TARDIS-Eye-View

February 17, 2015 9:07 AM

A VFX artist calling himself 'John Smith' has created an incredible take on the Tardis' dematerialisation effect, ..."what travelling through time and space might look like from the point of view of the Tardis, from take-off to landing, all in one shot." [via]

This is the same artist who created Wholock - a video combining existing footage to skillfully allow the Doctor and Sherlock to meet. [previously]

posted by quin (20 comments total)

That was pretty nifty.
posted by jazon at 9:10 AM on February 17, 2015

That's not what "point of view" means.

(The point of view shot would be much more nauseating.)
posted by Sys Rq at 9:16 AM on February 17, 2015 [11 favorites]

Sys Rq, yeah! It's more "if you were in a device that could follow the Tardis from a few yards off."

It was nifty, though, especially the trees bit.
posted by emjaybee at 9:18 AM on February 17, 2015

Think of it as 3rd-person-close POV, as opposed to 3rd person omniscient or 1st person. It provides an approximate experience without all the inner turmoil and vomiting.
posted by malthusan at 9:20 AM on February 17, 2015

I just now realized how much time is implied to be spent just chilling in the TARDIS, when once they know where they want to go, they generally get there within seconds. Are we to understand that the majority of the Doctor's time is spent cooling his heels in space while he waits to be brilliant?
posted by Navelgazer at 9:28 AM on February 17, 2015

I know the SFX for the TARDIS shows the tunnel of clouds and lightning effect, but that's always seemed wrong to me. Given the sort of explanations we've had for how the dimensional effects of the TARDIS work (e.g., Four's explanation to Leela involving the two boxes of the same size at different distances, for those who kick it old skool), the exterior of the TARDIS seems as though it shouldn't move that way at all. I know it's an established modern trope, but it's always felt wrong.

Having said that, this is a cool special effect trailer. I hope that if this artist isn't already working in SFX, they get a job offer based on this the way the one who did the opening sequence for Twelve did.
posted by immlass at 10:07 AM on February 17, 2015 [4 favorites]

Yeah, get off my lawn nuWhovians. The TARDIS doesn't fly around through CG tunnels like a spaceship. It just teleports. The fact that the Doctor and his passengers sit around experiencing subjective time between spacetime locations is because time is weird (how much "time" does it take to move from tomorrow to yesterday?) not because the TARDIS is a bus driving through a Time Tunnel.
posted by straight at 10:20 AM on February 17, 2015 [3 favorites]

I just now realized how much time is implied to be spent just chilling in the TARDIS, when once they know where they want to go, they generally get there within seconds. Are we to understand that the majority of the Doctor's time is spent cooling his heels in space while he waits to be brilliant?

Well, yeah. Sometimes you go out to a concert, sometimes you stay in and watch a movie. I figure a good half of the time they're exploring INSIDE the TARDIS, which is home to just as many mysteries and discoveries. I mean, there's the library, the art gallery, the swimming pool, the Cloister Room, The Engine Room, the Zero Room, the observatory, the croquet court, etc...
posted by leotrotsky at 10:22 AM on February 17, 2015

Yeah, it's a nice video but that's not how the TARDIS "flies". The exterior is visible, this it is not, it just de-materializes. No lateral movement, no spinning. Tho some people might get the idea that is does if they watched this Nu Who show.
posted by MrBobaFett at 10:33 AM on February 17, 2015

However great it is, it ignores the thought that the production company might not want to spend more money and (screen or production) time on a VFX shot, and might just want to teleport their characters instantaneously from one scene and location to the next.
posted by Inkslinger at 11:16 AM on February 17, 2015

When you consider that the "fan-made"* pixel Simpsons video that went viral a few weeks ago was actually used as the opening for last weekend's episode, it's not unreasonable for this Tardis video to be a seriously-intended Proof of Concept AND Audition Material for its creator, who just went over the BBC's heads by giving it to the fanbase first. Considering some of the fan objections to the video (of which the ones made here are mild), it probably won't work.

*the creators were fans but also professional animators; one had done '8-bit' sequences for Disney's Gravity Falls
posted by oneswellfoop at 12:22 PM on February 17, 2015

However great it is, it ignores the thought that the production company might not want to spend more money and (screen or production) time on a VFX shot, and might just want to teleport their characters instantaneously from one scene and location to the next.

Stargate solved this problem, by first using the same wormhole transport FX over and over, until the audience didn't need to see it anymore, and they just instantly teleport, sometimes they didn't even show them going through the gate at all.

Anyway, we have already seen a Tardis-POV transport sequence, albeit very badly IMHO, damn you Gaiman.
posted by charlie don't surf at 1:20 PM on February 17, 2015

That whooshy tunnel arguably dates back to the original series. The wormhole effect for the new series seems like a slicked-up take on the credits sequence of the 4th Doctor.

Also IIRC the current credits with all the spinny clock stuff were based on a fan video.
posted by Ursula Hitler at 5:20 PM on February 17, 2015 [1 favorite]

The tunnel effect seems reasonable if what a Tardis does in order to travel is move through some kind of hyperspace.
posted by weston at 5:55 PM on February 17, 2015

I always figured that since the TARDIS is multidimensional, it can be both a simple teleport from point A to B and a tunnel effect and disassemble itself in one place and reassemble in another and probably a million others ways they want to characterize it.

When you get into multi-dimensionality, how things "look" becomes relative. (Or so I would surmise.)
posted by quin at 6:14 PM on February 17, 2015

Sure, you can rationalize a three-dimensional, tubular wormhole, but I totally agree the NuWho people could have come up with something a little more "timey-wimey" / trippy for the TARDIS in flight. (But this artist did a fine job of copying their style.)
posted by mubba at 6:44 PM on February 17, 2015

I always assumed that the Tardis doesn't actually go anywhere, being it's own pocket universe. What seems to move is merely the three-dimensional exit portal.

That said, I did like the bit with the trees.
posted by happyroach at 8:15 PM on February 17, 2015

That whooshy tunnel arguably dates back to the original series.
posted by juiceCake at 10:05 PM on February 17, 2015

Ha. I never thought of the wooshy tunnel in the opening credits as signifying the path of the TARDIS but rather, "And now we present a craaazy scientifiction show. Zooom."

But that first episode definitely depicts the TARDIS rushing away from the Earth and wooshy psychedelic effects signifying it's movement in time and space.

Now who's the nuWhovian? I promise to stay off your lawn, Grandpa juiceCake.
posted by straight at 12:04 PM on February 19, 2015

And now people wonder why I refuse to identify as anything like a Whatthefuckvian...
posted by Samizdata at 12:35 PM on February 19, 2015