Issue link: https://digital.copcomm.com/i/1546606
essential DNA of the original design and then rebuilding everything around it. The Fright Fighters presented a different dilemma, as the original silhouette had the qualities of a dragonfly. There are some beautifully designed dragonfly-like craft in the new Dune universe, and I was very conscious that we needed to find our own visual territory while remaining faithful to the 1986 animation design. The solution was not to abandon the insect- like quality, but to reinterpret its proportions, structure and detailing so that it belonged unmistakably to MOTU. Teela's ship had its own set of requirements. It needed to function as a mid-range cargo vessel capable of traveling between worlds, but it also had to contain and deploy a Sky Sled from its cargo bay during an aerial dogfight. For its cockpit design, I drew on another familiar piece of MOTU iconography, the hawk-like silhouette of the Talon Fighter, and developed that into a larger, more functional spacecraft. The MOTU vehicles were a genuinely fun design challenge. Unlike an environment, which can suggest a world through atmosphere and texture, a vehicle must make you believe that it can actually move through that world. It needs a reason for every surface, every opening, every weapon and every piece of machinery. At the same time, it needs to be instantly recognizable. For me that balance, between memory and invention, between toy and machine, became one of the most interesting design aspects of the film. Throughout production, one of the most rewarding parts of working on MOTU was walking onto the finished sets for the first time with Travis Knight to get his reaction. I remember walking into the main chamber of Castle Grayskull with him and seeing the Sword of Power, lit from above, feeling like a kid again. Or looking at Skeletor's throne, allowing ourselves a moment to enjoy the sheer delight and bizarreness of what we were creating. As a team, we had faced the formidable challenge of converting bright and wildly original 1980s Mattel lore and Saturday-morning cartoon aesthetics into a grounded, texturally rich and structurally logical sci-fi fantasy universe. Our goal with Masters of the Universe was never pure nostalgia, it was to make Eternia and its inhabitants feel real, a place that existed before we arrived and would go on existing after we left. And for a Production Designer, perhaps the greatest reward is to be able to stand inside a world you helped create, and for a moment, forget that you built it at all. ADG Guy Hendrix Dyas, Production Designer Tom Brown, Super vising Art Director Andrew Ackland-Snow, Alex Cameron, John King, Senior Art Directors Adam Grant, Dominique Pace, Chris Heap, Cat Gold, Daniel Swingler, Chris Lees, Richard Campling, Phil Sims, Christopher Vincent, Art Directors Lotta Wolgers, Assistant Art Director Chloe Eersel, Alfredo Lupo, Set Designers Jeanie King, Filipe Miranda, Francesca Tesei, Model Makers Tim Rodriguez, Jakub Vyoukal, Arthur Ripert, Bart Tchorzewski, Christopher Brändström, Oscar Bagalini, Darko Markovic, Tim Napper, Kimberly Pope, Illustrators Jools Faiers (Lead), Matthew Hindle, Mike Saiz, Frances Bent, Rhiannon Fraser, Graphic Designers Dominic Capon, Set Decorator F G