16 January 1985 BBC1 - Star Trek ... error & Temporary Fault

[@KRPTV]

I love how the dramatic music builds up and then you just hear the machine going down!😁😁😁

[@breeseburger]

For those who don't know the cause, as the US and UK systems were different, the US had to transport film copies that can snap or wear down, in order for it to be compatible. What happened at that part, is that the film snapped in two, therefore the Temporary Fault occurred, as the film went out of control, so they had to align it and keep it stable.

[@Kazuo1G]

For those of you who don't know the episode, it's "Return of the Archons". Sulu and a crewmember beamed down to a planet, and Sulu got zapped by a law-enforcer, turning him into a docile slave of the planet's population.

[@abbycollins]

T-Squared huh

[@havanadaurcy1321]

*zap*

[@applemask]

It's basically The Purge

[@psifla99]

The one with L’Andru?

[@matthewlittledyke6494]

You are not one with the body

[@andrewdemetrius8090]

The BBC used to show a re-edited version for the BBC or by the BBC where the credits started the show, rather than the opening scene. The original US prints have the opening scene or prelude scene then the credits ;-) It was the BBC's own edit that came undone! LOL

[@Tomsonic41]

I believe this is known as a 'cold opening' and was popular in American shows. The BBC didn't like that for some reason and frequently edited shows to have the opening titles first!

[@matthewlittledyke6494]

I remember when stuff like this happened it sometimes never came back in time to see the rest of the episode

[@PaulChiesa-db5zn]

Yep, that's the way I always remember it being screened by the BBC

[@baxpiz1289]

philistines

[@EdFortune]

@@Tomsonic41 Cold Openings existed because of advertising. The BBC doesn't have that, so it made less sense to do it that way.

[@zpbstudios9551]

Holy bantha, that was a really disturbing error, imagine you're watching Star Trek on BBC 1 in early '85, and all of a sudden the show abruptly stops in the middle and you see pitch blackness with occasional parts of the film strip in dead silence! Even at 20, I still feel uneasy whenever I watch this error, especially in the dark, it makes you feel like a jumpscare might happen. And this is coming from someone whose father recently started binge-watching episodes of Star Trek The Next Generation!

[@LunarFlareStudios]

"Star Trek seems to have disappeared into space..." Love the pun there!

[@matthewlittledyke6494]

Oh yes the announcements for faults were always amusing.

[@LunarFlareStudios]

@@matthewlittledyke6494 I wish we had more of those little messages nowadays. Now it's just music and a picture here in the US. We need stuff like the UK has sometimes.

[@skat1140]

More of a metaphor than "pun".

[@SantiagoRevecoLepeReborn]

1:05 Catchy "temporary fault" music!

[@KezKaz]

My dad had experienced this live when he was a child

[@matthwe3468]

Cue the space disco

[@johnking5174]

1:04 - Quick get the glue and stick it back together!!

[@ChristopherSobieniak]

They probably used tape. Splicing films with tape was easier than cement, though they probably just ran the film a bit on the take-up leader so they can take care of it later.

[@killstreak1282]

John King only flex tape can fix dat

[@commandingjudgedredd1841]

I remember this fault. Settling down to watch the episode and then, hey presto! A temporary loss of Kirk and crew.

[@marjon1703]

Me Too :)

[@matthewlittledyke6494]

Happened a lot

[@commandingjudgedredd1841]

​@@matthewlittledyke6494 No doubt it did, during the analogue era. This one particular fault stuck in my head the longest.

[@applemask]

Paradise *universe disintegrates*

[@abbycollins]

Apparently the world couldn't handle paradise

[@commandingjudgedredd1841]

Ooooh my!

[@matthewlittledyke6494]

Both the mirror and prime universes have collapsed in on each other

[@danielwilliamson6180]

0:24 A disruption in the space time continuum.

[@rustyfrombluey]

No Shit, Lemmy!

[@gillyjames9609]

16th January - my birthday... as an avid Star Trek fan I would have tuned in to watch it for sure... but as I can't remember this incident, I must have been out and about. To tell you the truth, I would rather have stayed in to watch this on the telly!

