The DeLorean Time Machine, restored to its full glory.
Another great shot of the fully-restored DeLorean Time Machine.
Last Sunday, we were fortunate enough to have Steve Concotelli on the show, producer of the documentary, OUTATIME: Saving The DeLorean Time Machine. Steve has been making award-winning television for over 20 years now, and has helped create over 500 hours of television with partners including Universal Studios, Paramount Pictures, Discovery Channel, TruTV, CMT, Spike, and G4. OUTATIME is a special feature on the 30th Anniversary Edition of the Back To The Future Trilogy Blu-ray (originally released as, “Outatime: Restoring The DeLorean”), though will shortly be released as a full-length documentary too.
Steve Concotelli, standing proudly by the restored DeLorean.
You wouldn’t think it, but the story really is quite an impressive one. Starting off somewhat sad, given the state of the car at the time, the movie documents the intricate and arduous year-long process of restoring the DeLorean to its full former glory (and even beyond). What exactly was there to restore, you say? Well, apparently a lot. Not only was the car subjected to general wear-and-tear over the years from sitting out in the heat and rain (the DeLorean had been on display on the Universal Studio Tour for over twenty years), but fans would also routinely make themselves a little BTTF momento by taking a piece of the car with them. Though not exactly great “fan” behaviour, it turns out that many of those people ended up being more loyal than expected: Bob Gale put out an announcement requesting that fans return their “souvernirs” and, surprisingly, a number of people did in fact step forward and return various DeLorean parts, including the original Flux Capacitor. All was not lost.
The full OUTATIME team.
The DeLorean, looking a little worse for wear...
Thus, Bob Gale, Universal Studios, and a team of ridiculously dedicated men set about restoring the DeLorean, and they didn’t stop until they were done. As Steve himself puts it, “What people don’t realise is that many of the people on the [restoration] team had full time jobs […] these guys would go to their day jobs, and then after work at 6pm drive out to the car, work all night long - all night long Friday, work all day Saturday, and work all day Sunday, and then drive straight into work Monday morning and go back to their office jobs. It was a level of dedication I have never seen anybody else ever do.”
The DeLorean Time Machine, on display at Universal Studios on their Studio Tour, Los Angeles.
The DeLorean Time Machine, looking a little less-than-glorious...
For all you hardcore fans out there, keep an eye out on the OUTATIME website for its upcoming release-date, as well as the exclusive opportunity to pre-order it. Be sure to check out their facebook page too!
“Bob [Gale, co-writer/co-producer of BTTF] himself, when he saw the car for the first time, he said it looked better than it did when they were shooting out of the mall in 1984.”
- Steve Concotelli, interview extract.
Steve Concotelli’s Top 5 Sci-Fi Movies
1. Back to the Future (1985)
2. Ghostbusters (1984)
3. It's A Wonderful Life (1946)
4. Aliens (1986)
5. Fifth Element (1997)
Honourable mention: Explorers (1985)
During the second hour of the show, we switched things up a little and spoke to Ben Hansen (Fact or Faked, UFOs Declassified), who happened to be on his way back from the Travis Walton Skyfire Summit. A momentous conference marking the 40th Anniversary of Mr. Walton’s abduction, the event saw people revisiting the site where he disappeared, as well as get the opportunity to listen to some of the people that were involved in the case all those 40 years ago – the police officer that met Travis the night when he reappeared was there, as well as the lead investigator who covered the case. Other guests included Mike Rogers, John Goulette, Steve Pierce, and, of course, Travis himself.
Apart from the Skyfire Summit, we discussed some of the recent developments in the UFO world, including the recent UFO scare just off the West Coast by Los Angeles. Was it really a missile, or might it have been something else altogether? For more exploration on this topic, just hit play below!
Don’t forget to support Ben by checking out the brand new, UFOs: Declassified on the Smithsonian Channel, which he helped both create as well as host. Follow him on social media via Twitter and Facebook.
Over and out!
