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Hi everyone, I was curious and wanted to see if anyone had the information, Return of the Jedi set the record for most ships on screen in a sci-fi film according to what I heard so could someone confirm this and tell me how many ships it was and if possible provide a type breakdown?

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did 'Parallels' or any of the Dominion War eps break this?

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That's what I'm thinking. I'll bet someone here knows for sure, I would even go as far as laying money that Frank knows.


 

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Posted by Mucus (Member # 24) on :
 
They better have...considering they already broke it in 1995. You can probably get more details by seraching for the ful title rather than just "rotj"

JMSnews
 

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Posted by MinutiaeMan (Member # 444) on :
 
Were I to make a guess, there are several candidates for the first Trek ep with the most ships -- "Call to Arms" being the one that sticks in my mind. You could also consider "By Inferno's Light" (the Jem'Hadar fleet) and "Parallels." And certainly the edge-to-edge masses of starships in "Sacrifice of Angels" would have totally shattered any of those records.

Although I'd wager that some of the B5 eps had more ships overall in a few scenes, like Sheridan's fleet that took on the Shadows and Vorlons, or else the fleet that attacked Mars and Earth.
 

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Posted by Kosh (Member # 167) on :
 
According to what I'm seeing at Slipstream, Babylon-5 has the record, with 200 Vorlon ships in one scene in "The Gathering".
 

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Posted by Topher (Member # 71) on :
 
Depending on size restrictions, I think there were more than 200 ships in the Battle of the Line sequence in "In the Beginning".
 

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Posted by AndrewR (Member # 44) on :
 
Wasn't the question "on film" - I'm guessing - in a movie. And you have to hand it to RotJ - all of that was done by Motion Control Photograpy... and after reading things like the Making of DS9 book - and the number of PASSES they have to do for each shot - it is quite a feat - how many ships did they have at once during RotJ. Some of these shows like SoA and some of the B5 episodes of course use the computer imaging... point, click, copy. That is one thing I don't like seeing with the CGI - multiple ships, but they are all the same. They don't have their own hull 'defects', or like some of the pictures in the First Ships of the Line calendar, both ships have the same windows 'lit' and even the glow from the nacelles eminates EXACTLY the same.
 

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Posted by Kosh (Member # 167) on :
 
I saw a link yesterday where JMS is remembering the record being set during "The Gathering".

I remember the shot from "In The Begining", and that may be so.
 

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Posted by AndrewR (Member # 44) on :
 
Didn't JMS say something about "Shadowdancing" also make a record?

I must say that is a beautiful looking episode.
 

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Posted by NightWing (Member # 4) on :
 
The Beginning sure packed the screen full. It looked like every gap was filled. I don't think it gets any more dense than that.
 

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Posted by TSN (Member # 31) on :
 
This seems to be getting less and less related to Trek...
 

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Posted by PsyLiam (Member # 73) on :
 

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Originally posted by AndrewR:
That is one thing I don't like seeing with the CGI - multiple ships, but they are all the same. They don't have their own hull 'defects',

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Originally posted by PsyLiam:

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Originally posted by AndrewR:
That is one thing I don't like seeing with the CGI - multiple ships, but they are all the same. They don't have their own hull 'defects',

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Because obviously when they filmed all the Star Destroyers in RotJ they built a new model for each and every one. And each and everyone of those TIE Fighters was a different model too.

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You know what I mean... *sigh*

Models still look more REALISTIC though. (Starship models, not fashion models)

Andrew
 

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Posted by Thoughtchopper (Member # 480) on :
 
Honest question: Where the starships in AOTC rendered with CGI or were they models?
 

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Posted by Sol System (Member # 30) on :
 
I believe they built models for just about all the ships, but that the actual things we see onscreen are CGI. Of course, if you went to the right theater, everything in the film was CGI, of a sort.
 

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Posted by Nim Pim (Member # 205) on :
 
They say the cinemas with Digital projectors are better, because the CGI looks much more realistic and intricate, the old film-projector makes it look daubed-out and plastic.
BTW, none of the Clone troopers were real, every last one was CGI. They sure had me fooled at the "rush-the-dustcloud-while-firing" and when that trooper checked to see if Amidala was ok from the fall.
 

