MMMM….MMMM…Toasty!

BSG BBQ – Gary in action.

A few months back, Gary and I appropriated Dorth’s patio to shoot elements for the BSG direct to DVD movie “The Plan”. Since Gary had made the decision to more graphically drive home the destruction of the colonies this time around, we called our good pals at KNB Makeup Effects for a hand. Greg Nicotero, head honcho at KNB joyfully allowed us all the crispy critters we could carry from his football field sized makeup lab in the Valley. Note the sweet little  family unit we set up. Heart warming!

Honey? I’d like to have a few friends over for a cook out. Dorth looks on, as Gary tip-toes through the terror.

Scar

People ask me if I miss makeup. Truth is, I still get to do it once in a while.  In the BSG episode “Scar”, we he had a mad Raider that had overcome it’s programming. The episode was akin to to a film noir monster tale. Gary asked me to design a horror mask for the marauding Cylon. We discussed it and saw it as a three way split between Frankenstein, a battered old tom, and Mickey Rourke in Sin City.

No one has ever seen Scar’s face clearly before now. I imagine it illuminated by a crack of lightning outside it’s victim’s bedroom window. Classic horror.

Virtuality VFX and the Good Ship Phaeton – UPDATED!

(Above) A test render of the Phaeton. On “Virtuality” the ship is self illuminated with starlight fill only, making for very moody and mysterious imagery.

We’re proud of how Virtuality turned out, and  most people seem to have enjoyed it. In fact, James Poniewozik of Time magazine said, “…it’s better than any network drama pilot I’ve seen so far for next fall.” You can read it here – http://tunedin.blogs.time.com/2009/06/26/virtualitys-bold-lonely-mission/

I just did a Q&A with John Folden of  http://virtuality-tv.info/  You can read it below in it’s entirety with some new images to boot, so Enjoy…

The BSG CIC

The Combat Information Center.

Here is a change of pace. You’re looking at Galactica’s Combat Information Center, or CIC. What an impressive set to explore with it’s many levels and stations! It is a  sexy conglomeration of newly fabricated items and cleverly implemented WWII-ish surplus, and It really took my breath away the first time that I stood there.

I’ll never forget getting the bad news about Enterprise. We had just gotten the word it had been cancelled. It had been a remarkable run for me.  Constant employment for nearly 17 years! Unheard of in this business. I drove home thinking that maybe this was it. That maybe I wouldn’t work again for years… maybe never. Who knows in this game?

Mike Okuda, The Phaeton, and Nuclear Pulse Propulsion

NASA concept for a nuclear pulse spacecraft. A nuclear pellet is fired from the aft end of the craft and detonated, yielding far more thrust than conventional chemical rockets.

Last week I had mentioned the upcoming Ron Moore pilot “Virtuality”, set to air on June 26th, just a few short weeks away. That thread lead to a spirited discussion as to what might be the propulsion system of the show’s spacecraft, the Phaeton, a NASA style interstellar craft. In fact the Phaeton uses nuclear pulse propulsion, and I’ve asked my good friend Mike if he would explain how it works. Mr. Okuda has seen the Phaeton and witnessed the ship’s propulsion system in action, and he is delighted to elaborate on it for us. Take it away Mike…

Zefram Cochrane notwithstanding, most fans know that real scientists have very little idea how faster-than-light “warp drive” or “hyperdrive,” could actually work, or even if they’re possible.   A lot of slower-than-light technologies seen in stories and films for reaching the stars are more grounded in scientific reality, like lightsails, ramscoops, and generation ships.  Unfortunately, most of them involve extremely long travel times, miniscule payloads, or near-magical breakthroughs in engineering.  (Sometimes all three!)  Present-day rockets are amazing machines, but they have only a tiny fraction of the performance that would be needed to travel to the stars on anything approaching a human timescale.

But there was one incredibly audacious proposal for a propulsion system, using (relatively) off-the-shelf technology that would have been able to send massive payloads to the outer planets, and maybe even to nearby stars.  Nuclear pulse propulsion.

Gary Hutzel Talks BSG VFX in Variety

 

My good friend and leader, Gary Hutzel, is featured at Variety online talking Battlestar Galactica. Check it out -

http://www.variety.com/index.asp?layout=awardcentral&jump=emmys09&articleid=VR1118004509&cs=1

Gary’s DS9 Ship Scale Chart!

Gary Hutzel and Judly Elkins in the DS9 VFX offices on the Paramount lot back in the day.

This in from Larry Nemecek -

I may have just made a few techheads’ brains explode. Apparently, this ship scale Gary gave me back in the day from DS9 (‘98) has never been out there. I just posted it on my still-stealth-mode Trekland blog (not widely announced for another few weeks)… at the request of Boris from Memory Alpha–and likely among your “flounders with fan mail”–re: Akira specs I once referred to in my Titan column:

You guys not interested in this, are you?

 

Larry goes on to say -

It’s not as pretty as a ship 3-D…. but it’s a cool piece of tablet paper for many. Don’t know if this floats your boat, but if you want to post it, and maybe link to my entry (also carries a Gary n Judy pic), here they are:

http://larrynemecek.blogspot.com/2009/05/tech-ing-tech-1998-hutzel-vfx-ship.html

 

Rockin’ It Old School

Paul Maples, Gary Hutzel’s favored motion control man, prepares to fly the USS Enterprise old school, at Image G in Studio City. Mike and I were lucky enough to be there for what was probably the last time this icon would be physically photographed.

It was the end of a long week at work for me, and I am ready to wash those pixels outta’ my hair. I don’t know about you, but I need to look at some physical models for a little bit. When I feel that way, it’s the original Enterprise for me. It just cannot be beat. It’s a masterpiece. How is it possible that a 45 year old speculative spaceship design still stirs the imagination? I’m talking the alpha ship, from the original series. No restyling, or updating needed. Don’t misunderstand me. I am 100% for stretching the Star Trek mythos in as many ways as it can go. That sort of defines what science fiction is all about… stretchability, flexability, and let’s see what this baby can do. I simply love this design in it’s original state, and IN PERSON. So hey, I’m gonna’ surf thru those days back at G and the 1701… no bloody A, B, C, or D…  and get misty for a minit, so why don’t you come along? I know you feel just like I do…

 

Phoning It In

This is how we found out that Gary Hutzel and the team won the Emmy for VFX in BSG’s third season. Text messaged from the audience by VFX wiz Mark Shimer.

We were crankin’ to get Razor out the door, one giant show. BSG had been passed over three times before. If the show didn’t get it in it’s first three years, there was no chance in hell it was going to win this year, right? Wrong!

K-7

Can there be too many new photos of K-7?

The Last Defiant Shuttle Pod Pictorial

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Motherlode! I knew I had the ultimate cache socked away somewhere in the dark recesses of the drex files. This pictorial will be the last one for this miniature, because you won’t need another one. Tomorrow a very unusual entry. There were two NX Enterprises; the one you saw on television, and then there was the approval model. It appeared very early on in print before the high resolution model was ready, and was never seen again. Those of us who love dissecting the differences will have a field day. For instance, the approval model had larger windows, was generally brighter looking and… well, I’ll save it until tomorrow! Be there! Aloha!

 

Romulan Shuttle First Sketch

Speaking of birds, I thought this sketch was long lost, but just turned it up last night. The off the cuff concept sketch for Gary Hutzel of the Romulan shuttle.

Find photos of the finished shuttle model here: http://drexfiles.wordpress.com/2008/12/24/romulan-shuttle/