Phil Tippett's Film Props and Special Effects Legacy

We visit Prop Store to examine the items in the Phil Tippett auction, a collection of props, artwork, maquettes, and ephemera from a decades-long career in filmmaking. From original Star Wars concept drawings to Jurassic Park animatics and full-size Robocop puppets, we get up close with the stuff that made our favorite childhood films come to life!
Find out more about this collection at www.propstoreau...
Shot by Joey Fameli and edited by Norman Chan
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Tested is:
Adam Savage / donttrythis
Norman Chan / nchan
Simone Giertz / simonegiertz
Joey Fameli / joeyfameli
Adam Isaak / adamisaak
Kishore Hari / sciencequiche
Frank Ippolito / frankippolito
Sean Charlesworth / cworthdynamics
Jeremy Williams / jerware
Patrick Norton / patricknorton
Thanks for watching!

[@jvs333]

I remember Phil and his then girlfriend Kim back in 1972. There were 4 of us starving artist living in an old run down empty old building (the third street building) in downtown Santa Ana Ca. We were all penniless artist. We used to share cig butts to roll into cigs and share our pot. We use to tease him about how he was going to make a living making 1950s stop motion figurines. I remember Phil coming home one day and saying he got a job up north and was moving out. We all thought he was going to be making a low budget corny movie. Last time I saw Phil he was moving out early part of ‘73. Then after Star Wars came out I realized it wasn’t a low budget corny movie. Long way from 1972-73 starving artist days

[@robertc49]

I hope Phil Tippett made enough money to give a smile on his face. He needs a smile. & a hug. Thank you Phil Tippett for being you.

[@ebneigh5191]

At a talk Phil gave in 2004 he pretty much confirmed that the raptors in the kitchen scene was go motion with puppets. The hype of the film was that all apart from close up animatronics were cgi but the raptors were puppets.

[@bilawal]

Serious blast from the past. Insanely rich heritage these folks have in hand. Love it!

[@NicoleRymer]

Huge robocop fan so this is awesome!!! Especially kane! Wow!

[@gordontarpley]

I've been at Prop Store quite a bit lately and fortunate enough to see these things in person. There are loads of cool pieces in the auction that didn't make it in this video. Definitely worth checking Prop Store's page to see the rest.

[@hortiz305]

Phil Tibet props should be in a Hollywood Movie Museum not actioned off just saying.

[@SamuelLJacksonsFish]

Well, they're his props. He can do what he wants with them.

[@vanxanax933]

yeah i was thinking the same good thing is that most of the stuff isnt amazing

[@hortiz305]

RonnyChem I know that but it's just my opinion

[@allluckyseven]

Well, a museum could bid on them too.

[@chuckd5877]

The name is in the title and yet you're still way off.

[@sergeantlonewolf]

seeing some of my new collection pieces before I get them is making me want them even more to preserve and display.

[@SeanKillblane]

These are the types of videos that hooked me on Tested. Keep them coming.

[@SVProductionGermany]

In a few hundred years, archaeologists will find this place and wonder how many crazy creatures existed in our time xD

[@petergreen1994]

SVProductionGermany no they won't they will find KZbin first and watch this video first.

[@SVProductionGermany]

petergreen1994 Even if the find all the data, they need computers to read and decode it. I think it's easier to find a statue of Robocop and Star Wars

[@slikrx]

Such a wonderful auction to hear about. A WEEK AFTER IT STARTS.

[@christianzilla]

5 years too late for me...

[@propmadelarp]

How cool is that.

[@Legion563]

I'd love to own those 3 Starship Troopers prop Bugs.

[@timlandscheidt]

This felt like an episode of "white gloves of destiny" :-). Very cool.

[@wjzav1971]

The Tauntauns maybe had about two minutes of screen-time. Yet so much thought-process went into making them. Film is truly a strange business.

[@MrChief101]

The "Tauntaun Animation Cycles" shown at the end look more like they were traced (first clue, tracing paper...) off of a projector or rotoscope platen. So at that point, they had made everything physical, set up the mini stage or greenscreen (or was it blue?) did several walk cycles on film and *then* analyzed them. I think then, those pieces were done in either the beginning of or in the middle of -- "go motion!" Now that's some cinema history. Hard to display but worth every penny.

[@agfagaevart]

they used horse walk cycles they filmed as reference. go motion was used on Dragonslayer in 1981, after Empire was released.

[@tomquinn2434]

I bought some contact sheets from this auction that include tests of different shutter speeds with the Piranha puppet before the tauntaun was built and then a small sketch of how the tauntaun rider should bounce. A small piece of history, but really nice to have a part of it on the wall for inspiration.

