Heist
Moderator: Spectrum Strike Force
Pros
1. The plot was pretty good, a loved one held hostage so that the Mysterons can use Spectrum to their advantage. Bit of an old chestnut, but good.
2. Some of the lines were great. I ADORE the 'Sandwiches' line, and also Blues 'Boootiful'. Reminded me of Bernard Matthews. Whites speech about 'We do everything for the people we love', or whatever it was, was a little tedious, but touching and true.
3. The animals. The Dobermans at the start, the rats in the underground bunker, and the chickens which scattered as Blue and Scarlet went into the barn.
4. Good timing, Serena! She interrupts Scarlet and Destiny just before they 'hold hands'. See, this is one of the reasons why I love her so much. She butts into S & D bits a lot. Remember, 'Duel'?

5. The car Scarlet and Blue are in. Anyone know what model that was? It's getting added to the 'Things I want from NCS' list, which is already about a metre long.
6. Fine touches, like Destiny crossing one leg over the other in the Hummingbird, and the logo for the Vampire planes (I like Vampires...in case you didn't catch it, its a vampiress looking back over her shoulder. Red background, long black hair).
Cons
1. Eww, Victoria. I have nothing against all the Daddy stuff (It's a stereotypical higher class thing), but...does she have a backbone? She's so wimpy and pathetic!! And also scary. Look at that lipstick and weird spiky fringe

2. Colonels wheelie as he's zooming along Skybase. Show off...
3. Charles and Diana. Come on, that's pushing it a little isn't it?
Bloopers
1. When Scarlet leans forward to examine the map thing and locate what the Vampires target could be, his tie leaves an imprint when he moves.
2. There are several times when clothes pass through each other, and Victoria’s shoes go through the pavement when she's walking.
3. One of the cards in the beaten-up guys wallet says 'Totel Bank'. I don't think it's supposed to be spelt wrong...
4. Scarlet, Blue and Little Vicky climb up the right tunnel, but come out on the left.
Little Things
1. People in the restaurant. A lot of re-used characters here. Here's a list...



I think there's another Scarlet there as well, looks like the back of his head.
2. Colonels mansion is called 'Greenslade Manor'.
3. Scarlet and Destiny have their cutlery arranged as if they've eaten, but the plates are completely spotless, and shiny. What did they do, lick them?
Rating: 6/10
xx
Lieutenant Green, Grey Skulls
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Serena Lewis
- Major
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The Animation - What really shine for me is the animation and attention to detail. The moths flying around the lights at the begining. The lighting in general is incredible - from the night time scenes to White's house and so on. There is one funny scene where Blue and Scarlet first enter the sewers and it appears Blue's shadow is missing his head!!
Other - Lots of details, expressions from White, we see Scarlet talking in the background while White is saying goodbye to his daughter.
On screen Death Count - Pretty high count in this one. The pilot, the traffic controllers (2 I believe), The Mysteronized thug, falling to his death in the Rhino.
KP
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shadokp
- Captain
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Some nice details like the animals and insects as mentioned before in the above posts. But my favourite little pieces of detail are 1) the detail on White's face at the table, when you can just see the corner of his face, before Victoria mentions the 'bodyguards' and 2) When Scarlet walks into White's room on Skybase, although, it's interesting a secret organisation so clearly describes people's names on their door!
Thought the dialogue was fine, no problems with it. Plenty of action for the gung-ho lovers (even though there's hardly any Blue). Also nice to see Scarlet, White and Destiny out of uniform, in something smart.
It's an old story, tried and tested, and when done properly, as this is, can still be thoroughly entertaining.
"If We Get Out Of This Lieutenant, I'll Buy You All The Coconuts You Can Eat!"
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gojohnniegogo
- Lieutenant
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- Location: Blackburn - Home of Barry Gray - Lancashire, England
I guess I was hoping for a Thunderbirds-type story such as Brink Of Disaster or The Perils Of Penelope with lots of cloak and dagger stuff and maybe the train getting blown up in true Gerry Anderson style.
This perhaps underlines the main differences between the original puppet series and the new CGI series. OCS was second to none as far as models and explosions were concerned. Of course, the puppets were mesmerising in their own way but very limited. By contrast, the strength of NCS has been the MoCap, which makes the characters move convincingly, the keyframing, bringing life to their faces, and also the lighting effects, which have been quite breathtaking.
Conrad Lefkon - Film Star?
There is one thing about this series that I have so far been unable to grasp. I know there is a great deal of work involving a lot of specialist team members but I am unclear about which aspects of the programme take the most time and effort.
I have selected a 2 second sequence of action from Heist which involved no dialogue but which has terrific impact. It is the scene in the bunker when the camera pans round from Graves to show Captain Black for the first time. As I have seen mentioned before, Conrad looks like a film star in this sequence.
I wonder if Dom could tell us what is actually involved here – I will try and guess and then maybe you can correct me. For the purposes of this exercise, I am only interested in Conrad, his movements and facial expressions and the background where he is standing.
1. HEAD/FACE: My guess is that his head and face has been taken from an existing 3D library which has already been created for use throughout the series. For the purposes of this 2 second sequence, his expression is then subtly changed using keyframing from attentive listening to a slight smile.
2. BODY/CLOTHES: Again, my guess is that Captain Black’s upper torso, leather jacket and other apparel already exists in a 3D library with different physiques for different characters.
3. WALKING/ANIMATION: In this sequence, the MoCap artist for Black just shifts his weight around a little from one leg to the other.
4. BACKGROUNDS: CGI hard surface modellers have created a special set for the underground bunker for this particular episode. The fully rendered Black character is then layered on top of the bunker walls. He is actually present out of camera shot all along but comes into view as the virtual camera pans round.
5. LIGHTING: Black is initially unlit with no shadows but the Lighting Technicians then perform their magic by finally superimposing the various sun and light beams so that the areas of light and shadow are brought to life, such as Black’s grim smile.
I would be very interested to know what steps are really involved, how long they take and if there is any ‘colouring in’ to be done like in a conventional cartoon! Are there parallels with computer game modelling, I wonder?
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Father Unwin
- Lieutenant
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Scarlet and Blue have been asked by Colonel White to try and find his kidnapped daughter. "Do we have anything to go on?" asks Blue. "Only this." says Charles as he hands over a sophisticated phone tapping device.
The device is activated while the Captains are driving deep in the countryside near Greenslade Hall. Adam says "10 square miles of London with housing, factories and basements. How do we cover that in 3 hours with no backup?"
Scarlet turns the whole thing on its head by saying "They must have ears near the Hall. Somewhere high..." Within 30 seconds they have narrowed the search from millions of people in London to one sad looking individual in a psychedelic van with furry dice and a big radio receiver!

