In 1994, animation legend David Allen (1944–1999) hired me to animate giant scorpions for the feature film Oblivion. The movie was a bizarre space western, the original "Cowboys and Aliens"! It was produced by Full Moon Entertainment, a busy studio with many projects in production. At the time, David was running the Full Moon visual effects department but was primarily focused on planning his dream project, the upcoming movie Primevals. He entrusted his crew to create the work for other films, such as Oblivion, under his overall supervision. I worked with Joseph Grossberg, who was responsible for the visual effects camera work and lighting. My task was to bring the giant alien scorpions, called Night Scorps, to life through stop-motion animation.

We used three different setups: the rear-projected frame-by-frame process shot (also known as dynamation) for many of the shots, a backlit "translite" for static backgrounds with miniature ground in front for the scorpion puppets to walk on, and a full miniature set with a cliff wall for the final sequence. The Night Scorp puppets were made by the late Laine Liska, with ball-and-socket armatures by Jeff Taylor. They were beautifully crafted and moved smoothly, but they were also quite heavy. If more than two legs were off the ground, the puppets tended to sag. To solve this issue, I attached a wire to the scorpion's body and added a counterweight on the other end above the stage to counteract gravity. This solution worked well, but I had to be careful to ensure that the wire was not visible when photographed.

Approximately 95% of the final animation was my work, but a couple of shots were too complex for one animator to handle alone. In those scenes, two Night Scorps fight over the villain Redeye, whom they hold in their claws and tug until he rips in half. Fortunately, animator Paul Jessel was available to assist me, as extra hands were needed to coordinate the back-and-forth pulling between the two Nightscorps. It took a lot of careful planning to rip apart the Redeye puppet frame by frame, and we added blood and guts at the end for effect. Paul and I had a lot of fun animating those shots together, like kids. However, the shot where Redeye is pulled apart was cut short in the final film; the blood and guts were considered too gruesome and were edited out. Naturally, I was disappointed, as it was the most difficult shot to animate and was very effective.

Yes, Oblivion is known for its strange and bizarre style as a science fiction western. It has gained a cult following due to its campy aesthetic and the presence of well-known actors such as Julie Newmar, George Takei, Isaac Hayes, and Meg Foster. Some standout performances in the film include Musetta Vander as Lash, Carel Struycken as Gaunt, and Andrew Divoff as Redeye. Despite being considered a "B" movie, the Night Scorps animation sequences are arguably the best part of the film. If you are interested in seeing it, Oblivion was recently re-released by Full Moon Entertainment.