TOS ‘Cheesy’ Special Effects

[Maurice]

And there’s a couple of first season episodes where the special effects house misaligned the angle and/or point of origin of a phaser pistol.

That angle issue is because the actors frequently didn’t actually point their weapons at the target. This is all over the dustbuster and cobra phasers in later shows.

 

[yotsuya]

I like the overlays they used. In Metamorphosis you can tell that they filmed a yellow kiddie pool with various designs printed on it. Fill it with water and film it a bit out of focus (focused on the surface from the look of it) and you get these strange colored shapes. But if you watch it long enough you can see what they did. There are several FX like that. Very innovative and unusual looking, but you can totally see what they did.

 

[Spock's Barber]

I like the overlays they used. In Metamorphosis you can tell that they filmed a yellow kiddie pool with various designs printed on it. Fill it with water and film it a bit out of focus (focused on the surface from the look of it) and you get these strange colored shapes. But if you watch it long enough you can see what they did. There are several FX like that. Very innovative and unusual looking, but you can totally see what they did.

I can almost hear the late Bob Justman, “That will look great, but we can’t afford it. Find a cheaper way to film it.”

 

[Mytran]

Actually it didn't. In the first season most of the time the sun effect was a blue beam, and a phaser on kill was a red beam. (But like everything else across TOS visual effects-wise; It still wasn't 100% consistent)

I was thinking more about the usage of a beam instead of a flash, but you are quite correct about the colour (in most episodes, anyway!)

 

[Qonundrum]

Exactly.

The effects shots on Blakes 7 look terrible now, but back when it was made they were...terrible !

Yeah, but B7 focuses more time on:

a) the scripts and dialogue
b) the actors delivering the dialogue
c) all the money went into the costumes, made in a specialized "leather" factory of the NC17 kind...

The f/x were bad - barebones at best. And kept fairly limited in use. Like the thoughtfulness put into TOS's, a re-do of B7's f/x with that level of thought and detail would be cool.

 

[Qonundrum]

That’s certainly an exaggeration. That sequence is not a single shot.

Depends on the composite roll they used? It might not be the whole scene, but a key part of one.

So glad editing methods have improved, but what they did conjure up back in the day was remarkable and impeccable.

 

[Maurice]

Depends on the composite roll they used? It might not be the whole scene, but a key part of one.

So glad editing methods have improved, but what they did conjure up back in the day was remarkable and impeccable.

Pretty sure it refers to the big wide shot of the many astronauts and laser which required backwinding the film like 40 times.

 

[publiusr]

Moonraker (1979) used the same technique for its big finale at the villain's space station. There were a lot of components in the shot, with U.S. Air Force Space Shuttles mounting an attack.

I heard they had to rewind that one precious roll of film so many times, they were terrified it would come out with a scratch on it. And if that had happened, there was no time for a do-over. The movie would just have to end without the epic battle being seen. Maybe James Bond would hear a play-by-play over the military radio describing the battle.

Dwayne Day did a write up on that film..and how the set designers bucked their Union and worked overtime. The PLANET OF THE TITANS Enterprise interior had similar tubes..but the interior and Regula I seemed a better fit.

The best phaser hit was on the Tholian craft. As a kid, I wondered how that coruscating pattern was done…later I saw the water ripples.

 

[Commishsleer]

Yeah, but B7 focuses more time on:

a) the scripts and dialogue
b) the actors delivering the dialogue
c) all the money went into the costumes, made in a specialized "leather" factory of the NC17 kind...

The f/x were bad - barebones at best. And kept fairly limited in use. Like the thoughtfulness put into TOS's, a re-do of B7's f/x with that level of thought and detail would be cool.

I was actually going to say they had really good costumes especially Servalan. I didn't realise they were that :"special".
I'm still waiting for the redo of Blakes 7. They've got to do it before us old-timers die off. We keep getting promises but nothing happens.
Surely Blakes 7 has enough fans out there to make some fan-film special effects. They're the best things about Star Trek fan-films for me.

 

[DarrenTR1970]

I was actually going to say they had really good costumes especially Servalan. I didn't realise they were that :"special".

A bit late to the party with a reply - Again thanks to the making of 'Blake's 7' book I have, the name of the place in question was called 'Hardcore Leather', an S&M shop.
The actors who played Blake, Avon, Vila and Travis all wore outfits from them in the first two seasons.
Paul Darrow (Avon) was given some shopping money and bought parts of his costumes at 'Marks and Spencer'.
And, although no photos are shown in the book; Jacqueline Pearce's first test outfit was akin to a big game hunter complete with pith helmet. Jacqueline objected, which lead to the white dresses normally associated with her character.

 

[Ssosmcin]

As well as its two-years-plus production schedule.


That was the first thing the original Doomsday Machine reminded me of.

One thing that I think gets ignored is that the Planet Killer was similar in shape to a sperm whale. Which is obviously appropriate. I'm glad the remaster kept the original shape at least so the visual still held that representation.