
Phil Tippett
Visual effects · b. 1951 · Berkeley, California
Phil Tippett is an American filmmaker and multi-award-winning visual effects supervisor and producer, specializing in creature design, stop-motion, and computerized character animation. Over his career, he has assisted ILM, DreamWorks, and his own company Tippet Studios, with his work appearing in movies such as the original Star Wars trilogy, Jurassic Park, and RoboCop.
Movies23
Movie8.2AdventureActionPrincess Leia is captured and held hostage by the evil Imperial forces in their effort to take over the galactic Empire. Venturesome Luke Skywalker and dashing captain Han Solo team together with the loveable robot duo R2-D2 and C-3PO to rescue the beautiful princess and restore peace and justice in the Empire.
Star Wars
1977 · 22K votes
Movie7.9AdventureActionLuke Skywalker leads a mission to rescue his friend Han Solo from the clutches of Jabba the Hutt, the Emperor prepares to crush the Rebellion with a more powerful Death Star, and the Rebel fleet mounts a massive attack on the space station. Luke Skywalker confronts Darth Vader in a final climactic duel before the evil Emperor.
Return of the Jedi
1983 · 17K votes
Movie6.0HorrorScience FictionWhen flesh-eating piranhas are accidentally released into a summer resort's rivers, the guests become their next meal.
Piranha
1978 · 780 votes
Movie7.6DocumentaryFrom the earliest versions of the script to the blockbuster debuts, explore the creation of the Star Wars Trilogy.
Empire of Dreams: The Story of the Star Wars Trilogy
2004 · 218 votes
Movie7.4DocumentaryThere’s only one person who so accurately personifies movie magic in the history of film, and that man is special effects maestro Ray Harryhausen. Focusing on the man behind the landmark effects on films like Clash Of The Titans, One Million Years B.C., Jason And The Argonauts and many more, this in-depth film features interviews with the great man himself, and with an array of animators and directors influenced by his work including Guillermo del Toro, Peter Jackson, Nick Park, Terry Gilliam, James Cameron and Steven Spielberg. The film also features unseen footage of tests and experiments recently uncovered.
Ray Harryhausen: Special Effects Titan
2012 · 39 votes
Movie6.6DocumentaryA multi-part documentary about the making of the Jurassic Park trilogy. Each part walks through the making of part of one of the films, including the hurricane during the shooting of the first film, and how advances in CGI for Jurassic Park helped change the world of special effects forever. All interviews for these retrospective documentaries come with comments from Spielberg, Johnston, Neill, Dern, Goldblum, the effects crews, the child actors, and Peter Stormare. This documentary is broken into six parts: Dawn of a New Era (25 min), Making Prehistory (20 min), The Next Step in Evolution (15 min), Finding the Lost World (28 min), Something Survived (16 min), and The Third Adventure (25 min).
Return to Jurassic Park
2011 · 848 votes
Movie7.1DocumentaryAn inside look at the making of the movie Star Wars: Episode VII - The Force Awakens (2015), featuring footage and exclusive interviews with the actors and filmmakers.
Secrets of the Force Awakens: A Cinematic Journey
2016 · 40 votes
Movie7.4DocumentaryTV MovieFrom Star Wars to Jedi: The Making of a Saga is a 1983 television documentary special that originally aired on PBS. It is a behind-the-scenes look at the making of the original Star Wars trilogy, with particular emphasis on the final film, Return of the Jedi. Narrated by actor Mark Hamill, the documentary was written by Richard Schickel who had written the previous television documentaries The Making of Star Wars (1977) and SP FX: The Empire Strikes Back (1980).
From Star Wars to Jedi: The Making of a Saga
1983 · 23 votes
Movie6.7DocumentarySteve ‘Spaz’ Williams is a pioneer in computer animation. His digital dinosaurs of Jurassic Park transformed Hollywood in 1993, but an appetite for anarchy and reckless disregard for authority may have cost him the recognition he deserved.
Jurassic Punk
2022 · 16 votes
Movie7.3DocumentaryTV MovieThis documentary treats film fans to a behind-the-scenes look at the making of "Jurassic Park," one of the 90's biggest hits and a milestone in special effects development. Narrated by James Earl Jones, it includes footage of the filming process, as well as interviews with director Steven Spielberg, and other members of the cast and crew, who give their insights into what it was like working together on this project and the efforts it took to bring the film to completion.
The Making of 'Jurassic Park'
1995 · 24 votes
Movie8.2DocumentaryTV MovieHosted by Mark Hamill, this revealing documentary offers behind-the-scenes glimpses into the amazing special effects that transformed George Lucas’ vision for Star Wars and The Empire Strikes Back into reality!
SP FX: The Empire Strikes Back
1980 · 13 votes
Movie6.7DocumentaryScience FictionA nostalgic journey through ’80s Sci-Fi-films, exploring their impact and relevance today, told by the artists who made them and by those who were inspired to turn their visions into reality.
