Comparing Doctor Who: "The Moonbase" - 1967 vs 2014

[@Loverboy19691]

Planet 55 is the best animation I have seen, I was really impressed with it. The animation for this is better than 2016's Power of the Daleks.

[@DanTheMan2150AD]

I still think Cosgrove Hall’s animation on The Invasion is better, but Planet 55 are a close second.

[@davidbanan.]

@josh snarse when u realise that 2020 we will get 2 animations

[@ireallydidntwanttomakeanac575]

That is a hard question to answer. Personally, they all are brilliant in their own way. I love Planet 55's cinematic style, which now that I know is a part of Big Finish, makes me so excited to see if they would animate an audio from them. BBC Studio's version of The Macra Terror was absolutely fantastic! They work well when they don't have a restricted time limit. The Ice Warriors might be my favourite animation style just because of how much they actually fit in with the telesnaps. Cosgrove did fantastically with Shalka, which usually gets sidelined by many fans, which is a shame. They did wonderfully with that.

[@christopheralthouse6378]

"The Invasion" was the first serial to have it's missing episodes animated and it's the only one animated by Cosgrove Hall, following on from their work on "Scream of the Shalka"...I really feel like they did a great job on that release and it's a shame they haven't done any of the others...😢

[@laurenjeffery340]

The macra terror and the faceless one looks like a British sci fi anime and I love it

[@immoralq]

I love The Moonbase, and I think Planet 55 are definitely the best animators for Doctor Who. I’d love to see their take on The Savages. The Beeb really needs to get all the missing episodes animated pronto. I mean, DW is huge cash cow for them, so it’d definitely be worth it.

[@DanTheMan2150AD]

Another brilliant comparison Josh, keep up the brilliant work as usual.

[@DokkaChapman]

I too love this version of 'The Moonbase'. It's the only DVD in my DW collection that I've gotten signed (by the ever lovely Anneke Wills. I did already have an autograph from her from over a decade ago, but decided to do it anyway as I love her and the story so much :) ).

[@ulsteredz]

Given that Planet 55 have already animated a period setting adventure (Reign of Terror) and have proven that they can handle costume changes (Moonbase), one would hope that BBC Studios would commission them to tackle Marco Polo and The Crusades. That way we can have complete Season One and Two Bluray boxsets to add to our collection. But one can always dream, eh? Though I would have Norton's team animate The Savages. Like Macra, no episodes are known to exist - making it ripe for a similar reimagining. It also follows a similar plot theme with a distinctly dodgy interplanetary human colony. And just think - a Hartnell in HD, full colour and in 16:9 ratio! What's not to like?

[@mrblobby7864]

In my opinion, Moonbase had the best animation out of all the animated recons. The likeness to the actors and the movement is great! It's a shame that Planet 55 can't animate every missing episode.

[@jeremythomaswebb1485]

Awesome video work Josh, really Great stuff. I thought the coverage you did on the missing episodes was a great series to follow. :) Looking forward to seeing more content. As for the animation question at the end of this Video. It's hard to say. I think Planet 55 were really hitting their stride with the animation work. Comparing the Moonbase to the previous William Hartnell animations shows that they really have improved and evolved to. There's much more movement and it isn't so static with constant heads shots all the time. As an animation student at uni and having studied it for some time now, I can tell with some studios with enough time can evolve with the animation art style and production values. Same with anything I guess that the more you practice and commit yourself to the process. The better you get at it and find better ways of creating more fluid animation. If the studios have more time which is the main factor that limits them in so many ways, the animations can really look amazing, not that the work they have done isn't amazing already. And the thing is, each studio does a few and that's it before any more can be done. I think what the BBC and Sun & Moon Studios (they covered the Macra Terror) are starting to really get the hang of animation. It really shows from each production they do from Power of the Daleks to Shada to Macra terror. At least they're doing on each year or so on a more regular basis so that's something at least, looking forward to what they do next. :)

[@brianleslie19]

You are actually my favourite KZbinr.

