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Andrew Orton

@andreworton.bsky.social

2.1K followers 720 following 1.7K posts

Television historian, writer, artist, 33% of Mulgrave Audio, comic inks and colours. Author of books about Doctor Who, Blake's 7 and Robin of Sherwood. Usually found recreating BBC studio sets in CG. Solvitur ambulando. Marra. Durham. ko-fi.com/andreworton

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Andrew Orton @andreworton.bsky.social · Nov 23

Well, #DoctorWho is 61 today. How better to celebrate? An Unearthly Child, in Lime Grove D, 1963! #CGSets

A CG recreation of the studio set for An Unearthly Child, showing the junkyard, school yard and TARDIS interior from the position of the gallery.

A CG recreation of the studio set for An Unearthly Child, showing the junkyard, school yard and TARDIS interior from the position of the upper floor of the junkyard.

A CG recreation of the TARDIS interior in studio for An Unearthly Child. The central control console is visible, as is a large hexagonal light fixure above.

A close-up CG recreation of the TARDIS console on set for An Unearthly Child, with the Doctor's die-cut Westminster clock on a pedestal int he foreground.

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Andrew Orton @andreworton.bsky.social · 1h

Fans have spent 40 years inventing explanations for the Valeyard: he’s an alt-Doctor from a parallel universe, he’s a Time Lord black ops experiment, he’s unreal, like the Watcher…

It’s far more interesting that he’s just the Doctor. The actual Doctor, from the future, gone bad. Such a story there.

Andrew Orton @andreworton.bsky.social · 2h

Yeah. That's it.

Andrew Orton @andreworton.bsky.social · 8h

Yeah - he legit asks for 'a large Scotch' in Carnival of Monsters.

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Andrew Orton @andreworton.bsky.social · 8h

Covent Garden battle, a web of computers, aware of the Doctor’s existence… WOTAN was a front for the Great Intelligence. (Related: The Bells of St John is clearly a WOTAN story!)

The Vikings in Time Meddler have Fenric’s flask, and it is he who encourages the Monk’s plans. Sven is called Sundvik.

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Andrew Orton @andreworton.bsky.social · 8h

Thread

John Williams @worldoftelly.bsky.social · 16h

This is very sad news. I think Tony’s appearance as Ensor in Blake’s 7 was the first time I became aware of him, and then a few years later he was really excellent as one of the main characters in the first series of Geoff McQueen’s Big Deal.

Kirkdale Bookshop @kirkdalebooks.bsky.social · 19h

RIP Tony Caunter, seen here in Blakes 7 "Deliverance"

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Andrew Orton @andreworton.bsky.social · 17h

The Half-Arsed Buddhism Trilogy:
The Abominable Snowmen
Planet of the Spiders
Kinda

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Andrew Orton @andreworton.bsky.social · 21h

Cheers, mate - I hope it meets your expectations!

Andrew Orton @andreworton.bsky.social · 21h

Just a reminder that my book about Castrovalva is available now! obversebooks.co.uk/product/77-c...

A meme of Anakin Skywalker and Padme talking, with subtitles.
In Panel 1, Anakin says, 'I've been learning about recursion.'
In Panel 2, Padme says, 'It's easy to understand, right?'
In Panel 4, Padme has a confused reaction.

Panel 3 is the entire four-panel image recursively shrunk to fill Panel 3. Within it, we can also see another, smaller, Panel 3, with the entire image repeated again, in the Droste effect. It continues in smaller and smaller recursive panels.

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Andrew Orton @andreworton.bsky.social · 21h

I agree there are other issues with the production: none of them make any effort to suggest they have just come through a plane crash as they sit there in their very clean clothes. Maybe I have the same blindspots with costume and acting that others have with sets?

Andrew Orton @andreworton.bsky.social · 22h

88) Magicks of Megas-Tu - Meeting Lucifer at the centre of the galaxy is a proper fantasy plot, but it’s carried off with style. Some fab, trippy design work. Then it takes a left-turn into a Chariots of the Gods version of The Crucible. Basically a Q ep.
7/10
#StarTrek

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Andrew Orton @andreworton.bsky.social · 22h

'O, she doth teach the torches to burn bright!
It seems she hangs upon the cheek of night
Like a rich jewel in an Ethiope's ear;
Beauty too rich for use, for Earth too dear!'

'She's 14, mate.'

Andrew Orton @andreworton.bsky.social · 23h

It was definitely Una

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Andrew Orton @andreworton.bsky.social · 1d

Cheers - and of course, I'm very familiar with your scans! :) And indeed, may have appropriated them during the course of this project...

Andrew Orton @andreworton.bsky.social · 1d

This wasn't me

fesshole 🧻 @fesshole.bsky.social · 1d

Dad used to moan about how I hadn't grown out of Doctor Who. I now get paid to write about it, so when I visit him I wear Dalek socks.

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Andrew Orton @andreworton.bsky.social · 1d

Lovely stuff! I happened to be at Caversham in the same week that Richard was scanning the files for this, and we had a good old chat - mainly because he had some files I wanted!

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Andrew Orton @andreworton.bsky.social · 1d

...y'all.

Andrew Orton @andreworton.bsky.social · 1d

Is this in Southport?

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Andrew Orton @andreworton.bsky.social · 1d

Multi-cam for stuff like soap opera used / uses standing sets, though the traditional model at the BBC for non-soap rarely did, because the studios were needed for other programmes.

Andrew Orton @andreworton.bsky.social · 1d

Thansks! Studio time / costs would usually be the saving, though the (cheaper) rehearsal time would consequently increase. A film production might record 5-10 (?) mins a day. VT could record half an hour in two or three hours.

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Andrew Orton @andreworton.bsky.social · 1d

The Bilbo Baggins in the first edition of The Hobbit and the Bilbo Baggins in the second edition of The Hobbit are completely different characters.

Andrew Orton @andreworton.bsky.social · 1d

No, I’m not saying that, and I don’t think falling into the intentional fallacy is going to convince anyone that I am…

Andrew Orton @andreworton.bsky.social · 1d

That’s not what I’m saying: you do multiple takes, then chop them up in the edit and use the wide from shot 1, a mid from shot 2, a close-up from shot 3, a reaction from 4, back to 3, and so on. The final performance is constructed of many, short, filmed shots from different takes.

Andrew Orton @andreworton.bsky.social · 1d

I tend to get bored when they stay in the TARDIS too long, unless it's the focus of the story. Get out there and have an adventure!

Reposted by Andrew Orton

Andrew Orton @andreworton.bsky.social · Nov 9

#DoctorWho #CGSets Let’s take a look inside the spaceship in Lime Grove D, as we find ourselves on The Edge of Destruction…

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Andrew Orton @andreworton.bsky.social · 1d

I imagine that's exactly it: working out what the hell they were going to do!

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