5th Element. 1997's big-budget epic told a tale of Good-vs-Evil in the not too distant future. Even though it boasted state-of-the-art effects, cool hardware and a couple of big name actors, it was not a favorite of critics or movie goers.

The Fhlosten Paradise studio model, shown here, was seen at the "Salon de la maquette" (model show) in Paris, in April 98. It is a 2+ meter long model painted in metallized royal blue with shade of dark blue for the panelling effect. Only the left side is completely detailed, including the name of the liner ( written back to front, which unfortunately cannot be seen in these photos). The right side, less detailed, displays three circular holes. Two are for the support structure while filming and one for the electric wires bringing power to all the interior lights.

Photos courtesy of Olivier Cabourdin.

6th Element. This was another big budget Ah-nold project that boasted state-of-the-art effects and a couple of big name actors, but was not a favorite of critics or movie goers. It did have cool hardware, though, including the 7,000 pound Whispercraft™, a blend of high-tech materials covered with a poly-composted fiberglass finish and fitted with a computerized dashboard and working rotoblades. Designed by Ron Cobb, ("Alien," "Babylon 5") the Whispercraft was modeled after a military prototype being worked on today. It was designed to function as both a rotor-driven craft and a canard fixed-wing craft (although the mock-up could spin its rotors it couldn't actually fly).

Photos were taken at the Santa Monica Museum of Flying and are courtesy of Ken Robbins.

IMAGES:
Image 1: Top/front of Sulaco, forward of upper railgun.

Image 2: Dorsal railgun - built from turret of a M60A2 model.

Image 3: Side view of dorsal railgun.

Image 4: Ventral railgun and hangar (partially open).

Image 5: Center of the ship.

Image 6: Bow area.

Image 7: Perspective view of "prongs".

Image 8: Prongs, from behind.

Image 9: From the right rear.

Image 10: Close-up of the bow.

Image 11: Top of bow.

Image 12: Hangar (?) under bow.

Image 13: Another hangar door, this on the side.

Image 14: Ventral railgun.

Image 15: Bottom/front.

Image 16: Another hangar door underneath.

Image 17: Close-up of ventral railgun.

Image 18: Area just forward of railgun.

Image 19: Surface detailing, center of ship.

Image 20: Spine under the top gun, center of ship.

Image 21: Underneath, back by the spine that just out just in front of drive section.

Image 22: Surface detailing, towards rear of ship.

Image 23: Another cannon emplacement.

Image 24: Dorsal "fin" at rear of ship.

Alien(s) Series Inspired by IT! THE TERROR FROM SPACE (one of the best sci-fi horror flicks of the fifties), ALIEN became a genre classic in the years since its 1979 release. The series also . The movie not only made Ridley Scott and Sigourney Weaver famous (and gave James Cameron his start), it set entirely new parameters for sci-fi films, and began a series of films that formed a tight trilogy covering a span of over two decades. Unlike ANY sci-fi film before it, "ALIEN" was dark, gloomy, claustrophobic and most importantly, dirty and unglamourous. The hardware and vehicles have a realism derived from functional, ugly designs

The USS Sulaco is a multi-role space vessel that carries Ripley and comrades back to the doomed LV-426 colony in Aliens, the second movie. Syd Mead, Ron Cobb, and James Cameron were the major contributors to the vehicle designs in the film. The Sulaco was patterned after a modern-day submarine for its basic shape, and lent that shape to the pulse rifle. The filming miniature now belongs to Bob Burns (photos are from the collection of Mark Dickson).

Back To The Future This immensely successful trilogy started in 1985 and went on to become one of the top grossing in history. At it's heart was the tale of an average teen and his mad scientist mentor trying to make the world right. Besides Marty and Doc, the other major character was the DeLorean that 'Doc' Brown converted into a time machine.

Photos from the collection of Mark Dickson.

