What Was Your Favorite Special Effect In THe New Movies?

[Cyke101]

The sound gives the pixie dust more weight to it, I think. If it just twinkled silently, it wouldn't sound like debris.

With that said, I also hated the smoke trails off the Enterprise-E. It just made warp look boring.

ST09 to me seems like a nice mix between TOS-movie and TNG-era warp, and moreso in STID. The ship still stretches like in TNG (the saucer stretching is much more visible from the bridge display), but there's still streak -- just one composite streak rather than several streaks. Lastly, when the camera "tracks" the ship at warp, the ship maintains its shape, which is more along the lines of TOS/TNG-era style warp-in-motion, rather than the TOS movies that showed those streaks even while the camera kept up.

 

[Smellmet]

ST09 to me seems like a nice mix between TOS-movie and TNG-era warp, and moreso in STID. The ship still stretches like in TNG (the saucer stretching is much more visible from the bridge display), but there's still streak -- just one composite streak rather than several streaks. Lastly, when the camera "tracks" the ship at warp, the ship maintains its shape, which is more along the lines of TOS/TNG-era style warp-in-motion, rather than the TOS movies that showed those streaks even while the camera kept up.

That's why I prefer it. It just looked just - right. In STID it felt like they were just trying to show off to the audience. Less is more for me in this case.

 

[Kemaiku]

The sound gives the pixie dust more weight to it, I think. If it just twinkled silently, it wouldn't sound like debris.

Well like I said, it seemed at first the effect was the water being left behind frozen and glowing, since when the camera panned through it, it sounded and acted like snow and ice.

It may well be a physical venting of something in the warp burst being blue shifted and super cooled, which just makes it seem more realistic in some ways.

Everything has an exhaust, Uhura told us so.

 

[Cyke101]

The sound gives the pixie dust more weight to it, I think. If it just twinkled silently, it wouldn't sound like debris.

Well like I said, it seemed at first the effect was the water being left behind frozen and glowing, since when the camera panned through it, it sounded and acted like snow and ice.

I quite like that idea, though. So I'll just pretend that that's how Enterprise gets rid of excess water (y'know, whenever it feels bloated).

 

[137th Gebirg]

It's possible that there's something coming out of those intercooler-like pair of devices on the tail end of the nacelles. They expand from a flush seamed surface to expose some blue glowing area inside just before going into warp. The particles may be emitting out of this area, much in the way a bird takes a dump to lighten the load before taking flight. I know the imagery there is less than ideal, but I think the comparison may be valid based on the visuals being shown.

 

[Smellmet]

It IS magic, until we know what, if anything, warp drive looks like.

So is Harry Potter, but that doesn't mean I want stuff in Trek to be like that. Part of the essence of my love for Star Trek is that it seems grounded in some kind of reality of our future, where cutting edge military hardware is getting used. It's not the Wizard of Oz.

 

[Cyke101]

It IS magic, until we know what, if anything, warp drive looks like.

So is Harry Potter, but that doesn't mean I want stuff in Trek to be like that. Part of the essence of my love for Star Trek is that it seems grounded in some kind of reality of our future, where cutting edge military hardware is getting used. It's not the Wizard of Oz.

Well, not unless we take a look at the man behind the curtain...

 

[Kemaiku]

Star Trek "grounded in reality" is a very old and still rather untrue meme.

 

[Smellmet]

Star Trek "grounded in reality" is a very old and still rather untrue meme.

Disagree. There's a very strong argument that Star Trek has 'previewed' mankind's future technology, linking it to our possible future, and therefore an element of reality.

I'm not saying Star Trek is our future, it almost certianly isn't, but it has always been a possible, feasible one.

 

[Kemaiku]

Except the transporter, replicators, AI, time travel, 43,000 M-class planets, 300-400+ almost identical human races, several exact replicas of Earth, giant space amoeba, bland humans that have not moved past 1960's-1990's social development, technology much larger and less capable than our hand held devices, both thermonuclear and genetic/biological warfare devastating the planet, artifical gravity in tin can sized generators, universal translators and superdoopersuperspeeds...

*inhales*

Yeah it's all "accurate".

 

[TRON JA307020]

Except the transporter, replicators, AI, time travel, 43,000 M-class planets, 300-400+ almost identical human races, several exact replicas of Earth, giant space amoeba, bland humans that have not moved past 1960's-1990's social development, technology much larger and less capable than our hand held devices, both thermonuclear and genetic/biological warfare devastating the planet, artifical gravity in tin can sized generators, universal translators and superdoopersuperspeeds...

*inhales*

Yeah it's all "accurate".

