Eight of the Oddest Inspirations for the Coolest Science Fiction Machines - io9 Comments

Eight of the Oddest Inspirations for the Coolest Science Fiction Machines

historymakin — Tue, 10 Jun 2008 17:49:59 PDT

The best ones that show actual resemblances to me are deifinitely the At Tanks from Empire Strikes back and the Sundae which does indeed look like the bad guy! It's amazing how people get their inspiration from the weirdest places and things. Reminds me of a game I used to play with my friends when I was young where we would look at someone and try to guess which ANIMAL they look like... yeah it was really hilarious lol
___________
News & Updates on Air Force Ones, Jordans, Nike Dunk & Nike SB.

historymakin

Eight of the Oddest Inspirations for the Coolest Science Fiction Machines

The Brain — Wed, 21 May 2008 14:44:42 PDT

My argument isn't simply that the lifters didn't exist, it's that they weren't the inspiration AT ALL. That's been cited several times here. Doesn't matter IF they existed and IF George Lucas happened to drive by them one morning. He didn't come up with the AT-AT either.

Also, it turns out that almost everything in this article is bullshit conjecture. So the moral of the story is that if you want to guess what YOU think something looks like, fine, go ahead. But if you want to say with some authority what someone else was inspired by, you should at least poke around and try to find out rather than supplementing with your own conjecture and then starting a flame war with anyone know actually knows the truth, claiming that they didn't read your links, and that you have conclusive proof and evidence (only to never cite this conclusive proof and evidence). That is all.

Also, my name doesn't come from Pinky & The Brain, so again, assumptions != truth.

The Brain

Eight of the Oddest Inspirations for the Coolest Science Fiction Machines

sconnelly — Mon, 24 Mar 2008 16:00:37 PDT

I felt compelled to try and settle this matter. I will back up my statements with links.

It turns out that Annalee Newitz is, in fact, correct about the lifters. I believe the mistake being made here is the assumption that the very first lifters were delivered to the Port of Oakland in 2000.
[www.portofoakland.com]

However, I could not find evidence that the lifters post Star Wars looked like the ones of today and had allegedly inspired George Lucas:
[bbs.keyhole.com]

Lifts or skycranes *did* exist prior to the 2000 delivery of first four lifters which do look like AT-ATs:
[www.sfgate.com]

Although there are many suggestions that these lifters inspired George Lucas, I could not find any proof. Curiously, their is an extensive article about the AT-AT on Wikopedia and not a single mention of the Port of Oakland's lifters. This doesn't prove Annalee assertion is wrong but it certainly makes it somewhat more doubtful.
[en.wikipedia.org]

Finally, I did find one reference that indicates that the Lifters *did not* inspire George Lucas and is only an urban legend. Quote: "Actually, they are not the inspiration for AT-AT's...
How do I know this, you ask. I have been lucky enough to have gone to the premier of Star Wars: Episode III at the skywalker ranch in Marin, CA. I meet Lucas and was able to ask him if this was true and he told me it was not."
[bbs.keyhole.com]

For other inspirations which helped create Starwars, see:
[moongadget.com]

And the wackiest thing I found while researching this, an AT-AT baby stoller! The ultimate in baby fashion for nerds that pro-create.
[starwarsblog.wordpress.com]

Some more fun trivia:
[cache.cow.net]

sconnelly

Eight of the Oddest Inspirations for the Coolest Science Fiction Machines

alphanitrate — Mon, 24 Mar 2008 00:28:54 PDT

I was surprised that the nighttime view of LA wasn't mentioned since speilberg flipped it upside down too put it on the mother ship in Close Encounters.

alphanitrate

Eight of the Oddest Inspirations for the Coolest Science Fiction Machines

Tex — Sun, 23 Mar 2008 19:31:00 PDT

Ok, let's put this cargo lifters controversy to bed once and for all. My mother worked in the Port of Oakland starting in the late 1960s on through the last 1980s. The cargo lifters shown in the photos above have been, in one form or another, in the Port of Oakland since the early 1970s. The introduction of containerized shipping in the Port of Oakland in the late 1960s slammed the door on the Port of San Francisco, where standard freight cranes were still being used.

George Lucas lives in Marin County and grew up in the SF Bay Area. He even filmed the finals sequences in his first film, THX1138, in the Posey Tube that runs from Alameda to Oakland and in the then unfinished BART train tunnels under downtown Oakland. So, it's safe to assume that Lucas had plenty of opportunities to see those container cranes for many years before the making of ESB.

