Sci-Fi-O-Rama

This will be the last post of the year, so I’m going to end with a sample from my personal 2008 Blog favourite: Peter Andrew Jones. This piece is titled “The Zap Gun” and dates from 1974.

Many thanks for all comments, suggestions and contributions, it’s great to see so many people enjoy all this nonsense as much as I do!  Happy New Year!!!

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Scan is taken via a large library of Peter Andrew Jones art at http://www.scanraptor.com/0/pajones1.htm

Artist home Site at: http://peterandrewjones.net

A selection of images taken from the excellent Ufopop.org a mammoth resource/archive which seeks to document all visual references to that most elusive of enigma’s - “The Flying Saucer”. The site includes scans and Photos of magazines, books, comics, merchandising and toys, samples start from as far back as 1915! that’s well before the term “Flying Saucer” was first coined - June 1947 - when American pilot Keneth Arnold spotted several unidentified flying object’s above Mt Rainer, Washington State.

Ufopop.org is run by dedicted Ufologists Jim Klotz and Les Trecce-Sinclair,  and whether your a believer, sceptic or just looking for some Retro Sci-fi nonsense do check it out - highly recommended !!

A note on the images selected (top to bottom)

1. The Film Journal - Magazine cover 1974

2. Dwarf Rapes Nun; Flees in UFO - Book Cover - Arnold Sawislak - 1985…  A Daily/Sunday Sport Headline if ever there was one!

3. The Flying Saucer Bernard Newman 1950 - Book Cover

4. Flying Saucers C.G. Jung 1959 - Book Cover - Extremely ominous, very cool… deceptively simple.

5. Discover 1984 - Magazine Cover - Like this too, very 80’s

6. TV Guide  June 1978 - Magazine Cover - Very Close Encounter’s… anyone bored on Illustrator? this looks ripe for a 21st Century style revamp…

7. The 1980 Annual World’s Best SF Donald A. Wollheim, ed. 1980 - Book Cover… pretty weird!

8. Interplanetary News Service Report No.4 1964 - Magazine Cover

9. Pursuit  Spring 1977 - Magazine Cover

10. Flying Saucer News No.4 April 1974 - Magazine Cover… a typical example of a fanzine like cover, crude perhaps, but striking and fun looking.

All images abducted (sorry!) via http://www.ufopop.org

One final note on the subject of all things hovering & unexplained I’d also recommend Nick Cook’s investigative novel ‘The Hunt for Zero Point’ which treads the line between science and science fiction -  loads of speculative goodies such as how the US Army plundered secret Nazi weapons, future proplusions systems, time distortion, disappearing battleships etc etc… an intersting well researched read that stops short of absurd sensationalism.

A selection of  Illustrations taken from Frank Miller’s ‘Ronin’, a cyberpunk tale of samurai mysticism that takes place in a ransacked 21st century New York -  published by DC Comic’s between 1983 and 84 (I own the Graphic Novel). Frank Miller both wrote and illustrated Ronin in a loose but very descriptive style and its expertly coloured a low, muted palette by Lynn Varley.

Read more about Ronin here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ronin_(comic)and Frank Miller here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frank_Miller_(comics)

Before I start I’d like to point out all material is sourced via this amazing Aliens tribute site: http://aliensarchive.tripod.com/home.html. Though it doesn’t appear to have been updated for a some time it’s still extremely extensive, with script revisions, FX info and costume design and detailing - a must read!

So with regards to this post… here we have a small selection of storyboard frames from everybody’s favourite “Vietnam in Space” movie: Aliens - (Directed James Cameron, 1986). Theses samples are taken from across several drafts I believe and were illustrated by artists Roger Dear, Maciek Piotrowski and Denis Rich, apparently these scan’s are taken from the films Laser Disc Release, although full versions (copies?) of the storyboard do crop occasionally on ebay. The first thing you notice is just how close to the final film print they actually are, you can almost hear them! I’ve tried to arrange them in chronological order from top left and across -  I’m not sure the final “fueling” thumbnail (bottom row) made it into the film.

As for the film itself, well I think there’s a fair chance that if your reading this you’ve probably seen it more than once. Better than Ridley Scott’s original? well it’s hardly worth arguing over as both will forever be tagged as visionary film making. As for the sequels? Alien 3 nullifies the events of it’s predecessor and ultimately pails into insignificance, though Fincher’s effort does have it’s merits including some great sets and very nifty camera work. Ressurection as with 3 is best enjoyed when you remove all thought’s of the first two movies, it’s watchable nonsense which is more than can be said for you know what….

Here’s a funny clip giving you a insight into James Cameron’s thoughts on that which is unmentionable: http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=aKnS7CGWNmU

Ridley Scott’s Storyboard for Alien is here: http://www.sci-fi-o-rama.com/2008/08/26/alien-storyboards/

A gargantuan beast rises from the foaming ocean swell; sleeve art for 1978 Vangelis album “The Dragon” - Artwork by Welshman Terry Oakes - also a major contributor to the Fighting Fantasy series, producing both cover and interior art.

A little bit more about him here: http://www.abandonart.co.uk/artists/biog_to.html

Image Sourced via rateyourmusic.com user raulg http://rateyourmusic.com/~raulg

Another 3 shots from Kubrick’s Masterpiece, this time from the simply astonishing “Star Gate” sequence. These stills hardly do it justice, and neither does a youtube clip, however here’s a quick reminder http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=m6yAEvnoCPs

The special effect to create this animated sequence was of course mechanical (not digital) and is called Slit-Scan Photography, I’d never heard of it before either!

Here’s a link to a Wiki overview http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Slit-scan_photography and an article on how to achieve the effect with a large format camera http://people.rit.edu/andpph/text-slit-scan.html