What was your favorite SF special effects of all time?

[willpittenger]

Please adjust your opinions so that the level of special effects technology for the 1960's can be compared with today's. Eventually, if I see three people all agreeing on one special effect, I will add that special effect to a poll. Please list the movie or TV show in which the special effect was used rather than simply naming a technology. Two artists will use the same effect differently and with different amounts of success. <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <hr style="margin-top:0.5em;margin-bottom:0.5em" />Will Pittenger<hr style="margin-top:0.5em;margin-bottom:0.5em" />Add this user box to your Wikipedia User Page to show your support for the SDC forums: <div style="margin-left:1em">{{User:Will Pittenger/User Boxes/Space.com Account}}</div> </div>

 

[mcbethcg]

The problem with special effects is that if they are done really well, you are sometimes unaware of them.<br /><br />The virtual city in gladiator<br />The land of oz in the wizard of oz<br />The space battle scenes in the first star wars movie.

 

[a_lost_packet_]

<font color="yellow">mcbethcg - The problem with special effects is that if they are done really well, you are sometimes unaware of them. </font><br /><br />Very true.<br /><br />It's amazing the amount of "special effects" work that goes into even the most mundane movie. A city street may not be a "city street" but a CG image superimposed over a few functional backlot buildings. A ray of sunshine may be some hefty postwork to get it "just right."<br /><br />The way to judge a "special effect" is that if it is obvious, it's not that good. Some of the best special effects take reading the credits in order to discover them. <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <font size="1">I put on my robe and wizard hat...</font> </div>

 

[datalor]

I will probably have about 20 more to add once I think about it for a bit, but the first movie that springs to mind is "Apollo 13" <br />It looked like you were watching the actual footage from the rocket launch, then found out Ron Howard used none of the original footage. <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> </div>

 

[docm]

In the recent King Kong remake they created a 3D model that incorporated >90,000 buildings of the 1930's New York City region. Manhattan Island was 3D as well as parts of New Jersey, Brooklyn, and Queens, not to mention the effects on Skull Island. NYC took 2 years to model & render.<br /><br />It won awards all over the place including the Oscar for Special Effects. <br /><br />You might be interested in this illustrated CGarchitect interview with Chris White, CG Supervisor for the New York sequences; <br /><br />link.... <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> </div>

 

[a_lost_packet_]

Last night I was reading some articles on interviews with the team that did Gollum in LoTR. Just the number of shader layers in his skin was enough to give me goosebumps. <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <font size="1">I put on my robe and wizard hat...</font> </div>

 

[Mee_n_Mac]

I don't know if this would be my all time favorite, but I like it. Amazing, especially given when it was made. I think it's withstood the test of time and SFX advancements very well.<br /><br />Enjoy MW, enjoy <img src="/images/icons/smile.gif" /><br /><br />{Yes, that's a hint}<br /> <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <p>-----------------------------------------------------</p><p><font color="#ff0000">Ask not what your Forum Software can do do on you,</font></p><p><font color="#ff0000">Ask it to, please for the love of all that's Holy, <strong>STOP</strong> !</font></p> </div>

 

[a_lost_packet_]

All that hand drawing on all those cells.. Good lord that'd cause a cramp wouldn't it?<br /><br /><dash dash dash dash dash dash /> /sigh <dash dash dash dash dash...><br /><br /><img src="/images/icons/smile.gif" /><br /><br />That monster scared the beejesus out of me when I saw it as a kid. My dad was watching it one Saturday Night and I stayed up to see it. All I can remember is the ID's scream and a bunch of electricity rolling around. Cool stuff. <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <font size="1">I put on my robe and wizard hat...</font> </div>

 

[vogon13]

The 'Star Gate' sequence in 2001.<br /><br /><br />I thought the rising and failing ring effect that turned the 'robot' into an 'android' in Metropolis was really cool.<br /><br /><br />Cheesiest effect I like to this day:<br /><br />b/w Lost in Space meteor storm clobbering the Jupiter 2.<br /><br /><br />{secret: the spacecraft model was hung vertically and little wadded up balls of aluminum foil was dropped on it.}<br /><br /><br /> <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <p><font color="#ff0000"><strong>TPTB went to Dallas and all I got was Plucked !!</strong></font></p><p><font color="#339966"><strong>So many people, so few recipes !!</strong></font></p><p><font color="#0000ff"><strong>Let's clean up this stinkhole !!</strong></font> </p> </div>

