Loaded with laser weapon and full of fiery explosions and hostile enemy ships, Deepwater Black, Empire Entertainment's new live-action/3D animation sci-fi series with ytv and USA Networks, has kept the in-house cgi department busy around the clock and lacking in "cryo" sleep.

Although they did consult with different experts on some of the more difficult effects, all the bright blasts and dazzling f/x for the half-hour show were done by Empire's cgi department, making the $300,000 an episode series more cost-effective.

"We have more control this way," explains coproducer Alex Nassar. "It's the same reason you don't contract out your editing or the key things in a production, you might do it in a commercial or a feature film, but when you get into a long-running series you like to maintain more control of it."

Using people who are part of the production as opposed to outside artists working on contract gives the producers more flexibility and the opportunity to make changes when necessary, says Nassar.

Deepwater Black marks Empire's first attempt at in-house effects, adding it to a growing list of series such as Babylon 5, Robocop and Tek War which opted to open their own cgi departments and keep effects in-house.

Whether Empire will continue to do all the effects in-house will depend on the project itself and the level of complexity of the special effects work.

Set to air in August on ytv and in July on usa's Sci-Fi channel, the series shot 13 episodes from mid-February to the end of April and the producers are hoping to shoot nine more in late fall, completing the first season of 22 episodes. Directing the new sci-fi adventure are George Mendeluk (Traders, Due South) and Don McCutcheon (Street Legal, Jake and the Kid).

The series follows six genetically enhanced teens who travel through space aboard the Deepwater seeking to restore the human race after a dna plague has wiped out planet earth.

It was shot at Toronto's Cinevillage where set builders and designers transformed 10,000 square feet of studio into the civilian vessel, complete with high-tech instruments for controlling the ship and futuristic decks and walkways.

Unlike the familiar spaceships of television past, such as the Starship Enterprise, Deepwater is not a physical model but was built within the realm of Alias Wavefront.

"All of the exteriors are done in the computer," says cocreator and producer Jeff Copeland. "It is still the same thing as actually making a model; they are designing, executing and making something, they just aren't physically making a model."

While many use the 3D modelling application form.Z to produce these types of effects, Heidi Matijevic, project supervisor and composite artist, says form.Z is difficult to use when working with organic forms and round shapes, of which there are many in Deepwater, and she is happy with the results she is seeing from Alias.

With models and textures set, the seven people who make up the cgi department spent about a week transferring and digitizing for each half-hour venture through space.