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San Francisco, 5:47 PM
Sat Dec 19
18 posts in the last 24 hours

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    Dsmvwl  Admin  Promote to frontpage Approve user Ban user ×
    Image of Chip Overclock Chip Overclock
    12/13/09

    In reply to Why Fake-Looking CG Space Battles Are Beautiful
    I'm reading yet another book about John Boyd, the U.S. air force officer who, among many other amazing accomplishments any one of which would have been sufficient for one career, convinced everyone that fighter planes still needed guns, in an era where everyone else thought that dogfights would devolve into planes firing missiles at each other from miles away. (This led to the development of the F-16, which is small, light, and nimble, when official doctrine at the time called for further, higher, and faster, which meant heavier and awkward.)

    Anyway, I'm becoming convinced that it's impossible to know what space battles will really look like. Maybe it will be ships of the line pounding away at one another broadsides. (Cool!) Or fighters doing high-G dogfights while firing guns at one another. (Awesome!) Or moon-sized space stations with planet-destroying anti-proton beams in an x-ray containment laser. (Yeah, baby!)

    Bring it on.
     Reply
    Chip Overclock was starred Chip Overclock was unstarred
    Image of Chip Overclock Chip Overclock
    12/13/09

    In reply to Why Fake-Looking CG Space Battles Are Beautiful
    Ghod, I miss FARSCAPE. It wasn't a television show. It was frelling Grand Opera on a galactic scale.
     Reply
    Chip Overclock was starred Chip Overclock was unstarred
    Image of gods-n-clods gods-n-clods
    12/12/09

    In reply to Why Fake-Looking CG Space Battles Are Beautiful
    For how hinky the B5 CG was, there were moments of awesome scale with incomparably-designed ships.
    The White Stars (the whole Minbari fleet), Vorlons, Shadows, and The First Ones were all carefully designed to be unique (and I'm still wondering about some of those cultures/life forms on those ships/entities). The Vorlons were the only really unusual ships on television until the rest of the B5 ships were introduced. No other show had designs like that, until Farscape came around.
    Put them in a blender, go PEW PEW = good TV.
     Reply
    gods-n-clods was starred gods-n-clods was unstarred
    Image of reddingofish reddingofish
    12/14/09

    @gods-n-clods: I always felt that B5 was the only show that had the humans as just another race in the galaxy. Space is a big old place and humans are just a speck in the whole scheme of things. The grand scale of the ships and the mysteries of the first ones sparked my imagination. I need to watch that series again.
     Reply
    Edited by reddingofish at 12/14/09 9:15 AM reddingofish was starred reddingofish was unstarred
    Image of I_Like_TDs I_Like_TDs
    12/12/09

    In reply to Why Fake-Looking CG Space Battles Are Beautiful
    One of the most stunning moments to me ever is when the Odyssey goes through the Wormhole and during retreat is savaged by a Dominion suicide run. Suddenly, the Galaxy Class looked like nothing special.

    Also, who can forget the remnants of Wolf 359 and the Enterprise D buying time so the Enterprise C could make it back and restore the timeline.

    I really miss TNG and DS9.

    Another one: the first time we saw the Defiant kicking ass and taking names.

    The massive Borg cube cutting into the saucer section like butter?

    First Contact when we finally see what a modernized Federation fleet could do against a Borg Cube?

    I heard somewhere that the original plan was to have 2 Cubes, but the Defiant is able to destroy one by itself, which makes me happy in the pants.

    Riker: Tough little ship.
    Worf: LITTLE?!
     Reply
    Evil Tortie's Mom: R.O.A.C.H. promoted this comment I_Like_TDs was starred I_Like_TDs was unstarred
    Image of aspasticninja aspasticninja
    12/12/09

    In reply to Why Fake-Looking CG Space Battles Are Beautiful
    its too bad we can't expect SGU to give us any big battles any time soon
     Reply
    reddingofish promoted this comment aspasticninja was starred aspasticninja was unstarred
    Image of reddingofish reddingofish
    12/14/09

    @aspasticninja: I'll betcha that next season they will figure out how to work the weapons and we will see some bad guys worth shooting at.
     Reply
    reddingofish was starred reddingofish was unstarred
    Image of aspasticninja aspasticninja
    12/14/09

    @reddingofish: thats what i'm hoping for. i like what they're doing now (for the most part) but without some big alien threat it just doesnt feel like stargate yet.
     Reply
    aspasticninja was starred aspasticninja was unstarred
    Image of Jeb_Hoge Jeb_Hoge
    12/12/09

