Pete Tranter's Sister

[Pete Tranter’s Sister]

Pfft, DVD, Blu-ray, the only truly unique and limited collector’s edition worth a gander is the series X VHS collection winging its way into the hands of a dozen or so lucky punters who firstly give a shit about my conversion project and secondly still own a reliably working VCR.

It’s limited to a handful of copies because I will be fucking DAMNED if I’m going to sit for more than a few hours beside a clunky old tape duplicator in an industrial estate.

[Pete Tranter’s Sister]

How odd, I was researching that very effect today as I love the trails in 70’s Top Of The Pops and Fawlty Towers.

It’s easily duplicated but therein lies the dilemma when it comes to this project, namely how far the ‘re-analogue’ process can be taken before additional visual processing outweighs the main intents.

– Doubling the frame rate using motion interpolation software (25 progressive frames as seen in VII, BTE and X to 50 interlaced frames as seen in I – VI & VIII)

– Cropping the widescreen picture (16:9 ratio) to pre-Back To Earth (12:9)

– Editing new intro and outro sequences to better match the faster paced editing of the first eight series and bringing back the end credit flyover

– Completely retitling the episodes to introduce subtle chroma trails (jaggies) around the text graphics and using a combination of series I to VI font styles

– Colour grading the episodes to better match how it would look if assembled and edited on a professional betamax machine (or whatever equivalent was used for the first six series)

– Adding colour trails, VHS glitches, banding effects and other quirks of the analogue world to the episodes

– Creating VHS slipcases for the series, essentially Byte One and Byte Two and perhaps a double VHS slipcase for the posh sorts who prefer boxsets

– Pre-episode channel identifiers (Dave as it would be in 1990) with related voiceovers

– SFX editing in some scenes with not-so-subtle grubbing up of certain effects (Rimmer’s glitching)

[Pete Tranter’s Sister]

I still pine for a third series of Look Around You set around 1989 with particularly dodgy blue screen work, clunky CGI titles and a ‘yoof’ section produced by Janet Street Porter.

[Pete Tranter’s Sister]

And the strange thing was throughout the morning she kept referring to the Indians as niggers. “No no no” I said, “the niggers are the West Indians. These people are wogs”.

[Pete Tranter’s Sister]

For the record, you’re all smelly paki bastards and you should fuck off back to your own fucking country.

[Pete Tranter’s Sister]

The only visual elements of the new episodes that differ quite vividly from the first six series are primarily video resolution, screen ratio and frame rate. In terms of presentation, series VII and Back To Earth were really tuned in terms of lighting and set design to give a more immersive, cinematic feel in contrast to, for example, series VIII and X.

Modern television production is geared towards ensuring most shows don’t go out looking like they were taped in BBC Manchester Studios circa 1988 (for example, the first series of Red Dwarf) so audio and visual post-production is geared towards presenting a professional and ‘film-esque’ production.

I do love the visual style of series X but as I’ve said, this project is more of a fun diversion and alternative rather than a genuine attempt to replace and correct an entire series worth of shows.

Who am I kidding, it is a replacement…

[Pete Tranter’s Sister]

It’s one of the reasons I don’t visit the official forum, it’s full of overly sensitive twats.

Although, that’s the reason I visit this forum.

[Pete Tranter’s Sister]

I’d like to open up this thread to fellow boarders with suggestions about VHS slipcase designs, pre-episode identifiers, intro and credit sequence changes and any other tweaks that could be implemented.

[Pete Tranter’s Sister]

The stock series X episodes will be there in high definition widescreen if you prefer them, nobody is taking them away. I prefer a 4:3 ratio, standard definition, 50 frames per second ‘video’ look and Red Dwarf was suited perfectly for that as in my mind, a cinematic presentation detracts from the comedy.

Shooting in 4:3 was championed by Stanley Kubrick as it allowed the entire height and width of a film frame on a 35mm camera to be utilised and furthermore, he ensured that a widescreen presentation of the film was possible by keeping the action within an open matte and opening up the matte (top and bottom of the frame) for optional fullscreen presentations which showed off more of the scene that were previously hidden in widescreen

This is much more than a simple frame speed bump and widescreen cropping. This involves new intro and credit sequences, VHS covers, pre-episode channel identifiers, the whole works and is a labour of love and a very quirky project, almost like a fan translation of a Japanese video game or a fan recut of a movie.

This is Series X – 1990(ish).

[Pete Tranter’s Sister]

Pete, I was referring to the different political climate and tolerance of such jokes even twenty years ago.

You knew that…

[Pete Tranter’s Sister]

If the Taiwan Tony joke had appeared in the original six series run, no-one would’ve batted an eyelid to it as it was simply one element of the vast range of joke themes and tropes that scriptwriters employed at the time.

I loved the whispers sub-plot.

[Pete Tranter’s Sister]

I agree with Adam’s comment about the audio and visual presentation in post-2005 Doctor Who being a positive. Let’s be fair, the older Who serials really had to make use of what was around them, mostly uninspiring, overcast location shoots around England and of course, harshly lit studio sets adorned with plastic and chipboard tat to make it all futurey-wuturey.

So does Red Dwarf but let me finish…

Doctor Who is primarily (at least now) an action-adventure series whereas Red Dwarf will forever be a sitcom that just happens to be set in outer space. A more cinematic presentation suits Doctor Who and allows the viewer to engage in the unfolding storyline and characters without being continually reminded and distanced from the world presented because of the rubbishy sets that were so prevelant through its original twenty-six year run.

Red Dwarf however, suits a traditional non-widescreen and video captured presentation because it doesn’t prioritise the action and adventure over the comedy. Its main goal is to make the viewer laugh. In the Bodysnatchers documentary ‘Remastering Red Dwarf’, Doug Naylor comments that a cinematic presentation adds a gloss and barrier to the comedy that sits inbetween the show and the viewer. I seem to pick up on that divide when watching series VII, Back To Earth and the new episodes and my suggestions for essentially reformatting series X so it sits alongside the first six series visually are a way to re-engage that priority of comedy over the visuals, action and adventure.

Ironically, after this little jaunt to ‘Eighties’ up the new episodes, I’m going to be embarking on a project to remaster the first six series.

[Pete Tranter’s Sister]

I adored the Chinese whispers!

[Pete Tranter’s Sister]

All this to make a professionally produced and visually beautiful show look a bit pish and 80’s…

[Pete Tranter’s Sister]

MARRY ME.

[Pete Tranter’s Sister]

I can’t decide whether you’re trolling me with tales of sexy vintage hardware or you’re genuinely an analogue head.

[Pete Tranter’s Sister]

The video toaster was NTSC only, unless you’re one of those American Red Dwarf fans that I keep hearing rumours about.

The sandwich will be of an ’88 to ’93 vintage.

[Pete Tranter’s Sister]

Interesting…

I’ll report back after some VHS tests and see if additional ‘analogueness’ is needed.

[Pete Tranter’s Sister]

But your betamax recording doesn’t interpolate new frames, merely duplicate frames.

[Pete Tranter’s Sister]

Luckily, I’ll be providing three versions!

– Frame rate doubling and that’s that
– Frame rate doubling and widescreen cropping
– Going all out with VHS capturing, audio tweaking, intro and credit edits and a few more surprises

The first two versions will not be made available.

[Author]

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