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Posted by Sol System (Member # 30) on :
 
Most reports I hear say that, while promising, digital projection tends to look washed out and decidedly uncrisp.
 

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Posted by Nim Pim (Member # 205) on :
 
Funny, as I said I've heard opposite.

Especially the Ep-II end-battle on Geonosis was digitally more decipherable when taken in as a whole, one could see more individual objects and soldiers without it all looking like a big mess.
I read it on the Swedish official Star Wars page, some test-audience had been shown both versions.
 

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Posted by Austin Powers (Member # 250) on :
 
That would interest me. I have only seen it at a normal theater and it looked great. Very crisp images, very good color saturation, hardly any defects or dropouts. All in all grade A++.

I would love to see it at a theater with a digital projector, but I don't know of any around here. Anyone else from Germany who would know any cinemas with that kind of equipment?
 

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Posted by PsyLiam (Member # 73) on :
 
What always disapoints me is the sound. Not so much once the film is going (because, obviously, you have to love those seismic charges that Jango used), but at the beginning. The THX logo sounds great, and then when the music kicks in, it always feels a bit...flat, like Williams is only using half an orchestra.
 

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Posted by Balaam Xumucane (Member # 419) on :
 
So far I've only seen Ep2 via DLP. It was pretty impressive how crisp the detail was and the lack of dirt was incredible. I was a touch disappointed at the resolution surprisingly. I guess it's to be expected, but in high contrast scenes you became very aware of the pixelation and that round shapes were not, in fact, round. I think HD will be fantastic for home use but leaves something to be desired for movie theatres. You figure the image is being blown up onto an 80 foot screen *does the math* and suddenly each pixel is 2 inches across. If anything, I do think the technology will help the fanboys count ships.
 

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Posted by Thoughtchopper (Member # 480) on :
 
I can only comment that Phantom Menace is the one DVD I own that looks really good on my computer monitor. In fact, the pod race sequence looks better on my monitor than on my tv...
 

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Posted by Austin Powers (Member # 250) on :
 
Isn't that always the case? PC monitors have a far better resolution, refresh rate, etc. than TV sets, don't they?
 

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Posted by PsyLiam (Member # 73) on :
 
Yes, but that's not always a good thing. The lower quality of TV sets means that they essentially come with built in anti-aliasing. The thing that Graphic Card manufacterers are now trying to put into their graphics cards without slowing everything down.

The small size on monitors compared to TVs also lets things down.

Also, your TV quality will improve massively if you use a fully wired SCART cable. Or if you switch to PAL. Or both.
 

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Posted by Austin Powers (Member # 250) on :
 
Like I do when I use my home-cinema. And I don't even have to switch. PAL is our standard in this deck of the woods.
 

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Posted by TSN (Member # 31) on :
 
"neck"
 

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Posted by Nim Pim Pim (Member # 205) on :
 
Anti-Aliasing is not hard to switch off if you know the "Properties\Settings" window. At least not with Creative's cards.
I have a Creative GeForce4 Ti-4600, I can choose between AA Off, 2x AA, Quincunx AA, 4x AA, 6x AA.

Although, when I download Media Player or Quicktime movies, AntiAliasing is my friend, since even bigres-movies look nicer with it on, like the new Two Towers movie, or Star Wars.
 

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Posted by PsyLiam (Member # 73) on :
 

quote:

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Originally posted by Nim Pim Pim:
Anti-Aliasing is not hard to switch off if you know the "Properties\Settings" window. At least not with Creative's cards.
I have a Creative GeForce4 Ti-4600, I can choose between AA Off, 2x AA, Quincunx AA, 4x AA, 6x AA.

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quote:

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Originally posted by Nim Pim Pim:
Anti-Aliasing is not hard to switch off if you know the "Properties\Settings" window. At least not with Creative's cards.
I have a Creative GeForce4 Ti-4600, I can choose between AA Off, 2x AA, Quincunx AA, 4x AA, 6x AA.

Although, when I download Media Player or Quicktime movies, AntiAliasing is my friend, since even bigres-movies look nicer with it on, like the new Two Towers movie, or Star Wars.

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