IMAGES:
Image 1: Galactica's name. (95 kb)

Image 2: The studio model was also dressed as the Pegasus. (35 kb)

Image 3: Side view of the sponson. (33 kb)

Image 4: Topside, looking forward. (71 kb)

Image 5: Deatiling on the top of the engines. (60 kb)

Image 6: Topside, looking aft. (55 kb)

Image 7: Directly overhead. (50 kb)

Image 8: Oblique view, showing some of the side details. (64 kb)

Image 9: Underside of the forward section. (47 kb)

Image 10: Oh, that's gotta hurt ... (677 kb)

Image 10: The studio model was huge!. (50 kb)

BattleStar Galactica Glen A. Larson's 1978 epic science fiction adventure tried to capitalize on the sci-fi craze started by Star Wars the year before. It failed, alas, but not before two years on ABC every Saturday night. In the story, Kobol was the mother planet which sent out space proves and found 13 planets capable of supporting life. It colonized 12 of those planets, but when these civilizations are destroyed by the Cylons in a thousand-year war, the survivors set out in any spacecraft that will fly in a vast migration for the 13th planet: Earth. The remnants of humnanity are harassed every step of the way by the Cylons, a computer/robot civilization whose only mission is to exterminate life.

Photos from the collection of Mark Dickson.

SS Conestoga These are images of the ship that crashed in the Season 1 episode "Terra Nova" of Enterprise. The ship was only seen as an image on one of the bridge screens.

IMAGES:
Image 1: Alien mothership, showing details of the underside. (72 kb)

Image 2: A view of the "petals" on the underside. (75 kb)

Image 3: Underside details. (68 kb)

Image 4: More of the underside, closer to the rim. (52 kb)

Image 5: Closeup of the pattern of underside surface. (55 kb)

Image 6: Alien mothership, top view. (31 kb)

Image 7: Close up of the topside "divot". (30 kb)

Image 8: Side view of that divot. (46 kb)

Image 9: Side view of the mothership. (26 kb)

Image 10: Topside view of the attacker/fighter. (33 kb)

Image 11: Underside, attacker's engine area. (45 kb)

Image 12: Engine vanes. (44 kb)

Image 13: Underneath, rear of the model. (53 kb)

Image 14: Engine vanes, underside. Note trademark. (52 kb)

Image 15: Another detail Lindberg missed. (27 kb)

Image 16:Top side of engine vanes (port side). (51 kb)

Image 17: Looking straight down the engine exhausts. (53 kb)

Image 18: Detailing in the chanel under the dorsal fin. (35 kb)

Image 19: Dorsal fin (starboard side). (33 kb)

Image 20: Side view of the cockpit area. (39 kb)

Independence Day The fate of the world depends on . . . Will Smith!? In the proud tradition of sci-fi 'B' movies - bigger, louder, but just as dumb - came this 1997 summer thriller. Enigmatic aliens arrive over Earth, and a after a short pause, lay waste and wreak havoc. Thankfully, the good ol' USA saves the day. In a triumph of special effects, the former-fighter pilot US President leads an aerial armada to kick alien butt, while a goofy scientist cripples the enemy with a computer virus. Ah, well - at least the special effects were good.

The mother ships were as large as cities and possessed enough destructive power to destroy a whole city. The fighters are fast and highly maneuverable. The alien weaponry is quite powerful, more than a match for Earth's forces. They are also protected by shields, making them hard to destroy - though they can be destroyed if they run into things, much to Will Smith's delight.

Photos from the collection of Mark Dickson.

Robocop's ED-209 was the failed attempt by the OCP company to manufacture a law enforcement robot that would be more reliable, and cheaper, than the cyborgs such as Robocop. Unfortunately, the prototype's software had a few bugs ... like killing folks who didn't need it.

Screen grabs are courtesy of Marco Scheloske

Valley Forge The spacecraft model of the Valley Forge was 26 feet long, and was built under the supervision of John Baumbach. Douglas Trumbull had a definite idea of how the ship should look. "The long superstructure of it was designed after a structure called the Expo Tower at the 1970 World's Fair in Osaka, Japan." Photographs of the tower were turned over to John Dykstra, and along with several others, worked to transform the concept into a space freighter. It was pieced together in three sections on a rolling platform. Two and a half inch steel pipe was bolted together to make the basic armature, and the wing-like midsection was made of wood and steel and covered in plastic. For the remaining structures, metal, wood, and plastic prototypes were constructed , out of which rubber molds were made, cast in epoxy resin, and finally painted. The detailing was taken largely from eight hundred Japanese model kits with the appropriate pieces cut, sanded and glued to the ship.

