Sean Wright-Anderson and Nancy Bauer were among a team at the multimedia company Voyager, which created the enhanced version of This is Spinal Tap for CD-ROM and laser disc in 1994. Both are now out of print but may be available via Amazon or eBay. Nancy was editorial coordinator for the CD-ROM and Sean produced the CD-ROM and laser disc.

What was your reaction when you were given the assignment to work with the Spinal Tap project?
Nancy: I was ecstatic. It's one of my favorite movies, and I've always found it amazing how much people know about the band. I'd seen it probably three times before production began, and then I watched it at least 50 times as I made a transcription. By the end, I was leaning toward Derek as my favorite band member.
Sean: I wasn't a serious fan of the movie, and I never expected to know as much as I know now. I've had their soundtrack CD for many years and it was fun to go back and listen to it. A friend of mine and I went on a trip once and listened to it nonstop.

Sean, how did the project begin?
It started as a laser disc, then it was turned into a CD-ROM after most of the production on the laser disc was done. We received some material from Karen Murphy, the film's producer, and we had about four-and-a-half hours of outtakes on three-quarter-inch tape. A lot of scenes didn't work, so we chose about an hour and 20 minutes for the laser disc and an hour for the CD-ROM.
The script and still material came from the director, Marty DiBergi, and a lot of the promotional material came from Moke, who was the chief roadie during the 1982 tour. We thought about constructing another movie from the deleted scenes, but there were rumors that DiBergi was considering doing that, so we just labeled them as "deleted scenes." A lot of producing is getting the rights to use material. Everything went smoothly, but it was messy with the band. This movie made them famous but they made no money from it.

Nancy, your job was to handle all the text elements of the CD-ROM, such as the "find" function?
Even now I look and there are other little things that we could have put in. For instance, I wanted to chronicle all of Nigel's shirts, but then I thought, God, I'd have to do the different colors of Spandex too. At some point, you have to say no.

Have you ever met the band?
Nancy: I didn't, and I was very bummed about that. I like their music, and my appreciation of the brilliance of their lyrics grew as I learned more of them, the way they rhyme and stuff.
Sean: I met them when I conducted the interview for the commentary track. The session lasted about three-and-a-half hours, plus another hour of straight questions and answers, and we edited it down to about 90 minutes. I also interviewed DiBergi.

What's your favorite scene?
Nancy: It has to be Jeanine saying, "I've told them a hundred times: put Spinal Tap first and Puppet Show last." The one which I never heard until about my fifth viewing was when Ian tells Bobbi Flekman, "You should have seen what they wanted to put on the cover" and then adds, "It wasn't a glove."
Sean: My favorite is the deleted scene in which Tommy Pishedda says, "Now, that's music" after serenading the boys with a Frank Sinatra tune. Then he passes out.

Have you learned anything from your experiences with Tap? Any life lessons?
Nancy: The Viv Savage thing, "Have a good time, all the time." That's the wisdom of Spinal Tap.
Sean: No. But that's me playing the guitar in the animation sequences that introduce each section of the laser disc and CD-ROM.