Posted by Davin Flateau on 12 May 2005 at 8:19 pm.
Filed under Astronomy.
While loyal throngs of Star Wars fans are camped out in front of local movie theaters hitting each other with plastic lightsabers in anticipation of Wednesday night, I’m camped out in my living room (so to speak) eagerly awaiting this Saturday night. That’s when the Discovery Channel debuts its latest CGI spectacular Alien Planet at 8pm EDT/PDT. The Discovery Channel has had a few of these computer graphics-based specials over the years, such as Walking with Dinosaurs and Walking with Prehistoric Beasts, but this show is a bit different. It’s based on one of my favorite science fiction art books, Wayne Barlowe’s Expedition: Being An Account in Words and Artwork of the 2358 A.D. Voyage to Darwin IV.
Expedition is Barlowe’s fictional travelogue and scientific survey of a planet 6.5 light years from earth, where an amazing ecosystem has evolved. Barlowe draws upon his training as a natural history artist to create a world whose inhabitants are as bizarre as they are realistic.
Through paintings, sketches and words, Darwin IV’s inhabitants spring to life: the Grove Back, a huge dinsoaur-like quadraped that has a small forest growing on its back, the fast-flying Skewers that fly through its prey, skewering them on their long beak, and the massive Emperor Sea Strider, a 60-foot tall biped behemoth lumbering on a 10-meter deep ameobic sea creature. The eyeless, faceless creatures seem perfectly suited to their environment, as they struggle to survive in a diverse ecosystem that’s the playing field for their biological evolution.
The book’s release in 1990 was one inspiration among many that propelled me into the field of planetarium production. I’ve always meant to take the time to animate some of the alien beasts myself, and realize them as living, moving things, so I can’t wait to see what the team at the Discovery Channel do. The show is also intertwined with interviews from scienists and artists like Jack Horner, Michio Kaku, James Garvin, and Wayne Barlowe himself.
Most people know Wayne Barlowe from his book Barlowe’s Guide to Extraterrestrials, where he takes on the task of illustrating some of science fiction’s most famous creatures and characters.
So on Saturday night, sit back with a bowl of popcorn, and let science fiction do what it does best: take us to another place and time, and show us what’s possible.
