3 trillion on CGI

[Cheapjack]

Someone a while back, asked for a wish list for future trek.

I said they should spend 3 trillion on CGI and reimagine all trek aliens, even Spock, to show what they REALLY look like, rather than just having pointy ears, bumpy foreheads, etc and eyes and ears exactly the same distance apart as ours.

I don't think they could do this too much with Spock.

We're supposed to identify with his torment, his struggle, and we wouldn't if he looked TOO alien.

Well? What if he just had wiggly ears, or leathery skin?

I

 

[Dukhat]

Three trillion dollars? Uh, if someone had three trillion dollars, they wouldn't be spending it on special effects for a Star Trek film. They'd be using it to pay off the U.S.'s national debt.

 

[RobertScorpio]

Or finally settling with Harlan..

Rob

 

[CaptainStoner]

Someone a while back, asked for a wish list for future trek.

I said they should spend 3 trillion on CGI and reimagine all trek aliens, even Spock, to show what they REALLY look like, rather than just having pointy ears, bumpy foreheads, etc and eyes and ears exactly the same distance apart as ours.

I don't think they could do this too much with Spock.

We're supposed to identify with his torment, his struggle, and we wouldn't if he looked TOO alien.

Well? What if he just had wiggly ears, or leathery skin?

I

I love good FX, but no. Giving Spock wiggly ears or leathery skin would be Lucas-izing it. And wiggly ears is more pixie than vulcan.
There were some aliens that could have benefited from a more out-there appearance, and I wouldn't be opposed to seeing a main character done that way. It would give the opportunity to do things like change the facial proportions in radical ways.
But I've also been saying lately that aliens in Trek portray aspects of humanity. The pilot and finale of TNG encapsulate very well the idea that the outward journey is also an inward one. As long as that is being done well, in a compelling story, it should work as well with 2-dimensional masks on a stick as it does with trilion dollar CGI.

 

[Cheapjack]

I noticed they kept 'changing the trick' in ST11

I thought at first, some of the aliens were CGI, but as you said, they can't get them as good as prosthetics. I thought that bloke in the bar with the chin was. You only saw some of them for a flash.

It would be great to pan round on, and zoom in on, Lt Arex, from TAS! Zoom in on his alienness, his strangeness! But then, let him make a few comments, to show he is an intelligent being. That's Star Trek!

 

[Temis the Vorta]

With three trillion dollars, by the frakkin SyFy Channel, smack it into shape, and have money left over for twelve dozen Avatar knockoffs.

 

[Cheapjack]

Having looked again at Lt Arex, I think they should reimagine him to look even weirder! His eyes and nose are the same distance apart as a human's. He just looks like a geeky human.

How about someone with one eye, three eyes, or eight eyes? Or, even no eyes? But, not too weird.

How about bringing an 'alien' alien into the crew? Wasn't there some in Voayger, like that?

 

[T J]

Or finally settling with Harlan..

Rob

Excellent!

 

[Cheapjack]

I think the thing about ST, is that it has aliens in it, but they don't aliennate you.

 

[FalTorPan]

Three trillion dollars? Uh, if someone had three trillion dollars, they wouldn't be spending it on special effects for a Star Trek film. They'd be using it to pay off the U.S.'s national debt.

Not this someone. If by some impossible twist of events, I were to become a multi-trillionaire, the last thing I'd willingly do with my money is bail out the US federal government for its own short-sightedness, mismanagement and pandering to voters.

 

[jwb]

I'd rather money be spent on great writers than excessive CGI.

 

[ALF]

The writers? They could be CGI'ed in, after the fact.

Hey... it actually happened with Revenge of the Fallen.

 

[Admiral Shran]

Three trillion dollars? Uh, if someone had three trillion dollars, they wouldn't be spending it on special effects for a Star Trek film. They'd be using it to pay off the U.S.'s national debt.

Not me, seeing as how three trillion dollars wouldn't even pay off a quarter of it.

 

[jefferiestubes8]

they should spend 3 trillion on CGI and reimagine all trek aliens, even Spock, to show what they REALLY look like,

The dollar figure aside doing all the aliens in CGI would be very costly. The episodes of of the Xindi council in ENT season 3 were very costly.

you don't just have costumes, makeup, props, but pieces of sets to create before the greenscreen just like how Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow (2004) was made.

Would it be cheaper to make an all CGI except human character series? Essentially a virtual set show except for the human actors which would be live-action shot on green screen similar to Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow?
Would a virtual set look good or fake for the walk & talk scenes down corridors? What about extra characters would they be CGI or actual S.A.G. extra actors?

 

[Myasishchev]

My idea is more cost-effective: pay $50,000 and get someone who knows why terrestrial animals look like they do in the first place, and then ask him to advise, instead of generating gooftastic ideas and spending millions to bring them to life no matter how ignorant they are in conception.

That said, if they could just CGI a proper Vulcan complexion, that'd be one giant leap forward.

 

[Quinton O'Connor]

Three trillion on CGI? Maybe you're talking about estimates for an upcoming six-part movie series first unveiled circa 2047, but here in 2010, that's... ridiculous.

Nothing costs that much.

Well. Almost nothing. Nothing relevant.

 

[FordSVT]

Three trillion dollars? Uh, if someone had three trillion dollars, they wouldn't be spending it on special effects for a Star Trek film. They'd be using it to pay off the U.S.'s national debt.

Not me, seeing as how three trillion dollars wouldn't even pay off a quarter of it.

Right, because if someone gave me the option of A) paying off a quarter of my debt, and B) putting that money towards a weekend party, I'd definitely take B.

Remind me never to accept financial advice from you.

Three trillion would be a good start on colonizing Mars, however.

 

[Nardpuncher]

I figured this thread title was about how much money has been spent on all CGI in all movies and TV shows since the dawn of time.

 

[Admiral Buzzkill]

The makeup treatment of Spock is one of the most brilliant things ever done in a skiffy show or movie. It just fucking works and stays out of the way.

 

[FordSVT]

Just because we can make every alien "hard sci-fi mutant otherworldly" different, doesn't mean we should.

I'm all for variety, and it was nice when the various series used sfx technology to show us a variation on the standard "people with funny ears/noses/skin color" alien of the week we usually got. The Horta from TOS, the Crystaline Entity from TNG, 8472 from Voyager, and the Xindi Aquatics from Enterprise are all demonstrative of this.

But part of what makes Star Trek what it is (and not Star Wars), is the way it uses the aliens as metaphors for humanity and human behaviour. Sometimes it's done in a rather ham-fisted way, but it is what it is. Human looking aliens are a part of that, IMO.