10 Best CGI Effects In Star Trek

In the Deep Space Nine episode Explorers, Sisko found plans for an ancient solar sail ship used by the Bajorans as early as the 16th century, and set to work building a replica to prove that the vessel was capable of travelling from Bajor to Cardassia Prime, something that many Bajorans believed was accomplished in the past, despite the Cardassian government denying it.

Solar sail ships in real life are a type of spacecraft that uses light (typically from a star) pushing against a large, thin sail to propel a ship through space. In space there's no wind as we know it, but there is also no friction, meaning that a constant barrage of photons from a light source can actually hit the sail with enough force to move these ships. JAXA, NASA, and The Planetary Society have all been able to demonstrate this tech in practice, but unfortunately the size of the sails needs to increase dramatically the larger the craft is, so they are typically impractical.

The CGI model for the replica solar sail ship (known as a Bajoran lightship) was one of the most advanced ever created for Trek. John Knoll from Industrial Light & Magic rendered the model under the direction of Glenn Neufeld. The sails were unfoldable and made of a fabric-like material, two effects that would've been much harder to get right with a physical model.