Net TV Love - Part Five: Ray Harryhausen 90th Birthday Tribute

This next feature was not something that was necessarily created just for the web, but I think it fits with today's theme because without the 'net most of us would never get the chance to see it. Oh, sure, it might eventually get picked up by Discovery or TLC, but even that's kind of doubtful, and it's something that definitely should be seen, especially by those of us who love fantastic, fanciful movies.

On June 29th, Mr Ray Harryhausen turned 90 years old. Three days before, on the 26th, BAFTA, the British Academy of Film and Television Arts, along with the British Film Institute, held a special tribute to Mr Harryhausen that was hosted by filmmaker John Landis and included appearances by Rick Baker, Dennis Murren, Caroline Munro, Randy Cook, Ray Bradbury, and many others. There were also video tributes from the likes of Steven Spielberg, George Lucas, James Cameron, and Tim Burton. The producers also showed many clips from Harryhausen's amazing body of work, and those clips look just as incredible today as they did when they were produced.

For those who don't know, Mr. Harryhausen was the stop-motion animation genius behind the special effects in works such as Earth vs the Flying Saucers, The Seventh Voyage of Sinbad, Mighty Joe Young (where he worked alongside original King Kong animator Willis O'Brien), the original Clash of the Titans, and Jason and the Argonauts to name just a few. Mr Harryhausen's effects work inspired many of today's great movie directors and producers not only by showing what could be done on film, but simply by opening their minds and imaginations to the possibilities of fantastic storytelling. Even today, when 3D CGI animation is all the rage, practitioners of the craft are still working to give their creations the sense of weight and depth and, yes, life, that Mr. Harryhausen was able to imbue into his clay creations.

Anyway, BAFTA has subsequently released the video of this tribute to the web for all of us to watch and join in the celebration of the life and work of this wonderful and wondrous filmmaker. Unfortunately, it's not embeddable, but i urge you to watch it by clicking here.