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SCI FI VISIONS ©, DONALD SPIX COMPUTER GRAPHICS DESIGNS ©, VIVID EVOLUTION ©, and
SCI FI VISIONS © are registered trademarks of the Castleberry family © and
Donald Spix CGD
IN THE WORDS OF JOE CASTLEBERRY.
I've been hooked on Science Fiction since
reading "Have Space Suit Will Travel" by Robert Heinlein back in the
60's. And of course TV had "The Twilight Zone" and "The Outer Limits"
and "Star Trek" and late Saturday night reruns of all the horror and
Sci-Fi classics from the 40's and 50's. Don't forget the movies like
"War of the Worlds", The "7th voyage of Sinbad", and "Godzilla".
Fast forward to the mid 80's. I attended my first Sci-Fi convention in
Palo Alto California and decided to start selling "collectables" at the
conventions myself. I created Pegasus Games and Hobbies and sold stuff
like pre-built Star Trek models, resin hand phasers, medical scanners,
Agonizers (Mirror, Mirror) and even Sci-Fi toys I found at garage sales
and flea markets. By the 25th anniversary of Star Trek, Paramount
finally realized there was a fan base out there willing to buy
merchandise and started "Licensing" products. This put an end to many
fan produced items an a lot of small mom and pop businesses quit. The
term "Collectable" became a premium concept and unscrupulous dealers
began buying up items produced in "limited" quantities and tripling the
prices at conventions (the only place you could find them then).
One evening I came across a show on the Discovery channel about
Community Access Television. It showed how people all over the country
with little or no background in TV could have their own Television shows
on the Cable companies community access channels. The government said
the Cable companies HAD to provide this to the communities free of
charge. What a concept. A great idea came to me then about turning my
Sci-Fi hobby into a TV show, and Sci-Fi Visions was born.
The first show aired October 1991. and by the end of the first 12 months
of the show, I had started acquiring press passes for myself and the SFV
crew to Conventions, exhibits, and movies. By the third year I was
receiving Electronic Press Kits from most of the major movie studios,
being invited to Press Junkets in Beverly Hills, getting free first
print books from TOR Books and even free toys from Trend Masters. I used
all the material on the show as segments and props, doing reviews of
various items, and even giving away a few here and there. I managed to
interview a few authors both at book signings in local bookstores and in
the studio. I met a few stars at conventions and even got Bob May and
Anthony Daniels to come to the studio. I ran segments featuring quite a
number of local celebrities from Live Role Playing groups, game
creators, and a magician.