Special effects

I remember when I was a child and some wondrous thing like magic tricks or a fade effect would occur on a television program, awing my sister and me.  In answer to the frequent 'How'd they do that', my parents' answer was always 'Camera magic'.  Of course, these were crude and primitive early attempts at special effects, but they wowed me.  Remember the timely fade-out?  Or the swirling drain effect of someone falling into a dream?  Or the big smoke cloud that covered the 'magic' tricks?  

I told Emily the other day that, if my parents were alive today, they would be shocked at the special effects in entertainment today. It'd probably scare the hell out of them.  It does me sometimes.  Like the mummy movie where skeletons take up weapons and flesh drips from bones.  Or that independence day movie with the huge spacecraft moving overhead.  Oh, and how about when the main character slows down or speeds up and the rest of the scene goes on regularly?  Now, that's some camera magic, right there.

Can you imagine if long departed folks came back and witnessed that stuff?  It is done so seamlessly that it seems absolutely real. Probably kill them all over again of fright.