Top 10 Worst Special Effects in TV Shows

You know, for such a popular show that airs on a major network, it’s mindboggling how bad “Doctor Who” can look. While the stories are certainly imaginative, the visual effects often let them down. Viewers looking to start from the Eccleston era have a huge obstacle to overcome, as many of those early episodes look heavily dated today, complete with unconvincing green screens, poor prosthetics, and shoddy visual effects. And while the production values have increased in recent years, they’re still grossly overshadowed by more prestigious science fiction. “Doctor Who” is pulpy entertainment, and its often unconvincing, low-budget visual effects reflect that.

Unlike “Doctor Who,” which airs on BBC, “Teen Wolf’s” shoddy special effects are somewhat forgiven due to its home on MTV. After all, we aren’t expecting “An American Werewolf in London”-esque transformation sequences from a low-budget MTV show. That said, they still don’t look too great considering this show is from the 2010s. The transformations are often awkward and goofy, and the creatures are even worse. Meanwhile, the makeup work can range from good to amateurish, and the CGI can be straight-up bad. It comes across OK when the monsters are shrouded in shadows, but when they’re on full display… woo boy. Suffice it to say that you can tell it’s an MTV production.

The key to any great fantasy series is its special effects. We need convincing visuals to transport us to these worlds and convince us of their inner workings. Unfortunately, the special effects on “The Librarians’” are often quite bad. The show itself is harmless fun, but it falls into ridiculous territory when the horrible CGI graces the screen. Its creatures could also use some work, as seen when the very, very unconvincing CGI wolf terrorized the town. To its credit, the series knows how low-budget and cheesy it is, but that doesn’t make its eyesore visuals any more appealing.

Here’s a general rule all TV shows and movies should follow – never do a chestburster scene. Viewers will always compare it to “Alien,” and it will always be inferior. “The Next Generation” tackled a horror plot in the first season episode, “Conspiracy,” to mixed results. In the scene in question, Picard and Riker release a giant parasite from Remmick’s stomach. The parasite is admittedly pretty gross, but it looks like a cheap puppet, and its subsequent disintegration reeks of cheesy 80s effects. We would give it a pass if not for the fact that “Alien” did it much better almost ten years earlier.

“Lost” is one of the most imaginative shows to ever air on network television, and its visual effects and production values were always top-notch. But no matter how big a “Lost” defender you may be, there’s simply no forgiving or forgetting the submarine of Season 5’s “Follow the Leader.” “Lost” didn’t often resort to CGI for its visual effects, so it makes this N64-looking submarine stand out that much more. The dramatic music makes things worse, as it gives the scene a sort of surreal, satiric tone, which greatly contrasts with the otherwise serious events playing out on screen.

“Terra Nova” would either live or die on its special effects. Unfortunately, it was the latter. “The sci fi series showed terrific promise; it was executive produced by Steven Spielberg and it had an exorbitant budget of $4 million per episode. And while Spielberg may have revolutionized special effects with “Jurassic Park,” the dinosaurs in “Terra Nova” were a joke by comparison. For a show that revolved around its dinosaurs, the creatures often looked way too computerized, leading to some negative critical reception and little attention from the general public. The show was cancelled after just thirteen episodes. We’re not saying that the poor effects caused its premature cancellation, but they certainly couldn’t have helped.

Like most fantasy shows on TV, “Merlin” wasn’t much of a looker. Hey, not every channel can dump tens of millions of dollars into its show like HBO can. “Merlin” was a BBC One production that served as a reimagining of sorts of the classic Arthurian legends. Unfortunately, the special effects often proved to be a liability. Nearly every creature on the show was some sort of artificial CGI creation, with laughable green screen work and the action that’s often shot in a cramped, unclear manner to mask its very obvious low-budget. “Merlin” may not have been such a bad show, but it certainly didn’t get renewed to 5 seasons based on its special effects.

“Once Upon a Time” is a fun show, but its special effects are admittedly not always up to standard. But we can roll with that. It’s part of its charm. However, there’s simply no excusing the laughable scene in which Lily transforms into a dragon. It all starts with Lily’s very generic yellow eyes and it only goes downhill from there. We can’t help but snicker once she’s in full-dragon form, as it looks more like something a ten-year-old would put together on a laptop for a school project. It doesn’t help that the scene contains epic music like we’re supposed to be in awe of this magnificent dragon rather than laughing our heads off.

It’s scenes like this that make us question what goes on in the minds of producers and special effects artists. Surely this was a significant matter of budget or time because we have no idea how this would make it to air otherwise. This scene from The CW crime thriller contains what is arguably one of the worst uses of green screen ever. The lighting doesn’t match and the background is generic and cheap, both of which make the fake bouncing and wind all the more obvious. It looks like something you would find on cheap daytime TV commercials, not a show starring Sarah Michelle Gellar on a major network. And this was in the pilot! Talk about a bad first impression.





Before we unveil our top pick, here are a few dishonorable mentions.



United States Capitol

“Pretty Little Liars” (2010-17)




The Plane Explosion

“White Collar” (2009-14)

“Hercules: The Legendary Journeys” is certainly legendary all right. This show encapsulates everything that was both awful and glorious about cheap 90s TV, as its acting is very cheesy and its effects are considered some of the worst in television history. Yes, that includes shows from the ‘50s and ‘60s. This show tried everything, and it sucked at them all, including pathetic green screens, wretched and cheap CGI creatures, and various poorly-implemented camera tricks like forced perspective. Intentionally cheesy or not, there’s no watching “Hercules: The Legendary Journeys” without shaking your head in bemusement.