Tucker’s Horizon

Mike Tucker is ace. He has shown himself to be immensely talented with his work on previous Dr. Who and Red Dwarf series, and I think he?s certainly one of the best in the business. His fan base is far reaching and a couple of weeks ago one of his biggest fans (in mass as well as enthusiasm), spotted some fine Tucker work on the BBC. That?s me, by the way.

At this years Red Dwarf convention, Dimension Jump, Mike showed the gathered fans a video compendium of his work to date. A large chunk was devoted to his early Dr. Who and Red Dwarf work but we were also treated to some amazing shots he’d recently done for a BBC documentary. The shots were brilliant (I was going to have some screen grabs from the show but I can?t get it working!) and these were eventually used on ?Horizon: Hunt for the Supertwister?. A shit program though, which was a shame.

Mike used miniature models to simulate the sudden destruction caused by a tornado on those American houses made of WOOD. The effect was just wonderful, though, and living proof that model work still has its place in modern VisFX. CGI can bugger off, to be honest. Anyway, I?ll try and get some stills and/or video footage as soon as I can remember how to work a computer again.

So, what lies ahead on Tucker’s Horizon? Why, the new series of Dr. Who, of course. And do you know what? I can’t bloody wait. Mike Tucker has a long standing connection with the show; from working on VisFX early in his career, to co-writing some very good official novels, so his team?s appointment for the VisFX seems logical. No doubt one of the Dwarf sites will have an in-depth look at work he’s done for the new series once it’s been aired. And who knows, maybe in the future he’ll be providing some CG and model VisFX for Red Dwarf: Series IX…

EDIT (23/11/2004):
A zipped WMV file – Includes most of Tucker’s clips. (2.37MB)

Screen Grabs:
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