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Animals in the late 24th century on the planet Ba'ku located in the Briar Patch. (Star Trek: Insurrection)

Named[]

Unnamed[]

Fish []

Baku fish

Lieutenant Commander Data admires a Ba'ku fish

The Ba'ku fish was a type of fish found in lakes on the Ba'ku planet.

In 2375, after detecting some curious readings, Lieutenant Commander Data stepped into a Ba'ku lake in an effort to ascertain the source. As he was scanning, a fish swam past him and he used his tricorder to scan it. After stroking the fish, he moved on. (Star Trek: Insurrection)

Goat []

Baku goat

A Ba'ku goat

The Ba'ku goat was a type of animal used for farming and general labor by the Ba'ku people, on their planet. (Star Trek: Insurrection)

The Ba'ku goat was an Earth goat.

Hummingbird []

Ba'ku hummingbird

A Ba'ku hummingbird

The Ba'ku hummingbird was a type of bird native to the Ba'ku planet. The bird bore a strong resemblance to Earth's hummingbird.

Captain Picard and Anij watched a hummingbird fly in slow motion while experiencing the "perfect moment" in 2375. (Star Trek: Insurrection)

Ba'ku hummingbird concept

Ba'ku hummingbird from concept to featured effect

Deceptively real looking, the Ba'ku hummingbird seen in the Insurrection movie, was not footage of a real world bird, but rather a full-fledged CGI effect, constructed at Blue Sky/VIFX, they being responsible for all the planet-bound visual effects for that movie. Animation Supervisor Mark Baldo recounted, "We started on the hummingbird with the idea of developing a new creature, but were reined in when the first pass looked too Dr. Seuss-like. The hummingbird turned out looking like a tropical bird from the rain forest. Our senior lighting effects specialist, Dave Walvoord, created a brand-new piece of code to produce iridescent tail feathers via our procedural texture renderer." (Cinefex, issue 77, p. 87) The animators at Blue Sky used high-speed photographs taken from real-world hummingbirds as reference for modeling the "slowed" flapping of wings. The high-speed footage was taken and videotaped by Senior Animator Doug Dooley, executing the characterwork, as Baldo recalled, "Seeing the genuine wing movement in slow motion gave Doug a good idea of the speed we wanted them to be moving; and that was key, since our bird was the first element completed for the sequence and set the tone for the remainder of it." (Cinefex, issue 77, pp. 77, 87)
The design of the bird evolved from "too predatory" to a "kinder, gentler" kind of bird, representing the Ba'ku world (The Secrets of Star Trek: Insurrection, pp.158-159). Elaborating, Balbo added on another occasion, "When the hummingbird was moving in real time, the wings were just a blur, so Doug Dooley, who animated the hummingbird, was literally posing them into completely different positions from frame to frame. The hard part was doing the 'slow-motion' animation. In real time, the wings would beat completely in just a few frames, but in slow-motion, they would probably take about five seconds to go from the bottom-most position to the top. We were still only working at 24 fps, but it's the positioning of the wing in each frame that creates that illusion of a super-slow altered reality. In order to make the hummingbird a very iridescent creature, one of our senior technical directors, Dave Walvoord, wrote a special procedure. The hummingbird's feathers looked almost black, but whenever the light hit them, the feathers went green." (American Cinematographer, January 1999, p. 44-45)

Llama []

The Ba'ku llama was a type of animal used for farming and general labor by the Ba'ku people, on their planet.

During the Ba'ku's evacuation of their village, they employed their llamas for assisting with the transport of supplies. (Star Trek: Insurrection)

Two of the llamas were portrayed by Kissy and Desiree. Kissy, the leading llama, was loved on the set, especially by Gates McFadden, who tested the name of Kissy one time. The llamas were trained by animal trainer Cheryl Harris and appeared (including the story by McFadden) in a bonus feature on the Star Trek: Insurrection (Special Edition) DVD.

Appendices[]

Unused animals []

A butterfly-like creature, a pterodactyl-like animal, and a six-legged turtle-like animal were among dozens of animal designs, possibly native to the Ba'ku planet, included in a children's picture book produced for Star Trek: Insurrection by scenic art supervisor Mike Okuda. (The Secrets of Star Trek: Insurrection, p. 64)

However, only the front cover of the book ended up visible in the film. The prop book was sold off on the It's A Wrap! sale and auction on eBay in 2007. [1]

None of the Ba'ku animals (including the rhyl) were referred to by name in the film. Their monikers either derived from behind-the-scenes sources or from their closest Earth counterparts.

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