How It All Began (for magnus073) by KatesFriend
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Description
How does a nightmare begin? For David Vincent, architect, returning home from a business trip, it began at a few minutes past four on a lost Tuesday morning, looking for a shortcut that he never found. It began with a welcoming sign that gave hope of black coffee. It began with a closed, deserted diner and a man too long without sleep to continue his journey. In the weeks to come, David Vincent would go back to how it all began, many times.
This is the prologue to Beachhead, the premier episode of the late 60's TV series The Invaders. A rarely seen gem from that era of television. Produced by none other than Quinn Martin, this series chronicles the dark adventure of David Vincent, played by actor Roy Thinnes, who witnesses a saucer landing and learns of an active alien invasion of the Earth. Vincent struggles to warn the world of this danger while attempting to thwart the aliens' plans. For its time and genre the series is remarkably well made. Though all the smoking and slicked hair can appear dated, this was no Lost In Space or even Time Tunnel. The Invaders was clearly written for an adult audience with stories that touched upon mature, timely and even subversive themes. The character of David Vincent must constantly struggle against paranoia; his own and that of those who conclude he is delusional. At the best of times Vincent might convince some authorities that there is some kind of conspiracy taking place. But most often, Vincent finds himself fighting his own kind as well as the aliens.
What a shame. He looked and talked so normal. You just never know.
The aliens themselves are not as uniform or implacable as some other TV sci-fi's back then would depict. The invaders are ultimately motivated by desperation - their world is dying. Though most of them (the ones sent to Earth anyways) do not have much concern for individual humans one way or another, we do learn that the act of invading Earth is somewhat controversial amongst their kind. Some believe the invasion is wrong but survival has left them with no alternative. Therefore we can have some sympathy for them in spite of their apparent callousness.
Don't go! Don't fight us. You can't stop it, it's going to happen!
Though episodes were not heavy with visual effects, the producers weren't cheap about using them when needed. I recall one episode, The Enemy, where an alien saucer is destroyed and the viewer sees the vehicle's endoskeleton briefly flash out in a red glow as the saucer disintegrates. Very high quality work that stands up well to this day. And the iconic alien saucer is a case in point. Quinn Martin only intended to show it off once at the start of the first story and subsequently use the landing sequence in every episode's opening hook. This then required the effect to be very impressive and believable. It was and still is, so much so that when the writers first saw the pilot episode they immediately fell in love with the saucer and were constantly coming up with stories that featured it. Another example of how a job can be too well done. And did I mention that this series gave a whole new meaning to the expression, "giving the finger"?
Fingers? We're not all like that David. Some of us learn, we're always learning.
This Poser 7 rendering is dedicated to Dave (aka magnus073 here at Renderosity) because I recently discovered that he is a fellow fan of this dark sci-fi classic. Cheers my friend! My thanks again for the following freebies: Moebius87 for the Dystopia Skydome. Some pre-production done with GIMP 2.4 Other credits: Alien saucer is by Basilone at TurboSquid (http://www.turbosquid.com/3d-models/3d-model-ufo-tv-invaders/314654) Old Wood Pines by Judith at RuntimeDNA.
Comments (40)
anitalee
Excellent!
1358
oh my stars and garters... this show used to scare the heck out of me, when I was a kid. evenhad the plastic model with the interior (Revell or Monogram... can't remember)... iconic, yes.... but up until that point, spaceship shows were space operas (yes, Star Trek, I'm talkin' about you),and this one created itself a whole sub genre... dynamite illustration... 60's falshback.... (David Vincent was played by Roy Thinnes, who reprised a kind of role years later in X-Files..... man, I must be some sort of geek)
magnus073
Clayton this was such a cool surprise and talk about doing a dedi up right :) First of all I am grateful for this and the obvious time you've put into it my friend. I think you did a fabulous job of bringing that moment to life and this reminds me of how captivated I was as a boy upon seeing it for that first time. (THE INVADERS) is still one of my all time favorite shows and one I watch over and over on dvd as you always see something you missed. If someone is thinking about the dvd set it is a 2 season set and well worth it for the commentary alone. Roy Thinnes gives his thoughts and talks about what also went on behind the scenes of the show.
eekdog Online Now!
yes that was one of my fav shows as a kid, very well done image to that old series, the night gallery also was a cool show.
Flint_Hawk
I'm a fan of that show too! Your work brings back great memorries!
Radar_rad-dude
Fantastic scene and effects! I remember watching this show too and loving it, but I haven't thought about it in years until just now. A totally fabulous job of recreation! You have captured the look and feel of it! Very well done! Love your descriptive too! A most excellent synopsis of this wonderful series!
Faemike55
Absolutely fantastic image and wonderful flashback! Well done!
mtnman259
LOL We seem to be giving our ages with this one.... I too watched this all the time back then. In fact over the last couple of years I've taken to recording the intro's to many of the shows I would watch... a sort of alternative listening if you will. I found the intro to "The Invaders" I record many of these off "You Tube". You'd be amazed what you can find there for many of these shows from back when... Time Tunnel, Land of the Giants, The Invaders, Combat, and so on. Thanks for bringing a smile to my face with fond memories this morning. ;-D
renecyberdoc
wonderful scene and dedi,the lights are extraordinary work.5++ and a fav.
MOSKETON
FANTASTICA CREACION.
chimera46
Great lighting on this render. I must confess I haven't heard of this series, but you've definitely sparked my interest.
flavia49
Fantastic scene!!!1
mgtcs
Excellent creation, amazing lighting and mood!
SilverBlues
When I was a littel Boy, in the 70th, the INVADERS was one of my favorit TV Series. Nice Image, bravo !
theprojectionist
Wow the opening scene from the Invaders
Bill_Wa
I loved this show. I too had the model kit, I think it was Revell. Thanks for the great memories. I give this a five, but only because the scale doesn't go any higher. This is a ten plus!
myquad
Anaming job with the lighting and a great dedi!
KyotoDragon
Impressive work... I can not recall the show though.
pspworkshop
Really beautiful !!
evielouise
Well I for one usually don't watch these types of movies I guess I have a hard time with it (like dreams etc ) some of us arelike that:: But I have got to say this is a tale that is perfection and with your dedication to a great guy it is without a doubt fantatic scene and all!~ PS--Anyone know why my spelling preview is not working I can spell ,I just can't type correctly :: lol
Minda
excellent scene and info clayton and nice dedication for magnus...
sandra46
WONDERFUL WORK!
BLUESTONE
Perhaps our take on aliens is a good indicator of the level of anxiety in society as a whole; the cold war and nuclear threat personified. Nice work on this!
drifterlee
Awesome flying saucer scene!
Biffowitz
A wonderful dedi and render, fabulous scene here!
Lunastar
Wonderful dedication. This is a fantastic render. The lighting and mood is just phenomenal.
KaiArt
Excellent work!
JeffersonAF
Excellent.
OrphanedSoul
And now we have X-files, Roswell and starwars..... An excellent image!
novelist
Superb work. Love the lighting and the car and presentation. Fantastic.