If you have ever seen a movie with monsters or Ewoks or even Muppets, then you’ve probably seen the creative work of Kirk Thatcher. But for all his years of creativity and craftsmanship, he’s still most remember for 45 seconds on a bus in "Star Trek 4.” However, his first taste of professional science fiction movie making came from that other movie franchise.
Like many creative young people in 1977, Kirk Thatcher fell in love the first time he saw "Star Wars.”
Support Local Stories. Donate Here.
“I loved monster movies and science fiction already at that point, and that movie came out and just kind of blew everybody’s circuits,” said Thatcher. “And my mom came home from church one day and said ‘hey, I met a woman whose son worked on Star Wars.’ So this is summer of (1977). I said ‘no kidding, what did he do or what’s his name?’ and she goes 'well her name is Johnston.’ I said ‘is it Joe Johnston?’ and she goes ‘Yes’ and I go ‘Holy cow, I have his books!’ He’s the guy who designed and story-boarded the spaceship battles and (many other sequences). Long story short, it turned out I lived about a mile away from ILM (Industrial Light & Magic, the special effects house created by George Lucas for "Star Wars") back when it was in Van Nuys. So I got a tour of ILM when I was 15. Joe was very kind and showed me around and answered questions. I showed him some drawings, focusing mainly in creatures and making my own movies. Anyway I just kept in touch with him and I said ‘Look, I want to work here.’ I was super excited because I thought I could ride my bike to work. I’ll work there in the summers. And then, of course, that year they moved to Marin County. So my dreams of working at ILM as a summer job making coffee and sweeping floors were gone.”
A few years later, after a couple of semesters at UCLA, Thatcher was hired by ILM to work in the creature shop for the third Star Wars movie, “Return of the Jedi.”
“I worked on almost every creature you see (in the movie). The only ones I didn’t get my hands on were Jabba (the Hut) and Bib Fortuna. They were done in London. But pretty much every other creature I mold, cast and/or painted. And then the Ewoks I didn’t build, but I did repair them and keep them alive while we were shooting on the forest moon of Endor.”
Thatcher went on to do creature and effects work on many projects including "Gremlins,” "Poltergeist," and "E.T." He also did work on music videos for Rick Springfield and Martha Davis & The Motels in the early days of MTV. Then, he went back to UCLA to study the new field of computer animation.
“I thought ‘well, computers are going to take over this business, at least the visual effects part at that point’. And that’s when I met my next boss.”
His next boss was Mr. Spock himself, Leonard Nimoy. He was about to make "Star Trek 4 – The Voyage Home" and called UCLA saying he needed an assistant with visual effects experience who knows production.
“I joke I was genetically engineered for the job. Because I’d left ILM about a year and a half earlier. I knew everyone I knew everyone there. I had worked on, at that point, four or five effects films (including) Star Treks 2 and 3. I was on set for "Star Trek 3" puppeteering the Klingon dog and the coffin-bacteria worms.”
Thatcher was eventually named associate producer of "Star Trek 4,” working for over a year on building the sets and space ships and two life-size humpback whales. But there was one more part of the movie he wanted to be a part of.
“We were about a month away from filming and I said to Leonard ‘I want to play the punk character,’ He looked at me (and said) ‘really?, and I said ‘yeah.’ I was in a band in high school, I had a Mohawk that was dyed orange, I kinda know the whole drill. I know punk rock music. He said ‘let me think about it.’ So I’m leaving his office just about a week later and he said ‘oh, by the way, you can do it.’ I was like ‘the punk? Seriously?’ He smiled and said yes and I’m (saying) ‘Thank you! Thank you! This is gonna be awesome.’”
Thatcher created the punk’s outfit from stuff he had in his closet. He designed his hairdo. He even wrote and recorded the song that’s playing during the scene.
“The only thing that isn’t mine is my shoes. I think everything else I actually owned. I owned that jacket, the shirt, it was my hair. I didn’t own that much jewelry for sticking on my face but I did go buy it. So I put it all together, I went and got my hair done and then we did a hair and make-up test while we were still at Paramount (Studios) in (Los Angeles). I remember I walked out of the trailer after getting all done-up in the hair and the make-up and the wardrobe to go show Leonard and make sure everyone was cool with it, and DeForest Kelly was walking into the make-up trailer for whatever make-up test. He looked me up and down with this sly, kind of dry grin on his face and he said ‘Hey Kirk, nice shoes.’l
Nearly 40 years later, Thatcher once again appeared as the punk on bus in an episode of “Star Trek – Picard,” and made a very short appearance as a similar character in “Spider-Man – Homecoming.” He met Jim Henson in the 80s and began a long relationship creating, writing and directing for the Muppets. He also appeared a few months ago in Marvel Studios TV horror movie “Werewolf by Night.”
Kirk Thatcher will be a celebrity guest at Pensacon this weekend in downtown Pensacola.
