Supermarionation and Extermination

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"I didn't know what to expect from him. I'd heard about Sydney and his work but thought where he came from in terms of sci-fi wasn't going to work with what I did.

Still I met him. He was very polite and very impressed with what I did. He said that he believed my model work would be an ideal counterbalance to his idea.

His idea was about a new character called Doctor Who..."


STOP!!!!

What...

Not another DW thread

I've barely started and already you're jumping down my throat

Well how many more can there be? We've had different actors, American Doctors...

What about DW...made by Gerry Anderson.

Gerry...as in Thunderbirds?

Yes, Live action mixed with Supermarionation

On the BBC?

No you berk....on ITV.

 
Ok, thanks for the input, sounds like its best to knock this one on the head. Mods can you close this please?
 
Oh geez. That was negative.

Let me offer some thoughts....

ITV generally sponsored one, or at best two series of a show. That's why Gerry Anderson kept coming back with new series over and over again - Captain Scarlett, Stingray, Thunderbirds, Terrahawks etc., some of which formed a sort of Ersatz 'universe' in Century 21.

So if Gerry Anderson does a version of Doctor Who, will it be a one off? A perennial returner?

Anderson's format was single episode stories, mostly half hours. He had a bit of a breakthrough with Thunderbirds because they bumped him up to 1 hour and he had to add a lot of characterisation as padding. So is this the format?

Anderson didn't start live action series until the early 1970's, with UFO, Space 1999 and that thing with Robert Vaughn. So it sounds like Anderson is probably doing Who as a supermarionation, and that technology and those puppets evolved from one series to the next. Assuming that Anderson decides that Who is a good storytelling vehicle, and keeps coming back, is that how it happens. Each series is a new puppet Doctor, with only a few continuing elements? That would make for over a dozen Doctors in a twenty year span. Is there a 70's transition/experiment to live action?

I assume that Anderson does Doctor Who, is this under an ITV licence? Who owns the character/characters? Anderson? ITV? Newman?

Also, Anderson's stories and storytelling evolved over time - consider the differences between Torchy the Battery Boy, Fireball XL5 and later works like Thunderbirds and Captain Scarlett. They are different. But oddly, not that much different in key respects - even the stuff not written expressly for children. So you need to watch a lot of the early Anderson stuff, and get a sense of his style.
 
The plan was this. Use Marionation to show such things as dematerialisation. Aerial Dalek attacks etc and actual live action for everything else. In effect bringing the hybrid used in The Secret Service forward a few years.
 
The plan was this. Use Marionation to show such things as dematerialisation. Aerial Dalek attacks etc and actual live action for everything else. In effect bringing the hybrid used in The Secret Service forward a few years.

Hmmm. Tough sell. The things you are talking about aren't actually all that easy to do effectively or convincingly with supermarionation. It took Anderson a few years to get the hang of it. Anderson did want to do live action at the outset, but got diverted into puppets early on through his collaboration with Roberta Lee.
 
This is turning into a potential hotspot. If the mods could close this thread down before any trouble I'll be grateful. Thanks to DValdron.
 
There's an interesting idea to play with. The one or two series thing was a mark of Lew Grade's ITC, he said he found it easier to sell a new series than a continuation (even then, he had no problem commissioning multiple series of Robin Hood, The Saint and Danger Man/Secret Agent and others). Newman had come from ABC, so let's say he either doesn't leave for the BBC or the idea occurs to him earlier than 1963. ABC's children's sci-fi show Pathfinders In Space/To Mars/To Venus was getting quite close to turning into Doctor Who (two adults, children and an old man who can't be entirely trusted travel through space), perhaps Newman headhunts Anderson to do the effects on a more spectacular idea he's had. Alternatively, ABC had their own filmed puppet sci-fi in 1962 with Space Patrol, produced by Roberta Leigh, who had got Anderson started on the puppet thing by hiring his AP Films to produce Twizzle and Torchy The Battery Boy for her. There's a lot to play with.
 
