Unedited Episode 6 of The Invasion? (eBay)

[StevePhillips]

StevenS said:

Hey Richard --

Is the purported missing footage supposed to be in the scene where Watkins brings Vaughn the emotion control box and then tries to shoot him? Or is it somewhere else ? Let me know exactly where it's supposed to be and I'll pull it out and take a look...

Yes. Vaughn turns the control box on the Professor and the Professor writhes in agony (clutching his head, I think) as the crescendo on the soundtrack rises in pitch. In the middle of this there is an obvious film splice (jumps and soundtrack jumps a bit later) on a single shot of the prof. Looks like a "censor" splice to me to tone down the content of the scene.

HAVING SAID THAT, this is from the BBC video release of the serial and there is nothing to say that the BBC don't hold other prints of that episode that are complete. The one used for this video though has a definite film (not VT) cut.

I can get the exact location (timing) of the cut if anybody really can't find it.

Steve

[Steven Sigel]

I don't recall seeing anything that looked like a jump when I watched either the film or the BBC videotape... If I can find some time, I'll pull out the 16mm print and see if there's a splice printed into the film or not...

[StevePhillips]

StevenS said:

I don't recall seeing anything that looked like a jump when I watched either the film or the BBC videotape... If I can find some time, I'll pull out the 16mm print and see if there's a splice printed into the film or not...

Just had a fresh look at it. The funny cut is 8min 11sec in. There's the funny cut from Watkins clutching his head to Gregory (bespectacled bloke in white coat) trying the wrestle the machine from Vaughn and getting pushed to the floor. (This is followed by a two shot of Watkins and Gregory on the floor, though we never saw Watkins collapse.)

On looking at it again, there is a frame (two fields of video combined on the FR) at the cut point where the verticals of the outgoing shot (on one field) are distorted, but the incoming field of the new shot is fine. Seems to indicate a timebase wobble on a physical VT splice. Hence a cut prior to film recording, and thus *presumably* transmitted that way. Though there's nothing to say that a cut wasn't made to the VT after UK tx.

There's also a similar strange edit on one of the scenes with the Cyberman in the sewer. My guess is that the prod team cut the thing once it was ready for tx on the VT, presumably in response to some internal criticism in the BBC about the level of violence or something.

Steve
dwclips.steve-p.org

[Ben]

steve said:

Steve
dwclips.steve-p.org

O/T: Steve, just wanted to say that I love your Doctor Who Clips List site! I've been visiting it for reference for years now and have found it very useful.

On-topic: Do any off-air soundtrack recordings exist for The Invasion and, if so, would it not be possible to compare the overall duration of the episodes or would it be impossible to tell (as I'm assuming the scene is only a few seconds at the most)?

[Ben]

^ I meant does an off-air soundtrack recording exist for The Invasion 6? I know there has been a soundtrack release, but the soundtrack could have been lifted from the film.

[Steven Sigel]

Here's the scoop: in the entire scene in vaughn's office there is one splice in the film - it occurs as follows (dialog is aproximate)

Wakins: It works perfectly Well
<Splice>
Vaugh: For your purposes perhaps, Professor.

I suspect there's no more than a frame or two missing here at most.

There are no splices anywhere else in the sequence that I could see...

So if there really are any edits to this sequence, they would have had to be done before the T/R was made...

[Steve Roberts]

steve said:

On looking at it again, there is a frame (two fields of video combined on the FR) at the cut point where the verticals of the outgoing shot (on one field) are distorted, but the incoming field of the new shot is fine. Seems to indicate a timebase wobble on a physical VT splice. Hence a cut prior to film recording, and thus *presumably* transmitted that way. Though there's nothing to say that a cut wasn't made to the VT after UK tx.

I have seen episodes ('Tomb of the Cybermen', for example) where there's been a section of the FR taken out because of an off-lock during recording - it's possible that is what has happened here.

Steve

[StevePhillips]

Guest-Steve said:

I have seen episodes ('Tomb of the Cybermen', for example) where there's been a section of the FR taken out because of an off-lock during recording - it's possible that is what has happened here.

Steve

But there's a film frame with a combination of two different fields - a change in the action - at the point where the cut is. Couldn't happen with a cut to the film after the film-recording of it. Ne pas?

S.

[StevePhillips]

Guest-Ben said:

O/T: Steve, just wanted to say that I love your Doctor Who Clips List site! I've been visiting it for reference for years now and have found it very useful.

On-topic: Do any off-air soundtrack recordings exist for The Invasion and, if so, would it not be possible to compare the overall duration of the episodes or would it be impossible to tell (as I'm assuming the scene is only a few seconds at the most)?

Richard Bignell (I think) is looking for one to check what was actually tx'd. It's not as trivial as it seems as tape recorders rarely run exactly at the right speed, so you have to spend time syncing the thing before you can even begin to check. Been there, done that, with some "Upstairs Downstairs" as well as Who.

Glad you liked the site - I thought someone somewhere needed to document these things all together in one place.

Steve

[StevePhillips]

StevenS said:

There are no splices anywhere else in the sequence that I could see...

So if there really are any edits to this sequence, they would have had to be done before the T/R was made...

Agreed (see my post). I think that closes the book on this one till one of the Restoration Team looks into things, presumably when it gets to DVD.

S.