Superman Lives: Sylvain Despretz' Skullship concept art for the unmade Superman Lives (1997) references right panel from Luncheon of the Boating Party triptych, (1985) by William Kentridge?

 

 

a) Superman Lives: Sylvain Despretz' Skullship concept art for the unmade Superman Lives (1997)

 

 

b) "Lost Rumba, Lost Recuendo" (from the Rumbas portfolio) (1993) by Moebius


 

c) Here it seemed as if bowl with some unidentifiable mass and the burning tire set up the position for the eye socket , with the space between then becoming the nasal cavity

 

 

d) The tire appears to become the eye socking viewing port, and perhaps the flames contribute to the sharp jagged forms above

 

 
 
e) Here it would seem though that the general tire shape had been stretched sideways if we're going tto look at the fence sloping downwards as the pipe


 
 
 
f) The turquoise fence slanting downwards from behind the tire here becomes the pipe.

 

 

g) The lower part of the front of the woman. The turquoise fence contributes to the flow of he encrusted pipe work while the woman's arm on he left becomes a keel like structure

 

 

 

h) The front of the woman's garment appears to become an open space on the lower part of the the ship, looking as if the orange yellow highlights have become the white shining reflections

 

 

 

i) The woman's head becomes this near mound like mass of something, then the turquoise fence coming out from behind her head becomes pipes

 

 
 

j) The potato masher like object on the ground and the equivalent area which would be the space between the pipes or supports on top of the bulbous growth like form.


Sylvain Despretz's biomechanical Skullship for Tim Burton's unmade Superman Lives in 1997. references The Jabberwocky for Lewis Carroll's "Alice Through The Looking Glass" (published 1871) by John Tenniel?

 
Leading from 
The Jabberwocky for Lewis Carroll's "Alice Through The Looking Glass" (published 1871) by John Tenniel
and
 
 

a) Sylvain Despretz's Skullship (near enough Biomechanoid) for Tim Burton's unmade Superman Lives in 1997.

 

 
 
 
 
b) References The Jabberwocky for Lewis Carroll's "Alice Through The Looking Glass" (published 1871) by John Tenniel?


 

 
c) The Jabberwocky's neck becomes the diagonal pipe at the upper rear of the ship.
 

 

 
 
d) Here the tail becomes the jaw area 
 

 
 
 
e) The arm with claw becomes the nasal cavity area 
 
 

 

f) With that the corresponding area for the jaws would become the view port/ eye socket with cheekbone etc. Then the horns/tendrils becomes the spikes on the top, although if one wanted to connect that with the neck area, one would have to say that they were separated here.

 

 
 
 
g) One can look at the foot and the hero's head and think about the back of the engines with the thrusters sticking out

Event Horizon: Echoes of "Hellraiser"

leading from
Event Horizon 

 
 
Event Horizon
  
Hellraiser



 
a) Too much like 'Hellraiser' and 'Deadstar'
 
As a basic concept, Event Horizon began to sound like  Clive Barker's Hellraiser set in space which sounded like what Bill Malone's original premise for the film originally called "Dead Star" aimed to be with the devil unleashed aboard a space craft. 
 
The development of the "Dead Star" project was brought to a halt by the end of 1990 and later it was transformed into something else quite different when Walter Hill later got his hands on the script and turned it into the film "Supernova" released in 2000. 
 
While the plot of Hellraiser was different enough, unfortunately the image  for many making the connection between the two films transformed Event Horizon into something highly derivative.
 
 
The Lament Configuration in another state of transformation as someone tries to solve the puzzle cube



The space jump drive of the Event Horizon
 
 
 
 
b) Acknowledgement of "Hellraiser "
 
Paul Anderson and his producer were inspired by the transforming nature of the Lament Configuration Cube from Hellraiser, which does suggest that they saw Barker's movie and were aware of the similarities
 
 
  1. Jeremy Bolt: We were quite inspired by the cube in Hellraiser and the way that it realligned itself and reshapes itself. (Event Horizon DVD commentary)
 
 
 
Pinhead from Hellraiser
Dotor William Weir transformed in Event Horizon


 
c) Doctor Weir too much like Pinhead
 
Sam Neil's character Doctor William Weir utters the words "I have such wonderful things to show you" before gouging out his eyes
 
This echoes Pinhead from Hellraiser's utterance to those who have just solved the lament configuration and opened the portal, "We have such sights to show you



