10 Worst CGI Moments In Star Trek

hello Marcos bronzy here for trek culture now trek has forever been about pushing the boundaries in both storytelling and the technology that's on the show I mean they were using iPads and pads well before we had the first I anything so when it comes to production is fair to say that the hundreds if not thousands of people involved used everything available to make it look as real as possible for the audience whenever they could and some of the finest shots in the franchise were filmed on a shoestring budget whilst others required the touch of industry leaders like Industrial Light and Magic ILM gave us the stunning flyby shots of the enterprise-d using the fiberglass model and some fancy camera work today these moments of beauty can be created purely in digital studios and most of the time they look damn good but this list is not about those moments this list is about the other moments this list is about pixels and renders that for one reason or another just did not come off these are the 10 worst CGI moments in Star Trek number 10 Star Trek - Wrath of Khan the Genesis wave I could almost see the comments already what how could he that's terrible what it's a classic film so just to be clear this is an example of a bad scene from an otherwise fantastic movie it's widely accepted that Star Trek - Wrath of Khan is one-off if not the best Star Trek film so aiming criticism at it is a bit sacrilegious however fair's fair and the animation in this scene come on covered come on it's not ideal is it whilst it's certainly iconic and was reused for Star Trek for the voyage home it's not a good reflection on the ability of the franchise to deliver the beautiful visuals that it would come to be known by it was a long sequence as well 60 seconds of pure CGI in 1982 is a big ask and it's of a quality that had never been attempted before but perhaps this is an example of the guys starting to run before they could walk however model work in the Wrath of Khan does elevate the film and the entire sequence in the Matara Nebula is a classic example of why real studio models will use right up until Star Trek Voyager they may be more cumbersome but they delivered a beautiful punchy shot number nine Star Trek Voyager in the flesh species 8472 aka bad boys of the universe with a largest scale entirely digital race that were created for Star Trek Voyager and so singling them out may come across a slightly harsh however this particular scene lands on the list because it's such a disappointing entry to species 8472 s canon the doctor administers a treatment that will reverse a DNA sequencing to reveal an alien in place of a Starfleet officer both the doctor and Jane will show shock and fear however the thing they fear is neither shocking nor frightening for their first appearance in the show species 8472 was shrouded mostly in darkness so when we see this full CGI scene we are supposed to be treated to something very special however the digital creature superimposed in this sickbay set with two defined actors serving to highlight the soft cgi edge in the foreground I mean humans and CGI at this time just just didn't work and with the limitations of television budgeting available it's entirely forgivable to attempt this as the alternative option would be a guy in a suit and in a few moments I'll let you know why that is not a good idea number 8 Star Trek the final frontier overall effects the final frontier has its problems it was beset with production issues from the off not least because of the rush production schedule and however for the purpose of this list its biggest drawback was the fact that Industrial Light and Magic the people I gave great praise for at the top of this list who had provided a fix on all three previous films were working hard on Indiana Jones The Last Crusade this meant they were unavailable to cover the effects in this movie and it really shows plus Shatner insisted on seeing all of the visuals for the effects adding large amounts of time to change anything he didn't like which meant less time to polish the look of the final effects the ending sequence was originally planned to feature fire-breathing rahman and was replaced with a blob of light that would chase Kirk and good thing they did because the results of an actor in a suit made of fake rocks looked as ridiculous as it sounds however one massive positive the film has while nothing to do with the effects was the glorious return of Jerry Goldsmith to score the film bringing back the Star Trek March from the motion picture redeeming number 7 Star Trek Voyager macrocosm the macro virus encountered by Voyager had to be the potential to be a terrifying enemy to defeat instead the soft focus balloony looking creatures just serve to add to the hilarity of the overall episode there are several issues with this season 3 entry I mean how did boy 2 get to access those new phaser rifles whilst the idea of Janeway taken on a Ripley role itself would make for a great episode of Star Trek the fact is she's fighting creatures that look like this and this and that mmm they completely deflate any sense of menace or drama from the scenario and what's even more frustrating about these characters is that Star Trek Voyager had already shown some fairly impressive CGI work at the time I mean that whole ship was CGI many scenes in the first season stand out the entire Grendel sequence from heroes and demons for example are also far superior so whilst these creatures are not as bad as some of the other entries on this list they do stand out as an awkward page in voyagers history and they'll conceive the idea from the beginning the entire scenario is best forgotten number 6 Star Trek Enterprise stigma this is an example of scenery which is often far easier to render than close-up shots of alien races this is also an example of a mistake this cityscape appeared in the Star Trek universe after the beautiful display of the cityscape of Romulus for Star Trek nemesis there's a little argument to be had to the people in this shot are so clearly of Sims quality there is a wonder where they were even introduced to begin with these are far away shots and technically they should be better than the up-close issues that we had with some of the Xindi that we'll talk about in a moment all the macro viruses from Voyager but what seems to be on display is a rush job put into a scene with the hope of revisiting at a later stage but instead they just said you know what leave it in no one will notice we noticed kinda shot from the episode will probably improve the whole scene as a whole number 5 insurrection Admiral Dougherty's death now this entry appears here not just for the obvious visual issue on display but also for the fact that this film should have delivered way more following on the heels of the fantastic Star Trek first contact insurrection was a hotly anticipated sequel the tone opted for a more upbeat and hopeful message which was a bit jarring after the pitch blackness of the Borg plot that's aside it is the first film in the franchise to rely entirely on CGI