The Black Hole (1979)

The PG film (Disney's first) was nominated for Best Visual Effects, losing to Alien (1979), Star Trek: The Motion Picture (1979), 1941 (1979), and Moonraker (1979).

Similar to Superman (1978), CGI-like film titles were also used for the opening titles in this Disney film, and for some trailers.

The Muppet Movie (1979)

Jim Henson's muppets featured some of the trickiest and most advanced puppetry to date, such as Kermit riding a bicycle without any visible means of control, and Kermit playing a banjo in a swamp while singing The Rainbow Connection, etc. (In the latter scene, Jim Henson spent an entire day in a 50-gallon steel drum submerged in a pond).

Star Trek: The Motion Picture (1979)

This film included an amazing depiction of the "wormhole effect" (when the newly redesigned USS Enterprise entered warp speed for the first time), the USS Enterprise traveling at increased "warp speed," Mr. Spock's (Leonard Nimoy) jet-pack "space walk" attempt to contact the aliens, and the massive, energy-clouded V'Ger (the unmanned scientific space probe and transmitter named Voyager 6 that was launched by NASA from Earth in the 20th century (with a mounted plaque that read VOYAGER VI), more than 300 years earlier).

In the astonishing "merge" scene in the film's finale, Commander Willard Decker (Stephen Collins) and the android machine Ilia (Persis Khambatta) came together in a glowing spectacle. Realizing that the only way V'Ger would be able to find value and meaning, complete its final sequence in its transmission, and "join" with and "touch" its creator, Decker - already deeply affected by the loss of former lover Lieut. Ilia (Persis Khambatta) - sacrificed himself to become one with the machine life-form. The merging of man ("human quality") and machine (Ilia had been abducted and replaced by V'Ger's identical-looking android probe) culminated in a dazzling explosion of white light, and the beginning of a new non-corporeal life-form ("We witnessed a birth. Possibly a next step in our evolution") from which the USS Enterprise majestically emerged, saved.

The effects were the work of visual effects supervisor Douglas Trumbull's company EEG, assisted by John Dykstra's Apogee.

An American Werewolf in London (1981)

This classic horror film contained a visceral transformation scene (that won an Academy Award for Best Makeup for Rick Baker), the first to win in the newly established Oscar category..

It told how backpacking American college student/tourist in the Yorkshires David Kessler (David Naughton) turned into a werewolf/lycanthrope - his body, face, and limbs crunched and his skin bubbled as it grew hair and elongated.

Some of the same special effects techniques were also used in Joe Dante's horror/comedy The Howling (1981) which featured stunning metamorphosis sequences of man-into-wolf (see below).

Dragonslayer (1981)

The use of Go-Motion brought this film an Academy Award nomination for Best Achievement in Visual Effects, which it lost to Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981).

This sword-'n'-sorcery film, a co-production of Walt Disney and Paramount, introduced the innovative technique of Go-Motion, a process created by Industrial Light & Magic (and Lucas animator Phil Tippett).

It was a variation on the earlier technique of "stop-motion" animation (popularized by Willis O'Brien and Ray Harryhausen), by having the animated model (the Dragon) make several moves within a frame, thereby giving it a more fluid, blurry, and natural movement. By contrast, the traditional stop-motion technique was more jerky, static and wooden in appearance, as in Harryhausen's Clash of the Titans (1981) released in the same year.

The Howling (1981)

Joe Dante's horror/comedy The Howling (1981) featured stunning metamorphosis, shape-shifting sequences of man-into-wolf (one was juxtaposed with a TV scene of the Big Bad Wolf in The Three Little Pigs (1933)).

The special groundbreaking makeup effects were originally to be produced by makeup wizard Rick Baker, but director Landis took him away to work on An American Werewolf in London (1981) (see above), so Baker's assistant Rob Bottin filled in - this was before the days of CGI. [The third werewolf film of the same year was Wolfen (1981).]

During a memorable werewolf transformation scene with incredible special effects (changing in real-time) accompanied by crackling noises, the snout and jaw structures elongated and changed, cheeks, forehead and neck undulated and bubbled (air bladders under facial latex skin), talon-like nails/claws extended from fingers, teeth grew into feral fangs, and hairy fur and pointy devilish ears grew out. (All were pneumatic transformations without CGI effects.)

Looker (1981)

The visual effects in Michael Crichton's high-tech science-fiction thriller featured the first CGI human character, model Cindy (Susan Dey of The Partridge Family fame) - her digitization was visualized by a computer-generated simulation of her body being scanned - notably the first use of shaded 3D CGI in a feature film. Polygonal models obtained by digitizing a human body were used to render the effects.

Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981)

Part of the reason why this film won the Academy Award for Best Visual Effects was due to its awesome climax with amazing visual effects, revealing the power of the Ark of the Covenant as it was opened by the face-melting Nazis.

A few more of the film's most remarkable special effects shots included:

• the giant boulder rolling after Indy Jones (Harrison Ford) in the gripping opening
• the amazing final image of the government warehouse where the Ark was stored -- a lengthy matte shot, and a tribute to a similar final scene in Citizen Kane (1941)

Blade Runner (1982)

This classic, noirish science-fiction film was nominated for Best Achievement in Visual Effects (as was the ghost-story Poltergeist (1982)), but both lost to E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial (1982).

One of the most awe-inspiring visuals in film history, paying homage to Lang's Metropolis (1927), the powerful vision of the Los Angeles cityscape, circa 2019, at night, with giant, fire-belching towers, floating advertisements, giant television screens, and police "spinners" (flying cars) - all based on the art design of legendary artist Syd Mead, who would collaborate with Jean 'Moebius' Giraud on TRON (1982) (see below).

The Dark Crystal (1982)

Dark Crystal was Jim Henson's darkest, most foreboding film, and the first film to completely use realistic puppets without a single real human or animal character. The film was composed entirely of puppets, matte paintings, and some miniature sets. The character and world designs were made by famed fantasy artist Brian Froud.

E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial (1982)

This Steven Spielberg film was an Oscar winner for Best Visual Effects (defeating Poltergeist (1982) and Blade Runner (1982)). About $1.5 million of its $10 million budget was set aside for the creation of the E.T. alien, and another $1 million for other effects shots.

It was famous for the flying bicycle scene in which the kids escaped into the air on their bicycles, and later the scene of the alien and Eliott illuminated in silhouette (using miniatures) against a giant-size full moon.

Also, visual effects were employed for E.T.'s spaceship, and the believable alien itself, although altered or digitally-enhanced in the 2002 remake for the 20th anniversary edition. (See below)

Pink Floyd The Wall (1982)

Gerard Scarfe's animation was made for both the multimedia concert and the Alan Parker film - it was one of the first truly adult animated work in terms of maturity - sexually and politically. (The film also featured one of the earliest commercial uses of time-lapse photography, and featured disturbing imagery of schoolchildren turning into conforming, faceless zombies on an assembly line and stepping into a meat-grinder.)