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How it all got started.
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 garrage sales and flea markets. By
the 25th anaversary 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 convnetions (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 Convnetions, exibits, and movies. By the third year I was rceiving 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 inteview a few authors both at book signings in local bookstores
and in the studio. I met a few stars at convnetions 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.
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