    In reply to Why Fake-Looking CG Space Battles Are Beautiful
    The Freespace 2 computer game also had some rather awesome massive space battles, both in cutscenes and in the gameplay itself. I was flying one mission where there were some massive capital ships duking it out and I got hit by one of the capship beams...one minute there, full shields, the next minute watching my death cutscene. It was amazingly cool.
     Reply
    Jeb_Hoge was starred Jeb_Hoge was unstarred
    Image of mordicai mordicai
    12/12/09

    In reply to Why Fake-Looking CG Space Battles Are Beautiful
    So sweet. The sad irony is that real space battle would probably look even "faker." & way less interesting. Just vast empy spaces, fully black...
     Reply
    Ruthless, If you let me promoted this comment mordicai was starred mordicai was unstarred
    Image of MrFlake MrFlake
    12/12/09

    In reply to Why Fake-Looking CG Space Battles Are Beautiful
    Y'know I had fairly noble intentions for this weekend.

    I was going to tidy the flat, do some painting maybe finish off a book or two.

    I now realise that I am actually going to watch old sci fi shows instead.
    "pew! pew! lasers!"

    Damn you io9
     Reply
    Evil Tortie's Mom: R.O.A.C.H. promoted this comment MrFlake was starred MrFlake was unstarred
    Image of PVIII PVIII
    12/12/09

    In reply to Why Fake-Looking CG Space Battles Are Beautiful
    Fake? Those were clearly all real! But no, in all seriousness, as a kid, and now as an adult, I still really love those cheesy CGI battles. I remember waking up on saturday morning to try and catch B5 reruns on TNT for some shadow on vorlon action, and seriously, that DS9 battle in sacrifice of angels, blew my 12 year old mind away.
     Reply
    PVIII was starred PVIII was unstarred
    Image of AmishJohn AmishJohn
    12/12/09

    In reply to Why Fake-Looking CG Space Battles Are Beautiful
    How about video game battles that aren't cutscenes? Although dramatized and prettied up (I never came out of jump in formation), it is the game engine, and some of the feel of a sov fight. Innersion 'till you can't breathe.
     Reply
    AmishJohn was starred AmishJohn was unstarred
    Image of Locomotion Locomotion
    12/12/09

    @AmishJohn: A good FC always makes sure that all pilots are aligned before warping the fleet, so everyone comes out of jump in formation.
     Reply
    AmishJohn promoted this comment Locomotion was starred Locomotion was unstarred
    Image of AmishJohn AmishJohn
    12/12/09

    @Locomotion: I was talking about the caps cynoing in...
     Reply
    AmishJohn was starred AmishJohn was unstarred
    Image of reddingofish reddingofish
    12/14/09

    @AmishJohn: One of these days I plan on quitting TV and all social activities and taking up Eve online. I've met folks that play and they seem to really enjoy it. Met? Maybe I shouldn't say met, encountered would be a better word.
     Reply
    reddingofish was starred reddingofish was unstarred
    Image of HalOfBorg HalOfBorg
    12/12/09

    In reply to Why Fake-Looking CG Space Battles Are Beautiful
    You want space battles? Big fleets? Spacebattles.com
     Reply
    Evil Tortie's Mom: R.O.A.C.H. promoted this comment HalOfBorg was starred HalOfBorg was unstarred
    Image of Jesse Astle Jesse Astle
    12/12/09

    In reply to Why Fake-Looking CG Space Battles Are Beautiful
    In many ways its just as much a difference in philosophy as in technology. Many of these space battles of the 90's were about grand battles against big foes for big ideas. Where as the two or three space shows of the 21st century seem to be more about survival more than anything else.
     Reply
    gods-n-clods promoted this comment Jesse Astle was starred Jesse Astle was unstarred
    Image of Roklimber Roklimber
    12/12/09

    In reply to Why Fake-Looking CG Space Battles Are Beautiful
    I never really liked the way the ships looked in B5. They truly looked too artificial, partly because there was a specular reflection quality to the textures. They were so... shiny and perfect.

    On an unrelated note, the suicidal destruction of the Asgard home planet brought tears to my eyes.
     Reply
    Roklimber was starred Roklimber was unstarred
    Image of RandomFrequentFlierDent RandomFrequentFlierDent
    12/12/09

    @Roklimber: I just finished watching all 10 seasons of SG-1 (fingers crossed I get Atlantis for Christmas). I loved the Asgard. They were my favourite aliens - any episode with them became pure gold for me. I wanted Thor to join SG-1. I was so crushed when they actually went through with the mass suicide. Right up until the end of the episode I was convinced Carter would think of a way to save them and go far enough back in time to do it.
     Reply
    RandomFrequentFlierDent was starred RandomFrequentFlierDent was unstarred
    Image of Roklimber Roklimber
    12/12/09

    @RandomFrequentFlierDent:

    I share your pain. Even the clip-show episode where Hammond tells the representatives of Canada, France, China, and Great Britain about the stargate was cool, thanks to Thor's appearance.

