Special Effects Evolution: Difference between revisions

{{trope}}

The inevitable fact that, as franchises go on, they will be given a special effects (very often, CGI) upgrade to compete with the times. Justified in the fact that many of today's sequels are of series from the 1980s or 1990s, where then-new CGI was often ditched in favor of actual explosions and stunts, and CGI is much safer (and cheaper) than, say, blowing up an entire office building. Often results in [[They Changed It, Now It Sucks]].

 

== [[Anime]] ==

* The ''[[Pokémon (anime)|Pokémon]]'' series continuing today has changed A LOT since the first episode from 1997. The movements of the characters are much more fluid, there's more computer-generated effects (especially the Pokémon's attacks which were originally drawn with the same animation), and the environments are much more colorful and vivid. For its fourteenth opening sequence, it was fully CG, while initially the show didn't even use digital ink and paint.

* The ''[[Star Wars]]'' prequels and the re-mastered originals in comparison to the films from [[The Seventies]] and [[The Eighties]]. So... much [[Scenery Porn]]. (Though that is not always the case)

* Ditto for ''[[Star Trek]]'', which has been in near-constant production with films and TV series since the 1970s.

** The [[Star Trek (film)|2009 film]], to, well, ''anything else''.

** ''[[Star Trek: The Next Generation]]'' was converted to HD using the original film, requiring the replacement of the SD format special effects.

** Also partially explained, in-story, with the original Mule being destroyed in the episode ''War Stories'', and the fancy new one being bought with the proceeds from the sale of the Lassiter.

* The ''[[Godzilla]]'' series has been going on for over fifty years, and started with men is rubber suits smashing miniature cities to men in rubber suits smashing miniature cities done BETTER!

* ''[[Clash of the Titans]]'': The newer version uses computer animation as replacements for the stop-motion effects of the 1981 version.

* The ''[[Harry Potter (film)|Harry Potter]]'' movies started in 2001, so they used plenty of CGI from the start. However, the quantity and quality of the CGI increases with each film. It's telling that Jim Henson's Creature Shop only worked on the first ''Potter'' film while ILM worked on every film in the series.

** The new series has a subtle, but visible evolution continually across the Ninth, Tenth and Eleventh Doctor's eras.

* ''[[Star Trek]]'', as mentioned above.

* The effects of ''[[Walking with Dinosaurs]]'' and its sequels have gone through a spectacular evolution beginning from 1999 to 2005. While very good for their time, the effects in the original series have aged quite a bit, and the closeups of the CGI dinosaurs looked particularly odd, which is why the bulk of these closeup shots were realized using [[Practical Effects|animatronics]]. The computer graphics of the series had advanced so much by the time ''Walking with Monsters'' was released, that even CGI closeups looked magnificently lifelike.

* [[Tokusatsu]] is an obvious example, given that the genre as such (primarily [[Super Sentai]] and the ''[[Kamen Rider]]'' franchise) have been around since the 1970s. Of course, evolution can be found on the small scale too: compare the transformation effects in 2000's ''[[Kamen Rider Kuuga]]'' to the giant monster versus [[Cool Train]] battles in 2007's ''[[Kamen Rider Den-O]]''.

 

== [[Video Games]] ==

 

== [[Western Animation]] ==

* ''[[Scooby-Doo]]''.

* In the [[DCAU]], the use of conspicuous CGI backgrounds and vehicles (particularly in the animated films) has continued, but is done much better. Compare the Batwing in [[Batman and Mister Freeze Sub Zero]] to the Batwing in [[Batman: Under the Red Hood]].

[[Category:Special Effects]]

[[Category:Spectacle]]