THE MILL TEST SHOT MAKES ME WET.

[Paul Muller]

Right, I don’t want to sound like the sort of person who spends all their free time locked in a darkened bedroom furiously masturbating to cutaway diagrams of star destroyers, but I’ve been pondering as to what to expect from the upcoming Red Dwarf revival episode/series/whatevs, and hoping that we might be treated to some more of the extremely lovely model work produced by the Mill that was seen on the Bodysnatcher DVD. I guess it’s a matter of budget and taste and whether or not anyone apart from me gives the faintest of shits, but I’d infinitely prefer it to updated CGI.

In case you’ve forgotten, it looks like this.

Discuss.

I SAID DISCUSS.

Topic

[Jonathan Capps]

One of the best DVD nuggets ever, there.

It wasn’t The Mill, though, was it?

[Arlene Rimmer BSc SSc]

That is indeed some fine looking model work. I suppose it’s possible to recreate that with CGI, but I expect that’s limited to the obsessive-compulsive type with umpteen millions in cash to spend on getting it just exactly right.

[Paul Muller]

I’m pretty sure it was The Mill, hence the logo, but I may be wrong.

[Danny Stephenson]

I?m pretty sure it was The Mill, hence the logo, but I may be wrong.

This looks like a job for ANDREW!!!!

*shoots a Red Dwarf logo into the clouds*

[Andrew]

> I?m pretty sure it was The Mill, hence the logo, but I may be wrong.

I think the fact that the logo’s on the damn footage really should have left my involvement unnecessary here…

[Jonathan Capps]

Hm. I didn’t know what The Mill’s logo looked and I didn’t realise they did physical effects.

So, yeah, you learn something new everyday.

[ChrisM]

Yeah, it’s a shame they didn’t use it in the remastered episodes. I understand the reasoning: they were running out of time, and the model was too large for the room so cameras couldn’t get the distance shots etc (and with the time limit they couldn’t just make smaller models) but it would have been nice if they had left it in the title sequence. They could obviously do that… cos they’d already filmed panning over the ship. (Although they’d need to add the star-field stuff, which was more difficult in those days, but doable.) Maybe they decided to stick with the CG version to keep it uniform with the in-show animation.

(At least thats my understanding of it, might have gotten my wires a bit crossed there.)

It would be nice if they could use some of it in the upcoming revival. That being said a uptodate CGI recreation would look far better than the CG of of that time.

I certainly hope we see some modern effects (be it CGI or modelwork or both) in the upcoming series anyway. It’s not the most important thing, but I’d love to see how Dwarf looks with the modern sparkles.

[Danny Stephenson]

Well seeing as I’ve only just realised it says Mill Film on it as opposed to ‘null film’ as I’ve always seen it, you can forgive my, and possibly other peoples questionabilities…

[Andrew]

> Hm. I didn?t know what The Mill?s logo looked and I didn?t realise they did physical effects.

Ah – take a look at it when you know it says ‘Mill Film’. Cos it’s the name, in letters…just VERY stylised.

[Danny Stephenson]

Cos it?s the name, in letters?just VERY stylised.

Aye, to the point where it just looks like a barcode…

[pfm]

I’d guess that 100% CG is on the cards. You can’t blame them really, and we shouldn’t complain for one second – models may exist but setting up a model shoot with film would be too expensive to be worth it, I would imagine. Within the budget of a movie probably.

CGI can certainly look great. Look at Who. OK, probably zero chance of the same CG budget of a Who episode, but it’s amazing what can be done on a shoestring these days. It would be brilliant if it were possible to hire The Mill to do the CG work. Failing that, any old twat with Maya.

[Ben Paddon]

I absolutely adore this model shot.

[Author]

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