TRANSPORTER SHUTTLE from ‘V - The Mini Series’ (1983) Written and Directed by Kenneth Johnson

In the late 1970s and early 1980s TV was dominated by American min-series. and ‘V’ the mini series was such an event - 'must see tv'. The intelligent story of advanced visitors from another planet coming to Earth to share their technology in exchange for some of the Earth’s readily available resources. The story soon starts to echo the rise of Nazi Germany.

The Transportrer Shuttles were a variant of the Sky Fighters. The featured the same nose section and rear section of the fighter with a passenger section sandwiched in between. These were in themselves modular and came in 2 or 3 window versions. There was another variant which had large cylindrical containers in the centre section. I had not realised this until doing this artwork, that the Sky Fighter ships can be split in two to incorporate different mid-sections. This is never shown as a functionality.

This artwork shows a transporter landing in a typical, although fictitious Los Angeles street.I have included the City Hall building as a nod to the 1953 film of The War of the Worlds where the tower was destroyed in spectacular fashion by the alien invaders.. This shot was re-used in countless other alien invasion movies.

The street shows the Visitor’s occupation. The Visitor posters have been marked with the iconic V for victory by the resistance fighters. Some businesses have been hastily boarded-up and there is an armed Visitor presence on the street.

I really wanted to convey that this is Los Angeles and there are some particular architectural aspects like the large metals signs and palm trees lining the wide street. I painted in a yellow service truck which - in truth it is not much more than scribble given its size in the frame - but this is a rendition of Roy Neary’s truck from ‘Close Encounters of the Third Kind’. The awning on the shop front shows the Dreamquest Images logo.

The a b c cinema on the corner has a poster for Firefox - another Warner Bros vfx heavy ‘sci fi’ project of the time

These ships were depicted on screen via numerous full size props that are seen on location in various locations as well on the Mothership. When in flight they are realised with 24”- 36” long miniatures, which were shot with motion control and composited via blue-screen travelling mattes and often had animated ground shadows to hep tie them into the shots. All quite ambitious for 1980s TV, especially given the inherent problems of the hull being shiny and white, or cream, in colour. Hats off to Dreamquest Images for taking on the challenge of white spaceships in daylight

This kit would come in white plastic, with a detailed interior and crew figures. The windows are black, so the ‘clear parts’ would be tinted. In 1/48th scale the model would be about 10” long.

The miniatures were built by Greg Jein. Visual Effects supervised by Hoyt Yeatman

You can see more about this kit in ‘What If Fantasy Model Kits #22 on my YouTube channel.