P1 Screen Accurate Bio Helmet?

PredatrHuntr

Master Member
This has really got me curious. The Bio on the left is the last known picture of a screen used P1 Bio. The one on the right is the Hollywood Collectibles Bio, which was supposedly casted from the original P1. They look nearly identical.
0000000.jpg



Question is this: look at the left temple area. See? There are only two air hose holes. Also - the shape is much different than the ones we typically recognize. On screen you can see three air hose holes - but these two only have 2 holes. Why?

How can this be? Which one is right? I'm confused...
 
or was that a separate piece added to the helmet? as lee said, could be a stunt stunt helmets sometimes have less detailed parts added, the P2 stunt was different to the hero in certain areas
 
I honestly don't know if there was a stunt/hero P1 Bio. I've never heard that there was, although I would assume that it would only make sense to have a hero and a stunt.

We know that the laser shroud wasn't attached to the Bio and was part of the mask as you can see here:

PDVD_012.jpg


The Bio on the left of the very first picture I posted is screen used and the laser shroud is missing.

What baffles me is that there are virtually NO pictures of the P1 Bio outside of the movie itself.

Can someone (Mr Fett/Larry/Andrew) verify if there was in fact a P1 stunt and a P1 Hero? Or better yet - does anyone have any other screen used P1 Bio pics? Anyone? Buhler....anyone.....Buhler???
 
Dan did a whole thing about this bio awhile back, if you dig for it, you will find the answers you seek. I recall the one on the left is the last movie used one in existence, but why it only had 2 holes instead of 3, I dont recall
 
I think that there were a couple of different P1 bios around. One of them had the laser housing built into the helmet and the laser would be just static, and then they would have one where the laser is built into the head itself and that would be the laser that gets turned on and off. In this picture the lasers are not attached to the head.
page106.jpg

At least this is what I think

-Chris
 
Seek and yee shall find...

I FOUND THE ANSWER!!!! Thanks to Dan, Casey, Paul, George, Jeff and the few other people that have pointed me in the right direction. The answer has been under my nose the whole time from a thread Dan previously posted:

http://www.thehunterslair.com/index.php?sh...mp;hl=hollywood

There would appear to be 2 different P1 Bios. The stunt and hero. For those who don't know the difference between hero and stunt: the Hero Bio was used for all the closeups and beauty shots. It generally has more detail and a better paintjob. The Stunt Bio has less detail and is meant to be banged around for the stunts that take place on set. The tough thing about the original Predator movie is that its hard to tell where the hero/stunt Bios are used because there are never any really close shots let alone clear shots.

We are used to seeing the Hero because its the one seen the most:

ProductionStill0.jpg


What confused me is the HGC Bio and the last known surviving Bio because the details are very different:

000000000.jpg

Left: "Last known Bio"; Middle: "Hollywood Collectibles"; Right: Screen Used Original P1

The HCG and the "last known Bio" are the same. Are they screen accurate? Hell no. Logic dictates that it must be a stunt Bio.

Another interesting bit of info: look at the tiny holes under the jaw:

Predator29.jpg


Those are the same kind of holes they put in the P2:

PDVD_167.jpg


No idea what they were there for tho.

DANG IT I wish there were more pics of the original screen used hero P1...
 
the holes on the bottom are probably just so the actor can breath, better. i imagine the bio's for the most part were a pretty tight fit, except that little gap on the P2 there. i'd want some air holes if i were in there.
 
Wow, what awesome pics UH, this is the first I’ve ever seen of these particular behind the scenes photos. I love the one of Kevin sitting. I also learned a thing or two about P1 bios from this thread.
~Estelle
 
Just read that old thread, what struck me as particularly interesting was this:

The wrist system you see on the show is from Jim Latta, shown in the interview. His Bio helmet shown in the interview was a non screen used stunt that was in pristine condition but was made with the screen used helmets as a standby helmet. Jim created the company Icons years after this, so I just assumed that their Bio was cast from this one.

At Icons, a couple of people were responsible for adding the ribbed temple detail, and the opposite laser temple detail, and the cog in the cheek. They were given VERY limited VHS screen captures to sculpt these parts. Therefore, those parts on the Icons helmet were not accurate. Dave Mosher sculpted those parts and was one of the two people who designed and sculpted the Predator helmet base that Icons featured their helmet on. Dave has since resculpted those parts of the helmet based on direct help from someone at Winstons who helped with the bio on the film.

