RIP Dan O'Bannon

[KneadToKnow]

I don't claim to be a giant fan of Dark Star, but I agree with the obituary writer, Alien simply one of the best movies ever made.

RIP, Dan.

[Snowboarder Bo]

No way.

I'm a huge fan. I think I have every movie he wrote.

This blows.

ETA: I just read the link in the OP, and the obit writer has no cred:

Originally Posted by Harry Knowles

I love DARK STAR and its sentient bomb and bean bag monster like very few things in this world.

What a dipshit. It wasn't a bean bag. It was a beach ball. Zero cred.

[Snowboarder Bo]

cite

The planets shown in the film were actually beach balls. Due to a bit of serendipity, a beah ball would soon be featured in a more memorable role.

"What we would do with this giant beach ball is use bathroom plungers to hold it up, pain it, and photograph the top of its surface. Someone who was helping on the film was carrying this inflated beach ball, and O'Bannon and I immediately looked at each other and said, "What if the alien who is supposed to be on board looked like a beach ball with legs?"

We spray painted the beach ball, put monster claws beneath it, and got Nick Castle behind it to be the claws and give them some sort of life.

Scroll halfway down the page to see pic.

I bet Mr. Knowles is taking a beating over this on AICN.

[WarmNPrickly]

That is too bad, I enjoyed many of his brains...er films. I expect that his undertaker will do a very brains job ... er good job. I assume that trioxane will not be used during the brains .. er process. Trioxane would just plain make his brains taste bad.

[WordMan]

Thank you for posting this - I really respect the work he did.

[Johnny L.A.]

Bummer.

I loved him as Sgt. Pinback/Bill Froog.

Awww, I don't wanna do that!

Go on, eat it! Take it or leave it.

And, not one of O'Bannon's lines, but directed to him: You are false data.

[Revtim]

"Return Of The Living Dead" was one of my favorites. The pioneering movie depicting fast zombies.

[beowulff]

Did anyone read the interview he gave after Alien became a hit?

The guy was psychotic - he went on and on about how he wrote Alien to get back at the girls who wouldn't date him in High School.


Still - Dark Star was one of the all-time great B movies, and Alien, of course, a masterpiece.

R.I.P.

[Ol'Gaffer]

Originally Posted by Revtim

"Return Of The Living Dead" was one of my favorites. The pioneering movie depicting fast zombies.

Agreed, fantastic flick. Completely quotable as well.

"What I want to know is, where do they find all of the skeletons with perfect teeth?"

[aruvqan]

Originally Posted by Snowboarder Bo

No way.

I'm a huge fan. I think I have every movie he wrote.

This blows.

ETA: I just read the link in the OP, and the obit writer has no cred:



What a dipshit. It wasn't a bean bag. It was a beach ball. Zero cred.

Heavy bummer, great feel for dialog in his writing.

To this day I can get a huge laugh from mrAru by putting both hands together and tapping the nails like the claws on the beach ball alien ... our first real date was watching Dark Star on video ...

[Johnny L.A.]

Originally Posted by aruvqan

To this day I can get a huge laugh from mrAru by putting both hands together and tapping the nails like the claws on the beach ball alien

I do that sometimes. Nobody gets it.

And I do use the two lines I posted somewhat frequently, complete with an impression of O'Bannon's nasal voice. I've linked the 'false data' .wav at a certain poster in the pit. I can't look at a space suit without thinking of muffin tins and roasting pans, and I often imagine egg cartons in overhead lighting fixtures. Sometimes Benson, Arizona will pop into my head. Is there anyone reading this thread who hasn't said, 'Sounds good. Let's vaporize it!' or 'Wanna blow it up?'? Dark Star, my first exposure to Dan O'Bannon, is chockfull of memorable moments and lines.

Only 63. Too young.

[Tim R. Mortiss]

I thought he was blown away by Capone's gang in his flower shop decades ago?

[don't mind me]

"It's your turn to feed the alien."

The man who took British gentleman Ridley Scott to see The Texas Chainsaw Massacre and changed movie history.

So long, Dan.

[CalMeacham]

A broad-ranging talent. He acted in Dark Star and Return of the Livin Dead. He did special effects for the original Star Wars (The computer displays of The Rebel Moon behind the gas giant were by him), he directed Return of the Living Dead and, he claims, bits of Dark Star. And he wrote screenplays. He kept taking an idea until he got it right, and then, someimes, he kept going until he got it wrong again. Besides Aliens Loose on a Starship (Dark Star and Alien), he also did The Living Dead in the fabulously awful Dead and Buried before doing the decent Return of the Living dead, then going overboard with Lifeforce.

Interesting and talented guy, though. He managed to get his dreams transformed into film. I agree that 63 is too young.

[BaneSidhe]

RIP, Dan.

[Revtim]

Originally Posted by Ol'Gaffer

Agreed, fantastic flick. Completely quotable as well.

"What I want to know is, where do they find all of the skeletons with perfect teeth?"

"Trash is taking off her clothes again!" Yeah, we could post these all day.

[Johnny L.A.]

Originally Posted by Revtim

"Trash is taking off her clothes again!"

Linnea Quigley wore an appliance on her crotch, so she wasn't technically naked.

Originally Posted by Revtim

Yeah, we could post these all day.

'You mean the movie lied?'

[koeeoaddi]

I suppose it could be called a **SPOILER, so don't watch it if you haven't seen the film, but that argument with the bomb** is one of my favorite movie scenes, ever!

R.I.P., and thanks!

[Scougs]

When my erstwhile husband was gigging in bands, rather than soundchecking by going "Two... two.... one two...." he would tap the microphone and say "Sergeant Pinback calling bomb number 19. Come in bomb."

Loved Dark Star. Loved how it set the template for a spaceship being a grubby, claustrophobic workplace, with workmates thrown together that don't really like each other. With an alien on the loose. Hmm.... wonder what he did with that setup later?

RIP.

[NDP]

Originally Posted by CalMeacham

(H)e also did The Living Dead in the fabulously awful Dead and Buried before doing the decent Return of the Living dead... .

I recall reading somewhere that Dead and Buried was a contractual obligation screenplay that he pretty much disowned the second the second he pulled it out of his typewriter. I agree with you that it's a wretched film but it's an especially frustratingly wretched film. There were some interesting--and disturbing--ideas raised (perhaps inadvertently) in the movie but they were never developed and ended up being snuffed out by the film's poor execution and heavy-handed direction.

[candide]

He was my distant cousin. The O'Bannons have a reunion every year in Missouri. I never knew him but I will be certain to pass this thread along to them.

Thank you.

[Woeg]

This really bums me out - what a fantastic talent, gone. Return of the Living Dead is one of my all-time fav zombie movies...I watch it at least twice a year. Dan really knew how to make a fun movie.

[Push You Down]

Heaven: Send more awesome dudes.

[TBG]

Originally Posted by Revtim

"Return Of The Living Dead" was one of my favorites. The pioneering movie depicting fast zombies.

Don't put the blame on him for that! His just kept moving like normal people, not speed freaks like in the ones these days.

He did give us the brain eating zombies, as opposed to the flesh eaters, so credit him for that instead! BRAIIIIIINS

[Revtim]

Originally Posted by Johnny L.A.

Linnea Quigley wore an appliance on her crotch, so she wasn't technically naked.

Yeah, I didn't know that until I listened to the director's commentary on the DVD. And believe me, I REALLY LOOKED.