Bernard Lodge
Bernard Lodge was credited with designing the first five title sequences used for Doctor Who. These were the ones used from An Unearthly Child to The Moonbase; from The Macra Terror to The War Games; from Spearhead from Space to The Green Death; from The Time Warrior to Planet of the Spiders; and from Robot to The Horns of Nimon.
Norman Taylor has alleged that, at least insofar as the monochromatic titles were concerned, "all [Lodge] did was to produce one white on black caption". A paper trail[additional sources needed] would seem to exist in the BBC's archives, which indicates Taylor was the principal discoverer of the "howl-round effect" seen in 1960s and early 1970s Doctor Who titles.[1]
According to Lodge in an interview in 2013, the "howlaround" effect was in existence at the time, with Verity Lambert asking him to "have a look at it" (for Doctor Who) and that it might be incorporated into the opening titles.[2] Upon seeing the film of the howlaround at Ealing Studios for the first time, he described what he saw as:
These shapes; magic, just magic.
Lodge created the titles and the symmetrical Doctor Who logo lettering, creating the titles and adding a pen torch light to create more patterns whilst filming the sequence. Lodge went on to also create the titles for Patrick Troughton's stories beginning with The Macra Terror, adding in Troughton's face to the title sequence, having been discouraged by Lambert during Hartnell's era (as being too scary). The new sequence with Troughton's face was achieved with "a combination of the howlaround and a crumpled piece of polythene to break up the face as the light passed across it. We were very inventive in those days, always messing around and experimenting.".[2]
While Lodge had anticipated creating a new title sequence for Jon Pertwee’s debut by linking a new colour camera to its monitor, the effect was disappointing, and the sequence was eventually created using a monochrome camera, and then adding bold colours afterwards. This sequence is also notable for introducing Doctor Who’s first legitimate “logo” designed by Lodge, although its use in contemporary merchandise was essentially limited to a few issues of Radio Times. A revised version of this logo was introduced with the TV Movie in 1996, and would eventually become one of the longest-used logos on licensed merchandise and publications in the programme’s history, only being officially “retired” in 2018.
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- ↑ "Norman Taylor's Story of Dr Who". The Tech-Ops History Site (28th November 2010). Retrieved on 12th November 2013.
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 Tony Peters (11 November 2013). Meet Bernard Lodge, the man behind the Doctor Who titles. Radio Times. Retrieved on 12 November 2013.