[@BobaTennant]

Yay, thanks Josh for doing my favourite 60's episode that i asked for recently.

[@JoshSnares]

I aim to please!

[@BobaTennant]

@@JoshSnares You certainly did :)

[@verdiguy]

After the brilliant animation of the two missing episodes of the Invasion, this is my second favourite recreation. I love the Moonbase as a story and it features my favourite Cybermen, with their diving suits, vacuum tubing and practice golf balls! The helmets are iconic and we even get a sarcastic Cyberleader (Clever, clever, clever) Troughton is on top form and gets to deliver Doctor Who's "mission statement" (There are some corners of the universe...) Polly responds to a request for some coffee by creating her special Cyber-stopping cocktail. Among the guest cast, Hobson is a great foil for the Doctor, originally skeptical but coming to realize that this strange little man can save the day. With his neckerchief, Jules is so hilariously French that it's surprising he isn't wearing a beret... On the whole, it's a great story and while it would be nice to find the missing episodes, the animations will do for now. Thanks!

[@DoctorJohnSmith9]

"I find myself watching it all the time." Just like how I find myself watching THESE all the time!

[@ThatRandomFastingGuy]

I love your work so much. Thank you for everything you do.

[@powerspyin2]

Planet 55 are my favourite. Second favourite is Crosgrove hall, then BBC studios then Qurios Entertainment

[@whovian59]

Another great video Josh. Thank you. We all need to try and apply pressure to see the Wheel in Space animated now.

[@tonyb2600]

Excellent video Josh 😎👍

[@tomchristison1658]

Beautiful story! One of the best uses of the Cybermen and knowing more of the original broadcast is certainly intriguing. I do wonder what stories are likely to be next animated as some are very unlikely. Which story/stories do you think are most likely?

[@JoshSnares]

I never guessed they’d do Macra, so it’s a mystery to me!

[@james68908]

I wish planet 55 animated the ice warriors. I would have loved to see what the ice warriors and Victoria would look like in their animation style.

[@SouthPark333Gaming]

This is my favourite animation

[@scarlet1958uk]

Excellent analysis as always. Well done

[@TrentonBlessWrestlemania489]

Been waiting for this one for awhile. The Moonbase is my all time favorite Doctor Who story.

[@Mary-o8r]

This animation is the best I’ve seen

[@doctorwhom8294]

another brilliant video

[@dickiegreenleaf750]

I love the Moonbase. Very delish episode

[@Jasonk123]

great video

[@aristidetwain9117]

According to Elizabeth Sandifer, it's a misinterpretation to assume “The Evil of the Daleks” was meant to kill off the Daleks, or that this was due to their getting less popular than they used to be; according to Sandifer's information, the intention was to write them out of the series, not because they were getting unpopular, but because this was around the time Terry Nation was getting serious about taking the rights away from the BBC and go make a solo Dalek spin-off series in the States.

[@thejacal2704]

Soz, but it's not Sandifer's info, it's common knowledge. I read that in the eighties, in a book by Bentham. To all intents though, it was to kill them off in Doctor Who, so Nation could market his creation in the U.S. Didn't work, so they came back in the spellbinding Day of the Daleks....

[@aristidetwain9117]

Not really, though. The ending of “Evil” clearly shows the Daleks have survived, albeit greatly diminished. And it'd actually be pretty stupid of Nation to kill off the characters he wants to launch in a spin-off, that's like if, in preparation for “The Adventures of Sarah-Jane Smith”, “School Reunion” had ended with her dying.

[@JoshSnares]

Did I imply anything other than that? I made this video weeks ago. But it is common knowledge, and have mentioned it in other videos :)

[@aristidetwain9117]

@Josh Snares: At 1:44 you seem to imply that the switch from Daleks to Cybermen as the "A-list monsters" was because the production team believed the Daleks weren't loved as much as they used to, rather than because Nation was preventing them from using the (still very much fan-favorite) Daleks.

[@JoshSnares]

Aristide Twain I can see how that was interpreted, not my intention though.

