Can ALL Dr.Who now be colourised?

[andyparting]

Friends,

take a look at these colourised Dr.Who clips from I'mFairlySureThat'sChroma on YouTube, first up there are a number of clips for B&W episodes for which (obviously) no colour information exists, and yet these have been colourised to look as good being shot in colour in the first place.

For example, here's a clip from The Invasion -

www.youtube.com/watch?v=GVhQBmDgER4

Dalek Invasion of Earth trailer - 

www.youtube.com/watch?v=DLZ8ft717Y4

Next up, The Invasion of the Dinosaurs -

www.youtube.com/watch?v=fpjpcqgWohQ

The Ambassadors of Death -

www.youtube.com/watch?v=eUPjXmZwLXk

And for a complete list of the colourised clips -

www.youtube.com/@thatschroma/videos


There's loads on there. If you add up the running time of all these clips, the guy could have practically colourised an entire episode of Dr.Who?

So what's this about? Are we living in times where Dr.Who can now be colourised without any colour information, or is this process the guy's used incredibly time consuming? I can't find any 'Making of trailer' to see how the person (wizard?) has done it. But it all looks amazing.

   


  

[Angel Amezquita (Angelgreat)]

Apr 25, 2023 18:00:31 GMT andyparting said:

Friends,

take a look at these colourised Dr.Who clips from I'mFairlySureThat'sChroma on YouTube, first up there are a number of clips for B&W episodes for which (obviously) no colour information exists, and yet these have been colourised to look as good as if being shot in colour in the first place.

For example, here's a clip from The Invasion -

www.youtube.com/watch?v=GVhQBmDgER4

Dalek Invasion of Earth trailer - 

www.youtube.com/watch?v=DLZ8ft717Y4

Next up, The Invasion of the Dinosaurs -

www.youtube.com/watch?v=fpjpcqgWohQ

And The Ambassadors of Death -

www.youtube.com/watch?v=fpjpcqgWohQ


And a complete list of colourised clips.

www.youtube.com/@thatschroma/videos


There's loads on there. If you add up the running time of all these clips, the guy could have practically colourised an entire episode of Dr.Who?

So what's this about? Are we living in times where Dr.Who can now be colourised without any colour information, or is this process the guy's used incredibly time consuming? I can't find any 'Making of trailer' to see how the person (wizard?) has done it. But it all looks amazing.

   


  

Many people have colorized clips of Doctor Who. For example, I know Babelcolour made some compilation clips of Colorized 60s Doctor Who, though he has since privatize the clips.

Anyways, If the BBC wants to give the fans colorized 60's Doctor who, they can. However it does take time and money to colourize all the B&W Episodes.

[andyparting]

Apr 25, 2023 18:04:01 GMT Angel Amezquita (Angelgreat) said:

Apr 25, 2023 18:00:31 GMT andyparting said:

Friends,

take a look at these colourised Dr.Who clips from I'mFairlySureThat'sChroma on YouTube, first up there are a number of clips for B&W episodes for which (obviously) no colour information exists, and yet these have been colourised to look as good as if being shot in colour in the first place.

For example, here's a clip from The Invasion -

www.youtube.com/watch?v=GVhQBmDgER4

Dalek Invasion of Earth trailer - 

www.youtube.com/watch?v=DLZ8ft717Y4

Next up, The Invasion of the Dinosaurs -

www.youtube.com/watch?v=fpjpcqgWohQ

And The Ambassadors of Death -

www.youtube.com/watch?v=fpjpcqgWohQ


And a complete list of colourised clips.

www.youtube.com/@thatschroma/videos


There's loads on there. If you add up the running time of all these clips, the guy could have practically colourised an entire episode of Dr.Who?

So what's this about? Are we living in times where Dr.Who can now be colourised without any colour information, or is this process the guy's used incredibly time consuming? I can't find any 'Making of trailer' to see how the person (wizard?) has done it. But it all looks amazing.

   


  

Many people have colorized clips of Doctor Who. For example, I know Babelcolour made some compilation clips of Colorized 60s Doctor Who, though he has since privatize the clips.

