Possible Ice Warriors DVD on the horizon

[Candlelight]

So, "never" means 5 years, apparently!

Hooray! I'm having sex with that hot chick in less than five years!

 

[sidious618]

I'm really excited for the release of "The Greatest Show in the Galaxy" as it's one of my favorites and it's been a shame that it hasn't been released yet.

 

[Alidar Jarok]

I can't wait for The Face of Evil release...finally! I know a lot of people don't rate it high, but not only is it one of my favorite Fourth Doctor stories, it's one of my favorite serials period.

I like it, but I'm a sucker for old school sci fi cliches.

 

[Stevil2001]

I got the same impression from the really negative-sounding naysayers (if you'll pardon the redundancy) who suggested The Invasion bombed and sold, apparently, zero copies and, therefore, we'll never ever ever ever ever see any more animated recreations because a) they apparently cost a billion dollars to make and b) no one wants them.

I don't believe anyone ever said that. What was said at the time was that The Invasion would have to sell well above average to make a profit that would justify more such animations projects... and it did not.

 

[Christopher]

What I was told about the "Invasion" reconstruction was that the reason they had the budget for it in the first place was because they were going to do a second Richard E. Grant "Ninth Doctor" animated story, but then the show was revived on TV with Eccleston and the Grant series was cancelled -- so they had this budget already allocated and a contractual obligation to produce an animated project with it, and they decided to do the reconstruction. So it's not like anyone was willing to spend money specifically on a lost-episode reconstruction project; it was just something they had a fluke opportunity to do on that one occasion. So if they actually have found the money to do it again, that's impressive.

 

[VDCNI]

I have never heard that the DVD's don't sell or that Invasion bombed - I really don't know where that comes from or if it ever has actually been mentioned outside this thread - complete nonsense.

 

[Stevil2001]

Instead of proceeding on hearsay, there's a little bit of actual information here: http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/2008/jun/26/bbc.doctorwho

 

[Allyn Gibson]

What I was told about the "Invasion" reconstruction was that the reason they had the budget for it in the first place was because they were going to do a second Richard E. Grant "Ninth Doctor" animated story, but then the show was revived on TV with Eccleston and the Grant series was cancelled -- so they had this budget already allocated and a contractual obligation to produce an animated project with it, and they decided to do the reconstruction.

I've heard the same, and was able to confirm it with James Swallow, who was to write the sequel to "Shalka."

 

[CaptainMatt]

As much as I like The Invasion reconstruction, I would have also enjoyed a sequel to "Shalka." As for The Ice Warriors finally getting the DVD treatment, I am all for it as I have seen the video and enjoyed that version of the story as well.

 

[Captaindemotion]

If it's too expensive they should just switch to cheaper animation, simplify the character designs etc., they don't have to look at pictures or existing footage and recreate the original look as closely as possible.

I don't see how you could get much simpler than the animation they used in the reconstructions of "The Invasion." It was basically the digital-era equivalent of the limited animation Filmation used in the '70s, with mostly static head shots aside from mouth and eye movement, the same drawings of the characters constantly being reused, the same motions being replayed, etc. And judging from the parts where the action overlapped between the end of one episode and the beginning of the next, it didn't recreate the original shots all that closely. (Not that I can see why consulting and replicating existing footage or stills would be any more expensive than storyboarding new sequences.)

Finger puppets.

 

[Christopher]

Finger puppets.

Okay, now I actually want to see that.

 

[setvenharis]

What I would like to know is how much does it really cost to recreate a 25min episode in CGI (like in the style of Starship Troopers: Roughnecks)? And how do they calculate the costs? Is it the amount of man hours or the computers/software involved?
I have seen a number of CGI vids by Doctor Who fans on YouTube and they look incredible. If fans can do it in their spare time, surely 2|Entertain or BBC can get it done with some ease?

 

[Christopher]

3D computer animation is an iffy proposition, depending very much on the talent of the people creating it. The animation in Dreamland was absolutely ghastly, for instance (and I'm not just talking about the stylized character design -- I mean the jerky, crude way the characters moved and their lack of expressiveness). I'd rather see traditional 2D animation, even the limited animation of the reconstructed "The Invasion," than something like that.

But I did see a fan-created CG recreation of a Patrick Troughton "Web of Fear" promo, and it did look pretty good, though it got less convincing the more the Doctor moved.