Is it just me, or are all the various alien cities are starting to look a bit ...GENERIC?

[F. King Daniel]

But I wanted to see more future humans culture but the creators were just to interested in the aliens life being explored which is great but... well, what I already said.

*cut to Star Trek: Picard 35 years later and starts out set on Earth*

 

[Amaris]

I am currently re-watching Voyager, and i notice that through TNG, DS9, and this series that the various cities seem to look very similar. Either, SOMEONE has gotten LAZY (or cheap - or BOTH), or there is a general lack of imagination when designing Alien cities. . I should have examples, but I had just started thinking about this. I am NOT saying that EVERY city looks the same, but a substantial number do have very similar traits.

Budget. I'm certain that if they were given a lot more leeway, the production artists could have given us gorgeous, wildly detailed cities and creatures, but when you're constrained by time and money, you have to make what you have on hand work quickly and cheaply, and that doesn't leave much room for out of the box conceptual artistry.

 

[Weyoun 251]

I would have thought that the standard matte background used to show that the scene was now set on *insert alien race* homeworld shouldn't be that expensive to produce and differentiate.

The architecture was always very similar too - big fortress like structures with big curved towers leading to a sharp point.

As mentioned though, production costs will always be an issue - certainly seen in TNG where every scene felt cramped. Even on the bridge it felt like they were trying to fit 7 people in to frame when the aspect ratio could only deal with 2 so the shots look very close up.

I think DS9 was an improvement on that front at least.

May have strayed a bit OT so apologies there

 

[Laughing Dragon]

*cut to Star Trek: Picard 35 years later and starts out set on Earth*

I haven't been watching Picard I'm afraid.

 

[Shawnster]

It also didn't help a lot of the matte cities were viewed from similar heights with similar vanishing points. It was as if it was the same city only with minor redressing.

 

[Swedish Borg]

It also didn't help a lot of the matte cities were viewed from similar heights with similar vanishing points. It was as if it was the same city only with minor redressing.

I think there are a few cases where it's the exact same shot, without any redressing at all.

 

[fireproof78]

Well, they paid for the matte painting and they're going to use it!