{"id":586295,"date":"2026-08-31T22:24:09","date_gmt":"2026-08-31T22:24:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/586295\/"},"modified":"2026-08-31T22:24:09","modified_gmt":"2026-08-31T22:24:09","slug":"51-years-later-a-treasure-trove-of-sci-fi-history-is-going-up-for-sale","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/586295\/","title":{"rendered":"51 Years Later, A Treasure Trove of Sci-Fi History is Going Up for Sale"},"content":{"rendered":"

If you watch the end credits of Jurassic Park<\/a>, you\u2019ll see a role that doesn\u2019t appear in any other movie: Dinosaur Supervisor. Phil Tippett is credited with this job, leading many fans to make memes saying \u201cYou had one job, Phil!\u201d <\/a><\/p>\n

But Phil Tippett is more than just a punchline. He\u2019s also a special effects legend<\/a>, pioneering the use of stop motion and other classic techniques in the foundational sci-fi and fantasy movies in the \u201880s and \u201890s. But now, he\u2019s hanging up his sculpting tools and retiring, but not before selling off his vast collection for fans to enjoy. <\/p>\n

Siu Wu\/EPA-EFE\/Shutterstock<\/p>\n

Clarity Estate Liquidation<\/a> recently listed a massive fire sale as Phil Tippett was closing his animation studio in Berkeley. Over the course of three days \u2014 and an extremely limited admission based on an in-person sign-up sheet \u2014 \u201chundreds (maybe thousands) of movie props, models, prototypes, and film used items\u201d were sold off in a massive liquidation sale. \u201cI\u2019m retired from the racket,\u201d he told Berkeleyside<\/a>. \u201cMy last major project was the Twilight series.\u201d<\/p>\n

And there\u2019s plenty of history to be mined there: Tippett began his career using stop-motion animation to create the holochess scene (and playing a cantina band member) in Star Wars: A New Hope, and worked on the rest of the original trilogy in the years to come, as well as Jurassic Park, Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom, Willow, RoboCop, and dozens of other iconic movies. <\/p>\n

Phil Tippett is responsible for many of Star Wars\u2019 most iconic creatures.<\/p>\n

CHRIS DELMAS\/AFP\/Getty Images<\/p>\n

In 2021, Tippett released his long-in-the-works passion project, Mad God, a fever dream of stop-motion and fantastic creatures. Though it quickly became a fan favorite, for Tippett it was a long and laborious project, one he described to Inverse<\/a> as \u201cpursuing your dream then finding out that you’re chained to a rock, and there\u2019s a bird eating your liver.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cFor my own sanity, I\u2019ve got to just put Mad God behind me and say it’s done,\u201d he said. \u201cIt’s actually been very cathartic, doing that; it’s just really important for me to close that chapter and move on.\u201d<\/p>\n

Tippett may be selling off his collection, but he\u2019s keeping his two Oscars.<\/p>\n

Lucasfilm\/Fox\/Kobal\/Shutterstock<\/p>\n

This sale is another end of an era, as it\u2019s part of Chapter 11 bankruptcy proceedings for Tippett Studio. However, just because the Berkeley location is closing, it doesn\u2019t mean that Tippett\u2019s legacy will end. \u201cWe have recently decided to evolve our physical footprint and production approach, and to exit our longtime Berkeley facility,\u201d the company posted on Facebook<\/a>. \u201cAs we make this transition, Tippett Studio continues its visual effects and animation work across film, television and entertainment. Our operations in Canada also continue, including our Toronto studio, which is currently in active production on a large feature film.\u201d<\/p>\n

So while Phil Tippett and his vast collection of collectibles may not be in that building any longer, his impact on visual effects will live on.<\/p>\n

Want more about Phil Tippett? Stream the excellent documentary series Light & Magic on Disney+ right now.<\/a><\/p>\n

Learn Something New Every Day<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"If you watch the end credits of Jurassic Park, you\u2019ll see a role that doesn\u2019t appear in any…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":586296,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[27],"tags":[7269,156,1016,2386,48279,409,111,139,69,7687,1797],"class_list":["post-586295","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-movies","tag-animation","tag-entertainment","tag-entertainment-news","tag-homepage","tag-hp-latest","tag-movies","tag-new-zealand","tag-newzealand","tag-nz","tag-science-fiction","tag-star-wars"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/586295","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=586295"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/586295\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/586296"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=586295"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=586295"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=586295"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}