Cruisers are exploding in huge balls of fire and debris is scattered everywhere.

Straight away, the Planetary Union suffers casualties as the more advanced Kaylon weapons tear through the defending Union ships. It's a little like the Battle of Sector 001 in 'Star Trek: First Contact,' only this is on a much bigger scale.Īlmost immediately the firing starts: A barrage of laser blasts fills the screen. Closer inspection reveals hundreds of Planetary Union ships gathered in a desperate attempt to save the planet. The USS Orville emerges out of quantum drive with Earth directly ahead and the entire fleet of deadly Kaylon death spheres in tow.

This tableau was a result of work from both FuseFX and Pixomondo visual effects company. The Orville meets with the USS Roosevelt moments before the Kaylons destroy it. Not only did it provide a thrilling climax to an already enthralling two-part episode, but the visual effects were flawless. Last week's episode of 'The Orville' included one of the longest space battle sequences seen in contemporary sci-fi, at just under 8 minutes, and it ticked all the right boxes. 'The Phantom Menace' showed us how far the technology had come it also showed us that an unlimited VFX budget doesn't always guarantee a good space battle.

Early attempts like the vastly underrated 'The Last Starfighter' look primitive by today's standards, and a number of enthralling battles in space took place throughout the run of 'Babylon 5' and the latter half of 'Star Trek: Deep Space Nine,' both which used the best CGI available at the time. Six years later, 'Return of the Jedi' raised the bar even higher.īy this point, practical visual effects had more or less reached their limits and computer- generated technology was rapidly developing. Not only did we get to see an Imperial Star Destroyer disable and capture a Rebel Alliance Blockade Runner within the first minute, but it also took everything that made an aerial dogfight exciting and put it into space. Then ' Star Wars' came along and changed everything.

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