lew (12/06/82)
"Forbidden Planet" had a good planet explosion effect at the end. To start with, the explosion was viewed from a great enough distance that the planet appeared initially point-like. The explosion itself appeared as a luminous circle which expanded rapidly in radius and then faded (all in silence.) Not beyond criticism, I suppose, but infinitely superior to the firecracker effects in Star Wars. It looked a lot like the upper atmosphere dye explosions which were launched from Virginia in the sixties. Remember them? Also, a technical flaw in "2001" is the existence of "star drift" to indicate the stately motion of the "Discovery". I would guess that they knew it was wrong but left it in anyway. "2001" also had billowing gas and dust in the lunar vacuum. Lew Mammel, Jr. ihuxr!lew
bstempleton (12/08/82)
2001 did have billowing gas and dust, but that was in the middle of engine exhaust. Aside from the straw, the major flaw in 2001 is that they walk like they have gravity in the pod bay, when it is not part of the rotating wheel and thus has none.