<Jim Francis, known to many of us as one of the special effects wizards behind Blake's 7, has died. He is survived by his wife and son.>
RIP. I found his comments on one of the Blake's Back tapes very interesting.
As a sort of tribute to him and all the underfunded but enthusiastic people who tried to suspend our disbelief, how about we discuss the SFX *nicely* for a bit? I know that part of being a B7 fan often *is* giggling at them (Brian, Moloch et al) but given the budget involved, maybe we should give them credit for managing it at all.
Anyone have any effects they really think were rather good? I like the way Cally's takeover in Shadow is done - very simple, but I do think it works as a visualisation of what she's actually feeling.
The glittery ball effect they use for the plague in Project Avalon is again simple (they did better with simple ideas, IMO), but I like it.
Zen's defences in Spacefall.
Of course, there's the Liberator and Scorpio themselves :-)
Blake's gore-filled 'demise' (he survives, of course, insists Sally, but they made him look *bloody* dead)
The tomb in Sarcophagus - wonderful.
Oh, and all of the explosions, *especially* the minefield in Pressure Point. I like explosions :-)
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In message F32ryquzIBB6J4EeqYo00007af3@hotmail.com, Sally Manton smanton@hotmail.com writes
Anyone have any effects they really think were rather good?
I always liked the teleport effect - simple and effective. And the picture on the main viewscreen was a pretty nifty piece of work compared with some of the tv budget effects of the time.
Liberator is a beautiful piece of work. And I loved Scorpio, *because* it was a beaten-up old rust-bucket.
On Tue, Oct 09, 2001 at 02:33:53PM -0700, Julia Jones wrote:
I always liked the teleport effect - simple and effective. And the picture on the main viewscreen was a pretty nifty piece of work compared with some of the tv budget effects of the time.
I loved the planet-side Liberator effect, but the Liberator end was merely OK. I don't have much opinion either way about the Scorpio one.
On Tue, Oct 09, 2001 at 09:02:50PM +0000, Sally Manton wrote:
As a sort of tribute to him and all the underfunded but enthusiastic people who tried to suspend our disbelief, how about we discuss the SFX *nicely* for a bit? I know that part of being a B7 fan often *is* giggling at them (Brian, Moloch et al) but given the budget involved, maybe we should give them credit for managing it at all.
Anyone have any effects they really think were rather good?
Personally, the Liberator teleport effect is (IMHO) the best teleport effect before or since. Forget those sparkly dissolves! The very very first time I saw B7, that was one of the things that made me sit up at take notice, that white outline condensing down from infinity into a person. Cool effect.
Kathryn Andersen -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- "At least we'll recognise it when we see it, even if we don't recognise it when we see it, if it's the only thing that's there, if you see what I mean." -- Vila Restal, of Star One (Blake's 7: Star One [B13])
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Jamie Walker -
Julia Jones -
Kathryn Andersen -
Sally Manton