davidl@teklds.UUCP (David Levine) (11/06/85)
In article <2114@reed.UUCP> agb@reed.UUCP (Alexander G. Burchell) writes: >BTW, who does the (truly Amazing) computer graphics that start out each >episode? I was quite impressed with the realistic surface textures and was >especially amazed by the knight in shining armor. I don't know, although the credits say the titles were designed by Ron Cobb (who is an artist, not a computer person). Is the caveman Ray Walston, or just someone who looks a whole lot like him? The one thing that amazed me about the Amazing Stories episode "The Mission" is the computer graphics, which were so good that nobody on the net has even mentioned them! By "so good nobody has mentioned them", I mean that they didn't bite you on the nose and say "Hi! We're COMPUTER GRAPHICS! Aren't we NEAT?!?!" They were good enough that if you don't recognize the hallmarks of computer graphics, you would never have spotted them. I wonder who did them. Come to think of it, I'm not completely certain which scenes were computer- animated. I know the scene of the plane landing was. I'm fairly certain the shot of the debris heading toward the ball-turret gunner and the shot of the balloon tire extruding from the wing were. I'm almost ready to believe that every scene containing the baloon tires (even those with human actors) was computer-animated. However, this doesn't save the episode from its deus-ex-Disney ending. The episode fails dramatically (for me) because it spent 50 minutes building a gritty, nasty, realistic WWII reality, then violated it completely for the sake of a happy ending. I mean, Spielberg broke the rules he'd worked so hard to establish. Ever read a story called "The Cold Equations?" That was more dramatically consistent (although depressing, and therefore anathema to Spielberg). After seeing this episode, my S.O. told me to remind her never to watch Amazing Stories again. It was that galling. So, Tuesday I skip it, and after it's over S.O. says "Guess what? You missed a GOOD Amazing Stories!" TANJ (There Ain't No Justice)! David D. Levine (...decvax!tektronix!teklds!davidl) [UUCP] (teklds!davidl.tektronix@csnet-relay) [ARPA/CSNET]
waynet@tolerant.UUCP (Wayne Thompson) (11/11/85)
> In article <2114@reed.UUCP> agb@reed.UUCP (Alexander G. Burchell) writes: > The one thing that amazed me about the Amazing Stories episode "The Mission" > is the computer graphics, which were so good that nobody on the net has even > mentioned them! > David D. Levine (...decvax!tektronix!teklds!davidl) [UUCP] I thought the computer graphics were laughably obvious, thus my reference to 'Amazing Big Cartoon Wheels. BTW, If the debris was CA i missed it. > (teklds!davidl.tektronix@csnet-relay) [ARPA/CSNET] *** REPLACE THIS LINE WITH YOUR MESSAGE *** -- Wayne Thompson ..(mordor,ucbvax)!tolerant!waynet source .disclaimer