I had a thread in the General forum a few years ago celebrating ST mattes, I thought this would be a good time to review the scenery of STNG before the HD discs come out. Starting chronologically this time: Numbers 6 is my favorite, I love the angle.
If they do anything with the blu-ray versions, I sincerely hope these matte paintings are digitally upgraded and brought to life as much as the matte paintings were in TOS-R, like in the Menagerie and Catspaw and all the rest.
Worth pointing out that the shots of the Deneb surface (Farpoint Station and the Bandi city) are not matte paintings, but a tabletop miniature. In one of the Starlog-published TNG magazines, there's an article about the special effects of the pilot and there's a photo of the tabletop miniature and the film crew around it.
Right which is why "scenery" is in the title. There's no matte in the riker pics either. Or the last outpost sets.
^Sure, I know you knew that, but it bears clarifying for other readers of the thread who might misunderstand.
...Where else did they use miniatures? Except as starships, of course. The "When the Bough Breaks" power plant is an impressive use although the TrekCore screencap doesn't show the live action heroes in the same frame: http://tng.trekcore.com/gallery/albums/s1/1x18/whenbough256.jpg Did they do any other miniature backgrounds/foregrounds? Timo Saloniemi
They used miniatures in Too SHort a Season for the Mordan city. Rarely used after. I'm finding the a dearth of good scenery in the first third of season 1....lots of bottle shows.
They were bottle shows to save money and also show off the new ship sets. I wonder how the effects will be changed for the Blu-rays. Will things be redone at all or will the film just be prettied up.