Universal Studios Tour, an excursion behind-the-scenes through Hollywood's biggest and busiest movie and television studio, is celebrating it's 20th birthday this July. The Tour, which started modestly by giving tow tours daily to less than 200 people, is today California's third-most popular attraction.

In 1983, more than 3.5 million guests are anticipated to visit the 420-acre entertainment complex, which produces more prime-time television series and movies and more feature films that any other studio in the world.

To help celebrate the Tour's 20th year in operation, Universal creative and special effects experts are devising the Tour's most complex and rousing attraction to date, "The Adventures of Conan", a sword and sorcery spectacular.

Insprired by the popular 1982 Universal Pictures release Conan the Barbarian, the new Tour show will be a $3.75 million production featuring state of the art, never before seen laser and pyrotechnic special effects, combined with the skills and computer-coordinated animated characters.

The "Adventures of Conan" production team led by tour vice- president Peter Alexander and a staff of top Hollywood special effects and dramatic consultants, recently announced that the show will debut June 18. They are currently perfecting and safety testing the myriad of delicate special effects, including an 18-foot tall, fire-breathing dragon that shoots twin lasers from its eyes.

The dragon, controlled by a series of sensitive computers, appears during the climax of the show. According to Alexander, the special effects contained in the dragon - when combined with the show's magical illusions, other lasers, live actors and animated characters - is a first in live theatre, anywhere.

"The Adventures of Conan" is located in the heart of the Tour's Visitors Entertainment Center, site of three other live shows, two museums, exhibits, shops, food and refreshment stands and leisure-picnic areas.

The other live shows include the ever popular live action Western Stunt Show and Animal Actors Stage, where movie and television professionals reveal the tricks of the trade, and the all new "Screen Test Comedy Theatre", where visitors can test their dramatic and comedy talents in hilarious remakes of classic, time tested comedy scenes.

"Screen Test", which requires the services of 30 members of the audience to don costumes and act in eight separate scenes that are video taped, intercut with well known comedy sequences and then played back, is now being done exclusively with kids on weekend afternoons.
For these special shows, children under 15, but no adults, are chosen to assume the 30 roles - from bank teller to robbing desperados and from ill-fated lover to the Keystone Kops.

Visitors to the Entertainment Center can also look forward to an in-depth look at the history of animation, courtesy of Academy Award winner Walter Lantz, at the World of Woody Woodpecker Museum. And at the Tour's Movie Memorabilia Museum, guest get an up close look at cameras, costumes, props and film techniques that were used during the "pioneer days" of filmmaking.

During the 2 ½ hour guided part of the Tour, aboard a fleet of comfortable, new "SuperTrams", visitors drive past and through over 500 outdoor sets and facades used during the making of movies and television shows from the 1920's to the 1980's.

Sets used in such classics as All Quiet On The Western Front, Frankenstein, Spartacus, The Sting, To Kill A Mockingbird, Throughly Modern Millie, The Flower Drum Song, Phantom Of The Opera, My Little Chickadee and many others are easily visible from the "SuperTram" seats.

The guided tour also includes a number of "Close calls", courtesy of the Universal special effects department, including a meeting with the shark from Jaws, a Collapsing Bridge, Runaway Train, Flash Flood, Parting of the Red Sea, "Doomed Glacier" expedition and the "Battle of Galactica".

A new feature of the guided Tour, expressly for kids, is the "See E.T. & Win" game, inspired by Steven Spielberg's now classic top grossing film of all time, E.T. - The Extra Terrestrial.

During that Tour, with the aid of a free "see E. T. & Win" gamecard, kids are encouraged to locate well known props from the film, placed throughout the Tour route. After locating the props and filling out the card, kids can redeem the card for prizes at the "E.T. Redemption Center" in the Entertainment Center.

New things are also happening at another location on the guided Tour- the Special Effects Stage. Dedicated to giving Tour visitors in depth explanations of and the opportunities to recreate important movie effects. The Special Effects Stage is being updated to include effects used in E.T. - The Extra-Terrestrial.

1983 marks the first anniversary of two other important occasions at Universal. First, the Universal Amphitheatre, America's state of the art concert facility, is set for its second season since a major $22 million reconstruction project was completed last year.

Already booked for a 1983 "Summer of Superstars" are Frank Sinatra, Donna Summer, Diana Ross and Merle Haggard. Other major artists will be announced soon.

And this is the second year Universal Studios is the site of production for many of the highly rated Embassy Television shows, including One Day At A Time, Different Strokes, Gloria, Silver Spoons, and The Jeffersons. Tour visitors can pick up free tickets to live tapings of these shows in the Entertainment Center.

Things are beginning to take shape on the 420 acre complex in anticipation of the Los Angeles Olympics in 1984. To ease the traffic on the nearby Hollywood Freeway, Universal is constructing a new entrance / exit ramp from the freeway into the Tour / Amphitheatre parking complex.

MOVIE MAGIC - Universal Studios Tour has begun work on its new stage production "Conan Sword & Sorcery Spectacular", slated to open in mid-June, featuring the most extensive array of lasers, special effects and pyrotechnics to be demonstrated live in front of an audience anywhere. The $3.5 million production will replace the tour's "Count Dracula" show, which closed Jan. 31. "Conan Sword & Sorcery Spectacular" is highlighted by a climatic finale that pits Conan, the hero, verses an 18-foot tall firebreathing dragon, created by Universal Studios Tour special effects experts.