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Star Wars: Episode VII to be directed by J.J. Abrams **NON SPOILER THREAD** — Page 19

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SilverWook said:

I could see [George Takei] playing a villain.

Villain, yes. But a sinister one? No. Not by a long shot.

TV’s Frink said:

chyron just put a big Ric pic in your sig and be done with it.

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SilverWook said:

And while we're at it, Walter Koenig has played sinister types too.

Agreed. Bester was more sinister, interesting, and frightening than all the PT villains combined.

Every 27th customer will get a ball-peen hammer, free!

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And he totally believed that what he was doing was the right thing. Plus, anyone who can survive reading Harlan Ellison's thoughts is made of stronger stuff. ;)

 

Where were you in '77?

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chyron8472 said:

SilverWook said:

I could see [George Takei] playing a villain.

Villain, yes. But a sinister one? No. Not by a long shot.

Why not? He could charm you to death. ;)

“Grow up. These are my Disney's movies, not yours.”

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A petition?  Really?

They should send it to The White House.

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 (Edited)

I'm excited for Episode VII, especially as it appears that the original cast will be back (at least as supporting characters). I'm not too sure about JJ Abrams though. I'm not really a fan of his TV shows or what he did with Star Trek.

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madcrow said:


I'm not really a fan of [...] what he did with Star Trek.


You mean by saving it?

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I just hope he directs the next Batman movie!

Every 27th customer will get a ball-peen hammer, free!

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Did he use models for the space scenes in Star Trek 2009? If not, I imagine it'll be all CG for the space scenes in Episode VII too.

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MathUser said:


Did he use models for the space scenes in Star Trek 2009? If not, I imagine it'll be all CG for the space scenes in Episode VII too.
He did not. There weren't many models, but he shied away from greenscreen. He went on location for the Engineering (which you could take or leave), and he used mirrors to reflect the sky for the orbital dive sequence.

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doubleofive said:

 

He went on location for the Engineering (which you could take or leave)

 

I did like the Engineering, even it was just a brewery, but it was good solution for not having the budget to do what they wanted for that set.

ROTJ Storyboard Reconstruction Project

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They built a model silo for a forced perspective shot in a scene of kid Kirk and his brother which was cut from the finished film. Also, the shot of Kirk running into the cave on the snow planet was a small child running through a small (and therefore less expensive) set. In the finished sequence, our eyes see it as an adult running through a full-sized set. As much as Abrams loves his "how did they do that?" vfx shots, he also loves using simple tricks the audience doesn't even know are tricks.

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Nice to know that J.J. is a fan of old school FX techniques. They had kid sized Klingons for the prison sequence that was cut.

IIRC, Ridley Scott used the same trick to make the landing leg of the Nostromo in Alien look even bigger. Wonder where those child sized Nostromo spacesuits ended up?

I think the original Flash Gordon serial did it as well, to make one of Ming's monsters look even taller. I really need to rewatch it again one of these days!

Where were you in '77?

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SilverWook said:

IIRC, Ridley Scott used the same trick to make the landing leg of the Nostromo in Alien look even bigger.

Oh, yeah. I forgot about that!

As for photographic miniatures, well, it seems like that's going away. Star Trek didn't use them at all in the traditional sense. The ships were completely digital as far as I know. It shows how far we've come just over the last ten years when we go from actual big-atures on LOTR to digital big-atures on The Hobbit.

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Trek '09 was the first time CGI spaceships looked "real" to me.

I would hope they would at least dust off the models of any vintage ships that will return for the sequels, and scan them into the computer.

Where were you in '77?