Returning the Colour to 1970's Doctor Who (Remastered)
Summary
TLDRThe script recounts the history of colorizing Doctor Who episodes from the Pertwee era, which were initially broadcast in black and white due to tape wiping practices. It details the efforts of the BBC and the Doctor Who Restoration Team from 1978 onwards, using various techniques like re-colorizing, reverse standards conversion, and chroma dot recovery to restore episodes to their original color glory. The process involved sourcing Betamax tapes, using vision mixers, and digital technology, culminating in the release of restored episodes on DVD and Blu-ray.
Takeaways
- πΊ The BBC began searching for lost Doctor Who episodes in 1978, with the aim of restoring them to their original color format.
- π₯ Initial discoveries included black and white 16mm film recordings, but the original two-inch quad master tapes were more difficult to locate.
- π In 1992, the Doctor Who Restoration Team started re-colorizing episodes using a technique that combined black and white film with color from Betamax copies.
- πΊπΈ Betamax color copies primarily came from America and Canada, where Pertwee episodes were sold in color, unlike most countries broadcasting in black and white at the time.
- π The restoration process involved synchronizing black and white film with U-MATIC tape transfers to create a broadcast-quality color version.
- π The technique used involved separating the luminance (black and white) and chroma (color) components of the image to create a detailed color version.
- π« Broadcast interference sometimes made colorization challenging, limiting the use of certain techniques to specific episodes.
- π Reverse Standards Conversion (RSC) was developed to restore color to episodes converted from PAL to NTSC, avoiding artifacts from direct conversion.
- π¨ Manual colorization was used for specific episodes where other techniques were not feasible, involving a labor-intensive process of applying color to each frame.
- π» With the advent of digital technology, restoration projects started afresh using high-quality film scans and digital restoration techniques for better results.
- π The release of Doctor Who on Blu-ray continues the restoration journey, indicating that the quest for preserving and enhancing these classic episodes is ongoing.
Q & A
What period of Doctor Who episodes were wiped between 1972 and 1976?
-Many color episodes of Doctor Who were wiped between December 1972 and November 1976.
When did the BBC start searching for the exterminated Doctor Who material?
-The BBC began the hunt for exterminated material in 1978.
What was the initial discovery that helped in the restoration of Doctor Who episodes?
-The initial discovery was a black and white, 16mm film haul of all episode four seasons 7 to 10 original two-inch quad master tapes.
What was the main challenge in restoring the original color of the episodes?
-The main challenge was finding the original two-inch quad master tapes, which were much harder to locate.
Which Doctor Who episodes were initially restored using the Betamax color copies from America or Canada?
-The episodes that were initially restored using the Betamax color copies include the finale of season eight, Jonβs second season, 'The Daemons' and 'Terror of the Autons'.
What technique was used for the first time to re-colorize Doctor Who episodes?
-The first technique used for re-colorizing was overlaying the chroma from the Betamax recording onto the black and white film print.
What is Reverse Standards Conversion (RSC) and which episodes were restored using this process?
-Reverse Standards Conversion (RSC) is a process that reverses the original standards conversion process to avoid artifacts. It was used for episodes such as 'Inferno Parts 1-7', 'The Claws of Axos Parts 2-3', and others mentioned in the script.
What was the issue with episode five of 'The Ambassadors of Death' during the colorization process?
-Due to broadcast interference which created rainbow banding on the image, episode five was the only episode able to be colorized using the initial technique.
How were the color tapes improved for the special edition releases of certain episodes?
-The color tapes were improved by taking the chroma from the reverse standards convert tapes and pairing it with the black and white 16mm film recordings, making the tapes much sharper.
What was unique about the colorization process for 'The Mind of Evil' episode one?
-Episode one of 'The Mind of Evil' was unique because a filter was applied to stop a cross-hatching pattern, known as Chroma Dots, from appearing, making it the only episode filmed with this filter.
What manual process was used for the colorization of 'The Mind of Evil' episode one?
-Manual colorization was used for 'The Mind of Evil' episode one, which involved Stuart Humphreys colorizing the main keyframes and Peter Crocker colorizing the in-betweens, taking nearly two years to complete.
How was the color restored to 'The Time Monster' episode six, which was initially thought to undergo Reverse Standard Conversion?
-The color was restored to 'The Time Monster' episode six by applying the chroma from the Canadian Betamax tapes and using the black and white two-inch PAL quad tape instead of a 16mm film recording, resulting in a cleaner luminance channel.
