I loved that we (as the audience) couldn't tell that this character was actually a puppet in-universe because all Star Trek prosthetics look like puppets.
this post was submitted on 11 Sep 2026
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CGI for TNG wasn’t actually all that “there” yet. The cgi of the era was expensive and they didn’t get into it very much until season 6, on the show.
(They did use CGI for the genesis effect in wrath of khan and a few other times, but it wasn’t in their typical skill sets)
The first show to use cgi heavily was actually Babylon 5, who pioneered it, and lessons were learned and used in Star Trek after TNG season 6/DS9 and Voyager.
Wasn't this from the Original Series? I thought it was the dummy they discovered on the First Federation ship. (I could be wrong, of course.)
The Corbomite Maneuver. With Clint How...ah, no spoilers.
oh. I guess it was, lol
That makes CGI even more, uh, difficult and expensive.
the actual Genesis explosion at the end of the movie was a practical effect.
the CGI part earlier was presented as a CGI simulation they watched on a screen.
That advanced a technology and they still chose to go practical vs. CGI. A remake with some decent puppetry, and it would look real.
Is there any example of "decent puppetry"? It seems like any puppetry is very obvious. Even modern animatronics have a very limited number of points of articulation compared to actual biomechanical beings that makes it unrealistic.
The Minotaurs in the Narnia movies were all animatronic prosthetics worn by some dude on stilts.
They’re a sort of puppet, I guess.
They might not have been totally perfect but had full facial movements.
Sure, there's limits. Show enough and even the best has an uncanny valley because our brains are great at picking up subtle clues. But in this example there was little shown outside the head motion, and I'll take most any of Henson's or Weta Workshop's stuff that tries to trick the mind into thinking stuff is real.
Most recent is the work in Project Hail Mary. Not humanoid, but convincingly living.
I think there's different levels of what we call real. CGI might be more realistic, but our brains know that we are looking at something that never existed, whereas even the shittiest puppet is convincingly a real object; I think that to translates us more easily having feelings about the puppet.
Stole this argument from a comparison of Carpenter's practical effect smorgasborg, The Thing, vs its CGI-heavy remake.
I’ll take most any of Henson’s or Weta Workshop’s stuff that tries to trick the mind into thinking stuff is real.
Any specific examples? I just remember Farscape being firmly in the "obviously puppets" realm, but that is pretty old by now.
About as old, but the first Yoda out of ESB was incredible in believability, particularly in face expressions (given the topic here of just a talking head on screen). Lucas's later attempts at doing more with Yoda using CGI was nowhere near the level.
From an Avatar themed ride at Disneyworld:
My first thought. That thing blew my mind when I first saw it.
But he's so adorable with his wittle legs.
...handsome Squidward?
Haven't seen much of Lower Decks but now I'm intrigued. Which episode is this from?
s4e9 "The Inner Fight"
I am a grown ass woman and this image still scares the shit out of me like it did when I was little.
Personally, I think the most scarring sci-fi moment I ever had was the Doctor Who episode with the TVs that eat people's faces.
As long as I get a glass of Tranya, I'm good with it...
Area 51, man.
Huh. I don´t have this guy there, just an adorable beagle.