Star Trek effects get real

From cinemablend, J. J. Abrams is bringing a touch of reality to Star Trek. It was announced yesterday that NASA planetary scientist Carolyn Porco has joined the upcoming movie’s production team as a consultant to bring a level of scientific accuracy to the movie’s space scenes.

Space.com reported on Porco’s involvement, including her impressive list of credentials, including her position as leader of the Imaging Science team of NASA’s Cassini mission at Saturn, and her role as part of the Voyager mission (the real one, not that horrid fourth Star Trek series).

This isn’t Porco’s first involvement with the motion picture industry. She’s previously served as a consultant on the Jodie Foster film Contact and as an advisor on Cosmic Journey, a television special celebrating the 25th anniversary of the Voyager mission (again, referring to the real Voyager, not Janeway’s ship).

Everyone sounds excited about Porco’s involvement with the picture, from the scientist herself to producer/director J.J. Abrams. Somehow, I can’t get excited about this news though (as if you couldn’t tell that already from this bland news story). Using NASA for a scientific background for visual effects in sci-fi has become somewhat standard in the last decade, which is how Porco has a movie portfolio already. Even with shows that have used a scientific basis (like Babylon 5), I couldn’t tell a huge difference in the visual effects, so I’m just not overwhelmed by this.

Don’t get me wrong. I’m still excited about the Star Trek movie, and I think Abrams is making all the right moves so far for a fantastic picture. I just don’t expect to be watching the movie thinking to myself how much better the visuals are because of their accuracy.