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THE VIDEO SHELF · 1980s visual effects

Flight of the Navigator | VFXcool

Captain Disillusion's VFXcool episode, led by Alan Melikdjanian, takes a 41-minute nostalgic look at how the visual effects of Flight of the Navigator were made. It covers early computers, motion control, in-camera effects and practical crafts.

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Why HN readers recommended it

Strongly recommended as a detailed, entertaining history of 1980s CGI and film techniques, including the role of the Foonly F1.

This is a summary from the source dataset, not an endorsement by Hacker News or the video creator.

Video & recommendation details

Creator / channel
Captain Disillusion
Topic
1980s visual effects
Format
documentary
Level
general
HN recommenders in dataset
3
HN mentions in dataset
6
Recommendation years in dataset
2021–2025

These counts and years describe the included Hacker News records; they are not YouTube views or the video’s publication date.

From the original HN conversations

Excerpts from the recorded comments. Follow each source for the full comment and surrounding discussion.

  • Missing from this list: the Foonly F1, used to create the animations in Tron (1982) and later to render the spaceship in Flight of the Navigator (1986) - of note as the first use of reflection mapping in a motion picture. I highly recommend this …

    dTal on Hacker News · 2021-10
    In One-of-a-kind computer systems of which only one unit was ever produced

  • See also: Flight of the Navigator | VFXCool - Captain Disillusion A fantastic video detailing the VFX of Flight of the Navigator. [VIDEO]

    askiiart on Hacker News · 2023-01
    In The Foonly F1 Computer (2011)

  • This comprehensive video on the special effects of Flight of the Navigator, including the role of the Foonly F1, is one of the most fascinating things I have ever seen on YouTube. I cannot recommend it enough: [VIDEO] <edit: I see that someone else has …

    dTal on Hacker News · 2023-01
    In The Foonly F1 Computer (2011)

Summaries, classifications and recommendation records are from the HackerTube source dataset. Read about this library and its limitations.