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Special Effects in B5

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  • #1

    Special Effects in B5

    With LightStorm mentioning CGI on the ôWhat does your user name mean?ö thread and previous discussion of the requests for bids going out to ILM and Weta, it got me thinking about the effects for B5 and wondered if there was any interest in discussing our favorite and least favorite effects during the run of B5. IÆve never been a big fan of effects for the sake of effects (Star Trek: The Motion Picture was a disappointment for me because of that,) but I feel as though B5 really used the effects in service of the story and quite often the scenes that stand out for me were as much about visual storytelling as good effects. I apologize if this topic has been talked to death over the years, but since this is the only board IÆve participated in and I didnÆt see it as a topic here.

    To (hopefully ) start the discussion off, the destruction of the Narn colony/listening post in the Coming of Shadows springs to mind. The shadow vessels carving up the station and leaving glowing ends behind was very dramatic, especially coming on the heels of LondoÆs dream.

    What do you all think?
    "That was the law, as set down by Valen. Three castes: worker, religious, warrior."
    Tags: None
  • #2
    Ya, the scene just described was simply put the best damned effects shot in S2. The music was, in constrast to many other instances in the season, phenomenal, as was the deadly grace and tact of the shadow vessels.

    Though I do think it would have benifited from having a few shots of the Narn civilian ships' interior, f. ex. a shot of a child gazing through a porthole as the Shadow Vessels begin targeting his ship. Still though, thats a minor quip.

    I think most fans will agree that all the aspects of the show, be it the writing, music and FX, really came together by mid-late S3.

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    • #3
      A really sweet shot is at the end of season 3. Londo on the observation deck. looking out the window of that Centauri cruiser in the bombardment fleet.
      "I am not a number! I am a free man!"

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      • #4
        <<A really sweet shot is at the end of season 3. Londo on the observation deck. looking out the window of that Centauri cruiser in the bombardment fleet.>>

        Season 2.
        Recently, there was a reckoning. It occurred on November 4, 2014 across the United States. Voters, recognizing the failures of the current leadership and fearing their unchecked abuses of power, elected another party as the new majority. This is a first step toward preventing more damage and undoing some of the damage already done. Hopefully, this is as much as will be required.

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        • #5
          I think where I remember the most amazing scenes with CG are in late S3 and all of S4. simply because that is where, I would say, there was the most CGI sequences in the entire series. one that sticks out well is the white star attack on the vorlon outpost.
          "It is said that the future is always born in pain. The history of war is the history of pain. If we are wise, what is born of that pain matures into the promise of a better world, because we learn that we can no longer afford the mistakes of the past." -- G'Kar in Babylon 5:"In the Beginning"

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          • #6
            The Vorlon fleet coming out of the jumpgate in The Gathering.
            Maybe it looks quaint now, but back then it made a big impression on me.


            The final fate of the Babylon 5 station...
            A most impressive and dramatic EFX sequence IMO.

            And several in between those points...
            Such... is the respect paid to science that the most absurd opinions may become current, provided they are expressed in language, the sound of which recalls some well-known scientific phrase
            James Clerk Maxwell (1831-79)

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            • #7
              Babylon 5 not only shined when it comes to those epic space battles. Imo, they have done a lot of things that weren't so obvious but still groundbreaking. In the very first episode they "introduced" physics for the space battle scenes. This made many of the space battles so enjoyable. Where else could you see maneuvers of fighters like a fullstop, 180░degree turn and firing?

              They did the CGI feeder in "Grail", the technomage monster in "Geometry of Shadows". They used composite shots to make the show more epic. You can see the pilots in the furies. The ground troops leaving their transports in "Gropos". The various shots in "The Face of the enemy", were you could see the battle from inside of the white star and at the same time parts of the ship regenerating. They did a lot of these things and they were the FIRST in TV doing this stuff.
              Last edited by chaostaenzer; 08-19-2004, 02:01 PM.

