LOTR VS Starwars (ONLY SPECIAL EFFECTS VS)

This thread is not about who will win in a fight

or which franchise has a better movies

This Thread is about which you could consider did a better job in SF (special effects)

Name the scene to make you choose your option, the scene that blow your mind for special effects

I have IMO 2 favorites scenes in the special effects department from each franchise

The first part of Revenge of the sith
YouTube video

The arrival of the riders of Rohans in ROTK
YouTube video

I Give Weta special effects defeat ILM in create better special effects, but is very close IMO

Comparing only the prequels to LOTR then i'd have to say that it's an obvious answer...,LOTR.

I can't pick just one scene so im going to compare the three SW movies to the LOTR movies. Star Wars may have been the most consistent with its effects but the beauty of how LOTR used CGI lies in not knowing what is CGI and what isn't. While watching Star Wars you instantly know when you are looking at CGI because everything is essentially CGI. Most of the landscapes are CGI and they look like they are CGI. Most of the landscapes in LOTR are brilliantly coupled with practical landscapes and the mixture CGI, resulting in vast, surreal landscapes.

Some aspects of the LOTR CGI has aged badly, most notably, Two Towers. There are many scenes in Two Towers that are so ugly and fake that they are laughable. The other two movies, Fellowship and Return of the King, however, display masterful CGI.

You know what, i take back what i said earlier. I can pick a favorite scene. In Fellowship of the Ring, when the Fellowship is fighting the cave Troll. The use of CGI in that scene is just breathtaking. The cave troll looks tangible and the way it interacts with the live actors suspends reality and forces you to believe that Peter Jackson captured a cave troll and put it on film. There are several scenes like this through out the LOTR trilogy where human actors are interacting with complete CGI characters flawlessly. The only scene in Star Wars that i can think of, at the moment, is when Obi Wan fights greivious. The CGI in that scene was done very well but i was not blown away like i was with LOTR.

look, lets compare...,Yoda and Golem...,enough said. I was NEVER impressed with the effects in the prequels. For the most part they were stale, lackluster and uninspired. This, however, is probably because i was expecting to much from the prequels. I think ILM did much better work on Pirates of the Caribbean.

Even though i think LOTR stomps Star Wars in the CGI department i think Star Wars had the better sound. That definitely counts for something.

Generally most of LotR has more vivid and believable CGI...They then went and completely ruined their hard work with the absolutely awful army of the dead running riot on the battlefield...It just looked like a big wave of radioactive snot washing over everything.

Lord of the Rings for sure.

But only because they did more things that the human eye itself would register as believable. Epic space battles with bright colorful blaster bolts and mile long burning space ships flying through the atmoshphere, and the like, is less believable by nature than men in armor or dirtified humans (orcs), using swords and wearing armor.

By that same token, Smeagol was very obvious CGI to my eyes, as was the Baelrog and the army of the dead.

Originally posted by Final Blaxican
Lord of the Rings for sure.

But only because they did more things that the human eye itself would register as believable. Epic space battles with bright colorful blaster bolts and mile long burning space ships flying through the atmoshphere, and the like, is less believable by nature than men in armor or dirtified humans (orcs), using swords and wearing armor.

By that same token, Smeagol was very obvious CGI to my eyes, as was the Baelrog and the army of the dead.

i was thinking that but then i think back on the original trilogy and other science fiction movies that take place in space which made huge impacts. You don't think it could be because LOTR had more practical locations and effects involved with the CGI?

I've always believed that if Lucas had gotten away from the green screen a bit and focused more on models he would have had better results.

I agree yeah. In the PT everything is digitized and everything looks fake. Even stop-motion and and animatronics are at least made of real world objects and thus imo they look more real.

A lot of the OT's graphics look more realistic imo.

Originally posted by jaden101
Generally most of LotR has more vivid and believable CGI...They then went and completely ruined their hard work with the absolutely awful army of the dead running riot on the battlefield...It just looked like a big wave of radioactive snot washing over everything.

Well put.