MovieChat Forums > THX 1138 (1971) Discussion > cg = failed

cg = failed

posted 15 years ago by stazza
32 replies | jump to latest

So, I watched this [DVD] at my parents and, of all people, my mom, who is not into graphics, movies, effects or any of that, out of the blue, while the movie was still playing, right after that added full traffic car race scene, basically asks, "was that out of a video game?" Can you believe that? What a testement to how crappy that was done. It apparently added nothing to the plot and was distracting enough that my MOTHER asked about it! I had said NOTHING to them at all about Lucas butchering it, and she had to ask because she thought I told her the movie was really old and yet this scene stuck out like it was from a video game or something. I'm glad I still have my laser disc version!

[–] Tin Tin-3 15 years ago

You're forgetting this was made nearly 40 years ago!

[–] twelvepointnine 15 years ago

Lucas added CGI to the 2004 director's cut. Pretty bad CGI if you ask me…

Chaos reigns

[–] 15 years ago

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[–] stazza 15 years ago

Yes, I know it is from 71 and new stuff was added. did you guys read my post or just the subject title?

my 70+ year old MOTHER thought the new graphics were crap... thought it was a video game or something, and she knows VERY LITTLE about video games and graphics.
HILARIOUS CG FAIL!!
I guess it threw her off the story it was so mis-fitting

[–] JackOLantern372 15 years ago

George Lucas needs to quit being ashamed that some of his movies are old, cg failed miserably.

Warriors, come out and play.

[–] RomeoKnight 12 years ago

I didn't see them as crap. I was pretty impressed as the CGI blended pretty well to the -71 scenery. I'm 32 male programmer (for the background) and eyes sharp as a hawk and I was watching from 55" plasma.

[–] concrescent-578-231568 15 years ago

For some reason the cgi in this movie didn't bother me. Maybe since the first time I saw it was circa 1992 and I was twelve years old. So I have no memory of the un-cgi version.

The cgi in the new star wars of course really ruined the movies for me but I suspect that it was because of the contrast with the real(puppetry+latex+models) effects of the original trilogy. With THX there is no contrast, at least not for me. The shell dweller looked really fake-y though. sigh...

[–] moatilliata_tinnitus 15 years ago

haha, I thought the CGI was from the 70's and I was gonna comment about how ahead of its time the effects were.
But now that I know it was added recently, I have to say it looks terrible. It almost looked like out of the Speed Racer movie, where the effects were intentionally overdone.

--somebody set up us the bomb!--

[–] 15 years ago

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[–] stazza 15 years ago

yeah, I THEEENK TRON was technically the first real CG used in a movie, but that was in 1982. there might have been a few commercials messing with it before that, but not much.

the "CG" in "2001: a Space Oddesy" was created with films projecting on to monitor sized screens in the ship. Other CG was equal to stuff showing on a computer screen that was like PONG or worse :D

[–] nvanhelsing 14 years ago

The Last Starfighter has this in its trivia:

"The first movie to do all special effects (except makeup and explosions) on a computer. All shots of spacecraft, space, etc were generated on a Cray X-MP computer. "

Not to say Tron was wrong though, Id have guessed that myself

[–] garrettok31 14 years ago

Do you know what "cg" stands for? You seem to be confusing it with plain old special effects.

[–] 14 years ago

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[–] 14 years ago

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[–] RomeoKnight 12 years ago

The cgi-additions to this were quite well done. Very subtle and non-intrusive. I don't know why the OP is a jerk and bitches about them. I completely agree with you about the star wars cgi.

[–] stazza 15 years ago

yep. give us the original ALONG WITH the new butchered version. Don't try to "1984" my memories for me, thanks.

Ridley Scot gave us ALL versions of Blade Runner in a disk set. That is the way to do it.

And I won't buy STAR WARS on BluRay unless they give me the ORIGINAL THEATRICAL CUT in HD as well. Otherwise, I'll stick with those lame DVD original versions

[–] rooprect 15 years ago

And I won't buy STAR WARS on BluRay unless they give me the ORIGINAL THEATRICAL CUT in HD as well. Otherwise, I'll stick with those lame DVD original versions

I agree completely, and I wish more consumers would exercise the economic power of "demand". Apparently Lucas thinks he can force feed us the corrupted new versions and we'll still buy it. Sadly, his soaring sales show that he's right.

But for what it's worth, if I ever want to watch Star Wars, I have my VHS tape of the theatrical release. I'd much rather watch that than the cgi cartoon kinder-gentler-Han-shoots-2nd version.

A noteworthy point: Director Robert Wise similarly tried to pull a Lucas by slicing & dicing & adding CGI to the "Star Trek the Motion Picture" DVD. For years that was the only DVD you could buy. But I was thrilled to hear that the new Blu-ray takes us back to the original theatrical release. 'Fcourse that's probably because Wise is now dead & can't protest. Hmmm... how's Georgie L's health these days...?

[–] stazza 15 years ago

Right on!

heh, I was stupid enough to buy Star Wars on DVD BEFORE I found out it did not include the ORIGINAL Theater Release... then I had to buy the DVDs again to the the O.T.R. grrrrrr! Curse me for supporting Lucas!!!

I LOVED the old Star Trek movies on BluraY!! With all their dated effects, still some of the best "sci-fi" movies out there.

[–] rooprect 15 years ago

I LOVED the old Star Trek movies on BluraY!! With all their dated effects, still some of the best "sci-fi" movies out there.

