Andrew Orton

I tend to get bored when they stay in the TARDIS too long, unless it's the focus of the story. Get out there and have an adventure!

#DoctorWho #CGSets Let’s take a look inside the spaceship in Lime Grove D, as we find ourselves on The Edge of Destruction…

I imagine that's exactly it: working out what the hell they were going to do!

87) Infinite Vulcan - Somewhat run-of-the-mill plot, but with some lovely bizarre imagery again. Slightly amazed at how consistently good this series is.
6/10
#StarTrek

They were generally about three weeks ahead at this stage, but they lost a week after The Tenth Planet 4 and they lost another week over New Year 1967. Must have been terrifying!

Cheers, Scott! It's my manifesto for television!

I completely agree, mayonnaise is rubbish.

Cheers, Gemma. It is a real problem, I think, that you can't make television that's expressionistic, theatrical, Brechtian these days - and you used to be able to. What a waste! TV has convinced itself that it is a medium, and not a delivery method for a range of productions made in varying styles.

A photo of the four editions of the Blakes 7 book Maximum Power.

Glad you enjoyed it! I co-wrote a book about Blakes 7 :) It's silly.

Oh, absolutely, and not just the US. Telerecording was also possible. Pretty much every country would accept film, so you'd convert PAL to film rather than to NTSC. PAL is 50 fields per sec, but easy to convert to 25 fps film.

However, some stuff was particularly made with the US market in mind.

Everything from The Underwater Menace to Evil of the Daleks was shot *7* days before broadcast.

I know what you mean - although Taggart finished fifteen years ago!

Oh, was it? I've never made it through an ep of the Battlestar Galactica remake (I tried as recently as last week!) but I might give it a go again. What an interesting choice. Is it any good?

Thanks, Scott. You're right: it's a mid-way point, more so as editing became more advanced, and I find it interesting that you'd get 'actors' directors' and 'technical directors', who you suspect handled recordings very differently.

A colour photograph from the rehearsal of Volcano, showing Hartnell and Purves on the lava set with the TARDDIS police box.

A colour photograph from the rehearsal of Volcano, showing dismantled Daleks in their control room.

Two colour photographs from the rehearsal of Volcano, showing the studio layout from the lighting gantry, and a room in the Daleks' complex.

A colour photograph from the rehearsal of Volcano, showing Hartnell, Marsh, Purves and Camfield on the lava set.

There were a bunch found a few years ago - some of them are amazing!

The loss of infrastructure is definitely part of the problem - they're just not geared up for this sort of thing any more. But then, they weren't in 1950...

Similar: although it is a stage performance, they have several cameras around the venue, and cut live between them from a mobile gallery. You’d maybe have a wide shot, a couple of mids and at least a left and right close-up (and probably something on a moveable boom?) It must take a lot of planning!

Cheers, Steve! Such a lost art…

I think they should have to number them every time there’s any line-up change. ‘I loved Yes VII, but Yes VIII were rubbish! I hear Yes II are reforming soon too, but they’ve got a new drummer so they’re Yes IXVII’.

I have this urge daily…

Thanks, Richard - I’ll definitely have a look through both! You shared Ghostwatch stuff with me a while back, but would love to see anything else you have.

I’d love to see your set design archive! Do you have a website, Richard? I recall a One Foot plan I had which I can’t now locate anywhere…

Oh, how wonderful, thank you, Stephen! I’m also an OU alumnus (albeit not in astronomy…) Have a follow :)

Yes, definitely true that there are various elements at play here: video, lighting, multi-cam, rehearsal, performance, frame rate, set design, exteriors shot as interiors, &c…

Filming? :)

Good to get the view of an industry professional! I think the latter point about lighting and expectations is part of the problem. You can light excitingly if you’re clever with it, because there are examples; and expectations can change. You can make non-realist television, it’s just no-one does…

It has gone rather whizzo, Tom…

I once spent about an hour working out where and how that shot was done in the studio by looking at the distorted reflection in the mirror the Polymorph looks into, and recreating it in a digital model of the set…

Season 1 and 2 were Sunday, though I think S3 was a Friday record.

‘Polymorph’, I suspect? I did some research on the Manchester studio gallery shots a while back, as did m’colleague @dirtyfeed.org! Would be 1989…