    Senator Kinsey: "Commander Thor..."
    Thor (with a finger up): "Supreme Commander..."

    Take that, Kinsey!

    About Atlantis, I was afraid the premise of the Wraith (a vampiristic creature yadda yadda yadda) would make the show suck, but I think the writers did a great job of making them interesting.

    And some of the very best episodes are McKay-oriented. "The Tao of Rodney" and "The Shrine" are amazing feats of acting by David Hewlett.
     Reply
    Roklimber was starred Roklimber was unstarred
    Image of RandomFrequentFlierDent RandomFrequentFlierDent
    12/12/09

    @Roklimber: Oh yes, the Stargate clip show. I'd like SG:U try to pull off something so awesomely horrible. Every time I got to one I always wanted to skip but couldn't due to a fear that I would miss something (i.e. Thor telling off Kinsey).

    I'm looking forward to Atlantis, I've heard that Woolsey will eventually become even less of a dick (a process started in SG-1) and that Carter is commander for a season (Carter is my favourite).
     Reply
    Edited by RandomFrequentFlierDent at 12/12/09 6:16 AM RandomFrequentFlierDent was starred RandomFrequentFlierDent was unstarred
    Image of Roklimber Roklimber
    12/12/09

    @RandomFrequentFlierDent:

    Well, I won't spoil Atlantis for you, so I'm not going to comment on any details. Suffice it to say that I like Atlantis as much as SG-1 and, by that, I mean that I like them both.

    Enjoy your Atlantis ride.
     Reply
    Roklimber was starred Roklimber was unstarred
    Image of commentotron commentotron
    12/12/09

    @Roklimber: Dude. It was the mid 90s. They were pioneers in CG for TV.

    What's next? Rant on how Karateka on the C-64 didn't have good shading or something?
     Reply
    Roklimber promoted this comment commentotron was starred commentotron was unstarred
    Image of Roklimber Roklimber
    12/12/09

    @commentotron:

    Just because I didn't like the end-result it doesn't mean that I don't appreciate the effort, difficulty, and pioneering work involved.
     Reply
    Roklimber was starred Roklimber was unstarred
    Image of Shell_Krackerश्रमण Shell_Krackerश्रमण
    12/12/09

    In reply to Why Fake-Looking CG Space Battles Are Beautiful
    The best space battle of all time is in Babylon 5's "Shattered Dreams" - best Babylon 5 episode ever.

    Its such a turning point in the series - when everything that has been building for 2.5 seasons goes into overdrive.

    The best thing about that episode, is the conviction of the cast, especially when the Churchill goes down.
     Reply
    Chimaera promoted this comment Shell_Krackerश्रमण was starred Shell_Krackerश्रमण was unstarred
    Image of Shell_Krackerश्रमण Shell_Krackerश्रमण
    12/12/09

    @Shell_Krackerश्रमण:
     Reply
    Chimaera promoted this comment Shell_Krackerश्रमण was starred Shell_Krackerश्रमण was unstarred
    Image of Chimaera Chimaera
    12/12/09

    @Shell_Krackerश्रमण: It's certainly up there among the best.
    EAS Churchill ramming EAS Roanoke was my wallpaper for quite a while.
     Reply
    Chimaera was starred Chimaera was unstarred
    Image of commentotron commentotron
    12/12/09

    @Chimaera: It's too bad the DVD trasnfers for the CG are such garbage. That's what you get when you shoot on film and do the CG at 480i nodef 4x3 aspect. That is also why a Bluray release is unlikely: the need to regenerate all of the FX. The same goes for TNG, DS9 and Voyager: too many of the on-screen elements were done and mixed in video and have no film source to do an HD transfer from.
     Reply
    gods-n-clods promoted this comment commentotron was starred commentotron was unstarred
    Image of dermot dermot
    12/12/09

    In reply to Why Fake-Looking CG Space Battles Are Beautiful
    I remember reading about the pilot of Babylon 5. The FX were done on Amiga 2000s, using Lightwave. The machines didn't have enough juice to render the scenes, so they had to distribute the shots over 15 different boxes, then composite them using a toaster.

    The animation director described the process as "hell", which is probably an understatement.

    It's too easy for kids today (damn, that makes me sound old) to appreciate some of the challenges in the early years of 3D.

    15mhz CPU, anyone?
     Reply
    Chimaera promoted this comment dermot was starred dermot was unstarred
    Image of joetato joetato
    12/12/09

    @dermot: I remember drooling over the graphics capabilities of the Amiga way back in the day. Whoever heard of a terabyte?
     Reply
    joetato was starred joetato was unstarred
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