NCS Credits - Director Missing from 3 Episodes
Moderator: Spectrum Strike Force
If any of you would like to ask me anything feel free, and I shall endevour to answer them as best I can.
And by the way Father Unwin...Thanks!!
PS Yes I do hope to be envolved with Gerrys next Project. Both in the concept and directing chairs as I did with Scarlet.
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Dom Lavery
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Did you have anysay on the look or feel of the show from the beginning.
Do any of the other Directors or any of teh writers post here?
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DanDud88
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You may regret offering to answer our questions!
Are you relieved or sad that you've finished making NCS?
Do you think that some of the episodes could have been longer, or do you think the 22 minutes was about right?
Do you wish you had been able to make the series for an adult audience rather than aiming it at a younger audience?
Thank you!
Chris
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Chris C
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Rat Trap, too me, is the best of the series, I cannot get enough of that one. Thanks for your efforts.
How much was Gerry Anderson involved with the series? While you were working on it and the series was airing, what was being talked about at Anderson Entertainment? Were people talking about the handling of the series by ITV?
Your designs for Lora Craft, Thunderbirds and, of course the New Captain Scarlet were fantastic!!
Thanks again!!
KP
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shadokp
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I'd like to ask:
Can you hint at what extras might be available on the Series 2 DVDs (assuming that you're allowed to or know what they might be, of course!)
What other GA series would you like to see updated, given the chance?
In your opinion, could Captain Scarlet work as a feature film? Could it work with live action or would it be better to stick with a CGI format?
If you could be any character from any GA series, who would you be and why?
Steve
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steviep
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For DanDud88
The scripts were pretty much finished by the time we, the directors, took them over. We did have a certain amount of say if we felt something was needed, but on the whole the scripts were kept as they arrived on our desks.
I did have a say in the look of the show as before I took over a directing chair I was the shows conceptual art director. I was mainly involved with the design of the hardware.
For Chris C
I spent in total 2 and a half years on Scarlet. It was the hardest project I have ever worked on...but... one of the best. As with all long term projects it is a relief to final put it to bed, but after a few weeks you find yourself wanting to get back to it.
Yes, I do think some of the episodes could easily have been longer. But in the context of the show, 22 mins was just about long enough to give the viewer a bit of a ride.
To be honest, I am not that sure that NCS was aimed at a younger audience. We always aimed it at being a family show. This was something Gerry was very keen on. Maybe if we had made it more grown up, the younger viewers might have just not got it. Must say that in some of the episodes, like Enigma, we were over that line. Must say though, I did enjoy the stranger episodes.
For Shadokp
I am afraid we had no input into any of the promotion of the project. That was all done by a separate company. And YES I, like all of you, were gutted by the lack of promotion and support for the project. As for upcoming merchandise, I do not know much at all as the same company was in charge of that. In a very early stage I was involved with Bandai as 'Gerry's eyes', to make sure the designs were not changed to much, but that was all. Therefore I have no idea about season 2 DVD. Sorry!
Pleased you liked Rat Trap. I was the first episode that I really began to find my feet. My first was Mercury, but that was when we were all still fighting the problems we encountered early on. Rat Trap was still very hard to deliver on time, as there was so much in it, but Scarlet team kicked butt and showed every one else the bench mark.
Gerry, as always, was and is 100% involved with the show. From the writing to the designing to the story telling editing etc etc. The man is amazing! I have learnt so much from him. Even though he now has many years behind him (and in front) he is very much still in the HOT seat.
Don't want to say to much about the airing of the show. Yes we were ALL a bit miffed about the time slot and treatment of it.
For steviep
As I have already said I no nothing about the DVD.
Fireball XL5 would make a great new show. I would love to do a film in that great 50s-60s ideal view of the future style. Also T Birds would be fun as I worked on the movie it would be great to re make it with the GERRY Anderson vision. But it would be also great to do something completely new!!!
Captain scarlet the MOVIE! Bring it on!! that what I say. Live action would be great as long as the core basis of the film is captain scarlet. Not say... his little brother and his buddies steal a spectrum shuttle and fly it to a new universe where the mysterons come from and ... make friends with them!!!
In fact, maybe you guys could give your ideas as to who should play the key roles in a live action movie. Maybe you have already done it some time earlier.
Any character from a Gerry show...mmmmm... Troy Tempest. coz I like the name and to blast off down that rail in XL5 would be a real rush.
Cheers for now
Dom
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Dom Lavery
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Dom Lavery wrote:Also T Birds would be fun as I worked on the movie.
Did Gerry Know of this little tidbit of info before he hired you?
Dom Lavery wrote:Any character from a Gerry show...mmmmm... Troy Tempest. coz I like the name and to blast off down that rail in XL5 would be a real rush..
Troy Tempest was from Stingray not Fireball XL5.
You Lucky you made "Rat Trap" or i would be very mad at you right now.
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Jugallette
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DanDud88
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It is a real thrill to be able to hear from you on this forum and be able to see things from your perspective. Here are a few questions for you - each one appears to be more long-winded than its predecessor!
1. Who decided which director was doing which episode? I assume you designed the Rat and so could choose Rat Trap.
2. What happened to "House of Dolls" as it sounded really great? My theory is that you would have mysteronised lots of different toys in the toyshop and the manufacturers of real toys would be trying to sue you for loss of sales!
3. Who directed Grey Skulls? For me the main feature of this episode was that the theme park was full of people, something which Gerry said was difficult to do. Can we assume that you now have a way of dealing with crowds of people that is viable and which was only available for this last episode?
