Dan O’Bannon, 1946-2009
 |
?Dan O’Bannon died yesterday in Los Angeles at the age of 63. The man worked on computer effects on Star Wars, wrote the script for Star Beast which eventually became Ridley Scott’s Alien, did a couple of chapters in Heavy Metal, and wrote the screenplay for Total Recall. But what I’ll always remember him for is writing and directing Return of the Living Dead, the zombie comedy movie that preceded Shaun of the Dead by 20 years, and a personal favorite (“I love you… that’s why you’ve got to let me EAT YOUR BRAINS.” Amazing). R.I.P., Dan.
About The Author
Robert Bricken is one of the original co-founders of the site formerly known as Topless Robot, and its first editor-in-chief, serving from 2008-12. He brought the site to prominence with “nerd news, humor and self-loathing” as its motto, raising it from total internet obscurity to a readership in the millions, with help from his savage “FAQ” movie reviews and Fan Fiction Fridays. Under his tenure Topless Robot was covered by Gawker, Wired, Defamer, New York magazine, ABC News, and others, and his articles have been praised by Roger Ebert, Avengers actor Clark Gregg, comedian and The Daily Show correspondent John Hodgman, the stars of Mystery Science Theater 3000 and Rifftrax, and others. He is currently the managing editor of io9.com. Despite decades as both an amateur and professional nerd, he continues to be completely unprepared for either the zombie apocalypse or the robot uprising.