Best Sci Fi Effects sequence

POSTED BY: milford
UPDATED: Tuesday, November 22, 2022 18:30
VIEWED: 10245
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MILFORD

Tuesday, March 28, 2006 3:48 AM

I'm a longtime fan of special effects. As a kid, I thought I'd practice for my future job at Industrial Light and Magic by setting my garage on fire in order to properly fun my remote control cars through in order to produce Back to the Future flaming tire tracks (laquer works the best!). Anyhoo, I was thinking about my favorite sequences and I've decided that of every film or TV show I've seen, which are legion because they are many, the best is:

The reaver chase scene from the pilot. The reaver ship was unbelieveable, and the whole thing is about as perfect as it can be. I love the shot of the reavers behind Serenity when Serenity isn't in focus until it's in the foreground. But my favorite part of my favorite scene is the shot from the back of Serenity when they go for full burn in atmo. The explosion is great (most people would have given you some ridiculous shot from far away that showed it in fancy colors and other crap, not our guys). It looks so real. And my favorite detail is the vibrating panel on the right of Serenity's engine. That combined with the sound effects of the air seeming to pass through the simulated mic creates such a real effect that it still gets to me after tons of viewings.

How bout you guys? Any of you have faves from this show, or any other show for that matter.

For the record, my second favorite is the raptor scene in Jurassic Park in the kitchen. It's the only time EVER I've been unable to notice a world of difference between a CGI element in a shot with a real person. Pristine.

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SADLITTLEKING

Tuesday, March 28, 2006 5:19 AM

Best effect in Serenity
That whole space battle between the Alliance and Reavers while Serenity was weaving through the chaos.

Best effect in Firefly
Book's unbound hair. That had to be CG. It was just too unreal. And scary. First time I saw it, I ran and hid....like River. "Too much hair."

LEGOLAD

Tuesday, March 28, 2006 5:20 AM

Oh, man... so many choices. Jurassic Park sticks out in my mind too, probably because it was so far ahead of everything that had come before it. The shot I remember as particularly jaw-dropping was your first full view of the T-Rex, as it steps over the fence into the road above the jeeps, and lets out that huge roar. Still awesome over a decade later.

The Balrog in Lord of the Rings also blew me away (another great dramatic entrance), along with basically anything to do with Gollum, of course. His facial expressions are what got me; they're just too real. The eyes... man, the eyes... Gollum has to be the single greatest special effects accomplishment, for being able to convey that much emotion that realistically.

If we're talking about Firefly, well, the quality is so consistent, it's hard to pick a favourite sequence. I loved the chase scene in The Message (first time we really got to see what Serenity was capable of when put to the test), and just the whole look of Beleraphon in Trash... the endless ocean, the floating cities, the trash-bots... all great stuff. In the movie, it was just fantastic seeing Serenity in that much detail; all the shots panning around the ship, seeing the people through the windshield... lovely. That first shot after the prologue that pans back from the logo and shows us the whole ship, with the great slow music... that's probably my single favourite shot in all of the series/movie. Just gorgeous. Serenity's never looked so pretty.

"We need a hood ornament."

SADLITTLEKING

Tuesday, March 28, 2006 5:30 AM

Oh wait, I forgot we're not just talking about Serenifly here.

Some of my favorite effects of all time are in The Matrix. Bullet-time, baby!

Of course Jurassic Park is on my list. Love those Raptors. And the fight at the end between the T-Rex and Raptors was great. A grin comes to my face everytime I see that T-Rex roar in victory with the banner "When Dinosaurs Ruled the Earth" floating down around him. Nice touch.

Also, Lord of the Rings was incredible. I can't wait to see what those guys do with the Halo movie.

BLUEEYEDBRIGADIER

Tuesday, March 28, 2006 5:37 AM

Best sci-fi FX sequence huh? Hmm...hard thing to argue cuz I have a few favourites. Have to say my top choices are:

1. (Tie) Reaver vs. Alliance ship battle from "Serenity"/Battle of Coruscant from ROTS -- both battles knocked my socks off...and the former cost a whole lot less! Hell, I would be surprised if the entire budget for the Coruscant battle wasn't the same as "Serenity"'s entire budget!

