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Nope… :/ I got my post when I was still typing it, though! :S Weeard.
Who’s a technical expert here?
@leumeister I think my opinion shouldn’t count for much in this case, since I’m not an animation fan anyway. 😛 I much prefer live-action. And I’ve been thinking about exactly what kinds I like and don’t like and am having a hard time explaining even to myself so I’m not sure I could tell you specifically what it is I like or don’t like about different styles. I actually didn’t know what Polar Express was, though I’d heard the name, so I looked it up, and I see what you mean about the more realistic portrayal, but for some reason I don’t like that either? 😮 I think it’s just that I’m kind of old fashioned and go for the more classic styles of things. I completely understand the huge amount of work that goes into animation and especially hand-drawn animation, so it makes sense to me that you or others would want to save time and effort by having some of it done by computers. 🙂
I do like CGI in live action movies though, when it’s used for special effects. As long as it’s used reasonably and the movie isn’t completely CGI with nothing left for the actors and directors to do. 😛
Haha, sure, try to change my opinion if you want, though I don’t know that it’ll work, sorry. 😉 I wouldn’t mind liking animated movies, I just don’t right now. And please don’t feel bad that I don’t prefer the styles that you use in your work. As you say, it’s just opinion, and there are lots of people who love those styles.
Well, I’ve seen a little bit of DS9, but only random episodes here and there that my brother picked out as his favorites, so I know all the characters and everything but not really the overarching storyline. I know VOY , TNG, and TOS much better, and VOY is actually my favorite series, so I really liked the reference. 😀
"Sylvester - Sylvester!"
@leumeister Oh, and I think the site sometimes deletes really long posts, and especially if someone tries to edit them. I tried to edit a word on that post because I wanted to correct the grammar, and then it got deleted. It’s happened a few times before to me and other people as well, and editing posts seems to be the most frequent cause.
"Sylvester - Sylvester!"
Fair enough. Even though it’s enjoyed by a wide fanbase, animation could still be considered a niche interest.
I’m glad, though, I could help you understand a bit more about animation. I would be interested in discussing it further if you’re interested. 🙂
Yes, I like VFX as well, and as an animator, I can appreciate all the work that goes into that stuff too. I’ve done camera tracking before, which helps the 3D scene’s camera match up with the 2D movie footage’s camera, and it’s hard!! You have to find points of high contrast to find the movements, orientation, parallax, and if you don’t have a low enough error margin the resulting track will look very fake. And that’s just one problem – a drop in the bucket! You may have a near perfect tracking, but if you don’t get the lighting right it’ll look awful. Or if the rendering isn’t as physically accurate, it will break the illusion. There’s a lot that people need to be on top of.
Yeah, I won’t try. 😛 Perhaps if you find one that you really like, then yeah, but finding it is the tricky part. 😛 I could share a picture of the style I want to aim for, or closish to it anyway if you’re interested. I’m not gonna do Disney, cuz that’s too cartoony, but I don’t want it to be too realistic, because then the characters will fall into the uncanny valley.
Watch. Deep. Space. Nine. Many people attest that DS9 is the best series, and I have to agree. It’s certainly my favorite. It’s very different from regular Trek, though, especially in its later seasons. It’s less episodic and focuses a lot on character development, but, in my opinion, makes it better!
What’s your favorite Voyager episode? I think The Year In Hell was pretty great. Also, what did you think of Voyager’s visual effects? And Species 8472?
Eugh, that’s annoying. :/
@leumeister I’ve researched a lot of the really old hand-drawn animation, including watching short documentaries on the making of Snow White and the Gene Kelly/Jerry Mouse dance sequence which I found very interesting. I also have researched a little bit about special effects used in movies in the 40s-70s. I don’t know much about the newer styles, though. Do you know much about the way they made those movies, or are you just focused on CG animation?
Wow, that does sound extremely complicated.
Of course when I was a little kid I used to watch The Jungle Book and Aristocats, but again, those are in the old hand-drawn style. I’ve seen clips of things like Tangled, Frozen, and Moana, because I wanted to be able to have conversations with people, and I liked them okay, but live-action is definitely my go-to. I did enjoy a few Pixar shorts that my brother showed me, especially the snow globe one. 😉 Sure, show me a picture if you like! Oh, I was just thinking, that’s probably why I like Snow White so much. It’s realistic enough in that her physical proportions and the animals’ proportions are all accurate, but it still is not fully realistic since it’s hand-drawn and flat looking, even though they tried to create depth with layered images during the filming process. It wasn’t nearly as cartoony as the later Disney “princess” movies.
