Part 39: Boldly going where three films, a television series, and an animated series had all gone before.

I was first contacted about STAR TREK IV by James Cummins.  It was strange because, although we were still friends,  he had been disapproving of my professional decisions such as when I went to work for Stan Winston on ALIENS.  Not that he was working, in fact, it was quite the opposite.  Regardless of what IMDB says, James' contribution to ALIEN PREDATORS (as it was released) had been prior to HOUSE when the project had been called THE FALLING.  That means that over a year had passed since HOUSE and James hadn't taken or landed any work.  In his defense, he always had said that he wanted to write and direct his own films and was one of the first (to my knowledge) to face the stigma of the "Make Up Effects Artist Who Wants to Direct". While he was fighting for his opportunity, his money began to run out and he needed to find work.

I'm unclear on the details but enter Kirk Thatcher.  (It is difficult for me to write objectively about someone who is such a good friend, but I shall endeavor to do so.)  Kirk was (is) a very big personality.  A talented illustrator and designer in his own rite, Kirk had done some conceptual art pieces for HOUSE prior to James' arrival on that project.  I believe that prior business relationship was the catalyst that drove James to speak to Kirk (who was then assistant to director Leonard Nimoy) about submitting designs and bidding on STAR TREK IV.   Who could have foreseen that Jame's pursuit of the show would cost him a friendship?

James called me because he recalled an alien design I had done in New Orleans and was interested in reworking it. You might recall this (I can't remember if I posted this earlier...):

My Shrimp-Headed alien drawing.

I had already sculpted a maquette of the design...

I had finished up at Doug Beswick's, was looking for work and the thought of participating on a STAR TREK movie seemed to good to be true.  It would still be a few years before STAR TREK: THE NEXT GENERATION so all anyone knew was the classic crew and their exploits.  I agreed and James asked me to show up at his house on Saturday morning with the drawing in hand (no Internet or e-mail).

When I showed up to drop the drawing off, James then asked if I was interested in spending the day sketching alien concepts for him...for free.  Having no pressing plans so I agreed.  As we took our seats in James' home office, he gave me some guidelines.  Having met Leonard Nimoy earlier in the week, James now felt he had a grasp on what they were looking for.

He said that Mr. Nimoy had cited the major difference between STAR WARS and STAR TREK was that the latter dealt with alien cultures and civilizations and not just alien animals and creatures.  I pointed out to James that the alien illustration he held in his hand was basically a "Shrimp Guy" (okay, I'm cheating a little.  That is how Bill Sturgeon describes aliens built for the MEN IN BLACK series: ___________-guy; I just think it's funny).  James said that he felt the design was strong enough, that with his tweaking, would end up being one of the stronger concepts.  Whatever.  I was just happy that I could have the opportunity to work on a STAR TREK movie.
The rest of the day found me sketching a lot of "alien cultural beings" - think Ming and the denizens of Mongo rather than Jawas and Sand People.  James would look at a sketch and say "No!" (and discard it) or "Yes!" (and take it and redraw it in his style).  By the end of this crazy drawing session, I would say that James ended up with 20 or so designs, all done in his distinctive style.  Great!  Now just to show them to Mr. Nimoy and we start building! Right?

Wrong.

For whatever reason, James was not awarded the show.  Instead, it went to  Richard Snell, a bay area make up effects artist that James had hired on HOUSE! (See:The Making of House)

I first met Richard Snell when he showed up with sculptor Tony McVey at James' house in Glendale, California  to show their portfolios to be hired on HOUSE.  I liked Richard from the beginning.  I recall James not being as enamored with Richard as he was with Tony, but Richard, bless him, just kept selling and selling.  He started with his sculptures, then his make ups, then his wigs, then the teeth he had made, and finally the soft painted effects lenses he manufactured himself.  At this time, most effects lenses were HARD and a bitch to deal with.  Needless to say, Richard got the job, made lenses and hair pieces for HOUSE but I recall him being very frustrated with his treatment.  By now, I'm sure that most of you know that sometimes in life, people just don't "click" and I think that is the way it was between James and Richard.

So, the spiral downward of my friendship with James started with a call from Richard offering me a position on STAR TREK IV.  He asked my rate, I told him, and without hesitation, hired me on the spot.  As a courtesy, I called James and told him I was going to work for Richard on STAR TREK.

"Betrayal" was the word he used a lot in our conversation. I suppose it was a matter of perspective. I needed to work.  I was offered a job.  James' designs were rejected. Richard was going to pay my rate.  I couldn't understand how this warranted "betrayal".  A job was a job after all.  I didn't get angry when I was asked to "donate" a day and countless drawings so that James could redraw them and represent them as his ideas. It was a job.  Nothing personal.  Or so I thought.  Changing tactics, James then told me that he might have something going soon for a television show.  I might have still been green but I knew the difference between a couple of weeks of work versus a month or so of work.  I told him that I had committed to Richard and it would be unprofessional to quit before I started.  Poof!  Our friendship vanished.

This was a major turning point in my life.  I had tried to reason with James, but he was attempting to manipulate me with guilt (being raised Catholic, that was an easy thing to do). We had been friends by that point for 6 years.  He had been VERY generous with Tracy and I, but I felt that this was crossing the line.  To my knowledge, James was not the victim of some cabal, it was business and for him to ask me to not take work as a symbol of "loyalty" was not the sign of a true friend.  He hadn't worked for OVER A YEAR!  I couldn't afford that kind of a break!  So, unfortunately we parted company.

Richard didn't have a permanent shop.  In fact, I believe that this was the first show that he was keying on his own.  He rented a small industrial unit off of Willis Street (how do I remember that? Willis O'Brien of course) in Van Nuys.  It was a crappy area of town, but good enough for the needs of the show.  To fill out the crew Richard had hired Brian Wade, Dale Brady, and Craig Caton-Largent all of whom were seasoned veterans by this time.  Our ambassador to production was Kirk Thatcher who would come in from time to time to see the progress and make suggestions based on Mr. Nimoy's reactions.  The script was top secret, so Kirk basically told us the entire story so we would have a better understanding of where and how our aliens would play in scenes.  I recall that he actually remembered large sections of dialogue and acted it out for us.  I love Kirk!  For those of you who don't know him, he is famous amongst Star Trek fans as "the Punk on the bus" in Star Trek IV that Spock shuts down with his famous Vulcan neck pinch.

"I hate you and I berate you!!!"

The work load was something like this: Vulcan Ears for Spock, Sarek (Mark Lenard), and Saavik (Robin Curtis), a couple of Klingon appliances (one for lead Klingon, John Schuck) a protsthetic make up for a new alien navigator for the U.S.S. Saratoga, an alien appliance make up for Michael Berryman, an alien look for former Go-Go's band member Jane Wiedlin, and some masks and puppets to fill out the Star Fleet Federation council.