Probably the most tedious job involved in the model's construction was the creation of the six 25-inch forrest domes. Blown plexiglass domes were made and a matrix of holesdrilled in them. Then little standoff insulators for integrated circuits that had holes in the middle were inserted. Copper wire was weaved from one to the next - like sewing - to produce all the grids that make up the geodesic structure.The job required literally months of sitting in front of a drill press and then threading the wire through the matrices of holes.

After production of the film was complete, the crew decided to disassemble it and save the pieces. The model had taken six months to build, and was disassembled in the space of an hour and a half. A sad end to one of the most unique and intricately built spacecraft to ever have graced the movie screens.

Adapted from an article that appeared in issue #8 of Cinefex - April 1982, written by Pamela Duncan

Scans and captures courtesy of Michael J Dentzer, John Ulshafer and Dennis Heinzeroth.

Following the success of the 1994 film "Stargate," Stargate SG-1 debuted in 1997. Remarkably successfull for a sci-fi show, it has run ten seasons and spun off at least one other series (Stargate Atlantis in 2004; a third series is in development as of this writing). The premise is that the U.S. government created Stargate Command to explore the galaxy and acquire advanced technologies to defend Earth, using an ancient alien artifact called the Stargate. This device connects to other, similiar "gates" via instaneous "subspace wormholes". From relatively simple beginnings, the show has grown to encompass dozens of alien races, huge space armadas ... and all the drama and excitement you could ask from a good space opera.

Images courtesy of "Dave", who adds "I don't have any pictures handy, but we did a lot of different angles of the 'gate opening'. This was done by simply blowing air into water (exactly what it looks like!), using a massive glass tank as a containment vessel, so that we could cover a number of angles for future use."

H.G. Wells' classic story is the great grandfather of every time travel story since. The Time Machine tells the story of scientist and inventor Alexander Hartdegen, a man determined to prove time travel is possible. His determination is turned to desperation by a personal tragedy that drives him to attempt to change the past. Testing his theories with a device of his own invention, Hartdegen is flung 800,000 years into the future where he discovers that mankind has devolved into hunter .... and hunted.

The Dreamworks SKG/Warner Brothers film for which this prop was made debuts on March 8, 2002 and stars Guy Pearce, Samantha Mumba and Jeremy Irons. These images were taken at the 2001 San Diego ComiCon. Many thanks to T.M. Lindsey for making them available. More images are available at the official movie website.

TRON. Disney's legendary movie set the scene for a generation of high-tech sci-fi films and inspired some of the best films of the genre. It was the first to venture into the world of computer-generated imagery, dazzling the eyes of audiences and inspiring a cult following. The story concerned a video game designer trying to prove a big time executive stole his idea who was sucked into a corporation's mainframe. In this "universe", programs are personified counterparts of their writers and 'users' are subjects of religious faith.

Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea was a classic B-movie that spawned a fairly successful TV series. Irwin Allen's 1961 disaster film had it all: a thin plot, cardboard characters, science so implausible as to be ridiculous, and production values that seem cheaper than they actually were. Yet, somehow, Voyage manages to be an entertaining film, with more action over the course of 2 hours than many shows pack into a full season!

There were several filming models plus full size sets, none of which agreed perfectly with each other in details. It's not clear what the actual colors of the models themselves were, other than the topside is darker than the underside. Ford automotive grey and even olive drab have been advanced as possible colors for the filming models; the model in Admiral Nelson's cabin appears to be an intermediate blue over a light grey .... and of course, the full size sets of the missile deck and sail appear to be a medium grey.

Thanks to Gordon (IdMonster) for the screen caps.

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