History Main / CoconutSuperPowers

* ''Series/Legion2017'' got ''creative'' with this. Most of the characters' powers don't require extensive FX or are entirely mental (Syd's [[FreakyFridayFlip body swapping]], Cary and Kerry's {{Synchronization}}, Ptonomy's memory), so when David Haller needs to go head-to-head with a psychic of similar stature, how do you depict a proper BattleInTheCenterOfTheMind without blowing up the budget? The answer: Depict the psychic struggles metaphorically through '''[[DanceOff Dance]] [[SuccessThroughInsanity Battles.]]'''

* The oldest ''Franchise/SherlockHolmes'' film, made in 1900 and called ''[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KmffCrlgY-c Sherlock Holmes Baffled]]'', one minute long and originally made for the [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mutoscope mutoscope]], features a teleporting thief who simply disappears and reappears. It's notable for being an early use of teleportation special effects. In this case the effect wasn't achieved by cutting, but by using an a technique that had been invented only four years before and what was the first ever [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special_effect motion picture effect]]: Physically stopping the cammera recording, having the actor playing the thief leave or reenter the set while the actor playing Holmes froze in place for a moment, then having the camera start recording again and the actor(s) start moving again.

** There's a bit of EarlyInstallmentWeirdness at play as well. The Force in the original ''Star Wars'' was very different from what it later became. Jedi were more like the Bene Gesserit of ''Dune'', with a bunch of mental tricks to enhance their own performance and influence the minds of others, but with no overt power over the physical world. Even Darth Vader [[PsychicStrangle choking Admiral Motti]] was supposed to be a mental compulsion to stop breathing rather than physical strangulation. This is why people like Han Solo think the Force is 'simple tricks and nonsense'. It wasn't until ''The Empire Strikes Back'' that things like telekinesis and physical enhancement started being added to the Jedi repertoire, making Han's statement seem more out of place with each installment.
** The original ''Star Wars'' also featured very little lightsaber content: there's only four scenes with a lightsaber, and in only one does the lightsaber actually cut something (which also lacks the since-common effect of lightsabers burning their wounds). Pretty much every account claims the original lightsaber props were really fragile and known to crack in two, hence why you have Obi-Wan and Vader's rather stiff kendo-style duel instead of the acrobatic {{Flynning}} of later films.

** In ''Film/ConanTheBarbarian1982'', Thulsa Doom's power repertoire include hypnotic mind control, which he achieves by staring intensely at the victim, turning snakes into arrows, which just requires the actor to handle a snake in one shot and an arrow in the other, and finally turning into a snake, which is a montage of short close-ups of actor wearing consecutively more make-up and then of an actual snake.

** That said, neither film was made on a shoe-string budget, nor involves no special effects -- but especially in the first one, this arguably adds to the mystique better than flashier scenes would, akin to the lack of actual shark in ''{{Film/Jaws}}''.

* ''Film/CatPeople'' was a B-movie that had to content with a werebeast plot. The filmmakers cleverly got around this by not showing the monster, and implying it could be anywhere with camera tricks and sound effects (with the odd shadow thrown in there). For one scene where the animal is stalking two characters in a large room, the studio insisted an animal be seen on camera. They used a panther but shot it in shadow and it never shared the screen with the other two actors. There are other scenes with a panther...that's kept safely in a zoo cage except for one scene towards the end. The film ended up pioneering the NothingIsScarier trope that ''{{Film/Jaws}}'' later popularized.

* ''Series/{{Daredevil|2015}}'': In the comics, Daredevil is a Spider-Man style acrobat, often soaring through the air and using the cable in his billy club to swing from rooftops. While the series still has a number of parkour stunts, the expense and complexity of depicting swinging and other aerial maneuvers meant that the character's acrobatic talents were rarely depicted. Tellingly, Daredevil was given a new billy club that included a grappling hook in the Season 2 finale (''finally'' allowing him to do a rooftop swing), only for it to get lost during the ''[[Series/TheDefenders2017 Defenders]]'' mini-series, conveniently meaning the show didn't have to utilize it at all in Season 3.

** Beast Boy suffers from the same problem as Odo from ''Deep Space 9''. His comic counterpart is a {{Shapeshifter}} who can transform into any animal he can think of, while the TV version of Beast Boy could only morph into a tiger for the entirety of the first season. He later gained the ability to also turn into a snake in the Season 2 and a bat in Season 3, but still mostly just uses his tiger form for budgetary reasons.

