This is a continuation of the first article looking at the “SCREEN-USED ENDOSKELETON HEAD FROM THE 1984 FILM “TERMINATOR” STARRING ARNOLD SCHWARZENEGGER”. I have compiled high resolution screen captures from The Terminator Blu-Ray Disc. I have also researched the great detail about the development and filming of the Terminator endoskeleton and skull by Stan Winston Studios in the book, “The Winston Effect” (see Book Review: The Winston Effect). These images and information are compared and contrasted with the endo skull offered at auction that is “MADE COMPLETELY OUT OF METAL”.
Below is an archive of the eBay auction listing, which is currently active and now bid to $8,600.00:
“TERMINATOR 1 PUPPET ENDO HEAD MOVIE PROP STAN WINSTON”, eBay Item #190231300554
Marketing Description:
UP FOR AUCTION IS AN INCREDIBLE SCREEN-USED ENDOSKELETON HEAD FROM THE 1984 FILM “TERMINATOR” STARRING ARNOLD SCHWARZENEGGER. THIS FILM LAUNCHED DIRECTOR JAMES CAMERON, FX GREAT STAN WINSTON AND ARNOLD SCHWARZENEGGER’S FILM CAREERS.
THIS IS A FANTASTIC PIECE OF MOVIE HISTORY AND A GREAT EARLY EXAMPLE OF FX GENIUS STAN WINSTON’S WORK.
THIS HEAD IS MADE COMPLETELY OUT OF METAL AND WAS DESIGNED AND BUILT FOR A FEW DIFFERENT REASONS. THE CREW KNEW THERE WOULD BE SCENES INVOLVING FIRE, AND A RESIN OR PLASTIC HEAD WOULD NOT HOLD UP. AT THE FILM’S FINALE THE ENDO GETS HIS HEAD SMASHED IN A PRESS. KNOWING A FIBERGLASS OR PLASTIC HEAD WOULD NOT COLLAPSE REALISTIC, (CRACKING OR SHATTERING), THIS WAS BUILT. LASTLY, WHEN THE ENDO IS IN PURSUIT OF THE MAIN CHARACTERS AND RAMS HIS HEAD AND BODY THROUGH A STEEL DOOR.
THE HEAD ‘S CONSTRUCTION IS AMAZING. IT IS MADE FROM METAL, ALL BUT THE GLASS LENSES FOR THE EYES. IT IS AROUND 12 TO 16 POUNDS. HIS FINISH IS A LITTLE MORE DULL THAN THE FINISH OF THE ENDO FROM TERMINATOR 2. (COMPARING IT TO THE METAL ONE THAT WAS BUILT FOR THE OPENING CREDITS FIRE SCENE). THE EYES ARE WIRED TO LIGHT UP.(SEE PICTURE OF BOTTOM OF SKULL). THE MOUTH WAS MADE TO BE IN EITHER A CLOSED OR OPEN POSITION. WHEN YOU OPEN THE MOUTH THE PISTONS IN THE MOUTH AREA MOVE AS REAL PISTONS DO. THE NECK RODS ARE THERE ALSO BUT HAVE BEEN GROUNDED DOWN FOR DISPLAY PURPOSES. THIS IS BUILT AS A REAL ENDOSKELETON WOULD HAVE BEEN BUILT IF HE REALLY EXISTED!!!
THIS WAS RECEIVED FROM AN FX PERSONNEL THAT HAS BEEN IN THE FX BUSSINESS FOR YEARS. HE WORKED ON THIS FILM AND MANY OTHERS. I ORIGINALLY GOT THIS PIECE AND ARNOLD’S PUNK JACKET WITH THE CHAINS AND ARNOLD’S T2 JACKET.(PLEASE SEE PICTURES). AT THE TIME COA’S WERE NOT EVEN HEARD OF. THIS PIECE IS EXTREMELY RARE CONSIDERING IT’S AGE(24 YEARS AGO) ALMOST NOTHING SURVIVED FROM THIS FILM DUE TO IT BEING LOW BUDGET, AND OF ALL PROPS AND COSTUMES FROM THE FILM THIS WOULD HAVE TO BE THE ULTIMATE PIECE.
THIS ENDO SKELITON HEAD WOULD MAKE A GREAT ADDITION TO ANY MOVIE MEMORABILIA COLLECTION AND A FANTASTIC INVESTMENT.
PAYMENT IS DUE NO LATER THEN 5 DAYS AFTER AUCTION CLOSES!!!DUE TO SOME PEOPLE BUYING PROPS, MOLDING THEM AND TRYING TO RETURN THE ITEM. NO RETURNS FOR ANY REASON!
AUCTION IS FOR ENDO HEAD ONLY!! PICS OF JACKETS IS FOR PROVIDENCE PURPOSES ONLY!!!!
UPDATE:
HELLO, THE FIRST 24HRS. HAS HAD A GREAT RESPONSE. MANY REQUEST FOR BUY IT NOWS, MANY OFFERS, 65 WATCHERS, AND OVER 500 HITS. OFFERS ARE WELCOME. WILL ONLY CONSIDER BUY IT NOWS OR OFFERS IF YOU FIRST BID. THIS WAY I WILL KNOW YOUR SERIOUS. PLEASE NO BID CANCELLATIONS OR YOU WILL BE BLOCKED FROM FUTURE AUCTIONS. THANKS
Blu-Ray Disc Images: The Terminator
Below are a series of direct comparisons between photos from the eBay auction listing and cropped images from Blu-Ray screen captures:
With each comparison, I found a number of significant discrepancies between the “SCREEN-USED” endo skull offered for sale on eBay and the endo skull as seen on screen in the film, The Terminator.