Hmm. Ok I'll try this very very rough draft. If the reception is good I'll go and refine it.

For Millennia time itself has been the battleground for two vastly opposing and infinitely powerful forces. One the Timelords of Gallifrey. An ancient, heirarchial race of great power and wisdom that have been travelling through time for as long as time has existed

The other. The Daleks of Skaro. A race of evil machine like beings who seek nothing but destruction.

In order to prevent the encroachment of the Daleks onto worlds that cannot defend themselves the Timelords have placed agents on those world to monitor, warn and take action where necessary.

One agent had been assigned to the planet Earth in the year 1963. His name is "

chrístõdavõreendiamondhærtmallõupdracœfiredelúnmiancuimhne de Lœngbærrow "

He has chosen the human name


Doctor Who
 
The Daleks would definitely be easy to puppet. Back in the late 1970's, early 1980's, there was a fellow named Julian Vince who created an army of 1/5 scale model Daleks for a fan film, Mission of Doom.

One thing with miniature work, is that you can build really impressive sets and landscapes, so quite possibly a lot of stuff taking place on alien worlds. I recommend checking out Fireball XL. Some of the components of that have a resemblance to Doctor Who. And it can give you a lot of insight or ideas as to how Anderson's stories worked, how they were plotted and paced.

Remember, you are working with early middle Gerry Anderson here.

Torchy the Battery Boy, Twizzle, and Four Feather Falls were done from 1957 to 1960. These were explicitly kids shows, with child protagonists and fantasy themes and images.

These were succeeded by Supercar and Fireball XL5 were being produced around 1961-1963. The focus had changed, while still child oriented, the emphasis was on adult characters and a more science fiction action adventure, with relatively adult stories of heroes and villains and their competing agendas. This is the era that would lead into your Doctor Who.

After this, in the mid to late 1960's, Anderson produced his most mature work - Stingray, Thunderbirds, Captain Scarlet. These are the series he's most famous for. And these will be butterflied by your Doctor Who.

Late sixties, Anderson seems to have fallen back - his next two puppet series, Joe 90 and Secret Service were derivative, repetitive and infantilised.

After that, in early 70's, he abandoned puppets in favour of live action, with UFO, Protectors, and Space 1999.

But overall, your time frame seems to be on that boundary between Supercar/Fireball and Stingray/Captain Scarlet/Thunderbirds. That's an interesting place to start off.

One thought - you won't see serialized storytelling, at least not in the Doctor Who sense. Anderson was doing single episode stories.
 
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It is my understanding that Anderson decided to switch to doing live-action shows by 1969 as the Supermarionation shows were increasingly expensive to do. After all, Thunderbirds and Captain Scarlet were probably the most expensive programmes in British tv history at that point. Anderson was blessed with top-notch SFX wizards Derek Meddings and Brian Johnston (later of Star Wars and Alien). Meanwhile in Japan, Eiji Tsuburaya was writing the book on SFX with Godzilla and Kaiju films and series such as Ultraman in the 1960s.
 
Thanks for the input:

Dr John Who is a residential lecturer of physics at the fictional Northlands University. How he achieved the role is uncertain but his presence is much appreciated . In terms of personality he is somewhat aloof. Whilst never antagonising anyone at the University he is not the life and soul of the party.

As the Gallifreyan agent the Doctor uses his grace and favour apartment to hide his time/space craft. Using technology that is infinitely ahead of human understanding the craft is placed in another dimension inside a locked wardrobe.
 
I should clarify, I don't agree the idea is shit, just thought the comment was funny. Though I'm not a fan of Dr. Who alternate histories, you do you boo :kissingheart:
 
I accept that. Not everyone is a fan of alt dr who. What pissed me off was the way in which the idea was shot down with not even a hint of reasoning behind the comment. Its something I've noticed a hell of a lot on here and its something the mods should take a look at.
 
The Doctor's time/space room:
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