00:00On Lost in Space we were a bit bigger because we had sort of all these suits to make that
00:26it was similar, you know, do the live cast and you do the sculpt and all that but there
00:31was lots of those and there was lots of, quite problematic really, getting things to light
00:35up and things.
00:36And we had to live cast children as well.
00:39So whereas in the Ninja Turtles we would have stunt guys and people that were really agile
00:43and really fit and used to that sort of thing, we was dealing with some children and that
00:50made it a bit more difficult but I had to fly out to America actually to do the live cast.
00:55That was another good gig because we went to LA and they kept changing the actors that
00:58was going to be in the film.
01:00We'd sit by the hotel pool and have to wait for a week and did absolutely nothing because
01:04they said, oh they got to do so and so and they got someone else in now, we'll let you
01:08know who's going to be.
01:09It's difficult though because trying to, you know, when they cast the actor, trying to get
01:13a date for them and they can come in and so we was waiting on Tenderhooks to do it.
01:17We had to fly out there and we had to do the live casting out there and then do the positives.
01:22So get plaster positives to the bodies and the heads and then create those back to England,
01:27you know, or the moulds, send the moulds back, you know, if we didn't do the plaster positives,
01:32we'd do some.
01:32So they had to be packed carefully, we had to make them stronger and they had to come
01:36back to England where we processed them.
01:38We did some fiberglass pieces for that, yeah, that was a massive, a very heavy bit of machinery
01:53that was.
01:54It was, yeah, again when you're doing these, it's all prototypes so it's really difficult
01:59to get it to fruition really, you know, you're going to have your problems along the way but
02:04that was quite an immense machine to make, that was fantastic.
02:08It changed a few times the design and of course when they wheeled it out at the studio they
02:14had to reinforce the floor because it was very heavy.
02:17There's lots of things that you come up against, you know, unforeseen errors and that, but you
02:22get over it and because it's a prototype, it's the first thing, we haven't made a big robot
02:29like that before and you, it's like everything, each time it's a challenge that you go into
02:33it and you're flying colours, you come out the other end.
02:37That was a massive job for the amateurish team, yes, but yeah we did, that's the thing
02:42with our workshop, we worked closely, we'd have meetings every week and iron out all the
02:46problems, you know, that was a big undertaking that was.
02:50The flavour of the day is banana beef, who thinks up these combinations?
03:02We've done a puppet version of that but it did eventually go CG in the film and that,
03:08so yes we built that creature, it was a sculpt and then, you know, we built it with a core
03:16inside it and it'd become an animatronic character but it did, but it, you know, on sets it was
03:22used for on sets and that, for the puppeteering with and then the light and standing and that
03:27sort of thing.
03:28Eventually it was CG as we know, which you get disappointed about but they still used
03:32it for certain things, certain elements, but it's changed, the puppeteering has changed
03:37quite a bit but it's still there in the same sort of way but it's moved on with the technology,
03:42you know, it has moved on. We do like the motion control, we would do the hands and that, so we'd
03:47life cast the hands of the puppeteer so then that fits them perfectly, you know, this is what
03:51we used to do, so they would have their own specific hand pieces and that, so that's the sort
03:57of thing we would do for them as well and sometimes we'd life cast their heads as well
04:02because they might have to be, like motion capture, what they used to do, they'd wear a skull cap
04:07underneath something that they have to wear, you know, so like the facial thing, so we'd
04:12sometimes life cast them as well, as well as help them out with their other parts and that, you know.
04:19Put this on.
04:25You're coming with us.
04:26Doctor, it's a question. I am a doctor, not a space explorer.
04:30No, what you are is a murderous saboteur and I am not leaving you on this ship so you can do more harm
04:36than you've already caused. I'm absolutely confused. Give me an excuse to kill you. Please?
04:44Black was always my colour.
05:00It was a massive project, yeah, we did a lot of work with those cryo suits I think they were called,
05:05yeah, there was there was a lot of work there and we worked closely with Vin, you know, and working
05:11on those but doing all the live casting, there's a lot of work when you bring that to fruition,
05:16a live cast, you know, with the, with the actors, work with the actors and you don't know what you're
05:20going to get, they was, they were, but they were so fantastic, William Hurt and Heather Graham,
05:25Mimi Rogers, you know, Matt Blount.
05:29Doctor, is that concern I detect in your voice?
05:35There was a lot of famous people in that film and we had a great team as well, you know, with Dave and
05:40Terry and, and, and the rest of the gang, they was, they was great. We had a good team and you're
05:46only as good as the team you've got around you and there was, and there was obliging,
05:52it's hard for an actor to stand there for maybe 40 minutes, you know, and putting all the stuff on,
05:58it's very inconvenient. We do a lot of scanning these days, they scan the bodies and then we'll end up
06:02getting a, like a foam body that we then mould, it saves them going through the process. Times have
06:07changed and that, you know. The scanning still got, it's, it's obviously improves every, every year,
06:12but this, this, you still see the little lines on it and that, and funny enough, next week we're
06:16going to probably do a live cast of somebody, uh, and what's great about it, we can get on and get
06:21on with it straight away and process it in the next two weeks, whereas with a scan it can go off and
06:27they, you know, they can, it might not work properly, you don't know how long you're going to have to wait for
06:31it to be brought back to the workshop so we can work on it. So the old way is still the good way
06:36at the moment, we're just about still doing it better than, than they do it, I think.
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