Battle of Galactica rare matte shot

Battlestar Galactica was so popular during the late 1970s that Universal Studios created a special Galactica themed “ride” or event as part of their back-lot tram tours. It was named “The Battle of Galactica” and opened in 1979 and ran to1992. 

Courtesy of Dale Long. http://byyourcommand.net

While the ride was being designed and constructed, Universal wanted to generate excitement and buzz about their new attraction. A promo / publicity film was to be shot and shown to generate excitement and attract people to the show. The major drawback was that nothing was finished enough to be photographed or to show off. Read the rest of this entry »

Night of the Creeps on DVD finally.

Finally, after years of waiting, “Night of the Creeps” has made it to DVD release. The 1986 horror / sci fi film, written and directed by Fred Dekker, has been a somewhat hidden away cult classic. My son, Nathan, and I found it at Wal-Mart for about $15.00. It has the cemetery ending Dekker originally planned for the film.

DVD cover art.

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Ogg and the Pink Baby Dinosaur

This is a frame from the first commercial I was paid to work on; my first professional job in 1969 at Cascade Pictures. This is from a Kellogg’s Cocoa Krispies cereal commercial featuring a caveman named Ogg. (His wife was “Kell” … for Kell-Oggs.)  These characters were used until about 1975.  (see link below)

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“The Magic Treasure”

“The Magic Treasure” is one of those obscure little films that few have heard about and even less has seen. It was conceived in about 1969-70 by David Allen as a stop motion production of “The Selfish Giant” by Oscar Wilde. Through 1970 and 1971 dialog was recorded, sets and puppets were constructed and production began shooting in October, 1971. Part way through production a cartoon version of “the Selfish Giant” was released.

David Allen with puppets of the Giant and the villagers.

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50 most influential visual effects films

VES 50 most influential visual effects films

One of my students asked for a list of visual effects films to look at during the break between quarters at school.  

I directed him to the Visual Effects Society (VES) and their list of films.

 http://www.visualeffectssociety.com/documents/ves50revelfin.pdf

 This was their list on May 10, 2007.  We have had a few new VFX films since ’07.  Do you agree with this list?   If not, what are your choices?

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