Production GuideStoryboards - Voyager's Return
Production GuideThe shooting script for Voyager's Return was dated 29th July 1974. The SFX scenes for the episode were extracted into a special effects script, dated 30th July, which was annotated by Brian Johnson with filming notes and quick sketches. Several storyboard versions were produced before the shots were filmed in early August.
These pages of the SFX script show Johnson marking the zooms. We're not sure what "JB" means.
Scene 15, with a little sketch of the Eagle, is marked as a "glass" shot. A photo cut-out of an Eagle, with the front windows cut out, was mounted on glass. The glass was mounted in front of the camera, and behind someone stood in a partial costume (the top of the spacesuit costume and neck ring), with a large photo of the Eagle set behind them. The actors never visited Bray studios, so a member of the SFX crew would stand in (this was probably Terry Schubert). The backdrop behind him is the side-wall of the Eagle cockpit, not the rear, but it's the right colours and indistinct so no-one would notice. The pilot puts his arm up, as if flipping an overhead switch, although the interior set has nothing reachable above his head.
The storyboards went through several revisions, and for this episode we have different versions of many scenes.
This seems to be the earliest storyboard, with better art by Cyril Forster. We only have the photocopy version with ticks. This has an earlier design of the Voyager spaceship, and includes all the stock shots (marked as "stock"). The scenes are all in story order.
New versions of the storyboard were drawn by Brian Johnson, with simpler art. Some scenes exist in two versions, as some storyboard pages were redrawn. Although mostly in story order, scenes are grouped by subject, for instance putting many Voyager shots on one page, Eagles on another.
The first page of the Johnson storyboards were drawn with ballpoint pen on a photocopied template (left). This was photocopied, and revisions noted (in felt-tip pen) (right). The large "R" indicates the motion (to the right of frame). This would be ticked when it was filmed.
On these pages we see more revisions, with the orientation of the Voyager altered.
Sometimes the page was completely rewritten, as here (the first shot of the original page was moved onto the sheet seen above).
This page (scene 108) has only one drawing, but the rest is filled with numbers, calculating film speeds and lengths.
As we'll see, the editor shifts shots around, but we'll follow the original script order and indicate the changes. After filming, it was decided to add a number of new SFX shots.