What did you think of the special effects?

[Garibaldi O'brien]

The snow monsters looked terrible and Nero's ship was straight out of Wing Commander: Prophecy, but other than that it was quite good. Not too sure about the new beaming effect though.

Nero's ship felt like the Doomsday Machine if it was manufactured by the Babylon 5 Shadows. It did not feel Romulan to me, though all is forgiven for getting rid of their damn ridges. A ridge too far they were.

It's destruction and the wonderful warp escape from the singularity was my favorite bit. It felt like ILM went back to the STVI Praxis explosion hits the Excelsior wave, and said... hey we can do something that awesome much more realistically!

I also loved all the long shots. Maybe it was IMAX, but the Enterprise had a sense of scale in this movie, true mass and bulk, that CGI usually lacks.

The new Space Dock is also much better than the Mushroom one. It reminded me of K-7, while delivering something I think we could accomplish in 200 years if we get off our ass.

I think I will be seeing them again on Sunday. Mom and Dad are going to Trek with me, oh yes they are.

 

[Brent]

OHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!! I just want to say, one of my FAVORITE effects honestly is how Nero can "throw out" holograms anywhere.

I've always thought, if you have hologram technology, why not create displays and images and controls in hologram form out in the middle of a room, or wherever you walk. Imagine a hologram that follows you, like a holographic display with controls that sits in front of you and follows you through the ship.

 

[davisn456]

I'm probably echoing most of what was already said, but here's my list:

- Enterprise rising from Titan - gave me goosebumps.
- Warp drive - especially when they show the front of the saucer stretching, awesome! Reminded me of Starship Troopers for some reason. Oh and, "Did you remember to turn off the parking break?" - priceless.
- Enterprise saving the Jellyfish - definitely love the new phasers.
- Narada - Other than it's sheer scale and pure nastiness, I didn't like it much. And that drilling rig hanging from a big chain, that was idiotic. Why not fire the stupid beam from the ship?
- I love that they kept Sulu's throttle from TMP. Just seemed cool for some reason.
- I didn't think I'd like the Apple store bridge at first, but it grew on me.
- New transporter effect - seemed to show how much energy is involved in that process. Did you notice the electrical pops and cracks it made when they beamed onto the Narada? Yeah...not so easy to beam in stealthily now.
- I thought the bridge viewscreen window was a bit dumb at first, but that grew on me too.
- Engineering - I missed the warp core and the sounds from engineering from the other ships, especially when they ejected it at the end. That scene could have been a lot more dramatic on the inside of the ship than it was.

 

[saddestmoon]

The special effects were awesome!

That shot of the Enterprise near Titan was Epic, to say the least...

I also loved looking at the Fed starships docked at the starbase, then seeing the Enterprise in all her glory, and then watching the starships go to warp - fantastic!!!!

Well done ILM!!!

 

[CaptainJon]

I thought the visual effects work was brilliant. I wouldn't be surprised if this movie gets a few Oscar nominations. It's probably the most outstanding special effects I've seen in a long time. I'd be surprised if there aren't several technical nominations from the Oscars.

 

[T'Paul]

The special effects were really well done. But they could have save a lot of money and not violated canon if they used TOS era effects. Somethine like that DS9 episode would have been nice.

 

[Capt.April]

With special effects not being so 'special' these days I was pleasantly surprised that in a franchise that is so effects 'heavy', how the movie didn't need to rely on them to tell the story. I saw so much homage to the original effects shots; the docking scene from TMP to the TWOK 'nick of time' warping away from the singularity at the end. Of course the real praise of a special effect is when you don't realize it's a special effect. I think ILM accomplished this, wonderful work!

 

[Capt.April]

The special effects were really well done. But they could have save a lot of money and not violated canon if they used TOS era effects. Somethine like that DS9 episode would have been nice.

Do you know how much money that would cost?? TMP was $70 million in 1970's money using models and physical effects..that's insane! I'd rather see writers & actors paid more for films, not effects technicians..otherwise you get "GI Joe" or "The Phantom Menace" and other CGI Nightmares....not that I've got anything against effect techs, I love their work.

 

[T'Paul]

The special effects were really well done. But they could have save a lot of money and not violated canon if they used TOS era effects. Somethine like that DS9 episode would have been nice.

Do you know how much money that would cost?? TMP was $70 million in 1970's money using models and physical effects..that's insane! I'd rather see writers & actors paid more for films, not effects technicians..otherwise you get "GI Joe" or "The Phantom Menace" and other CGI Nightmares....not that I've got anything against effect techs, I love their work.

Yeah I don't want that TMP crap. I want the 60s style effects. I doubt they paid $70 million for that DS9 episode.

 

[Capt.April]

The special effects were really well done. But they could have save a lot of money and not violated canon if they used TOS era effects. Somethine like that DS9 episode would have been nice.

Do you know how much money that would cost?? TMP was $70 million in 1970's money using models and physical effects..that's insane! I'd rather see writers & actors paid more for films, not effects technicians..otherwise you get "GI Joe" or "The Phantom Menace" and other CGI Nightmares....not that I've got anything against effect techs, I love their work.

Yeah I don't want that TMP crap. I want the 60s style effects. I doubt they paid $70 million for that DS9 episode.

I thought they actually came close to that..there were some scenes that could have been lifted right out of the TOS. They made it work on the big screen and in 2009...The original TV music at the end was just amazing..

 

[T'Paul]

Do you know how much money that would cost?? TMP was $70 million in 1970's money using models and physical effects..that's insane! I'd rather see writers & actors paid more for films, not effects technicians..otherwise you get "GI Joe" or "The Phantom Menace" and other CGI Nightmares....not that I've got anything against effect techs, I love their work.

Yeah I don't want that TMP crap. I want the 60s style effects. I doubt they paid $70 million for that DS9 episode.

I thought they actually came close to that..there were some scenes that could have been lifted right out of the TOS. They made it work on the big screen and in 2009...The original TV music at the end was just amazing..

Canon my ass.

 

[Reliant1983]

I loved the special effects, especially many of the scenes other posters have mentioned so far. Titan/Saturn scene was really freaking cool.

Haven't seen it mentioned, but the photon torpedo's were sweet too. I loved that JJ framed the shot much like previous Trek's did when they fired their torpedo's too. Plus, it sounded awesome.

This movie rocked! Is it 2011 yet?