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              • #8
                yeah I like how the show that battles are NOT 2 dimensional in space. when a fleet of shadows was flying through, from a perspective that could be percieved as "below" them, the Vorlons jumped out of hyperspace and began an "upward" assault and attacked them. NOTE: I used quotes because there is no correct position in space, just how you percieve it. but that is what I have found the best about the space fights, they come from all angles.
                "It is said that the future is always born in pain. The history of war is the history of pain. If we are wise, what is born of that pain matures into the promise of a better world, because we learn that we can no longer afford the mistakes of the past." -- G'Kar in Babylon 5:"In the Beginning"

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                • #9
                  but that is what I have found the best about the space fights, they come from all angles.
                  Well, JMs went to great lengths to get that stuff Right.

                  With the enthusiastic help of people from NASA and the Jet Propulsion Laboratory.

                  There was even a weekly "Babylon 5 Viewing Group" at NASA Cape Canaberal.
                  They were Stone Fans.

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                  • #10
                    <<They were Stone Fans.>>

                    START ME UP! Come on and start me up!
                    Recently, there was a reckoning. It occurred on November 4, 2014 across the United States. Voters, recognizing the failures of the current leadership and fearing their unchecked abuses of power, elected another party as the new majority. This is a first step toward preventing more damage and undoing some of the damage already done. Hopefully, this is as much as will be required.

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                    • #11
                      Originally posted by Z'ha'dumDweller
                      START ME UP! Come on and start me up!
                      Next you'll be asking for Sympathy for the Devil! Of course, the devil puts me in mind of The Long Dark, where they had some effects that didn't work quite so well. The Soldier of Darkness concept of the shadow allies gathering was an interesting device, but the effect of the "Soldier" being taken out was a little weak.

                      [Edited for grammar. Oops]
                      Last edited by WorkerCaste; 08-20-2004, 07:39 AM.
                      "That was the law, as set down by Valen. Three castes: worker, religious, warrior."

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                      • #12
                        The moment when the White star came through the glass dome on Z'ha'dum and Sheridan jumped down the pit.

                        really good SFX moments from B5.
                        Duracell Bunny is arrested and charged with BATTERY!!

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                        • #13
                          Maybe JMS named The Long Night The Long Night because it rocked and he wanted to make up for The Long Dark.
                          Recently, there was a reckoning. It occurred on November 4, 2014 across the United States. Voters, recognizing the failures of the current leadership and fearing their unchecked abuses of power, elected another party as the new majority. This is a first step toward preventing more damage and undoing some of the damage already done. Hopefully, this is as much as will be required.

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                          • #14
                            Yes, the dome coming apart was a good shot, but the explosion was WAAAAY to short-lived.

                            It should have zoomed out for a more top down perspective, giving us good vew of the base as the explosion expanded outward (or something like that). Possibly slow motion here. Anyways it could have been done better with more of an ooomf.

                            And Sheridans fatefull leap, well, every time I watch it, all I see is his,er, backside sticking out a bit to much. And here I was expecting a courageous dive......

                            Last edited by nanorc; 08-21-2004, 10:22 AM.

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                            • #15
                              I generally found the FX to be workmanlike in B5. There were certainly some amazing effects, but they worked when the story and music worked and failed when the story and music didn't.

                              Examples of the former include what has been mentioned, plus the "Death Ride of the Churchill" and the "Liberation of Emphili." Examples of the latter include the "Revelation of Kosh" and the "Foiling of the Rogue Telepaths at the Barrier (Season 5)."

                              The big space battles were well enough done, but it was apparent that many of the ships were just copied images of the other ships. The show succeeded in transitioning from one scene to another deftly enough to make this effect inconsequential, but you can understand JMS's desire not to focus on the battle scenes too much, as they could not have borne that kind of scrutiny on the budget allowed*.

                              * Severed Dreams being the apparent exception. They really dwelled on the battle scenes in that episode.
                              I believe that when we leave a place, part of it goes with us and part of us remains. Go anywhere in the station, when it is quiet, and just listen. After a while, you will hear the echoes of all our conversations, every thought and word we've exchanged. Long after we are gone .. our voices will linger in these walls for as long as this place remains. But I will admit .. that the part of me that is going .. will very much miss the part of you that is staying.

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