Richard told us that Leonard Nimoy's daughter, Nancy, was going to be contributing to the alien designs and we would be receiving them soon.  I asked Richard if I could do a piece of artwork, on my own, at home, revisiting some classic Star Trek aliens.  I did a pencil illustration of the "Tellarite" (a pig-nosed alien from the episode "Journey To Babel") as well as an "Andorian" (a blue faced alien with antennae from the same episode) and finally, a "Gorn" (a lizard-like alien that Kirk fought in the episode "Arena" - one of my all time favorites).  I turned the artwork over to Richard, who gave it to Kirk, who discussed it with Mr. Nimoy and it came down that we would do Tellarites and Andorians, but no Gorns.  See, the Federation has never made peace with the Gorns...Well, two out of three ain't bad!

We started off with life casting.  Richard met Leonard Nimoy at Paramount and cast his ears at the production office, however Mark Lenard and Robin Curtis both came to the little shop and had their ears cast.  I recall that Mr. Nimoy was VERY specific about the size, shape, and curve of his famous pointy ears so Richard took it upon himself to sculpt them to Mr. Nimoy's satisfaction.

I'm not sure "Fascinating" would be the word used to describe sculpting and designing these ears...

I sculpted these ears for actress, Robin Curtis and...

...these ears for Mark Lenard.

 We did full head casts of John Schuck, Michael Berryman, and Nick Ramus who would play the helmsman of the U.S.S. Saratoga.  Of all of the actors who came in for casting, I remember Michael Berryman most.  Having seen his as the face of THE HILLS HAVE EYES, I was a bit thunderstruck when he came in.  I recall that he couldn't have been nicer and told us of his wolf sanctuary and the work he did protecting these animals.

Nick Ramus as the navigator of the U.S.S. Saratoga.  Richard designed this make up.  I think Brian Wade sculpted it?

Michael Berryman in his alien guise.  Sculpted by Richard Snell.

There really weren't specific designs sent for Mr. Berryman, Mr. Ramus, or Mr. Schuck so appliances were just sculpted based on discussions between all of us at the shop.  I recall a big shop debate to bring the Klingon appearance closer to STAR TREK: THE MOTION PICTURE and less like STAR TREK III: THE SEARCH FOR SPOCK. That was a doozie! The end result kind of looked liked a compromise between both designs.

The Klingon Commander from STAR TREK: THE MOTION PICTURE

Christopher Lloyd as the Klingon commander Kruge in STAR TREK III: THE SEARCH FOR SPOCK

STAR TREK IV's Klingon.  I can still hear Kirk Thatcher's voice reading the lines Mr. Schuck would eventually say on screen!

 It was about this time that we received "designs" for the Star Fleet Federation Council.  Aside from the large-headed "China Dolls" as we called them and a design that looked like a strange welding mask, there were: Cat-man, Frog-man, Turtle-man, Pig-man (The Tellarite), and Lizard Man.  You could have knocked me over with a feather.  After James had made such a big deal about staying away from "animal" designs there they were - a virtual menagerie of aliens!  I suppose Turtle-people potentially can have culture too.

Another crew member that we only saw once and a while was Allen Feuerstein, a medical prosthetics expert, who consulted with Richard specifically about the design and construction of alien eyes. He seemed like a nice guy, but I don't remember what he specifically did because I recall that all of the eyes were either made by us in the shop or they would be contact lenses that Richard made and painted.  Allen did bring a cool display case with silicone medical prosthetics.  It was the first time I had seen silicone body parts and they were very realistic and creepy.

An Andorian.  The antennae were sculpted generically. 

 The aliens were divided amongst the sculptors and it fell to me to sculpt the lizard man puppet and a weird alien welding mask (that I didn't understand, especially since it had a long wig attached to it).  Dale sculpted the Tellarite (pig guy), and Brian Wade sculpted the cat guy ("Cat man doo" as Kirk would refer to it).  Craig sculpted the weird turtle guy and Richard sculpted the frog guy.

Brian Wade paints the Cat Man mask.

A finished Black Cat man, the back of the Tellarite's head and another Andorian in the back ground.

Craig Caton's Turtle guys.

Richard's Frog guy.

Dale Brady's Tellarite.

Another shot of the Tellarite with one of the China Dolls in the back ground.

One of the "China Dolls."

The "Red" Cat Man.

My W.E.D. clay sculpture of the Lizard Man...

Another view...

Still another view....I apologize...

...these are the only behind the scenes photos I've found!

My Lizard Man puppet.

And the weird hairy welding mask.  WTF?

Perhaps the most impressive of all: Kirk Thatcher pretending to be a Tom Savini puppet head.

Since most of the Federation Council were going to be in crowds, they were simple rubber masks - well, all but the Frog guy and the Lizard guy who were constructed to be latex and soft polyfoam puppets.  When it came time to shoot them, you guessed it, it was in San Francisco and was to be handled by union make up artists, so after all of the masks were painted and finished (I recall Craig Caton-Largent punching all of the hair in the China Dolls at break neck speed!) they were packed up and shipped out.

I asked Dale, Craig, and Brian if there was anything that they cared to recall.  Dale mentioned how FREEZING it was in the shop (it was January of 1986) as well as the make-shift oven we built (another one!) to bake the foam.  He reminded me that one night the thermostat broke and the entire foam run was burned and ruined!  Craig recalled one of us throwing a HUGE firecracker into the dumpster which amplified the sound so much that it drew everyone out of the neighboring businesses thinking something dire had happened.

My favorite recollection is of Richard Snell.  Richard was a very fair boss and, in my opinion, very talented.  But what I found more impressive is  that he took personal responsibility for his show (which is huge).  No matter what it was. When we needed supplies, it was Richard that would jump in his truck and go pick them up. When there was a problem that came down from production, Richard would step up, jump into the fray and try to work things out for himself.  What I had no way of knowing was that STAR TREK IV would be the last time I would work for Richard Snell.

He pursued a successful career in Make Up while I moved on  and pursued puppets and creature effects. Richard died  in 2006 of heart failure while working in the Bahamas on PIRATES OF THE CARIBBEAN: AT WORLD'S END.  He was a sweet man; I never had the chance to thank him for STAR TREK IV.

Richard Snell (1955 - 2006)

 POST SCRIPT: Working on a Star Trek movie was a big accomplishment since I had been such a huge fan when I was younger.   I have to admit that it was very cool seeing my name in the credits rolling past a shot of the U.S.S. Enterprise.  I know - NERD!

My friend, Tim Guillory wearing a Klingon make up I made for him to wear at a Star Trek convention in 1983

Part 38: What Makes Doug Beswick SO Great!

I had understood that my work on FROM BEYOND was going to be brief and that was fine.  I was happy to have worked with Mark Shostrom and Bob again, and it was a pleasure meeting and working with Dave, John, Aaron and Greg.  However my phone had rung and I was about to embark on another adventure.  The phone call was from Tony Gardner who was then working with Doug Beswick on the miniature Queen Alien/Power Loader unit for ALIENS.  Brian Penikas (God love him!) had recommended me to Tony when they found themselves needing some additional help.  Now familiar with this routine, I was happy to jump in and go back to work on ALIENS.

