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Even the most skeptical among us will find it hard not to be impressed with the immersive experience served at the first-ever Fan Fest Nights at Universal Studios Hollywood. Headlined by a trifecta of huge IPs, including Star Trek and Dungeons and Dragons, the jewel in the crown when it comes to execution is Back to the Future, reimagined and brought to life in a whole new way as Destination Hill Valley. However, like Marty McFly’s mission in the movie, things could have turned out very differently.
“The script was rejected over 40 times,” recalls Back to the Future co-writer and producer Bob Gale on the Fan Fest Nights red carpet. “We didn’t know it was going to be a hit, and if we hadn’t recast Eric Stoltz and put Michael J. Fox as the lead in the movie, it might not have been. The difference between success and failure is right on the edge of a razor blade.”
Back to the Future was released 40 years ago this summer and went on to gross $388.8 million against a $19 million budget and was the highest-grossing film of 1985 worldwide. It’s being released in movie theaters later this year. In the meantime, Destination Hill Valley at Fan Fest Nights invites guests to time travel back to 1955 to experience a celebratory recreation of Courthouse Square in the space where it was first created: the backlot at Universal Studios Hollywood. Among the elements are a complete recreation of the Enchantment Under the Sea prom and an environmental recreation of the classic film’s epic finale involving the DeLorean getting Marty home.
“We had no idea what Back to the Future was going to become because, at the time, people didn’t want to make that movie,” Gale continues. “It’s a time travel movie, and they were saying that time travel movies don’t make any money. That was a true statement in the early 1980s. Bob Zemeckis has said many times that if we had known it was going to be so successful and that there’d be two sequels, we would have never put Jennifer in the car at the end of the first film because when we sat down to do part two, we said, ‘Oh, what are we going to do about Jennifer?'”
‘Back To The Future’ And ‘Star Trek’ Find New Frontiers
The 1985 sci-fi classic continues to evolve and wow fans, and Back to the Future: Destination Hill Valley is no exception. The original film became a pop culture phenomenon and spawned a multimedia franchise, including theme park rides, an animated television series, and an award-winning stage musical that premiered in 2020.
“Back to the Future, the first movie, is the gold standard, but the musical exceeded all of our expectations,” Gale enthuses. “We just opened it in Tokyo, and I was over there to see it in Japanese. It has a Japanese cast, and the audience goes crazy. It doesn’t get much better than that.”
Star Trek: Red Alert, another huge draw for those who want to experience their fandom in a way similar to how horror fans do with Universal Studios’ annual Halloween Horror Nights, takes guests into the heart of the franchise where guests embark on an out-of-this-world adventure aboard the legendary starship U.S.S. Enterprise-D as a mysterious entity wreaks havoc through the ship’s systems. Fan Fest Nights runs select nights through Sunday, May 18, 2025.
The Fan Fest Nights red carpet brought out a galaxy of stars from the beloved Star Trek franchise, including Star Trek: The Next Generation’s Wil Wheaton and LeVar Burton, who also starred in Star Trek: Picard, his daughter Mica and their Picard co-star Michelle Hurd, Deep Space Nine‘s Nana Visitor and Star Trek: Lower Decks voice actors Tawny Newsome, Eugene Cordero and Jerry O’Connell.
“A lot of people are not prepared,” Wheaton explains as we discuss the importance of Star Trek to fans and the responsibility that comes with being part of that world. “They just don’t know what to expect. I was fortunate when I was a kid because George Takei prepared me. He told me this means so much more than just TV if you want it to be, and he inspired me to be one of the people who wants to protect Star Trek and nurture it, care for it, and carry the torch of what Star Trek is really about.”
“The folks that are on Star Trek shows now, I’ve been watching them like, I’m like, ‘Who am I going to be able to hand the torch to? Who’s going to get it? I have a person in mind. I don’t know if they want it, but I won’t tell you who it is.”