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Father Unwin
- Lieutenant
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1. HEAD/FACE: My guess is that his head and face has been taken from an existing 3D library which has already been created for use throughout the series. For the purposes of this 2 second sequence, his expression is then subtly changed using keyframing from attentive listening to a slight smile.
The head used for black, as in all the main characters, is the same one used in most episodes. Except maybe if the head is modified in some way say with injuries. The overall movement is motion captured, then all subtleties like facial movement and hands is indeed key framed.
2. BODY/CLOTHES: Again, my guess is that Captain Black’s upper torso, leather jacket and other apparel already exists in a 3D library with different physiques for different characters.
Yes. his clothes are from an existing libary. However, if i remember right, the jacket was tweaked slighly to improve the texture. All in all I think Heist has a number of nice costumes. I particuly like Graves, who has an interest in ameican line dancing. Hence neckachief and cowboy boots.
3. WALKING/ANIMATION: In this sequence, the MoCap artist for Black just shifts his weight around a little from one leg to the other
Again motion capture with key frame subtalties.
4. BACKGROUNDS: CGI hard surface modellers have created a special set for the underground bunker for this particular episode. The fully rendered Black character is then layered on top of the bunker walls. He is actually present out of camera shot all along but comes into view as the virtual camera pans round.
5. LIGHTING: Black is initially unlit with no shadows but the Lighting Technicians then perform their magic by finally superimposing the various sun and light beams so that the areas of light and shadow are brought to life, such as Black’s grim smile.
Once the set is built and lit, like a real film set, the characters are placed in with their animation set. They then are effected by the light in the real set and maybe a few new separate lights just for them. Black was indeed always there hidden. This is one of my favourite scenes in all the shows. Black is indeed a star. There were a few problems with the mocap twitching. This is still a bit evident with Graves, but all in all it worked. There also would have been extra effects with the lighting done in post by the comp artists. Unfortunately I cant remember how much. I think allot of the lighting was physical 3d in the set.
Hope all is well
Dom
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Dom Lavery
- Skybase Tech
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- Joined: Fri Jul 01, 2005 3:25 pm

Now, is that or is that not Scarlet? (Apologies for the HUGE picture, but I can't seem to get the resize code to work.)
Sorry the capture isn't that great. I'm missing PowerDVD immensely. Capping from Media Player just doesn't give the same quality, or the power to scroll through a DVD frame by frame.

Caption Game results.
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Captain Indigo
- Cloudbase Captain
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If you're referring to the Vampire Pilot who cops it, he looks like Scarlet, but I don't think it is. AS I said in my review, there is a sort of side view of Scarlet (Or something, haven't watched for a while). They must have used the same person twice in the second incident and hoped no one would notice. (How can we not notice the leading man??)
xx
Lieutenant Green, Grey Skulls
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Serena Lewis
- Major
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"If We Get Out Of This Lieutenant, I'll Buy You All The Coconuts You Can Eat!"
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gojohnniegogo
- Lieutenant
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