[@johnking5174]

Back in this era, imported US TV shows to Britain had to be provided usually on film copies, as the US television system was different to the UK system. In the US they used 525 line NTSC colour whereas Britain used the 625 line Pal colour. This meant that every US TV import to the BBC & ITV had to be usually on 35mm/16mm film or transferred to 625 line which was more expensive. So these cheap film prints easily wore down over the years & could snap, which is what happened here

[@watmun]

Also, didn't the BBC edit the episodes to move the opening titles to before the 'cold open' as was standard in the UK? Seems like the tape holding the splice probably came away 😅

[@OnafetsEnovap]

@@watmun I never understood why the BBC edited American shows that way (even Miami Vice got the same treatment, plus numerous MV episodes were either edited down or not shown at all).

[@martoto77]

It was also much cheaper to use film prints. I suspect the BBC acquired their copies in the seventies.

[@johnking5174]

@@martoto77 BBC started airing Star Trek in 1969 and they had to use film copies then, as the US colour TV system is incompatible with the UK system, so 35mm film was the only way US shows could be aired on UK TV at the time.

[@martoto77]

@@johnking5174 Yeah I know. But even if there wasn’t a tv standards difference, film was still far more cost effective at that time. It was more likely 16mm in most cases too.

[@andrewdemetrius8090]

I taped this on timer and the tape ran out before the program ended because of the delay! LOL!

[@betaman7988]

My copy of this stops just as the programme breaks and resumes a few minutes after the programme resumes

[@martoto77]

That’s why you always added 15-20 mins on the timer just in case. Often it was due to another show running late.

[@johnhastings7841]

Peter Bolgar is the continuity announcer - a position he seeved impeccably for over 25 years before he retired in 1995.

[@flatcapman]

0:36 is the sound of A Phillipine man screaming "Star Trek is my whole world Star trek DONT DIE" It snaps "ARRRRRRRRRRRRRRR"

[@matthewlittledyke6494]

I remember these kinds of faults happing a lot back then on a lot of shows not just Star Trek

[@MM-zc6qv]

The tape seemed to have gone to paradise too

[@DanielZ-nv2zg]

Weird looking at older technical faults compared to modern day. Not screen freezing, no audio buffering. Just a tape roll malfunction and a distorted audio.

[@ianwilliams5866]

In this case a broken film print being played directly from telecine to broadcast

[@Lucasgaraylopez]

"paradise" *famous last words*

[@joannegray5138]

Was the continuity announcer caught on the hop? He sounded very breathless, as though he had to run to get to his mike.

[@ChristopherSobieniak]

This was all done in realtime, nothing was automated back then.

[@Ashworth6]

Captains log: The Continuity Announcer has returned....but in a highly agitated mental state.

[@matthewlittledyke6494]

The continuity announcements were quite funny back then when a fault happened.

[@KrisJoshJones]

The one time he went for a piss!

[@abbycollins]

@@KrisJoshJones happens all the time. The minute you go to the bathroom you’re needed because of an emergency.

[@sheldonspock5566]

They telecined film live? I thought it was all transferred to tape prior to broadcasting! It's crazy, you can actually see more than a few of the film perforations but the cells were black, nothing printed on them. What happened? Was that the end of a reel?

[@christopherhulse8385]

BBC telecined film straight to air back then, not everything had been transferred to tape.

[@watmun]

It was because they would edit the title sequence to before the cold open to fit with normal UK shows. I think the edit they made, with extra black screen just came undone 😂😂

[@richardmattocks]

Wow. That’s amazing. I’d never have guessed it hadn’t been transferred first (always just assumed I guess) but with VT equipment not as sophisticated as these days (as well as not exactly having dozens in the BBC to do the transfers) it makes sense. Just adds another level of respect

[@SRG26192]

To the mid 90’s BBC broadcast some movies from the telecine

[@killstreak1282]

*they need some flex-tape for dat*

[@killstreak1282]

realoliver9912 😂👌🏽 quality comedy

[@yobelkcip]

oh my. oh my my my.

[@flatcapman]

0:24 Sulu "I played Saints row It's Paradise" BOOM the tape snaps

[@DJLizardon]

Id love to know the composer or song name for the fault music, its great!

[@MiiGameplaysHD]

apparently the filmreel snapped in two and they had to splice it back together quickly before they could go back on air again

[@stephenkissane4268]

It's got a beat you can dance to

[@beckhamunboxings2000]

0:25 OPPS!

