"Commercial Breaks" Documentary (1984-Paul Anderson): The rise and fall of Imagine Software (720p)

Fly on the wall Documentary made in 1984 by the BBC's Paul Anderson (also worked on Tomorrow's World).
The Documentary chronicles the fast rise and even faster fall of Imagine Software-developers of many huge selling ZX Spectrum titles and once one of the biggest software companies in the UK, alongside the more long-term success of Ocean Software around the same time.
This documentary acts as a supplimentary piece to a @RetrocastUK vidcast that features a talk by Bruce Everiss - director at Imagine Software, who stars in the Documentary and who in the talk recorded at the 2011 Replay Expo in Blackpool, discusses the triumphs and tragedy of Imagine's heady days back in the 1980s.
The talk also features guest Paul Andersen, producer/director of the 1984 BBC TV documentary Commercial Breaks, which famously chronicled the company's very public meltdown alongside the meteroric rise of rival software house, Ocean Software.
Click the screen at the indicated points to be taken to the talk, which will in turn bring you back to this video at the correct point to give you the full experience.
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[@leopold7562]

What happened here was the difference between a company that was set on creating the next big thing versus one that was entirely focussed on staying in business. Ocean succeeded by following the tried and trusted "Entertainment House" model as used by the big companies like Atari, and those of the film and music industries: Making sure there's a profitable product by cherry-picking the best options available. Imagine fell apart because they were more interested in the product than keeping afloat. While the money was coming in, they squandered it on huge salaries and lavish offices and frivolous pet projects that would never have made back their development budget.

[@Da_80s_Ruled]

Thanks for uploading this interesting documentary. I forgot about the waiting for the shop assistant trying to find the cassette on the back shelf to fill the game box up while you pay for it.

[@MrLtia1234]

I do remember (a bit later) sometimes the tapes would have the wrong format on them or sometimes just be blank! Then the negotiation with the rude shop assistants to persuade them that it doesn't work...

[@Kholaslittlespot1]

Oh yeah!

[@timwald2498]

As soon as I saw Bandesnatch on Netflix it made me think of Imagine - clearly inspired by this story. It was good to see all the real kit floating around the show (like the Spectrum with DKTroniks keyboard in the flat) etc. and it was really odd seeing an 80's WH Smith. Great job Netflix and Charlie Brooker.

[@originalveghead]

The dktronics keyboard made it for me too

[@Kholaslittlespot1]

Is there any more history on the actual Bandersnatch? So many ideas ahead of its time

[@rwxdesigns]

I wonder if the guy ever got his bag back out of the office? If I could go back in time to show Ocean my version of Hunchback I'm working on - they'd probably force money into my hands to get me to make it as quick as possible!

[@AnthonyFlack]

How'd the Hunchback work out? If you could take my port of Bomb Jack through the time portal with you, we could both be rich.

[@rwxdesigns]

@@AnthonyFlack Hunchback Redux is still in development. I've posted a few updates in recent weeks on my Twitter (or X) channel. As for your Bomb Jack, just had a quick look - very nice, especially for the Amstrad. Someone is making a better C64 version, I think most coversions originally were not as good as they could have been. Good luck with yours.

[@AudieHolland]

Wow, I have never seen such sophisticated pirate copies. We got most of our Commodore 64 games on unmarked cassettes that we swapped with friends at school to copy for ourselves. At least I can say with honesty that the games we were truly dedicated to (Gunship, Silent Service, Project Stealth Fighter, Pirates!) we purchased at full price. Funny how most games we loved were military simulators by American company Microsoft ("Wild" Bill Stealy, Sid Meier). Some others we purchased from the legal stores: Defender of the Crown (Cinemaware), Theatre Europe (PSS), Labyrinth (Lucasfilm Games) and a few more. Most of the games we got for free weren't that interesting to us anyway. Oh, the very first game I bought, just based on the excellent screenshots: Raid over Moscow (US Gold) And of course Castle of Terror (Melbourne House). We also bought Visible Solar System made by Commodore themselves but it was pretty lame.

