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Post by Deleted on Mar 13, 2019 2:23:05 GMT
This has been buzzing around in my brain for a while now. To forumgoers who lived during television's transition from monochrome to colour: how do you think the change affected your perception of television and, beyond that, the stories they broadcast in general?
In the context of Doctor Who would be splendid, but memories of any other properties would likewise be appreciated too. |
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Post by TinDogPodcast on Mar 19, 2019 18:26:44 GMT
We had our tv on a shelf in an alcove in the living room... it's the late 70s maybe even the 80s. It's black and white...
I have this flying toy... like a bobbin and a helicopter blade...
The blade goes up and comes down behind the tv... I'm a small kid.
I drag the kitchen stool in from the next room and start to climb...
Leaning over the tv...
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Post by TinDogPodcast on Mar 19, 2019 18:28:21 GMT
I'm leaning over... and then the tv moves.
It pulls me over and onto the ground... it's land ed on top of me and smashed. .. the tube blew and it made a massive bang!
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Post by TinDogPodcast on Mar 19, 2019 18:29:41 GMT
My parents cone running in thinking I'm damaged
I'm sobbing
Like ugly child sobbing.
All I can say is
I've killed the telly!
I still feel awful about that...
Then we gor a colour one.
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Tony Jones
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Professor Chronotis
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Post by Tony Jones on Mar 19, 2019 18:47:21 GMT
I remember we got a colour TV in the early 70s and were keen to watch a show called Budgie. We turned on, tuned in and guess what - it was a black and white episode! Not all shows could go to colour at once.
We were one of those who tried to watch snooker when it came to BBC2 and the commentators would genuinely say 'for those watching in black and white the pink is to the ball to the left of the blue' - that's what I remember anyhow!
I must have watched Spearhead in colour (though I couldn't prove it) and it was just all part of the change of Doctor.
A few years ago I was talking to someone who had done some work at the BBC and to them the nature of camera and TVs was almost incidental to programme making. I had assume HD and Ultra HD were a big deal but to programme makers nothing special. I believe set designers on the other hand hate HD as it means the props need to be more realistic. I was at Longleat in 1983 and they had the set of the Brig's office; the paintwork and just everything looked really tatty and unconvincing in real life.
Then again I remember when it was all fields round here...
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Post by Deleted on Mar 20, 2019 5:03:03 GMT
My parents cone running in thinking I'm damaged I'm sobbing Like ugly child sobbing. All I can say is I've killed the telly! I still feel awful about that... Then we gor a colour one. I can definitely say that's something of a rite of passage among some small children. I think I did the same thing once. Less a bang, more a boneshattering crack!I remember we got a colour TV in the early 70s and were keen to watch a show called Budgie. We turned on, tuned in and guess what - it was a black and white episode! Not all shows could go to colour at once. We were one of those who tried to watch snooker when it came to BBC2 and the commentators would genuinely say 'for those watching in black and white the pink is to the ball to the left of the blue' - that's what I remember anyhow! I must have watched Spearhead in colour (though I couldn't prove it) and it was just all part of the change of Doctor. A few years ago I was talking to someone who had done some work at the BBC and to them the nature of camera and TVs was almost incidental to programme making. I had assume HD and Ultra HD were a big deal but to programme makers nothing special. I believe set designers on the other hand hate HD as it means the props need to be more realistic. I was at Longleat in 1983 and they had the set of the Brig's office; the paintwork and just everything looked really tatty and unconvincing in real life. Then again I remember when it was all fields round here... The old modelmakers kitbashing for the Gerry Anderson shows and Next Generation apparently used to overdo the detail on their work. Try to incorporate details that looked suitably realistic and functional (or hide a juicer lid). The upshot of that was when the shows were transferred to 1080p, there was a sudden wealth of new detail that audiences hadn't ever been able to see before. The prices on live-action set design nowadays must be enormous just to cover the jump in quality. Interestingly, I think Douglas Slocolme, the cinematographer behind Raiders of the Lost Ark, once said that one surefire way to see if a story has been lit correctly is to remove all the colour. Take it out of Raiders and it looks and feels like a 40s/50s film serial.
The thing which struck me, growing up with a combination of monochrome and colour, was the change in focus. Monochrome... I dunno, somehow it feels a lot more intense, the facial expressions of the actors twice as important. Maybe because of that added emphasis on movement. Somehow, it feels grander, production foibles slighter. There's more expectation in colour. That said, the kinds of things you can do in colour is incredible. Blake's 7's muted colour palette in Series A makes the image linger in a way that it wouldn't in black-and-white. Likewise, the visual effects and set design work in The Claws of Axos, the lighting in Vengeance on Varos and The Masque of Mandragora, all thrive on it.
