"Movie Magic" (1994)TV series

Creators:

Gary R. Benz
Stephen Rocha
Lise Romanoff

Seasons:

1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5

Genre:

Documentary

Plot:

Documentary series dealing with every aspect of special effects in movies, from low-budget make-up to multi-million-dollar computer-generated graphics...

Plot Keywords:

Non Fiction

Cast

James Cameron

...

Himself (10 episodes, 1994-1997)

Runtime:

30 min (including commercials) (68 episodes)

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.33 : 1

Company:

GRB Entertainment

Trivia:

Excerpts from the episode entitled "Action Effects - Ultimate Action" are featured on the 2-Disc Criterion Collection DVD for The Rock (1996).

Not very good, except the episode on stop-motion

Unfortunately, this series has very little new stuff to offer to real movie fans. The series consists of four parts, all dealing with different aspects of the special effects business. The premise sounds interesting enough, but the execution is very poorly done. The individual episodes are built up entirely of promotional footage, with the producers and directors constantly emphasizing how fabulous and groundbreaking their movies are. The only highlight of the series is the episode that tells the history of stop-motion animation and the making of the effects on Jurassic Park. That particular episode is quite fascinating, with comments by Willis O'Brien, Ray Harryhausen and Rick Baker who manage to keep it continually interesting, even though they are constantly interrupted by commercials, that take some of the pace out of it. Watch the show for that episode alone (I think it was the second), the rest of the series is only of moderate interest.