On September 3, 1988, during an episode of Nickelodeon's "Total Panic", "Weird Al" Yankovic experienced the newly unveiled "Earthquake: The Big One" attraction on the Studio Tour at Universal Studios Hollywood. The Studio Tour tram at Universal Studios Hollywood rolls into Stage 50, famously dubbed "the world's only split-level soundstage." As the tram enters, a calm atmosphere prevails because the film crew is taking a lunch break—until the ground suddenly starts shaking. The Earthquake attraction is built to mimic a massive earthquake, rated 8.3 on the Richter scale, set inside a soundstage that resembles a San Francisco subway station. In this “hot set”—a film set that remains intact for future shoots—the experience features a variety of exciting effects. Guests encounter a gimbal that rocks the tram, a gasoline truck crashing through the ceiling, fire and spark effects generated by Tesla coils, a subway train derailing, and even a colossal 60,000-gallon water flood. Remarkably, t...