Favourite Special Effect

[Stabbim the Skutter]

That split-second effect in Gunmen of the Apocalypse as Kryten plugs himself into the mainframe is absolutely stunning, and it looks impossible for its time.

I’m also stilled wowed to this day at the shot where Cat high-fives himself.

[GlenTokyo]

Apart from the design of the sets, which is great but not quite Bibby great, I’d say Dave Dwarf is excellent in everything but the space ships. Kryten in XI and XII is very well done even though it looks odd to some, but that’s out of their hands obviously since it’s Robert changing shape. The costumes, make up, lighting, creature effects, graphic design and most of the CG is tremendous in general and especially for what it is (a Dave original TV show) but the models and their filming can’t hold a candle to 1-VI (and the few model shots in VII)

[Moonlight]

Why does the 24 foot bigature look no bigger than the 8 foot original Dwarf?

[GlenTokyo]

>Why does the 24 foot bigature look no bigger than the 8 foot original Dwarf?

I was looking at the BTS stuff for that bigature, the half of Red Dwarf with no engines, not the Dwarf Borg Cube one, and as far as I can tell it has no more detail than the full model, it’s just bigger. In fact some of the detail is flatter and less impressive, or missing.

Surely the point of it is to add smaller details to make the ship seem bigger, but the windows are the same size in relation to the ship, the greeblies are the same just scaled up, there’s no obvious extra anything that I can see. They could have scored panel lines in, or made the windows tiny so it seemed like a ship with thousands of floors not hundreds, little marks where meteorites have scarred the hull etc.

Genuinely don’t understand it. It has light bleed out the arse too. Which was surely one of the reasons they wanted something new to film, the pencil having warped a tad and letting the light through the parts where it’s come unstuck.

[Ben Saunders]

I was disappointed with the crash in Twentica partly because it looks a bit shite and partly because I saw people (I think on here) saying it was amazing before I had the chance to watch it. The fakest looking part is traversing the wormhole and the way the sand interacts with the model after the actual impact. Is it real sand or CG sand? I would believe the latter

[Ben Saunders]

The light bleed is tragic, makes it look more fake than anything else. Is it really twenty-four feet though? Christ. The original model shots from Series I are absolutely fantastic, stellar for a TV show. Only the opening shot of Trial of a Timelord competes with it, with Trial losing out because the way the camera moves in that shot makes me uncomfortable

[bloodteller]

An FX shot in the Dave era that really bugs me is the Starbug takeoff in Cured. It’s done really weirdly what with the CGI background and all, made even weirder by the way it takes off making it look completely weightless. It’s meant to be a big bulky spaceship, not a hollowed-out shell.

[bloodteller]

Starbug is actually a massive chocolate Easter egg in XII, presumably

[Dax101]

I think its unfair in some ways to compare modern Dwarf effects to early Dwarf effects due to advances in technology and stuff… but saying that, the effects of having several Rimmers and Listers on screen is impressive and the invisibility effects were also quite impressive. but thats kinda the only effects that really stand out to me. a fair amount of the Model shots don’t really compare to the early shows and the shot in Officer Rimmer where Rimmers costume changes looks quite bad for 2017/2018. somehow they lined up transition shots much better in the 90s than they do today. same with the polymorphs changing into things where the shot isn’t keeping still for some reason.

The effects that most stand out to me are the series 6 effects and thats only because it was 1993, sitcom budget with Limited CGI if any for the time and there are still effects i question how they were pulled off. the smooth transition between Kryten going for his guns and the doves appearing is one id like to know how they did.

[Dave]

The splitscreen stuff is some of the series’ best work I think. You never even question stuff like the multiple incarnations in Demons and Angels or the Ace and Rimmer scenes as being anything other than two characters in the room at the same time.

I only ever find it slightly distracting when the two versions are identical-looking, like the two Rimmers in Me2 or the two Listers in Psirens, because it reinforces the idea that this is the same actor in the same costume being filmed separately and then put together. But having said that I still think the double-Cat in Camille is one of the best of the lot.

[Pete Part Three]

Dona DiStefano’s hat – come on, you didn’t suspect a thing until you heard the truth.

[Ben Saunders]

Knowing how split screen is done and and being able to see the line thanks to the joy of DVD ruins some of the illusion like in Me², but other instances like Stasis Leak still look phenomenal. Also knowing that the model shots of two Red Dwarfs is just a composite and that all the models fly in straight lines is disappointing. Ah, to be young again.

There’s a shot in a Star Trek episode where they have to show dour Constitution class starships in one shot and it’s just tragic how it’s obviously four shots of the same model slapped alongside eachother with the splits as obvious as four-player splitscreen on GoldenEye.

They’ve done much more interesting shots with two and even three ships before as well

[flanl3]

The opening Samsara sequence is always utterly haunting. Before you disagree with me on this, I suggest you go back and watch it – I always think I’m going to be underwhelmed and never am. The only disappointing bit is that starfield flickering.

[GlenTokyo]

>The opening Samsara sequence is always utterly haunting. Before you disagree with me on this, I suggest you go back and watch it – I always think I’m going to be underwhelmed and never am. The only disappointing bit is that starfield flickering

It is very good. And all CG (until you get to Red Dwarf)

[Ben Saunders]

The CG is better than the model effects

[bloodteller]

Mostly. The mining torpedo in Officer Rimmer looks a bit dodgy I think

[Jawscvmcdia]

Bumping so as to compliment Mr-Stabby’s thread about a similar topic.

[Author]

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