Star Trek's and Babylon 5's special effects

[B5JMS Poster]

Subject: Star Trek's and Babylon 5's special effects
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 No. | DATE        |  FROM
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s  1: Sep 20, 1996: tlh153 at psu.edu (tlh153)
*  2: Sep 21, 1996: jmsatb5 at aol.com (Jms at B5)

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From: tlh153 at psu.edu (tlh153)
Lines: 51

At 9:36 PM 9/20/96, Mollenhoff wrote:
>Hi man.
>
>I got the impression you also like the battle scenes (I sure do), have you 
>seen the DS9 episode "Shattered Mirror"?
>
>Regards,
>  Christoffer

Yes, I do watch DS9 and Voyager.  I've seen every Star Trek episode in
existence with the exception of the Animated Series and DS9: "Meridian"
(ran out of tape).  In fact, I'm an original Star Trek fan...I started
watching TOS 3 years before TNG was born.  Fortunately, TNG came just
when I was getting tired of Kirk and crew...9! years ago...(wow...time
flies).  I think TNG was the best Star Trek to date.  TOS would come
next.  DS9 is steadily climbing.  VOY needs alot of help.

And yes, I do like the battle scenes.  Very perceptive of you.  I think
I enjoy the battles for different reasons than most people.  Since I
realize the work that goes into those special effects, I look at the
battle scenes from a technical standpoint.  Take "Shattered Mirror." 
The creators must have spent ALOT of time on that one scene, trying to
make models look like real ships.

The same with Babylon 5.  The REAL reason I started watching B5 is NOT
because of the great story...I wanted to see the computer animation! 
I'm an electrical engineer, so the technical side interested me more
than the drama....that hooked me later.  But anyway, during the first
season of B5, I wasn't thinking "Oh no!  All the Centauri are dying!" 
I was thinking, "Awesome software!" :)

BTW, have you ever read HOW Star Trek creates its space scenes?  It's
not as simple as flying the model past the camera (although that's how
it was done in Star Wars).   Nope, first they fly the model past and
film it.  Then they turn off the lights and fly it past again with the
tiny windows lit.  Then they fly it past with the warp core and scanner
dish lit.   Then they fly it past with the ships' tiny spotlights lit. 
Finally, they take a picture of the stars.  When all that's done, they
past all the pieces together using computer software.

Then they move onto ship number two.

Now THAT'S what I call patience!


Well, it's almost time for the new Sliders premiere.  I told this guy
in Canada that I would tape the entire season of Sliders in exchange
for "Macross," a Japanese animated series.  He says it's similar to B5,
because it's a continuing storyline.   We shall see.....



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From: jmsatb5 at aol.com (Jms at B5)
Lines: 18

The only problem with comparing B5 and ST EFX is that more and more, ST is
going to our mode of doing things.  The first new Voyager ep up this
season had most of their space EFX provided by Foundation, the CGI company
we've been using.  So the fundamental elements were the same, by the same
people, using the same technology, at the same company.  

On the theory that one doesn't deliberately do things that will be
*inferior* to what you have done before, that the ST shows are gradually
changing over to CGI, in many cases from the same people that provided our
CGI, would seem to imply that they themselves have decided it's
better...which makes the whole discussion kinda moot.


 jms



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