I agree with Smell. We are now getting things like tricorders.
SO much of what you see in tech today is bvased on some of star trek like hand held communication devices, the bio beds etc. Universal translators are also in the works. At the same time it was a TV show and human like aliens were cheaper to design. Not all the aliens were humanoid though.

 

[IrishNero]

Not everything is based upon possibilities that are plausible today. One hundred and fifty years ago, there were a handful of scientists who theorized that the human body could never withstand going over 60 mph. Who knows what tomorrow will bring?

But let's not miss the point here: Star Trek is about dreams, imagination, possibilities, adventure, optimism for the human race (seeded with an occasional knuckle sandwich for an alien that stepped out of line). What fun would it really be if it was all based upon reality as we know it?

 

[Smellmet]

Except the transporter, replicators, AI, time travel, 43,000 M-class planets, 300-400+ almost identical human races, several exact replicas of Earth, giant space amoeba, bland humans that have not moved past 1960's-1990's social development, technology much larger and less capable than our hand held devices, both thermonuclear and genetic/biological warfare devastating the planet, artifical gravity in tin can sized generators, universal translators and superdoopersuperspeeds...

*inhales*

Yeah it's all "accurate".

I have never used the word 'accurate' I used the words 'possible' and 'feasible' and I can apply those words to your list still.

 

[Nebusj]

Except the transporter, replicators, AI, time travel, 43,000 M-class planets, 300-400+ almost identical human races, several exact replicas of Earth, giant space amoeba, bland humans that have not moved past 1960's-1990's social development, technology much larger and less capable than our hand held devices, both thermonuclear and genetic/biological warfare devastating the planet, artifical gravity in tin can sized generators, universal translators and superdoopersuperspeeds...

*inhales*

Yeah it's all "accurate".

I have never used the word 'accurate' I used the words 'possible' and 'feasible' and I can apply those words to your list still.

You count time travel, artificial gravity, and warp drive as 'possible'?

Are you sure you don't want to re-count?

 

[Smellmet]

In a word, yes. Just not yet.

 

[Locutus of Bored]

My favorite effects of the new movies are any of the scenes of the Enterprise rising out of something, whether it be Titan, Earth's clouds, or an alien ocean. It's been a while since I've felt awe over a Trek scene, but these certainly did it for me, and drove home the spirit of adventure quite well.

After those, my next favorite would be the warp battle in STiD and the subsequent hull breach. Pretty amazing (and terrifying) scene, and rendered quite convincingly.

 

[Cyke101]

I thank Abrams for putting back the starship beauty shots into Trek movies. Those rising shots are great examples of what a beauty shot can do. Just because it was self-indulgently long in TMP doesn't mean that the ship doesn't deserve it.

Most of the other movies were primarily more about showing the ship as a necessity, rather than appreciating the vessel itself. As much as I dislike the Enterprise-E, I might have liked it more had there been a few more lingering and careful shots to show her off at her best.

 

[BillJ]

Most of the other movies were primarily more about showing the ship as a necessity, rather than appreciating the vessel itself. As much as I dislike the Enterprise-E, I might have liked it more had there been a few more lingering and careful shots to show her off at her best.

The Enterprise-E is an odd bird. I like the general shape of it, but the details just feel completely wrong.

 

[Smellmet]

I thank Abrams for putting back the starship beauty shots into Trek movies. Those rising shots are great examples of what a beauty shot can do. Just because it was self-indulgently long in TMP doesn't mean that the ship doesn't deserve it.

Most of the other movies were primarily more about showing the ship as a necessity, rather than appreciating the vessel itself. As much as I dislike the Enterprise-E, I might have liked it more had there been a few more lingering and careful shots to show her off at her best.

I thought Nemesis did a decent job of showing of the E very well indeed. It's one of the main reasons I watch it on a regular basis.

 

[Cyke101]

I thank Abrams for putting back the starship beauty shots into Trek movies. Those rising shots are great examples of what a beauty shot can do. Just because it was self-indulgently long in TMP doesn't mean that the ship doesn't deserve it.

Most of the other movies were primarily more about showing the ship as a necessity, rather than appreciating the vessel itself. As much as I dislike the Enterprise-E, I might have liked it more had there been a few more lingering and careful shots to show her off at her best.

I thought Nemesis did a decent job of showing of the E very well indeed. It's one of the main reasons I watch it on a regular basis.

I suppose I'd want more of those scenes in First Contact, when we first see the ship. Though I'll admit that the ships colliding in Nemesis was still a neat sequence (which is ironic, given the topic of beauty shots!).