this post was submitted on 29 Aug 2023
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Asklemmy
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I'm going to say any space battle scene made since 2009.
From TOS up through Enterprise, you could follow the space battles. "This ship went this way and fired phasers but it only hit the ship's shields, then they fired back..." Camera movements were smooth and comfortable, you could see and tell what is going on.
J. J. Abrams shows up and all of a sudden we've got panicky Saving Private Ryan cam and there's just nine layers of beam spam on the screen. Everyone is machine gunning everyone from every which way. It's got George Lucas syndrome. "Put more special effect bullshit on the screen. More. MORE. MOOOOOREEEEE!"
Star Trek 2009 ended the franchise for me. At the end of Trek '09, I thought to myself Welp, it's been a good run, but they're making Hollywood budget fanfics now. The actual show is done.
I would agree, '09 was alright. I enjoyed it. It is a fanfic. 'I'm gonna do MY thing with these characters." I haven't seen any Trek made since, official first-party fanfics signal to me the end of a franchise. My understanding of the franchise since has been:
Have I missed anything?
My favourite of the trilogy. Which is to say, I didn't turn it off.
This is one of the many things that Strange New Worlds (and Lower Decks as well) have got right. Space battles in SNW are beautifully animated, but they aren't overwhelmed with excess visual spectacles and they tend to be fundamentally simple: you shoot at us, we shoot back or try to find some helpful obstruction to hide behind, etc.
Even Prodigy's big space battle in their finale manages the task to some degree, despite it's scale. I remember watching it felt oddly sluggish, as the ratio of ships on screen to weapons being fired was surprisingly low, but it definitely made it easier to keep track of whatever specific event the camera was focussed on.
Space battles in The Expanse are the best Iโve seen in all sci-fi. Actually Physics-Informed; like firing the thrusters to counter the recoil of their rail guns.
I love Star Trek but the tech woowoo always kinda drives me crazy. Even if it was a inspiration to become an engineer in the first place (the NCC1701-D Technical Manual was one of my favorite books growing up lol).