that is largely successful in delivering the shots of the enterprise-e arm ah beautiful mwah Melissa Moore and the sona's fleet is terrifically rendered the first CGI floors however start to show in the shuttle battle between data Worf and Picard but these are forgivable the as skin stretching technology is less forgivable when demonstrated on f Murray Abraham's were our foe the makeup in place takes some of the edge off the CGI the mask he wears is already stretched and twisted and pulled apart so some CGI help doesn't make much of an impact however when the fully intact face of Anthony zerbies Admiral Dougherty is thrown down into the machine the issues explode in your face I mean it's a roughly five second long scene and it Rob's any of the dramatic impact why well the old man has just received a beating which was uncomfortable to watch I mean the horror of his impending murder is looming it's good enough and then to deflate everything his face is stretched like putty it's an unfortunate end to what should have been a tense and upsetting scene instead we just got to watch somebody get photoshopped to death number 4 Star Trek Voyager basics suffering many of the same issues that other Voyager entries on this list faced the her no nyan land deal was meant to be a terrifying creature of dread it had the honor of being the first entirely CGI created creature for Star Trek Voyager and whilst this was ambitious it's also a victim of this ambition I'll show you what the first shot of the eel shown in this image has it wrapped up and waiting and it looks like it's a matte painting until it moves another example of CGI crashing horribly with these actors in the scene there is something positive to be said about this though and that is these initial attempts pushed cgi artists further and further allowing for greater displays of imagery in later seasons I mean this would be the precursor to the other non humanoid creatures like the macro virus and species 8472 but without this rubbery poorly put together eel Star Trek may not have had the bravery to push forward into the CGI achievements it would later display number 3 Star Trek Enterprise the Xindi aquatic Enterprise season 3 pushed the boundaries with its CGI and it is responsible for the rise in the show's overall quality the inclusion of five separate races of zindies was a fantastic idea demonstrating the differences in evolution of a race in ways that couldn't have been touched on before the primates the reptilian and the boreal races all look excellent and make up for each of these have varying layers and intensity and they're a triumph but the latter two races however while certainly ambitious let the side down for everyone the Xindi aquatic race exactly what it sounds like is a water dwelling element of the Xindi Council there is very little to say other than that they look so out of place among most of the rest of the characters they it begs the question why the production team had to include them now this criticism does not extend to their ships because they look pretty cool but then themselves ain't looking too sexy they are perhaps let down most by the now common theme of having to interact with real actors in scenes I told you CT eyes and humans in the naughties just didn't work they had an advanced far enough to make it look convincing and these guys just came off as projected cartoons on the other side of a piece of glass however they are only the second worst of his indie races number two Star Trek Enterprise the Xindi insectoid the Xindi insectoid race were billed as fearsome hot-headed and scary but when it came to it they weren't really that threatening they inevitably cool to the mind the similar woeful Jeannot ziens from Star Trek episode 2 Attack of the Clones they are like the aquatics entirely rendered through CGI but the budget really does show whenever they are on the screen they are shown most often alongside the reptilian race and it only serves to do an injustice to them both the reptilians are supposed to be fearsome and deadly to which they are most certainly are I mean when they're alone thanks to a combination of acting and fantastic makeup they're convincing but there is no strong acting to reconcile the dreadful cgi displays for the Xindi insectoids here showing them in the room of the rest and having other actors react to them so seriously as sometimes unintentionally hilarious like I said if there's a positive to take from this is the fact that the limitations that were shown here gave rise to the need for greater budgets and more technology when it came to attempting things like this number one Star Trek Enterprise the gone but I mean this is a winner the absolute winner of worse has to go to the Gorn the very same creature that will probably win any list for worst makeup and costuming as well now the final season of enterprise has many of the best episodes on the show two such episodes of the two-parter in a mirror darkly they are set entirely in the mirror universe and there are a lot of fun watching the crew play out evil versions of themselves along with boarding a 60s accurate version of the USS Defiant I mean there's even a fowling in the episode which looks pretty good all things considered you simply just have to see the funny side I mean I've said it a few times in this list but let me spell it out to you humans and CGI at this time just did not mix well not in this case anyway I don't even want to think about how Scott Bakula felt rolling around on the floor with well was it nothing was it another actor I mean I'll go as far as to say I prefer the one that Kurt for in the original series arena some people say that they think this poor quality was an intentional and tongue-in-cheek move from the enterprise croon if you look at it like that then I guess it completely adds to the hilarity of the episode maybe one day the Gorn will appear in either discovery or Picard where they might be represented as a more formidable race or they might just have somebody in a rubber suit who knows thanks to this wonderful CGI offering they remain the funniest and cuddliest warrior race in the Star Trek canon so there you have it ten of the worst CGI moments in Star Trek what do we miss let us know in the comments below and also make sure you subscribe and give us a follow on Twitter at Trek culture I want all social medias Marcus bronzy that spoke ma rcus B ro n zy peace [Music]

Channel: TrekCulture

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Keywords: Star, Trek, Picard, Discovery, Enterprise, Next, Generation, Voyager, Deep, Space, Nine, DS9, Defiant, Original, Series, pike, Next Generation, Generations, Wrath of Khan, Khan, Wrath, Motion Picture, Motion, Picture, CGI, Effects, Visual Effects, VFX, Computer Generated, Special Effects, Render, After Effects, ILM, Industrial light and magic, macrocosm, gorn, the gorn, species 8472, final frontier, william shatner, star trek, film, movies, filmmaking, cinema, television, xindi, aquatic, insectoid, council

Id: 6BPOaWjvW3c

Length: 14min 15sec (855 seconds)

Published: Sat Apr 18 2020