, since I recalled that I had the aforementioned gun/whip bingo square to fill.
That's when I noticed a detail that had eluded me before: An inverted V shape at the bottom of the grip.
Only looking more closely, that's not an inverted V. It's a symbol that I've seen a whole series of variations of over the past 15+ years... every time there's a new installment of the Assassin's Creed video game series:
So I started hunting. The principal weapons in each game turned up no matches, but eventually I found a gun that looks almost exactly like ZYL's:
It's not a perfect replica, but the details are certainly all there: The stylized logo; the leaves and swirls on the grip; the feathers up the back; even the Victorian scrollwork beneath the barrel.
Now, what's really interesting is that this gun isn't actually from the AC game series. It's part of an elaborate fan project by artist David Paget that started as a class assignment back in 2014. Even though it gathered a bit of steam in the AC fandom and generated a couple of forum role-play groups, OCs and the like, nothing about this artwork was ever connected to a real Assassin's Creed title. So why would there be a physical version of a gun that was only someone's fanart?
This is where the smoking gun (*rimshot*) goes missing, because I can't prove any of this, and it's been long enough that digging through the archives of the internet to find answers is going to take way more time than I can afford to spend on a project I'm not getting paid for. But there are two likely possibilities:
Scenario A: Some employee in a toy factory somewhere in China got told, "This Assassin's Creed franchise is really big, so we need to be producing replicas from those games to sell. Work up some designs." So the employee Googles "assassin's creed gun," finds David Paget's very professional-looking art, and whips up a replica to mass-injection-mold without realizing it's not actually from a game. Later, someone on the cash-strapped Guardian production team needs a gun to mod, and finds a cheap toy revolver on clearance after several years of sitting in storage because there was little demand for a replica of a gun that was never in a game. They buy several, glue hex bolts on the cylinder for reasons unknown, and poof! Instant pseudo-steampunk!
Scenario B: Other fans were involved in the design. Someone did build a 3D model of David Paget's design that's still available on Sketchfab (screenshot below), and it's not unreasonable to assume that other fans could have thought it looked cool and built 3D printable models. Later, someone on the cash-strapped Guardian production team needs a gun to mod, and acquires the 3D print file of one of those models from the interwebs. They mod the file a bit, print some, glue hex bolts on the cylinder for reasons unknown, and poof! Instant pseudo-steampunk!
Personally, I find Scenario A far more likely than Scenario B, for two reasons: First, the hero prop looks more injection molded than 3D printed, especially given the technical state of 3D printing back in 2017-8. And second... Budget-challenged dramas do have a history of picking up bulk video game replicas and using them as cheap props. I made a post back in 2019 about the WoW Horde shields we spotted in a different drama...
Anyway, no firm answers about the source of the hero prop -- the world may never know! -- but we have now confirmed that in some alternate universe (possibly one of the first eighty?), Zhao Yunlan and/or Zhao Xinci is an Assassin.
Wait, wait, wait... *recalls mechanics of how the whole Assassin's Creed frame story is supposed to work* Uh... so... who wants to write a genetic memory explanation for the whole Kunlun -> [lots of lifetimes] -> Zhao Yunlan thing?
.
(I did actually check the catalogue of a friend of mine who makes replicas of props from various media franchises to see if he'd done a commission of the David Paget design, since a surprising number of his custom pieces actually do end up on film and television, but while he has a gorgeous replica of a revolver that actually appears in an AC game, it appears he has not done the Zhao Yunlan gun. I didn't really think it likely, since he's in the U.S., but you never know.)
I found this image of the Peter Sam prop on twitter
Did his funnel break off?
I am enjoying the poster behind Hook for 3 reasons:
1) it's behind Hook
2) Arthur Rackham was a famous book illustrator; who illustrated, amongst other famous fairytales, "Peter Pan in Kensington Gardens".
3) Jack Rackham was a real-life pirate from the golden age of Piracy
Love it when shows are clever with their props!
Did anyone else notice that Tom was just pushing whip cream around with a spork?
I thought it was a creative but funny way to make it so him and Owen were “eating” the pie during takes.
I couldn’t stop watching him play with it. Just pushing it around like a kid not wanting to finish their dinner.
I almost thought the pie was fake until Owen took a chunk out of it and put it in his mouth.
I hope if that was real it didn’t taste bad after being out on a hot set. If fake, I hope he spit it out fast or wasn’t something that’d hurt him.
Still a creative funny thing to watch when you know they don’t want to keep having the actors mouths full during takes and having them have to finish bites or take more bites for continuity.
Very likely why Tom just played with it instead of taking bites most of the time.
When you watch it again, just watch the pies.