 

[vogon13]

The 'Dark City' rotating into the sun was best modern style CGI effect.<br /><br />{till I think of another}<br /><br /> <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <p><font color="#ff0000"><strong>TPTB went to Dallas and all I got was Plucked !!</strong></font></p><p><font color="#339966"><strong>So many people, so few recipes !!</strong></font></p><p><font color="#0000ff"><strong>Let's clean up this stinkhole !!</strong></font> </p> </div>

 

[vogon13]

T-1000 terminator 'reversing itself' (front to back) after being slammed (ineffectually) into a wall, was pretty good.<br /><br /> <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <p><font color="#ff0000"><strong>TPTB went to Dallas and all I got was Plucked !!</strong></font></p><p><font color="#339966"><strong>So many people, so few recipes !!</strong></font></p><p><font color="#0000ff"><strong>Let's clean up this stinkhole !!</strong></font> </p> </div>

 

[a_lost_packet_]

<font color="yellow">vogon13 - {secret: the spacecraft model was hung vertically and little wadded up balls of aluminum foil was dropped on it.} </font><br /><br />SPOILER ALERT! <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <font size="1">I put on my robe and wizard hat...</font> </div>

 

[vogon13]

Well, <br /><br />just watching the episode, it is pretty evident the special effects budget was about three fiddy . . . <br /><br /><br /> <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <p><font color="#ff0000"><strong>TPTB went to Dallas and all I got was Plucked !!</strong></font></p><p><font color="#339966"><strong>So many people, so few recipes !!</strong></font></p><p><font color="#0000ff"><strong>Let's clean up this stinkhole !!</strong></font> </p> </div>

 

[yevaud]

Er, the TARDIS traversing a Wormhole? (Especially in the new seasons)<br /><br />[had to throw that one in] <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <p><em>Differential Diagnosis:  </em>"<strong><em>I am both amused and annoyed that you think I should be less stubborn than you are</em></strong>."<br /> </p> </div>

 

[a_lost_packet_]

<font color="yellow">vogon13 - the special effects budget was about three fiddy . . . </font><br /><br />lmao <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <font size="1">I put on my robe and wizard hat...</font> </div>

 

[pyoko]

Star Wars Episone IV: A New Hope. I loves the miniatures, the way they looked huge. Although you can see the green "cutout" rectangles around some. I went to a Star Wars exhibition once, and saw the large Star Destroyer model. It was HUGE. I mean like 6 meters long or something. And the 'details' on it are recognisable. Bits and pieces you would find around the workshop lol. <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <p> </p><p> </p><p><span style="color:#ff9900" class="Apple-style-span">-pyoko</span> <span style="color:#333333" class="Apple-style-span">the</span> <span style="color:#339966" class="Apple-style-span">duck </span></p><p><span style="color:#339966" class="Apple-style-span"><span style="color:#808080;font-style:italic" class="Apple-style-span">It is by will alone I set my mind in motion.</span></span></p> </div>

 

[CalliArcale]

<blockquote><font class="small">In reply to:</font><hr /><p>The 'Star Gate' sequence in 2001. <p><hr /></p></p></blockquote><br /><br />Ah yes, the slit-scan technique. I bought the DVD release of "Robot", the first Tom Baker episode of Dr Who. They used slit-scan to produce a "time tunnel" effect for the credits, and there's a documentary showing how it is done. It's a laborious process, and 2001 of course had a much longer and more complex slit-scan sequence.<br /><br />A lot of the effects in that movie are superb. Jupiter, Earth, and the Moon are gorgeous. To achieve that luminous effect so critical to the suspension of disbelief, they actually painted them on glass, illuminated them from behind, and then filmed them against a black velvet backdrop. Unfortunately, it was not possible to get Saturn to look right (the rings revealed that the painting was actually flat), so they switched the setting to Jupiter. And now you know why. <img src="/images/icons/wink.gif" /><br /><br />The set for Discovery's centrifuge was amazing -- it actually was a cylinder, rotating as the actors walked. The camera was mounted on a track (which you can see, although they designed it to look as if it was part of the spaceship), allowing the actor to walk at the same rate that the cylinder was turning, with the camera tracking away at the same rate, creating the illusion that he was running along it and "gravity" was to the outside. A smaller rotating set was used aboard the Moon shuttle so the stewardess could appear to be walking around a Velcro surface to change orientation. It's a very simple but extremely effective practical effect.<br /><br />One of the drawbacks of modern CGI, in my opinion, is that practical effects are not used as often anymore. And though practical effects have their drawbacks (and limitations), they are often much more effective.<br /><br />For instance, if "2001" was made now, I would expect to see CGI hominids, a la the BBC's "Walking With Cavemen", which used a comb <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <p> </p><p><font color="#666699"><em>"People assume that time is a strict progression of cause to effect, but actually from a non-linear, non-subjective viewpoint it's more like a big ball of wibbly wobbly . . . timey wimey . . . stuff."</em>  -- The Tenth Doctor, "Blink"</font></p> </div>

