The Andrew Ellard Interview
Yes, that's right. A few weeks ago, we e-mailed Andrew Ellard, whose various roles include DVD Associate Producer, Website Co-ordinator and Movie Script Editor, and asked if he'd grant us an interview. This he did, with some gusto. And here it is.
You get the impression that Andrew is as excited about the DVDs as we are, and he is very honest and open about the production process and decisions. We thank him from the bottom of our rehydration units for his co-operation, and also award him full marks for pointing out our hypocrisy and mistakes. Well done!
Comments
Well, you've got the scoop on 'Marooned - Extended!'
Nice interview, makes me guilty of writing that article I did, really.
Posted by Darrell Jones at October 24, 2003 08:42 PM
So...how can they reduce the certificate for Marooned without messing with he episode? It appears to mean they removed the underage sex reference. Which would upset a lot of people.
I hope we don't notice the difference :|
Posted by Joey at October 24, 2003 08:58 PM
No, all they did with Marooned - Extended is add that extra easter egg on the end. There's no removals at all.
It was only certificated as a 15 originally because at the time there wasn't a 15 certificate for video (there was for film, though). There's a rule in place that states that the same version of a release can't be classified twice - so GNP added this extra 16 seconds at the end so it's a *different* version that's classified. Therefore, it can now get a 12.
Posted by John Hoare at October 24, 2003 09:03 PM
I know what you mean, Darrell - G&T has criticised various bits of the DVDs in the past, and it's always slightly discomfiting to realise that someone actually reads the criticisms. On the other hand, G&T is both pro-the-DVDs and pro-movie, so I guess we're allowed to make the odd criticism.
I do still disagree with Andrew about the model shots - I'd love to see them all. Perhaps two different versions could have been included - the full reel, and a 'highlights' package. But seeing as the rest of the DVD extras are so fantastic, this is a very minor point. We should be glad we're getting them at all.
Posted by John Hoare at October 24, 2003 09:08 PM
Also: the phrase "it was there in the edit, but it... fell off" is my favourite thing of all time.
Posted by John Hoare at October 24, 2003 09:12 PM
"But you can�t please everyone, and any criticism really hits you."
Argh! I feel REALLY guilty now. Stop the guilt, someone! ARGH.
Posted by Darrell Jones at October 24, 2003 10:01 PM
That's a very good interview. Horray for Ellard!
Posted by Tanya Jones at October 24, 2003 11:29 PM
Yes a very good and a very exclusive interview. May you both burn in hell with sharp things in your eyes :)
Posted by Cappsy at October 25, 2003 01:39 AM
Great Interview, as for the critisism, It's bound to niggle a little but if it's put into perspective I think it's probably meaningless..If you take into consideration DVD sales and the huge ammount of hits on reddwarf.co for example,we as 'posters' make up a very very small percentage of Dwarf Fans. The Webboard quite often carries complaints about something or other but at the end of the day the regular posters are just a very small section of the buying/visiting public. Andrew has always answered the critics with a smile and usually has an answer to bury any whinge regarding output or content.All companies realy on feedback from customers and GNP are no different, but looking at the whole picture 'we' as posters whether it be here, rd.co or the fan club site could probably be described as 'Fanatical' or 'Die Hard' fans whereas most of the buyers or users of Red Dwarf stuff wouldn't know wether a scene had been extended, deleted or re-shot in techno colour so the real feedback is down to actual 'Sales' and Sales seem to going very well indeed...I for one am very gratefull that, in Andrew, we have someone at the helm who is as passionate as we are about all things Dwarf.One complaint though, Why oh why wasn't the 'Pink' Bicycle brought up ? :)
Posted by Cpt-D at October 25, 2003 10:58 AM
Thanks Moss, I can stop being so blonde now :)
Posted by Joey at October 25, 2003 11:52 AM
I like the sound of some of the issues being tackled in 'All Change'. The racial bollocks surrounding Dimension Jump would be interesting to hear about. Especially from Danny.
I hope they also elabourate more on the story of the A-Level student who was near to failing but was inspirered to push harder by seeing Ace in Dimension Jump.
Posted by Cappsy at October 25, 2003 11:59 AM
...whereas Red Dwarf is causing me to fail mine.
Posted by Ian Symes at October 25, 2003 12:03 PM
Joey - "wasn't a 15 certificate for video" should read "wasn't a 12 certificate for video". But seeing as you understood what I was getting at, you probably worked that out.
Posted by John Hoare at October 25, 2003 01:08 PM
Wow! You actually got a interview with him! He also said he's read the stuff about the eggs on this site, I mean, I had a feeling he'd probably be looking on fan sites...
Posted by Stephen R. Fletcher at October 25, 2003 04:25 PM
He sounds a nice bloke, but I disagree with the idea that an out-take is only worth seeing if it's funny. Sometimes production footage is just interesting for its own sake.
Apologies if this has been discussed at length elsewhere, but does anyone know why they didn't put the full pilot (rather than just the a selection of scenes) on the Series 1 disc?
Posted by M at October 26, 2003 04:42 PM
The first episode is the 'pilot' even though it isn't one.
Gah, I'm not quite sure what you mean.
Posted by Joey at October 26, 2003 04:44 PM
The full pilot as it was submitted back in 1987, regardless of how much footage was reused for the transmitted version. I'd just be interested to see it.
Posted by M at October 26, 2003 05:00 PM
There never was a pilot in 1987. There was a pilot script which is slightly different to the final version of The End (published in the RD Omnibus), but all 6 episodes of the first series was recorded in one block.