While I'm sure that the creative team on ESB had many sources of inspiration, Brain, your insistance that the AT-AT's cannot have been at all inspired by the container cranes in the Port of Oakland because they didn't exist then is nonsense. Besides, remember, arguing on the internet is like racing in the Special Olympics. Even if you win, you're still retarded.

Tex

Eight of the Oddest Inspirations for the Coolest Science Fiction Machines

anonymous_post — Sun, 23 Mar 2008 10:50:55 PDT

the exoskeleton in aliens was inspired almost verbatim by the suit developed by GE during the 1960s -- no wiki article -- but some background and picture of it is here:

[davidszondy.com]

anonymous_post

Eight of the Oddest Inspirations for the Coolest Science Fiction Machines

samba00 — Sat, 22 Mar 2008 23:56:41 PDT

Hey The Brain,

I don't know if the cranes inspired the AT-ATs (though that was always the story I heard), but I can back up Annalee that they existed in the '70s. I crossed the Bay Bridge (from which the cranes are visible) on a weekly basis (I grew up in S.F., my dad lived in Alameda), and I used to obsess on them, thinking they looked like robotic horses.

Plus, everyone knows that Pinky was really the smart one.

samba00

Eight of the Oddest Inspirations for the Coolest Science Fiction Machines

paleofuture — Sat, 22 Mar 2008 23:55:17 PDT

AT-ATs inspired by cargo containers? This Syd Mead illustration from the 1960s looks too similar to be coincidence, if you ask me.

[flickr.com]
[www.paleofuture.com]

paleofuture

Eight of the Oddest Inspirations for the Coolest Science Fiction Machines

quentintarantado — Tue, 18 Mar 2008 13:10:31 PDT

from imdb.com:
The Millennium Falcon was originally modeled after a hamburger with an olive next to it.

The Millenium Two different basic designs were created for the Millennium Falcon. The rejected one became the Rebel Blockade Runner seen at the start of the film.

quentintarantado

Eight of the Oddest Inspirations for the Coolest Science Fiction Machines

quentintarantado — Tue, 18 Mar 2008 11:50:02 PDT

This is from imdb.com:
In Robocop (1987), the origins of the infamously stupid ED-209's are explained: "Production designer William Sandell based the ED-209 design on the BELL UH-1H-HUEY chopper used during the Vietnam war."

quentintarantado

Eight of the Oddest Inspirations for the Coolest Science Fiction Machines

saichan — Tue, 18 Mar 2008 05:23:35 PDT

@Annalee Newitz: annalee, if you won't acknowledge my two comments about the source of HAL 9000's inspiration, could you at least correct the date of release you have for 2001? it came out in 1968, not 1969. a pretty sloppy error for a site like yours.

saichan

Eight of the Oddest Inspirations for the Coolest Science Fiction Machines

Peter1952 — Mon, 17 Mar 2008 11:40:28 PDT

Concerning Ripley's exoskeleton in Aliens:
While it is true that the military are experimenting with exos, the INSPIRATION for the Ripley's exoskeleton has existed for several decades. In the 80's (or earlier) I saw a video of a (German?) beer brewery where the beer kegs were too heavy to lift and there was no room for fork lifts in the cooling rooms. Their answer? They built battery powered exoskeletons so one man could lift a 300 pound keg and place it gently on a shelf. Looks sci fi, but it's old news.

Peter1952

Eight of the Oddest Inspirations for the Coolest Science Fiction Machines

quentintarantado — Mon, 17 Mar 2008 09:41:17 PDT

In Cronenberg's "The Fly" I remember it was mentioned the Teleportation machines were inspired by the pistons in a Ducati motorcycle.

quentintarantado

Eight of the Oddest Inspirations for the Coolest Science Fiction Machines

rebusrex — Sat, 15 Mar 2008 21:57:32 PDT

This is a topic that I have experience with: In the eighties, I bought the Art of Star Wars at the Telegraph Avenue location of Another Change of Hobbit in Berkeley. The artists were there and said that the Oakland cargo lifters were not the inspiration for the AT-AT's. Ironically, I was given a tour of ILM last year and mentioned this story and the particular director confirmed that the artists were correct. I do want to say that ILM looks like the coolest place in the world.

rebusrex

Eight of the Oddest Inspirations for the Coolest Science Fiction Machines

blurey — Sat, 15 Mar 2008 15:14:05 PDT

the best form of biocommunication that we presently have is sex. what better way to get to know someone?-blurey

blurey

Eight of the Oddest Inspirations for the Coolest Science Fiction Machines

The Brain — Fri, 14 Mar 2008 20:39:08 PDT

@Annalee Newitz: So now we've gone from 'evidence and primary sources' to speculating. Now we're getting somewhere.

