About this episode

The episode explores the art of creating realistic aliens in film with Todd Masters, discussing his career and the intersection of reality and fiction.

What does it take to make an alien feel real? Bryce and Brent welcome Emmy-winning creature-effects legend Todd Masters, founder of MASTERSFX and the artist who helped bring the Dark Skies Grays to life. Todd traces his extraordinary career from calling Ray Harryhausen as a kid and working on The Empire Strikes Back at thirteen to creating hundreds of monsters and extraterrestrials. He reveals how the expanding Dark Skies aliens combined translucent materials, animatronics and early digital effects, then explains how he later reinvented the Skitters and helped transform Doug Jones into Cochise for Steven Spielberg’s Falling Skies. He also shares the unforgettable story of fake body parts escaping down a raging river—and being reeled in by some very startled teenagers. The conversation soon moves beyond Hollywood craftsmanship into far stranger territory. Todd describes real-world disguise assignments that went well outside conventional filmmaking, corroborates Brent’s memory that director Tobe Hooper spoke of a government arrangement involving Spielberg, and recalls unusual visitors to the Dark Skies production offices. He also opens up about a near-death…

People in this episode

Hosts: Bryce, Brent

Guest: Todd Masters

Topics covered

• aliens
• creature effects
• Hollywood
• filmmaking
• consciousness
• alternate realities

Keywords

• aliens
• creature effects
• Todd Masters
• Dark Skies
• filmmaking
• animatronics
• AI
• near-death experience

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: MASTERSFX

Books & works: The Empire Strikes Back, Falling Skies

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