To COLORIZE or Not to COLORIZE?

[Craig_Slocum]

The only benefit of going to color was seeing the fabulous period costumes in the time travel story lines.

Also, seeing Craig Slocum's red hair, imagine that in black and white!  

[Julianka7]

I prefer the BW episodes to stay that way.
They seem to carry off the mood so much better.

[Nicole]

Oooh...they shouldn't colorize the B&W episodes.  Color would ruin the eerie vibe that the early episodes have.  It just wouldn't be the same.

[Professor1985]

If wee don't have COLORIZATION, there wouldn't be the first seasons of "Gilligan's Island" and "I Dream Of Jeanie" and the first two seasons of "Bewitched" COLORIZED, we wouldn't see the COLORIZED version of "Miracle on 34th Street" and why not "Dark Shadows"?  

[Barnabas]

Should the B&W Kinescopes and Episodes (including lost COLOR episodes of "Dark Shadows" that now exist only in B&W Kinescopes) should be COLORIZED?

Yes  or No

Spencer Karter
Age 16

I feel pretty much the same way Bette Davis felt when they colorized Dark Victory: "All the clothes' good taste, gone!"

[Dr. Eric Lang]

On a related topic, do the original negatives for the kinescopes exist anywhere?

I don't believe kinescopes have negatives, just as video tapes do not have negatives. My understanding of the kinescope process:

An actual machine called a "Kinescope" had a crude, early video tape camera pointed at a television monitor. Stations that did not wish to air the live feed from New York (especially those on the West Coast) instead taped the feed off the monitor for a later airing locally. Whether or not actual Kinescope machines were used for archiving DS and other soap episodes is questionable; some stations merely used their own video equipment to tape the feed off their monitors by simply pointing the camera at it.  These tapes, of course, are supplementing the "lost" episodes where the original color video has been lost.

I'll be interested in seeing what they do for the DVD sets when the master tapes are not available; will the quality of the crude black and white copy tapes be noticeably better on a DVD?

[RingoCollins]

Put me in the NAY   column! [or a big southern HELL NO!]

Maybe if they took the time to really do the B&W kinescopes of the eps originally in color, to 'restore' them [the technology does exist, but would be very time consuming and expensive] - but don't screw around with the original eps - they have an atmosphere that should not be changed! and capture the time perfectly!

And I can't EVEN imagine 'A Hard Day's Night' colorized!!!

ps, I heard that Leo Mckern, who played the High Priest in 'Help!', also Rumpole [of the Bailey] died today

[Raineypark]

If wee don't have COLORIZATION, there wouldn't be the first seasons of "Gilligan's Island" and "I Dream Of Jeanie" and the first two seasons of "Bewitched" COLORIZED, we wouldn't see the COLORIZED version of "Miracle on 34th Street" and why not "Dark Shadows"?  

Please.......the colorization of "Miracle on 34th Street" was an act of violence.  The perpetrator should have been boiled in a vat of film developing fluid.

Rainey

[Luciaphile]

Colorize?  Hell no.

I have no problem with the color episodes that were filmed that way.  Let them stay, but colorize the existing b&w stuff or the kinescopes?  No way.

Not a fan of the concept or the process.  This stuff was shot a certain way to begin with.  Best not to mess with it.

Luciaphil

[ClaudeNorth]

I don't believe kinescopes have negatives, just as video tapes do not have negatives. My understanding of the kinescope process:

An actual machine called a "Kinescope" had a crude, early video tape camera pointed at a television monitor.

That is how the process worked, but they used a film camera rather than a video camera.  That's why the kinescope episodes have such a "soft" look.  (Incidentally, the DS Fest has auctioned off actual kinescope episodes in the past.)  I'm wondering if there are negatives, as I believe the kinescopes were shot on 16mm film, and it's possible they used reversal stock, which does not generate a negative of any kind.  If that's the case, then I hope D.C., MPI, and WorldVision are taking extra special care of the kinescope episodes!

Regards,

John

[ClaudeNorth]

Not a fan of the concept or the process.  This stuff was shot a certain way to begin with.  Best not to mess with it.

Luciaphil

Luciaphil,

You made an EXCELLENT point!  A lot of people tend to think of black and white as a "poor cousin" of color.  However, most films that are in black and white were filmed that way because the director had a specific vision for the film and black and white best served that vision.  Black and white cinematography is an art form unto itself and, as you said, it's best not to tamper with the results.

Fortunately, the colorization process did not gain lasting popularity with the public, and Ted Turner now seems more interested in film preservation than in colorization.

Regards,

John