Above and Beyond

Not all travel is done in the traditional physical sense. When travel restrictions, work requirements, or other impediments to travel get in the way, imagination can still take you anywhere. Where people today might go somewhere just for an iconic photograph, and photoshopping it to match what was in their minds, I prefer things I can touch and feel. Done right, a good prop does more than make a photograph look better; it can become a conversation piece, something that can easily draw in the people around you and break the social ice.

I’ve done 3 such projects. Well 2, really. The blue police box from the British TV show Doctor Who, the TARDIS, was never completed. It started strong, however, with every minute detail replicated, and even custom circuitry for accurate lights and sound.

As the build progressed, I could see the finished piece in my head, and I imagined the photos and videos I would make with it. But while the fictional TARDIS could travel anywhere in time and space, mine was too large, heavy, and bulky to move easily. Despite my best efforts to make it break down for transport, it was doomed to failure and, to the dismay of my nerdy friends at the time, I eventually abandoned it.

The next project however, an homage to the iconic Jeep from Jurassic Park, was a roaring success (pun intended). I worked meticulously to strip my Jeep down and rebuild it as a replica of the one from the film, turning my garage into a paint booth in the process. The Jeep had one key advantage over the TARDIS: Jeeps were made to go from A to B, regardless of the terrain. Transporting it wouldn’t be an issue.

The Hawaiian film industry is a tight knit group. Everyone seems to know everyone, and shortly after moving to Honolulu, I became friends with someone who worked at the ranch where several of the Jurassic films were made. Using my Jeep as an introduction, I was let in to visit the actual filming locations. Fiction became real.

The Jeep, while not perfect, was still iconic enough to spark the imagination of those who saw it. On more than one occasion, I caught people taking pictures with it and, when a small team produced a short military-based fan-film, the production team reached out to me for inclusion.

I no longer have the Jeep, but I’ve now finished a new movie prop, a replica of Luke Skywalker’s lightsaber from The Empire Strikes Back, complete with lights and motion-based sounds. Although it’s too new to be used for anything more than a couple of lightsaber battles with my son, it has the same instant recognition as the Jeep, and a similar feel of being transported to a fantastical world, one far, far away.

Three projects, each with their own level of completeness, yet none have really been a failure. One may have been abandoned uncompleted, another retired, and one just getting started, but each project has pushed me to practice a new skill, whether it’s woodworking, auto painting, or soldering small electronics. Each project has caused me to spend countless hours researching the smallest details, from lock brands, to paint matching, to rivet placement. Each project has deepened my connections with friends, family, and even strangers on the street. And each project has taken me, for however briefly, somewhere else with the same exhilarative feel as an international flight. None have been easy, or cheap, or quick, but going above and beyond the simple path has been consistently enjoyable.