2. First full 'mech battle from "RobotJox" -- admittedly a rather cheesy film, but the effects for the time just rocked! Especially when one considers the fact that the only other place you could possibly see this kind of stuff was on computer (not sure if MechWarrior 1 was out for PCs yet in 1990). probably the last time stop-motion animation was ever used for a film that wasn't completely animated (i.e. "Nightmare Before Christmas," the Wallace & Grommit series")

3. The "Death Blossom" defence attack from "The Last Starfighter" -- another rather cheesy 80's sci-fi film, but I still think the effects are rather cool. Especially when the GunStar goes postal during Death Blossom mode.....screw an X-Wing! I want one of those puppies!

So...you can see how I generally lean in being impressed. Cheesy FX or mindblowing CGI....no middle ground

Literature has shown us some of humanity's greatest achievements; history, some of our greatest failures -- Alun Lewis

JONESTEIN

Tuesday, March 28, 2006 1:22 PM

Wow, that's a tough one to answer, so I'll just start with my current favorites, both from the the BDM:

* The opening of the BDM(after the teaser) with the beautiful, mournful music dramatically building as Serenity gracefully slipped into orbit; the thrusters booming as she hit atmo with the signature "twangy" music joining the great orchestral theme as we pan around the incredible detail of our favorite 10th crew member...it was just pure magic. Wish I'd been a Browncoat before the BDM hit theaters...I can only imagine how pre-BDM Browncoats were moved during that inspired opening.

* The closing of the BDM, after Mal's great "first rule of flying" bit with River, we leave the cockpit to see Serenity blazing through and emerging from the storm, all the while accompanied by more beautiful, inspiring music. The whole scene, from Mal's speech to Serenity bursting through the storm clouds was just incredibly symbolic and beautifully done.

* If I had to pick something non-Serenity/Firefly, I'd have to go with about any scene from "The Matrix", it was pretty incredible in the FX department.

* "Sky Captain" was pretty damn stunning with the green-screen FX, but unfortunately was a crappy movie, IMHO.

* And of course "The Ring" (more horror than sci-fi, sorry) had some pretty disturbing effects, and if a movie's FX manage to disturb me that much they must be doing something right.

-Jonestein
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KUANGZHEDE

Tuesday, March 28, 2006 1:34 PM

I was always impressed with the scene from 5th element where she escapes from the "regenerator" room and makes it outside the building. I was blown away by the future scope and size of the city...real eye candy...and so was the city.

JONESTEIN

Tuesday, March 28, 2006 1:43 PM

Quote:
Originally posted by KuangZheDe:
I was always impressed with the scene from 5th element where she escapes from the "regenerator" room and makes it outside the building. I was blown away by the future scope and size of the city...real eye candy...and so was the city.

Wow, forgot about "The Fifth Element", which is surprising since it made my top ten sci-fi movie list in another thread. That was an awesome scene.

BTW, love your sig, KZD...

-Jonestein
*************************************
OPERATIVE: ...and I'm unarmed.
MAL: Good.
(BLAM!)

FIGHT TO RE-LIGHT!!
www.browncoatsriseagain.com
www.texasbrowncoats.com
www.fortworthbrowncoats.com

GIXXER

Tuesday, March 28, 2006 1:43 PM

I like the Balrog too.

The bit that gets me is the very long shot as it and Gandalf are falling. The glow grows and fades.

Tiny quiet moment of magic.

PIZMOBEACH

Tuesday, March 28, 2006 1:52 PM

Quote:
Originally posted by Jonestein:
...The opening of the BDM(after the teaser) with the beautiful, mournful music dramatically building as Serenity gracefully slipped into orbit; the thrusters booming as she hit atmo with the signature "twangy" music joining the great orchestral theme as we pan around the incredible detail of our favorite 10th crew member...it was just pure magic. Wish I'd been a Browncoat before the BDM hit theaters...I can only imagine how pre-BDM Browncoats were moved during that inspired opening.

That is a serious keeper. And it's topped off in true JW style with the buffer panel blowing off and we get some funny.

My favorite sequence is from LOTR, Balin's tomb, director's cut. It's the first time we get to see the whole Fellowship fight together. The suspenseful build up, "They have a cave troll," the door knocking down, the editing and pace, and that scene stealing Cave Troll - wow, great stuff.

Scifi movie music + Firefly dialogue clips, 24 hours a day - http://www.scifiradio.net

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