4 is the big number for us is now… Yep – we’re on the case. We’ve had a big meeting last week at Stephen’s where we thrashed though some notes and talked over the edit of episode four. There’s been some interesting debate on how we keep all the action and plot points and yet keep it within the same episode length. We think we have an edit now so we can start working on the picture quality and the effects and sound and music etc etc! There’s a lot to get done and we are aiming for April next year. Don’t shoot us down if we don’t make it but that’s the game plan. The first three episodes had their set pieces (asteroid, glass galleon and production line) and episode four has… … well, the clue is in the episode title which of course we’re keeping quiet until the launch!
Some other numbers? Well we could say how many minutes and seconds and frames make up the episode. We could say how much of that needs grading, image improvement, sound, effects, music….. etc etc. There are 4 members of the Devious Team but there are only so many hours in a day to get it all done! If we did work all that out we’d go mad. As we said – we’re on the case. We have fun as well… here’s a cartoon presented to the Devious Team on their WhatsApp earlier today by Mark…
Yes – it’s all in the numbers. And of course we must also thank the superb DWM for including a link to Episode Three in the latest magazine! Excellent stuff! Wonderful and very welcome!
So how long have we been making Devious? Well, no-one really had much of an idea until we checked it out. David thinks he said 40 at the recent convention so we weren’t entirely sure. Luckily our facts and figures guru checked it out and so we’ve sent them away again now. OK, so just for the record… we started filming in 1991 down in Devil’s Dyke near Brighton, on the beautiful South Downs, meaning that…
Devious was started 35 years ago and filming completed in 2005 – ie 21 years ago! Who knew?
Let’s face it – the more you look into the numbers behind this project the more you need to look away! It’s a hobby project. Like a Doctor Who Tribute Band we did our own thing our way quietly down in Sussex. And now we are treating this like a restoration project – we’ve got the footage and we’re trying to complete the whole thing exactly as it was intended when it was written all those years ago! Mind you – even the plot deliberately involves characters ageing unnaturally. Maybe we will too. Hopefully in the reverse direction.
Sadly and inexplicably the oldest copy of the script that can be found is undated. Ashley has subsequently set fire to his hyphen and we have welcomed Stephen and Mark into the team. We also have no idea who Richard Somebody is or was, although we can be reasonably certain we know who Barry Ward is / was / will be *.
Still – it’s an exciting process as we have stuck to the story-line even though the one outlined in the 28 page version shown above had evolved a wee bit by the mid nineties. The major change to the original story-line you will hopefully see in episodes 4 and 5. Of course some parts have allowed us to have some fun with the original premise – namely the flashbacks seen in episode 3 which hopefully you have now watched. These have been presented slightly differently than would have been the case if that episode had been released a year or so earlier as intended. The TARDIS standing on the bronze snow-covered hand of the Greco-Roman god statue was definitely not in the original story-line! The idea behind the flashbacks was to show that our Doctor has had a life as this incarnation, before and with, his current companions.
14 – and one more number before we end – congratulations to Ncuti Gatwa on becoming the 14th Doctor!
Righto – that’s enough with the numbers – let’s wish ourselves luck with the next phase of this project. Don’t trust the numbers, the devious digits, the scores on the doors. It’s the camaraderie, the team spirit, the fun – that’s what counts. If the UK can come 2nd in Eurovision after being written off for so long then we have a chance!
- – he will continue to be Barry Ward