 

[willpittenger]

<blockquote><font class="small">In reply to:</font><hr /><p>The movie actually got passed up for an Oscar for costuming in part because most of the Academy voters didn't realize that these were in fact costumes. ... Oddly, "Planet of the Apes" ended up overshadowing the apes of "2001" for this reason -- a sort of unintended backhanded compliment to the production team.<p><hr /></p></p></blockquote><br />As previously noted, the best effects go unnoticed. That is probably the best example I know of. <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <hr style="margin-top:0.5em;margin-bottom:0.5em" />Will Pittenger<hr style="margin-top:0.5em;margin-bottom:0.5em" />Add this user box to your Wikipedia User Page to show your support for the SDC forums: <div style="margin-left:1em">{{User:Will Pittenger/User Boxes/Space.com Account}}</div> </div>

 

[5stone10]

I'm not really a big fan of CGI. It looks cartoonish in most cases. <br /><br />That said, I'd have to cite the scene in <i>The Matrix</i> where Keanu Reeve's character first emerges from his pod to the realization of what the Matrix really is, and that he has spent his entire life in an incubator.

 

[flynn]

Forbidden Planet when the Monster attacks and tries to get through the electical fence.<br /> <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <font color="#800080">"All God does is watch us and kill us when we get boring. We must never, ever be boring" - <strong>Chuck Palahniuk</strong>.</font> </div>

 

[MeteorWayne]

That really looked very good considering the technolgy of the time.<br /><br />Monsters from the Id <img src="/images/icons/smile.gif" /> <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <p><font color="#000080"><em><font color="#000000">But the Krell forgot one thing John. Monsters. Monsters from the Id.</font></em> </font></p><p><font color="#000080">I really, really, really, really miss the "first unread post" function</font><font color="#000080"> </font></p> </div>

 

[cosmictraveler]

They have made some great special effects throughout the years. I remember when I saw King Kong, the original, for the very first time. That was the most awesome picture I had ever seen until then with special effects and a great plot. Since then I've seen so many movies that have had great scenes, like was mentioned, Forbidden Planet, that I cannot say that I can only pick out one that stands above the rest. I believe that through the years we have witnessed so many great special effects in so many movies that I can only say thank you to all those people that made it all happen. You are such gifted and talented people. <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <p>It does not require many words to speak the truth. Chief Joseph</p> </div>

 

[phaze]

I like the opening crash sequence in Pitch Black.

 

[datalor]

Another "Contact" fan. *hugs Eddie* <br />Most people I know hated it, too boring, too convoluted, but I liked it, though I didn't like the ending. And I agree, those whirling rings are just way cool to watch. <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> </div>

 

[willpittenger]

When I started the thread, I should have asked that, when nominating an effect, everyone change the title of the post to include the effect and show. However, I did not, and now I don't know which effects got that 3rd nomination. I know some got two, but I still need help finding the ones with 3. Thanks. Once I have that information, I will set the poll up. <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <hr style="margin-top:0.5em;margin-bottom:0.5em" />Will Pittenger<hr style="margin-top:0.5em;margin-bottom:0.5em" />Add this user box to your Wikipedia User Page to show your support for the SDC forums: <div style="margin-left:1em">{{User:Will Pittenger/User Boxes/Space.com Account}}</div> </div>