Earthshock
Representing the Fifth Doctor in the fortieth
anniversary line-up, 'Earthshock' is a pacy, well-regarded story that saw the surprise
return of the Cybermen after an absence of six years...
'Earthshock' was recorded on 2" quad videotape
with 16mm film inserts as per the normal production methods of the early eighties. As part
of the archiving deal with the National Film and Television Archive, the quads are no
longer the property of the BBC, but were transferred to D3 digital videotape as part of
the Quad Archiving project at the end of the last century. The D3 copies are the official
BBC transmission masters now and it was these that we worked from in the preparation of
this release.
All four episodes were transferred to Digital
Betacam videotape via the Transform PAL Decoder, the revolutionary colour decoder invented
by the BBC Research Department. This ensures the best possible decoding of the composite
video signal into the component format required for DVD use, minimising cross-colour
artefacts whilst at the same time maximising the high-frequency luminance detail in the
picture. A low level of DVNR was applied to remove general video noise throughout.
Part Two was found to have a quad banding problem,
which resulted in several horizontal stripes of picture which were noisier than the rest.
The banding is visible throughout, but becomes worse from the middle of the episode
onwards. As this has not been reported before, it was possible that the problem was caused
by a partially clogged video replay head on the quad VTR which had played out the episode
to D3. The paperwork suggested that the problem was inherent in the quad recording, but to
be on the safe side a new D3 transfer was requested from the NFTVA. This turned out to be
identical to the first, proving that the problem was indeed inherent in the original
recording. It is possible that the fault was not there on original transmission but
developed later due to partial erasure of one video track by being played on a VTR with a
magnetised head, but this is unlikely. Indeed, careful analysis of the clip from part two
used in the 'Did You See...?' programme in the week of its transmission shows the same
problem, so it's highly likely that the episode was always like this. In order to reduce
the effect as much as possible, a protection matte was made up and used to key a higher
level of DVNR noise reduction into just those areas of the picture which were affected,
leaving the rest of the picture untouched.
Videotape dropouts, shifted fields following edits and
other normal analogue videotape problems were painted out manually as usual. Some noisy
keying around the edges of CSO'd scanner screen effects were cleaned up as part of this
process. New beginning and end titles were made up, using new transfers of the clean
backgrounds combined with either the original captions or new electronically generated
captions as required.
Unusually, the film sequences for the story still
exist in the BBC Library. As well as the transmission print, the original camera negatives
exist, made up into A and B rolls, and it was decided to telecine these on the
Spirit for maximum quality and reinsert them into part one. Each roll was telecined
separately and then the two were recombined on videotape and cleaned up on Scratchbox to a
very high level. Because of the splice joins between picture and blanking on each roll,
there is some minor picture instability (a slight vertical hop) noticeable a few frames
before some shot changes. This has been reduced as much as possible and is a small price
to pay for the much improved picture quality. The shots of the motion tracker scanner
screen were digitally stabilised and some of the supposedly 'invisible' edits mid-shot
were remade so that there was no movement in the picture at the edit. The opening shot of
a deserted moor skyline was a stock shot used in 1981 and not part of the film sequences
for the story. The opening titles mix out into this shot, so it was necessary to recreate
it and extend it to allow the new titles transfer to be mixed out in the same way. The
shot was graded to match the first shot of the film sequences proper, then extended to the
required length as a freeze frame. The clouds were slowly moved sideways to mimic the
movement of the original, then artificial grain applied to the composite shot to match it
with the film sequences. The close-up zoom around the motion tracker screen halfway though
the episode was originally done by using a DVE to move around a very obvious video still
of the screen. This was remade using the appropriate running film sequence and zoomed on
Inferno to give the feel that the move was done optically and to better match it with the
rest of the film shots.
Below are two examples of shots from the original film
transfer compared to the new transfer. Roll your mouse over the original to reveal the
new. Note the increased resolution, saturation and extended picture area and the absence
of interlace feathering around objects (caused by an incorrect offset in the scanning
fields of the telecine used in 1981). Note also the dramatic increase in cloud detail in
the sky, which really helps to add to the mood of the piece. The images are in digital
video non-square pixel aspect, so they will appear slightly squashed sideways on the page.
