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News Brent Spiner Returned for "Picard" (and you could do the CGI better in 15 minutes, we get it)

before a VFX person being like, "you want us to to WHAT with HOW MUCH money?!?".
Yup. One of my friends who works in the VFX industry said once that :censored: like that happens "all the time" in expecting the VFX people to just make it happen. Except, that's not how it works. it's not for lack of care, despite people insisting it must be because somehow thse productions couldn't possibly underestimate costs or somehow have a miscommunication between departments. That never happens.:rolleyes:
 
I only remember two really bad effects in INS: One shot where the drones were clearly copied in, lighting all off, not matching the background at all, and the entire scene on the collector where the blue background was apparently supposed to be replaced with stars or the inside of the damn thing, but was simply left blue XD
 
[...] and the entire scene on the collector where the blue background was apparently supposed to be replaced with stars or the inside of the damn thing, but was simply left blue XD

While Jonathan Frakes himself speculated (but not remembered for sure) in an audio commentary years later that the blue background in the collector was supposed to be replaced with effects, I am quite sure that was not the case.

The floor of that set had a green screen for digital set extension (a photo can be seen in the making-of-book "The Secrets of Star Trek: Insurrection"). I can't imagine they would have mixed green screen and blue screen as in some shots blue and green would have been seen totgether. Also that blue color ist part of the exterior of the collector which is another indication that the blue interior was an intended design choice.
 
I remember Sirtis asked him that, and he didn't respond, but it's been a few years since I've heard it.

Yes, that's possible. I also herad the commentary last time some years ago. But I am sure Frakes did not confirm the blue screen theory undoubtedly if at all.
 
IMO, The blue walls of the collector were absolutely not meant to be replaced.

1. As mentioned, a greenscreen was used for set extension.
2. Illuminated blue was a part of the Son'a set design, as can also be seen on the bridge set.
3. The blue had no tracking markers whatsoever, which at the time would have made the replacement next to impossible as it was shot with a roving camera, tilting, panning and zooming all over the place.
 
IMO, The blue walls of the collector were absolutely not meant to be replaced.

1. As mentioned, a greenscreen was used for set extension.
2. Illuminated blue was a part of the Son'a set design, as can also be seen on the bridge set.
3. The blue had no tracking markers whatsoever, which at the time would have made the replacement next to impossible as it was shot with a roving camera, tilting, panning and zooming all over the place.
Frakes admitted it looks like unfinished CG in the commentary, I think. Just a weak creative choice.
 
I could handle the less than generous nature of some reactions if it didn't immediately go to insulting the production team by assuming malice or laziness on the part of their work. I get that nitpicking is a part of the Star Trek franchise but it strikes me as excessively negative now.


Indeed. It's like enjoying a show is passe now. More fun to throw stones at it. :(

No one hates that which is new and different quite as much as certain fans of a show about people who go to outer space to find that which is new and different.
 
Data looks so good in Season 3! Older, yes...but much more accurate than the de-aged version from Season 1. Even his hairline is perfect (it's a grey hairpiece, his real hair is thinner). :-)

Bridge-Shooting-08.jpg
 
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This thread just reminded me how much I loved Jean-Luc's grief dreams about Data 1 from S1 and Data 2's spectral appearance in "Et in Arcadia Ego, Part II."

I can't deny that there was something lovely about seeing Data 3 in S3, but I also can't help but think that bringing him back undermined the emotional reality of S3. I would have much preferred to keep Data dead and find some other way to bring Brent Spiner back.
 
I really get Picards grief dreams about Data. My grandfather died in 2001 and over the last twenty years I've had multiple dreams like that. At one point I remember a dream I had in maybe 2013 or so where I had the "I don't want the game to end" moment where I distinctly knew I was in a dream and remember my grandfather turning to me going "You know what is coming and what happens next.."..and I woke up.

Its why that grief and depression cycle Picard was in resonated so painfully for me, and frankly why Picard Season 1 can be hard to watch sometimes.
 
I really get Picards grief dreams about Data. My grandfather died in 2001 and over the last twenty years I've had multiple dreams like that. At one point I remember a dream I had in maybe 2013 or so where I had the "I don't want the game to end" moment where I distinctly knew I was in a dream and remember my grandfather turning to me going "You know what is coming and what happens next.."..and I woke up.

Its why that grief and depression cycle Picard was in resonated so painfully for me, and frankly why Picard Season 1 can be hard to watch sometimes.

Same. PIC S1 aired about six months or so after my grandmother passed, and it really did a lot to help me process her death. Then my mother passed about eighteen months later; that was even more of a gut-punch and I haven't re-watched PIC S1 since. There's an emotional weight and an emotional reality to those scenes that's honestly kind of rare in Star Trek and I'm not sure if this time it would help me process or just send me down a grief spiral. Or both.
 
Same. PIC S1 aired about six months or so after my grandmother passed, and it really did a lot to help me process her death. Then my mother passed about eighteen months later; that was even more of a gut-punch and I haven't re-watched PIC S1 since. There's an emotional weight and an emotional reality to those scenes that's honestly kind of rare in Star Trek and I'm not sure if this time it would help me process or just send me down a grief spiral. Or both.

I've tried. I'm a religious man and that has helped, but for me those grief scenes in Picard Season 1 are just a little much most of the time.

Its good to know I'm not an overly emotional wreck and its hit others like me
 
I've tried. I'm a religious man and that has helped, but for me those grief scenes in Picard Season 1 are just a little much most of the time.

Its good to know I'm not an overly emotional wreck and its hit others like me

No, you're not. Those scenes are extraordinary and powerful; they're some of the most moving depictions of grief I've ever seen on television. They're part of why I will always defend PIC S1.

But also, even if those scenes weren't, that wouldn't make you an overly-emotional wreck. Your grief is completely legitimate and many, many things can trigger a grief spiral, even seemingly-neutral or mundane things. It's completely legitimate to feel that way and never let anyone tell you otherwise.
 
This thread just reminded me how much I loved Jean-Luc's grief dreams about Data 1 from S1 and Data 2's spectral appearance in "Et in Arcadia Ego, Part II."

I can't deny that there was something lovely about seeing Data 3 in S3, but I also can't help but think that bringing him back undermined the emotional reality of S3. I would have much preferred to keep Data dead and find some other way to bring Brent Spiner back.

The various Soongs weren’t really working, and the Data we got back is not *quite* the original, more akin to a more rounded variation on Gen and emotion chip Data — without the retcons to that made in FC and INS. It works, especially when you think of Data being repeatedly made a prisoner and a tool, and now really is free, because he is back. They won’t keep trying to catch that lightning in a bottle.
 
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