I don't know how else to say this, but Doug Beswick is great.  He is.  Those of you whom have met him know what I'm talking about and those of you who haven't, know this: He is a fantastic person.  Let me get back to my correct "tense" here:

Since you have been reading this blog, you already know of my love of Stop Motion Animation and I was familiar with Doug Beswick's career before during and after his tenure with Rick Baker.  In photos, Doug always seemed a bit intense (which, I imagine, is how you look when you are shooting Stop Motion?) so I wasn't prepared to meet such a warm guy with a big smile when I arrived at his studio.  In fact, his wife, Vicky was working in the front office and she, too, was so welcoming and friendly that I instantly knew I was going to enjoy the heck out of working there.

The studio was northeast of the San Fernando Valley in Sunland in a modest, industrial space.  Doug was not just a talented Stop Motion animator, but was a very clever animatronic designer and machinist.  Because of this, a great deal of his shop was dedicated to machining, however Doug was a good sculptor as well; remember he did sculpt the Cantina Musicians for STAR WARS!  By and large the art department tables were set in the back and at one of these tables was my old college buddy, James Belohovek!  I had worked with him earlier that year on HOUSE, but since then we had fallen out of touch.  It was good to see that a talented miniature builder like Jim had been tapped to build the Power Loader and he had already begun making parts that had been delivered to Brian Penikas for molding and casting.

Jim, attaching the claw assembly. 

Assisting Doug with the mechanics was another gentleman whom I hadn't met before, Phil Notaro.  I admit that up to that point I hadn't had THAT much experience meeting animatronic specialists, and I hadn't worked on enough big budget films that enabled these mechanics to really shine their brightest.  That said, Phil Notaro was a genius (still is, I imagine).  Obtaining the molds of the scaled down Queen Alien from Stan Winston's studio, Phil had already begun making the sophisticated mechanical puppet and it was no easy task.  True, because things were scaled down, leverage was on his side, but because things were scaled down, it was more of a challenge to machine and insert the mechanisms into the figure.

Doug Beswick (left) and Phil Notaro with the miniature Power Loader.  Sorry about the crappy photos, they are scans off of a color copy from the page of a Japanese book.

Those of us at Doug's had not seen the full-sized Queen Alien that was shooting in London.  True, I had seen some of the videos sent back from Tom Woodruff, Shane Mahan, and John Rosengrant in England while they were sculpting the full-sized Queen, but beyond that point, I hadn't seen much (in fact, I think the last video I saw showed some of the British crew making molds on some of the large pieces).  But part of Phil and Doug's job was to make sure that this miniature puppet could replicate most of the movements of the full-scale puppet.  I say most of the movements because I don't think it was necessary that our miniature's head descend from the carapace like the full-sized Queen did, etc. To see this diminutive puppet move so gracefully was mind-blowing!

Doug was such a trooper and he put up with my nerdy, fan, enthusiasm with a lot of patience.  I badgered him until he showed me pieces of the Terminator stop motion puppet (unfortunately, a lot of the mechanical pieces had been machined - once - and the only complete figure was in James Cameron's office.  He also shared some old photos of the STAR WARS aliens as well as the Tyrannosaurus Rex puppet he had mechanized for MY SCIENCE PROJECT.  NOTE: This was 6 years before we would begin construction of the T-Rex for JURASSIC PARK and Doug's T-Rex was the most sophisticated real-time dinosaur puppet built up to that date.

Doug and his Endoskeleton model.

The head, chest, and pelvis were the only parts I saw in person.  I think Willie Whitten sculpted them.

Doug and Phil's mechanism for the MY SCIENCE PROJECT T-Rex

Here is the T-Rex scene from MY SCIENCE PROJECT (pardon the quality):



Meanwhile, under Tony Gardner's supervision, I worked on casting pieces for the Sigourney Weaver puppet.  Phil had build a simple head turn mechanism that mounted to the plaster core.  To illustrate how sophisticated Phil was in his approach, as the mechanism turned left to right, the "chin" would automatically pitch up and down slightly to off-set the "mechanical" look.  Simple and brilliant.  I would affix the mechanism to the core and then inject hot melt vinyl (tinted flesh tone) into it.  The stone mold was good enough for most of the seam to just be plucked, but I smoothed the rest of it down, carefully,  with a dental waxer.  I was also given small armatures to put into arm molds to repeat the process.

Tony Gardener re-sculpted the Sigourney Weaver puppet.

I wonder why Mattel never issued a Power Loader Barbi?

On HOUSE, Jim Belohovek basically was working on the edge of his comfort zone, building simple mechanics to go inside of puppets, but now, at Doug's he was doing what he was best at: building miniatures.  I had seen Jim's model making prowess in college, but this was different.  No longer limited to materials he could afford on a student's budget, Jim blossomed and was fabricating pieces out of plastic, wood, and bondo.  Since the pieces needed to be rigid, all of the molds were made of silicone.  Brian and I molded what Jim built, then we would cast them.  The larger pieces were made out of thin fiberglass, the smaller pieces were cast in "Feathercast" (from BJB Corporation).  Brian and I would then seam the pieces and return them to Jim for final detailing and finishing.

Don't ask.  I'm working on the leg assembly apparently.

Jim paints an assembled leg.

The completed Loader ready to be shipped to England for shooting.

Of all of the shops I worked at, Doug Beswick's will go on record as having the ABSOLUTE least amount of drama than any other shop I have ever worked at.  I have no clue if Jim Cameron or a producer was screaming at Doug on the phone (I doubt it) because it never showed.  The entire crew would come into work every morning, and spend the day happily completing the scheduled tasks.  No back stabbing, yelling, complaining.  Nothing but happy workers.  Aside from his incredible talent, THAT is what makes Doug Beswick so great.

Part 37: On Becoming a Make Up Effects Nomad

At the root of the word "freelance" is the word "free."  By definition to be free is to have liberty, be disentangled, have no controlling boundaries, however, for a make up effects artist in the 1980's, to be free meant that the concept of job security was nearly non-existent.  Working in a shop for longer than 4 to 6 weeks was a luxury.  Now that INVADERS FROM MARS wrapped, that group of people in that photo a few blogs ago (with the exception of Alec Gillis and the addition of Greg Nicotero) were now unemployed and had to find work.

Although the nomadic nature of Make Up Effects artists is still very much the norm today,  back then most artists traveled with some essentials: Sculpting Tools, Air Brush (some carried their own compressors), a few hand tools, and a walkman or similar personal stereo device.  If you were a mechanic, then you usually appeared with at least one, if not two big red rolling tool boxes, a Makita (later Dewalt) cordless drill, and a battery charger.

In all honesty, roughly a week or two before shooting on INVADERS concluded, Everett Burrell was already out of the door telling us he had secured employment with Rick Baker on a new Bigfoot movie entitled HARRY AND THE HENDERSONS.  In fact, it was common knowledge that Rick was beginning to crew up for the movie but being on a movie set, with no cell phones, made it difficult to call and make an appointment until the show completely wrapped.

I called Rick Baker's shop the very first free day and set up an appointment to see him that Friday at his shop in North Hollywood.  This was it. Time to put my portfolio in front of one of the artists who had been a major influence on my career choice.