** Especially blatant in ''Series/PowerRangersBeastMorphers.'' The main three machines are the Cheetah Zord (totally humanoid but with a cheetah head on its chest), the Gorilla Zord (apelike, requires a suit actor to hunch over and sometimes uses inhuman CGI-assisted agility) and the Rabbit Zord (all CGI when in motion.) If you think the first gets a ton of solo battles, the second much fewer, and the third practically never, then you would be ''exactly right.'' Credit where it's due, though: you see much more of the individual zords and their beast modes than in any other series, despite them being much more complex with more moving parts then the models/props of most seasons, and using their unique abilities and tools, creating a Zord battle experience like [[VisualEffectsOfAwesome nothing seen before or since]].

** Although it hasn't effected ''Power Rangers'' much yet, as the show has yet to adapt these series, many recent ''Super Sentai'' shows have had Robot formations that are entirely CGI, no suit. Which often means these formations are rarely used, even if they are the more powerful or even ultimate formations, because of the show's turn around time and budget. In ''Sentai'', it used to be standard that once more advanced robots (and newer toys) were introduced, they would always be the go to robot from then on. The early season one would only being called on in special occasions, such as the other being damaged or major battles where they needed to use both at once.[[note]]''Power Rangers'' does not always follow this since it often adapts ''Sentai'' episodes out of order, so a later episode can have an early robot battle because the footage was taken from a ''Sentai'' episode earlier in the season[[/note]] This is not the case in later shows. In ''Series/KikaiSentaiZenkaiger'', for example, the ultimate formation is entirely CG and only used a few times with them instead breaking out the basic [=ZenkaiOh=] formations in the last batch of episodes simply because that is the one they have the physical suits for and their Ultimate formation is notably not even used in the final battle at all. ''Series/AvataroSentaiDonbrothers'' has the interesting plot point of starting with a more basic robot for the first batch of episodes until the true team one is earned and the basic robot is entirely CGI. This means that for the first 10 episodes only 3 have giant monster battles, and in all the others the monster is just destroyed the first time and does not grow, which is almost unheard of. Once the team gets ''Don Onitaijin'', a robot with a traditional suit, however, the show moveed back to having a giant monster fight every episode since they no longer needed extensive CGI.

** Although it hasn't effected Power Rangers much yet, as the show has yet to adapt these series, many recent Super Sentai shows have had Robot formations that are entirely CGI, no suit. Which often means these formations are rarely used, even if they are the more powerful or even ultimate formations because of the shows turn around time and budget. In Sentai it used to be standard that once more advanced robots (and newer toys) were introduced they would always be the go to robot from then on with the early season on only being called on in special occasions such as the other was damaged, or in major battles where they needed to use both at once (Power Rangers does not always follow this since it often adapts Sentai episodes out of order so a later episode can have an early robot battle because the footage was taken from a Sentai episode earlier in the season) But now, in Zenkaiger for example the ultimate formation is entirely CG and only used a few times with them instead breaking out the basic ZenkaiOh formations in the last batch of episodes simply because that is the one they have the physical suits for and their Ultimate formation is notably not even used in the final battle at all. Donbrothers has the interesting plot point of starting with a more basic robot for the first batch of episodes until the true team one is earned and the basic robot is entirely CGI. This means that for the first 10 episodes only 3 have giant monster battles, and in all the others the monster is just destroyed the first time and does not grow, which is almost unheard of. Once the team gets Don Onitaijin a robot with a traditional suit however, the show moveed back to having a giant monster fight every episode since they no longer needed extensive CGI.
*** Speaking on Donbrothers, it's the first show to have entirely CGI Rangers with Inubrother and Kijibrother who are CG except for extreme close up shots of which they have a physical puppet and partial suit. To the surprise of no one, these two characters are often singled out to either be convieniently off screen for most of the fight (if not taken out before they can transform at all) or have an odd number of very tight close up shots where they can use the physical props, while the rest of the team who are portrayed using the standard suits the franchise has always used are filmed as normal.