I do like DS9 very much, and the biggest reason I haven’t seen much of it is because my brother told me it’s a lot more violent than the other series are. And I know a lot of people like the overarching storylines, but I prefer the traditional Trek style. I couldn’t dislike DS9, though, since my favorite character is Worf, and he’s there. 😛 Most people think Voyager is the worst series (besides Enterprise, of course. 😉 ) but I like it anyway. Who’s your favorite Star Trek character?
Well, my favorite VOY episode is Future’s End, but everyone laughs at me when I say that so I’ll give you a couple that are probably considered better. I really like the Harry Kim epsiode, Timeless, because Kim is my favorite character from VOY, and I think both Counterpoint and Relativity are very well done. I haven’t seen Year of Hell, but now you’ve recommended it I’ll have to look it up. 🙂 What do I like about Voyager’s special effects? I like the fact that they were still using real makeup and costume design for the aliens and not just a gray/green hood with white dots all over it… 😛 Okay, okay, yeah, the special effects are pretty good. I don’t really pay attention to them when watching unless they’re extremely obvious, since I am much more interested in the acting, so right now all I can think of is that they’re way better than the effects used in TOS, but then, that’s kind of a given, isn’t it? 😛 Species 8472 is okay. Having not seen any full episodes of them or the Borg but having seen both in clips I think I prefer the Borg. (Yeah, I don’t tend to watch the more action-oriented episodes. I like the ethical discussions and moral dilemmas better.)
"Sylvester - Sylvester!"
@rochellaine do you want me to repost your comment?
IMMA KAPEEFER! Til we're old and gray!
It’s been a while, I really need to catch up on this.
@ariella-newheart Kay would rather lead. She runs a secret organization after all.
Alex would rather follow. She tends to like someone to be there that she can count on and not everything be on her.
@rochellaine Kay would be invisible, her job would be easier and she doesn’t want to be extremely well known or a celebrity.
Alex would be invisible too. She would hate it if the person she liked didn’t like her. Not in the romance sense just as friends.
@daughteroftheking Kay would take the aweful memories, because even if they are aweful she can learn from them. Also she would hate to not know who she is.
Some days Alex would rather not remember who she is. But she holds on to her aweful memories so she would choose them.
@leumeister Kay would live action. It would be a spy/secret agent movie.
Alex would be animated. I can’t think of a good example.
@jenwriter17 Kay would go with the perfect life and terrible past. She has learned from her mistakes and now she could enjoy her perfect life. *cough*
Alex would say the same…
@ariella-newheart Kay would choose be feared by all.
Alex would want be loved by all.IMMA KAPEEFER! Til we're old and gray!
@daughteroftheking Kay would face her greatest fear.
Alex would have her secret told.
@dekreel Both say they would be recused. They want to be able to climb.
@jenwriter17 Kay is asking for the jet pack.
Alex wants the parachute. She’s scared if the jet does partly work it will crash and kill her.
@rochellaine Kay would take the medical kit. For injuries and she claims she can also use it as a weapon… *gulp*
Alex would take the gun.
@leumeister Kay would be in a war nearly unstoppable force. Because it is only nearly unstoppable.
Alex would be rather be on Voyager. 😛IMMA KAPEEFER! Til we're old and gray!
@dekreel Katie would rather be rescued, although she would be realy embarrassed and probably choose not to climb anything for a while anyway. But, it’s going to be essential to the plot for her to be able to climb, so hehe *turns to Katie* Sorry about that, dear.
@jenwriter17 Katie would choose the parachute. She would have no idea how to fly a jetpack. Her strategy would be press every button she sees and hope for the best. 😛
@rochellaine Katie would prefer not to be on the battlefield at all. She would never be able to shoot anyone and she despises (and probably faints at) the sight of blood. But if she had to chose, she would take the medical kit.
@leumeister Katie would rather be flung into deep space. Sounds like an adventure!Blog: https://weridasusual.home.blog/
I’m more interested in animation, although I’ve had ideas for live action shows with heavy use of VFX. I’ve actually seen a lot more of pretty decent visual effects in TV shows lately.
It is. And it involves greenscreens sometimes and a lot of white dots. 😛 And a lot of processing power.