[@Jobspaisarn]

you guys are my inspiration

[@cedarandsound]

I ended up winning the animation notes for the tauntaun

[@temporarymomentary]

Pictures !

[@carbonitegamorrean8368]

heck yes, good on ya, may I ask what something like that went for???

[@ifmbm332b]

I bid on that but I knew I wouldn't win- lucky you- that was one of the best things in the auction.

[@tomquinn2434]

Awesome! I got the contact sheets and a small sketch of the rider bouncing. I always wondered where all the different pieces ended up.

[@ggaaro]

This is why I love tested!

[@davefrancis4529]

Peter Weller said the suit was redesigned to be more comfortable in the second movie while being interviewed on Kevin Pollak chat show. So suit prop unlikely to be from first movie.

[@themightyshop23]

Awesome! We love Phil!

[@Rune_Fayhar]

I'd kill for those Star Ship Trooper, and Jurassic Park figures/props omg.

[@Moonchild1607]

Phil Tippett is a prop wizard! :)

[@fen4554]

1:16 "You're coming with me, Cain..." No, really, I want that fullscale prop like I want air.

[@nurb101]

It's sad that all this art is going to go in someone's collection and won't be seen again.

[@Solarstar10]

You'd be surprised. There's countless movie prop groups on Facebook filled with some of the best prop collectors you could ever meet. And they are more than willing to show off these beautiful pieces. Plus most collectors display them wonderfully anyway, so it's not like they're going to be shoved in some random guy's attic never to be seen again. It's a lot better than them just being stored in a warehouse if you ask me.

[@hazonku]

Exactly like +Solarstar10 said. I might also add that a lots of stuff ends up changing hands over the years too as people get bored with stuff, want new stuff, or end up in a financial need to get rid of stuff. Rest assured a lot of this will go into great displays & certainly won't end up not being seen again.

[@ifmbm332b]

Its actually quite the opposite. Instead of languishing in a warehouse, hidden away from view, these are now out there in the world, in prominent places in hundreds of collections around the country and overseas. The work will be admired, enjoyed and displayed by people who really appreciate the work. I was lucky to get an item from Star Wars- my job is to properly frame and preserve it so I can enjoy it for many years and someday I'll hand it off to the next caretaker. Ask people in the film biz- there's plenty of fantastic preproduction art squirreled away in permanent storage that will never ever see the light of day. Happily, Phil's items are not gonna have that problem.

[@SedimentMan]

I have that metal drawer set... Makes me like it better. Just by association.

[@garybuder4645]

the "ed209" drawings look like a zentradi battle pod from macross/robotech

[@jesseslack2089]

Metal Gear!

[@st0n3p0ny]

King Kong is probably reference to the stop-motion animation style.

[@christianzilla]

And the theatre where the beast escapes when they thought he was under control, climbs a building, etc.

[@scottdoherty7531]

if your phone goes off, redo the shot

[@EGOS42]

So ED-209 started out as a Zentraedi Battle Pod.

[@trenititan229]

What film is the white mannequin with the split lower jaw from? They didn't mention those last two pieces on the table.

[@HappyCynic]

Nice.

[@natjongan]

Agreed.

[@MrDukeSilverr]

Yes.

[@Tchernobog]

not even a star wars fan, cannot deny that the chess monsters are some of the coolest monsters and sequence in film

[@atomixfang]

you can buy happiness... its just expensive.

[@sjvb933]

atomixfang

[@rududuu]

how can you keep in shot Draco from Dragonheart and not talk about him? The best dragon that has ever been on film but you keep on going on and on about some tonton drawings from star wars =/

[@Psychlist1972]

Love the tauntaun work!

[@magnum1165]

Wonder if that Predalien is up for sale

[@jamesmcmillanclyne391]

such a great video

[@chrisgkhawkinsart4974]

How much did the RoboCop suit go for? So cool

[@JurassicCollectables]

It was a great auction, thanks to Prop Store for making these pieces available to collectors

[@michaelg7385]

the draco!

[@lacucaracha111111]

BUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUGS ! do you want to know more ?

[@NicolasVanOost]

How can you have Draco just sitting there on the left of the frame and not show him in detail

[@Unknownety]

Though of that too, really though they might at least comment on it or something, but apparently not.

[@sergeantlonewolf]

I'll let you know how cool it is when it arrives ^_^.

[@Strecno1]

So you won it. Make sure you’ll give it a nice home (and display), man! Surely you also got lot 24 in the end, right? Well, if you ever get tired of the Maquettes, a die-hard DH fan is right here waiting to add them to his collection! ;) Have fun! ^^

[@sergeantlonewolf]

Oh I'm die hard DragonHeart and Starship troopers fan. I could not pass the pieces up. I already have a custom glass container in the works to house them for safe keeping. Should be done next week. Can't wait!! Sadly I didn't get 24 someone beat me on that one.

