Science fiction and fantasy just might be part of my earliest childhood memories. I remember the thrill of seeing that Star Wars crawl in the movie theater, wondering if Spock would truly die in Wrath of Kahn, falling in love with the world of The Dark Crystal, and oh so many other memories. TV offered Dr. Who, The Tomorrow People, the movies of Ray Harryhausen, simulcast airings of 2001: A Space Odyssey, The Martian Chronicles mini-series that led to me realizing that books contained more space-age daydreams than I could ever possibly hope to consume. From there I discovered H.G. Wells with his invading tripods and time machines. Edgar Rice Burros offered the dangerous adventures of Barsoom. Then came the Alien, The Predator, and The Terminator. On their heels were Robocop, Alien Nation, and a plethora of low-budget VHS knockoffs that to my young eyes seemed no different than the big studio hits.
If you were there, you get the idea. If you were born later, I hope you had some equivalent experience.
Oh, how I wanted to be the first ten-year-old to command a Federation starship, become a Jedi, fall in love with the space princess that I rescued in my fantasies, befriend strange beasts that moved in stop-motion, and live as a legendary hero known throughout the universe.
At the same time, I was well aware of how these stories were made. I knew all the directors, the authors, and as I got older I jumped at every chance to see what went on behind the scenes, the animators, the model makers, the make-up artists. Universal Studios was only 40 minutes away and the tram tour that road you to the secrets of Battle Star Galactia, Harry and the Hendersons, and Jaws were just as magical to me as seeing the films play out in the theater.
I wanted to make those models. I wanted to bring those creatures to life. I wanted to tell my own stories. Really, that’s how you get to be those characters. You live those adventures through them.
As time wore on I never let go of my fantasies. As I discover more amazing stories through comic books, animation, and the ever-evolving technology of filmmaking, I became more excited at the new directions people were taking their stories in. Creators like Genndy Tartakovsky were breaking new ground with cartoon shows like Samurai Jack, Clone Wars, Sym-Bionic Titan, and most recently his masterpiece PRIMAL. I think you’ll see his influence in my own style within the images I post, here. Filmmakers like Robert Rodrigues were taking the low-budget art of grindhouse and making it new again, in the digital era with movies like El Mariachi and Planet Terror, which to my disappointment took place on Earth but I’ll get to that. (Don’t worry, I still thought it was great.)
What Was and What I Thought It Was
I suppose I should tell you all why I asked you here. What is Escape From Planet Omega-12? What’s SciExploitation (formally Girl In The Window) Sci-Fi Anthology for that matter? In short, it’s everything we hope a space adventure is going to be when we show up for these things. It’s the promise of the racy movie poster with a scantily clad heroine in destress, the strange creatures on the verge of devouring her, the zooming spaceships, the space guns, and the alien worlds, all cranked up to cross the lines that the studio censors and the rating system always teased but never fully delivered on. Well, sometimes they did a little bit but only for a few seconds here and there. Usually, it was Paul Verhoeven or Roger Corman if we got anything.
Unfortunately, in the era of not wanting to offend anyone, marketers wanting to keep everything family-friendly to reach the broadest possible demographic, and making it all packageable for overseas sales, we don’t get much reason to hope for content like that, these days. Hey, who can blame producers, though? It’s true. You have to tone things down a bit if you want to make your money back. However, I do believe there is an audience for sci-fi/fantasy that should be off-limits for kids, so I came up with what I think is a good solution.
SciExploitation is going to be an anthology of such stories, first as comic books, then as animation, and possibly some live-action that gives everyone what they want in different versions. It’s always going to be sexy and will never cross over into being straight-up smut, but there will be a version that won’t expose kids to anything they don’t already get on TV and another version that no responsible adult would allow their children to see. Both versions will be available through this Substack, the former public and the latter behind a subscribe wall.
You can see the uncensored versions of these works, here:
But what kind of stories will they be?
It was the longest time before I finally saw the 60s cult classic Barbarella and I have to admit, after years of seeing the old trailers and little clips here and there from the movie, I was so disappointed. The promise of what that movie was in my mind and what it actually turned out to be was so far apart. Then I realized, the movie I wanted to see did exist, in my mind. Other movies came closer but also failed to hit the mark. Planet of the Vampires, Green Slime, and It: The Terror from Beyond Space got close, and occasionally movies like Forbidden Planet and Robinson Crusoe on Mars hit a home run but they did so in a tame way. My imagination always felt like it would be so much more fun if these ideas were pushed to their extreme.
Then came the grindhouse revival that Robert Rodrigues and Quinton Tarantino brought about with their movies Death Proof and Planet Terror. I thought, “Planet Terror? A grindhouse sci-fi movie? That’s genius!!! That’s exactly what I’ve been wanting!” Oh, wait, it’s zombies. Like I said before, I liked it but it wasn’t what my brain was conjuring.
Now, I want to bring you all the things I thought were out there but weren’t. Now, it’s time to tell those unrealized stories, and show those visuals that never were. So, as part of a muti-picture development deal with producer Doug Mayfield, Omega-12 is taking shape. It’ll be presented in a neo-grindhouse style, what I’ve been calling Sci-Exploitation, hence the title.
I’m not going to give away the plot of Escape From Omega-12 but as you can see from the artwork, we’re going to have some fun. No drab utilitarian futurism, here. We’re going on an adventure, rayguns blazing.
Other stories will be presented under SciExploitation, including a story titled Girl In The Window which honestly, was my first attempt at doing this years ago that never got off the ground (I’ll tell that tale another time) but I think is worth trying again.
Want to no more? Read part two by clicking HERE. I’m looking forward to bringing this all to you and showing you how I’m creating it all as I go along, with behind-the-scenes of our animation tests, designs, casting, and practical effects.
Let’s fly.
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