[@TheBroz]

The interactive stuff doesn't seem to work, how can i see this talk with Paul Andersen?

[@makara80]

It’s obvious why Imagine conceived the ‘Mega game’: An increasingly competitive and subsequently stagnating games market was placing a quickly acquired lifestyle of luxury cars, high living and penury-inducing expenditure in jeopardy. Instead of the much needed belt tightening and Porsche selling necessary in such lean times though Imagine instead convinced themselves that they could sell a £40 ‘mega game’ in the same high numbers as regular £5 software and keep the Bollinger flowing unimpeded! Delusional. Regardless, Bandersnatch actually looked quite good but can you imagine tech-sceptic parents being convinced by their excited offspring to buy something for forty quid that looks just like every other six quid Speccy game? Nah!

[@AudieHolland]

02:44 I never knew George McFly worked at Imagine as a programmer

[@faeskruff1772]

Bounced here from kims imagine retrospective myself x

[@C64TV]

A lovely blast from the past!

[@EliteTeamKiller2.0]

At 0:11 there is a short clip of a song that I KNOW I've heard before. Does anyone else recognize it and where is it from? Thanks!

[@EliteTeamKiller2.0]

Never mind! I heard it during 28 Days Later during the grocery story scene. The song is called 180 AM by Grandady. kzbin.info/www/bejne/pqWziat3mdhkgMU

[@kingsknightuk]

Kim Justice pointed me here :)

[@sheepthehack]

same

[@antster1983]

She's used some of this footage in several of her documentaries... The Story of Ocean Software: "The Biggest Games Company in the World" (7th March 2016) - kzbin.info/www/bejne/pWG3dmxobM9nmdU Ultimate: Play the Game - the Story Before Rare (18th April 2016) - kzbin.info/www/bejne/a5bOnJycqaqHrbs The Story of Imagine Software: The Rock 'n' Roll Games Company (1st August 2016) - kzbin.info/www/bejne/qmjIgXpuZ9dnkKc The Story and Games of Psygnosis: The UK's Greatest Games Company? (22nd August 2016) - kzbin.info/www/bejne/qqe8naukfbSMY7M The Story and Games of U.S. Gold: 100% All-American Software (31st October 2016) - kzbin.info/www/bejne/p5irdWlse9-dr6M The Story and Games of Joffa Smith, ZX Spectrum Genius (6th December 2018) - kzbin.info/www/bejne/pYOpimWlp62iadE The Awful Highlander Game and the Tragedy of Canvas Software (4th February 2019) - kzbin.info/www/bejne/sKbcaJ2Bh7Ooa9k Eugene Evans, Imagine, and the Bedroom Coder Dream (25th February 2019) - kzbin.info/www/bejne/hWrThZ-Dq8mdl68 From Manic Miner to Jet Set Willy: The Story and Games of Matthew Smith (27th May 2019) - kzbin.info/www/bejne/ZnjNhX2qaZWJiLs The Story and Games of Codemasters, 1986-1999: Road to Respect (31st August 2020) - kzbin.info/www/bejne/iqSmgmWBgqebm68

[@Kinitawowi]

That sound from Pogo at 22:34 grabbed me right in the memories.

[@Notkalas]

For anyone interested in more info about the making of this documentary and the company itself, check out this page for the full story: www.crashonline.org.uk/12/imagine.htm It's archived from an old tech magazine and provides some context you won't find this video.

[@wisteela]

Doesn't anybody know the story of why there is the message "Depressing isn't it" on the Commodore 64 screen?

[@Stevieboy74]

14:06 - YO!!!