[@peterdixon7734]

Also: thanks for the "Missing Episodes" videos. Hugely appreciated.

[@GhostPurple69]

As a one-shot, Cosgrove Hall pretty well nailed it, especially for the tools they had available to them for the budget, at the time. It's professional, attractively stylized, and consistent. But, it's also done with mid-2000s era Flash, on a tight budget, so it relies heavily on atmospheric framing and still models to get its point across. This is unfortunate when applied to as elastic a presence as Troughton, whose face and body language are the main draws of any production he's a part of. By the time of The Moonbase, Planet 55 really found their stride, and it's tempting to say this is about as good as I expect animations to get-though at times the glitz and razzle of the attempted realism gets in the way of expressiveness, as we have fairly realistic-looking figures that just... don't move all that much, or only do along certain joints. It's not quite uncanny valley material, but it's a limitation of the approach. The Macra Terror is, I think, the golden mean here. That team has hit on a balance of stylization and creative framing not unlike Cosgrove Hall's, yet with a more flexible tool set more along the lines of Planet 55's, resulting in a feature that pretty much works on its own terms as an animated story. There's so much energy here, and internal consistency (despite a bit of stiffness in the bigger, broader bodily motions). And, crucially, there's such observation and attention to the subtleties of facial and minor bodily motion, allowing the characters to *act* rather than just play out their cues. Wider shots of people dancing around, maybe those don't work so well-but put two characters in a room, and there's such wonderful fuss about every little twitch and tic as they interact with each other. So I guess it depends on the demands of the story. But The Macra Terror seems like it's landed on an ideal balance for at least a certain kind of script.

[@overtheoverseer]

I'm still in awe with how excellent these animated episodes look. I found myself completely emersed in the story, like no other animations of missing episodes I've seen before. I've got all the serials with missing episodes that have been animated, listed on this video, and found each of them jarring or noticeably inaccurate. The worst of which has to be 'The Invasion.' The character models, recreated sets and overall attention to detail are admirable. 'The Moonbase' looks like it was recreated with love, which is all a Doctor Who fan could ask for!

[@lepterfirefall]

My favourite animated story.

[@richardblackshire8450]

Nice one josh good work

[@Eltonlaleham]

The Cybermen becoming returning villains to replace the Daleks whom Terrry Nation was intending to retire from Dr Who

[@GavinBollard]

The thing that I really noticed compared to the telesnaps is how much clearer the animation is. Great comparison.

[@Glender73]

Nice video Josh, I really like the interest shown in the old & missing 1960s serials. Realistically though, I doubt any of the early B&W seasons will see release as blu-ray boxes. Besides there being so many missing episodes in season 3-5, which would need to be animated at significant cost, much of what does actually exist is not in the most suitable condition for high definition transfer. Right up to mid-way through the 5th season, the BBC were recording DW at low resolution for broadcasting, and most episodes existing today are only telecine copies of those original low quality (by modern standards) video masters - and none of the original videotape survives. Additionally, many of the telecine films discovered and returned to the BBC over the years were not kept in optimal condition - if remastered for high definition, the obvious flaws of the source material would undoubtedly be highlighted; so sadly, DVD may be the best medium for these low quality source B&W stories. As it currently stands, I think the BBC will find it difficult enough to restore the earliest Pertwee seasons, due to the loss of so many of the original PAL colour episodes, being available only in converted NTSC sources or as B&W film colourised from poor video signal information. Apart from Spaerhead From Space which was shot on film, most stories of seasons 7 and 8 are missing some or all of the original colour video masters, which will make them difficult to transfer to HD blu-ray quality, compared to the later Pertwee & all Tom Baker seasons (for which original video masters still exist). I think this is why they have opted to release season 10 as the first Pertwee season on blu-ray - his last 2 seasons being the most suitable for HD transfer, with both seasons having only one episode not currently sourced from original BBC colour videotape masters (Death To The Daleks pt.2 & Invasion Of The Dinosaurs pt.1). The DW restoration team have really got their work cut-out for them preparing many of the early Pertwee stories for HD blu-ray release. So unfortunately I don't think it's likely we'll ever see those B&W Hartnell & Troughton seasons issued as blu-ray boxes - but I definitely wouldn't mind being wrong about this!

