RDA Trivia

[Freckles]

@Anne
For your information:
FEDCON forbid filming. You are only allowed to take photos. That's because they always produce a DVD from the event. And want to sell it of course.

Great minds think alike

[KateR]

This is a trivia question that unfortunately I don't have the answer to, but maybe someone else can come up with it...

I was reminded of this by the discussion on another thread about RDA hang-gliding.

There were several MacGyver episodes, especially in the early seasons, that used footage from other movies or projects that Paramount owned the rights to, and then they tied it into the episode by dressing RDA and the location to match the footage. For example:

Thief of Budapest used footage from "The Italian Job" (1969) for the race scenes through the city.
Trumbo's World used footage from "The Naked Jungle" (1954) for the ant invasion.
Out in the Cold used footage from a skiing film called "Meteor" (1971) for some of the skiing sequences.

Eagles was another one of these, and years ago someone sent me the information about where that footage of the hang-gliding and the mountain climbing came from. I swear I saved the email, but I can't seem to find it, and so before I start the search again, I thought I'd ask if anyone else has stumbled upon this information.

As I recall it wasn't a major motion picture, but rather a smaller project that had something to do with Native American culture. Whatever it was, at about the same time the episode aired, there was a local furniture chain here in the NYC area (although it may have been national) that used the mountain climbing footage from the original source as part of an ad campaign ("we travel the world to find the best furniture," or something like that). I actually have a few of those commercials on video, and as I work my way through my collection, they will probably turn up.

In any case, the reason for Mac's outfit and red cap in that episode was so that he would match the footage that they were borrowing. Only certain closeups during the hang-gliding and mountain climbing scenes were actually RDA being shot for the episode.

Does anyone have any more information about that? I'd love to be able to turn up the title of that original footage again.

Kate

[tvero80]

No,sorry, I don't have any more information.

Thanks ,Kate ,you're our encyclopedia

[bftlovesRDA]

Thanks, Kate for that information! (No, I don't have any added facts about what you have discussed either).

That explains a lot about some of the questions I have had. Thanks again!

[cmbj67]

Thief of Budapest used footage from "The Italian Job" (1969) for the race scenes through the city.

In fact I thought: "It looks like Milan, not Budapest"

Only certain closeups during the hang-gliding and mountain climbing scenes were actually RDA being shot for the episode.

Thanks Kate.

[MacBeth]

There were several MacGyver episodes, especially in the early seasons, that used footage from other movies or projects that Paramount owned the rights to, and then they tied it into the episode by dressing RDA and the location to match the footage.

<snip>

Eagles was another one of these, and years ago someone sent me the information about where that footage of the hang-gliding and the mountain climbing came from. I swear I saved the email, but I can't seem to find it, and so before I start the search again, I thought I'd ask if anyone else has stumbled upon this information.

As I recall it wasn't a major motion picture, but rather a smaller project that had something to do with Native American culture. Whatever it was, at about the same time the episode aired, there was a local furniture chain here in the NYC area (although it may have been national) that used the mountain climbing footage from the original source as part of an ad campaign ("we travel the world to find the best furniture," or something like that). I actually have a few of those commercials on video, and as I work my way through my collection, they will probably turn up.

In any case, the reason for Mac's outfit and red cap in that episode was so that he would match the footage that they were borrowing. Only certain closeups during the hang-gliding and mountain climbing scenes were actually RDA being shot for the episode.

Wow, cool to know! I knew about Thief of Budapest and Trumbo's World, as well as Funeral in Berlin for the opening gambit to Deathlock. But I had no idea about Eagles!

What's funny is that, now that you've mentioned it, I have a weird sense of having seen some commercial footage along those lines . . . it's probably just déjà vu, though.

[PamK1950]

Kate,

In the mid 70's there was a film out called Sky Riders. It had a hang gliding scene, but I believe the plot was about an American woman and her children being kidnapped. The hang gliders were hired to rescue them. This may not be the one you're looking for, but I thought I'd throw it out there just in case.

Pam