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1. Judge Dread :verified: (judgedread@freespeechextremist.com)'s status on Saturday, 02-Dec-2023 00:26:25 JST Judge Dread :verified:

   • pistolero :thispersondoesnotexist:
   @p The original transporter effect for Star Trek was done by filming Alka Seltzer tablets churning away in water. Look closely and you can tell it's that, not the widely reported but false claim that it was gold glitter falling in a spotlight.
   • Machismo likes this.
   • Judge Dread :verified: (judgedread@freespeechextremist.com)'s status on Saturday, 02-Dec-2023 10:25:27 JST Judge Dread :verified:

     in reply to

     • pistolero :thispersondoesnotexist:
     @p Yeah, it's likely that the ILM guys who did ST:TNG were misled by the legend of the glitter and so replicated that look. That's why their effect doesn't have the churning turbulent quality of the original.
     
     Ironically it was Richard Edlund, an ILM founder, who did that effect AND designed the Star Trek title typeface, but by 1987 he had left the company to found Boss Films (which did Ghostbusters' effects) so he wasn't around to set them straight.
   • pistolero :thispersondoesnotexist: (p@freespeechextremist.com)'s status on Saturday, 02-Dec-2023 10:25:27 JST pistolero :thispersondoesnotexist:

     in reply to
     @judgedread I think the practical effects like that are always fascinating. There's kind of a flat sameness to a lot of the computer-generated ones.
     
     Incidentally, you know how the "computer" model of the city was done in Escape from New York, right? (It was cheaper to cover the models with white tape so they looked like vector images, then shine a green light on them.) Alex Jones has been using these backgrounds that look a lot like those, but not quite; it turns out that they are intentional, as a reference to the movie, but to avoid licensing issues they generated their own instead of borrowing footage. So the effects from a movie intended to imitate a computer display were then imitated by an actual computer for the show.
   • pistolero :thispersondoesnotexist: (p@freespeechextremist.com)'s status on Saturday, 02-Dec-2023 10:25:28 JST pistolero :thispersondoesnotexist:

     in reply to
     @judgedread Ah, I'd heard glitter swirled in water but I think that was the Patrick Picard one. Alka Seltzer Makes a lot of sense.
   • Judge Dread :verified: (judgedread@freespeechextremist.com)'s status on Saturday, 02-Dec-2023 10:25:34 JST Judge Dread :verified:

     in reply to

     • pistolero :thispersondoesnotexist:
     @p Oh yes, I have the issue of Cinefex where that is described.
     
     Opening narration is done by Jamie Lee Curtis.
     
     You know how old FX men did lightning?
     
     They took pictures of tree branches against a white backdrop then overlaid the negative on a cloud backdrop.
     
     Many such cases!