Anyways, If the BBC wants to give the fans colorized 60's Doctor who, they can. However it does take time and money to colourize all the B&W Episodes.

With all due respect to the previous efforts of others, this work is a massive jump forward.

[barneyhall]

Apr 25, 2023 18:21:42 GMT andyparting said:

Apr 25, 2023 18:04:01 GMT Angel Amezquita (Angelgreat) said:

Many people have colorized clips of Doctor Who. For example, I know Babelcolour made some compilation clips of Colorized 60s Doctor Who, though he has since privatize the clips.

Anyways, If the BBC wants to give the fans colorized 60's Doctor who, they can. However it does take time and money to colourize all the B&W Episodes.

With all due respect to the previous efforts of others, this work is a massive jump forward.

and babel colours technique (although marvelous results) is very time consuming I remember him saying that he enjoyed restoring the prelude to terror of the zygons but doing the whole of ep1 mind of Evil was am exhausting task and he didn't think he'd take on a whole ep again. Have you looked in the comments for any discussion on the time or techniques? And if not it may be worth asking. I just looked under the Romans and the youtuber has replied to several comments asking about where he got his original footage from and if it's vidfired ext, so they are happy to discuss the work with interested parties.

[mattg]

Whilst I appreciate the BBC’s restoration of B/W episodes originally transmitted in colour to their true, latter state I really don’t understand why anyone would want Hartnell/Troughton-era ‘Who to be colourised tbh. As pseudo tech demos they certainly demonstrate what’s now possible thanks to technological advancements but their worth beyond that remains speculative. Indeed, though often impressive the mitigation of longstanding limitations/issues associated with the process is considerably less apparent. As such most artificially colourised footage still retains, to use the technical term, ‘a certain oddness’ about it with skin tones in particular being conspicuously off and rarely convincing.

Regardless, should the BBC jump on the proverbial bandwagon and decide to colourise all surviving B/W 60’s episodes for commercial release then this is one fan that’ll be keeping his (largely moth-filled) wallet firmly shut! To each their own though. 

[Deleted]

I’m of the mind that if they did release them in colour it would be kind of pointless but realistically I would buy them all probably haha.

I don’t feel any real need for colourised 60s Who. One of the reasons why 60s Who is probably my fav decade is because of how cool the Black and White is. It can really add to the “scary”. It also helps hide dodgy sets etc a lot better and it can create really cool lighting.

When I watch the animations I always choose Black/White because I think it looks better.

But like I said even just out of curiosity I would probably buy some.

[andyparting]

I agree, while I'm not a fan of colourising B&W Dr.Who, I'm thinking in terms of the colour episodes left to be tackled - Ambassadors, Invasion Dinosaurs - is it possible now, to go ahead and restore these without any colour recovery information? In the comments btw, the guy gives his answer as to how long 45 seconds takes to colourise: "Around 30 hours in this case (though that doesn't include preparing the b&w and grading steps). It can vary depending on the content of the video!"

[Richard Develyn]

I love all the colourised 60s Who.

[barneyhall]

I love the black and white 60's who. Although I would also say u really enjoyed those clips last night. If they released them I'd definitely watch them. But would also probably stick to B and W for my general viewing. Alot of the time it just has an atmosphere. Where I think it is most interesting to talk about colourisation of Troughton and Hartnell is in regards to accessibility to more modern audiences and fans.

[simonashby]

Apr 25, 2023 18:00:31 GMT andyparting said:

Friends,

So what's this about? Are we living in times where Dr.Who can now be colourised without any colour information, or is this process the guy's used incredibly time consuming?

Not sure what you mean? Colourisation without colour information has been possible for quite some time AND (not or)* it is incredibly time consuming.. It's just a matter of time and money - has been for the last 3+ decades.

*however automation has become quicker and more reliable and will only continue to improve. Paul V has stated on here that the recent Hancock's used the same basic process as the Mind of Evil 1, but required much less input due to improved automation.

I can't comment on the specific process used here, however.

