Production GuideStoryboards The Last Sunset
Production GuideThe Last Sunset has an unusually high number of special effects shots- 74 (out of 183 scenes). Some of those scenes are actually multiple shots. In most episodes some of the shots can be "stock" footage filmed for earlier episodes, for instance of Moonbase Alpha or Eagles launching or landing. This episode could not, because the lunar sky was blue.
Brian Johnson's SFX script is 12 pages long. Johnson writes an alternative title "A Moon For All Seasons". That appears to be a joke based on the 1960 Robert Bolt play (and 1966 movie) A Man For All Seasons, but oddly it was the episode title during early development and appears in an ITC press pack ("The Moon begins to develop into another Earth, but there is a serious snag") [To Everything that Might Have Been (2022) p43]. Perhaps Johnson was remembering the early storyline.
This SFX script is based on the 12th July script, so the Eagles are in the atmosphere of Ariel, leaving condensation trails, and the Ariel satellite emerges from the clouds.
The storyboards are rough black and white sketches on a photocopied template A4 page. We have 12 sheets, each with 4 shots, but there are several missing.
Scene 1
Bright sun in space with planet and moon in f/ground.
The original script mentioned another planet in the shot: " a precisely reciprocal orbit is another planet -totally without atmosphere"
Scene 4
Start as close as possible on rocket motors of Eagle and pull back to another Eagle and planet.
The original script had this shot in the sky of Ariel, with long condensation trails behind the Eagles. In the episode, this is a static shot of the planet, with the Eagles moving in from the edge of frame.
Scene 9
Metal object (missile) leaving planet.
A more distant shot of the Ariel satellite. In the script it is described as a shining metallic sphere with six protruding tubes, and elsewhere as looking like an Earth satellite (presumably Sputnik or Telstar). The sketch on the SFX script above shows this scene, with the satellite looking like the original conception.
Scene 13 (11?)
To Sc 11.
According to the script, the satellite closes on the Eagle. Scripted with both craft in frame, but from this storyboard they decided to do a wider view of scene 9, without the Eagle.