* The 1948 comedy ''{{Film/Miranda}}'' is about a mermaid who wishes to see London. The plot rather conveniently calls for her to keep her tail hidden, which is achieved by just wrapping it up under normal clothes and then being wheeled about in a wheelchair. Thus it minimises the amount of time required Creator/GlynisJohns to spend in a prop tail.

There was a time, not so very long ago, when a fantastic fiction television program could get away with low-budget (and sometimes [[SpecialEffectFailure cheesy]]) special effects to show that the characters had special powers. Think of all those "flying" {{Props}} suspended in mid-air on fishing wire and you have the idea. Unfortunately, today's audiences are much more sophisticated. The days of sending a flying character jumping out of the set's window and then cutting to a cheap ChromaKey effect to show him flying around are long gone.

There was a time, not so very long ago, when a fantastic fiction television program could get away with low-budget (and sometimes [[SpecialEffectFailure cheesy]]) special effects to show that the characters had special powers. Think of all those "flying" props suspended in mid-air on fishing wire and you have the idea. Unfortunately, today's audiences are much more sophisticated. The days of sending a flying character jumping out of the set's window and then cutting to a cheap ChromaKey effect to show him flying around are long gone.

** Tellingly, one of the major selling points Marvel made sure to mention in the comic book inspired by the show was that it had no budget or character restrictions. For the first time, fans could see the cast of the show interacting with the likes of ComicBook/IronMan, ComicBook/TheAvengers, [[ComicBook/MsMarvel2014 Ms. Marvel]], the ComicBook/XMen, and many more.

** Elasti-Woman doesn't use her powers to [[SizeShifter turn gigantic]] like she does in the comics, and instead mostly sticks to stretching her limbs.

** Beast Boy suffers from the same problem as Odo from ''Deep Space 9''. His comic counterpart is a {{Shapeshifter}} who can transform into any animal he can think of, while the TV version of Beast Boy could only morph into a tiger for the entirety of the first season. He later gained the ability to also turn into a snake in the Season 2 premier, but still mostly just uses his tiger form for budgetary reasons.

* ''WesternAnimation/TransformersPrime'' has some of this going on in its depictions of transformation. In most shows barring G1, characters visibly change their designs upon scanning a vehicle mode, but in ''Prime'', they tend to have the same design before-and-after, which results in things like Airachnid having helicopter chunks on her shoulders ''before'' she gets a helicopter mode. They also never display their Cybertronian altmodes until they can scan an Earth vehicle. Obviously, creating a tweaked model with its signature design elements removed would be a bit problematic when it'd likely be around for only one scene--detailed CGI models ain't cheap or easy to make. (This was also a reason behind the show's smaller cast compared to various 2D productions, something that also plagued fellow series ''WesternAnimation/BeastWars''.) There's also Makeshift, who is an outright shapeshifter with the ability to take nearly any form. Outside of one brief still shot where he's little more than a silhouette, he spends all his appearances in his sole episode impersonating Wheeljack, meaning they could just use Wheeljack's model for him before killing him off.

** This is also why so many early Pixar films deal with subjects that are easier to animate than [[UncannyValley humans with normal proportions, hair, and clothing]]. [[WesternAnimation/ToyStory Toys]] are supposed to look like plastic, [[WesternAnimation/ABugsLife bugs]] and [[WesternAnimation/FindingNemo fish]] are cartoonish and shiny-skinned, the vast majority of [[WesternAnimation/MonstersInc monsters]] (with one or two big exceptions; many articles of the time talked about the work gone into rendering Sully) are hairless and look completely unrealistic anyway. Even ''WesternAnimation/TheIncredibles'' is steeped in a genre that basically goes hand-in-hand with exaggerated designs and tight spandex. It wasn't until their [[WesternAnimation/{{Ratatouille}} eighth film]] that they felt comfortable doing an almost entirely human cast (with the only exceptions being covered in fur) wearing normal clothing and in a realistic urban setting for the entire film.

* ''Film/{{Supergirl}}'' used the same gimmick of having the titutlar heroine fight an invisible demon. We do get a few brief glimpses of the monster, though.

