Movies - TV
Star Trek: Voyager’s Hope And Fear Sparked A Fight Over Special Effects
By WITNEY SEIBOLD
The “Star Trek: Voyager” episode “Hope and Fear” sees the use of slipstream technology for ships to travel at great speeds through what looks like a cosmic tunnel.
Conflict arose over how a ship would U-turn in the slipstream without it looking silly, as Special Effects supervisor Ron B. Moore recalled in a 1998 issue of Cinefantastique.
Moore said, “The Voyager would make a U-turn. I just couldn’t see that. We’re going a ludicrous speed. It would take a really wide turn at this speed to make a U-turn.”
While Moore offered a solution where the Voyager would exit the slipstream, turn around, and reenter, show co-creator Rick Berman thought everything should occur in the tunnel.
Despite objections that it would look cheesy, Berman pushed for it to be within the tunnel. Luckily, Adam “Mojo” Lebowitz was able to get the effect to work with his CGI know-how.