[@markkopernicky3489]

Another great video Josh. I've always enjoyed the animated work done for Doctor Who. It's interesting. ..while I think Planet 55 does the best work...my favorite episode that has animation is The Invasion. I think all of the companies have their strengths and weaknesses. Looking forward to your next video.

[@thomasstevens2746]

I still haven't seen this one I've hears it's really good

[@BalefireBombshell]

Strange, it looks like they used Rotoscoping for much of the movement animation save for the close-up scenes. Which looks really good. But apparently they dropped that for later animations in the following years? IDK.

[@aducharme01]

So, apparently the fantasy land you're living in is actually just real life. Considering that, I think the chances of a Dalek's Master Plan recovery are much higher than I previously thought.

[@raydarable]

I liked Cosgrove Hall Films' animation the most. The Invasion is my favourite animated story.

[@seanm1955]

Overall Planet 55 are my favourite animation team for pure accuracy and beautiful designs but The Reign of Terror animation was a headache to watch so that drags them down slightly. My favourite animation is The Invasion however and i also love Scream of the Shaka so that's a close second.

[@IsaacWhittakerDakin]

"CLEVER CLEVER CLEVER!"

[@thejacal2704]

Almost makes me wish there was a Seeds of Death episode missing, just so when they animated it, I could say ' Geniusssssss'.

[@vincinel114]

@@thejacal2704 Well played. That was funny.

[@hungrydragonvsfrightendhob7799]

Bet you were happy to find out about Faceless and Fury.

[@rexlloyd7320]

We all know this is the best animation. Even though it has a strange blue tint on it, it’s so 60’s style and the Moon March of the Cybermen is so amazing

[@Polavianus]

Can you compare the recons of Enemy and the episode of Enemy (It's your Choice)

[@BadwolfGamer]

So does that mean we'll get Big Finish animations in the future?

[@JoshSnares]

Not really, just because Big Finish own it doesn’t mean the BBC will commission them to animate their own work

[@ariesroc]

I prefer the Planet 55 style over anything else seen since. It feels closest to the actual episodes which really is the point to me. I'd prefer this far over the Macra style.

[@Slidinsidewayz2009]

They should blur the resolution a bit to make the video match better

[@cinemafanaticreviews]

Planet 55 is good, however, the have issues in the editing dept. Do they really need 4 angles to show a person talking a step forward or saying a single word? I don't think so.

[@frogoat]

I'm all about putting out more high quality animation yearly, and I'd love some classic boxset representation for the earliest seasons.

[@jerrylipnisky80]

Cosgrove, though I really like The Moonbase animation, too. Of the animated episodes, which would you like to see returned the most?

[@andrewf1145]

Big Finish Creative huh? Well... After all the lost episodes have been animated, there's always plenty of brilliant audio stories? Wink, wink, nudge, nudge.

[@thejacal2704]

Great work as always. I think that The Moonbase is probably the best ( in my opinion) of the recons. Many diss it, and prefer The Invasion. I felt the Cosgrove one was good, but a little cartoonish. Ice Warriors (Qurios) was better... Maybe I need to sit down and watch both again......

[@themirrorsofmymind]

While "The Invasion" (of The Cybermen) isn't one of my favorite stories, I think its remade animated episodes are my favorites because they seem to be the closest to capturing Patrick Troughton's likeness and his facial expressions. In "The Macra Terror" he looks more like a cartoon character than in "The Invasion" or "The Ice Warriors" although "The Ice Warriors" is probably my least favorite for a likeness of Troughton...

[@djv85gaming]

There really is only one missing serial I want made and it's The Dalek Master Plan (and in second place Evil of the Daleks). Daleks have always been the shows greatest bad guys even though they've been beaten time and time again I always enjoy them appearing so I'd love an animation of Master Plan by anyone at this point lol.

