Extras have to pay for themselves since BBC WW is a commercial operation. And the sad truth was that B&W DW stories (in general) sold less than colour ones and the ones with animation sold even less.
Wiped Episode Discoveries
- Thread starter Allyn Gibson
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Extras have to pay for themselves since BBC WW is a commercial operation. And the sad truth was that B&W DW stories (in general) sold less than colour ones and the ones with animation sold even less.
Telesnaps taken on set while filming are by definition are the next best thing to the moving pictures, capturing the actors, sets, costumes, scenes, positioning etc. An animation, even IF well done, can't match that for authenticity.
They're not popular and are poor value for money.
They're not popular and are poor value for money.
Telesnaps were taken off a television in Clapham, south London.
Photos were taken on set.
It's always annoyed me that Worldwide has never pitched in to get a decent Japanese studio like IG or Madhouse to just animate everything that's missing to a high standard. It'd cost them a one off fee of about £6M, but then they'd be able to sell complete seasons and so forth on dvd & to the streaming sites.
You're vastly overestimating the earning potential involved.
I kind of liked "The Invasion" because the limited animation reminded me of the Filmation animation that I grew up with in the '70s -- although it still had some Flash-y characteristics that I dislike. Some of the later ones have more movement, but end up looking worse somehow because of it.
The worst is "The Ice Warriors," in any shot where people are walking or moving their arms and legs. It's like they're paper cutouts, these stiff 2-dimensional limbs moving only in the plane of the screen. It's ghastly, and a bizarre contrast with the more sophisticated pseudo-3D animation of the faces and heads.
OK telesnap fans - Lets lock the average DVD punter in a room with a telesnap recon playing, and see how long it is before they are banging on the door and screaming to be let out...
Didn't harm sales of The Web of Fear.
The official Telesnap Recon, is framed with an old-style TV. I didn't find that, but, Youtube or Dailymotion, I did find Episode 4 changing picture fairly frequently (So, maybe they expanded the Official and cut out the TV?) and of course there are little segments of moving pictures that were recovered from somewhere.
Well, I just watched the "Reign of Terror" reconstructions (I've already seen the animated versions on DVD, and so I wanted to see the telesnap version), and it was striking and kind of eerie when a second or two of live action suddenly appeared in the midst of the still photos. Especially that shot where a still frame of Ian suddenly started moving and talking.
There are no telesnaps in existence for Reign of Terror. They would just be photos taken on set.
I'm not saying that your average casual fans would enjoy the telesnap reconstructions. But as a niche market for MOD DVDs, it's a good way to flesh out the incomplete stories in a way that's more cost effective than animation. And while I haven't seen too many of the telesnap reconstructions, I'll still take the reconstruction of "The Web of Fear, Part 3" over any of the non-Cosgrove Hall animations.
But then, at this point, I'd be happy if they just added "The Underwater Menace, Part 2" as a bonus feature on one of the new series DVDs.
IIRC, "The Invasion" was the 2nd best selling classic Doctor Who DVD of all of them. (#1 was "Genesis of the Daleks.")
Agreed. The people who made "The Invasion" seemed to understand their own strengths & limitations and created animations within those parameters. The results don't look like the live action episodes but have their own stylish noir appeal that fits in with the tone of the rest of the story.
"The Ice Warriors" uses bad animation and tries to make it look like poorly staged 1960s television. "The Ice Warriors" could have looked amazingly creepy & atmospheric had Cosgrove Hall worked on that one too.
But then, at this point, I'd be happy if they just added "The Underwater Menace, Part 2" as a bonus feature on one of the new series DVDs.
IIRC, "The Invasion" was the 2nd best selling classic Doctor Who DVD of all of them. (#1 was "Genesis of the Daleks.")
Agreed. The people who made "The Invasion" seemed to understand their own strengths & limitations and created animations within those parameters. The results don't look like the live action episodes but have their own stylish noir appeal that fits in with the tone of the rest of the story.
"The Ice Warriors" uses bad animation and tries to make it look like poorly staged 1960s television. "The Ice Warriors" could have looked amazingly creepy & atmospheric had Cosgrove Hall worked on that one too.
That's where the "in general" bit came from. The other stories with animation didn't break any sales records.
And even then, "The Invasion" didn't do well enough that it would have turned a profit had the animation costs actually come out of the DVD budget. Hence the cheaper subsequent animations, and the resulting cycle of diminishing returns.
Lovely news. The cancellation always felt a bit dickish to me. I know BBC worldwide is a business, but equally they've made a lot of money off Doctor Who fans with the DVD range, gratuitous rereleases and all. Putting out one release that will take longer to make its money back--especially considering it's the BBC's own fault for destroying it in the first place that they haven't been able to make money out of all of the Underwater Menace during the home media era--would have been a fair gesture.
Good to see the nice and sane people have won out. The Crusade would be a nice bonus down the line (though I guess UW would have to sell unexpectedly well for that to be a goer), but if this is the end I'll be more than happy.
No, wait... it won't fit on my Who DVD shelf! Can someone cancel it again?
Good to see the nice and sane people have won out. The Crusade would be a nice bonus down the line (though I guess UW would have to sell unexpectedly well for that to be a goer), but if this is the end I'll be more than happy.
No, wait... it won't fit on my Who DVD shelf! Can someone cancel it again?
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