The Berkeley-based animation and effects house founded by Phil Tippett closed its doors on August 28th after years of financial trouble, selling decades of props, memorabilia and art in a two-day auction. The closure marked the end of a studio whose work lit up the likes of Star Wars, RoboCop and Starship Troopers. Now, a digital archive of that work has appeared online, and it is free to browse.
An anonymous person attended the auction, spotted a folder of CD-ROMs and other discs, and acquired it for an undisclosed sum. Rather than keep the contents to themselves, that person uploaded everything to the Internet Archive. The donor, who calls themselves ‘TippettFan,’ explains the reasoning in a note accompanying the upload.
“I quickly realized that some of this information wasn’t available online and might not ever be in the future in such high resolution,” TippettFan writes. “So I purchased the disc folder and digitized all of its contents. What you have here are .ISO image files of the 90 key, non-duplicated discs from Tippett’s archives.”
What Is on the Discs
The archive includes a few clips available to view online, including test footage of CGI creatures and an interview with Phil Tippett from 2008. The bulk of the collection, however, is in .ISO disc image format, with gigabytes of files to download and comb through.
File names describe behind-the-scenes images from RoboCop and Starship Troopers, slides of Tippett’s work on the original Star Wars, and, unexpectedly, publicity stills from the calamitous Catwoman. There is a ton of film history here, and it will likely take weeks for historians and fans to work through it all.
The Donor’s Story
TippettFan’s account of the purchase is straightforward. They saw the folder at the auction, recognized its value, and paid to bring it out of private hands. The decision to share it publicly was a deliberate one, made from the moment they realized the material might otherwise vanish.
The anonymity of the donor adds a layer of warmth to the story. Someone saw a folder of old discs, thought about what they contained, and acted to preserve them. That act of preservation is the heart of the archive.
Why This Matters
The closure of Tippett Studios was sad news on its own. Phil Tippett’s retirement added to it. The fear that huge amounts of art stored in the studio would vanish into private collections made the situation even harder to bear. Now, at least some of that work is available to anyone with an internet connection.
The archive preserves a record of a particular kind of filmmaking. Stop motion animation, like the kind Tippett pioneered, requires physical models, sets and careful frame-by-frame work. Those materials often disappear after a project ends. Digital files like these give researchers and fans a window into the process.
What Comes Next
We will be going through some of the archive ourselves, and will report back if we find anything we think readers might find interesting. For now, though, the collection stands as a reminder of what Tippett Studios built over decades.
Thank you to TippettFan, whoever you are, and thanks too to Brandon Sheffield for highlighting the archive on BlueSky. The fact that someone bought a folder of old discs and shared it with the world is worth celebrating.
| Date | Event |
|---|---|
| August | Tippett Studios closes, auction held |
| August 28th | Doors closed |
| Now | Archive uploaded to Internet Archive |
| Collection Type | Format | Contents |
|---|---|---|
| Clips | Online video | Test footage, interview |
| Disc images | .ISO files | 90 key, non-duplicated discs |
| Files | Downloadable | Behind-the-scenes images, slides, stills |
The archive is a treasure trove. It will take time to sort through, but the material is there for anyone who wants to look. That is a gift to filmmakers, historians and fans alike.
Source material: “In the wake of Tippett Studios’ closure, a digital archive appears online,” filmstories.co.uk.
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