Wednesday, February 28, 2018

A Turkey Shoot in Canada

While meeting with a friend yesterday I got into a bit of a discussion regarding "film". No surprise. (From Jonas Mekas to Ed Hunt.) He asked me if I have interviewed anyone who was involved in the production of the 1977 Canadian science fiction epic, Starship Invasions. Indeed I have.

In the summer of 1985 I met with "technical effects" man Warren Keillor in his workshop, and years later I worked with, and later hired, visual effects artist and cameraman Dennis Pike. Although my meeting with Mr Keillor was first and foremost initiated by me in the hope it would put my name out there for any possible contract employment after I graduated from school, he was very forthcoming and revealing when he talked of his experiences on Starship. Mr Pike offered many stories about "Alien Turkey" -- the name given the film by some on the production crew. (The original and working title for Starship Invasions was Alien Encounter. Unfortunately a film with a similar name was also in production: Close Encounters of the Third Kind. The producers of the Canadian-made effort had no desire to start an interstellar war, hence the change to the pulpy, and perhaps more enticing, title.)

In production: Stories about the making of "Alien Turkey". No, not Close Encounters. That film's best described as "Alien Pigeon". Or Turkish Starship Invasions.


2 comments:

Tibor said...

Wow...the whole thing's on Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QESnwxRUxyw

Simon St. Laurent said...

Thanks!

That flick has never seen a DVD release; at least not in North America. Warner Bros. home video should get on the ball....or the flying saucer.