Yeah, so did I. Interesting thing I just remembered, when I was really little I used to watch Toy Story 2 every day… I think it was every day. That’s what I’ve been told. 😛 I wonder if that had any effect… 😛
I see what you mean. They didn’t rotoscope, but they used a lot of reference footage for Snow White. It’s pretty amazing at what they were able to do.Yeah, it is, but there’s a good reason for that. There’s a war. 😛 But it’s really good. We’re almost finished watching it. I highly, highly recommend it! ^_^
Wait, what? Voyager the worst? I’ve heard of people complaining about Enterprise, but Voyager? :S
I don’t have a particular, all-time favorite, but I like a lot of characters. Odo, Jake Sisko, Garak, Captain Kathryn Janeway, The Doctor, Dr. Julian Bashir, Worf, Seven of Nine, Jean-Luc Picard, Data, Tuvok, Harry Kim, B’ellana Torres, Icheb, Kira Nerys, Dax, General Martok, Miles, Keiko and Molly O’Brien… I just listed a lot of main characters, in no particular order. 😛What was Future’s End about? Timeless was about the one where Kim had apparently never boarded Voyager, right? And what were Counterpoint and Relativity about again? It’s been awhile since I’ve seen them, and I hadn’t watched all of the episodes. I’m glad Threshold wasn’t on your list. 😛 Counted by many to be one of the worst episodes of Voyager.
Fair enough about the action. I kinda like meself some action. But the stories are good too.
I haven’t seen much of Species 8472 (not sure I want to… they’re creepy!), but what I have seen I appreciate on a technical perspective, because of animation and stuff. Oh! Another episode that I liked, but was freaked out about, was Macrocosm. If you hadn’t seen it, it’s about an alien virus that infects the crew and grows to an alarming size. Oh, and I also liked the one where Chakotay was in a time anomaly, and different places in Voyager were in previous “episodes.” 😛 And the one where Seska and the Kazon stranded the crew on a desert planet and took Voyager.Haha, nice one, you picked up on the reference too. 😛
Is everything you write sci-fi? Do you like other genres at all?
Yes, it’s amazing how much they can do with computer effects in tv shows now, especially when you consider that for Star Trek: TOS the costume and set designers just went to used clothing stores and junk piles for a lot of their stuff since the budget was so small. 😮 I still prefer real makeup to the computer generated alien faces though. TNG Klingons are way better than the ones on Discovery. (No, I’ve only watched the first episode of Discovery, so I don’t know much about it.)
Hahaha! 😛 I don’t think I ever watched anything every day, since we mostly watched stuff when we were sick, but I know there are a few of those old shows and movies that I’ve seen more times than I can count.
My brother is the original trekker in my family, so he’s the one who picks out most of the episodes we watch. That’s why I haven’t even seen Threshold…he said it wasn’t worth it and just told me what happens. 😛 And he has showed me some very good episodes from DS9. I really liked The House of Quark, Little Green Men, The Niners, and the one where everyone’s infected by a virus or something that makes them talk in complete gibberish. Right now I don’t remember, but there were several more which I enjoyed immensely. I really like the fact that Worf and O’Brien are there from TNG because I like them and it’s cool to have them on both series. What do you think of the DS9 tribbles episode? They had to do a lot of computer work to make that happen, and they didn’t even have the nice computers we have now. I actually haven’t seen it yet, but I’ve seen clips of it and have heard that it’s really well done.
Yeah, you basically just listed a whole lot of main characters… 😛 I like all those too, except for Torres, who usually annoys me. 😉 She has a few good scenes, though.
Future’s End is a two part episode where Captain Braxton, (from the 29th century time ship,) accidentally draws Voyager into 21st century Earth and they discover the computer age should never have happened because someone on earth found Braxton’s crashed ship and used 29th century technology to make his “inventions”. I love time travel, and actually Relativity is the other Captain Braxton episode and is also about time travel. In that one Braxton – I just thought of this comparison, but I guess he creates something similar to “flashpoint” because he keeps going back in time until they have three or four of him that they arrest all at the same time. 😀 The end is really funny because of that, but Captain Janeway hates time travel so she’s pretty upset about it all. Timeless is the one where Harry Kim accidentally causes Voyager to crash but escapes to earth while the rest of the crew died, and he sends a message back in time to his younger self so he can correct the mistake and make Voyager not crash. I don’t know how to describe Counterpoint, except that the Voyager is stopped by aliens and boarded for a search because they’re hiding refugees. Janeway is really good in that one.
Nope, I haven’t seen Macrocosm, so I looked it up and I don’t think I want to. 😛 It looks pretty freaky. The Chakotay time anomaly episode is very good. I don’t remember if I’ve seen the other one.
Oh, and I don’t know how people can think Voyager is the worst either, since I love it. Like I said, my brother’s the one I get a lot of my information from and he’s the one who told me that. (He likes Voyager, though!) And I don’t think there are any people who really think VOY is worse than ENT. Just worse than DS9 and TNG and TOS.
"Sylvester - Sylvester!"
