CGI Trek cheaper than Live Action Star Trek?

Has cgi gotten to the point where it might be cheaper for Paramount to make

Ken from Chicago...

It's sad and funny cuz it's true.

Ken from Chicago...

Hey! Koenig can indeed act. I've met the man.

an all cgi version of Star Trek that's realistic enough for non-animator
audiences (no offense, professional and hobbyist animators) to enjoy?

Michael Grosberg...

Hell no. Even non-animators still have massive amounts of neurons in
their brains devoted to analysing other people's facial features,
emotional cues, and body language. Unless lotsa $$$ are involved, a CG
version will look like a cartoon to just about anyone.

pv+usenet...

Not only that, but it seems to me that the more lifelike they TRY to make
CGI animation, the more it makes my teeth itch. There's a particular piece
in the brain that processes how stuff moves, and when something clearly
non-human moves like one, it freaks us out. Sometimes you have to be less
lifelike to be satisfying. *

Also, the easiest way to produce animation today is with motion
capture, or performance capture. That means acting, then recording the
acting and transferring to the CG characters. So since you need acting
anyway, you might as well use the real actor's footage.

What I'm waiting for is a technology to replace the props and sets and
costumes in the original Trek episodes without changing the actors.

Mainstream cgi movies still tend to depict people more like mannequin but cg
is capable of more:

Sure, the above example looked fluid, natural and the center of gravity was
about right, I'm sure the first knock is skin and faces are covered, but
need not be:

Not quite as realistic as skin, definitely you don't need to be a pro to
tell the skin is cg, but within the setting it tends to be overlooked (ala
THE INCREDIBLES or FAMILY GUY where within context, suspension of disbelief
becomes ever easier). Plus it the above was set in the past or in low tech
environments, see what could be done with higher tech:

And aliens that are NOT merely funny-headed humans:

And of all of the above have been on land. And even STARGATE SG-1 was a
series focused on a team that WALKED to adventures planetside, it made the
leap into that space (a last boundary or some such), like so:

But of course, that's all preamble to Trek itself:

Admittedly, I think STAR TREK: HIDDEN FRONTIER does much better cg as
demonstrated by their opening credits which show a bevy of Trek
ships--unfortunately they don't have that posted. <=^<

Ken from Chicago...

Stock Harry Kim was reused when the character was replaced.

That said, a lot of Trek is talking and sitting or walking or standing. A
lot of the action is sitting while the ships do the action--especially
TNG-era trek.

Ken from Chicago...

Legions of times when scripts came in so late or rewritten that required the
fx people to work way overtime, overnight, over weekends, around the clock
to get the fx shots done in time.

Be that as it may, I think it could be and liks ST: TAS, ST: CGI would be
able to truly have ALIEN aliens and STRANGE new worlds instead of looking
like the forests of Canada. Star Trek can really live up to its potential.