Where you're completely wrong is that there IS one right answer. And I'm totally chill, but you're the one who said that I didn't read your links and you had evidence and primary sources. You don't, you have your own speculation and some urban legends.

The Brain

Eight of the Oddest Inspirations for the Coolest Science Fiction Machines

saichan — Fri, 14 Mar 2008 17:46:41 PDT

@Annalee Newitz: Annalee, you say everything you wrote is backed up by primary sources. But as I mentioned in an earlier comment, your info about HAL 9000 seems to be wrong on all counts. Therefore should HAL even be on this list? Could you tell me where you got the info about Kubrick being influenced by seeing CCTV around London from? Because in the interview you link to, as I pointed out before, Clarke certainly doesn't back that up as you claim.

saichan

Eight of the Oddest Inspirations for the Coolest Science Fiction Machines

Annalee Newitz — Fri, 14 Mar 2008 17:12:50 PDT

@The Brain: Well I saw the cranes with my own eyes as a kid in the 1970s. But if you check out Oakland Port history [[www.portofoakland.com]] you'll see that the area was opened for container ships in 1962. Those cranes were developed specifically for lifting containers off ships.

I'm sure Syd Mead was inspiration too, so chill out dude. We're just speculating here. Inspiration ain't rocket science -- there's no ONE right answer.

Annalee Newitz

Eight of the Oddest Inspirations for the Coolest Science Fiction Machines

The Brain — Fri, 14 Mar 2008 13:18:09 PDT

And furthermore, Syd Mead came up with the AT-ATs the same year George Lucas was working on THX1138, a good ten years before the first Star Wars movie.

The Brain

Eight of the Oddest Inspirations for the Coolest Science Fiction Machines

The Brain — Fri, 14 Mar 2008 13:13:59 PDT

@Annalee Newitz: ESB was released in 1980. Where does it say those lifters were there in 1980? (I quote: Four new container cranes, largest in the world, leaving Shanghai, China, September 26, 2000 bound for the Port of Oakland, CA USA.) But feel free to point out the "primary source" and "evidence" because I don't see any of that, all I see is an urban legend in an unsigned press release. I don't even see how you can still stand on that after the blurb I showed above from Syd Mead. George didn't come up with the At-At, it's right there.

And I'm not saying MSR did the whole thing, but it certainly wasn't just MIT, it was a whole group of people who spent three days working on it together and followed up independently. Like I said, MIT played a bit part.

The Brain

Eight of the Oddest Inspirations for the Coolest Science Fiction Machines

Annalee Newitz — Fri, 14 Mar 2008 11:22:03 PDT

@The Brain: Yup, my link shows that the Port of Oakland lifters existed before the film came out. It also demonstrates that the idea that Lucas was influenced by them is, indeed, widely known. Whether it's true? Well, unless George wants to come into the comments and say, we'll never know.

As for all your Microsoft Research boosting -- dude, whatever. Sure, they helped out too. I love MS Research, have friends who work there. Not trying to diss it or anything, but the Tangible Media group at MIT worked on Minority Report too.

Annalee Newitz

Eight of the Oddest Inspirations for the Coolest Science Fiction Machines

Annalee Newitz — Fri, 14 Mar 2008 11:17:57 PDT

@steeple: Yeah, I believe that.

Annalee Newitz

Eight of the Oddest Inspirations for the Coolest Science Fiction Machines

laughingacademy — Fri, 14 Mar 2008 08:35:04 PDT

I remembered Johnny Mnemonic, too! The sequence with Keanu using goggles and gloves to navigate through cyberspace almost made up for the omission of the Killing Floor.

laughingacademy

Eight of the Oddest Inspirations for the Coolest Science Fiction Machines

MokuseiTora — Fri, 14 Mar 2008 07:14:41 PDT

Has anyone forgotten the fact that before Minority Report (2002), there was another movie that used hand gestures for this type of thing. Ex: Johnny Mnemonic (1995), and even before this... The Lawnmower Man (1992). So it might be some food for thought that the real inspiration for hand gestures is a lot older than pictured here. I cannot recall a movie before these, but I know someone else will.

