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The Visitation (TV story): Difference between revisions
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Behind the scenes, it was important for being Saward's first contribution to the show. Unlike most other cases where the [[script editor]] received credit for writing an individual [[serial]], here the script submission came ''prior'' to Saward's ascension to the script editor's office. It was essentially the script that landed him the job as [[script editor]], rather than the job which necessitated or allowed his writing of the script. | Behind the scenes, it was important for being Saward's first contribution to the show. Unlike most other cases where the [[script editor]] received credit for writing an individual [[serial]], here the script submission came ''prior'' to Saward's ascension to the script editor's office. It was essentially the script that landed him the job as [[script editor]], rather than the job which necessitated or allowed his writing of the script. | ||
It was also notable for its high ratings. It's one of the very few stories told in the [[serial]] format to improve its ratings with every episode. Excluding ''[[Dimensions in Time (TV story)|Dimensions in Time]]'', the final episode is one of only five produced by JNT to have achieved a rating of 10 million viewers or better. Perhaps more tellingly, that episode was the 40th most-watched episode of the week | It was also notable for its high ratings. It's one of the very few stories told in the [[serial]] format to improve its ratings with every episode. Excluding ''[[Dimensions in Time (TV story)|Dimensions in Time]]'', the final episode is one of only five produced by JNT to have achieved a rating of 10 million viewers or better. Perhaps more tellingly, that episode was the 40th most-watched episode of the week – one of only four occasions when JNT-produced ''Doctor Who'' broke into the top 40. Indeed it was the joint third-highest-ranked episode of JNT's tenure, tying with the final episode of ''[[Earthshock (TV story)|Earthshock]]''. | ||
== Synopsis == | == Synopsis == | ||
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* [[Director]] [[Peter Moffatt]] strongly disliked [[Paddy Kingsland]]'s [[incidental music]] for this serial, saying it was replete with "turgid chords". ([[DCOM]]: ''The Visitation'') However, Kingsland called Moffatt his "favourite director to work with". ([[DOC]]: ''[[Scoring The Visitation]]'') | * [[Director]] [[Peter Moffatt]] strongly disliked [[Paddy Kingsland]]'s [[incidental music]] for this serial, saying it was replete with "turgid chords". ([[DCOM]]: ''The Visitation'') However, Kingsland called Moffatt his "favourite director to work with". ([[DOC]]: ''[[Scoring The Visitation]]'') | ||
* [[Eric Saward]] disliked [[Michael Robbins]]' performance as Richard Mace, largely because he kept changing his lines. Robbins, for his part, is said to have hated working on this story. | * [[Eric Saward]] disliked [[Michael Robbins]]' performance as Richard Mace, largely because he kept changing his lines. Robbins, for his part, is said to have hated working on this story. | ||
* [[Peter Davison]] | * [[Peter Davison]] named this serial as a favourite. [[Matthew Waterhouse]] recalled Davison entering the rehearsal room shaking the script with excitement. | ||
* The Terileptils, and the pioneering animatronic masks used to bring them to life, were intended to return. Those plans fell through. One mask did end up being reused in modified form on a delegate from [[Posikar]] in ''[[The Trial of a Time Lord]]''. | * The Terileptils, and the pioneering animatronic masks used to bring them to life, were intended to return. Those plans fell through. One mask did end up being reused in modified form on a delegate from [[Posikar]] in ''[[The Trial of a Time Lord]]''. | ||
* [[Eric Saward]] originally intended for the serial to end with the Doctor claiming a new sonic screwdriver out of a cabinet full of the devices: we could've seen far more of the sonic in the classic series, | * [[Eric Saward]] originally intended for the serial to end with the Doctor claiming a new sonic screwdriver out of a cabinet full of the devices: we could've seen far more of the sonic in the classic series, but [[John Nathan-Turner]] decided that it made things too easy for the Doctor and was a writer's crutch. | ||
* The story was inspired by the work of a former girlfriend of [[Eric Saward]]'s, who had been studying the architecture which arose in the wake of the Great Fire of London. She observed that the black rats which carried the plague became virtually extinct within months of the Great Fire, and Saward thought that this would provide an effective science-fiction “hook” for a story about social conditions in mediaeval England. | * The story was inspired by the work of a former girlfriend of [[Eric Saward]]'s, who had been studying the architecture which arose in the wake of the Great Fire of London. She observed that the black rats which carried the plague became virtually extinct within months of the Great Fire, and Saward thought that this would provide an effective science-fiction “hook” for a story about social conditions in mediaeval England. | ||
* [[Ian Bannen]], [[Brian Blessed]], [[John Carson]], [[Ronald Fraser]], [[Donald Houston]], [[William Lucas]], [[Glyn Owen]] and [[Donald Pleasence]] were considered for Richard Mace. | * [[Ian Bannen]], [[Brian Blessed]], [[John Carson]], [[Ronald Fraser]], [[Donald Houston]], [[William Lucas]], [[Glyn Owen]] and [[Donald Pleasence]] were considered for Richard Mace. | ||
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* Filming at Black Park took place on a [[Heathrow Airport]] flight path and the noise of approaching aircraft regularly disrupted recording. An air traffic controller's strike put an end to these disturbances. | * Filming at Black Park took place on a [[Heathrow Airport]] flight path and the noise of approaching aircraft regularly disrupted recording. An air traffic controller's strike put an end to these disturbances. | ||
* [[Peter Davison]] drove himself to the location in his Volkswagen Scirocco. | * [[Peter Davison]] drove himself to the location in his Volkswagen Scirocco. | ||
=== Ratings === | === Ratings === | ||
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* Editing for the DVD release was completed by the [[Doctor Who Restoration Team]]. | * Editing for the DVD release was completed by the [[Doctor Who Restoration Team]]. | ||
<gallery position= | <gallery position=center captionalign=center hideaddbutton="true" > | ||
File:Visitationfinal.jpg|DVD Region 2 UK cover | File:Visitationfinal.jpg|DVD Region 2 UK cover | ||
File:The Visitation DVD Australian cover.jpg|DVD Region 4 Australian cover | File:The Visitation DVD Australian cover.jpg|DVD Region 4 Australian cover | ||
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::NTSC | ::NTSC | ||
<gallery position= | <gallery position=center captionalign=center hideaddbutton="true" > | ||
File:5x-video.jpg|VHS UK cover | File:5x-video.jpg|VHS UK cover | ||
File:The Visitation and Black Orchid VHS US cover.jpg|VHS US cover | File:The Visitation and Black Orchid VHS US cover.jpg|VHS US cover | ||
