School Lost Episode 2 - Part 1 of 7

In a galaxy far far away... oh never mind. LONG before there were fan films, heck long before there were camcorders, there was School Lost. This may not be THE oldest fan film, but it's got to be ONE of the oldest.

School Lost was a labor of love of the class of 1978 of Ward Melville High School, Setauket NY. Video taped in stunning Black and White over a period of 3 years in our spare time, after school and during summer vacations, on a shoe string budget from our own pockets. It's a satirical poke at the science fiction genre, with obvious references to Star Trek, Star Wars, Lost in Space, Space 1999, Andromeda Strain and even Monty Python.

SYNOPSIS: Ward Melville High School is blasted into space by a physics experiment in the science lab gone wrong. Quick thinking by the students (and lots of duct tape to seal the windows) has converted the school into a make-shift spacecraft (now dubbed the USS Melville).

The Melville is now lost in space, searching for a new world to settle on. However, they are being chased across the galaxy by their nemesis Leer, a renegade substitute teacher who chases them in a spacecraft shaped like a Volkswagen Beatle. Leer and his fanatical followers, the Leeralien "Seppies" are intent on bringing the students of the Melville back to Earth to force them to join his alternative education program SEP (Student Enrichment Program).

This first segment is the opening title sequence and teaser.

Category:

Comedy

Tags:

• star
• trek
• wars
• science
• fiction
• sci
• fi
• lost
• in
• space
• cheesy
• fan
• film
• homage
• satire

[FishHead33]

Oh yes, Star Lost was definitely an influence. You mean there's someone else who remembers Star Lost? That was running on PBS in New York around the time we were filming this. Terrible production values, but great plot.

[FishHead33]

Yup. About 1/3 of the video was shot in 1/2" reel-to-reel U-matic (a big console Sony deck, and a "portable" Panasonic deck). In late 1977 our school purchased a 3/4" cassette video recorder and the rest was recorded on that. The U-matic stuff is easy to spot - it's got that weavy left and right unstable sync that was common with those decks.

[centralscrutinizer40]

Looks absolutely hillarious!

[cavemandan]

osorio and ward pond..sheesh so this is what you guys did when i moved 12th grade?

dan setton here .... lol,,,good stuff...timeless

[echoes1971]

I am probably enjoying this clip much more than most people would consider to be healthy. That said, is there any chance the title "School Lost" is intended to be a play on the series "Star Lost"?

[cowshrptrn]

this is really cool! i go to ward melville now, and i can recognize places in this video. Thanks a bunch for uploading it onto youtube!

[GAndreiev]

Lt. Bootface here! It's great to see this classic saga earn get some slots on youtube. I'm amazed at how well it holds up after all these years. It's still hilarious to this very day. Excellent!!!!

[Creatively21]

Science Officer "thats's D'Alimonte" here sir! Glad to see quality video back on the airwaves! (interwaves??) Were we the first YouTube? Guess it would have been the UsTube!

Umm, did we ever get all the equipment back to everyone we borrowed it from?? Like the Library, AV, Auditorium, Computer Room, custodians room, Leer (ah, he won't notice), Electronic Shop, Photo Class, Mr Beautli's car (ooo, he wasn't supposed to know that!), Stony Brook Univ., Grumman, NASA, the Illuminati... ;-)

[VirtualVikki]

Was this taped on U-Matic tape by any chance? Sorta reminds me of that old reel to reel videotape.