John Dykstra is well known as the special effects lead on the original Star Wars, helping bring the original visuals for lightsabers, space battles between X-wings and TIE fighters, and Force powers to the screen.
11 Facts About John Dykstra
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John Dykstra was given a Producer credit for the pilot of the television series.
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Lucas was reportedly unhappy about John Dykstra using the equipment on a production that was essentially a competitor.
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When Lucas relocated ILM to San Francisco from Van Nuys to commence work on The Empire Strikes Back, several members of the Apogee team would return to ILM but John Dykstra was not invited to join them.
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John Dykstra continued to work under his Apogee brand name and subsequently went to work on the effects for Avalanche Express and Star Trek: The Motion Picture.
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In 1985, John Dykstra produced the special effects for the sci-fi horror film Lifeforce which was made in England.
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John Dykstra followed with work on the 1986 remake of Invaders from Mars and My Stepmother Is an Alien.
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John Dykstra was Senior Visual Effects Supervisor for Stuart Little.
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John Dykstra was the visual effects designer on the first two Spider-Man films, and received an Oscar for Best Visual Effects for his work on Spider-Man 2.
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John Dykstra acted as the visual effects designer on X-Men: First Class, ensuring the six effects companies involved delivered all the shots required despite the tight schedule.
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In 1987, John Dykstra directed the full-motion video game Sewer Shark, originally intended for Hasbro's VHS-based NEMO console.