Outlines
π¨ Doctor Who Restoration: The Quest for Colour Episodes
This paragraph outlines the BBC's efforts to restore colour to Doctor Who episodes from 1972 to 1976 that were initially broadcast in black and white or lost. The process began in 1978 and involved various techniques such as re-colourisation using Betamax tapes from America and Canada, where Pertwee episodes were sold in colour. The Doctor Who Restoration Team started in 1992, utilizing a vision mixer to overlay chroma from U-MATIC tapes onto black and white film prints. This method was applied to episodes like 'The Daemons' and 'Terror of the Autons'. The advent of digital technology allowed for high-quality film scans and restoration techniques, resulting in complete colour restoration for some episodes, while others like 'The Ambassadors of Death' required further discussion.
π Advanced Restoration Techniques for Doctor Who
The second paragraph delves into more sophisticated restoration techniques used for Doctor Who episodes. It discusses the use of Reverse Standards Conversion (RSC) for episodes received from Canadian television stations, which involved a meticulous process to reverse the original standards conversion process and avoid artefacts. The paragraph also mentions the combination of chroma from reverse standards convert tapes with black and white 16mm film recordings to enhance image sharpness. The development of a new technique to extract colour from black and white film recordings by recognizing different chroma dot patterns is highlighted, along with manual colourisation efforts for specific episodes. The paragraph concludes with the mention of the ongoing restoration work with the release of Doctor Who on Blu-ray.
Mindmap
Keywords
π‘Doctor Who
π‘Wiped
π‘Home media
π‘Exterminated material
π‘PAL Colour
π‘Re-Colourising
π‘Betamax
π‘Luminance and Chroma
π‘Reverse Standards Conversion (RSC)
π‘Manual Colourisation
π‘Chroma Dots
Highlights
Between 1972 and 1976, many color episodes of Doctor Who were wiped.
BBC began searching for exterminated Doctor Who material in 1978.
Hartnell and Troughton material was in poor condition, and much of Jon Pertwee's was also hit.
Initial discovery included black and white 16mm film of all episode 4 seasons 7 to 10.
Original 2-inch quad master tapes were harder to find.
Last Pertwee episode found in 1983, attention turned to restoring footage to PAL color.
Doctor Who Restoration Team began re-colorizing in 1992 using surviving black and white film and Betamax color copies.
Betamax color copies came from America or Canada, where Pertwee episodes were sold in color.
Chroma from Betamax was overlaid onto black and white film to create broadcast quality color version of The Daemons.
Same process used for Terror of the Autons, The Silurians and Episode 5 of The Ambassadors of Death.
Due to broadcast interference, only Episode 5 could be colorized using this technique.
With DVD and digital tech, projects were restarted using high quality film scans and restoration techniques.
The Daemons and Terror of the Autons were fully restored in color.
In 1979, Sue Malden received NTSC tapes from Canada, enabling reverse standards conversion.
Reverse Standards Conversion (RSC) used for several Pertwee episodes.
For special editions, chroma from RSC tapes combined with black and white film for sharper image.
Manual colorization commissioned for Planet of the Daleks Episode 3, alongside new technique to restore color from black and white film.
Chroma Dots technique used to bring back color by recognizing patterns in black and white film.
Manual colorization by Stuart Humphreys and Peter Crocker took 2 years for The Mind of Evil Episode 1.
Black and white PAL quad tape of Time Monster Episode 6 found in 1987, enabling cleaner restoration.
With Mind of Evil DVD release, last Pertwee episode requiring re-colorization was released.
Restoration continues with Doctor Who on Blu-ray.
Transcripts
Between December 1972 and November
1976, many colour episodes of Doctor Who were being wiped.
When it came time to release these fabled stories on home
media, the film and videotape library at the BBC began the hunt
for exterminated material in 1978.
They determined that although Hartnell and Troughton material was in
poor condition, much of Jon Pertwee zero had been hit as well.
An initial discovery heralded a black and white,
16mm film haul of all episode four seasons 7 to 10 original
two inch quad master tapes, however, were much harder to find.
In 1983, when the last Pertwee episode was found.
Attention then turned to the possibility of returning the footage
to the original condition, namely PAL Colour.
In 1992, the Doctor Who Restoration Team began work on Re-Colourising,
the finale of season eight, Jonβs Second season
the demons is the basics of this first technique was using the surviving
black and white film recording on the Betamax low quality
colour copy and placing the colour on top of the black and white film.
