Tuesday 10 April 2012

The Dazzling Image

Yesterday was Easter Monday hence the launch of Skywatch, post-Conpulsion drinks day, and also Eadweard J. Muybridge's 182nd birthday.

Moving pictures are key to Doctor Who of course, but sometimes films and TV (and CCTV and so on) interact with the world in unusual ways in the Whoniverse. Weeping Angels can sometimes project themselves through pictures, even recordings. The Wire was a living, hungry TV signal. PJ Hammond’s second Torchwood episode featured villains escaping from an old film reel. Rose was able to get her image onto screens around the Doctor as she fought her way back to our Earth. The Apollo footage defeats the Silence. And back to the Weeping Angels, the Doctor used an old camera and hid himself away in DVDs to provide a warning from the past.

Recordings have gaps. Perceptions can be filtered. What aren’t we seeing when we look at projected images?

The “recorded thing is aware of the viewer” trick might have been played out by now, but strangeness in the recording could still work.

The Vampires Of Venice didn’t show up in mirrors, and the TV series Ultraviolet played on this by arming vampire hunters with video cameras to spot people who didn’t show up on screen.

And if somebody records a demon-summoning spell on tape, do not play it back.

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