Universal Hartland was the visual effects house of Universal Studios Hollywood

Universal Studios Hollywood

Universal Studios Hollywood is a movie studio and theme park in the unincorporated Universal City community of Los Angeles County, California, United States. It is one of the oldest and most famous Hollywood movie studios still in use...

. The effects studio was in operation from 1978 to 1981. The studio was created as a means for Universal to enter the visual effects field that was growing larger as well as provide in-house effects creation for Battlestar Galactica

Battlestar Galactica (1978 TV series)

Battlestar Galactica is an American science fiction television series, created by Glen A. Larson. It starred Lorne Greene, Richard Hatch and Dirk Benedict and ran for one season in 1978–79. After cancellation, its story was continued in 1980 as Galactica 1980 with Adama, Lieutenant Boomer and...

and Buck Rogers in the 25th Century

Buck Rogers in the 25th Century (TV series)

Buck Rogers in the 25th Century is an American science fiction adventure television series produced by Universal Studios. The series ran for two seasons between 1979–1981, and the feature-length pilot episode for the series was released as a theatrical film several months before the series aired....

. Before the facility closed its doors in 1981 it had worked on four films, six television shows (two of which they did effects for the entire run of the show) some commercials and a few specialty projects, including the special model effects for the Horizons (Epcot attraction)

Horizons (Epcot attraction)

Horizons was the name of a dark ride attraction at Epcot , a theme park at Walt Disney World in Lake Buena Vista, Florida USA. Located on the eastern side of the "Future World" section of Epcot, the attraction used Disney's Omnimover conveyance system, which took guests past show scenes depicting...

 exhibit for Disney's Epcot Center.

History

Universal Hartland started in the Future General facilities in Marina Del Ray

Marina del Rey, California

-Demographics:-2010:The 2010 United States Census reported that Marina del Rey had a population of 8,866. The population density was 6,094.6 people per square mile...

. In August 1978, they moved to North Hollywood

North Hollywood, Los Angeles, California

North Hollywood is a district in the San Fernando Valley region of the city of Los Angeles, California, along the Tujunga Wash. It is bounded on the south by Moorpark Street and the Ventura Freeway, on the southwest by Burbank Blvd...

 and settled on Hartland Street (Hence Universal Hartland). It was at this time the effects studio began work on Buck Rogers and at the same time the Industrial Light & Magic crew that worked on Battlestar Galactica decided to move to Universal Hartland. For the next three years the studio would work on The Concorde ... Airport '79, Cheech & Chong's Next Movie

Cheech & Chong's Next Movie

Cheech & Chong's Next Movie is the second feature-length film by Cheech and Chong, released in 1980. It was directed by Tommy Chong.-Plot:...

, The Nude Bomb

The Nude Bomb

The Nude Bomb is a 1980 comedy film based on the television series Get Smart. It starred Don Adams as Maxwell Smart, Agent 86, and was directed by Clive Donner...

and model effects for Disney

The Walt Disney Company

The Walt Disney Company is the largest media conglomerate in the world in terms of revenue. Founded on October 16, 1923, by Walt and Roy Disney as the Disney Brothers Cartoon Studio, Walt Disney Productions established itself as a leader in the American animation industry before diversifying into...

, ABC

American Broadcasting Company

The American Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network. Created in 1943 from the former NBC Blue radio network, ABC is owned by The Walt Disney Company and is part of Disney-ABC Television Group. Its first broadcast on television was in 1948...

 and NASA

NASA

The National Aeronautics and Space Administration is the agency of the United States government that is responsible for the nation's civilian space program and for aeronautics and aerospace research...

.

Closure

Despite the body of work the studio had completed, the parent company Universal Studios became uninterested in the effects studio and the studio ceased production as an in-house production facility in 1981 and eventually closing permanently a few years later.

List of films

• Battlestar Galactica (TV Series)
• Buck Rogers in the 25th Century (Movie and TV Series)
• The Concorde ... Airport '79
• Cheech and Chong's Next Movie
• The Nude Bomb