Dan O'Bannon

I was revisiting some scenes from Dark Star on youtube and saw in the commentary that actor/writer Dan O'Bannon had passed in Dec 09. This information made me pause for a few minutes. I find that I have these moments of reflection when someone in the media dies , more so these days I guess. When Patrick Swayze died, it was more than just a passing thought for the day. I mean how many movies did I see growing up with him in it?

Dan O'Bannon had a list of creative efforts : from wiki

• 1974 Dark Star – writer, special fx, editor, prod design, co-star
• 1977 Star Wars – special computer effects
• 1979 Alien – writer
• 1981 Dead & Buried – writer
• 1981 Heavy Metal – writer of two segments, Soft Landing and B-17
• 1983 Blue Thunder – writer
• 1985 Lifeforce – writer
• 1985 The Return of the Living Dead – writer, director, voice
• 1986 Invaders from Mars – writer
• 1990 Total Recall – writer
• 1992 The Resurrected – director
• 1995 Screamers – writer
• 2010 Silvaticus 3015 – co-screenplay writer

One of my favorite movies ever has been and prolly always will be Alien. To this day 31 years later I can still watch this movie from beginning to end and be in awe of it's execution. I was so terrified of the commercial, I told my parents I wanted to see it. I was 8 yrs old! I remember telling my father 30 min into the movie that this was not scary at all. However, by the end I must have been practically frozen in terror. I can remember talking about how it scared the ever living shit of out me in 3rd grade lunch.

For years, my dreams would incorporate the Alien as a symbol of some anxiety. Along with HR Giger's art, and Ridely Scott's direction so much of what I like/produce artistically has a footprint from that movie. So thank you Dan O'Bannon for making it happen.