[@SE09uk]

17:00 On the C64 it was back up board allowing the use of two datasets, on the Amiga it was x copy with cyclone

[@speedbird737]

I had one of those inexpensive back up boards with two datasets - perfect copies every time

[@6581punk]

A school friends dad made one as he was an electronics genius. At the time I didn't understand what he meant, but he said the copy would be better quality than an original game tape. All these years later I realise this was because it was running the original signal though a digital circuit and outputting what may actually be a cleaned up version as it was the output of a logic gate, not a mass duplication plant where they were just copying an audio signal.

[@peter486]

there games was the best for sure. Ocean, Imagine, psygnosis & US Gold.

[@pow1983]

FML an unbiased documentary - can't have been put out on the BBC back in the day, they must have cancelled it. Cracking stuff!

[@roedgroedudenfloede]

I can’t seem to find it now, but a while back I tried to find details of Imagine’s distribution company featured in this documentary (Express Marketing) and found an old page which seemed to suggest it went bankrupt in or around May 1985. Obviously, causation does not imply correlation and all that, but it wouldn’t surprise me if Imagine’s downfall not only impacted Imagine’s staff, but those who supported, financed, and were in debt to the company.

[@moobit]

Hey all! :) I wonder if any fellow Retro fans will pick up the subtle irony of the music I use for the interactive bit at the beginning an end of the video...? ;D

[@gazbert88]

And who the fuck are you exactly?

[@richardmattocks]

A £40 game in 1984… adjusted for inflation, that £164 in 2022 money. Who’d pay that for a game back in the day? Just crazy to even “imagine” it would ever work. Watching it back, it has car crash written all over it from the start. Just shows how people can be blinded by their own ideas.

[@sjadarkest]

Okay, I feel like I'm missing something here coz I can't see anyone else un the comments who mentioned this. 9:50, I could be wrong but I'm pretty certain that's not Hunchback 2, its Donkey Kong Jr, right? Please, someone correct me on this if I'm wrong

[@AnthonyFlack]

yep, looks like DKJr to me.

[@mickeyscratcher]

14:05 I always wonder was that the cassette duplicator guy out in the lobby, calling in trying to get the attention of anybody to help him while the boys were inside having their meeting.

[@steven-vn9ui]

According to a video by Kim Justice you are absolutely correct

[@antster1983]

According to Kim Justice's documentary, he is from the Kiltdale tape duplication plant in Cheltenham.

[@PeasGraveny]

Pleased to hear the Joe Walsh tune in situ as it has been muted due to copyright on the other uploads of this.

[@robinwebster2754]

18:07 I like how happy David Ward looks when he starts talking about schoolkids ripping off Oceans games.

[@lifetruthseeking5808]

Black mirror anyone?

[@agungmillenienbun4561]

real story they never release bandersnatch and just commercial

[@redlinetelevision]

and screenwipe music at the beginning of this vid was mad

[@guyfawkes6]

yepppp I was looking at games released by ZX Spectrum and got nothing. then i saw that bandersnatch was an actual game that just wasnt released

[@HJB30]

definitely

[@gazbert88]

@@agungmillenienbun4561 wtf language is that you're slevering?

[@broncofun5636]

What were the best selling games for Christmas 84?

[@RadRogue1]

I own a demo copy of Bandersnatch. Cool game.

[@creightonjason]

You are kidding ?

[@8-bitsteve500]

Yeah, sure.

[@happysunshinydays6349]

So was it Ocean (using the Imagine name on the box) that released Yie Ar Kung Fu?

[@antster1983]

Yes.

[@cpd...]

Sounds like someone is playing Lode Runner at 18:47.

[@hydrofilms]

Great doc, but 720p? That's funny for several reasons.

[@hydrofilms]

***** Doesn't hurt, doesn't make it HD :) Don't get me wrong though, I love this documentary and glad you uploaded it. I can smell the nostalgia of the 80s.

[@mr8I7]

Late I know.But it has to be said that it’s always better to upload in a higher quality even if the source material has to be up scaled first. The higher the resolution on upload, the higher the bitrate of the video which therefore preserves the original quality of the content as best as it can be. That’s why this is the clearest upload of the documentary on KZbin.