Yup, to me it's like these old scifi movies are historical markers. They show us the best special effects available at the time. So half the fun is saying, 'wow how did they do that back then?!' Yay for the original theatrical Star Trek releases, I'm going to buy them on BR as soon as I have the $

[–] All_Seeing_Fly 14 years ago

I thought the car scene complimented the actual cars OK. Because they were completely mad and surprising in the original.
My problem is that I could NOT appreciate which bits were clever in-camerta effects from 1971, or additions like the dropped core and perhaps some explosion effects and sparks?
So I agree to keep them in, BUT give us the original to watch on the BR disc - you numb-nuts!!

[–] pontifikator 14 years ago

The OP is totally right. I saw it in theatres when it came out, then I watched the newer release at home on TV. The CG sucked pretty bad.

"Luke! Stop with the CGI." (signed: Your friend, Obiwan.)

[–] j-c-s-f-akkerman 14 years ago

Unfortunately Lucas feels he's the obligated to update and change little plotpoints (greedo)in all of his old movies to conform to todays CG standards (for which he himself has been of major importance in pushing the boundaries of the technology). I think most of us wouldn't mind to see the original ropey effects and wobbly cardboard sets. It would just add to it's charm.
The Director's cut is the only version I've seen of THX, but I'm desperate to find out what it replaced.

Also Kudos to Trek's effects on blue-ray. I love model-shots! The new versions do however make it very obvious where they did the cut and paste jobs with the different models. In StarTrek III you can clearly see the outlining blob around the ships!

[–] pontifikator 14 years ago

> The Director's cut is the only version I've seen of THX, but I'm desperate to find out what it replaced.

See here:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kIfTT8EGj3A

For my money, the most objectionable are in the last couple of minutes, starting around the 10:00 minute in mark.

It's seems to me that Lucas had a vision in mind that he couldn't put on the screen way back when. The problem is, modern CG effects don't necessarily give him a good means of getting his vision on the screen. I know it's because I saw the first version first, but I prefer the simpler sets and props over the overly complicated props that THX is dealing with in the director's later release. I think Gilliam had it right -- in future dystopias, things have gone backward rather than forward. To each his own, though.

[–] stazza 14 years ago

things that really bugged me are when the original shot is reduced to a small part fo the screen... IE car exiting from the "freeway" into a tunnel... the colors dont match, the claustrophic ambience is lost... so much lost. he can '1984' his own art all he wants, just give us the fakking original ALSO

[–] pontifikator 14 years ago

> give us the fakking original ALSO

I'm with you on that one, but alas he has control over what's released. I guess we need to look for old Beta tapes of the original version. :->

[–] stazza 14 years ago

I OWN the original on LASER DISC but have no way of extracting it "Digitially". But I can copy via the standard video out. Just wishing for an awesome Blu-Ray version of the original cut with it's flaws and all

[–] dwillsxbr 14 years ago

Hey Stazza I would be happy to transfer your Laserdisc to dvd.
I would rec each side to a dvd in high quality (1hour mode) and then join the two dvd's
on a dual layer dvd (DVD9. That's what I did with Frank Zappa's 200 Motels and it's the way to get
the best possible quality from that Laserdisc to dvd.

[–] stazza 14 years ago

I can put it to DVD disc.... but do you have a way to transfer it DIGITALLY from the digital laser disc? THAT would be worth working out. I don't mean capturing through video or Svideo out, I mean DIGITAL DIRECT CONNECTIONs from the disc itself.
I'm guessing it is already available out there in the cloud somewhere already

[–] dwillsxbr 14 years ago

There is no other way via the S-Video and RCA audio and video outs besides
Laser disc is a analog technology. If you can record each side to a dvd
in the HQ mode I would be happy with those and I have a huge dvdr trade
list you can pick whatever you want in trade.

[–] Angry_Afghan 14 years ago

OP is right, the car race scene looked like a cut-scene from the original Need For Speed game, and the CGI monkeys LOLWUT!

[–] Lunchbox-3 12 years ago

Responding to a bunch of comments in this thread.

The Last Starfighter was not the first movie to use computer-generated images, it was the first to do ALL of its effects shots with computer animation. Other movies before had done SOME shots with computer animation. Tron was one of the pioneers. Several shots such as light cycles, solar sailor, Sark's carrier and MCP exterior building were CGI. Others like MCP face, gridbugs, and I think Recognizers were traditional animation.

I think Westworld is generally agreed to use the first CGI, the android's pixilated vision.

I think it's okay for a director to go back and clean up special effects in their movie. I don't think Lucas was wrong to go back and clean up matte lines around the X-Wing and Snowspeeder cockpits. And if he wants to digitally expand backgrounds behind THX's head to make the room look larger it's not something I'd really notice so I don't have a problem. And correcting a problem like Robert Wise did in Star Trek: The Motion Picture, like when he points out that the opening shot on Vulcan has Spock shielding his eyes from the sun but the reverse shot of the matte painting shows that it's night time, so they replaced it with a CGI shot in the Special Edition, doesn't bother me. I do like the idea of preserving the original print for historical value. At least The Motion Picture preserved all the cut/remade scenes as DVD extras unlike the Star Wars films.

I do agree that there's little point to changing entire plot points like having Greedo shoot first, having Vader's ghost be Hayden Christenson, filming an entirely new musical number for Jabba's palace, replacing all the Stormtrooper voices with Jango Fett.

The most annoying for me is seeing '70s fashion and scenery and then shoehorning in a '90s/2000s CGI creature. Dewbacks on Tattooine, Shell Dweller apes in THX, animated Jabba in A New Hope, etc.

[–] 12 years ago

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