The Betamax colour copies came from America or Canada,
as that was the main place where Pertwee episodes
were sold in colour, as most countries during the early seventies
still only broadcast in black and white.
With careful, perfectly timed communication to various American fans,
the episodes could be recorded in no quality but
full colour and easily transferable to U-MATIC tape.
In a component video signal, there are two parts of the image:
the luminance,
which shows the light
and dark of the image, which is in black and white,
and the chroma, which is the low quality colour of the image.
These two parts combined make a full colour and detailed image.
Using this fact, the black and white film recording was played back simultaneously
with the U-MATIC tape transfer of the American Betamax recording.
Using a vision mixer, the Chroma of the Betamax
recording was over right onto the black and white film print creating
and at the time broadcast quality colour version of The Daemons
broadcast for the first time in the UK since Christmas 1971.
This same process was done for Terror of the Autons,
The Silurians and Episode five of The Ambassadors of Death.
Due to broadcast interference, which created
rainbow banding on the broadcast image, Episode five
was the only episode able to be colourised using this technique.
By the time the DVD range came around and digital technology replaced analogue,
these three projects were essentially started from scratch using high quality
film scans and digital restoration techniques to restore
the film and video tapes to the best they could look.
The Daemons and Terror of the Autons were complete in colour.
But what about The Ambassadors Of Death?
Well, we'll talk about that later.
In 1979, Sue Malden received a shipment from Canadian television stations
containing standard converted NTSC,
two inch quad tapes of various Pertwee episodes.
In a bit to avoid artefacts creeping in by simply standards
converting these back to PAL, The Restoration Team managed to perfect
a conversion process that reversed the original standards conversion process.
This is known as Reverse Standards Conversion or RSC.
This process was used for Inferno Parts 1-7, The Claws of Axos Parts 2-3,
Colony In Space Parts 1-6, The Curse Of Peladon Parts 1-4, The Sea
Devils Parts 1-3, The Mutants Parts 1 and 2 and The Time Monster Parts 1-5.
For the special edition release of Inferno and The Claws of Axos,
and also the release of Colony In Space on the Season 8 collection boxset,
a technique that used elements from the prior techniques wass used:
taking the chroma from the reverse standards convert tapes
and using the black and white 16mm film recordings.
The colour tapes could be paired with a black white film
making the slightly fuzzy tapes much sharper.
When it came time to release Planet of the Daleks on DVD.
A manual Colourisation was commissioned for episode three.
But at the time, a new, quite frankly, magical technique to bring back
colour from the black and white film recordings was being developed.
When these film recordings were taken,
it was done using a black and white film camera, filming a colour screen.
For the recording of The Mind of Evil.
Episode One, a filter was applied to stop a
cross-hatching pattern, appearing from the chroma signal.
This pattern became known as the Chroma Dots.
This was the only episode of Doctor Who to be filmed with this filter.
Each colour would have a different pattern,
so programming a computer programme to recognise the different patterns
and apply the colour to the image would be a logical option.
Through a lot of trial and error
and manual intervention, the colour could be brought back.
Combining this with the manual colourisation specifically
the skin tones, the resultant episode is a brilliant result.
The other episodes, using this technique were the Ambassadors of Death Episode two,
three, four, six and seven, The Mind of Evil Episodes
2 to 6 and Episode One of The Invasion of the Dinosaurs.
Episode One of Invasion of the Dinosaurs lacked the blue chroma dots,
so the episodeβs colourisation was not as good as others.
So that's why it's listed as a special feature.
So back to part one of The Mind of Evil now.
The only option for this episode was Manual Colourisation.
This was done by Stuart Humphreys and Peter Crocker.
This took nearly two years from Colourising the first frame to the last.
Stuart Colourised the main keyframes and Peter Colourised the in-betweens.
Initially, all six episodes of The Time Monster were going to be Reverse
Standard Converted like most episodes of Season 9.
But in 1987, a black and white, two inch PAL quad
tape of episode six was found at the BBC.
This allowed the restoration team a new avenue of restoring colour
to an episode by applying the chroma from the Canadian Betamax tapes
and using the black and white two inch quad tape instead of a 16mm film
recording, a much cleaner luminance channel was obtained.
This episode is almost indistinguishable from the original 2-inch mastertape.
With the
release of The
Mind of Evil on DVD, the last episode of Jon Pertweeβs Doctor
Who tenure to require Re-Colourisation was released.
But now, with the release of Doctor Who on Blu-ray, the restoration
adventure still continues.
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