The Surprising First Star of CGI in Movies!

Did you know that the very first fully computer-generated (CGI) character to ever star in a feature film wasn’t some epic space creature or a terrifying robot, but something far more unexpected and, well, fragile?

Back in 1985, long before we had incredibly realistic dinosaurs stomping around in Jurassic Park or entire armies of digital characters clashing in superhero blockbusters, a seemingly small but absolutely groundbreaking moment happened in cinematic history. The film was ‘Young Sherlock Holmes,’ a fun adventure movie about a teenage Sherlock and Watson solving a mystery.

During one particular scene, a knight made entirely of stained glass actually steps out of a church window and walks around. This wasn’t a stop-motion puppet, a person in a suit, or any traditional special effect. It was a digital model, meticulously rendered frame by frame by artists and computer programmers. It might look a little quaint by today’s standards, but in the mid-80s, this was truly revolutionary and pushed the boundaries of what was possible! It represented an enormous leap forward in what computers could do for visual storytelling, paving the way for all the incredible CGI we see in movies and games today. It really makes you think about how far technology has come, starting from a shiny, walking stained-glass knight!