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Post by Eryx on Jul 3, 2006 18:51:25 GMT -5
Anyway would Mars even class as an alien planet? Its not Earth, so yes.
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Post by Dominic Smith on Jul 4, 2006 0:51:16 GMT -5
I've just heard that on the commentary for 'Army of Ghosts' available for download from the BBC website and Russell T Davies makes an interesting comment regarding that little CGI shot of the Doctor and Rose standing on the alien planet in the pre-credits sequence:
"Of course, you know what'll happen now - people will say "why can't you do a whole episode on a planet like that?". Well, there's your answer - because every scene costs a fortune."
Thought that might be relevant to the discussion.
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Post by Ice Warrior on Jul 4, 2006 6:19:47 GMT -5
I've just heard that on the commentary for 'Army of Ghosts' available for download from the BBC website and Russell T Davies makes an interesting comment regarding that little CGI shot of the Doctor and Rose standing on the alien planet in the pre-credits sequence: "Of course, you know what'll happen now - people will say "why can't you do a whole episode on a planet like that?". Well, there's your answer - because every scene costs a fortune."Thought that might be relevant to the discussion. I don't think it is relevent. However that may be due to my lack of knowledge on how expensive things could be. I do not think it is relevent, because the actors do not neccisarily have to be surrounded by 100% blue screen. A believable set is possible IMO, Though I realise this concept may make the Doctor claustrophobic as he was in the original series. And it is important to present an open expanse in this day and age me thinks.
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Post by Eryx on Jul 4, 2006 7:09:33 GMT -5
I've just heard that on the commentary for 'Army of Ghosts' available for download from the BBC website and Russell T Davies makes an interesting comment regarding that little CGI shot of the Doctor and Rose standing on the alien planet in the pre-credits sequence: "Of course, you know what'll happen now - people will say "why can't you do a whole episode on a planet like that?". Well, there's your answer - because every scene costs a fortune."Thought that might be relevant to the discussion. Thats an excuse. The BBC did it in the past with cardboard, and welsh quarries. We don't need "alien" alien worlds, just not Earth-based stories.
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Post by Dominic Smith on Jul 4, 2006 8:39:15 GMT -5
I've just heard that on the commentary for 'Army of Ghosts' available for download from the BBC website and Russell T Davies makes an interesting comment regarding that little CGI shot of the Doctor and Rose standing on the alien planet in the pre-credits sequence: "Of course, you know what'll happen now - people will say "why can't you do a whole episode on a planet like that?". Well, there's your answer - because every scene costs a fortune."Thought that might be relevant to the discussion. I don't think it is relevent. However that may be due to my lack of knowledge on how expensive things could be. I do not think it is relevent, because the actors do not neccisarily have to be surrounded by 100% blue screen. A believable set is possible IMO, Though I realise this concept may make the Doctor claustrophobic as he was in the original series. And it is important to present an open expanse in this day and age me thinks. It might be that the production team don't want to build sets, because as you say they would be rather claustrophobic due to limitation of space in which to build them. The way I see alien planets being done in the series is to have the action set indoors and just cut to a CGI shot of the outside on occasion (as was done with 'The Impossible Planet' / 'The Satan Pit'.) It might be that a bit of the action will take place outside but on location with CGI added to make it look a bit more alien. The point I was trying to make in my original post with the quote from RTD was that it was a relevant reason why entire CGI sets would not be used. Alien planets may well be visited in the form of half-CGI compositions or indeed entire sets but not as whole green-screen environments.
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Post by Dominic Smith on Jul 4, 2006 8:47:04 GMT -5
We don't need "alien" alien worlds, just not Earth-based stories. Ah you say that but than all we'll get is stories set on Earth space stations, like in 'The End of the World' and 'The Long Game' It would be good to have a few stories on alien spaceships (a la the scenes on the ship in 'Terror of the Zygons' or 'The Christmas Invasion'), at least it would be different. I see where you're coming from though, it would be a lot less expensive to perhaps shoot in a slightly un-earthly looking location (and there are plenty around the UK) then add in a few 'alien' oddities via CGI or a set construction on location.