There *was* some rerecording done of various scenes of The End done towards the end of the recordings - most of that appears in the deleted scenes.
Posted by John Hoare at October 26, 2003 05:27 PM
OK, but I'd still be interested in seeing the early version intact. They presumably made all sorts of relatively minor changes/tiny edits which can't necessarily be isolated as 'deleted scenes'. Was it the first to be recorded?
Posted by M at October 26, 2003 05:41 PM
The End was the first episode to be recorded, yes - on 27/9/1987 (with some extra recording on 8/11/1987).
The thing is, we don't know how far the episode got in the process before the reshoots - it may very well not have even entered the edit suite (and even if it *did*, there's no guarantee how far it got, or even if it exists any more.)
I personally think it would have been quite fun to have edited together the episode from scratch using only the original footage - but that's more of a "that'd be a fun thing to do" rather than "bastards, why isn't it there?" type thing. As I say, the majority of the unused stuff is in the deleted scenes.
Posted by John Hoare at October 26, 2003 05:48 PM
I feel like sticking a big notice on the front page of G&T saying "THERE WAS NO PILOT".
Posted by Ian Symes at October 26, 2003 05:52 PM
It wouldn't have been too hard to make a 'pilot', I suppose, by re-editing 'The End' by using the earliest versions of scenes filmed - but as I've commented before in my article (which I really despise), whatever equipment they used to transfer the rushes for the series 1 and 2 discs wasn't working properly anyway.
Posted by Darrell Jones at October 26, 2003 05:53 PM
Do you know why the original version of the opening scene is in such lo-fi/muffly quality on the DVD by the way? Is that the reason why they re-shot it, or was it because they wanted to write a better script?
Posted by M at October 26, 2003 05:54 PM
I think it must have been the quality of the script and performances which is why the rerecorded it - they're hardly stellar. (Mind you, I'm one of the few people I know who also hates the version of that scene that ends up in the final episode).
Posted by John Hoare at October 26, 2003 05:58 PM
I never noticed any problems with the quality of the tapes - I'll have a look again when I've got a DVD player.
I do take Darrell's points about the quality being perfectly fine on the Smeg Ups/Outs tapes. Perhaps the original tapes have deterioated since the mid-ninties when the did the Smeg tapes? Or maybe certain tapes/sections have survived better than others. Or maybe Darrell is absolutely correct - I don't know.
Hmmm. I'll have to do an article entitled 'The Smeg Tapes' at some point.
Posted by John Hoare at October 26, 2003 06:02 PM
Incidentally, Darrell, you could always rewrite some of that article if you're particuarly unhappy with it. We'd probably remove the G&T response at the bottom, too (which was my idea) in retrospect, that was probably a mistake. (Getting people to write our articles and then appending something that might as well read as "THE TRUTH!!!" is a bit cowardly and annoying, really.)
Posted by John Hoare at October 26, 2003 06:06 PM
I will re-write that article - thanks for the offer. I shall write it in celebration of the fact that I've finally managed to win that Spitting Image music video on eBay.
I'll do it soon - I could do with a break from transcribing hard-to-hear Grant Naylor lyrics anyway.
Posted by Darrell Jones at October 26, 2003 07:02 PM
Re: 'On the other hand, G&T is both pro-the-DVDs and pro-movie, so I guess we're allowed to make the odd criticism.'
But if you think something's worth criticising, you should criticise away. Criticism isn't something you're 'allowed' to do as a consequence of being nice the rest of the time!
So Darrell, are you retracting your comments completely or just toning down the apoplexy? Because your misgivings are all fair enough, I reckon - certainly about the poor-quality deleted scenes and the VT-dubs masquerading as original music masters.
I disagree about putting sound effects/music onto the deleted scenes though. The deleted scenes exist as production footage, and that's how they should be viewed. I don't want some git clicking away on a mouse and 'recreating' something in order to make it more 'watchable' - if it's not there on the original footage, leave it be. The nakedness of those scenes tells us what the atmnosphere was like on the shoot, and that in itself is quite interesting.
Posted by M at October 27, 2003 01:27 AM
"But if you think something's worth criticising, you should criticise away. Criticism isn't something you're 'allowed' to do as a consequence of being nice the rest of the time!"
Well, I was being slightly facetious. But technically, you're correct. I just think that occasionally some people are far too harsh in their criticisms, and put them in the wrong way - that's really what I react against.
Posted by John Hoare at October 27, 2003 01:33 AM
I'm not going to retract my comments, just tone down the ranting, the blind insults, and adding a few more general misgivings about the discs. The point of it - to counteract the unanimous praise elsewhere - will still stand.
And the thing about the audio post-pro on the deleted scenes - I meant to mention that it should have been an *option* (written at 4am blah blah etc). I wouldn't want it as a replacement for what we already have, I just thought it might have been nice if 'completed' versions of the audio were also offered. The main reason I mentioned it anyway it that it might have disguised the awful sound quality were it to be implemented.
Posted by Darrell Jones at October 27, 2003 02:34 AM
"...just tone down the ranting, the blind insults, and adding a few more general misgivings about the discs."
Fuck that. Blind insult away mate, blind leading the blind here. Red Dwarf is shit anyway, what are they planning on making a movie for?
Posted by Sockhunter at October 28, 2003 04:07 PM
i was just going to ask yoy if you could put useful information in this log page the information given is not what i need to do for my research paper and i really would like to get it done so if you could i would like it if you could post useful infomation. thank You
Posted by brittany at May 7, 2004 07:55 PM
Why not write a research paper about Red Dwarf?
Posted by Ian Symes at May 7, 2004 07:58 PM
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