[Zardoz]

Originally Posted by kevin

I liked TMP, it was extremely high quality stuff for the time, and achieved without CGI, though all bar V had basically good effects. I liked the original Enterprise destruction sequence. In the CGI era I think my favourite is First Contact, due to how amazing I found the Borg battle the first time I saw it on the big screen. But I think that with the budget and effects tech they now have XI will blow everything else off the screen.

Well said there kevin!

[kevin]

Story aside, I truly can't wait to see the effects on this. See how the ship will look fully rendered! My jaw hit literally hit the floor the first time i saw just the teaser, with the interior parts visible for the first time in scale!

[Zardoz]

Originally Posted by kevin

Story aside, I truly can't wait to see the effects on this. See how the ship will look fully rendered! My jaw hit literally hit the floor the first time i saw just the teaser, with the interior parts visible for the first time in scale!

be interesting to see...

[Oregon_Coast_Trekkie]

CGI is starting to catch up to models in terms of quality, complexity, realism and the like. All of the movies have their high points, although some high points are higher than others. You also have to recognize the time they were made in. For example, the 3-D face rendering in TVH's time travel scene was state of the art at that time.

I think rather than "best" special effects, we should say "favorite" special effects. I liked Nemesis and First Contact effects. I was disappointed that Generations didn't give the close-up shots of the saucer separation that the tv episode did.

[Observer]

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Still not quite sure what they were trying to achieve with the visuals in the ST IV time travel scene, but I have to admit that, for the period, it was well done.

My personal favourite is ST II for the battle scenes. You really got an impression of the size of these ships. I think the later movie battle scenes, in particular the First Contact Borg battle, had the ships flying round like Star Wars fighters rather than the huge machines they were.

[kevin]

I liked that, for example in FC, CGI allowed the ships to soar through space with ease. I agree with the comments about TWOK but I thought that a lot of the time the ships themselves were mor static - there was little fluidity in their movements because of the way physical models could be photographed, whereas CGI can take them and show that although these ships are massive, they have agility and manouverability as well. Which is why I also like the scene where the E sweeps past the Defiant, letting us see the huge size difference between the ships!

[Observer]

I thought that particular clip where the E shot past the Defiant was very good, but some of the other shots had ships that were 100s of metres long flying around like fighter jets - something that I just couldn't get my head around.

[kevin]

I suppose though for a big screen sequence it would have been a lot less impressive if all the starships had been lumbering around the cube at a slow pace, so I think it was the best decision on a visual level. Whether such big ships really could move so fast - I think it's likely but then again, maybe not!

[Oregon_Coast_Trekkie]

If there was any effect I would re-do in TWOK, it would be the Genesis explosion, b/c it could help to answer a plot question: Did the shockwave hit Regula, or did the explosion actually cause a new planet to form? A new effect could clarify that.

[kevin]

I think the explosion itself caused the formation of the planet, since when the Enterprise is moving away from it, it's movonh away from the point of the blast (where Reliant had been). The Genesis device was no-where near Regula when it detonated and the planet itself was much larger the Regula planetoid.