Invasion of the Turtle Aliens (sci-fi Q)

Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share
1

Is there any Sci-Fi fans that can answer a really obscure question that’s been bugging me?

In the Movie “The Lathe of Heaven” there is a scene featuring a bunch of pretty well stop-motion animated Turtle-y looking aliens. Same with the movie “LaserBlast”, there too are a bunch of suspiciously similar stop-motion turtle-y looking aliens…

Now, in the CalArts film library where they have decades worth of animation student’s pencil tests and demo reels (including Tim Burtons early stuff) what should I discover among the early 70’s stuff but…

The early work of that guy who did the animated fantasy pin-ball sequences for Sesame Street!!!

Er… well, thats beside the point. But, yes, there were early stop motion studies of turtle aliens (made of plasicine clay and pretty funny because the hot studio lights started melting them, so they get saggier and smudgier the farther they got into the film).

Now, “Lathe of Heaven” is not available on video, and the net has little to offer. But “laserblast” I saw roasted by Mystery Science Theater a few years ago, so I’m thinking somebody might have a copy and might be able to find me the name of the animator.

Thanks

Inky

2

From the IMDB

Other crew
Dave Allen (II) … stop-motion animation
Jon Berg … model sculptor
Randall William Cook … principal animator (as Randy Cook)

Does this help?

Those who are dancing look insane to those who cannot hear the music.

One-of-a-kind, custom-designed Wally sig available on request.

3

IMDB doesn’t have a lot on “Lathe.” I do have a copy, though, and I’ll take a look to see what kind of animation credits are listed.

4

OK, I checked the credits, and the turtle aliens in “Lathe of Heaven” were designed by Richard Tautkus.

I don’t think it was stop-action.

The aliens didn’t really move a lot, so it was more like “stopped” action. :smiley:

5

Thanks very much for going to all that trouble Mjollnir. I have to confess I was just a little kid when I saw “Lathe” so my memories are a bit sketchy.

Oh well, there goes another neat theory…

Inky