Comments on: The Revision Thing

By: Thad Ritchards

Thad Ritchards — Sun, 12 Jul 2009 21:22:09 +0000

Does re-editing Mawdryn Undead to revert the Brig into Ian Chesterton count?

And there was the image I had in mind of how the TARDIS was pulled out of the sand/walls in Frontios that was completely not done in the actual show, although it was entirely an 80s level effect shot…

By: Peter A

Peter A — Sun, 12 Jul 2009 19:45:31 +0000

Thanks to Al for his addition – don’t forget to scroll up to the article to read this and see his rather nice work on the pictures!

By: the_other_dave

the_other_dave — Sun, 12 Jul 2009 10:37:28 +0000

I have to be honest – I never felt the urge to re-edit any of the old series stuff, possibly because I got so used to it when I was young and these ideas on the Interwebnetthingee were just creative puffs in imaginative minds. I have to agree about the Dominators though. I always really liked the story when it only existed as Ian Marter’s fact paced gritty novelisation (it has been at least (quick count on fingers) twenty odd years since I last read it, so that memory may be cheating too – but it seemed pacy). If it could ever be recut with the novelisation as a guide that could be nifty.

The only time I’ve ever had the urge to re-edit Who though was with Next Doctor. I know RTD made a point of explaining why he wrote it the way he did, but I always thought the Christmas Special had the potential to be the festive disaster thriller that it’s predecessor wanted to be. Icy Cybermen lurking in the snowy mists, proto cyber-creatures stalking the horsechestnutted night, and forget the titular misdirection, the character attention should be focused on is Hartigan. Excellent casting, facinating character, the stories Doc’s Egg Machine…er…

Anyway, I doubt the scenes were filmed that would’ve allowed the story to be put together the way I wanted, but it does raise the interesting question. When you think about it Doctor Who has all the classic makings of a “steampunk” story. It even predates the sticky label used to define the genre, should we say Wellsian/Vernian classic. It has the quittisential Britishness, the old series Edwardian embellishments, quirky science, and budget constraint that would’ve suggested whimsical old school victoriana may have been more achievable than sleek futurism, and yet the concept was never really embraced (yet there were others out there, Wild wild west, Q.E.D.). Any thoughts why not?

By: rtpeditor

rtpeditor — Sun, 12 Jul 2009 06:22:37 +0000

Nightmare of Eden is just begging for a good going over. Planet of the Spiders could easily zip along if all of episode 2 was lopped out along with a lot of other stuff like the extended recap in episode 6.

By: Peter A

Peter A — Sat, 11 Jul 2009 23:21:48 +0000

More good suggestions! Dominators does drag, even with the censor’s cuts :/

‘Trial’ reminds me that someone did suggest it as an option on the RT board and got cut down rather along the lines of ‘what would be the point?’. But I’d be keen to know if it could work. I think if memory serves Mindwarp would be the hardest, but you could make a fist of Mysterious Planet and Vervoids – possibly. I guess at the least the old story of having to rescore where the cuts show would reappear…

And for God’s sake someone could CG that black hole effect and Hyperion model!

By: jpreddle

jpreddle — Sat, 11 Jul 2009 03:02:45 +0000

I’d re-edit The Trial of A Time Lord by removing all the trial stuff from each of the ‘matrix’ stories, so we gt three much better paced stories uninterrupted by the Stackyard, etc.

By: Alden

Alden — Sat, 11 Jul 2009 00:51:41 +0000

I’ve always thought The Dominators would be vastly improved by cutting it down to four, or even three episodes.

By: Peter A

Peter A — Fri, 10 Jul 2009 21:11:30 +0000

Warriors is a good example actually, and I agree about the lighting levels (actually I think everyone agrees about the lighting levels!). Maybe the picture could be graded to bring the tones down? And the Myrka might be a little more threatening in the dark with the eyes glowing… can the story work without the Myrka? I can’t remember. Would it be necessary to fabricate a new climactic threat, or is there one I’m missing, like the countdown?

I have to say, I was surprised the rather nice CG models they used for the seabase were used only in the behind the scenes doco.

By: Paul Scoones

Paul Scoones — Fri, 10 Jul 2009 11:47:16 +0000

I’ve been studying the camera scripts for The Caves of Androzani lately and I’m convinced that there’s an even better version of the story there that we didn’t get to see. But I doubt that much of that missing material was even recorded, let alone survives, so being locked in an editing suite with this story perhaps wouldn’t do much good.

I think Warriors of the Deep could be cut down by at least an episode, removing the Myrka and reducing some of the base personnel scenes. If, through technical wizardry the harsh lighting could be turned right down so it looks more like the gloomy, run-down environment the writer originally envisaged, that might do wonders for the story’s reputation.

By: Peter A

Peter A — Fri, 10 Jul 2009 09:01:12 +0000

I think it was a good set up and would love to hear what story you would like to be locked in an editing suite with.