Shada reconstruction financed by Ian Levine
be more pacific
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http://www.starburstmagazine.com/features/feature-articles/915-doctor-who-and-the-shada-man
This reminds me of the April Fools jokes DWM used to do in the 1980s. (Remember the serial with Davison edited into newly-discovered 'lost' Hartnell footage? Or the colourised version of The Tenth Planet?)
Fortunately, this news broke back in September, so it's not an early jape for tomorrow morning. Unfortunately, Levine didn't ask BBC Worldwide / 2Entertain before financing his animated version of the unfilmed footage.
With all the knowledge and experience Ian Levine undoubtedly has, it seems bizarre to me that he thought he could just make an unsolicited version of Doctor Who and expect 2Entertain to buy it from him.
This reminds me of the April Fools jokes DWM used to do in the 1980s. (Remember the serial with Davison edited into newly-discovered 'lost' Hartnell footage? Or the colourised version of The Tenth Planet?)
Fortunately, this news broke back in September, so it's not an early jape for tomorrow morning. Unfortunately, Levine didn't ask BBC Worldwide / 2Entertain before financing his animated version of the unfilmed footage.
With all the knowledge and experience Ian Levine undoubtedly has, it seems bizarre to me that he thought he could just make an unsolicited version of Doctor Who and expect 2Entertain to buy it from him.
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It reminds me of Big Finish's Sapphire and Steel- they bought the rights before sounding out the two lead actors about taking part. They didn't want to so, regardless of how well the replacements did, the result was a big let-down. JNT not securing Tom Baker's participation before the planning and writing of what ended up as The Five Doctors was another instance.
Surely the BBC wouldn't even contemplate a 'proper' release of a finished Shada without Tom Baker? What next ? A production of Robert Holmes' The Six Doctors, without Hartnell/Hurndall, Troughton, Pertwee and, perhaps, also without Tom Baker?
Even if it is absolutely stunning, I can't see BBC Worldwide / 2Entertain being at all happy about the project being completed privately with no consultation at any stage. And then there's Douglas Adams' estate to consider. Not to mention Tom potentially phoning his lawyers over the unauthorised imitation of his voice and use of his image in this new drama production.
I realise that Ian has always been a bit of a maverick when it comes to forcing the BBC to re-think its policies, but I think he has gone too far in actually producing a professional reconstruction of Shada without consent.
To paraphrase the fourth Doctor's dilemma over whether to erase the Daleks from history "Do I have the rights?"
He does a good Tom.
For all intents and purposes, it is being made to appear that Tom is participating in the project. I very much doubt Paul Jones would be given equal billing alongside Tom as "The Doctor" on any packaging and promotions for a Shada DVD.
You mean it's a psychedelic trip, man?
Same here. Is it worth this maybe having a proper, legit release one day?
Ian himself uploaded a preview to YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rUS9c8Ovs6c
The other projects in that showcase are, to put it delicately, not nearly as polished as Shada.
Without legal clearance which ian apparently didnt bother with (unsure if that is true or not) i doubt it will get clearance
The footage isnt remastered. Isnt as Sharp as the remastered dvd and the Font for the opening title is uncorrected (dvd Version was fixed). Having watched 3 episodes Id have to say the Animation is ok but Not anywhere near as Special as Ian has claimed it was.
The Planet Mondas forum posted a copy of the letter which Ian had sent out to various parties threatening legal action over its unauthorised availability....quite how far in reality he could go with following this up I don't know but you can't argue with his main point which is that this is something he has spent money on developing in expectation of a future profit, it's not just a fan effort done for fun or as a training exercise in some new software. Indeed I think it was the PM forum owner himself who chipped in to point out that he had also invested money in this and so was obviously unhappy at the threat to any potential future returns.
Judging by the preview in the YouTube video, I shudder at the prospect of a 150-minute version of Lost in the Dark Dimension with poor animation and bad impersonations. The story was only supposed to be 90-100 minutes as a proper TV production, FFS!
I know Ian has done a lot to retrieve missing episodes over the years, but he now seems obsessed that nothing - no matter how tautological or just plain bad - should ever be cut.
So someone's got their hands on it and fixed a few things before leaking it?
No wonder Ian's fuming. How dare people not only see Shada with out his permission, illegally, but a version potentially better than his own? But, no doubt, if this version gets much love and praise, he'll retroactively claim it was his version all along, and revise the past (like he's doing right now on Twitter).
Shame though, some of us don't t.....t, so one day I'd like to see it out there as a legit release somehow.
I do feel for him with the leak of his work, however if you believe in karma...
Ian talks about the current copyright "situation" holding back his (derivative) works, as if it's just BBC Worldwide being awkward. In reality, the "situation" is the mere fact that authors and rights holders are able to protect their intellectual property. I can't see that "situation" changing anytime soon.
The point I was stressing is that regardless of whether he is ultimately able to exploit the commercial potential of what he has created, it was created with the intention of being marketed and sold and he and others invested money in its creation for that ultimate purpose so his upset is understandable.
There are plenty of marvellously creative vids on Youtube, produced using software packages which no doubt came at a cost, but they are presented as a creative act with no expectation of remuneration. This is not the case of Ian's activities with Shada, at least as I understand it, but then I don't think any of us do know the full story or its current legal underpinnings.
I'm not so keen on revoicing characters, though. Chronotis becomes an odd, camp little thing and the Doctor... well, it's not a bad impersonation but it's nothing more than that.
In this particular instance, the original leaker must be someone closely linked to Ian himself. I wonder how many people Ian can identify as recently being in possession of a copy? He's usually quite keen to name and shame when he feels he's been wronged.
Shada and MTTU are very good.
The others vary between poor and awful that I have seen.
He did a good job with Shada but let us remember it was not just his money but others who chipped in.
This is incorrect. The font is fixed, and the footage is from the DVD. The animated sequences have been tightened up significantly as well, foley work done on the audio, etc.