Blue Sky/VIFX also handled their share of extraterrestrial craft interiors, including the Son'a Solar Collector and the deceptive Holoship, which is used to trick the Ba'ku people so they can be kidnapped and carried away from the planet en masse. One of Blue Sky/VIFX's more involved sequences occurs after this elaborate holographic ruse fails and the Son'a launch an attack. Menacing-looking shuttles skim the planet surface, dropping dozens of metallic drones which chase the Ba'ku, firing "tags" into their quarry so they can be instantly beamed off the planet. The shuttles, drones and the tags themselves were entirely CG. "There are hundreds of these little drones flying around firing these tags," describes Richard Hollander. "The drones are about 2' long and look a bit like the Martian war machines from War of the Worlds."
The 40-plus effects shots in the sequence feature some 10 drones per cut flying around, hovering and shooting tags. To make the work even more challenging, the scene takes place in broad daylight, where even the most realistic effects can appear less than convincing. "The drone models were heavily detailed," Rygiel explains. "We had some great texture painters who put all kinds of dirt and little markings onto these drones to make them look real. Added to this was a sense of speed, which really sells the illusion."
Just how fast do the drones fly? "They're not that fast," Rygiel admits. "They look a little scary, but the filmmakers didn't want them to look too menacing. They wanted them to be these mindless things that just sweep down and tag people, so we gave them sort of a dive-bombing motion."
Additionally, Insurrection boasts some epic space battles courtesy of Santa Barbara Studios, and a zero-gravity phaser fight created by Blue Sky/VIFX. However, these pyro-technics never obscure the picture's poignant message about colonialism. "I don't think the visual effects will drive this Star Trek film," opines Blue Sky/VIFX's Richard Hollander. "This picture is more about the story's politics than the effects — it's going to be a fun Trek."