In Search of Tomorrow
2022 · 33 votes
Movie6.2DocumentaryStanley Kubrick's groundbreaking 2001: A Space Odyssey opened the door to all the films and filmmakers who followed it. Through interviews with directors such as George Lucas, Steven Spielberg and Sydney Pollack - as well as special effects professionals and cultural historians - this documentary examines the legacy of Kubrick's masterpiece and its influence on science fiction films, special effects and world cinema.
Standing on the Shoulders of Kubrick: The Legacy of 2001
2007 · 8 votes
Movie7.2DocumentaryThe Frankenstein Complex takes a historical as well as a creative perspective, with a mix of fascinating scenes behind the camera, film clips, and dozens of interviews with all the big names in the industry. In addition to the many wonderful anecdotes, the film also offers a wealth of beautiful test material, while along the way showing how the art of filmmaking has changed over the years. An affectionate ode to monster makers throughout history.
Creature Designers: The Frankenstein Complex
2015 · 30 votes
Movie8.0DocumentaryHistoryThe astonishing story of the genesis, production, worldwide success, and legacy of King Kong (1933), directed by Merian C. Cooper and Ernest B. Schoedsack, a landmark of cinema, one of the most influential motion pictures in history.
Movie7.0DocumentaryLegendary all-stars of cinema bring to life the evolution of science-fiction and special effects films from the wild and funny days of B-movies to blockbusters that have captured the world's imagination. This is the story of the Sci-Fi Boys, who started out as kids making amateur movies inspired by Forrest J Ackerman's FAMOUS MONSTERS magazine and grew up to take Hollywood by storm, inventing the art and technology for filming anything the mind can dream.
The Sci-Fi Boys
2006 · 12 votes
Movie8.0DocumentaryFor over a half century, Ray Harryhausen has amazed and inspired countless filmmakers and fans around the world with his breathtaking motion picture effects and stop-motion animation. Presented here for the first time ever is the authorized collection of his earliest work, along with hours of supplemental features.
Ray Harryhausen: The Early Years Collection
2005 · 3 votes
Movie7.3TV MovieDocumentaryA behind-the-scenes documentary on the making of the film Willow (1988). Included are interviews with cast and crew and scenes of the actual filming of the production itself.
Willow: The Making of an Adventure
1988 · 7 votes
Movie8.8DocumentaryGo behind the scenes — and into the costumes — as production footage from Return of the Jedi is interspersed with vintage monster movie clips in this in-depth exploration of the painstaking techniques utilized by George Lucas to create the classic creatures and characters seen in the film.
Classic Creatures: Return of the Jedi
1983 · 13 votes
MovieDocumentaryFans of the legendary and infamous 1986 comic-book adaptation "Howard the Duck" talk about what it is that they enjoy about this film about a fowl from another planet and his misadventures in Cleve Land.
Movie7.6DocumentaryAn in-depth, sad, and beautiful documentary about the stop motion and VFX artist Phil Tippett, a man who changed the landscape of visual effects in film.
Phil Tippett: Mad Dreams and Monsters
2019 · 12 votes
Movie8.0DocumentaryTV MovieEven the most devout Star Wars fan might not know that filmmaker and journalist Michel Parbot was once given unprecedented access to the set, stars, and filmmakers behind The Empire Strikes Back. The resulting work, The Making of The Empire Strikes Back, has apparently never been commercially released. Most of the footage has been lost, but 15 minutes has circulated online in recent years. Now, the 1 hour cut of Michel Parbot’s lost documentary has been found.
The Making of The Empire Strikes Back
1980 · 4 votes
Movie7.2DocumentaryNeuroscientist David Eagleman taps into the creative process of various inventors, while exploring brain-bending, risk-taking ways to spark creativity
The Creative Brain
2019 · 38 votes
Series5
TV7.3DocumentaryThese blockbusters brought us together and gave us the time of our lives. Meet the actors, directors and industry insiders who made them happen.
The Movies That Made Us
2019 · 142 votes
TV7.3ComedyTalk ShowThe World’s Foremost Drive-in Movie Critic – actually he’s pretty much the world’s only Drive-in Critic – Joe Bob Briggs brings his iconic swagger to this firebrand of horror and drive-in cinema offering honest appreciation, hilarious insight, inside stories and of course, the Drive-in totals.
The Last Drive-in with Joe Bob Briggs
2019 · 23 votes
TV7.9DocumentaryWhen George Lucas set out to make Star Wars, little did he know he would end up revolutionizing an industry. This is the story of a team of creative geniuses who put the magic in the movies we love.
LIGHT & MAGIC
2022 · 62 votes
TV7.0DocumentaryThe series heads to the very frontiers of space and science to produce the definitive television history of science fiction, told through its impact on cinema, television and literature, with the help of filmmakers, writers, actors, and graphic artists. Each episode will explore one of the enduring themes of science fiction: time travel; the exploration of space; robots and artificial intelligence; and aliens.
The Real History of Science Fiction
2014 · 21 votes
TV8.1DocumentaryAn in-depth look into the ground breaking franchise and features new interviews with cast and crew.
RoboDoc: The Creation of RoboCop
2023 · 12 votes