Summary

• CGI has come a long way since its humble beginnings, with the first fully CGI character appearing in 1985's Young Sherlock Holmes.
• Young Sherlock Holmes set the standard for CGI innovation, inspiring future projects like Pixar's Toy Story, which was released a decade later.
• Despite its age, the CGI in Young Sherlock Holmes still holds up well today, showcasing the potential of this groundbreaking technology early on in its development.

Computer Generated Imagery, more commonly referred to as CGI, is taken for granted in the modern age, but the first professional use of the medium took place almost four decades ago. In its infancy, CGI was very basic. While the technique could be used to varying degrees in the mid-eighties and early nineties, it wasn't commonplace, and it pales in comparison to today's quality. However, every innovation needs to start somewhere, and considering how long ago the first fully CGI character appeared, it actually still looks very good.

The first project made using entirely CGI is widely believed to be Pixar's 1995 animated classic, Toy Story. However, this isn't the case. While Pixar was founded in 1986, a Canadian TV show called ReBoot beat Pixar to the punch by first airing in 1994, a year before Pixar's first movie. While Toy Story and ReBoot were busy working entirely with CGI, there was another movie that had integrated the animation technique a decade before either of them.

Young Sherlock Holmes Had The First Fully CGI Character

The Sherlock Holmes adaptation came out in 1985

1985's Young Sherlock Holmes was written by Chris Columbus - Harry Potter & the Sorcerer's Stone's director, along with its sequel. While Young Sherlock Holmes was met with mixed reviews upon release, it was incredibly innovative due to the fact that it was the first production to have a fully CGI character. A short sequence shows a knight made from stained glass bursting from its window and into a live-action environment.

The ittedly limited interaction between Donald Eccles' Reverend character and the glass knight looks very convincing, and the camera pans around the CGI figure to give a 360º view of the achievement.

Thankfully, even after such a long time, the knight still looks very impressive as it comes to life and moves through the real world. The ittedly limited interaction between Donald Eccles' Reverend character and the glass knight looks very convincing, and the camera pans around the CGI figure to give a 360º view of the achievement. Perhaps unsurprisingly, the sequence was a collaboration with LucasFilm's special effects company (Via ILM), a body known for working on the Star Wars franchise.

Why Young Sherlock Holmes' CGI Was So Significant

CGI might not be what it is today without this Young Sherlock Holmes scene

Even by today's standards, the CGI in Young Sherlock Holmes still looks great, so it will have had an even bigger impact on audiences in 1985. The feat was so impressive that it contributed to the movie being nominated for an Oscar for Best Visual Effects, although it ultimately lost out to Cocoon. Regardless, the sequence went on to inspire countless other CGI projects. Even Toy Story took four years to make (via the University of North Carolina), so Young Sherlock Holmes was undeniably a predecessor to Pixar's first feature-length project.

Young Sherlock Holmes is available to stream on Prime Video.

Sources: ILM, University of North Carolina