Frankenstein's Laboratory

Electric arcs crackling overhead, vats pulsating with eerie green light, the scientist prepares the slab to receive The Monster. In the illustration below, phosphorus blue light bathes the lab’s powerful generator.

These digital illustrations were created in 1998 by Stephan Martiniere at Industrial Light and Magic for the proposed animated feature known as CGI Frankenstein. Seems the project was canned almost as soon as it was announced. The script, by Brent Maddock and S.S.Wilson, called for Dr. Pretorius, late of The Bride of Frankenstein, to seek The Monster and use its neck electrodes to power his new experiments. The film was meant to have the look and feel of the classic Universal monster movies, and even The Wolfman was penciled in for a part.

A tantalizing clip of the animated Monster, barely fifteen seconds worth, was produced. It can be seen on Ain’t It Cool News (scroll all the way down to see it).

Stephan Martiniere recently added a prestigious Best Professional Artist Hugo to his already crowded trophy shelf. The artist’s website overflows with fabulous art and concept designs. You can see his Frankenstein art large-size here.

Martiniere was also featured on io9, complete with a nice portfolio of works.

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CGI Frankenstein

CGI Frankenstein

Here’s an fascinating curio, a short but oh so tantalizing film clip of a Frankenstein film that might have been.

The project, known as CGI Frankenstein, caused a brief but intense buzz on the Net in 1998. The film, incredibly, would have been a straight, serious throwback to the classic Universal Frankenstein — in fact, a direct sequel picking up right where the original 1931 film left off — and done entirely in realistic computer animation. In October 1998, The Hollywood Reporter announced that Universal head Casey Silver had greenlighted the film for release in 2000.

The project, budgeted at 80 million dollars, was to be ILM’s first full-length animated feature, under the direction of Brett Maddock and Dave Carson, with a script by Maddock and S.S.Wilson, who had previously collaborated on Tremors (1990).

The project seems to have fizzled almost as soon as the word broke. The movie gossip site Ain’t It Cool News posted a fannish but comprehensive post-mortem here. Be sure you click through to see the actual, eye-popping 17-second animation test for the Frankenstein Monster. The circa 1930's tower set and the Monster’s Karloffian walk are pitch perfect.

Ain’t It Cool News also posted pictures of maquettes for the Frankenstein Monster and a redesigned Wolfman here.

The project was canned, but Universal didn’t quite give up on the concept, eventually rebooting its stable of classic monsters with the addle-brained, overblown Van Helsing of 2004, a critical and box-office failure.

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Frankenstein's Laboratory