The DS9 sets always looked too much like some amusement park stage show construction, and not like anything as solid as the fiction would imply.
DS9 looked "cheaper" than Voyager
- Thread starter Trekboy1993
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The DS9 sets always looked too much like some amusement park stage show construction, and not like anything as solid as the fiction would imply.
Out of interest are we talking Broadcast or DVD?
If DVD are we talking PAL or NTSC?
If DVD are we talking upscaling or watching in SD?
Do you get the same pixelation on diferent TV model/makes?
Do you get the same pixelation if you use different DVD/BR players?
Some of the early S6 episodes used models, most visibly in the "kitbashed" ships seen in the first few episodes. But I believe that the Favor the Bold/Sacrifice of Angels two-parter was the point where they fully transitioned to using CGI.
And Sacrifice of Angels was a milestone in the franchise for the extent of CGI used.
Indeed, it's too bad they re-used so much of it for What You Leave Behind because they could have added a lot more on top of Angels.
I do agree with what you are saying, but shows reusing FX has been going on for a long time, TOS, TNG, VOY etc.. all recycled FX.
To be honest, effects wise they both hold up today. Sure it wouldn't compare to the Kelvin movies or even disco in terms of visuals, but we're talking about 2 series that are more than 20 years old and I can still happily watch them both without the effects looking to jarringly outdated.
Of the two though, DS9's sets were alot richer. The promenade was alive, the crew quarters detailed, and ops full of hubbub. Compare that to the sterile nature of Voyagers sets and well...
And the battle sequences in Ds9 were far more ambitious too. The only real gripe I have about them is the obvious copying and pasting of some ship models in scenes. But you have to make some allowances considering this was new ground for TV at the time.
In fact the total-CGI nature of Voyager really meant they had no excuse not to show wear and tear on the ship as the series progressed because they didn't need to keep altering an actual physical model.
Of the two though, DS9's sets were alot richer. The promenade was alive, the crew quarters detailed, and ops full of hubbub. Compare that to the sterile nature of Voyagers sets and well...
And the battle sequences in Ds9 were far more ambitious too. The only real gripe I have about them is the obvious copying and pasting of some ship models in scenes. But you have to make some allowances considering this was new ground for TV at the time.
In fact the total-CGI nature of Voyager really meant they had no excuse not to show wear and tear on the ship as the series progressed because they didn't need to keep altering an actual physical model.
I think DS9 holds up just fine. I only wish they had been able to afford to have Odo use his shape shifting power more often.
A few situations crop up where it would have been very useful, and it doesn't quite make sense that he doesn't make use of it.
A few situations crop up where it would have been very useful, and it doesn't quite make sense that he doesn't make use of it.
I can't compare DS9 visuals to VOY because I haven't seen VOY yet. But I will say that DS9 holds up pretty well, I think. In many ways it looks better than even ENT because ENT relied a lot more on CGI and the result wasn't always impressive.
DS9 holds up pretty well, i think. Even Babylon 5 holds up fairly well aside from the CGI scenes.
The DS9 promenade set, was designed from the ground up to be fully immersive for the cast and crew, as well as to look totally foreign to "standard" starfleet design.
The DS9 promenade set, was designed from the ground up to be fully immersive for the cast and crew, as well as to look totally foreign to "standard" starfleet design.
Looked about the same tech-wise to me.
Yeah, they just kept using stock footage of it. I don't think either show ever went full cgi.
Thee was some model work for VOY, not sure if it's accurate or not but from the rear you can tell when it's a CGI or model. If the lights are on below the shuttlebay it's CGI if the are off it's the model. Because the motors took up so much room they couldn't have the lights.
I wouldn't say that DS9 looked cheaper, but the VOY sets have aged better. I always like the gray color scheme in Voyager. Made it seem more like a science / military vessel that the beige 80s interiors of the Enterprise.
They never ditched the old stock footage with physical models, that would have just been pointless. But to the best of my knowledge, Voyager moved to exclusively using CGI for new effects shots sometime in the fourth season.
I like B5 too, but that show had production values (maybe) 2 notches above "Off-Broadway Play".
I mean, I'm a little surprised they didn't make G'Kar go half-human too just to save money on latex and makeup time.
Didn't DSN also use a largely grey colour scheme as well. Just a darker shade?
Once Jonathan West came aboard in the third season the cinematography of DS9 was much better than it had been under Marvin Rush.
It definitely looked cheaper when it came to SFX, where DS9 had to produce more ships and explosions every week through bad CG of it's time during the war seasons 4th - 7th, from the Klingons to the Dominion.
Voyager had a bigger budget because it was a network series and I felt it was treated a lot better.
Voyager had a bigger budget because it was a network series and I felt it was treated a lot better.
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