** [[Film/{{Carrie 1976}} The 1976 film]] - Carrie in the prom massacre mainly uses her powers to close the doors on their own and control the fire hose. [[spoiler: Miss Collins's death]] by falling basketball board was probably the riskiest stunt in the film. The book notably has the whole town get destroyed in Carrie's rampage, but they didn't have the budget for that, and so she only destroys the school. They ironically did plan to have a more action-packed ending than the book - having the White residence buried in a fall of boulders - but the machine that would have helped with that malfunctioned and so they had to just burn the house down instead.
** [[{{Film/Carrie 2002}} The 2002 film]] was made after the innovation of CGI, and utilised it for the prom scene. Still though, a good portion of the deaths happen when Carrie drops an electronic scoreboard onto a wet floor and electrocutes everyone. The town's destruction is used in this version...with extremely bad CGI.
** [[{{Film/Carrie 2013}} The 2013 film]] had modern special effects to benefit from, and adds in things like Carrie knocking everyone down with a psychic shockwave, crushing one student in the bleachers, whipping Tina with floating cables and setting her on fire, and even flying out of the gym. There are also other scenes involving characters being levitated and thrown around by Carrie's powers.

* The oldest ''[[Franchise/SherlockHolmes Sherlock Holmes]]'' film, made in 1900 and called ''[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KmffCrlgY-c Sherlock Holmes Baffled]]'', one minute long and originally made for the [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mutoscope mutoscope]], features a teleporting thief who simply disappears and reappears. It's notable for being an early use of teleportation special effects. In this case the effect wasn't achieved by cutting, but by using an a technique that had been invented only four years before and what was the first ever [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special_effect motion picture effect]]: Physically stopping the cammera recording, having the actor playing the thief leave or reenter the set while the actor playing Holmes froze in place for a moment, then having the camera start recording again and the actor(s) start moving again.

** In the comics, Calvin Zabo/Mister Hyde possesses the ability to [[HulkOut transform into a massive, muscular beast]] à la Comicbook/TheIncredibleHulk. The show has downplayed any of his physical abilities in favor of making him a BadassNormal and DeadpanSnarker. He does transform at the end of Season 2, but the transformation is a relatively minor one.

** Unlike in the comics, where he's essentially "naked," Comicbook/{{Cyborg}} usually wears tracksuits or hoodies in the show. This means that it's not unusual for his face and hands to be the only robotic parts of his body that are visible to the audience, presumably saving time and money for the makeup and costuming departments.

** Comicbook/{{Firestorm|DCComics}} and Comicbook/{{Vixen}} are the hardest hit. Stein and Jax are almost always separated so they can't fuse into the expensive (and [[StoryBreakerPower overpowered]]) Firestorm. Meanwhile, Vixen pretty exclusively uses her ability to channel the power of ''any and all animals'' to punch things with gorilla strength. (Her case is worst when compared to [[WesternAnimation/{{Vixen}} the animated web series]], where her granddaughter, who has the same powers, switches from one animal ability to another in rapid succession throughout any battle.)

** This is why the sequel comic, ''Smallville Season 11'', proved so popular. It not only featured Clark ''finally'' cutting loose and using his powers in ways the show couldn't afford, but also had him interact with characters who could not have been done properly on television, like [[Comicbook/GreenLantern John Stewart and the Green Lantern Corps]], or the [[Comicbook/CrisisOnInfiniteEarths Monitors]].

* ''Series/{{Titans}}'':
** Comicbook/{{Starfire}} is changed so that she only gains her iconic comic appearance (FlamingHair, [[AmazingTechnicolorPopulation golden-orange skin]] and [[MonochromaticEyes glowing green eyes]]) when she's actively using her [[HandBlast Starbolt powers]]. Conveniently, this means that she looks exactly like a normal human woman for the majority of each episode's runtime (with some episodes not having her transform ''at all''), saving the show from having to constantly spend money on costly CGI or makeup effects. She also lacks her trademark ability to [[{{Flight}} fly]].

* In the script for ''Radio/TheHitchhikersGuideToTheGalaxy'', the [[IncompetenceInc Sirius Cybernetics Corporation]] Complaints Department company song is described as being performed by "a choir of over two million robots... exactly a flattened fifth [tritone] out of tune" and the FX description suggests "IT WILL SOUND MORE GHASTLY THAN YOU COULD POSSIBLY IMAGINE". The version in the radio omits the exact number of robots and instead is just six people from the Radiophonic Workshop corridor singing [[HollywoodToneDeaf quite poorly]] through a vocoder with a slightly detuned backing. It is pretty ghastly, but nowhere near as bad as Douglas Adams wanted, on the grounds that it's simply impossible for a choir of two million to sound intelligible, and that's before you process it with RoboSpeak effects and detune it by a tritone.