Giger's letter to Twentieth Century Fox no.2 (December 19, 1997)

GIGER'S SECOND LETTER TO: TWENTIETH CENTURY FOX FROM: H.R.GIGER December 19, 1997 However Twentieth Century Fox is maneuvering its way through the legal issues in order to keep HR Giger far away from proper credit and profit, one thing is certain: the Biomechanical style of HR Giger in any Alien sequel is obvious to everyone. No future Alien copyist or imitator will be able to hide that fact. The Alien Lifeforms, environments, the whole Alien world is created and copyrighted under the law by HR Giger. This is confirmed in the Academy Award of 1980 for "Best Achievement for Visual Effects." I reserve all rights to my own intellectual property. The copyrights granted to Fox are only for the uses which have been contracted and paid for. In regards to the new Alien development called the Newborn, it is just another Giger design, which you will realize when you look beneath the shell of the adult Alien head, as seen in the photos on page 60 of my book. The human skull under the face has been exposed and the creature's sinewy body has been contaminated by deformed features. Fox, however, tries to deny HR Giger's influence. No objection was ever voiced to the title of the book named after its mentor "HR Giger's Alien", published by Sphinx in Basel and Big O in London. It would have been wise for Fox to add my name into the main and final credits, immediately, five weeks ago. For every day that passes without this embarassing wrong-doing being fixed the damage grows. Since Fox refused my request for a screen credit, I have received hundreds of e-mail messages from Alien fans, all of them stating what an outrage it is that hundreds of million dollars are made on Giger's Alien but that his name could not be mentioned among the several hundred other names, even in the credits. Tom Woodruff's Alien design style is simply "HR Giger's Biomechanical". Woodruff, an excellent effect specialist, said about his "Alien Viper's Nest" : "It is like an HR Giger's painting come to life." Yes it is. It has been newly stolen from my book "Necronomicon". As photographed from above, you will see that it is a section of my painting "Passagen-Tempel / Eingangspartie" (Passage Temple / entrance section) Work # 262. This painting existed three years before the first Alien movie had even started to be filmed. During my participation on the first Alien, Fox was permitted to use my books as a guide and my book "Necronomicon" was Ridley Scott's bible. There can be no Alien sequel, not even in the future, that is not influenced by H R Giger's Biomechanical style. (at present the only source for me for this letter is http://jingleheimerschmidtj.tripod.com/giger.html)

Giger's letter to Twentieth Century Fox no.1 (November 13, 1997)

TO: TWENTIETH CENTURY FOX FROM: H.R.GIGER November 13, 1997 The Alien Quartet has, from the very beginning, contained my unique and personal style. For the first film ALIEN, I was awarded an Oscar for "Best Achievement for Visual Effects". In ALIENS, a film I was not asked to work on, I still received a screen credit for "Original Alien Design". On ALIEN 3, I was cheated out of the Oscar nomination received by that film because 20th Century Fox gave me the credit, "Original Alien Design" again, instead of "Alien 3 Creature Design", as it was my rightful title in accordance to my contract and the work I had performed on the film. In 1976 I had completed two paintings, "Necronom IV" and "Necronom V", in which two long-headed creatures appeared. In 1977 these paintings, were published in my book, NECRONOMICON, by Sphinx Verlag, Basel, in German. It was in this version of the book that Ridley Scott, in his search for a credible Alien creature, came across these two paintings and decided, on them for the full-grown Alien, using the words "That's it!" The statement has been graciously repeated by Ridley Scott in almost every interview about his work on ALIEN. The creatures in ALIEN:RESURRECTION are even closer to my original Alien designs than the ones which appear in ALIENS and ALIEN 3. The film also resurrects my original designs for the other stages of the creature's life-cycle, the Eggs, the Facehugger and the Chestburster. ALIEN:RESURRECTION is an excellent film. What would it look like without my Alien life-forms? In all likelihood, all the sequels to ALIEN would not even exist! The designs and my credit have been stolen from me, since I alone have designed the Alien. So why does not Fox give me the credit I rightfully earned? As for those responsible for this conspiracy: All I can wish them is an Alien breeding inside their chests, which might just remind them that the "Alien Father" is H.R.Giger.

  1. at present the only source for me for this letter is http://jingleheimerschmidtj.tripod.com/giger.html
  2. You can find references to "All I can wish them is an Alien breeding inside their chests" statement on the articles posted on this page at http://www.hrgiger.com/alien4-press.htm