MJ Posted February 6, 2009 Posted February 6, 2009 Hello, mixnmojo-ers. Sometimes, I'm really jealous of you citizens of the UK! For anyone who, like me, grew up watching David Attenborough documentaries, BBCOnline have put up all six episodes of 'Zoo Quest for a Dragon', one of David Attenborough's first television series. It's the only way to watch this brilliant piece of history, and it's only available to people in the UK. I have a first edition of the book, signed, and the audiobook version as well. I thought the television series had been long lost! It must have been recovered recently. I feel like flying to the UK and sitting in an internet cafe to watch these things... hopefully they'll come out on dvd one day! http://www.bbc.co.uk/archive/attenborough/index.shtml
s-island Posted February 6, 2009 Posted February 6, 2009 I believe the series survived because it was made on 16mm film. For some reason BBC was better at not throwing out stuff that originated on film than on videotape.
neon_git Posted February 6, 2009 Posted February 6, 2009 Perhaps video tape was easily recorded over whereas film can only be used once? I don't know, but it sounds plausible.
MJ Posted February 9, 2009 Author Posted February 9, 2009 I wonder if it's the complete episodes then, with the wildlife footage and studio footage, or just the first? Someone watch it.
neon_git Posted February 10, 2009 Posted February 10, 2009 It's the whole episodes with all the studio bits intact. It's strange watching Attenborough at that age, he's always been a sort of grandfather type figure to me.
MJ Posted February 10, 2009 Author Posted February 10, 2009 Huh. I thought I read in his autobiography that the studio shots went out live. Wonder how they saved that. Come on BBC, surely that's worth a dvd release...
neon_git Posted February 10, 2009 Posted February 10, 2009 The old Dr Who's went out live too but they managed to record them I don't pretend to understand but it's a good job however it was done. I would be shocked if this wasn't released on dvd, it would sell bucket loads. I imagine they'll wait until around Christmas though if they do release it.
neon_git Posted February 11, 2009 Posted February 11, 2009 The following is from the foreword to The Tomb Of The Cybermen Script Book As some of you may know, consecutive episodes of any Doctor Who story have always featured an overlap, in the form of a reprise of the previous episode's last moments, leading up to the traditional 'cliff-hanger' ending. In the earliest days of the progamme, when episodes were recorded live, this meant that the actors physically repeated the reprise at the start of the episode.
s-island Posted February 11, 2009 Posted February 11, 2009 That bit is misleading. The episodes were recorded as if they went out live during the first years of the series, as in they limited the cuts and did as much as they could in single takes. They weren't broadcast live. The first episode of An Unearthly Child has only one cut for example. The whole episode was done in two takes. The other three episodes of the story have either two or three cuts each. Try to spot them.
neon_git Posted February 11, 2009 Posted February 11, 2009 Dude, that's my childhood you're pissing on there. Couldn't you have just let me carry on believing that?
s-island Posted February 11, 2009 Posted February 11, 2009 Hey, I didn't say where the cuts were so you can still go on pretending.
neon_git Posted February 11, 2009 Posted February 11, 2009 Haha, much obliged Whilst I am genuinely a little disappointed, it is still cool that they did as much as they could in a single take. It's not as bad as when I found out Santa isn't real.
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