[@ruton22]

My fave animation this one very good

[@LongStripeyScarf]

What if Big Finish Creative were given the budget to animate one of their own 8th Doctor stories...?

[@gussyt1761]

The Invasion animation was my favourite until BBC studios animation Power of the Daleks and then the beautiful Macra Terror

[@jeremyvaupell1747]

Ka chow

[@goneoffbeans2768]

Great video, it be cool if you did the Reign of Terror.

[@JoshSnares]

Reign of Terror doesn’t have any surviving telesnaps!

[@goneoffbeans2768]

@@JoshSnares oh yeah sorry I forgot.

[@JoshSnares]

gone off beans can’t remember everything! 😂

[@_SomeRandomYoutuber_]

Planet 55 need to animate again, they are brilliant.

[@imaginationstation5161]

Episode 1 0:00 Episode 3 1:56

[@AubreySciFi]

Tough call. I guess Planet 55 for this one and BBC studios for The Macra Terror.

[@shedjr_]

I do love The Moonbase, and Planet 55's animation was amazing! But I do love the one's for The Macra. P.S. I would say you're living in the land of fiction (If you get my refrence)

[@merci-wheelium]

Episode 3 is spectacular

[@fadikhoory5350]

They went from this to Fury from the deep. Didn't Sun and Moon animate Macra Terror? I actually liked Sun and Moon and Planet 55. Edit: I also live in a fantasy land, last time I checked there were 35 missing episodes. Until I blinked.

[@peterdixon7734]

Given the fact that in Game of Thrones Lena Headey was able to do Cersei's naked Walk of Atonement with her own face and a body double (boo!), perhaps some future technology will be able to do proper photographic animation with the real actors' faces. I was OK with the WHO Recons animations (I got through The Abominable Snowmen and The Dalek's Master Plan), and a superior version of this technology might eventually be possible. The only unfortunate thing was the fact that, if there was a fight, the two (computer game-like) characters had to put up their fists, like two pugilists fighting in accordance with Queensberry rules. Epic. If Skynet becomes self-aware, the first thing it will do will be to restore the missing Doctor WHO episodes and then kill us all.

[@nichloasrich5293]

This is a good story Josh a 10 from me I watch it again soon when I've finished the season 18 box set it makes good use of the cybermen the animation is good in This one the new ones as you say are not so good I'm pleased there doing them unemployed watching the telesales in the macra terrior

[@quantumnoodl5584]

I'm a big fan of Planet 55's Dr. Who animations. I think the BBC animations have improved, however. I really don't like Power of the Daleks' animation style, but Macra looks much better. (Even though they didn't include the Rough and Tumble scene).

[@thejacal2704]

Also, when there are no extant episodes, I think it's easier to use license. Ok, just more Daleks in Power.... But The Macra Terror (which doesn't exist........in the BBC archives) benefitted greatly from more and larger and scarier crabs. The Savages is ripe for animation; no purist is going to, or should get massively pi**ed at a detail, ' too many Daleks' or ' the Macra were too big'... Relatively easy I'd have thought, just Jaeger's blackface needs to be addressed.....

[@jdzencelowcz]

Really, REALLY annoying that they didn't animate Underwater Menace, or the one missing Web of Fear ep (may whoever has it either repent or face the daleks!!!), but what we do have does at least get the point across.

[@No1ShalkaFan]

Wow Josh, doubting we'll get more than animation company producing animated missing stories a year. You were soooo wrong 😂

[@peterdixon7734]

All hail Planet 55.

[@doctorwho3445]

Be good if it was in colour

[@chuckwilliams3003]

1.) Cosgrove Hall 2.) BBC 3.) Planet 55 4.) Qurios

[@carealoo744]

101st Comment!

[@nesshane71]

So annoying they don't match the original scenes. I cannot watch the animations for this reason!

[@DrPeppergay]

Awesome!