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Post by doctorkernow on Mar 21, 2019 20:25:49 GMT
Hello again.
I had the transition in reverse from colour to monochrome. From 1986, my televisual experience was in black and white; until 1998, when I picked up (with great difficulty), a huge colour tv from a Radio Rentals sale.
This meant toddling down to the post office every year for a b/w licence. Therefore, I saw the entire McCoy era in monochrome. Imagine my confusion when I watched the era in colour during the recent twitch marathon.
Season 24, you needed sunglasses! Brightly lit sets, eye-watering costumes and green babies. The Happiness Patrol was also an interesting experience. I found the studiobound stories worked better in shades of grey.
When Channel 4 started they showed loads of vintage programmes from the U.K and U.S. I really enjoyed seeing this treasure trove of tv history. My favourite? The classy Emma Peel series of The Avengers and the goofy horror spoof The Munsters.
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Post by Digi on Mar 22, 2019 15:57:41 GMT
My parents cone running in thinking I'm damaged I'm sobbing Like ugly child sobbing. All I can say is I've killed the telly! I still feel awful about that... Then we gor a colour one. I audibly guffawed at this story  |
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Post by barnabaslives on Mar 22, 2019 17:41:31 GMT
I don't remember it so much as a transition as just suddenly it was there when we splurged on a color TV and the next thing I remember is kind of taking it for granted and being slightly frustrated with shows that continued in black and white.
I think that's kind of skewed because later I had a little TV of my own but it was black and white which was better than fighting over the color TV or being called out for being up past bedtime for trying to sneak in a late show in color. I watched Doctor Who from the start of Tom's adventures through the end of Sylvester's in black and white.
First thing I can remember seeing in color on TV was what anyone would probably guess - the title sequence of Dark Shadows. I must have imagined it would look that grey even in color but wow that was a lot of blue. :-)
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Post by tuigirl on Mar 23, 2019 9:31:14 GMT
When I was very little, we still had a black and white TV, as had both my grandparents.
I remember for a family party, we were at the restaurant of relatives and we kids went to the backrooms with the older brother of some cousins who had gotten something totally amazing and exotic- VCR! Plus they had a huge colour television. We were watching the 80s version of "Clash of the Titans" and my mind was blown. It is one of the earliest movies I remember watching.
My parents soon got colour television, but there were still a remarkable number of black and white shows on (which now sadly appear to be forgotten).
My grandparents continued with black and white for a while, until they both got much flashier and bigger TVs than my parents, so going to my grandparents always was a highlight.
I also remember that I liked to watch TV programmes from the communist part of the country (they always had amazing kid's programmes) but for some reason, we only ever could receive them in black and white, even later on. My dad once explained that had to do with interference signals send over the iron curtain by the West and vice versa. Not sure if that is true or not. Maybe it was just because my village is located at the a$$ end of nowhere.
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Post by Ela on Mar 26, 2019 2:09:22 GMT
I don't remember it so much as a transition as just suddenly it was there when we splurged on a color TV and the next thing I remember is kind of taking it for granted and being slightly frustrated with shows that continued in black and white. I think that's kind of skewed because later I had a little TV of my own but it was black and white which was better than fighting over the color TV or being called out for being up past bedtime for trying to sneak in a late show in color. I watched Doctor Who from the start of Tom's adventures through the end of Sylvester's in black and white. First thing I can remember seeing in color on TV was what anyone would probably guess - the title sequence of Dark Shadows. I must have imagined it would look that grey even in color but wow that was a lot of blue. :-) I don't believe I ever saw the title sequence of Dark Shadows in color. I remember it being all black and white. |
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Post by Ela on Oct 14, 2022 4:09:04 GMT
We got our first color TV between Xmas and New Years one year because my mother wanted to watch the Tournament of Roses (Rose Parade) on New Year's Day in living color. All the floats in the parade are constructed out of flowers on supporting framework, so of course it's much more impressive in color.
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Post by sidestep on Oct 14, 2022 6:15:34 GMT
When I was a kid we had a black & white tv with only 3 channels. No Doctor Who. It was when my parents got a colored tv in their room & I was channel surfing that I saw one scene of a curly haired man with a long scarf (only years later did I realize that was Tom Baker), however, at that time I was rushing to get to the channel with cartoons.
Finally became a Doctor Who fan when I watched The Eleventh Hour with my brother in law (who’d been watching since Eccleston) & got hooked.
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