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Post by The Thinker on Jul 5, 2006 12:43:39 GMT -5
Reading what's above, the words 'Lack of funds' or 'Insufficient Budget' are no excuse for so few alien worlds. Back in the 1960's they did it with only £1.20 some cardboard and some sticky tape! (Boy! The irony is so thick you could cut it with a knife!)
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Post by Dominic Smith on Jul 5, 2006 13:09:30 GMT -5
Reading what's above, the words 'Lack of funds' or 'Insufficient Budget' are no excuse for so few alien worlds. Back in the 1960's they did it with only £1.20 some cardboard and some sticky tape! (Boy! The irony is so thick you could cut it with a knife!) I doubt it's so much that alien planets 'can't be done', more that they can be done but with a questionable degree of quality. That's what could be bothering the production team, they might worry that one attempt could look very unconvincing and be condemned by fans and critics alike. Yes the original series could do it but you have to remember the production values back then and the high expectation laid down to any sci-fi series around today. The budget might not be as high as you think; the CGI used even in the simplest Earth-based stories can be very expensive and then you've got to allow time to make these CGI effects. The Mill, who are in charge of the CGI aspect of the series, work flat out already on the show even with very few alien worlds, imagine how hard it must be for them if they had a whole series of episodes containing different alien worlds with completely different landscapes to model and create; it would take them ages.
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chuck
UNIT Member
Posts: 89
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Post by chuck on Jul 8, 2006 20:48:24 GMT -5
Rose: Uh, it's alien, and uh, it's a planet, thus it's an alien planet.
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Post by Eryx on Jul 8, 2006 21:03:59 GMT -5
It doesn't have to be an alien planet, just not Earth. Lets have stories set on a space station, starship, submersible on another world, or alien city. We don't need a lot of CGI to show its an alien environment.
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Post by amitchell on Jul 10, 2006 15:10:47 GMT -5
I've just heard that on the commentary for 'Army of Ghosts' available for download from the BBC website and Russell T Davies makes an interesting comment regarding that little CGI shot of the Doctor and Rose standing on the alien planet in the pre-credits sequence: "Of course, you know what'll happen now - people will say "why can't you do a whole episode on a planet like that?". Well, there's your answer - because every scene costs a fortune."Thought that might be relevant to the discussion. I think the reason is probably more due to RTD's lack of imagination. IMO, some of the non-Earth stories are the best e.g. the Gallifrey stories.
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Post by The Thinker on Jul 11, 2006 10:02:12 GMT -5
Speakng of an entire series of Doctor Who stories set on alien planets, they nearly did that with Season 16. Then along came 'The Stones of Blood'. Even Season 23 couldn't escape Earth: 'The Mysterious Planet' suddenly comes to mind.
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chapel
UNIT Member
^New Av coming as soon as myfilestash.com is sorted^
Posts: 88
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Post by chapel on Jul 11, 2006 13:31:43 GMT -5
We`re not asking for that planet they showed in the Army of Ghosts. We don`t want pink sky, red oceans and blue swirlie nebulas in the sky. I`d just like to see the Doctor away from Earth and humanity. I mean I remember from William Shatners autobiography, Gene Rottoncorpse`s pitch about star trek was that M class planets being similar , therefore requiring less of a budget. Has something changed?
We`re not asking for wildly exotic. Just a bit of creation and imagination
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Post by The Thinker on Jul 11, 2006 15:21:17 GMT -5
Would the planet seen on 'New Earth' count? Okay it's full of humans and is called what it says in the title, but it's not THIS Earth we're currently sitting on.
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Post by Eryx on Jul 12, 2006 5:40:16 GMT -5
Would the planet seen on 'New Earth' count? Okay it's full of humans and is called what it says in the title, but it's not THIS Earth we're currently sitting on. Yes, its not Earth and not contemporary.
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