Pops Watched TV: LIGHT & MAGIC

 While I’m normally (and naturally) skeptical of documentaries that have corporate ties to their subject matter, I nonetheless watched LIGHT & MAGIC, the six-part docuseries on Disney+ about ILM, and find myself—somewhat surprisingly—giving it a solid recommendation. 

I often bemoan the death of “movie magic,” just referring to the cynical lack of wonder and awe over how special effects are made anymore, with the catch-all of “it’s all digital” being the answer to every “how did they do that?” But while the most inspiring parts of LIGHT & MAGIC are certainly seeing the ragtag physical effects artists of the 1970s figuring out how to do everything that George Lucas demanded of them for STAR WARS (indeed, Lucas comes across as rather dense here, less a brilliant visionary than a stubborn dreamer who, when told, “We can’t do that,” just said, “You’ll figure it out,” and was lucky that they DID), and there’s a really depressing section on some of those guys finding themselves feeling “extinct” when JURASSIC PARK rendered them obsolete, there’s a surprising turnaround at the end (spoiler alert) wherein some brand new techniques (“the Volume”… look it up) have reintegrated traditional filmmaking into the modern era in a way that many would previously have thought was done. 

For those of us who grew up witnessing the transition from practical to digital effects and ever gave a crap about how any of it was done, or if you just like seeing smart geeks doing creative stuff, check this series out. Hell, it even made me go back and re-watch all of the STAR WARS films.

Originally posted on social media, Aug. 19, 2022