Acorn machines in the movies / TV

[BeebMaster]

Excellent! Excellent! (as Mike Tucker said to Dirty Den).

Were Beebs not used in Dr Who before 1983? I've often wondered about the TARDIS data bank in "Castrovalva", but as that story was made in September 1981, it couldn't really have been a Beeb. Do we know what it was?

[morphenniel]

Drop me a message if you have any comments!

Thanks to the person who's messaged me. I've made some updates already. If I post enough here I'll be able to respond to you personally!

[flibble]

A while back, whilst rewatching Doctors 4-7 of Doctor who, I made some notes of every time a computer display was in it with timestamps, the intention was to go back and grab screengrabs, but I never got around to it;

Robots of Death

- Ep 1

02:52
- 5 line teletext esque display

09:53
- 'Snake' display layered over tardis video image


State of Decay

- Teletext system

- Ep 1
18:33
19:05-19:15

Logopolis

- Pyramid graphics
- Tardis graphics
- much more advanced than bbc micro (too many colours)

- Ep 1
09:25

Castrovalva

- Teletext system
- Tardis information system

- Ep 1
09:26
11:23
11:40
21:33
21:52

- Ep 2
11:43
11:57
13:47

Earthshock

- Tardis graphics, looks like logopolis but with fuzzy red effect on

- Ep 2
12:57

Ark of Infinity

- tardis information system?

- Ep 1
15:18

- timelord database

- Ep 3
12:04


Mawdryn Undead

- Weird swirly pattern (too many colours for beeb?)

- Ep 1
03:32

- green screen display

-Ep 2
14:32


Terminus

- swirly effect

- Ep 1
18:19


The Five Doctors

- New Console has Beeb's in

- Circles Effect
- Ep 1
02:16

- BBC beep used as intercom beep
- Ep 1
06:11

- Star Effect
- Ep 1
15:49
37:12

- Tower Graphics
37:16

- Mountains graphics
02:52

Warriors of the Deep

- Code view

- Ep 1
02:34

- Missile run green alert

- Ep 4
15:48

The Awakening

- Shapes and graph patterns

- Ep 1
- 02:39

- random stars effect

- Ep 1
- 10:06

small stars effects
- Ep 1
16:19

Frontios

- code view

- Ep1
- 05:49

Resurrection of the Daleks

Self Destruct Procedure

- Ep 3
- 08:34


Planet of Fire

Console Circle display

- Ep 1
15:18


Caves of Androzani

cave map

Ep 2
- 09:01


The Twin Dilemma

Teletext code

Ep 1
- 04:53

Basic code/Coordinates
RUN!

Ep 1
-06:53

Console polygon pattern

Ep 2
- 00:46

Attack of the Cybermen

console circle display

Ep1
04:15

Code flash
Ep1
10:16


Countdown timer
Ep2
01:54

Vengeance on Varos

Unknown b&w line drawing

Ep1
04:25

circuit diagram?

Ep1
19:06

Big text "INVASION PROCEEDING"

Ep2
39:05

Mark of the Rani

grid/zoomy console screen

Ep1
04:01

Timelash

grid with rotating line console screen

Ep1
10:41

Wibbling version
Ep1
11:50

Line gone all wibbly
Ep1
16:21

Terror of the Vervoids

Playing Game I've forgot the name of

Ep2
09:34

The Ultimate Foe

Console squares animation

Ep2
15:08

Time and the Rani

Console swirly animation

Ep1
00:08

Code on Screen

Ep1
00:24


Weird Alien Script and graph

Ep2
07:23

Paradise Towers

Console screen red bars?

Ep1
02:04


Dragonfire

Console screen patterns

Ep3
11:21
20:26


Remembrance of the Daleks

Dalek targeting vision

Ep1
09:58
12:00
23:19

Dalek Mother-ship screens

Ep3
04:27

Dalek Mother-ship detected power src

Ep3
06:39

Characters over map

Ep3
08:09

Characters/FGrid over earth pic
22:00

The Happiness Patrol

Shuttle in Orbit message

Ep3
18:01

Receiving incoming communication message

Ep3
18:04


Silver Nemesis

Archimedes numbers/location

Ep1
01:09

Battlefield

Nuclear Missile UI
PRELAUNCH SEQUENCE COMPLETE etc

Ep4
15:45

Strange Alien symbols

Ep4
16:49

[james]

A while back, whilst rewatching Doctors 4-7 of Doctor who, I made some notes of every time a computer display was in it with timestamps, the intention was to go back and grab screengrabs, but I never got around to it;

Robots of Death

- Ep 1

02:52
- 5 line teletext esque display

Robots of Death was first broadcast 29-Jan-1977

09:53
- 'Snake' display layered over tardis video image

State of Decay

Not got ...

Logopolis


- Pyramid graphics

Logopolis was first broadcast 28-Feb-1981

- Tardis graphics
- much more advanced than bbc micro (too many colours)

- Ep 1
09:25

Edit: add first broadcast dates

[atsampson]

The displays in "The Robots of Death" - and lots of other episodes - are from the BBC's ANCHOR character generator, which used analogue electronics to generate the curved letterforms, and could read a stream of characters from paper tape (the "snake" is an example of this). I think we actually get to see an ANCHOR system in "Image of the Fendahl" (next to a rather splendid mockup of a PDP-11):

[james]

Castrovalva

Not got ...

Earthshock
- Tardis graphics, looks like logopolis but with fuzzy red effect on

- Ep 2
12:57

Earthshock ep 2 was first broadcast 9-Mar-1982

Ark of Infinity
Mawdryn Undead
Terminus

Not got ...

The Five Doctors

- New Console has Beeb's in

- Circles Effect
- Ep 1
02:16

The Five Doctors was first broadcast 25-Nov-1983

- Star Effect
- Ep 1
15:49
37:12

- Tower Graphics
37:16

- Mountains graphics
02:52

Warriors of the Deep
The Awakening
Frontios

Not got ...

[morphenniel]

I think we actually get to see an ANCHOR system in "Image of the Fendahl" (next to a rather splendid mockup of a PDP-11):

Excellent, I didn't have any idea what it looked like!

I've added most of the cases that james mentioned, too (see here). Looks like Earthshock uses the TARDIS graphic from Logopolis tinted red, so definitely not a BBC Micro.

[algenon_iii]

Looking at the Logopolis captures the only computer I can think of with that good a colour palette to do that at the time would have been the Atari 400/800 with 256 colours.

[BeebMaster]

The displays in "The Robots of Death" - and lots of other episodes - are from the BBC's ANCHOR character generator

I think they use that in "Revenge of the Cybermen" as well, on the screen at the control desk on Nerva Beacon.

Anybody know what was used for the countdown at the the end of "Robot"?

[flibble]

The displays in "The Robots of Death" - and lots of other episodes - are from the BBC's ANCHOR character generator

I think they use that in "Revenge of the Cybermen" as well, on the screen at the control desk on Nerva Beacon.

A quick snap;