The soundtrack was sent to Mark Ayres to be cleaned up
separately and then relaid back onto the videotape. Here, Mark explains the work he had to
do...
"Audio remastering for "Earthshock" was
straightforward. I replaced the theme music at all episode openings and closings from the
original master, as is usual, carefully rebuilding the cliffhangers and reprises to
dovetail neatly. All episodes were fairly noisy (hiss!), but a fairly gentle noise
reduction has improved this no end. There were a number of poor audio edits in the
programmes - mainly during episode one on the film/video transitions, but also three
particularly poor ones during TARDIS scenes. These have all been disguised. A couple of
untidy edits (including a drop-in for some cyber-dialogue in part four) remain, however,
as there was not enough clean material to cover. These are fairly minor, and not too
troubling. There was a fair amount of distortion at points, including a slightly
overmodulated line on film in episode one, and some peak distortion during the cyber
breakout at the end of episode three. All of this has been repaired. The freighter
explosion at the end of episode 4 was taken from a very crackly sound effects record: it
crackles no longer. "
As with 'The Ark in Space' and 'The Dalek Invasion of
Earth', it was decided to offer the viewer the chance to view the story with some effects
shot replaced by more modern versions. Two areas immediately came to mind - the pink and
magenta striped rays of the trooper guns and the demise of the freighter at the end of the
story.
Mike Tucker and Nick Sainton-Clark
at BBC Visual Effects were tasked with producing the freighter destruction. Having viewed
the story, we realised that it would be quite economical to do if we retained the original
freighter model shots used up to the middle of episode four and then replaced the effects
from that point. This meant generating a CGI model of the Earth to replace the painted one
originally used and placing it into the viewing screens as required. Fortunately the shots
of the viewing screens came from locked-off cameras and none of the actors actually moved
in front of the screens, so it was easy to replace the old Earth with the new one. Towards
the end of the show, the original shots of the freighter pulsating before it explodes were
replaced by a shot of the continents getting closer and closer from Adric's point-of-view
and shots of the freighter traversing the arc of the Earth, the second shot showing a
trail of fire as it begins to burn up in the atmosphere. Judder was added to the shots of
Adric as he awaits the inevitable, to suggest the buffeting of the freighter through the
atmosphere. The last shot is of a huge explosion and shockwave across the planet as the
freighter finally detonates, which mixes back to the shocked TARDIS crew as in the
original version. The modelling and texturing were carried out by Nick and Mike and the
effects were composited on Illusion by Ian Simpson at BBC Resources 3D and Video Effects.
Dave Jervis at 3D
and Video Effects was responsible for the new trooper gunfire effects. The originals had
been done 'live' in the studio gallery by Dave Chapman, using an EMI pattern generator,
keyed into the picture by positioning pieces of cardboard over the bed of a caption
camera. Each ray required going down a further generation of videotape, so the shots with
four individual rays were extremely noisy! Unfortunately the original clean studio
backgrounds no longer exist, so Dave Jervis was forced to 'cut and paste' clean sections
from before and after the gunfire effects in order to provide him with clean background
plates, or simply place his new effect over the top of the original. The new effect was
animated on After Effects and retain some of the look and character of the originals
whilst appearing somewhat more realistic. Beams are accurately anchored to the gun barrels
they were supposed to be coming from and move with the barrels. Some interactive lighting
was also added to further sell the shot by making it appear that the light from the beams
was actually falling on the troopers firing the guns.
The new effects are offered as an alternative to the
originals and have to be switched on by the viewer, otherwise the original effects play
out by default.
A commentary was recorded with the full TARDIS crew
for this story:- Peter Davison, Janet Fielding, Sarah Sutton and Matthew Waterhouse.
Extras for this release include:-
- Putting the Shock into Earthshock - a brand-new thirty
minute documentary by Ed Stradling, featuring interviews with the cast and fans of the
series and examining the impact of the return of the Cybermen and the death of a
companion...
- Film Sequences - the complete film sequences for Part
One, including previously unseen shots and dialogue.
- 'Did You See...?' - a ten minute item on Doctor Who
monsters from 1981, presented by Gavin Scott.
Copyright Steve Roberts, 17 June 2003