For some reason, I knew going into his reception area that things weren't going to go well.  Seeing all of the masks lined on the walls were instantly inspiring and intimidating.  I don't recall with whom I spoke to when I stepped in, but Rick soon appeared from a door that led to the shop area, shook my hand and motioned for me to sit on a small sofa while he looked at my portfolio.

In contrast to Stan, Rick took his time looking at all of the photos and reading the descriptions I had put under each picture.  "Wow!" he said, "This is one of the most honest portfolios I've ever seen."  He went on to explain that too many people had come to him with portfolios with finished creatures in them, only to discover that their contribution had been running foam or tying lace eyebrows.  I had not only furnished him with my contribution on each photo, but also the names of the other major players on each piece.

Nice guys finish last, so they say.  Even with that "honesty" I didn't get hired.  It stung doubly because I knew that Howard Berger, Everett Burrell, Matt Rose, and Steve Wang had all made it and were already working in the back.  In my mind, I saw it as a confirmation of the quality of my work.

At the suggestion of another friend, I went to see Greg Cannom. Greg, a very talented make up artist that had worked for Rick, as well as, Rob Bottin. He had begun to work for himself out of his house in North Hollywood and took great delight in telling me that it had been Rick Baker's house.  Greg even indicated marks on the ceiling that were made from Rob Bottin jumping up and purposely smashing his head on it.  Kevin Yagher and Earl Elllis were working for Greg at the time, but he didn't have a significantly budgeted show, so after he looked through my portfolio, I was back on the street.

Eventually, I received a call from Mark Shostrom who was more than half-way finished with his responsibilities on a new Brian Yuzna, Stuart Gordon adaptation of another H.P. Lovecraft story, FROM BEYOND.  Yuzna and Gordon had enjoyed a great deal of success with their previous effort RE-ANIMATOR and were hoping to push their success with this effort.  In order to fulfill the effects requirements, production had hired at least three separate shops to manufacture all of the effects.

Mark had already hired his crew which was made up of Bob Kurtzman (the eventual K of KNB EFX and current owner of PRECINCT 13 and CREATURE CORE), Dave Kindlon, a mechanic who had come from New York after a stint for the Muppets, John Blake, and up and coming make up artist (who is now one of the top in the field), a new comer from Texas Gregor Punchatz, (who is now a CGI artist in Dallas, TX) and Aaron Sims (one of the most influential contemporary creature designers).  Together they had designed, and sculpted at least two incarnations of Dr. Pretorious' manifestations. 

In the film, perverted  Dr. Pretorius, played by Ted Sorel, succumbs to a machine built by Dr. Tillinghast (played by Jeffery Combs) called a "resonator." The resonator stimulates the human pineal gland, enabling the viewing of creatures from alternate dimensions.  However, prolonged exposure to the resonator mutates the pineal gland and causes physical restructuring of the body.

Mark's giant Pretorius Creature sporting one of the Radio Controlled heads.

 When I think back to that time in Make Up Effects history, either we were all very ambitious or dumb.  There was nothing we wouldn't attempt.  Mark Shostrom, who up to that time had done some impressive prosthetic and effects work, was now moving full speed into full-scale animatronics out of his new studio in South Pasadena.  I was flabbergasted by the size of the work that had been accomplished when I began working.  Bob had sculpted the iconic Dr. Pretorius fleshy-tumor make up and it had already been molded and was awaiting casting.  Mark led the sculptors on the Pretorius-Creature, which was a big bipedal mutation with a long neck that terminated in a twisted visage.  Mark's ingenious plan was to use Radio Controlled faces for wide shots and when the camera cut in closer, it would be Ted Sorel in an appliance make up that fused his face onto the front of the creature.  With some judicious framing by Director of Photography, Mac Alberg, it would appear that Dr. Pretorius' head was attached to the creature.  To get a good look at Mark's work, on FROM BEYOND (and other movies, including EVIL DEAD II, which I'll get to soon on this blog) check out Mark's web page at: www.helloboss.net

Ted Sorel's head "grafted" onto the body with prosthetics and camera framing.

At the time I joined the crew, the lion's share of the work had been completed.  Mold maker, Steve Patino, had made a big fiberglass mold and core of the Pretorious Creature body however, it was clear that Mark didn't have the facility to run and bake out a huge foam latex skin.  Mark knew I had worked at Stan's and we had cast fairly big urethane skins for the Drones and wanted to know if I could rely on my experience to run skins for the Pretorius creature.

One side of the fiberglass mold, made by Steve Patino of the Pretorius creature.

 We built another Octo-Injector, however, it was decided that inexpensive garden hose would be substituted for the more expensive clear Tygon tubing.  After all, the theory would still work.  When describing the operations of the Stan Winston Octo-Injector, I had told them about the reverse pressure explosion that occurred and as fate would have it, we experienced one for ourselves.

Flesh-tinted SC-89 was sprayed into a mold released with Carnuba Wax and Fiber Resin's FR-1000 release

The Octo-Injector is put into position.  The hole at the top is a vent hole. The tubes run to fittings around the base.

OOPS!  This is what happens when the pressure backs up...

...What a MESS!!!

Eventually, we got a good skin.  Bob and Dave open the mold.

 I was just sitting here, thinking about the large Dr. Pretorius prosthetic that Ted Sorel wore and remembered that it was by and large a huge latex and soft foam casting with smaller over-lapping foam-latex prosthetics that blended the piece onto Mr. Sorel's skin.

I can still see the castings of the webby, foam latex prosthetics all run, bagged, and ready for location.

It was understood that I was only working on the show for a few weeks before the crew took off for Italy, where the film was being shot.  As the finishing work began, I was called onto another show, so I packed up my tools and started at Doug Beswick's shop the following Monday on another exciting project.

No, Dave REALLY didn't slit his wrists!  Just hot and frustrated working in the alley outside of the studio.

 EPILOGUE:  I did get to see the Pretorious creature "finished" a week or so later.  Mark called me and I drove by the studio one evening to visit.  Since the creature had to be "assembled" on set, I didn't see the entire thing glued together, but the pieces were finished enough for Mark to give me a really good impression of what it was going to look like.  And speaking of impressions, he also ran a videotape for me of the Radio Controlled Pretorius head "lip syncing" an Andrew Dice Clay comedy routine!  If I had been drinking milk when I watched it, I would have shot it out of my nostrils, I was laughing so hard!

My opinion is that FROM BEYOND was a turning point for Mark.  It showed that his modest studio could handle more than just quality prosthetics, masks, and make ups; he could now do larger scale monsters.  This would serve him in the coming years as the shows got BIGGER!!

One final thought: This happened around Halloween and I sculpted, molded, and ran my own foam mask that year.  It was a large-mouthed demon with plenty of teeth.  Little did I know that Halloween Make Up would figure into my life again some months later...

Over-sized mouth full of rows and rows of teeth....Gotta remember this; it'll come in handy some day...

