Editing Science fiction on television (section)

==Visual production process and methods==
The need to portray imaginary settings or characters with properties and abilities beyond the reach of current reality obliges producers to make extensive use of specialized techniques of television production.
  
Through most  of the 20th century, many of these techniques were expensive and involved a small number of dedicated craft practitioners, while the reusability of props, models, effects, or animation techniques made it easier to keep using them. The combination of high initial cost and lower maintenance cost pushed producers into building these techniques into the basic concept of a series, influencing all the artistic choices.

By the late 1990s, improved technology and more training and cross-training within the industry made all of these techniques easier to use, so that directors of individual episodes could make decisions to use one or more methods, so such artistic choices no longer needed to be baked into the series concept.

===Special effects===
{{Main|Special effect}}
[[File:Magicam-patent.png|thumb|For the series ''[[The Starlost]]'', the Magicam, a servo controlled dolly along with a secondary periscope camera filming a model background, was designed by [[Douglas Trumbull]]. However, the system did not work reliably and [[Chroma key|blue screen]] effects were used.<ref name="sf">{{cite book|title=Science Fiction Television Series|author1=Mark Phillips |author2=Frank Garcia |publisher=McFarland}}</ref> ]]

Special effects (or "SPFX") have been an essential tool throughout the history of science fiction on television: small explosives to simulate the effects of various [[raygun]]s, [[bullet hit squib|squib]]s of blood and gruesome prosthetics to simulate the monsters and victims in horror series, and the [[wire-flying]] entrances and exits of [[George Reeves]] as [[Adventures of Superman (TV series)|Superman]].

The broad term "special effects" includes all the techniques here, but more commonly there are two categories of effects. [[Visual effects]] ("VFX") involve photographic or digital manipulation of the onscreen image, usually done in [[post-production]]. Mechanical or [[physical effects]] involve props, pyrotechnics, and other physical methods used during [[principal photography]] itself. Some effects involved a combination of techniques; a ray gun might require a pyrotechnic during filming, and then an optical glowing line added to the film image in post-production. [[Stunt]]s are another important category of physical effects. In general, all kinds of special effects must be carefully planned during [[pre-production]].

===Computer-generated imagery===
{{Main|Computer-generated imagery}}

''[[Babylon 5]]'' was the first series to use [[computer-generated imagery]], or "CGI", for all exterior space scenes, even those with characters in space suits. The technology has made this more practical, so that today models are rarely used. In the 1990s, CGI required expensive processors and customized applications, but by the 2000s (decade), computing power has pushed capabilities down to personal laptops running a wide array of software.

===Models and puppets===
{{Main|Scale model|Puppet}}

[[Scale model|Models]] have been an essential tool in science fiction television since the beginning, when [[Buck Rogers]] took flight in spark-scattering spaceships wheeling across a matte backdrop sky. The original ''[[Star Trek: The Original Series|Star Trek]]'' required a staggering array of models; the [[Starship Enterprise|USS ''Enterprise'']] had to be built in several different scales for different needs. Models fell out of use in filming in the 1990s as CGI became more affordable and practical, but even today, designers sometimes construct scale models which are then digitized for use in animation software.

Models of characters are [[puppet]]s. [[Gerry Anderson]] created a series of shows using puppets living in a universe of models and miniature sets, notably ''[[Thunderbirds (TV series)|Thunderbirds]]''. ''[[ALF (TV series)|ALF]]'' depicted an alien living in a family, while ''[[Farscape]]'' included two puppets as regular characters. In ''[[Stargate SG-1]]'', the [[Asgard (Stargate)|Asgard]] characters are puppets in scenes where they are sitting, standing, or lying down. In ''[[Mystery Science Theater 3000]]'', the characters of [[Crow T. Robot]] and [[Tom Servo]], two of the show's main (and most iconic) characters, are puppets constructed from random household items.

===Animation===
{{Main|Animation}}
{{See also|Anime}}
[[File:Kuha2053108.JPG|thumb|Robot characters from the Japanese science fiction television series  ''[[Ganbare!! Robocon]]''  were used to decorate this train car.]]
As animation is completely free of the constraints of gravity, momentum, and physical reality, it is an ideal technique for science fiction and fantasy on television. In a sense, virtually all animated series allow characters and objects to perform in unrealistic ways, so they are almost all considered to fit within the broadest category of [[speculative fiction]] (in the context of awards, criticism, marketing, etc.) The artistic affinity of animation to [[comic books]] has led to a large amount of [[superhero]]-themed animation, much of this adapted from comics series, while the impossible characters and settings allowed in animation made this a preferred medium for both [[fantasy]] and for series aimed at young audiences.

Originally, animation was all hand-drawn by artists, though in the 1980s, beginning with ''[[Captain Power]]'', computers began to automate the task of creating repeated images; by the 1990s, hand-drawn animation became defunct.

===Animation in live-action===
In recent years as technology has improved, this has become more common, notably since the development of the Massive software application permits producers to include hordes of non-human characters to storm a city or space station. The robotic [[Cylon (reimagining)|Cylons]] in the new version of ''[[Battlestar Galactica (2004 TV series)|Battlestar Galactica]]'' are usually animated characters, while the [[Asgard (Stargate)|Asgard]] in ''[[Stargate SG-1]]'' are animated when they are shown walking around or more than one is on screen at once.