1982 Behind-the-Scenes Genesis Sequence
- Thread starter Ryan Thomas Riddle
- Start date
That's impressive for the time. Hard to believe we now have the capability for some of that in our own PCs...
I have yet to see this effect recreated. In theory it should look a lot better. But I haven't seen such a thing yet.
That's because people are mistaking sheer computing power with custom software. The Genesis demo involved a lot of custom programming to do things like generate the evolving planetary surface, the firestorm effect, etc. It's easy for people to ape shots like spaceship flybys or whatnot, but not something that utilized a lot of custom code.
Hell, they used a NASA derived planetarium program to recreate accurate star fields based on real galactic locations. It's small details like that that I love.
I quite agree, Data.
But I mean seriously for what it was, even if it's slightly 'low-tech' by today's standards, it did the job effectively. Even for the 23rd century, I can't imagine them needing anything more impressive to show what effect the Genesis device was capable of.
Too bad the narrator has as much emotion as Dr. Sbaitso.
But I mean seriously for what it was, even if it's slightly 'low-tech' by today's standards, it did the job effectively. Even for the 23rd century, I can't imagine them needing anything more impressive to show what effect the Genesis device was capable of.
Too bad the narrator has as much emotion as Dr. Sbaitso.
I say that a visual effects house trying to recreate that effect today would fail immensely. A lifeless planet terraformed in one continuous sequence, with the camera flying closely above the surface, and then pulling away. It wouldn't look better, and highly probable it would even look worse. There's something about the early visual computer effects that's unmatched, even today. And that's not because of nostalgia, it's because the quality is great and timeless (that's almost a fact I'd say). A computer generated effect of today looks pretty soon pretty dated. TWOK, Abyss, Terminator 2, Jurassic Park, those effects are still awesome, although 20 years have passed since.
I kinda like that about the narrator--he just sounds like a guy talking about his work rather than a polished public speaker.
Yeah, today a narrator would go wild. "And it's so exciting! And awesome! And it was so much fun to do! And golly gee whiz!"
Before reading the video's description, I didn't realize Lucasfilm's computer graphics division became Pixar.
Dr. Alvy Smith was in my city last year talking about all that, including the TWOK sequence. It was part of Siggraph, and the writer of a book called Droidmaker was with him, discussing such things. It's very interesting stuff.
Slick! That part gave me a thrill as a kid (still does
) I remember seeing it for the first time and getting quite agitated that the camera wasn't out running the Genesis wave.It was a great touch, is the extra star in the Plough/Big Dipper really our sun? Do we get to see ourselves on film? I don't have the wherewithall to check if the distance from Sol to the camera would allow for light to pass from here to there in time for the Genesis effect.
I got that too from the commentary, he almost sounded like a Federation scientist or navigator
Huh? The light from our sun has been radiating for billions of years. Of course light from our sun would reach another area of our local stellar neighborhood...or did you mean something else?
I haven't watched the vid yet, but I recall such details being discussed when the film came out.
Yes, our sun would appear in the constellation of the Big Dipper, as seen from Keti Bandar (named after an African river, IIRC), which is in the Epsilon Indi system. (I went wild at the time because the Ballantine "Starfleet Technical Manual" and "Medical Reference Manual" place Andor in that system, and the old Bantam "Star Trek Maps" put Triacus ("And the Children Shall Lead") in Epsilon Indi as well!
So for me, writing fanfic about Andorians in the 80s, it was very exciting to have a planet/moon near Andor being selected as the "subject" of Carol's Genesis demo, even if the device had never actually been set off there. Yet.
Ah, I meant, would it reach there in time to show up for Kirk and Khaaaaaaaan's little joust?
The speed at which most stars move is considerable but not all that perceptible in the puny timeframes humans operate in. The star in the Gensis simulation is in our stellar neighborhood, and even the site of the experiment were 100 times as distant it--say, 12,000 lightyears away--chances are the Sun would still appear to be in the Big Dipper.
For instance, the big Dipper's shape has and will change, and even in 100,000 years, mangled as it will be, it'll still be vaguely recognizable.
For instance, the big Dipper's shape has and will change, and even in 100,000 years, mangled as it will be, it'll still be vaguely recognizable.
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