Part 36: Into the tunnels with the Martian Drones

I wish I could recall how long we were down on set in San Pedro putting performers in Drone suits, etc.  If I had to guess, I would say about four weeks.  However, looking back and recalling the day to day work, it seemed like months.  And during that time, while a group of us would meet in the parking lot behind Stan's studio and get into our car pools, Rick Lazzarini remained in Stan's shop by himself, trying to work out the intricate mechanics that would make a Face Hugger run for the movie ALIENS.  In fact, most nights when we would return, he would still be there, working.

One of the mechanical attempts was conceived by Jim Cameron, himself, who suggested that Rick use a small gasoline-powered motor (the kind used for COX model racing back in the day).   These engines generally required an external starter motor that looked like a small drill or dremel tool.  however, the starter port was in accessible.  Jim suggested that Rick use a flex-shaft that would run down the length of the tail.  I can still see Rick's tormented face as he tried in vain to get the little gas motor started using the flex-shaft.  It turns out the the length of spring in the flex-shaft reduced the torque and the motor wouldn't start.

And, when the engine did start, blue gray exhaust smoke would putter out of the side of it.  Back to the drawing boards!

A quick note to the readers: I looked through my photos and discovered that after the Drones ate Mrs. McKeltch, I didn't take any more photos!  However, someone posted the entire movie on youtube and I have cut and made commentaries on some clips that will help illustrate what we accomplished.

 

But first, since I now have "video assist" I'd like to show you some Drone footage that I have described in the last blog.  Here is the first scene we worked on, the appearance of the Drones and the Supreme Intelligence:

Here is Mrs. McKeltch being eaten:

As I was looking through the footage, I studied the scene that I described last time of the Martian Supreme Intelligence being shot to death and the set catching on fire.  You can see the fire starting in this clip, take a look:

Crazy, right?

Up to that point in shooting, we had avoided needing the little performers to be in the suits, but now all of that was going to change because the Drones would have to perform tasks like loading a shooting their guns, etc.  So now, we would rotate which little performer would get strapped into the rig and because no two of them were the same size and weight, it would affect not only the larger performers, but how the suit would go together.  The lightweight aluminum frame would bow under the weight, making the removal of the head (which was now a necessity to get the little performer in and out) much more difficult.  Then, once that was done, we would make the extra effort to make sure that the skin was lined up and closed correctly.

With the added weight the larger performers would need to take breaks more often which also slowed things down.  Our first scene which utilized the full Drones was when we worked with actor, Bud Cort (from HAROLD AND MAUDE), who played a S.E.T.I. scientist.  If you watch the following clip, you'll see a good example of the little performer's contribution to the creature.

 

Unlike their larger counterparts, the little performers were completely blind inside of the suits and had to be coached via headsets by Alec Gillis on the outside.  When it came time to load the Martian gun, all of the steps were done in cuts so it appeared that the action was natural and purposeful. I believe for the extreme close up shots of the martian hand putting the copper rod into the gun, we had a little person, wearing a Drone glove on a ladder between the two drone suits that were pushed side by side.

There was no way that the little performers could hold those guns because of weight issues.  I recall that we even tried removing the claws from the gloves so that the performers could attempt to hold the guns with their bare hands but it was not to be.   Dave Nelson, with the help of the physical effects department, mounted the gun to the side of the drone by an aluminum rod that could pivot on one axis.  Unless the gun had to move, we could then dress an empty glove from the Drone body to the gun and the little person wouldn't have to suffer in the suit.

Let's take a look at the "Needle Room" - it is a cool set and the Needle Machine, itself was impressive:

Getting the chance to work with so many incredible people on INVADERS was a delight, but there was still one more treat in store.  Toward the end of the schedule, as the Martian spaceship was set to explode, a group of extras was hired to evacuate as marines and scientists.  Among them was none other than legendary Science Fiction icon and collector, Bob Burns!  Alec had known Bob previously and introduced him to those of us on the crew with whom he was unfamiliar.  If you don't know who Bob Burns is (shame on you, he and his wife Cathy are two of the most delightful people you will ever have the pleasure to meet), here is a link to his web site, there is so much to see: Bob Burns

INVADERS was a film that many friendships were forged both in the shop and on set.  It was also a very important film in my career as it would lead not only to projects run by some of the talented artists on Stan's crew, but also back to Stan Winston's less than a year later.

However, once the show wrapped, Alec Gillis and Rick Lazzarini left for England and ALIENS, while the rest of us were scattered through Los Angeles, in search of our next gigs.

Sorry For The Inconvenience!

Dear Friends,

I just wanted to write a short note of apology.  FIRST PERSON MONSTER HISTORY will return next week, July 27, 2011 with new stories! My laptop has suffered a physical trauma (broken lid hinge) and I'm waiting for news of its repair.  With any luck, I'll receive it at the end of the week and I'll post twice next week to make up for time lost.  Thanks so much for your interest and support.  In the weeks to come, I'll be covering work on: FROM BEYOND, ALIENS (miniature unit), STAR TREK IV: The Voyage Home, EVIL DEAD II, and so much more!  Now is your chance to catch up on your reading and I'll see you soon!

Shannon Shea
First Person Monster Blog

Part 35: Martian Madness!!

The day before our martians went before the movie cameras was a load in day so we packed all of our gear into a rental truck and drove down to San Pedro (which was about an hour and fifteen minutes away from the shop) to an old retired naval building where the set had been built.

It was enormous.  The art department had fabricated the interior of the Martian spacecraft as well as a few underground tunnels that led to the ship's interior.  The facility provided the Stan Winston crew with a couple of rooms to store our gear and the drone suits.  Judging by the state of the rooms, I would have guessed that it was scheduled for some major overhaul.  While some of us unloaded the Martian Drone suit pieces, the others broke off to move the Martian Supreme Intelligence to his platform which was easily 30 feet or so from the ground.

The Supreme Intelligence makes its appearance by flying out of a portal above an altar-type structure and that altar-type structure was on the second story of the set.  Using a scissor-lift, the puppet and controls were raised into the air, while crew members, including chief mechanic, Dave Nelson, moved the puppet onto the platform.  As Dave oversaw the preparation of the puppet for rehearsal, some of the rest of us returned to continue setting up the rooms under the direction of Alec Gillis.

The Drone Crew Clockwise from left: David Nelson, Scott Wheeler, Everett Burrell, Alec Gillis Steve Wang, Matt Rose, Shannon Shea, Gino Crognale, and Brian Penikas

One of our "Drone Rooms" (l-r): Alec, Everett, Scott, Steve, Brian

 One of Alec's functions was to coordinate with the other departments, especially when there would be what I would call "overlap." For example, when the Drones or the Supreme Intelligence were shot by U.S. Marines, it would be required for them to be squibbed by the Physical Effects department led by Phil Cory.  There were other instances of overlap, including a scene that was shot, but cut out of the film where the Drone eats a pile of "W&W" candies (get it? M&M's upside down) in a gentle but ineffective jab at E.T.   However, one of the major concerns was the Martian blood.