[John Wall]

We’ve discussed this elsewhere, particularly wrt the HHHs and applicability to DW.

It’s first important to remember how the colour 60s ME animations came about. BBC America wanted something complete they could broadcast, previously we’d just had a few episodes animated in b&w for the DVD releases.

Is there sufficient market for colourised 60 DW? For a minimum of, say, four episodes I’m unsure.

As has been alluded to elsewhere I see the top priority for colourisation as IotD1. That would then be blended with the output from Colour Recovery to, hopefully, give a significantly better picture quality than we currently have - and thus facilitate the BluRay release of Season 11.

As for AoD, that’s not too bad but is worth investigating imho - after IotD1!

[andyparting]

Apr 26, 2023 20:36:14 GMT John Wall said:

We’ve discussed this elsewhere, particularly wrt the HHHs and applicability to DW.

It’s first important to remember how the colour 60s ME animations came about. BBC America wanted something complete they could broadcast, previously we’d just had a few episodes animated in b&w for the DVD releases.

Is there sufficient market for colourised 60 DW? For a minimum of, say, four episodes I’m unsure.

As has been alluded to elsewhere I see the top priority for colourisation as IotD1. That would then be blended with the output from Colour Recovery to, hopefully, give a significantly better picture quality than we currently have - and thus facilitate the BluRay release of Season 11.

As for AoD, that’s not too bad but is worth investigating imho - after IotD1!

Thanks for the feedback on here so far, all. 'Might' be some colourful times ahead?

John, you'll have to help me out with some of your coding refs here. I understand my HHHs, but does LotD1 refer to the auctioning of a batch of b&w episodes to the highest colourisation company bidder??

[John Wall]

Apr 26, 2023 21:12:27 GMT andyparting said:

Apr 26, 2023 20:36:14 GMT John Wall said:

We’ve discussed this elsewhere, particularly wrt the HHHs and applicability to DW.

It’s first important to remember how the colour 60s ME animations came about. BBC America wanted something complete they could broadcast, previously we’d just had a few episodes animated in b&w for the DVD releases.

Is there sufficient market for colourised 60 DW? For a minimum of, say, four episodes I’m unsure.

As has been alluded to elsewhere I see the top priority for colourisation as IotD1. That would then be blended with the output from Colour Recovery to, hopefully, give a significantly better picture quality than we currently have - and thus facilitate the BluRay release of Season 11.

As for AoD, that’s not too bad but is worth investigating imho - after IotD1!

Thanks for the feedback on here so far, all. 'Might' be some colourful times ahead?

John, you'll have to help me out with some of your coding refs here. I understand my HHHs, but does LotD1 refer to the auctioning of a batch of b&w episodes to the highest colourisation company bidder??

It’s not LotD1 but IotD1 👍

[jcoleman]

Apr 26, 2023 11:50:46 GMT andyparting said:

I agree, while I'm not a fan of colourising B&W Dr.Who, I'm thinking in terms of the colour episodes left to be tackled - Ambassadors, Invasion Dinosaurs - is it possible now, to go ahead and restore these without any colour recovery information? In the comments btw, the guy gives his answer as to how long 45 seconds takes to colourise: "Around 30 hours in this case (though that doesn't include preparing the b&w and grading steps). It can vary depending on the content of the video!"

So at that rate altogether you're looking at the equivalent of a working week per 45 seconds of footage. Bearing in mind there are easier ways to restore beginning and end credits and cliffhangers/reprises (which correct me if I'm wrong had ceased being reshot by the 70s) that would equate to around 6 months to complete an entire episode. That's quite some investment!

As others have said, automation is the key and that is improving all the time. With the print of episode 1 of Invasion of the Dinosaurs including the red and green chroma dots one can't help but wonder if in the not too distant future AI will be able to fill in the missing blue information.

[jamesvincent]

AI then hand fixing is the way. New colourisation tools are leaps and bounds ahead of where they were even 5 years ago. Yes all doctor who will be in colour this decade, if it will be official is another matter. I'd also like to see The Avengers early eps in colour too.