[@zeeninetynine]

Yes but no need to label it as 720p

[@nodarkthings]

Can anyone help? At the beginning it says to click the screen to be taken to an interview about the documentary. When I click it the video simply pauses! What am I doing wrong??

[@bastardtubeuser]

was it one of oceans loaders ?

[@SE09uk]

11:55 oh Silvia you little fibber

[@michaeltsung9741]

: ¬ ) well at least she said "I'd say" the end of July. She didn't make a categorical statement.... And also she didn't state which year..... Perhaps the spectrum version is still being written, and will be out on 31st July 2024.....

[@sylviajones3395]

In fact .. there was no work completed on bandersnatch at the time of the recording. I literally made it up as I went along ... so yes.. a little fibber indeed . Carried it off quite well I thought ... 👍😃

[@nickthelick]

@@sylviajones3395 You star you! LoL! I was only 5 in 1984, but I had a Spectrum 48k and actually remember (and had a few of) those games Imagine sold.

[@sylviajones3395]

@@nickthelick well Nick , it was a time never to be forgotten. Imagine were at the forefront of a brand new era in gaming entertainment .It was extraordinary the way things turned out , with a little more life experience things could have ended differently for Imagine . It was good …so good , while it lasted . Ian Wetherborn RIP … that was a tragedy that should never have happened ….

[@antster1983]

@@sylviajones3395 There's a great video on Ian Weatherburn, Canvas Software and the Highlander game here, made by Kim Justice: kzbin.info/www/bejne/sKbcaJ2Bh7Ooa9k Also RIP Dave Lawson and Ian Hetherington.

[@ramardoautistin]

15:54 - professional counterfeiter sounds like hell of a job though

[@nathanjedrej792]

Boy booting the door when he's back from the pub.

[@bramtheblackpoolfan6922]

Relax. Don’t do it.

[@rnimimiae]

black mirror is real?

[@rnimimiae]

5:07 Mark Butler

[@michaelturner4457]

4:00 I like the wet fart sounds of that game.

[@antster1983]

And here's footage of the game itself: kzbin.info/www/bejne/d6Kzo2x3ocigbLM RIP Jonathan "Joffa" Smith

[@tomdavies6368]

The difference between Ocean and Imagine is so stark in this programme. A realistic, level headed business versus a bunch of egotistical charlatans.

[@seanpeck8748]

A bunch of kids who were at the right place of the right time vs a business

[@gabrieleriva651]

Ian Weatherborn later committed suicide at 23.

[@user-vg5rv5xf4u]

Poor bastard.

[@creightonjason]

Didnt know that

[@antster1983]

​@@creightonjason Kim Justice made a half hour documentary on Ian Weatherburn, Canvas Software, and the _Highlander_ game debacle, culminating in Weatherburn's tragic death at a young age: kzbin.info/www/bejne/sKbcaJ2Bh7Ooa9k

[@creightonjason]

@@antster1983 Thanks Ive just seen that, loved his games. Must have been mentally ill poor sod

[@ScottPearce1976]

Boomers. Boomers everywhere.

[@jeffross761]

I would love to go to that British computer multimedia store funny that I could download all of these libraries I'm not sure bandersnatch can be emulated I imagine it could be I will look for it on my beebem emulator or spectrum I live on the usa when in the heyday the ibm pc or clones were popular commodore 64 some amigas apple computers tandy trs80 coco and black and white model 1 and three computers

[@chiroquacker2580]

The ZX spectrum and Harry Potter are the finest things the UK has ever produced. Except for The United States of America of course.

[@happysunshinydays6349]

Apple Pie and the AmstradCPC464 beat both of those.

[@lucasoheyze4597]

The Beatles, mate, we've always got The Beatles.

[@LandersWorkshop]

Dyson Hoovers!

[@letsdiscussitoversometea8479]

The Rover 75, The Snowman, snooker, Ralph Vaughan Williams, English country cottages - shall I go on?