We are pleased to publish our latest video, which is a recreation of the climatic final scenes in Episode 3 of Fury from the Deep. Sadly all 6 episodes of this story remain lost. Like all classic Dr Who fans, we hope this doesn’t remain the case forever. The recent finds from Film is Fabulous gives us all hope we may see these, and other, missing episodes one day!
Fury from the Deep is an iconic lost story from Season 5 of Doctor Who and is the last story which is entirely missing from the BBC archives. This story is particularly important as it marks the late Deborah Watling’s final appearance as Victoria in the classic series.
Sets and Design – We consider the sets and overall visual design to be an excellent example of 1960s Dr Who and have paid particular attention to recreating these as faithfully as possible. We hope we have paid homage to Peter Kindred (Designer) and his colleagues in re-creating the impeller room.
Multiplate source material – While the telesnaps provided the primary references, we also used behind-the-scenes photographs and film trims. We are experimenting with 3D sets to enhance consistency and accuracy of sets from different camera angles.
Background Actors – Since our earlier videos we have increased the use of background actors to enhance the realism of scenes.
Character consistency – We have spent much time trying to achieve stronger character consistency across the video. We were able to use other stories as reference models for main actors, but for those only appearing in this story we relied on telesnaps and (albeit very limited) censor clips and surviving film trims.
Lip sync – This is one of the most challenging aspects of this work. While changes to technology have increased accuracy, it usually requires generating a high number of renders and choosing the best option. We have also spent much time making micro-adjustments to maximise realism.
Smoothness – This video is a composition of many shorter clips and utilises advancements in technology to enhance overall smoothness. This was in response to feedback from our viewers. We greatly appreciate those viewers who have taken the time to provide feedback in the comments section.
We hope you enjoy and welcome feedback from fellow fans.
Coal Hill Studios is a fan-based project dedicated to producing recreations of lost 1960s Dr Who. We use AI and video editing tools with existing source materials, including still photographs and audio recordings.
Tags: #DoctorWho #AI #LostMedia #ClassicDoctorWho #AIFilm #AIAnimation #DoctorWhoRestoration
Watch the Doctor Who: Classic channel! Travel in the TARDIS with full episodes dating back to the Doctor’s first incarnation on SloppBoxx.Com.
The next step for AI is to assess HOW a SPECIFIC person walks and talks and postures. If there’s any upgrades in AI that has finally predicted THAT aspect of things, then these re-creations should become almost unnoticeable in terms of AI recreations. Wonder if that’s already out yet, because this still has some of that uncanny valley stuff going on, but still getting better.
OK this for me is 100% watchable, more than anything I’ve seen on this channel. I would watch the full serial if it was all to this standard. I think the ‘film effect’ (i.e. all the ageing effects, blurring, flickering etc) whether that’s part of the AI, or something you added afterwards, makes it feel more authentic. There are a few shots that appear AI-generated, e.g. 1:35 and 1:53, but it’s not distracting. It’s not a substitute for the original episodes, but I’d much rather watch this than an animated ‘cartoon’ reconstruction. Crucially it doesn’t feel like 5-second clips stitched together, they feel like full-length scenes and there’s no jarring shift in quality or aesthetic from one shot to the next, it really feels like a sensitively reconstructed Doctor Who episode.
PS While the lip syncing is a bit loose in places, I actually don’t mind that. It’s tight enough that it’s not jarring or distracting, and again it adds to the feeling that this is a reconstruction rather than an attempt to directly substitute for the original filmed episode. Plus with TV shows this old, I’m pretty sure the audio was off a bit at times anyway, or at least it seems like it could be.
Getting better all the time.
Still a way to go but the only thing that ruins the illusion for me is that Jamie’s head looks too big, flat and static. Other than that it’s very, very good.
Terrific.
This is awesome, very well done and thanks for sharing 🙂
Sooo good, gave me shivers. Surely can’t be that long till a full episode is done, come on BBC , you know you’ll make your money back if you support this stuff.
That got real convincing near the end, job well done
The step up in quality from your previous work is breathtaking. It’s SO close. The cutting of the shots is spot on. It has the feel and pace of 60’s Doctor Who. It’s just the mouth when talking that isn’t quite yet perfect. Everything else from facial expressions to editing to details such as the hair blowing in the wind is just staggering.