MokuseiTora

Eight of the Oddest Inspirations for the Coolest Science Fiction Machines

steeple — Fri, 14 Mar 2008 06:56:17 PDT

oops, more accurate version above me by The Brain"

steeple

Eight of the Oddest Inspirations for the Coolest Science Fiction Machines

steeple — Fri, 14 Mar 2008 06:53:27 PDT

lucasfilm bought some tanks to "do-up" as land assault vehicles, then some guy brought in a magazine with a walking transporter and they decided to change direction and make the AT-AT's.George Lucas isn't james cameron (who came up with the t-800 and hunter killers himself), george's "inspiration" usually comes from several guys spending weeks on design work, for George to say "uh, that one, put bigger ears on it"

steeple

Eight of the Oddest Inspirations for the Coolest Science Fiction Machines

Counterglow — Fri, 14 Mar 2008 05:46:17 PDT

I think the Aliens exoskeleton has its own ancestors. I recall seeing an old copy of "Popular Science" magazine from the 60's that had an exoskeleton in it. It was touted as a possible aid to stevedores and soldiers, if I recall correctly.

Counterglow

Eight of the Oddest Inspirations for the Coolest Science Fiction Machines

The Brain — Fri, 14 Mar 2008 04:13:57 PDT

Oh really?

"One commonly told story relates that George Lucas modeled the 'Imperial Walkers' of Star Wars movie fame after Oakland's container cranes."

Who is the primary source in that link? What is the "evidence" you're citing? Sounds more like an urban legend to me.

Here are some primary sources for you:

[www.alexwright.org]
Katherine Jones turns out to be one of the brainiac designers behind all those futurama interface concepts in Minority Report. After trading a few emails, Kat was kind enough to share some of her early prototype sketches with me, which she graciously allowed me to post here.

[www.emediawire.com]
nextMEDIA, secures Dale Herigstad, Chief Creative Officer of interactive agency, Schematic, to deliver a keynote address on Sunday, June 10, at the Fairmont Banff Springs in Banff, Canada.
As one of the consultants for the Steven Spielberg movie "Minority Report", Herigstad contributed to the concept of "gestural navigation", the hand gestures Tom Cruise's character uses to interface with his computer screen. Herigstad has incorporated similar concepts when helping design the Accenture Interactive Network on display in Chicago's O'hare and New York's John F. Kennedy airports.

[research.microsoft.com]

"In July of 1999 Microsoft entered into a exploratory relationship with Fox Studios for the upcoming production of Minority Report.... As an adjunct to that relationship, the design department for the production had a meeting with several groups at Microsoft to see if there were any design synergies. After reviewing our first pass of ideas, Fox chose to work with me as the lead outside research design consultant. I made several visits to the Fox lot in LA to meet with the production staff. We exchanged ideas and briefs and I eventually provided mockups of user interface design for the police helmet, outdoor kiosks, and conceptual virtual information spaces..."

George Lucas didn't even come up with the At-At, it was dreamt up by futurist Syd Mead:

[www.stopmotionanimation.com]
just came across some remarks that Syd Mead made about the walkers and their movements (as many of you probably know, the walkers were inspired by a Syd Mead design of the late 1960s). This remark appeared in Fantastic Films in 1982--interview by Blake Mitchell and James Ferguson.

MEAD: I designed the mechanical walking device in '66 or '67. At that time the Army had also built an experimental walking vehicle, an analog walking machine. I was doing a series for U.S. Steel and I thought that would make an excellent multi-terrain vehicle idea. But what I did was to put four traction motors on the feet, so that the feet could swivel. That's really much more flexible than just having big feet that clomp along at walking speed.

FF: Do you feel that the Star Wars crew did pretty well using this basic idea of yours?
MEAD: What irritated me a little bit, and it had to have been deliberately done for the audience, was that the walking vehicles were designed to be very animorphic, to look like mechanical animals... But the walking action was very convincing, especially the way the weight shifted.

FF: They were trying for an elephant type of look.
MEAD: Yes, like Hannible crossing the Hothian alps.

