Since the company's founding back in 1997, Netflix has become one of the largest powerhouses for TV and movies. It now has over 4,000 movies on its platform, and just under 2,000 TV shows, including both originals and classics. However, with so many options available, not all of them can be high-caliber productions.
CGI (computer-generated imagery) has become a crutch for large budget productions in recent years, including the likes of Marvel and lesser-known TV shows. From jarringly fake monsters to obvious green screens or entirely CGI shows, many TV shows on Netflix suffer from this problem.
7 Snowpiercer's Landscapes Are Shoddy And Unrealistic
Snowpiercer is a show based on the French graphic climate fiction novel Le Transperceneige by Jacques Lob, Benjamin Legrand,, and Jean-Marc Rochette. Set after the world has become a frozen wasteland, the series follows survivors who inhabit a perpetually-moving train that circles the globe.
While not as popular as its movie counterpart (directed by Bong Joon-ho), the show is dramatic and tackles what it's like to survive in a suffocating class system during an apocalypse. However, Snowpiercer struggles with CGI, particularly in wide sweeping landscape shots. As pictured, the scenes look jarring and unrealistic, mainly due to poor lighting and color matching of the background and moving train.
6 The Witcher Suffers From Video Game-Like Monsters
Based on Polish author Andrzej Sapkowski's novels and the video game series, The Witcher is a massively popular Netflix original show starring Henry Cavill as the titular 'witcher,' Geralt. While the first season is somewhat confusing due to its non-linear writing, the second season comes into its own and has won over many fans with its portrayal of characters. However, its small budget meant that the depiction of monsters had to rely on substandard CGI, meaning they look unrealistic and, like Snowpiercer, do not match their surrounding environment.
The magic in The Witcher also looks unbelievable, and appears more like a lazy overlay than an integrated texture. Resultantly, much of the magic and monsters seen in the games and books are missing from the show, making it more like a fantasy-drama.
5 Resident Evil: Infinite Darkness Is A CGI Show Which Misses The Mark
Resident Evil: Infinite Darkness has a lot to live up to due to belonging to the hugely successful Resident Evil franchise. It is an original net animation miniseries set between the events of Resident Evil 4 and Resident Evil 5. The show follows fan-favorite Leon in 2006 after a hacking incident is uncovered at the White House.
Unfortunately, the fact that Infinite Darkness is entirely CGI lets it down, as much of the facial and body rigging looks stiff and robotic. Since the miniseries were released in 2021, fans might wonder why the developers didn't use Unreal Engine. Metahuman developers quickly noted that lip movement was particularly bad in Infinite Darkness, but the camera movements and environments made up for it.
4 Jupiter's Legacy Would Have Been Better Off Without Green Screens
2021's Jupiter's Legacy is a standard superhero show, following the super-powered children of superheroes as they struggle to live up to the legendary feats of their parents. While a simple premise, the CGI and heavy use of green screen throughout does a disservice to the show, particularly in flying sequences (pictured). Setting aside the fact that it has been panned for its dull story and its retreads already trodden ground in superhero stories, audiences would be forgiven for expecting entertaining action scenes.
Jupiter's Legacy does not manage this in the slightest. Instead, scenes look more like video game cinematic, with characters so poorly comped into shots, they look as if an inexperienced student might have done it for a high school project (they might have done a better job).
3 Knightfall's Battle Sequences And Landscape Shots Are Awful
Knightfall aired between 2017 and 2019, and stars Mark Hamill and Tom Cullen as Templar knights. Set in the 1300s, the show follows the Templars during their crusade in the Holy Lands. Like Jupiter's Legacy, Knightfall's story leaves much to be desired, but it is the CGI that makes it one of the worst contenders on this list. By trying to recreate the huge battles during the Crusades, massive armies are comped into shots with little thought as to how this effects terrain.
For the most part, scenes are crammed full of CGI soldiers on flat, dull landscapes, which look more like a battle simulator than a scene from a TV show. Siege equipment, too, was CGI, and as is the case with many lousy CGI jobs, the colors and shadows don't fit their surroundings.
2 Warrior Nun Struggles With The Movement Of Monsters
Based on the escapades of comic book character Warrior Nun Areala, Warrior Nun follows the titular character as she battles demons and gets caught up in a battle between good and evil. Warrior Nun struggles with the animation of monsters, much like similar shows, such as Constantine.
Monsters move awkwardly but far too fast for their size, making them seem uncanny. Moreover, their rendering breaks down when they move, seemingly dropping frames, as if the developers didn't have enough power to render the animation correctly.
1 Shadow And Bone's Magic Is Flat And Underwhelming
Shadow and Bone is a young adult fantasy series based on the books by Israeli-American author Leigh Bardugo. The story follows Alina Starkov as she discovers she is a Grisha, one long-awaited to address a dire need in the universe. Unfortunately, like The Witcher, Shadow and Bone's magic looks like it has been poorly comped into shots, leaving it looking flat and out of place.
The flatness of the series, in addition to the fact it often doesn't match actors' hand movements and gestures, gives the scenes an uncanny feeling and draws audiences' attention to the errors in the CGI.