Mike O said:
I’ve always kind of wondered what the rationale of hiring him was, especially given that Frakes was chosen instead of some bigger-name directors, apparently on the last two.I think he was brought in because Berman wanted to “liven things up” with an action director, and Baird was who he came up with.
I imagine this was probably in response to Insurrection, which feels cheaper and more like TV than the the first two films.
Does anyone know why that is? I know they didn’t go with ILM, so that’s why the effects work isn’t great, but Insurrection has the same director, cinematographer and a larger budget than First Contact but looks worse.
Baird still seems like an odd choice, even given the action filmmakers at the time, a guy like John McTiernan probably would’ve been a better bet, though perhaps Baird simply came cheapest? As regards Insurrection, I have always kind of wondered that too. I don’t think it’s as terrible as many people say, but it’s essentially an extended episodes, and doesn’t look nearly as good as the cheaper First Contact, as you point out.
As far as the FX work, instead of ILM, didn’t they go with Digital Domain? Or was that on Nemesis? Because if they’re not exactly in the same league as ILM, they’re still a pretty top-tier company, aren’t they?
Mike O said:
I’ve always kind of wondered what the rationale of hiring him was, especially given that Frakes was chosen instead of some bigger-name directors, apparently on the last two.I think he was brought in because Berman wanted to “liven things up” with an action director, and Baird was who he came up with.
I imagine this was probably in response to Insurrection, which feels cheaper and more like TV than the the first two films.
Does anyone know why that is? I know they didn’t go with ILM, so that’s why the effects work isn’t great, but Insurrection has the same director, cinematographer and a larger budget than First Contact but looks worse.Going the “human aliens” route probably didn’t help.
I don’t know, are they more complex than the Borg? The Borg looked like a makeup FX nightmare.
Meyer and producer Harve Bennett sat down and watched the entire series though. That’s how they got the idea to revisit Khan.
Bennett did, did Meyer? I didn’t know that.
Maybe I’m not remembering it correctly, but Meyer made two well regarded Trek films and contributed to the screenplay of IV, so I think he versed himself in it more than Baird ever did.
I seem to remember Meyer mentioning watching the series in the II director’s cut commentary track, but I could be wrong.
You could certainly be right, it’s been a while since I watched it that way.
DuracellEnergizer said:
Going the “human aliens” route probably didn’t help.I’m not even talking about costuming, (although some of that is weird), but like:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AdNbVxMNFvk
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vm8sOhr-0lA
Ignoring the ship effects, these are both scenes of people bouncing around in ships. First Contact’s is shot, lit, and blocked much more dynamically. Insurrection has some nice stuff in it, but on the whole it has a much more conservative production design.
Even this scene, from the climax, lacks the gravitas of the First Contact stuff.
I don’t know anything about Hollywood budgets, did the ensemble cast’s salaries just eat into the budget more? (I assume they increase per film).
Particularly odd given that Frakes was actually LESS experienced as a feature-film director when he made First Contact.
I imagine the extensive location shoot added a bit more to the budget.
That’s an interesting point.