With your level of research and "primary sources" you could probably get a job at the New York Times.

The Brain

Eight of the Oddest Inspirations for the Coolest Science Fiction Machines

Annalee Newitz — Fri, 14 Mar 2008 01:20:42 PDT

@The Brain: Actually, they did exist. Did you even bother to read the links? Every claim we make is backed up with evidence from primary sources.

Annalee Newitz

Eight of the Oddest Inspirations for the Coolest Science Fiction Machines

The Brain — Fri, 14 Mar 2008 00:41:24 PDT

Is this supposed to be a joke? The AT-ATs were inspired by elephants, not those cranes. Those cranes didn't even exist when ESB was made.

MIT only played a bit part in the Minority Report interface, the bulk of it was created by Microsoft Research.

The Brain

Eight of the Oddest Inspirations for the Coolest Science Fiction Machines

Annalee Newitz — Thu, 13 Mar 2008 22:58:56 PDT

@MaxTwice: His alter-ego? Caramel sundae!

Annalee Newitz

Eight of the Oddest Inspirations for the Coolest Science Fiction Machines

jackbrown — Thu, 13 Mar 2008 22:57:00 PDT

awesome post annalee!

jackbrown

Eight of the Oddest Inspirations for the Coolest Science Fiction Machines

MaxTwice — Thu, 13 Mar 2008 17:05:01 PDT

@michaelportent: His nemesis? The human spoon...

MaxTwice

Eight of the Oddest Inspirations for the Coolest Science Fiction Machines

saichan — Thu, 13 Mar 2008 17:04:08 PDT

What you say about HAL 9000 being influenced by CCTV is wrong, at least with regards to the Clarke interview you link to.

The relevant quote from Clarke in that interview is this: "Stork: So you were influenced by big brother? Clarke: We're entering a world where HAL-type computers are watching us. They're installing television cameras in cities, particularly in high crime areas, which has caused a great deal of consternation but I'm all in favor of it."

"Influenced by Big Brother" -- not CCTV. If anything, HAL 9000 anticipated CCTV, as illustrated by Clarke's statement that "We're entering a world where HAL-type computers are watching us."

Nowhere in that interview does it say or even allude to Arthur C. Clarke confirming that HAL "was inspired by 'television cameras in cities'".

Also, as far as I'm aware, there were no CCTV-style systems in place in the mid-to-late 60s. So I'd be interested to know where you got the information that HAL was "inspired by surveillance cameras which filmmaker Stanley Kubrick saw around London as CCTVs were being put in place".

saichan

Eight of the Oddest Inspirations for the Coolest Science Fiction Machines

michaelportent — Thu, 13 Mar 2008 16:27:57 PDT

I see a new Terminator movie coming where T-1000s actually is a hot fudge sundae.

michaelportent

Eight of the Oddest Inspirations for the Coolest Science Fiction Machines

Whyaduck — Thu, 13 Mar 2008 16:16:32 PDT

@Frozen-Tex: No excuses. No gloves no loves.

@darcymcgee: And how are you going to hold down the things you'd like to smash and drill, hmm, wiseguy? It's not like they'll just sit still and wait for you to smash and drill them. So, maybe one big grippy claw on one arm, and a combination smashy/drilly bit on the other? Or 3 arms, one grippy, one smashy, one drilly? Suggestions on how to control the third arm requested...I'd be interested to see what io9 readers suggest, especially with regards to the drilly one.

Already this is so much better than that stuff the eggheads in Washington are trying to cram down our throats. Elitist bores all of 'em.

Whyaduck

Eight of the Oddest Inspirations for the Coolest Science Fiction Machines

darcymcgee — Thu, 13 Mar 2008 16:05:12 PDT

@Whyaduck: If I ever build an exoskeleton, I'm going to have have hands for smaashing and drilling. Claws are so lame. If you can smash and drill, you don't need claws.

@Nivair: Funny story about De Lorean's from my past, but no time to tell it right now. I sort of thought the Austin Powers Time Travelling Beetle was pretty slick too.

darcymcgee

Eight of the Oddest Inspirations for the Coolest Science Fiction Machines

Nivair H. Gabriel — Thu, 13 Mar 2008 15:49:01 PDT

@Whitworthian: I second Annalee's "holy crap that's beautiful"!

