28.05.2019 Views

June 2019

Create successful ePaper yourself

Turn your PDF publications into a flip-book with our unique Google optimized e-Paper software.

nice as I can.<br />

“My house is designed by Buff and Hensman, which made their houses like a<br />

future version of Craftsman homes, as post-and-beam structures with more modern<br />

touches,” adds Mead. “Pasadena is a big little city. It has its own symphony,<br />

theaters, it’s laid out well. We live close to the Arroyo so we’re in a non-grid area<br />

of the city, which is very charming, almost like living in the country. Also, the<br />

medical facilities at Huntington Hospital are outstanding, and I’m very proud to<br />

be a contributor to it.”<br />

Mead’s work on that first Star Trek film proved to be a professional gamechanger<br />

for him, as he quickly envisioned what the Los Angeles cityscape would<br />

look like in the then-distant future of <strong>2019</strong> for Blade Runner. At the same time,<br />

he was conceiving an entire alternate electronic universe for the movie Tron<br />

(1982), complete with various vehicles: lightcycles, tanks, solar sailers and carriers.<br />

Both were Oscar-nominated hits. Mead served up more designs for the 2017<br />

sequel Blade Runner: 2049, imagining L.A. life more than 30 years down the<br />

line.<br />

Alas, society is nowhere close to having the flying cars that Mead had soaring<br />

through Blade Runner skies. But he points out that if all his futuristic designs had<br />

actually come to fruition, it would have created major havoc for the world.<br />

“First of all, it is a problem of logistics, because human beings have never created<br />

anything that is 100 percent perfect,” explains Mead, with a laugh. “Imagine<br />

thousands and thousands of flying cars in a metropolitan area; you would have to<br />

have ideal three-dimensional control over each one, because otherwise you’re going<br />

to have a disaster. And so, I don’t think that’s going to happen anytime soon.”<br />

Mead elaborated on the technical challenges of constructing his flying<br />

Tron Light Cycle Design 02<br />

–continued on page 44<br />

Blade Runner Character Design<br />

06.19 | ARROYO | 43

Hooray! Your file is uploaded and ready to be published.

Saved successfully!

Ooh no, something went wrong!