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Post by andrewfrostick on Apr 28, 2016 17:49:52 GMT
I have tried to find out for some time if William Hartnell's superb, if sad, contribution to the classic 'Three Doctors' survives in the archives. I understand that his footage was recorded on film at Ealing, but on screen it is shown as output on the TARDIS monitor with lots of glare. It would be great to see it in its original format with any out takes too.
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Post by Patrick Coles on Apr 28, 2016 18:36:20 GMT
Sorry I can't answer you question - no doubt some guys on here soon will
but on the general point I always felt they could have 'featured' the First Doctor a bit more in that story - WITHOUT causing an unwell William Hartnell any more hardship re remembering lines
it's of course so EASY to have hindsight I know but consider this...
First they could have done a couple of extra scenes with The first Doctor - in episode two after he's become trapped in the 'Time eddy' he is seen simply up on the Timelords larger screen, depicted just writing away in his pocket notebook as if he is busy calculating something (thus no extra lines for Hartnell) while the Timelord who has authorised the previous Doctors transfers tells the other Senior Timelord that they have had a problem re a 'Time eddy' but the original Doctor is helping us to calculate the likely 'stability points' in the Time eddy at which we have the strongest chance to zero his capsule back in with best hope of his making contact with his other selves in the Tardis, even if in only a temporary advisory capacity...
later we could have seen a similar scene of the first Doctor working out additional calculations re the remaining energy from the matrix required in a focused energy 'push' for him to penetrate Omega's 'black hole' (again this would be explained by one senior Timelord to the more dubious Timelord elder while the first Doctor is seen on the large screen in front of them ) - then the first Doctor is seen putting his notebook away in his coat pocket just a short while later as they feed his vital data into the matrix (again NO extra dialogue for Hartnell required here, just his image shown up on the Timelords screen - this would be a scene in episode four after the scene closing episode three where they say they need to send him through as well...)
Given Hartnell was so unwell a 'stand in' elderly actor dressed up as the first Doctor could have done those extra onscreen scenes (the first Doctor having his head bowed looking into his pocket notebook etc)
- they covered for an injured and absent Tom Baker even more for certain scenes later in 'The Sontaran Experiment'...and who noticed that at the time ?
also by including his end of episode one appearance again at the start of episode two, likewise episode two to episode three...and that at the start of episode four his brief cameos each being 'repeated' would again 'feature' his involvement more without any extra lines for Hartnell to have to do
plus when he appeared on the Tardis scanner they could (after he 'emerges' onscreen) have cut to a FULL picture of him - thus getting rid of that screen glare !
small points I know - and hindsight is so easy - but it would have 'featured' the first Doctor more often WITHOUT causing any more strain on William Hartnell re lines etc - as some bits of that story were so obviously dreadfully 'padded out' (Sgt Benton talking to a blobby thing, Dr.Tyler running up and down corridors, a few other silly scenes etc) due to the late 're-write' to reduce the first Doctor's role when it became clear how unwell poor William Hartnell actually was by that point...
- while a bit more usage of the first Doctor seen onscreen at the Timelords complex (with explanation dialogue between one elder Timelord to another) and reruns of his cameo appearances each episode would have boosted the the entire story it a bit more I think and appeared to include the original Doctor in the storyline rather more, his seemingly playing a more pro-active role in the adventure BUT without any further pressure on the unwell actor...
maybe they could at least 're-edit' the story a little in order to open episode 2, 3, and 4 by repeating the First Doctor scenes from the preceeding episode to slightly increase his presence in the story in any future 'anniversary' special Edition DVD / Blu Ray release etc...? (we do see a nasty chap coming at Jon Pertwee and attack him twice as it is...!)
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Post by George D on Apr 28, 2016 19:07:04 GMT
Things here might best be asked to Terrence dicks, but I will share what I think might be the case.
I think if the original footage was existing we would have seen it.
Regarding more Hartnell footage, I would have liked that also. They said what he could do was very limited so I don't know how much more they could have done.
I also agree it would have been nice if they edited in the footage. Another question for Terrence if possible to ask.
It could be because it would have hid better his deteriorated state.
It's a great question though
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Post by Richard Bignell on May 1, 2016 18:09:35 GMT
I have tried to find out for some time if William Hartnell's superb, if sad, contribution to the classic 'Three Doctors' survives in the archives. I understand that his footage was recorded on film at Ealing, but on screen it is shown as output on the TARDIS monitor with lots of glare. It would be great to see it in its original format with any out takes too. Aside from the Doctor's fight with the Omega mind creature, none of the filmed footage for The Three Doctors exists. It looks like it was still in existence in late 1976, but between then and 1981, it had been disposed of. |
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Post by andrewfrostick on May 1, 2016 18:30:50 GMT
I have tried to find out for some time if William Hartnell's superb, if sad, contribution to the classic 'Three Doctors' survives in the archives. I understand that his footage was recorded on film at Ealing, but on screen it is shown as output on the TARDIS monitor with lots of glare. It would be great to see it in its original format with any out takes too. Aside from the Doctor's fight with the Omega mind creature, none of the filmed footage for The Three Doctors exists. It looks like it was still in existence in late 1976, but between then and 1981, it had been disposed of. As I had feared, such a pity. Thanks for the information and suggestions for a greater presence in the original. |
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Post by Richard Bignell on May 1, 2016 19:15:55 GMT
Actually, it's just occurred to me that the footage from The Three Doctors doesn't exist at all. It's the Doctor/Grun fight from The Curse of Peladon that exists!
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