XPost: rec.arts.sf.tv, rec.arts.tv   
   From: cpd@cat.pan.net   
      
   "Tim McGaughy"  wrote in message   
   news:xdCdnTl-xIeipS3WnZ2dnUVZ_rOdnZ2d@posted.toastnet...   
   > catpandaddy wrote:   
   >>   
   >> "Tim McGaughy"  wrote in message   
   >> news:y8-dneNMOOhy6zLWnZ2dnUVZ_oednZ2d@posted.toastnet...   
   >>> catpandaddy wrote:   
   >>>>   
   >>>> "jack"  wrote in message   
   >>>> news:ddd6b02c-791c-4da1-81b7-f6e1bd66b1e3@l25g2000yqd.googlegroups.com...   
   >>>>   
   >>>>   
   >>>>> From a plotline POV she can't reveal herself yet or otherwise it will   
   >>>>> be a very short and disastrous cylon war for the one cylon.   
   >>>>>   
   >>>>> Does anyone remember how cylons' self-consciousness was activated in   
   >>>>> the old series?  The parallels here to the Terminator series are   
   >>>>> pretty close and I wonder which story of self-activating AI/robots   
   >>>>> turning into genocidal killers came first.   
   >>>>   
   >>>> Easy enough to figure out.  1977 was the year of the first "modern"   
   >>>> sci-fi special effects films.   
   >>>   
   >>> 2001 was made in 77?   
   >>   
   >> The "Space Odessey" film ushered in what I think of as the Renaissance   
   >> era of sci-fi special effects.  Although the film was groundbreaking, SFX   
   >> using motion-control cameras and optical printers was still almost a   
   >> decade away.   
   >   
   > Optical printers were in use long before 2001, and that film did in fact   
   > make use of them. The first optical printers were built in the 20's. For   
   > the math challenged, let me assure you that was roughly half a century   
   > before 1977.   
      
   Fine, a fair grammar nit there.  The idea I had in mind was the combining of   
   computerized motion control with the optical printers.  More importantly   
   though, the word "Renaissance" was not meant in a bad way at all.  I mean it   
   in the "period of revival" sense; it woke everyone up.  Whether it's the   
   first modern film or the father of the modern film era which was to come,   
   I'm fine with either assessment.  Modern is a strange word anyway... the   
   classic cars of the 1950s were "modern" at one time.   
      
   >   
   > 2001 did not make use of COMPUTERIZED motion control, but large worm gears   
   > were custom-made for the express purpose of mechanically moving models in   
   > a precise repeatable fashion, in order to believably insert live action   
   > into model windows, do special lighting effects, etc.   
      
   And I agree, it was absolutely groundbreaking.   
      
   Here's how my choice of labels works from my point of view.   
      
   - 2001:ASO single-handedly took the FX out of the dark ages and swung for   
   the fences with it.  I think of that as Renaissance of sorts.   
      
   - The "dark ages" from my viewpoint might be represented by the old Flash   
   Gordon serials... ships lurching across a posterboard of the sky, no   
   compositing, everything done in-camera.   
      
   - Replacing the physical gears with electronic equipment, to me, was the   
   "modernization" of the technique.   
      
   But ultimately I know that the labels are subjective, and represent my point   
   of view.  I'm equally fine with another set of labels, so I am not in   
   disagreement with the sentiments.*   
      
   (* Well, except for the math challenged part.  I can subtract 1920 from 1970   
   easily enough.)   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)