Going into the project, it was understood that this was going to be somewhat of a family picture and gallons of red blood spurting out of the Martians just wasn't going to cut it.  It had been decided, therefore, that Martian blood was a combination of yellow and lavender fluids.  Normally, when we make studio blood, we use corn syrup as a base, but the Art Department was concerned with how this would stain and affect the sets, especially when we had to dress gallons of it in puddles around fallen Martians.  I don't know who at Stan Winston's studio found the substance, but we had gallons and gallons of the base of what Mattel Toys used to use for their popular "Slime" toy.

Remember this crap?

With the absence of green coloring, this slime looked translucent white and was soon referred to as "Bull Ji--" well, let's just say we had a rude term for it.  Oddly enough, it turned out to be exactly what we needed to do the job.  It took color extremely well, was able to be poured into thick, controlled puddles, the two separate colors could be swirled on set with out homogenous mixing, and it "peeled" off of the floor with relative success leaving almost no residue.

On the other hand, the Physical Effects crew prepared their squibbing blood with an oily glycerine base.  After a disastrous initial test, Alec realized that the inside of the polyfoam Drone skins would need to be sealed to prevent damage from the glycerine.  This meant that someone(s) would have to craw into the suits with premixed wax cups of a flexible but strong urethane and paint the entire inside of the skins.  As luck would have it, Brian Penikas and I lost the toss and had to do the brushing duties.  Not wanting to get covered with streams of dripping, catalyzed urethane, I protected myself appropriately.

Ready to do paint urethane into a Drone Suit!

 When the Drone suits an pieces were stowed, and the batteries for the radio controls in their chargers, we returned to the platform where Dave Nelson and John Dykstra were ready to begin rehearsing with the Supreme Intelligence.  The two wires that were assisting with the flying of the puppet were fed through the portal and, as I recall, suspended by a couple of physical effects guys in a scaffold above, while the rest of us were behind the set, on the platform, ready to push the puppet on a boom arm attached to a counter-weighted dolly on a track.  On action we would push and the Supreme Intelligence would emerge, displacing layers of copper-colored, soft polyfoam "fingers" and would lite upon its throne.  Then, on action we would pull the puppet back, all the while assisted by puppeteers on controllers attempting to keep the Supreme Intelligence from looking straight at the ground.  After a few tries, the puppet was covered with a plastic tarp, we secured the Drone rooms and returned to Northridge, and the Stan Winston studios parking lot.

Most of us lived in the valley within a few miles of the studio.  I didn't, however.  In fact, during the build of the show, I had purchased my first car, a white Honda Civic from Alec Gillis for $800.  It was the only car that Tracy and I had between us and since I would basically be on set for 12 -14 hours, she would get up early in the morning, drive me to Stan Winston's studio where I would meet a carpool, drive home, go to work, drive home and then drive back to the studio that night to pick me up and take me back home.  Although the trip was not as long as it would take via a bus, it was, however a good haul back and forth - twice!  Yes, I married well.

Our set calls were generally very early, between 6:30 and 7:30 in the morning which meant having to leave Stan Winston's no later than 5 a.m.  I can recall one trip driving south on the 405 freeway when I was at the wheel of Stan's car as he lay back in the passenger seat.  Every morning the drive was easy until we reached the hill at Mulholland Drive where traffic consistently backed up. Frustrated, I asked a rhetorical question aloud: "Why is there always traffic right at this point?" to which Stan answered, "It's because of all of the people who live in this area, all trying to get on the freeway."

"Really?" I asked. Stan sat up in his seat looking shocked at my naivete, "Shannon, look around you.  Do you see tons of street lights and houses in this area?" No, the hills were dark.  In fact there were nearly no lights on the hill. "Oh." I said and Stan sat back and closed his eyes for the rest of the trip.  What was the answer?  I don't know and now I just try to avoid the 405 whenever possible.

The Drone Suits would be the first thing we would prepare for camera.  There were four main Drone performers: Lonny Low, Matt Bennett, Scott Wulf, and Doug Simpson and basically two Drone suits.  The idea was that the performers could trade off during the day, should one team or individual get tired, another one could step in and continue shooting.  This did mean, however, that each of them had a pair of custom Drone boots that fit just their feet.  Suiting them up went something like this:

Scott Wulff assists Doug Simpson, in Drone Suit.  Note the video monitor just below his face.

 The suit was divided into several parts: the head, the body, the boots, and the ski pole arms.  The performer would step into the suit while it was on a frame, suspended by a spring-button pin.  As their legs came through the holes, one of us would be there to guide their feet into the boots.  Then, shoulder and waist straps would be adjusted and tightened and finally a video monitor would be locked into place on their chests.

The head would slide onto the frame and get locked into place with pins while the skins were stretched closed using very wide velcro patches, then the performer would stand, taking the weight of the suit, and the pin would be pulled from the top, enabling them to walk out from under the frame.  Then, they were handed their ski poles.  A long opening in the rear of the creature was held open with two aluminum braces so the performer could talk with director, Tobe Hooper, or stunt man, Steve Lambert.  Most of the early shots of the drones did not require any mouth or vestigial arm movement, so the little people including Debbie Carrington, Phil Fondecaro, Sal Fondecaro, Tony Cox, and Margarite Fernandez, wouldn't be required to be strapped onto the performer's backs right away.

Toby, Dr. Pepper in hand, tries to figure out just what the hell is going on.

The first shot we did with the drones was their reveal in the throne room of the Supreme Intelligence.  In order to add confusion to their appearance, Tobe decided that the two drones should be face-to-face, snuggled close so that at first appearance they looked like one, big, eight-legged blob that was "bouncing" lightly.  On cue, they would back away from each other and turn to face the altar.  Raising their ski-pole arms in salute, they would beckon for their leader who would then emerge from the portal, etc.  Easy, right?  Well, it was very manageable when done in stages.

After we finished filming the drones doing their bounce and separating, we moved the Supreme Intelligence down onto his altar.  He had two long tentacles strapped to the sides of his body for when he was "flying"; these were detached and draped behind the altar.  Two mechanical tentacles were then dressed over the sides of the altar and their controllers concealed.  Three puppeteers then moved beneath the body of the Supreme Intelligence via the hollow altar and opened up the skin. This gave two puppeteers access to directly puppeteer the mouth and the two little arms in front of the creature that Dave Nelson lovingly referred to as the "croissants".  The last puppeteer hooked plastic tubing to an array of valves controlled by a custom keyboard to operate the air bladders in the creature's body.

The Supreme Intelligence is position ready for filming.

 What this meant for the crew was that we were doing double duty for a lot of the scene.  When we weren't assisting and dressing the Drone performers, we were busy doing maintenance on the Supreme Intelligence puppet.  And in the middle of all of this chaos was director, Tobe Hooper.

I think I can sum up my experience of working with Tobe Hooper by repeating how someone (who I can't remember right now) described him: "He's the Yosemite Sam of the D.G.A." Determined, easily aggravated, short-memoried, reactionary, funny but...but...a very sweet guy.  It would be easy for me to criticize Tobe and the resulting film, but in retrospect, I can imagine the immense obstacles that were in his way between him and directing a classic science fiction movie.

Lonny Low, in the Drone suit, seems please with whatever Tobe has just decided.