The reason those parts needed to be sculpted was that they were not present on the unused stunt Bio that Jim had on the show and later casted for the Icons helmet. This is guesswork on my part, but this TV show predates Icons by a few years, so there were no "castings" floating around of the bio helmet other than the real ones. This was July of 1994 when we filmed the show. I have pictures from the set of the Bio as well. I believe it is where all of the fan bios come from.

My bio is based on the stunt. This is it in completely unmodified form:
predhelmu2.jpg.gif


As you can see, no temple pieces, or cheek piece, as described in the quote above. Here's a video (from the show described in the quote above) that starts out with a close up shot of the bio mentioned http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J0qkTrq1umA Again, no temple pieces.

Here's the kicker, this, the STUNT bio, shares characteristics with the bio we seem to see most often. That shot that Jason posted of the Pred with his left hand up, I believe is the stunt bio. The only time I think we see the Hero on screen, is when the pred unmasks. I don't know why we barely ever see the Hero, but that's what the evidence suggests to me.
 
Here is a resin pull of that stunt bio

b2c3bb45.jpg


here is the mold

e73d8ec9.jpg


there is a little damage to the mold as you can see from rear of the Bio in the mold pic. As soon as I get my head above water, I aim to repair this.

...yes Jason ..soon
 
Nice...dare I even ask how you got hold of that? Or are we assuming a military "don't ask, don't tell"? :)
 
George you've been a wealth of knowledge - looking forward to comparing one of your castings to my KJP1 for size and similarities. Thank you again for all your help!

Question for you: that casting looks absolutely MASSIVE. How do you get the casting out? I see the outer mother mold, but is the inner one still flexible after all these years?

Paul - you think this one is a stunt Bio - not the hero? :
ProductionStill0.jpg


Its tough to see detail in that one, but I guess anything's possible

What baffles me is that there are absolutely NO clear precise pictures of the P1 Hero. And if there are any Hero Bios that survived, they are more than likely in some private collectors basement under locked plexiglass guarded by a state of the art laser security system.

...either that or its sitting in a box in someones garage collecting dust HAHA!

The reason I enjoy the P1 Bio so much is that it has simple yet very beautiful lines. The lines above the eyes flow from the nose all the way around the edge of the crown to the back. Also, the cheek lines follow the same type of curvature....just simple and yet so effective.

What I find even more fascinating is the Bio that Steve Wang designed for the Cinemaquette Predator has a very unique look to it:

Wang.jpg


The cheek lines are not rounded but rather, they have a defining edge on the top. Also, Steve kept the two defining lines on the part that goes from the hoses to the edge of the eye line. He kept it true to the original. I'm amazed at Steve's rendition of the P1 because its symmetrical and unflawed.

I am in the process of designing my own rendition of the P1 and one of the things I want to incorporate is a brow/dome that is more prominent and curves inwards towards the middle of the eyes. Its hard to describe, but Rob actually drew a couple pictures that show what I mean:

Robillicious55.jpg

Robillicious46.jpg


The P1 Bio is so wicked...its such a piece of art that it makes me want to collect ever Bio out there! I had 14 at one point...its so hard to not want them all!!!
 
Question for you: that casting looks absolutely MASSIVE. How do you get the casting out? I see the outer mother mold, but is the inner one still flexible after all these years?


the silicone is actually in great shape ..still extremely flexible ( and thick). The mold pops right out of the mother pretty easily. You have to make sure that the center and dome registration keys are pushed way back in when you begin another casting. Speaking of mother mold ..did ya see the size of that Mutha? ..it is seeing some wear, but its still doing it's job ...they really knew how to make molds back in the day
 
I think i just pee'd alittle George :eek:

At least i was right in the Stunt thinking.

but tbh i do not care, stunt/ hero .... its a Original P1 :) funny how such a simple shape is sooooooooooo nice, imitated plenty, but the original still stands out easily.
 
This thread is more than 13 years old.

Your message may be considered spam for the following reasons:

  1. This thread hasn't been active in some time. A new post in this thread might not contribute constructively to this discussion after so long.
If you wish to reply despite these issues, check the box below before replying.
Be aware that malicious compliance may result in more severe penalties.
Back
Top