Further, I could find no example of the endo skull in the film that matches the endo skull listed on eBay.
Below are a series of full, high resolution screen captures from the Blu-Ray version of The Terminator:
“The Winston Effect”: Stan Winston & Stan Winston Studios on The Terminator
Below is a compilation of detailed additional information and photos from “The Winston Effect” that addresses the creation and filming of the endoskeleton and skull for The Terminator.
The Winston Effect is incredibly detailed, with many pages devoted to the development and filming of the endoskeleton and skull – the materials used, who created different special versions and for which scenes – and there is no mention of a skull “made completely out of metal”. By contrast, the eBay auction marketing description describes the endo skull offered for sale as such:
THIS HEAD IS MADE COMPLETELY OUT OF METAL AND WAS DESIGNED AND BUILT FOR A FEW DIFFERENT REASONS.
This is a photo of the upper portion of the finished endoskeleton and skull from the book, “The Winston Effect”:
Here is a comparison between one of the photos from the eBay auction and the photo from “The Winston Effect (cropped) above:
“The Winston Effect” Book Excerpts (pages 44-45):
The endoskeleton would be the major challenge of the show for Stan Winston Studio and, as such, its design and construction took top priority.
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…Mahan, Tom Woodruff and Brian Wade began sculpting clay head mockups for the endoskeleton, starting with a lifecast of Arnold Schwarzenegger. “We took Arnold’s lifecast,” explained Mahan, “set his eyes and teeth where they should be, and then produced solid clay versions of Arnold from that lifecast. Then we carved that down to get the endoskeleton skull. So the head of the endoskeleton wasn’t a cheat. That skull actually fit and conformed to Schwarzenegger’s real head. It was an accurate re-creation of Arnold’s skull, with its distinctive square jaw and shape.”
Cameron and Winston chose Mahan’s sculpture as their favorite among the endoskeleton heads, and assigned him the task of sculpting the actual skull, while other artists sculpted the robot’s various body parts in clay. After making urethane molds from those sculpted forms, the crew made epoxy and fiberglass parts, imbedded with steel supports. To give them the appearance of metal, the pieces were vacumetalized – an electromagnetic process that adheres metallic particles to an object – then assembled into the final robot form. Made of these solid epoxy, fiberglass and steel elements, the final full-body puppet weighed 100 pounds.
Per “The Winston Effect”, this photo shows “the final Terminator head sculpt for molding”:
This photo from “The Winston Effect” shows one of the fiberglass endo skulls being painted:
“The Winston Effect” Book Excerpts (pages 44-45):
Because wide full-body shots of the endoskeleton walking would be achieved through stop-motion animation of a two-foot-tall puppet, Winston’s full-body, full-size endoskeleton would be used only for non-ambulatory shots, and thus had movement that was limited to the head and eyes, articulated through mechanisms designed and built by Sonny Burman andhis partner, Bob Williams.
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For mid-range and closeup shots of the endoskeleton moving through frame, Stan Winston Studio built a head-and-torso half-puppet that could be worn on the back of an operator.
Below is a photo of the “head-and-torso half-puppet” from “The Winston Effect”:
“The Winston Effect” Book Excerpts (pages 48-49):
I was the shortest guy on the crew, but I was also stocky enough to carry this eighty-five pound puppet on my back.
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“Plus, the endoskeleton was going to take a real beating during the shoot, being bashed into doors and all kinds of things, so it had to be really tough and durable.”
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Head movement was operated by way of radio control in wider shots. For closeups, a puppeteer would often insert his hand into the head cavity and manually articulate the head to turn.
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Below is a photo from the eBay auction, showing that there is no head cavity in this skull currently offered for sale:
“The Winston Effect” Book Excerpts (pages 48-49):
In addition to full-body and half-body endoskeletons, Stan Winston Studio built a variety of robot heads and arms for insert shots, as well as stunt versions. For shots of the Terminator robot being severed in half in an explosion when Reese inserts a pipe bomb into its torso area, Richard Landon built a lighter-weight stunt endoskeleton.
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Landon accompanied his stunt pupet to an insert stage where a pyrotechnics crew rigged the endoskeleton explosion.
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“When they were ready to go,” recalled Landon, “We all hid behind some kind of cover because that epoxy puppet was going to send shrapnel all over the room when it blew up.”
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…the stunt endoskeleton had disintegrated!
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Earlier shots of its slamming into the factory door were achieved by fitting the puppet with a battering ram and mounting it to a trolley that was rolled full-force into the set door – over and over again, until Cameron got the take he liked.
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The studio built a flexible polyurethane endoskeleton skull for a final scene in which Sarah crushes it in a steel press. During filming, when the skull would not flatten sufficiently to satisfy Cameron, John Rosengrant created a new endoskeleton head, right on the spot. “I took one of the chrome-plated resin skulls we had for the other endoskeleton puppets,” Rosengrant said, “and I covered it with a very thing sheet lead. I carved into that lead to create an eye and part of the face, and then painted it – and that’s what we used. That’s the final endoskeleton head you see being smashed in the press in the movie. I had less than an hour to do this, but I liked that.
By contrast, the eBay auction marketing description described that endo skull, which is “MADE COMPLETELY OUT OF METAL”:
AT THE FILM’S FINALE THE ENDO GETS HIS HEAD SMASHED IN A PRESS. KNOWING A FIBERGLASS OR PLASTIC HEAD WOULD NOT COLLAPSE REALISTIC, (CRACKING OR SHATTERING), THIS WAS BUILT.
Jason De Bord