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When do a photon Torpedoes first appear?

Yeah, that falls in line with budget constraints at the end of the season. But which effects house came up with it? I'm sure the actors had no idea what kind of effect would be used for each use of a phaser, and just went through similar motions to stage the shot each time.

I think the first use of the green wash phaser effect is the second season's "A Piece of the Action"--episode 49 (Westheimer Company).

Which made some sense for that episode, based on the camera point-of-view and that Enterprise was phasering an entire city block.
 
I think the first use of the green wash phaser effect is the second season's "A Piece of the Action"--episode 49 (Westheimer Company).

I know that was the ship's phasers in the ep, but was there any use of the green wash on the hand phaser before Assignment:Earth?
 
A couple of notes:

1. As someone in that thread mentioned, the "purple" phasers in "Babel" not only were a color processing error in that one shot, I'm pretty certain it didn't exist in the original airings or syndicated prints. Rather it originated with the mid-'80s remasters. Can anyone confirm with an old syndicated recording?

I'm not clear on the whole "purple" thing. I checked my laserdisc copy of that episode and the two shots of the Enterprise firing phaser beams have them blue. The second shot, however, has a blue color bleed in the upper right of the screen, if that's what you mean. I then checked my old VHS Paramount tape from the very early 80's, with Amok Time and Journey to Babel. These are older prints. The phasers are blue, but the brightness and contrast of the picture is darker than the later 80's prints. However, the phasers are still blue and the "bleed" is still there. Just a lot less apparent.

2. ... I always thought it strange too that IIRC in the original mixes the Enterprise flybys in earlier episodes were accompanied by an audible whoosh or rumble while in later episodes the flybys were (correctly of course) silent.

If you have the Amazon Prime Streaming Video service, some episodes of the third season with original effects have the original sound mix. They are obviously not the recently restored prints, but it's nice to have good quality Trek with the original sounds for a change... Spock's Brain and Day of the Dove are definitely of the original sound mix.
 
I think the first use of the green wash phaser effect is the second season's "A Piece of the Action"--episode 49 (Westheimer Company).

I know that was the ship's phasers in the ep, but was there any use of the green wash on the hand phaser before Assignment:Earth?

Not a green wash, but a red wash was used earlier in "A Piece of the Action:"


15776963620_d66a478937_z.jpg
 
But there are still animated beams, I think the poster is referring to how the stun effect evolved into a green wash with no beams.
 
I am. Green wash, no beams, and a "Pew" sound effect, rather than the "ssshh" hum.

Yeah, that's the one. Still think it was first used in Assignment:Earth. Then used in Spock's Brain. Don't recall any other uses at the moment.

I had to put the screencap as my avatar, as I'm having trouble getting the shot from photobucket.
 
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Doomsday Machine is one of my favorite episodes, and I've always wondered why they weren't tossing torpedoes down the DDM's throat.

Practically, they couldn't afford photon torpedoes on top of what was surely the most expensive effects episode that season, possibly of the whole series (I'm curious which one was).

Luckily, the writing gave cover: Scott mentions early on that the planet-killer sends out some energy-dampening field that somehow deactivates antimatter. (Somehow, antimatter was a thing you could dampen out in the era of the Original Series.) Given the later rationalization of photon torpedoes as antimatter weapons that gives a reason to suppose they're knocked out so completely nobody even needs mention them.

Like.
 
...has anyone ever done a breakdown of TOS VFX shots by effects house? I'm talking mainly space-based opticals: ship flybys, planets, weapons fire, etc.

I looked into it once regarding weapons fire.

Not surprisingly, in the first season several different effects houses were used (likely working relatively concurrently, so no time to compare notes), which is why everything was wildly inconsistent. I believe the footage of the eleven footer itself for "weapons firing angle" in the first season came from Howard Anderson, with the exception of The Alternative Factor, which I think was Film Effects of Hollywood.