@Midwesterner in NYC: How I Met Your Mother is way more likely -- those characters have got real respect for nerds. Did anyone else squee when Marshall defended the Ewoks, or, um, was that just me?

@darcymcgee: If I ever build a time machine, I'm citing Doctor Emmett Brown.

@gunterk: Thank you for sharing. That is totally awesome. :D

Nivair H. Gabriel

Eight of the Oddest Inspirations for the Coolest Science Fiction Machines

Frozen-Tex — Thu, 13 Mar 2008 15:32:39 PDT

@Whyaduck: Legs are just part of it; arms are next.

Frozen-Tex

Eight of the Oddest Inspirations for the Coolest Science Fiction Machines

Whyaduck — Thu, 13 Mar 2008 14:36:58 PDT

What the hell good is an exoskeleton without the over-sized lobster claws? I hope DARPA kicks those inventors out on their asses. We don't want a glorified Segway, we want to become human Rock 'Em Sock 'Em Robots!

Whyaduck

Eight of the Oddest Inspirations for the Coolest Science Fiction Machines

MaxTwice — Thu, 13 Mar 2008 14:24:55 PDT

@Midwesterner in NYC: When is I, Clone coming out?

MaxTwice

Eight of the Oddest Inspirations for the Coolest Science Fiction Machines

MaxTwice — Thu, 13 Mar 2008 14:23:08 PDT

@extracrispy: Agree, this post is totally awesome--

HoneylessBud asks: Is it true that some squids have 6 tentacles?

MaxTwice

Eight of the Oddest Inspirations for the Coolest Science Fiction Machines

Froggmann — Thu, 13 Mar 2008 14:14:12 PDT

@maxsparber: And the movie "Gremlins"

Froggmann

Eight of the Oddest Inspirations for the Coolest Science Fiction Machines

sikantis — Thu, 13 Mar 2008 14:13:12 PDT

I think the coolest robot things are the ones without legs, head and all that human attitudes. Would be nice to have real fantasy, never seen possibilities like from Cronenberg. the more fantasy the more fun.
[sikantis.net]

sikantis

Eight of the Oddest Inspirations for the Coolest Science Fiction Machines

Midwesterner in NYC — Thu, 13 Mar 2008 14:06:21 PDT

@maxsparber: I was about ready to say the same thing. I miss Robbie the Robot. Wouldn't it be great to see him pop up out of the blue on How I Met Your Mother or Big Love.

Midwesterner in NYC

Eight of the Oddest Inspirations for the Coolest Science Fiction Machines

Frozen-Tex — Thu, 13 Mar 2008 14:04:57 PDT

I've seem footage of that exoskeleton working; pretty cool stuff!

Frozen-Tex

Eight of the Oddest Inspirations for the Coolest Science Fiction Machines

maxsparber — Thu, 13 Mar 2008 13:55:42 PDT

Robot was the main character. Robbie was in only two episodes of Lost in Space. He also appeared in an episode of Twilight Zone.

maxsparber

Eight of the Oddest Inspirations for the Coolest Science Fiction Machines

gunterk — Thu, 13 Mar 2008 13:48:41 PDT

I can't believe you didn't include my favorite weird inspiration story. The Slave 1 (Boba Fett''s ship) was inspired by street lamps. I think of it all the time.
[en.wikipedia.org]

gunterk

Eight of the Oddest Inspirations for the Coolest Science Fiction Machines

moff — Thu, 13 Mar 2008 13:38:04 PDT

@darcymcgee: It was. But then someone went back and changed things so that it wasn't. Yeah, that's right -- your mind has been blown.

moff

Eight of the Oddest Inspirations for the Coolest Science Fiction Machines

Annalee Newitz — Thu, 13 Mar 2008 13:37:18 PDT

@tinshaker: Could be any glittery city, right? But apparently the concept designers did use SF as their model.

Annalee Newitz

Eight of the Oddest Inspirations for the Coolest Science Fiction Machines

extracrispy — Thu, 13 Mar 2008 13:35:23 PDT

When Minority Report came out, I remember reading about that conference that Spielberg convened for futurists. The gesture commands screen and the sick stick are very cool ideas. Apparently, they came up with tons of other ideas that actually didn't get used in the movie.

