Our heart sank this morning as we received the news that Dan O'Bannon had died, at the age of 63.

There aren't really words that can encapsulate fairly the impact of Dan O'Bannon. His career took in his work on Dark Star, the special effects of Star Wars and - crucially - the screenplay that set the Alien franchise in motion. Other credits include Blue Thunder (although he was never pleased with how it turned out), Total Recall, Screamers and Heavy Metal. He didn't get on well with the Hollywood system particularly, but his vision, the strength of his ideas and the sheer quality of his writing had few parallels.

It's not understating things to suggest that his influences on modern day science-fiction are still being felt, and to lose him at such arelatively young age is a real tragedy.

We were lucky enough to speak to him a year or two back, and it's probably best that we let his own words do the talking. Here's the link.

Dan O'Bannon died in Los Angeles after a short illness, and our thoughts are with his family. Rest in peace, Dan, and thanks so much for everything. Your legacy lives on, sir.