Best Sci Fi Effects sequence

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

Tuesday, March 28, 2006 2:09 PM

I'm an FX junkie. Here's a short list of various types.

Models:
Star Trek TMP- pretty much any spaceship shot.
Empire Strikes Back- asteroid field.

Matte paintings:
Logan's Run- Overgrown Washington, still the most impressive non-cgi stuff ever.

Physical effects:
Firestarter- awsome fire work, all practically executed.
Blade Runner- nice spinners.

CGI:
LOTR- excellent integration w/live shots.
Serenity/ New BSG- almost anything from our pals at Zoic.

Special Chrisisall

MILFORD

Tuesday, March 28, 2006 2:24 PM

Wow, you guys came up with some good ones. I thought aobut putting the Matrix in there too. That first scene of bullet time with Trinity at the beginning was mind blowing. However, the effects in the sequels were rather irritating. The burly battle between Neo and Smith was interesting to look at, but it was so obviously fake that I felt like I was watching a cartoon instead of a film. To me that's not that great of an effect.

CHRISISALL's comment about matte paintings reminded me of one of my faves, Bespin from Empire Strikes Back. Stunning when you think about how it was painted by hand, not computer generated. Truly a lost art.

As for the oft-mentioned Balrog sequence, I liked it too, but I had similar feelings regarding the seamlessness of the scene. You could tell that it just wasn't real. What I found remarkable about the other sequences I first mentioned was that you literally could not tell that there were CGI or effects elements in the films. That reaver chase looks so real I was certain it was models or something at first, but the movements were too fluid. Amazing.

Jurassic Park is the same way. I know good and well that those aren't real dinosaurs in there, but it is VERY hard to tell that they aren't really part of the scene. To me, it's that seamless integration that makes the effects so great.

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CHRISISALL

Tuesday, March 28, 2006 2:34 PM

Quote:
Originally posted by milford:

Jurassic Park is the same way. I know good and well that those aren't real dinosaurs in there, but it is VERY hard to tell that they aren't really part of the scene. To me, it's that seamless integration that makes the effects so great.

Yeah, it's the jaw-drop test. In Jurassic Park, I was like "Holy s**t!"
In Matrix Revulsions I was like "WTF."

IMO Chrisisall

MILFORD

Tuesday, March 28, 2006 2:40 PM

That's a great way to put it. Thanks for making my morning.

For the record, there's lots of great stuff in the new BSG but I couldn't come up with any off the top of my head. But I think the effects in Firefly may be the best TV special effects ever.

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CHRISISALL

Tuesday, March 28, 2006 2:49 PM

BSG's FX are understated, and not lingered on to give the effect of reality, and Zoic provides the pitch-perfect space shots for them.
In Serenity, there was a 'WOW" factor to the climactic battle; no such factor on BSG, they try to keep that down in favour of the human drama (now, if they could only be as funny as our BDH's....)

No felgercarb Chrisisall

MILFORD

Tuesday, March 28, 2006 2:58 PM

Telll me about it. Complete lack of wit in the BSG. I suppose there wouldn't be much humor in that situation, which adds to the realism. The result, though, is that the characters sometimes seem robotic. Too CSI. But, then again, that's not fair to compare them to our BDH's. They were some of the most outstanding characters ever to grace the small screen in terms of realism. When you combine that with the spectacular effects and the realistic sets and set dressing, you get the best show ever, hands down. Why again was it cancelled?

You are correct though, in BSG, as in FF/S, the effects are never the point (looking your way Mr. Lucas). They simply serve to tell the story.

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DUG

Tuesday, March 28, 2006 3:27 PM

I always try to point out that in all truth the best effects are the ones you can't notice, like the stuff in Jurassic. Even better examples can be pointed out in non-scifi movies. I know this is a thread about scifi tv and movies, but I love pointing out to people on crusades against cgi that one of the heaviest effects and cgi usage films of all times was Titanic. Nobody thinks about it since they don't expext cgi in a non-scifi/ fantasy film.

On matte paintings the Star Wars movies always get mentioned, but the Black Hole had almost twice as many matte shots going on. I would have to list the Cygnus as one of my favorite effects. That ship was AMAZING; there has never been anything like it in another movie or series.

CHRISISALL

Tuesday, March 28, 2006 3:29 PM

Quote:
Originally posted by milford:

You are correct though, in BSG, as in FF/S, the effects are never the point (looking your way Mr. Lucas). They simply serve to tell the story.

I think the original Star Wars had 3-400 FX shots. These last three SW flicks had NO non-FX shots (but at least they used some real people, for some stuff

).

Call me old-fashioned, but the people are key Chrisisall

MILFORD

Tuesday, March 28, 2006 3:41 PM

Oh yeah, I forgot about the Black Hole. The ship was great, and so were the robots if I remember correctly.

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DUG

Tuesday, March 28, 2006 3:56 PM

It is one of my all time favorite movies, but I'm well aware of weaknesses in it. Huge ones. In some way the robots were good; in other ways oh boy do they look dated now. The whole movie does, and is actually a >prime< offender of abusing fx. Disney gave the effects department free reign to make entire scenes before the script was written and wrote around them. This means that some shots have an effect that was worth 3 seconds of screen time and are 10 seconds long. The zero g scenes were cool, but went on WAY too long. Seeing Ernest Borgnine float as the ship turns around him is not worth that much time. Great big asteroids on fire crashing through the ship while people run through vacuums without suits? Ouch....

Combine that with the fact that they did not have an ending for the movie (again, writing as they were filnming). The confusing drug trip that the movie ends with is freaky odd. This is a movie concept with potential that is *almost* great. THIS movie could have benefitted from a specal edition; leave Star Wars alone.

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