Thanks for all the extra info David :)

I've observed plenty of comet tailing in the old 1970s Tom Baker Doctor Whos I've been watching - boy am I living in the past!

The old Dr Who episodes of that era also had the very earliest chroma-key usage as well. Can't recall the name they had for it at the time, but it was hot stuff at the BBC.

Andrew

Yeah, they seem to use it quite a bit, especially in those sequences with The Doctor and his assistant spinning around in a vortex type of thing that they do :)

In an episode called The Invisible Enemy (with the giant crustaceans in it) the doctor and his assistant Leela get cloned, then miniaturised and are injected into the full size doctor. During the injection you see them swirling around inside the syringe!

I guess they'd use chroma key before then for film though? I'm thinking of Jason and the Argonauts, The Thief of Baghdad and Sinbad and stuff?

Did You Know: Blue chroma key was the colour of choice, but they had to use green instead due to the scenes that required the tardis to be present ... because otherwise it would disappear ... which is strangely ironic.

Yes, I am profound. :-P

Andrew

Ha ha! That's a good insight Andrew!

So the Tardis functions via a sophisticated chroma-key circuit - I wonder if The Doctor knew that?!

Maybe the bit that goes up and down and lights up on the control panel is some kind of optical splitting device?

No wonder the Tardis used to malfunction so often!

Here's a video of the upcoming RED Scarlet if anyone's interested...

RED Scarlet and Bomb EVF surprise hands-on! -- Engadget

Looks nice :)