Alien Stop-Motion Animation Figure from the Film "Mars Attacks!"

This Martian puppet was used in the making of the sci-fi comedy film Mars Attacks! (1996), directed by Tim Burton (b. 1958). While the human characters are portrayed by live actors, Burton initially wanted to incorporate the Martians via stop-motion animation, but he did not have the budget to do so. He was approached by Industrial Light & Magic to produce the Martians with computer graphics as a cheaper alternative. These dolls, with their articulated head and limbs, would have been posed and scanned as a guideline for the computer animation. They were produced by stop-motion production company Mackinnon and Saunders, who also made life-sized Martian dolls for certain practical effects in the film. 

The design of the Martian characters and inspiration for the screenplay come from a series of Topps trading cards illustrated by Norman Saunders (1907-1989) of the same name. Mars Attacks draws on clichés of sci-fi from the mid-20th century, which includes the Topps cards, while also showcasing the emergent computer graphics technology of the 1990s. After arriving in their flying saucers, the Martians wreak havoc on Las Vegas society by vaporing humans into vibrant skeletons and spewing contradictory messages about “coming in peace.” The film is primarily made of subplots following characters in various situations relating to the Martians: the President of the United States played by Jack Nicholson (b. 1937), a talk show host played by Sarah Jessica Parker (b. 1965), a young-adult donut shop employee played by Lukas Haas (b. 1976), a casino employee/former boxer played by Jim Brown (1936-2023), and many others.