 Hunter Carson, who played David, was the son of co-star, actress Karen Black. Neither of them seemed to be excited about the film but in fairness to Hunter, he was a little kid and this was how he was spending his summer - on a hot set in San Pedro, California.  Karen Black could be found in between set ups, sitting on stage, on her mark, singing while grips and electricians moved lights and stands around her. Weird.  However, her friend Roscoe Lee Browne visited the set once and Matt Rose and I geeked out - BOX was on set. "Food, sea greens, plankton from the sea.  It's my job, to freeze you!"

On the other hand, James Karen who played the army colonel and Louise Fletcher, who played David's teacher were both professional and a joy to be around.  Whenever they were on set, they were ready for the day's work and would give their all for the takes.  When Ms. Fletcher had to be eaten by a Drone, Dave Nelson mounted one of the Drone suit heads onto a large lever (a see-saw type device).  Ms. Fletcher started the shot, by getting pushed into one of the Drone suit's mouths, then, stuntman, Steve Lambert in dress and wig was hooked up and dragged into the Drone's mouth that was rigged on the lever.  Finally, we dressed a pair of dummy legs wearing a matching dress, stockings and shoes into the Drone suit's mouth and Doug Simpson was able to move in a fashion that appeared that he was swallowing the teacher.

The Drone Rig is prepared to "eat" Mrs. McKeltch

Everett touches up the head before shooting.

Steve Lambert, in dress and wig, goes into the maw with assistance from Dave Nelson.

He's okay folks!  Now clean him up for take 2!

 Of all of the ingenious things about the shooting of INVADERS FROM MARS, I would have to go on record as saying that Tobe really got a lot of mileage out of the Drone suits.  They way it was edited, you would have thought we had at least eight suits on set, however it was just clever cutting.

We pulled off one cheat where a couple of us got underneath the painted stand-in drone and marched it forward like a Chinese dragon while another puppeteer reached for Hunter with an insert ski-pole arm.  Hunter then ran past the other two Drone suits so it strengthened the illusion that we had more than just the two Drones.

As we prepared to leave the throne room to move into the tunnels for filming, we had to begin our interaction with the United States Marines.  Led by military adviser, Lt. Col. Dale Dye, a real battalion of marines joined a few stunt men as they raided the throne room and shot the Drones and the Supreme Intelligence.  It was time for a few things: Squibs on the Drones and the Supreme Intelligence, changing out the face of the Supreme Intelligence to a new skin that was sculpted in a duress expression and putting everything back on set and puppeteering as Phil Cory and his guys fired spark and dust hits from air guns at the set.

All of us took our positions with one exception: Gino Crognale was now duct taped to a slant board in a Superman-Flying pose inside of the Supreme Intelligence.  On action, Dave Nelson and Everett Burrell would push down on the slant board from behind, causing the creature to rise and shift in pain as the squibbs detonated.  Inside, Gino would be puppeteering the "croissants."  I was one of the puppeteers on the camera-left tentacle.  We all tensed as the cameras rolled.

"Three, two, one, GO!" the A.D. shouted and suddenly the air was alive with miniature explosions, colored glycerin, sparks, dust and then...fire?  During the fusillade, the spark hits ignited the flammable paint on the set and soon burning debris began to rain down from the set walls.  I saw a small fireball hit Brian Penikas' foot and I grabbed a fire extinguisher and put it out.

Mind you, behind us was a sheer drop of about 10 feet with no railing or protection.  We  moved off of the set as fast as we could with just a narrow space between the altar and the studio floor far below.  Meanwhile, thinking quickly, Dave Nelson whipped out his knife and thrust it into the side of Supreme Intelligence and cut Gino out. He was still puppeteering since he hadn't heard anyone yell "Cut!".  Luckily no one was hurt and the fire was contained quickly.

The Supreme Intelligence in all of its glory!

 That sequence spelled the end of our filming in the Martian throne room, but then we were ready to take our drones into the tunnels to continue the shoot.  To do this, for some reason, we needed an extra hand and a friend of Everett Burrell's showed up on set to meet Alec Gillis and help out for the rest of the shoot.

Alec shook his hand and said, "You're that rich kid from Pittsburgh."

It was the first time most of us met Greg Nicotero.

FEAR NOT!  Next we move into the tunnels and finish INVADERS!

Part 34: "Droning" on....

With the majority of Stan Winston's "lifers" in England, that left the running of INVADERS FROM MARS to Stan's then most recent permanent employee, Alec Gillis.  It was clear from the outset that Alec was born to lead. If his Dudley Do-rite chin wasn't enough, he had a innate sense of diplomacy and a calm confidence that got the most results with the least amount of dramatics.

The build list, superficially seemed modest: 2 drone suits, 1 mechanical supreme intelligence puppet, one bullet riddled puppet of the supreme intelligence, a bunch of bullet hit appliances that we had to be able to apply and remove, a pair of insert mechanical drone "arms", a Mrs. McKeltch "eating rig" and one drone stand in (which would play a significant part during shooting). However, it was very challenging work.

Since his skateboard accident, Stan had a cantaloupe-sized contusion on his hip and he would hobble around in stretch work-out pants assisted by a cane.  He was going to join the crew in England just as soon as the drones and the supreme intelligence had made their debut on stage.

Here is the drone frame/backpack from the side.  Look closely and you can see the chair meant for the little performer riding on the larger performer's back.

 Before I began work at Stan's, the lifers had sculpted the drones and sent them off-site to be molded by the Reter brothers (who specialized in large-scale fiberglass molding).  With the exception of the molded maquette and the under-structures,  I had no idea how large a drone was going to be until the molds were delivered.  I couldn't say who made the decision how to run them and in what material, but it was probably Stan who decided not to attempt to run foam latex into the molds.  At that time, I don't recall there being a large, walk-in, foam oven there, so it was decided that the drones would be run completely in urethane.

For those of you who are unfamiliar with urethanes, they are chemicals that when mixed together (or in some cases just exposed to air) form a plastic-like compound in different densities and flexibilities.  They tend to be oil-based and, in general, dislike moisture.  Being oil-based, they also tend to be difficult to paint. At that particular time, we were using a combination of urethanes for the drones: BJB Enterprises' SC-89, which we were using as a "skinning" urethane, and Polytech Corporation's 10-14, which was a two-part, expanding, soft polyfoam.

After the molds were released, they were sprayed with thinned, tinted SC-89 using an industrial sprayer .  The solvent in the SC-89 would "flash off" or evaporate, leaving a thin, somewhat fragile skin, until backed with the 10-14.  It was Rick Lazzarini who devised how the foam would be delivered into the molds, because the size and shape of the molds prevented us from simply "open pouring" the expanding urethane into the molds and closing them before the chemical reaction took place.  In fact, the foaming of the chemicals happened so rapidly in the hot workshop, it became necessary to store all of the raw chemicals in a refrigerator to slow the reaction time.

