Science fiction aficionados and fans of practical effects will want to pour one out today: Brian Johnson, a man responsible for building some of the most iconic sci-fi craft in movies and television history, has died at the age of 87.
Johnson's craftsmanship touched damn near every bit of the best science fiction over the past half century. During the 1960s, he served as the special effects director for Thunderbirds, and contributed spaceship models to a little movie called 2001: A Space Odyssey. While everyone else was making unfortunate fashion decisions during the 1970s, Johnson chose to work on the special effects for nearly every episode of Space: 1999, did uncredited work on A Clockwork Orange, and was the special effects supervisor for Ridley Scott's Alien in 1979.
I mean, just think of the number of imaginations Johnson touched:
George Lucas approached him to direct the SFX of the first Star Wars movie, but he was too busy with another project to take the gig. He made up for it by becoming the special effects supervisor for The Empire Strikes Back in 1980. The list goes on: he played significant roles in the look and whimsy of Dragonslayer, The NeverEnding Story, Aliens, Dragonheart, Revenge of the Pink Panther, Spies Like Us, Taste the Blood of Dracula, The First Men in the Moon, and Kiss of the Vampire.
We should all be so lucky as to leave behind a legacy that has made so many people happy.
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