Contents Flight of the Intruder: Wings of the Intruder: The producers of Flight of the Intruder - a Vietnam war film about Navy pilots who embark on an unauthorized bombing mission over Hanoi - received plenty of support from the U.S. Navy. But for scenes too difficult or too dangerous to achieve with real aircraft, visual effects supervisor Mark Vargo was enlisted to orchestrate a vast comingling of radio control and wire-flown aircraft, expansive miniature settings, pyrotechnic explosions, motion control photography, cel animation and computer generated imagery. Nearly a dozen effects companies were employed in the effort. Article by Bill Norton

RoboCop 2: Clash of the Robotitans: For the second chapter in his RoboCop saga, producer Jon Davison managed to assemble almost all of his orginal effects artists. Rob Bottin produced a new robosuit and an animatronic cyborg torso, Phil Tippett directed a massive stop-motion effort, Craig Davies designed and constructed a formidable mechanized monster, Peter Kuran supplied robovision effects and Rocco Gioffre provided futuristic matte paintings. Added to the effects roster for RoboCop2 was the computer graphics firm of deGraf/Wahrman and an on-set computer graphics team headed by Paul Sammon. Article by Jody Duncan

Die Hard 2: Maximum Impact: Set within and above an international airport during a major blizzard, Die Hard 2 was a more than substantial challenge for both special effects coordinator Al Di Sarro and visual effects supervisor Micheal McAlister of Industrial Light & Magic. While Di Sarro wrestled with the problem of supplying tons of biodegradable simulated snow - the real thing was proving elusive, even in normally snowbound locations - a miniatures unit from ILM was flying and crashing gigantic airplane models in the windswept Mojave Desert. Article by Mark Cotta Vaz

Contents Rick Baker Revisited: In the seven years since our last examination of Rick Baker and his meteoric career, the still youthful makeup artist has continued to break new ground in his chosen profession. Among the triumphs of the period was the creation of a friendly Sasquatch for Harry and the Hendersons, his transformation of Eddie Murphy into an old white man in Coming to America, the development of the ultimate gorilla suit for Gorillas in the Mist and the concoction of a new batch of mogwais and gremlins for Gremlins 2. Article by Ron Magid

Through the Proscenium Arch: In the ever-evolving theme park business the latest attractions transport thrill-seekers into outer space, inner body and back in time without ever moving them off a fixed hydraulic platform. By marrying flight simulator technology with motion picture effects footage, ride adventures derived from genre epics such as Star Wars, Innerspace and Back to the Future employ high-tech visuals and sophisticated motion cues to create kinetic sensations of pulse-pounding impact. Article by Janine Pourroy

Death and Aging - A Corleone Chronicle: Spanning much of the twentieth century, the Godfather trilogy called for many of its principal players to age during the course of the narrative. Hired by director Francis Ford Coppola to effect this aging convincingly was makup master Dick Smith who was involved in all three films. Realistic bloodletting was also essential. To produce the requisite mayhem, Coppola engaged two generations of physical effects men - A.D. Flowers, Sass Bedig, Joseph Lombardi, Lawrence Cavanaugh and R. Bruce Steinheimer. Article by David Morgan

Contents Terminator 2: Judgment Day: A Once and Future War: Seven years ago, writer-director James Cameron was an unknown entity with only an ultra-low-budget horror picture to his credit, Arnold Schwarzenegger was a world-class bodybuilder with a few less-than-world-class movies under his belt and Linda Hamilton was a young actress with a number of nondescript teen roles on her brief resume. The Terminator changed all that. A landmark science fiction film whose nonstop techno-action was punctuated with rare humor and an affecting love story, The Terminator was the impetus for major career breaks across the board. In the next half-dozen years, Cameron would become one of the hottest directors in Hollywood, Schwarzenegger would become the world's biggest boxoffice star and Hamilton would become the celebrated beauty of a cult television series. Though a sequel seemed inevitable, prospects for launching one were snarled in a spider's web of proprietary interests and legal entanglements until early 1990 when Carolco Pictures stepped in and cleared the way. Eighteen months later, after a grueling six-month shoot and an intense postproduction schedule, one of the biggest films in history was ready for release. Bringing magic to Terminator 2: Judgment Day was an army of effects people - most of them veterans of earlier Cameron productions. Stan Winston and company were responsible for Terminator makeups and animatronic puppetry. Dennis Muren supervised the creation of an advanced shape-shifting terminator at Industrial Light & Magic. Gene Warren of Fantasy II provided a major truck crash and a future war in miniature while Robert and Dennis Skotak of 4-Ward Productions wreaked nuclear havoc on Los Angeles. Video Image supplied 'Termovision' point-of-view material and Pacific Data Images performed some digital rescue work. The result was an epic foray into science fiction filmmaking. Article by Jody Duncan

Contents Backdraft: Standing the Heat: When director Ron Howard set out to make the ultimate firefighting picture, even he supposed that much of the fiery action in Backdraft would have to be accomplished via miniatures and process photography. Special effects supervisor Allen Hall would prove him wrong. Although a handful of visual effects shots would indeed be produced by Industrial Light & Magic, nearly all of the nonstop pyrotechnics would be accomplished live on stage sets and urban locations - with major screen actors working in close proximity to conflagrations of awesome magnitude. Article by Jody Duncan

The Rocketeer: Rocket Blast: To capture on film the adventure and ambience of The Rocketeer - Dave Stevens' comic book evocation of Los Angeles during the golden age of aviation - director Joe Johnston assembled a team of ace collaborators including production designer Jim Bissel and special effects supervisor Jon G. Belyeu. A former visual effects art director, Johnston also returned to his alma mater - Industrial Light & Magic - for optical work and miniatures ranging from an eighteen-inch flying superhero to a thirty-four-foot zeppelin. Article by Mark Cotta Vaz.

Cast a Deadly Spell: That Old Black Magic: Inspired by the period writings of Raymond Chandler and H.P. Lovecraft, Cast a Deadly Spell - a made-for-cable feature produced by Gale Anne Hurd for HBO Pictures - infuses the hard-boiled detective genre with unabashed elements of supernatural horror and offbeat humor. Makeup and creature effects - including a passel of gremlins, a living gargoyle and assorted demons large and small - were created by Tony Gardner and his Alterian Studios. Opticals and miniatures - primarily matte paintings and a cataclysmic finale - were provided by 4-Ward Productions. Article by Kevin H. Martin