Wheaton, also known for Stand by Me, The Big Bang Theory, and Toy Soldiers, continued, “I had a great conversation with Jack Quaid, and I said, ‘There is a day in your future. It hasn’t happened. There’s a day in your future where suddenly, you realize how big it is, and you realize what it means and what it means to people, and how valuable that is.’ About a year later, I saw him at an unrelated thing, and he came out and grabbed me. He was like, ‘What you told me would happen has happened. I was at a Star Trek convention, and they came up and were so excited, and I was ready for it because you had prepared me.’ People care about it the way they do because Star Trek has been relentlessly optimistic through some of the absolute worst times in world history.”
LeVar Burton, who reprised his Star Trek: The Next Generation role as Geordi La Forge in Picard, adds, “Becoming part of this universe was a big deal to me because I was a huge Star Trek fan. We watched the original series in my house when I was a kid in the 60s and early 70s. For me and our cast, it was great to give that speech to every succeeding cast. When Deep Space Nine came on the air, we had that conversation with Nana and that group, then with the Voyager cast, Enterprise, and so on. It’s a tradition.”
Fan Fest Nights And ‘Star Trek’ Work To Create Better Experiences
Burton’s daughter Mica, who also stars in Star Trek: Picard, interjects, “Michelle Hurd gave us the speech on Picard. I listened to things my Dad said, but it was a big deal coming from Michelle, and it was on the day a lot of us wrapped filming. I’m so glad that somebody got it on video somewhere because I was a mess. I was crying. Michelle was crying. It’s a beautiful moment. I wasn’t expecting it. I didn’t know this was a tradition, but I will remember it for the rest of my life.” The father and daughter, who have a close relationship, would drive to the Star Trek: Picard set together every day and watch each other work.
The power of Star Trek is echoed by Hurd, also known for another huge IP, Law and Order.
“Sci-fi has a fantastic way to write really strong, interesting characters for women and for women of color,” she says. “There’s something about that that I never realized before. I love Law and Order, the stories ripped from the headlines, and telling those stories. I’m a native New Yorker, so it really speaks to me. Those things are important because they also spotlight those issues that are happening. Still, sci-fi and Star Trek explicitly enable women to have a strong voice, a presence, and a purpose, and we move the stories forward, not just set dressing. Law and Order tackles important stories and topics; I didn’t realize that under the awning of sci-fi, we get to tell those same stories, but people don’t realize that we’re talking about immigration, racism, and all the other isms. That’s powerful and necessary.”
LeVar Burton is particularly grateful that Star Trek: Red Alert features a screen-used version of the bridge of the Enterprise-D seen on Picard.
“I’m excited to see it,” he confirms. “We felt very much at home on that bridge when we were on it. It’s a very emotional moment in the series, in season three, when it is revealed. For fans of The Next Generation, that ship is home.”
With Star Trek, Back to the Future, Dungeons and Dragons, One Piece, and Jujutsu Kaisen all represented in the inaugural Fan Fest Nights, is there another classic IP any of the VIP guests would like to see represented at future events? Star Trek: Lower Decks’ Jerry O’Connell doesn’t hesitate.
“Sliders,” the Scream 2, Kangaroo Jack, and Stand by Me actor says, “My wife, Rebecca Romijn, is also in Starfleet, goes to conventions semi-often, and I go with her. I have a little valise and collect the money and stuff, but many people bring stuff for me to sign from Sliders. It’s a science fiction show I did in the 1990s. I don’t talk about it because I mentioned it to my agent about six years ago and said, ‘Hey, I was in a show called Sliders,’ and my agent went, ‘Dude, I don’t know what you’re talking about,’ and I was embarrassed. Everyone brings these things for me to sign, and I’m just the money guy at a convention for my wife, but they always bring Sliders stuff. I can tell you here at Fan Fest Nights that I’m actively trying to reboot Sliders. It hasn’t happened yet. No one has returned my call, but outgoing calls are happening.”
