When George Lucas was dreaming up Star Wars in 1977, he envisioned visual effects that had never been seen before. Lucas initially reached out to Douglas Trumbull, the genius behind the effects in 2001: A Space Odyssey and Silent Running.
But Trumbull was already committed to working on Steven Spielberg’s Close Encounters of the Third Kind, so he politely declined. Instead, Trumbull recommended his right-hand man, John Dykstra.
Dykstra took the reins and assembled a ragtag team of artists, engineers, and students, setting them up in a warehouse in Van Nuys, California. With a nod to the building’s industrial zoning, Lucas coined the name Industrial Light & Magic (ILM) for the crew.
Together, they revolutionized the world of visual effects with groundbreaking techniques, including motion control, making Star Wars an epic visual masterpiece.
But behind the scenes, things weren’t all smooth sailing. Lucas grew frustrated with Dykstra, accusing him of sinking too much time and money into digital camera systems and failing to deliver enough VFX shots on time. Tensions escalated as the project lagged behind schedule, but the result was undeniable: Star Wars changed the game.
After the film wrapped, Dykstra and many of his crew found themselves out of work. Rather than sitting idle, Dykstra launched his own VFX company, Apogee, and quickly landed a gig working on Battlestar Galactica for Universal Studios. The pilot episode, clocking in at three hours, showcased Dykstra’s impressive effects work. However, this didn’t sit well with Lucas.
He was particularly peeved that Dykstra used some of the same techniques and artwork seen in Star Wars, even hiring the same talented designer, Ralph McQuarrie. Lucas went as far as filing a lawsuit, and when the next Star Wars project came around, Dykstra was notably absent from the ILM team.
Apogee, though, thrived for a while. For 15 years, it was a powerhouse in the VFX industry, contributing to films like Star Trek: The Motion Picture, The Last Starfighter, She-Devil, and Invaders from Mars. But unlike ILM, Apogee’s hefty investment in research and development (R&D) proved costly.
The company poured resources into cutting-edge optical effects like lightweight camera booms, ultraminiature cameras, and advanced blue-screen systems. It was exciting work, but the overhead was immense.
By the early 90s, the rise of digital visual effects hit the industry like a tidal wave. Films like Terminator 2 showed the world that computer-generated imagery (CGI) was the future. Apogee had dabbled in digital, but their expertise remained in practical, in-camera effects. Facing mounting R&D costs and the rapidly evolving digital landscape, Dykstra made the tough call to shut down Apogee in 1992.
Despite its eventual closure, Apogee’s legacy remains intact. John Dykstra and his team’s contributions helped pave the way for the future of VFX, even as the industry moved from miniatures and motion control to pixels and CGI.
Source : https://memory-alpha.fandom.com/wiki/Apogee,_Inc
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Dykstra