[@philward2538]

Yes the BBC1 globe would slowly dissolve into a star field then opening credits..on the DVD it has pre titles

[@alhawki99]

Mr Zulu has returned in a highly agitated mental state, not surprised after just been ripped apart. 😁

[@ShermleyCollege]

nice to see they were running it on 35mm

[@MrDerOutsider]

Yeah good quality broadcast for the time I bet!

[@fraserkatie]

This would have been on a telecine machine which took film in the VT department so blame those VT engineers!!!!

[@kazoshay]

An Enterprise representative will be with you in a moment

[@williamsr06]

0:26 Telecine Error

[@pythonfan1]

Like the funky music.

[@theflano23]

I know this was posted two years ago, but if you still want to know it's called Westcoast Trip by Parry Music

[@pepsi_max2k]

@@theflano23the comment we actually came for 😂

[@stewartmcminn7773]

As the titles were missing did anyone guess the episode title?? We called it The Will Of Landru Anyone else did this???

[@andrewdemetrius8090]

The Return of the Archons is the episode and I taped it on timer .... the tape ended before the episode ended because of the delay! So double whammy for me lol!

[@JordanBahrPian-UkePlayer]

OK, so can someone definitively detail what actually happened and why? I'm not getting a clear understanding of the problem from these comments.

[@abbycollins]

Well, basically, the film reel they used to show this program snapped in half.

[@dunebasher1971]

As originally made and supplied to the BBC, Star Trek opened with a teaser scene before the title sequence. Originally, after Sulu says "Paradise!", it would have been the title sequence - so scene A, then titles, then scenes B, C, D and so on. The BBC chose to edit every episode to swap around the teaser scene and title sequence, to make it more a conventional British TV structure - titles, scene A, scene B, scene C and so on. That meant physically cutting the 35mm film and then sticking it back together, and in this instance, the join between scene A and scene B broke as it went through the telecine.

[@KezKaz]

Basically before TV channels used to store the shows on PC’s because they weren’t powerful enough. They used to use Betamax tapes and the Betamax tape snapped in half when putting the Betamax tape into the player. Thankfully they had a backup of the show on another tape or the episode would have been lost

[@igp899]

@@KezKaz they used 35mm film, not betamax.

[@mbvideoselection]

@@KezKaz 😆 Good try but not quite! In the 1980s TV shows that weren't live were transmitted one of four ways - from 2-inch videotape, 1-inch videotape, 35mm film or 16mm film. Programmes made entirely on film were almost always transmitted direct from the film rather than making a videotape copy, because (a) it meant keeping within union rules for minimum hours of employing film-based technicians and electronic video-based technicians (and them not crossing into each others' domains), and (b) the picture quality was believed to be better not introducing a generation of copy loss. PC-based programme servers were still about 15 years away at this point. Even in the 90s and into the mid-late 2000s, programmes were still regularly transmitted from tape, either from an analogue component format like Betacam SP, or a digital format like D-1, 2, 3 or 5 - or Digital Betacam (DigiBeta for short). Those tape formats were cassette-based, the smaller cassettes actually being physically identical to a domestic Betamax cassette but using a different tape formulation and recording format, but there were also larger cassettes that could be inserted into the same machines which gave longer playing times.

[@MirkoMazzoni2000]

0:23 "Paradise!" BBC: Sorry, no paradise for you! (Film breaks down) And that's how they never got the paradise (Note i don't know what they do onto start trek so don't ask me about start trek because I know zero, this was a made-up thing with the no one meme template)

[@Angyali]

It happens at times.

[@Marc-OlivierLesage]

paradise

[@Jawarulez]

this slaps

[@ironiceire]

The music during the fault sounds like something nintendo would compose, a bit kirby-esque

[@minerbloxer6471]

The film snapped!

[@ChristopherSobieniak]

Seems like that, like an unglued splice.

[@sonicextremities9570]

She really snapped here

[@Undead_Shep]

Apparently the Tape split in half.

[@Hi-ix5bb]

That was 16mm film. You could even see the sprocket holes during that weird telecine error

[@officialSgtPepperArc360]

Paradise? I'm convinced he's passed on.

