Raiders of the lost ark, the 30th anniversary

June the 12th, 1981, Raiders of the Lost Ark hits the big screen, and Indiana Jones becomes one of the biggest heroes of cinema, ever.  This movie was instantly an all time favorite, and I was there on opening day at the Mann Christown Theater in Phoenix to see it.  I was completely blown away on all levels. The action,  the horror, the romance, the way cool props, Steven Spielberg’s awesome direction & George Lucas’s incredible story penned by Lawernce Kasdan, and of coarse that incredible John Williams score.  I wish I could write more but we are leaving town so I’ll try and add more through out the next couple of days so in the mean time, dig out your copies of this one and have a Happy 30th screening.

original poster by Amsel

the idol

Indie, and marion

the incredible map room set

behind the scenes with the set up for the remote control glass eyes of the idol,, only a few frames of this made it to the final film

the uss grissom

IF you are a fan of of Star trek III The Search for Spock, there were certainly a lot of new ships to set a fancy to.  The Klingon Bird of Prey, The USS Excelsior, The Massive Space Dock, and one little ship called the USS Grissom.  I walked away from this film in awe and wonder with what ILM had done visually and creatively with all the new ships.  The destruction of the Enterprise seemed unimaginable even after the film was over…quite a shocker.  That moment hit hard, like Spock’s death in the previous film.  These were definitely the glory days for the Trek films.  From the Motion Picture to Trek IV possessed a magical presence on the screen that left me wanting more.

Aside from these fine films, the VFX ws as big of a star as were the main actors.  Many, many  incredible ships and scenes graced the screen from 79 to 87, and I’m sure we all have our favorites.  One of my all time favs was the USS Grissom, named after Apollo astronaut, and Mercury pilot Gus Grissom who died tragically in a capsule fire in the mid 60’s.  The Star Ship Grissom is defined as an Oberth class vessel and had a very unique set of lines and brilliant architecture.  I loved all the designs from film to film in the above mentioned years, and the Grissom stands firm as one very cool designed ship.  I’m not sure if this was a Bill George concept or a Nilo Rodis idea, but whoever the designer is my hat is off to you.

I was quite surprised when I saw the filming miniature at ILM because from the top it looked nothing like what was seen on film, mainly because the angles the model was filmed at were fairly mid hull shots with the ship traveling to or from the camera.  Greg Jein gave me these pictures of the model and immediately you’ll notice the registry # is different from the ST III film version…this was done a lot on Star Trek so as to reuse a model from the films for whatever one of the TV shows it was going to star in next.  A simple decal change made for a whole new ship at very limited expense.  So with all that said, enjoy the pics and look forward to your comments.

grissom 1

grissom 2

G3

g4

g5

g6

g7

g8

James arness, an american hero and hollywood legend passes at 88

What sad news to come to at the end of the day!!!  One of my all time favorite actors, James Arness, has passed away today of natural causes at the age of 88.  If you’re a regular reader here on the blog, Mr. Arness was no stranger.  He was a big man towering over most at 6 foot 7 and, with his deep mighty voice, he was an actor not to be reckoned with.  Jim was good friends with John Wayne, and together they made many pictures.  John Wayne was offered the role of Matt Dillon for a new TV western called Gunsmoke; without hesitation he offered the role to his good friend who took on the part of Marshal Dillion from 1955 to 1975.  At one point  in time, CBS had both Gilligan’s Island and Gunsmoke on the air at the same time; due to a new season of shows, one of the viewers’ favorites had to go…. The producers chose Gunsmoke.

From as far back as I can remember, I watched that show until the very end in 1975.  Mr. Arness starred in many, many pictures such as “Island on the Top of the World”,  “Hondo” and a couple of SCI FI Classics, “THEM” and “The Thing”.  James will always be one of my favorites and, along with all you fellow fans out there, we will all miss him greatly.

God’s speed, Jim, and prayers to your family.

Below are some links about Jim from past blog posts as well as a grab from Jim’s page.

James Arness

https://johneaves.wordpress.com/2011/04/28/the-thing-from-another-world-the-60th-anniversary/

https://johneaves.wordpress.com/2009/06/19/june-19th-2009-the-55th-anniversary-of-them/