[@basd6502]

Hi , did you win anything from starship troopers?

[@molly_nap_queen]

Stonecutters t-shirt. :D

[@Holgast]

Is that Draco from Dragonheart on the table? 👀

[@redy78960]

You had one job Phil!

[@takineko]

that Draco us gorgeous

[@asyouwish9567]

I might be able to help identify the suit I Was intimately involved with the suits for close to eight years and Rob Botin studios. My initial impression is that this is a knock off of some sort possibly built from real pieces and cast. But it is nowhere near the fine finish we put into the later generation suits. It could Indeed be a television suit. I have less interaction with the TV stuff. I went up to Toronto to go work on it but that didn’t work out LOL.. In truth of anybody has a suit it was obtained illegally probably. I have mostly heard of parts being stolen, but never a full suit. We have pretty tight control of the suits.. I can tell you the fate of the real suits. But not now.If they want to reach me I just live in Granada hills California so probably I’m not too far.. sorry I didn’t notice this was from two years ago. Since you don’t need me to authenticate the suits I would suggest they probably were not since used in the movie possibly the TV show. The paint job does not look authentic. It looks very rushed which leads me to believe it could’ve been used in the TV show. Although people have cast up partsThat like I said we’re probably stolen. And because their second generation they would be inferior quality. We had the suits kept in storage containers and boxes inside of Rob Bottins Studio and due to an agreement with the studio where we either had to keep them or destroy them by cutting them up and a little 5 inch squares at one point I would say most of the original suits and parts of Suits from the first movie were destroyed. . Rob Had some high-quality suits of armor made up in premium quality and put into acrylic cases in his living room to full-size RoboCops posed. Unless Rob gave Phil Tippit a suit directly I doubt he had an or truly authentic suit.

[@Briandoesit]

I wish you would have showed more of the props and less of the paper stuff.

[@534goth]

I always wanted to go there Peter Benchley beast giant squid is there

[@karlkarlos3545]

Why is it even called Adam Savage's Tested, when it is always this other guy?

[@deejaydubla]

It's kinda weird to think that Kane torso is now just hanging out in somebody's living room and freaking out visitors.

[@DSVideos21]

I want the creature (forgot the name) from starship troopers.

[@luisalcalavillanueva5283]

Me Too

[@alioth5837]

I was expecting the dragon on the right to rip his head off at the last minute.

[@MrHauerManuel]

"how cool is that"

[@WesAscolese]

I like how Norm just HAD to point out the misspelling of the word Cantina (and it looked like he pointed to it with his finger on another page but I could be paranoid). We get it Norm, he can't spell Cantina, no need to publicly shame him :P

[@ironjaw333]

Also, the definition of a canteen is 'a restaurant provided by an organization' so his spelling Canteena isn't off. Cantina is a mexican spelling. Norm was just being a prat.

[@AndreasZachariou]

he points to the "Not used 76 (PT)"

[@WesAscolese]

Eh fair enough thought I was being paranoid, but he does say it out loud as if to be "haha look he can't even spell Cantina"

[@therealfaloun]

I think Norm was pointing out how the spelling changed from the early production, rather than being pedantic. That sort of minor trivia (Did you know it was spelled Canteena during pre-production?) would be really interesting to someone who admires Tippett and is a huge fan of Star Wars.

[@WesAscolese]

+therealfaloun fair enough. I don't see it that way but very well could have been. I should be less cynical

[@sellersgarner]

russian sailors?1 Mikey Forrester? What are you guys on about?!

[@MrBeanbones]

I think that I will draw for the cinema industry lol

[@luisalcalavillanueva5283]

Me Too

[@OneMadPanda]

Next time, maybe Mute the Phones.. That 'Blopp-Bling' is utterly confusing.

[@tittytittypootang2895]

all i wanted to see was the xenomorph

[@the_silverking]

I like how the auctioneer was obviously annoyed and just wanted to get done with this so he could sell the things he has absolutely no clue about, while tested is just being oblivious for the video

[@priyankarphysio]

#abNorm

[@vaclavslajch9879]

Please, do not forget to say "HOW COOL IS THAT"... ffs

[@go.sergio]

One of these days Norm will knock off an invaluable piece with all those unnecesary hand gestures.

[@julianvalide9266]

the guy said good semen

[@grahamparr4710]

Is one a midget or the other one a giant?

[@handicapeetpuisapres9919]

manipulating without gloves on!!! not professional at all.

[@wroubel4498]

u aint 10th st berkeley sk8