[@mattyram13]

what is the music name? I really love it :(

[@systembinarygaming]

According to @theflano23 it is Westcoast Trip by Parry Music.

[@Autistaz]

TEMPORARY FAULT

[@commandingjudgedredd1841]

Mantas Baltrušaitis Temporal anomaly

[@Hi-ix5bb]

Stupid broken sprocket holes, Mr. 16mm print

[@bwc1976]

Oh my!

[@richardgadberry8398]

Paradise.

[@progect3548]

from time to time X1 moment

[@johnking5174]

Cheap NBC film quality flown over to the BBC from California, no wonder it broke.

[@ChristopherSobieniak]

I figured it was Paramount's fault anyway.

[@EricNorton627]

The BBC reedited the program. In America the prelude (the end of which we saw here) came first, then the opening credits. In Britain they reversed it to have the credits first, then the prelude, then directly into act 1. That edit required cutting and taping the film. The film broke right at the end of the prelude where the film had been rearranged and taped into place. Everything was done manually in those days with little to no automation - far less than in the U.S., anyway, because of the greater power of the labor unions. Film splices occasionally break in the telecine and get broadcast nationwide. As for the other part of your comment, NBC and Paramount aren't just two-bit players in the television industry. They know what quality film is and have the means to use it. International sales are also extremely important to the American television industry, so the idea that cheap film would be used by major corporations doesn't make sense. I'm afraid your jibe against NBC is, to coin a phrase, fake news.

[@dalsik]

At about the :27 mark, after the Star Trek music crescendos, you hear a light flutter and then a quick, guttural "wah." If I didn't know better I'd swear that that "wah" is the basis for the 1999 EDM instrumental, "Flat Beat" by Mr. Oizo. SONG: kzbin.info/www/bejne/p57Wk4NnaN2obM0.

[@cellytron]

It is the will of Landru

[@bregrif19]

0:26

[@chrishulse5305]

Why didn't the BBC copy to videotape before transmission?

[@chinnyvision]

Why would they? Transmitting direct from film had been around longer than tape, and open reel tape was every bit as fragile film. Breakdowns were commonplace.

[@Hi-ix5bb]

@@chinnyvision and tape is literally rust

[@dunebasher1971]

TV was still quite heavily unionised at the time, and union rules stipulated that programmes delivered on film had to be transmitted from film. And at the time, it was simply more convenient to do it that way anyway - why tie up TK and VTR channels transferring shows from film to tape when they can just as easily be broadcast direct from film?

[@stephenelmore8231]

Your Grounded

[@kengeorgejones6855]

Do you know what that music is?

[@andysummersthxcinemaandmyc7748]

+Ken George Jones I was wondering the same as I like to recreate this with Laserdisc.

[@forwardgames4121]

im looking for it but the track is westcoast trip parry music library

[@stephenelmore8231]

That good

[@stephenelmore8231]

Good

[@saiballoon2896]

what sort of issue happened?

[@johnking5174]

The film snapped. US imports to the UK back then were provided on 35mm film, as the US had a different colour TV system which was incompatible with the UK system.

[@indayteray8647]

*trekwave*

[@ryanlowther9282]

What caused the breakdown

[@mattyram13]

Telecines

[@mattyram13]

Tbh i don't really know, i guess the telecine fell and they had to fix it.

[@MaggieMedia2]

looks like the film snapped

[@danielmcparland292]

one last paradise then projecter apeers on screen

[@Hi-ix5bb]

That isn't a projector, it's 16mm motion film running at 25? fps

[@AndyRubio1]

nice to see it before it got violated by the folks who did the distastrous 'restoration'

[@the_tv_museum]

Presumably the restoration was necessary if you wanted the episodes in HD?

[@RyDawg96]

How was the restoration disastrous?

[@HouseholdWheel]

Uh oh

[@AndyRubio1]

Landru mmmmmmmmm

[@jennyrosemutia8466]

What A Disaster For BBC1.!

[@PaulChiesa-db5zn]

Couldn't happen now. Could it

[@commandingjudgedredd1841]

In today's day and age, no snapping as it's all digital. But with digital, you can still get technical faults. You could end up with hackers screwing up your streaming service or a worldwide systems fault, a Carrington Event could ruin your viewing entertainment.