Ahh… XD Yeah, I write a lot of sci-fi. I’ve even come up with dramatic reveals that turn a story into a sci-fi story. 😛 I even have modern-day fiction with science fiction elements, like sentient androids. XD I like other genres, but I am almost obsessed with sci-fi! XD I think my love of animation and electronic music contribute to it. 😛 So, yeah. Sci-fi! 😀 😛
Yeah, it’s amazing. Yeah, I agree with you on the Klingons from TNG/VOY/DS9. I thought the Klingons from DIS were makeup as well, though? :/
But remember, if you need something _a lot_ more exotic, like Species 8472, the Founders, or the Tholians, CGI, especially if done well, helps a great deal. The effects in DS9 and VOY show their age, but I am able to appreciate that, at the time, they were absolutely stunning and groundbreaking. I actually kinda like old computer animation. The lack of visual fidelity has some form of aesthetic quality in my opinion. However, I also love photorealism.Ah yeah. 😛 Sick days are good for TV… And for video games, if you’re into that kind of thing. ^_^
Ahh, I see. 😛 Is he on Kingdom Pen? Good call on his part. Yeah… I didn’t like that episode at all, and probably not for the reasons he suggested against it. 😛 Yeah, I liked those three, especially The Niners. I don’t remember the one where they all spoke gibberish… What season was that one in?
Yeah, Trials and Tribblations! XD That one was brilliantly well done. Amazing for the technical limitations of the mid-nineties! 😀Yeah. 😛 But I liked ’em. Oh, I think I forgot to mention Tom Paris. 😛 Why was B’elanna Torres annoying? Was it her Klingonness?
Oh yeah, I liked that episode. And relativity is the one where the Time Police (or whatever they’re called) enlist Seven of Nine, right? Oh, and Timeless had some amazing VFX for Voyager’s crash. It looked like it came straight out of a movie! 😀 Ah, counterpoint was the one with the Devore Imperium, who were quite xenophobic, and especially distrusted telepathic species, and they had to hide them in the transporter buffers.
Yeah, it’s quite creepy, but it’s actually kinda cool at the same time. I think the other episode was called Back to Basics, or The Basics. It was a 2-parter.
Yeah, I enjoyed Voyager as well, even if it did have very creepy parts that stuck in my mind for longer than they should have… :/ I haven’t seen much of ENT, but I think I’d like it better than TOS (that just seems to not take itself seriously enough for me, for some reason. I mean, it tries to, but there’s just something…kind of…cheesy about it? IDK). Possibly because of the low budget, and the fact it was made in the 60s. 😛 IDK, I’ve only seen a few episodes, and I did enjoy them.
@leumeister Ah, dramatic reveals which turn a story into a sci-fi story? Done that. 😛 Though I do mostly write contemporary realistic fiction, with a little bit of sci-fi and some historical fiction.
Oh, yeah. I’ve been looking it up and it seems like the Discovery Klingons did use real makeup. I only saw one episode, and maybe it was the dark lighting or something that made me think it looked not to be…or the fact that I knew a lot of other makeup was computerized so I just assumed…anyway, 😛 in some of the pictures they look a lot smoother than the older Klingons and look to me to be a bit digitally altered, but from what I read, you’re right, it’s real makeup. 😉
No, my brother isn’t on KP. Ohh, um, your double/triple negative is confusing me. 😛 Do you mean that you didn’t like Threshold for the same reasons he doesn’t or for different reasons? If different, what reasons? The DS9 episode where they all spoke gibberish, according to my brother, is season one’s Babel.
It shouldn’t be her “Klingonness” as you call it, that I don’t like about her, since Worf is my favorite character. 😉 I think it’s the fact that she’s too strong and hard, and very rarely seems sweet or soft at all. I like strong women characters like Janeway or Jadzia Dax because they are also very gentle at times and show good womanly qualities. I know there are times that Torres does, but it just doesn’t seem to happen much, at least to me. I think I would say that’s the biggest reason why I don’t like her character as well. But, I haven’t seen every episode, so I could be very wrong about her.
Oh, wow. You are so much better at concise descriptions than I am. 😛 Yes, those are the episodes I was trying to indicate. Haha, yeah, the VFX used in Voyager’s crash is something you would notice, and not me. 😛 I look for good acting and emotions more than special effects.
TOS is pretty cheesy. 😀 I used to really dislike it, but I’ve grown to like it a lot better after seeing more of it. Yes, a lot of the episodes are silly, but I can recommend a few very serious and well done episodes. Have you seen City on the Edge of Forever? That’s considered to be possibly the best TOS episode. A few other serious ones are A Taste of Armageddon (which I liked better, actually), Errand of Mercy, which is a Klingon episode, and Mirror, Mirror, which is also considered one of the best. Have you seen any of those? Are they still too cheesy for you? Of course you’ve got to watch them expecting old, unrealistic special effects, but the storylines are very good, in my opinion.
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