Computer Graphics in Star Trek: The Wrath of Khan

Computer Graphics in Star Trek: The Wrath of Khan was the title of a short, 3.4 minute special, produced by the Graphics Project, Computer Division, Lucasfilm Ltd. (the later Pixar, but then a sister company of ILM), in 1982. The Graphics Project had been responsible for the creation for the "Genesis Demo" for Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan, which at the time constituted a seminal, groundbreaking moment in movie history as it entailed the very first full-fledged and fully textured sequence constructed in the fledgling CGI technique ever seen by the general public. Fully aware of the novelty factor of the effect, having been covered in numerous period publications, the short was conceived as a means to explain the construction of the sequence in layman's terms to the general public, with a voice-over narrator walking the viewer through the demo from the retinal scan sequence through the final Genesis planet pull-back.

As a specialty promotional tool, it has been broadcast on a multitude of television channels at the time, aside form being shown at the various Science Fiction conventions and lectures, but has never been included on any of the franchise's home media formats. In essence the short had been a demo of the "Genesis Demo". The video-sharing website YouTube has prevented the short sliding into oblivion, as it currently can be found there.