10 Best Uses Of Special Effects In Star Trek

The opening credits sequence for Star Trek: Voyager was designed by veteran Trek alum Dan Curry and realised by a large team that included David Stipes, Ron B. Moore, Image G, and The Post Group, while taking inspiration from Santa Barbara Studios hypothetical Solar System tour.

The sequence is a combination of CGI and filming models, depending on how close and detailed the ship needed to be in the shot. For the close-ups, the filming model was used to show the minutiae of the USS Voyager, while for wide-shots, the CGI model was used - the first time a CGI shot of a hero ship had been used in such a fashion in Star Trek.

The reflection of the ship in the rings was a combination of filming models and CGI, while the planet Voyager passes at the end was painted onto card. The flaming cloud in the beginning of the sequence almost didn't make the final edit, as Rick Berman wasn't convinced that it worked. Thankfully, other voices spoke up in its defence. 

Almost everything about Spacedock was time-consuming and exhaustive but effects supervisor Kenneth Ralston was very satisfied (with one notable exception) with the outcome in Star Trek III: The Search For Spock.

The interior of Spacedock was constructed with about twenty feet in diameter. Those giant space doors, in reality, built in miniature, were fully functioning. To achieve the effect of lights shining through thousands of windows, the entire filming model was constructed from perspex, then small sections were scratched clear. Neon, blue lights were shone from inside.

The lounge that features on both the Enterprise's return and departure was a full set built in front of the then-largest bluescreen in the world. Half of the window frames were constructed, while the rest were filled in via a matte painting. 

Overall, Spacedock remains one of the most visually striking models, and overall effects, in the franchise. Ralston was frustrated when, while attending a screening, he noticed there was a 'pea-soup green' hue on some of the interiors - despite several arguments with the art department on the colour he wanted the shots to contain. He calmed down when he saw that his colleagues were more than happy with the overall result.

For the opening explosion in Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country, ILM returned to Trek, having been unavailable for the previous film. With their absence keenly felt, the next film announced their footprint in a big way. The Praxis explosion has since gone on to become a popular effect in science fiction.

Director Nicholas Meyer was inspired by The Poseidon Adventure when crafting the wave. The initial explosion was created with a simulated lens flare (a phrase that has triggered many audience members of Star Trek 09) and two expanding discs. These were then colour-corrected by the graphics supervisor Jay Riddle. 

Creating the wave element that hits the Excelsior required scale as this thing needed to slam the ship like a toy. Footage of the physical model of the Excelsior was added to the wave in post-production, while the wave itself featured textures and elements that changed from frame to frame. 

Though the scene is brief, it has become one of the most memorable moments in Star Trek's history.

The Crystalline Entity was a burden in 1987 that reared its head again when The Next Generation was being remastered. The original effect was created by The Post Group, a VFX company based in LA. For the Entity's introduction in Datalore, the results were mixed.

Ronald B. Moore recalled that when the episode aired, he was told that painting a tumbleweed white and shooting that would have achieved the same result as the final edit. However, when the entity return in Silicon Avatar, the effects were updated slightly.

The biggest jump came from the remaster, due to the necessity of completely rebuilding it. The 3D files had long since been lost for the original, so it was built from scratch by CBS Digital artist Niel Wray, with the result being, in Mike Okuda's opinion, 'more beautiful than ever.'

For Deep Space Nine's fourth season opener, The Way Of The Warrior, the VFX team were tasked with depicting the 'Klingons going nuts!' They achieved this with a combination of Playmates toys, digital trickery, and a lot of glitter.

Visual Effects Coordinator Judy Elkins set about sourcing enough commercially available models of Klingon ships to create the fleet effect. This was a combination of the aforementioned toys, along with model kits and Hallmark Christmas decorations. 

According to the Star Trek: Deep Space Nine Companion, the Effects Department often worked with Paramount's licensing department. The former would loan blueprints to the latter so that the toys etc would be accurate, while the latter could then provide the former with examples for use. This symbiosis worked to great effect on this episode. One effect that didn't make it into the final edit was an extension of a torpedo POV shot, one that originally included said torpedo in the launching tube. 

It was deemed a little too much for the episode, though the result more than made up for its absence.