** ''Series/KamenRiderBuild'' uses his [=TurtleWatch=] Best Match entirely offscreen to avoid the expense of having to make a costume and effects for it. His later Genius Form is similarly supposed to be able to use all 60 powers of his previous forms, but during the show only uses Diamond, and that only a single time.

* ''Series/{{Legion}}'' got ''creative'' with this. Most of the characters' powers don't require extensive FX or are entirely mental (Syd's [[FreakyFridayFlip body swapping]], Cary and Kerry's {{Synchronization}}, Ptonomy's memory), so when David Haller needs to go head-to-head with a psychic of similar stature, how do you depict a proper BattleInTheCenterOfTheMind without blowing up the budget? The answer: Depict the psychic struggles metaphorically through '''[[DanceOff Dance]] [[SuccessThroughInsanity Battles.]]'''

* Throwing an InvisibleMonster into your story is a good way to ramp up the ParanoiaFuel without needing to actually design a creature. You can just have the actors mime fighting a monster. The best part is that despite costing zero dollars, it can [[NightmareFuel end up being really scary and effective]] if done right.

* ''Series/H2OJustAddWater'' doesn't ever show Emma actually freezing something. She points her hands at whatever she's freezing and squints really hard. Then we get a CGI shot of ice molecules appearing (the same one is used each time) and it cuts to the object already frozen. Rikki's power is also very easy to simulate since it involves boiling water done via smoke effects. Cleo's power on the other hand does require plenty of CGI effects which is probably why you rarely see her using her water manipulation to lift objects unless they're inside the water. Also they do have a CGI effect for the girls turning into mermaids - their body turns to water and then you see them with the tails but more often you'll either just see them jumping into the water and they'll already be in mermaid form when it cuts to an underwater shot or they'll fall to the floor out of shot (with the transformation sound effect) and it'll cut to them on the floor with the tail.

* ComicBook/{{Storm}} and Comicbook/JeanGrey both used their powers far more cautiously in the 2000-2006 ''[[Film/XMenFilmSeries X-Men]]'' trilogy than in their animated or comic versions. Prolonged flight and telekinesis are still very difficult to film. Not to mention beings made of living ice or metal. Iceman doesn't become a full-fledged X-Man until the [[Film/XMenTheLastStand third film]], likely just so he won't have to use his powers to their fullest, with ice slides, ice projectiles, and ice armor. (He does learn how to do the ice armor at the end of the third film, but it's only shown for about ten seconds.) Also, Comicbook/{{Colossus}} only takes on his metal form ''just'' as something is about to hit him or he needs to use his strength. Tellingly by the time of ''Film/XMenDaysOfFuturePast'' and ''Film/Deadpool2016'', CGI technology had advanced enough to show all the X-Men really cutting loose with their powers.

* [[MindProbe Mind-reading]], MindControl, [[{{Seers}} future sight]], SuperSenses, and [[TheEmpath emotion-sensing]] are almost completely free of this trope, as all they really require is a decent actor to react to the power doing its work. {{Telepathy}} is also mostly free of this, since it can be expressed through voiceover. Because of this, communication-based PsychicPowers are very common in sci-fi. In the case of future sight, it might also require you to film an additional scene, possibly with a filter over it.

* ''Series/LegendsOfTheSuperheroes'' suffered this badly, given that it was produced in the late 1970's and had its special effects hindered by the inherent limitations of live-action media at the time when compared to what was easier to depict in comics and cartoons. Characters flying was simulated by having a static image of the actor floating across the screen and Green Lantern and Sinestro never created constructs with their rings were only shown using their rings to fire energy blasts or turn themselves invisible/teleport.

* ''Series/LegendsOfTheSuperheroes'' suffered this badly, given that it was produced in the late 1970's and had its special effects hindered by the inherent limitations of live-action media at the time when compared to what was easier to depict in comics and cartoons. Characters flying was simulated by having a static image of the actor floating across the screen and Green Lantern and Sinestro were only shown using their rings to fire energy blasts or turn themselves invisible/teleport.

[[folder:Anime]]