4. NCS appears to have many 'homages' to Supermarionation. In Syrtis Major, are the 2 characters who have been addled by the leaking gas on Mars who are firing rock blasters at Scarlet and Co. examples of this? Many episodes of Stingray included just 2 enemy characters, this being necessary so that they could communicate with each other and thus tell the viewing audience their evil plans!
5. As I understand it, Gerry has already sold off all the equipment used to make NCS. I would imagine that it would have been a lot cheaper to make a third series of NCS than an entirely new series. Would you say that it is already too late to reuse the characters, vehicles and sets which have been created because of software and hardware advances?
6. I like to visualise the CGI characters and vehicles as being stored away on discs a bit like the puppet characters were stored away in boxes! Might it be feasible to sell this material to another CGI company? This would provide revenue to GAP, Granada or whoever and also make it possible for another company to create a new series using your intellectual property (or whatever they call it).
7. Gerry Anderson was particularly complimentary about you in FAB50 using the word 'genius'. I appreciate his desire to show the best of mankind, rather than things like drugs and murder. If you were invited to take over his mantle (many years from now) as a Producer of family series in the same cannon, would you be interested? David Lane did this successfully with Joe 90 and The Secret Service but you look like a particularly strong candidate for the future.
PS You mentioned Troy Tempest in your last post - in my view, Don Mason was the best voice talent ever employed by Gerry in any series.
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Father Unwin
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Sorry DanDud.
Pleased you likes Rat trap Though.
So who was the dude in XL5 then?
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Dom Lavery
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So lets get going with your questions...
The episodes were passed out by Gerry. At the time I was designing the Rat, I was not directing. Steve Begg was the third Director at that time. He was unable to carry on because of commitment to some small unknown film called... Batman !!! and what a great job he did to!
The design faze was started well in advance of the filming faze.
I was just lucky (I think) that I ended up with Rat Trap. Although I do think Gerry gave us episodes that he thought would be 'up our street' so to speak.
House of dolls would have been my episode I think. If I am right, which is not always the case (Troy tempest comment comes to mind) the story was deemed to scary. I like the 'loss of sales' comment about mysteronised toys you made.
Grey Skulls was directed by Dave Lane. This was the very last episode made as so had what we liked to call the 'dream team' working on it. Most if not all the remaining cg people worked on it. So allot more was able to be put in. They still were very much up against the schedule though. Some very special wizards created the crowd scenes. One thing you all have to be aware of is that working in cgi is very hard. To create big scenes with lots of characters is extremely difficult. We had the talent, but not the time in many respects. In just 2 and a half years we not only created 26 episodes but also went through the frustration of creating the facility at pinewood, for a fraction of the money that would be put into say a pixar or DreamWorks production. These big film projects also takes many years, with hundreds of personnel and around 100 million dollars to play with. I think I might be babbling a bit now.
There were a few homage's to the supermarionation days. But not that much. I think sometimes there were accidental links to the puppet days. Also the bases of all the shows came from Gerry. That's a big link I think!
There are allot of politics with regard to Gerry and GAP. Allot of the equipment has been sold off or put in storage. There is a master hard drive with all the assets from the show on. Please don't ask me any more questions on this mater as I feel the presence of mysteron rings over me. Lets just say that right now there is not much chance of another NCS series. Politics I am afraid.
Software does advance like hard ware at an alarming rate. But, I do have to say that it is not that that makes the show. It is the talented people behind the screen that do that. Yes the advances of the software does give us more scope to do bigger and better cgi, but it wasn't Rembrandts paintbrushes that created his masterpieces, it was Rembrandt himself. If we get the team we create the show. Or something like that.
Take over from big G...are you mad!! no one would be able to do that. I hope and pray that he will be around for quite some time to come. Years from now, I would love to be able to give people the enjoyment that Gerry has with all his shows. It is however a very difficult road. One that has got much harder as the years go by. I love what I am doing. My art and directing. I strongly feel that the world needs great SF TV. (actually any great TV) that does not take the viewer for granted. We all have a brain and do ,on occasions, like to use it.
Hope I am answering you questions ok. Never done this over the net before.
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Dom Lavery
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Thank you very much indeed for your interesting and heartfelt replies. With you and your colleagues around, I am filled with optimism for the future of family shows using CGI and MoCap.
As a small tribute to you, I will now purchase Thunderbirds 2004, which I have not seen before - just to admire your work (the re-imagined CGI Thunderbirds craft)!
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Father Unwin
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Father Unwin wrote:As a small tribute to you, I will now purchase Thunderbirds 2004
Blimey - there's dedication! Iwouldn't have gone that far!
Dom, for the record, Fireball XL5 was commanded by Steve Zodiac. All together now: "I wish I was a spaceman...."
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steviep
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Dom, on behalf of every members, thank you so much to take the time to answer all those questions. I'm sure you are making everyone's day!
Webmaster and administrator of http://www.spectrum-headquarters.com
"This is an operational base, not a rest centre!"
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chrisbishop
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In your reply to KP you said:
Pleased you liked Rat Trap. I was the first episode that I really began to find my feet. My first was Mercury, but that was when we were all still fighting the problems we encountered early on. Rat Trap was still very hard to deliver on time, as there was so much in it, but Scarlet team kicked butt and showed every one else the bench mark.
I was wondering what the problems were?
And what gave you the idea for the design of the RAT?
Cheers,
Chris
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Chris C
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Dom Lavery
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