Lazzarini referred to his urethane delivery system as "Octo-Injecting" and I will do my best to describe the process.  The mold had been prepared by drilling large holes into it that corresponded to the size of a  small, plastic, threaded, plumbing fitting.  These "vents" then had large diameter, clear plastic tubing clamped onto them, the length of which led to a huge plastic 5 gallon bucket that, too, had plastic plumbing fittings attached at the bottom of it.  The lid of the bucket had two holes cut into it, one to fit a shop-vac (set on exhaust) and the other to fit a high-pressure, air compressor nozzle.  The bucket, with all of the plastic tubes running from it to the mold, resembled some far-out, tentacled creature, hence, Octo-Injecting.

The process was far from simple, but when done correctly, yielded a perfect skin every time.  We divided ourselves into teams that would each perform one task in a chain.  After the chilled chemicals were weighed correctly, and all of the hoses were in place, we would pour, mix, dump, shut, and blow.  The urethane would travel through the tubes into the mold at strategic areas. Then we'd take the lid off of the bucket and stand back as the expanding foam pushed its way back up through the tubes.  Once set, we'd remove all of the tubes, push the excess foam through the fitting (as not to snag the skin), open the mold, remove the skin and begin the process all over again.

One of the skins, fresh out of the mold! Some assorted limbs lie on the table behind it.

 The head was one mold and the body was another LARGER mold so this process was repeated at least 12 times between the two molds.  And, to answer a question that may or may not have crept into your brain, no the process was not fool proof.

On more than one occasion we would discover that the chemicals in the refrigerator had some level of moisture contamination and would either collapse into a gooey mess or not expand at all.  When this happened, the molds needed to be scrubbed with a solvent, Methylene Chloride. Believe it or not, during this process , I once spilled about 6 ounces right on my lap.  The solvent traveled right through my jeans and by the time I ran to the restroom, my genitals were cold and numb.  Yes, eventually, feeling and function returned and I did manage to father a perfectly normal daughter.  Hey, wait a minute....(kidding)

On the other hand, once the chemicals reacted so dramatically that they expanded too rapidly, shot back up the hoses and blew the lid off of the bucket dowsing Mark Williams and Matt Rose with urethane.  Matt got a little on his clothes, but Mark Williams, whom I had already mentioned, sported a long, heavy metal coiffure, had to scissor strips of his urethane coated hair off of his head.  Speaking of Matt Rose and Mark Williams, by this time we were joined by their third roommate who would have a huge impact on the studio in the coming years, Steve Wang.

I may be remembering this incorrectly, but I recall that a half a dozen or so small maquettes of the martian drones were run in self-skinning, expanding urethane and interested crew members were invited to take a figure home, design a paint job on it, and then return the following day (clever way of getting free design work).  I'm not sure how many people fell for it....excuse me...I meant to say took advantage of the opportunity, but I recall two figures that were instrumental in designing the look of the drone paint job: One by sculptor Willie Whitten, and the other by Steve Wang.

One of the original Drone maquettes

 Adopting aspects of both painted figures, the drones would be painted with a toad-like skin pattern, while the huge, weird liver-like structure on top would be a fleshy, veiny, reddish color.  Since the traditional rubber cement paints didn't stick to urethane, acrylic paints were used instead.

You can see the paint job in this horrible flash photo that I took on set.

 While we were casting drone skins in the mold shop, mechanic, Dave Nelson, was designing and building the large mechanical structure that was to support and move the main body tentacle of the martian supreme intelligence.  Using thick cables, a formidable tentacle mechanism was built in hopes of puppeteering the creature out of a small, round, portal and onto an alter/throne where it would sit.

Dave had already completed the facial mechanics which were unbelievable .  He had an innate knack for understanding the subtleties of nature and facial expression and it was the first time I had seen an eye mechanism with a "slaved lower lid."  What that mean was that even though the puppeteer could close the eyelids or blink them, the lower lids would move along automatically with the movement of the eye, like a real eye does.  Look in the mirror some time and you'll see what I'm talking about.

Mr. Supreme Intelligence awaits his set debut.  I fabricated and soldered all of the veins in the top of his head.  That is a vacu-form plastic shell on the top and since the veins had to keep their shape while appearing to be suspended in some sort of "brain jelly", I fabricated them out of brass rods that were sanded into shape.

 I need to take a moment here to mention a couple of things about Dave Nelson.  Dave was originally from Manchester, England, and was a sailing enthusiast.  These two facts affected the running of Stan Winston studios thus: Every day at 4:15 we had tea time.  Dave would not sacrifice his tea time just because he was now living in the colonies. Dave, also, was part of a sailing ship crew, which meant that he had to leave work early every Wednesday to go sailing.  Both of these idiosyncrasies had been approved by Stan before Dave's hiring, but it didn't stop Stan from sporting a mask of disbelief and confusion on Wednesdays when Dave, carrying his bag, would leave the shop around 3:00 announcing, "I'm off!  Time to go sailing." 

As successful as the supreme intelligence's face was mechanically, the body mechanics didn't fare as well.  Unfortunately for Dave and his crew, the tentacle was an inverted triangle with the narrowest part at the base and the widest part at the tip.  No matter how Dave tried to engineer the body, it just couldn't overcome the leverage problem and it was decided that it would have to be "flown" via external wires on the head.  The visual effects supervisor on the film was John Dykstra (YES!  THAT John Dykstra!!!) and when the decision was made, I'll never forget him saying: "Ahhh, if anyone in the audience sees a wire and complains, I'll personally give 'em their seven bucks back!"  (Btw - that would be Joe Viskocil on HOUSE and now John Dykstra on INVADERS FROM MARS...only two years in the business and nerd paradise!)

I don't think he's willing to pay you NOW if you see wires, so FORGET IT!

 While pieces were being finished and assembled, we at Stan's were treated to another surprise: Legendary make up effects artist, Dick Smith came by for a visit!  Stan took Dick around through the shops and just let him wander around, approach different artists and speak with them.  I was working on a drone body when he approached me and asked about the casting process.  When I described it to him, he was flabbergasted and then asked if we were all taking the proper safety procedures.  He was concerned about the off-gassing of the polyfoam (which we all knew was hazardous).  I assured him that we were (well, SOME of us were, most of the time) and then I thanked him for his encouraging letter which he claimed to remember. "See?  What did I tell you?  Now you're working for one of the best studios on the West Coast." he said.

That's right...Appear calm and professional...calm and professional....calm and professional...

 A week or so later, we finally got one of the drones put together enough to do a proper in-studio test.  Performer Doug Simpson suited up with little person, Debbie Carrington on his back.  The camera was functioning, we closed up all of the velcro tabs and Doug began walking backwards.  The effect was initially disarming!  The illusion really worked well and Stan was pleased.  So pleased in fact that for the second fitting, he called Tom Burman over to visit the shop and see the drone for himself.

When Doug had come out of the suit, he mentioned that it would be good if we mounted some fans to circulate the air around and we could see that we would need to fabricate some foam ring spacers to close some of the gaps between the legs and the suit.  We were making the adjustments quickly because shooting was just around the corner and we would have to do it at least twice!

All the guests have gone...Time to get back to work and seam that tentacle!

 To be continued - On set with Invaders from Mars!