This post is made of awesome.

extracrispy

Eight of the Oddest Inspirations for the Coolest Science Fiction Machines

tinshaker — Thu, 13 Mar 2008 13:28:30 PDT

I think the SF one is a bit of a stretch.

tinshaker

Eight of the Oddest Inspirations for the Coolest Science Fiction Machines

Grey_Area — Thu, 13 Mar 2008 13:28:04 PDT

@Annalee Newitz: Cronenbuggery?

Grey_Area

Eight of the Oddest Inspirations for the Coolest Science Fiction Machines

Annalee Newitz — Thu, 13 Mar 2008 13:25:06 PDT

@RayCeeYa: We've featured Hugh Ferris before. [io9.com]

Annalee Newitz

Eight of the Oddest Inspirations for the Coolest Science Fiction Machines

Annalee Newitz — Thu, 13 Mar 2008 13:23:56 PDT

@darcymcgee: Actually what I thought was odd was that so many people referenced Aliens when building these exoskeletons. I thought the idea of robotic exoskeletons had been around a lot longer.

Annalee Newitz

Eight of the Oddest Inspirations for the Coolest Science Fiction Machines

RayCeeYa — Thu, 13 Mar 2008 13:22:26 PDT

Sorry, my mistake. I mixed up my architects. I was describing Hugh Ferriss not Burrows.

RayCeeYa

Eight of the Oddest Inspirations for the Coolest Science Fiction Machines

RayCeeYa — Thu, 13 Mar 2008 13:18:47 PDT

If they're talking about cityscapes how could they forget Edwin G. Burrows' Gotham series. Burrows created a series of concept art for futuristic cities. His work has inspired Sci-Fi Cities from Metropolis to Star Wars to it's most popular namesake, Gotham City in the Batman Universe.

It's a beautifully dark urban environment with multilayered buildings, skyways, elevated trains and airship docks.

His work has been posted online by the University that's currently holding it. Truly some awesome stuff.

RayCeeYa

Eight of the Oddest Inspirations for the Coolest Science Fiction Machines

darcymcgee — Thu, 13 Mar 2008 13:17:31 PDT

I'm not sure the Aliens reference is "rather odd." Imagination has long run ahead of real inventions, and inventors are often inspired by science fiction.

Are we going to describe it as "rather odd" that someone chose to invent a Time Machine, citing H.G. Wells' "The Time Machine" as an influence???

When do I get my friggin' time machine anyway? I thought it was discovered last year alread!

darcymcgee

Eight of the Oddest Inspirations for the Coolest Science Fiction Machines

forcetrainer — Thu, 13 Mar 2008 13:06:25 PDT

I always found the sound design for sci-fi movies cool as well. Who knew that hitting a steel support cable with a metal wrench would make the perfect laser blast sound effect for Star Wars.

forcetrainer

Eight of the Oddest Inspirations for the Coolest Science Fiction Machines

Redwraithvienna — Thu, 13 Mar 2008 13:05:56 PDT

@Whitworthian:

Could be a combination of both ...

Redwraithvienna

Eight of the Oddest Inspirations for the Coolest Science Fiction Machines

Annalee Newitz — Thu, 13 Mar 2008 12:56:24 PDT

@Whitworthian: Holy crap that's beautiful.

Annalee Newitz

Eight of the Oddest Inspirations for the Coolest Science Fiction Machines

Annalee Newitz — Thu, 13 Mar 2008 12:55:47 PDT

@zeppelined: Seriously. Any game port that goes into your butt is hereafter known as Cronenbergy.

Annalee Newitz

Eight of the Oddest Inspirations for the Coolest Science Fiction Machines

Whitworthian — Thu, 13 Mar 2008 12:55:04 PDT

One might also think that the walkers were inspired by the image from Syd Mead's influential US Steel portfolio.

[farm3.static.flickr.com]

Whitworthian

Eight of the Oddest Inspirations for the Coolest Science Fiction Machines

Garrison Dean, King Awesome — Thu, 13 Mar 2008 12:54:27 PDT

Everytime I see one of those Cargo lifters I pray that in the Transformers sequel someone chucks the energon spark of life cube (or whatever the heck it was) at one of them so it comes alive and effs up everyone.

Garrison Dean, King Awesome

Eight of the Oddest Inspirations for the Coolest Science Fiction Machines

Ed Grabianowski — Thu, 13 Mar 2008 12:51:03 PDT

I nominate the adjective "Cronenbergy" for inclusion in the next Oxford English Dictionary edition.

Ed Grabianowski