Alien Invasion Themed Electronics Store (Closed)
Burbank, California
We've seen this UFO crash-damaged retail styling before. A number of chain stores have made themed motifs part of their destination brand -- grandiose architecture and props, but nothing that will get in the way of inventory and customer flow. Fry's Electronics applies a different fantasy or history concept to each warehouse store location, with varying degrees of budget, architecture and special effects commitment.
The Alien Invasion decor in their Burbank location is better than we expected, an homage to paranoid 1950s sci-fi films. Remember, the most intense paper plate UFO battles in Ed Wood's Plan 9 from Outer Space (1959) occurred right here, over Burbank and Hollywood. Criswell's grave is only minutes away!
The entrance saucer crackup extends into Fry's lobby, where little aliens in bell jar-topped pressure suits cling to the walls, scaring the citizenry at gas pumps and a diner, and duking it out with the U.S. Army. A jeep has been sliced in half by a melting plasma beam.
Walk to the back center of the store, where all the flat screen TVs sit on army transports, and you'll find another saucer, a silvery disk that might be over 100 ft. wide. The spacecraft is meant to evoke the sleek emissary ship in The Day The Earth Stood Still (1951), made apparent by the presence of Gort the robot carrying an unconscious woman dummy. Gort stands near the ship entrance, which leads into the Presentation Room for awesome home theater.
Though no one in Fry's is depicted as dead, the faces of most of the store dummies in the invasion scenes are hideously contorted. Don't miss that.
We couldn't tell if the particular alien infestations were relevant to the store departments they appear in, but every area seems to get a monster and a hapless wannabe savior. We spotted a giant octopus, a pair of jet fighters on a strafing run, and many enormous red atomic ants. In the large appliance department, the overhead mutants are totally ignored.
Ultimately this is a retail store hoping to hook up visitors with the latest gadgets, but in many ways the experience holds its own against "science fiction" museums that charge admission.