Like Star Trek: Insurrection before it, Star Trek: Nemesis contained primarily digital effects - contributed by Digital Domain - though some key scenes were realised with a combination of digital and practical methods. To achieve the collision seen near the film's climax, Digital Domain had to create a new version of the Enterprise-E, one separate from those used in First Contact and Insurrection.

For the collision, a 17-foot-long section of the Enterprise-E's saucer was constructed, as was an equally enlarged portion of the Scimitar. The Enterprise was mounted on a dolly rig and then crashed into the Reman vessel at about 20 miles per hour, filmed upside down so that the debris would 'float' in space.

Once the practical effect was captured, Digital Domain painted additional debris and miniatures into the scene. Lighting played a key element, so the models were flooded with additional light to capture everything. This footage was then combined with the photorealistic work created by the company to seamlessly blend everything back together.

For its faults, Star Trek: Nemesis looks great, even now more than twenty years later.

Martia was the first Chameloid introduced in Star Trek, appearing to 'save' Kirk and McCoy from their icey prison on Rura Penthe. Her transformations featured some of the earliest morphing work in cinema, while simultaneously proving that sometimes - less is more.

Films like Willow and Terminator 2: Judgement Day had employed morphing to great effect but for The Undiscovered Country computer graphics animator John Berton wanted to push things a bit further. He envisioned a version of the morph that would adapt to a moving camera, adding a new level of trickery to the scenes.

For Martia's switch between her large alien form and the small girl, as well as her speaking switch between Iman and William Shatner, the shots had to be painstakingly aligned to allow the scene to flow perfectly. The end result was a simple to the eye, yet extremely complicated, effect that looks just as fresh more than thirty years later.

Star Trek: Deep Space Nine opens with a bang, as per the intention of Michael Piller. He included the Battle of Wolf 359, tying this new show into greater Trek lore - and also bringing back his own earlier work on The Best Of Both Worlds.

Visual Effects Supervisor Robert Legato was given a warning to craft this battle before the rest of the pilot went into production. He envisioned a frenetic scene, based on the wreckage that the Enterprise had discovered. He filled the sequence with said wreckage, taking great care to ensure that the hull registry matched the names spoken aloud in The Best Of Both Worlds, Part 2.

After having done this, he was then informed that the action would begin as the battle started, rather than his idea of depicting a battle halfway through. After having put all of that in, he had to go back through the sequence and take a lot back out again. In the Star Trek: Deep Space Nine Companion he put it simply:

It was a heartbreaker.

Still, the prologue did exactly what it set out to do (including exploding the USS Saratoga at the Paramount soundstages) allowing the new series to begin with that bang they wanted.

The Genesis Wave from Star Trek II: The Wrath Of Khan represented the first use of particle effects in a motion picture. Though viewing the film in the 2020s may result in the scene feeling dated, in 1982 this was cutting-edge computer graphics, never-before-seen. 

The effect was created by Industrial Light & Magic, using varying particle patterns for their wall of fire. Though similar in appearance, each particle pattern varied, albeit based on the preceding one. Most of the particles were predominantly red, though with a touch of green. There there were greater clusters, the red was dialled up, giving an almost orange glow in the centre of the explosion.

The particle effect was created with technology that couldn't handle transferring a light glow onto the surrounding terrain, so this was added to the overall effect afterwards by Lucasfilm team member Tom Duff.

An enormous amount of work went into what is a quick scene, though one that has an enduring popularity among Trek fans.

Creating the Enterprise for Star Trek: The Motion Picture was a painstaking labour of love, including total redesigns of Matt Jefferies' original sketches. The update for the ship planned for Phase II was adapted to suit the big screen, by Richard Taylor and Andrew Probert, along with Doug Trumbull and Harold Michelson.

The drydock sequence is one of the most impressive scenes in Trek's history, even if it is as self-indulgent as these things come - and believe us, that's not a criticism! This writer is on record stating it's his favourite scene in the franchise.

For The Motion Picture, the ship wasn't filmed in front of a traditional bluescreen, as had been done for The Original Series. This was to avoid the chance of 'blue-spill,' a process by which a reflective model could show the background, thus losing chunks of that model on camera. The studio model of the Enterprise was self-lighting, avoiding that block illumination that often led to the aforementioned issue.

The entire sequence is a combination of physical models, compositing, projection, and a gorgeous score from Jerry Goldsmith to send the whole thing off with grace.