Star Wars opening sequence voted all time best SFX

[Master Yoghurt]

In a poll made by the SFX magazine, the Star Wars opening sequence with the Star Destroyer persuing the rebel blokade runner has been voted the best special effect in cinema history.

Good choice, and there are some excellent entries on the rest of the list as well. I am particulary pleased to see the alien SFX in the cult sci fi classic "The Thing" up there. Thats one of the most frightening movies youre ever likely to see, and yet so many have missed seeing it.

Here is the rest of the list:

Top 10 Special Effects:
1 Star Wars - opening (1977)
2 King Kong - climax (1933)
3 The Thing - spider head (1982)
4 Jason and the Argonauts - the skeletons (1963)
5 Terminator 2: Judgment Day - the T-1000 (1991)
6 Forbidden Planet - Krell machinery (1956)
7 The Lord of the Rings trilogy - Gollum (2001-2003)
8 The Matrix - bullet-time (1999)
9 Alien - bursting chest (1979)
10 Spider-Man 2 - train fight (2004)

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/film/4158961.stm

[JMK]

I remember the opening sequence of ANH from the very first time I saw it, and that's what stuck with me for years.

[darth_mcbain]

Great choice for #1. I wonder what their criteria were, if any, as a lot of the movies are older. I think there's a lot of good choices up there, though...

[Master Yoghurt]

I suspect they chose scenes which

1. made a memorable or even immortal impression and
2. for the time was a breakthrough on a technical level and
3. made some sort of standard to be copied in subsequent movies

I mean, who can forget the first time they saw T-1000 melt through the floor, the stardestroyer roaring across the screen or Neo as he evaded the bullets. Those are not just technical feats, those are also timeless moments in cinema history.

In 1933, there was no special effects Oscar, but if there was, King Kong would have won it because it was way ahead of its time. Groundbreaking use of rear projection, miniature models, trick photography, and last but not least the stop-motion animation sequences, culminating in the famous climbing the skyscraper scene (which everyone has seen, unless they have been living under a rock for their whole life) :)

[darth_mcbain]

Originally posted by Master Yoghurt
Those are not just technical feats, those are also timeless moments in cinema history.

Absolutely...