The Corbomite Maneuver: Howard Anderson Company
Balance of Terror/Alternative Factor: Film Effects of Hollywood
Arena/Errand of Mercy: Westheimer Company (if online screencaps can be trusted, their "proximity phaser" in Errand seems to be slightly different from Film Effects version, it appears to be above the three lights on the bow of the saucer - I still need to verify this at some point; note the Trekplace link above says that Balance and Errand use the same shot, but accodring to Trekcore they're different)
Who Mourns for Adonais: Effects Unlimited (footage reused for The Apple, which was a Westheimer episode)
The Doomsday Machine: Cinema Research Corporation
The Changeling/Journey to Babel: Westheimer Company (reuse of Errand effect, but now a photon torpedo)
Obsession: Westheimer Company (iconic "Making of" phaser shot used for the rest of the series, I believe the eleven-footer footage was filmed by Film Effects, however)

Van Der Veer Photo Effects was the other optical company used, but none of their early season episode featured Enterprise firing weapons, they do get an honorable mention for The Tholian Web (although stock Westheimer footage was used for the phaser shots in that episode).

Use of these different effects houses is why the transporter and hand phaser effects are slightly different in various episodes as well.

Fascinating! Thanks for the info. I guess the same reason applies to the classic movies, where the Enterprise's torpedoes are a different colour (blue, red, green) depending on the FX house.
 
Anyone else notice Bran Ferren used the "Inside the ship" sound effect for the torpedo Enterprise fired at the Entity in STV instead of the "Outside the ship" sound?
 
Pretty sure Bran Ferren and his team just did the visuals, and the sound effects were added later by others. TFF does have some interesting sound effects work, though. In the shuttle, for example, there are some very distinct sound effects from 2001: A Space Odyssey.
 
Pretty sure Bran Ferren and his team just did the visuals, and the sound effects were added later by others. TFF does have some interesting sound effects work, though. In the shuttle, for example, there are some very distinct sound effects from 2001: A Space Odyssey.
Yeah, I was just blaming Bran Ferren because most of what's wrong with STV Bran Ferren was responsible for, i.e.; wasting money on substandard effects so the final film is far less than it could have been.

I know, it had terrible editing and TV direction instead of cinema direction, but that's due to Shatner not doing a feature before, not because he sucks at it. He actually doesn't.
 
I know, it had terrible editing and TV direction instead of cinema direction, but that's due to Shatner not doing a feature before, not because he sucks at it. He actually doesn't.
I actually disagree. I think TFF is one of the few films in the entire Trek series that is actually directed like a feature film and not a TV episode. Shatner did a far more effective directorial job, IMHO, than did Nimoy, who staged his two films in a very mundane fashion.

The problem, IMHO, with TFF is that Shatner is not a particularly good WRITER. He has never truly "gotten" Star Trek, and seemed unable to capture that in the story. Instead, he found a topic that intrigued him and tried to shoehorn it into the Star Trek premise.
 
Well, Shatner, despite what his detractors say, didn't write STV. He came up with a premise, or even a detailed plot, that was given to David Loughery, who then wrote the script. It was Loughery that didn't get the characters, and Shatner who, as a first time director who didn't know how to budget his own time, didn't do the research necessary into the characters and settings to be able to properly present the story. Shatner himself is not very good at dialog, but he has a skilled imagination, and can come up with some compelling stories.
 
I seem to remember in the theater the torpedo sound effect for TFF leaned more on the "beeew!" with the "firing pin" sound mixed down more. Then again, this could have been the theater speakers more than the actual film mix. I just remember being surprised the series firing sound was louder on home video than on the big screen. Either way, it didn't sound like the movie series torpedo sounds.
 
Well, the 'inside the ship' sound from the series was kind of a whoosh, like the torpedo leaving the tube would sound on a submarine, while the 'outside the ship' sound was the 'peew' sound from hitting the guywire of a power pole. The sound used in STV was the whoosh of the 'inside the ship' sound.
 
Why does a studio let an actor come up with a premise and/or write? Isn't that what writers are for?

I guess I can see directing, since they've been on sets for many hours of their lives. Maybe. On the other hand you read of people who worked their way up and labored for years as assistant directors. Something to be said for learning your craft.
 
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