The history of the Pertwee title sequence

The title sequence is a key component of Doctor Who. It contains some kind of out-of-this-world visuals that immediately sum up the surreal nature of the sci-fi within the show and the original Pertwee sequence is no different. However, the version that ended up on television is not an accurate representation of what designer Bernard Lodge wanted to achieve; to understand how, we must go back half a year before the transmission of Spearhead From Space.

Context

It's 1969. Following Troughton's (somewhat forced) announcement of his departure from the series earlier in the year, outgoing producer Peter Bryant cast Pertwee as the Third Doctor. Lodge was called in to create a new title sequence, which was to be in colour. He and Ben Palmer set about doing experimental footage with the BBC's new colour cameras using the same Howlaround technique employed since 1963, and it did not yield satisfactory results, so the decision was made to shoot the raw footage using the old Image Orthicon cameras that had been used to create Hartnell and Troughton's sequences and find some way of adding colour afterwards.

A presentation of Lodge's ideas

Two photographs of Pertwee were taken in preparation for the Howlaround footage, recorded on the 3rd of August, 1969; one of Pertwee with his arms outstretched, and one with a smiling close-up. The unused footage shows the "outstretched arms" photo being tested multiple times, which implies that the photo had some relevance to the sequence, so where would it have been used? 

The answer is hidden in plain sight.

These are the effects used to morph into the photograph, as seen in the test footage.

This is an excerpt from the final opening titles.

Now we're getting somewhere.

It's also interesting to note that part of Pertwee's hand is technically visible in the end credits sequence.

So now that we know where the "Outstretched hands" photo was to be used, how did Lodge envision transitioning from this combination of graphics into Pertwee's face? 

We know the answer to this as well.

Note the position of the "O" shape at the base of the graphic and the lines that divert to the sides.

Note the lines that divert to the sides here and the space at the bottom, where Pertwee's face will appear.

Combining these together with a photo of Pertwee's face, we get this.

Adding the previous combination on top gives a rough idea as to how the transition would have been achieved, with Pertwee's outstretched hands morphing into the top of his head.

This is how it would have looked if edited competently, but as we'll see, this didn't happen.

Colourisation Test (1970)

When it came to editing the titles and adding colour, someone in the Beeb thought it a good idea to edit the titles on videotape and using a vision mixer, as opposed to the standard practice of editing the titles on film. This meant the timing wasn't right and the editing looked off, particularly the transition into Pertwee's face, which itself is tilted slightly. However, this unused test is significant, in that it proves everything I mentioned above, although given the sloppy editing it ends up looking off and doesn't accurately represent Lodge's initial idea. 

You will probably notice that the sequence does not sync up with the final edit of the title music dubbed over it; however, it does sync up with the 1967 version of the theme, which you can see here, seeming to imply that Troughton's theme as originally edited would have been used for much longer.

The film print

It's clear that the titles could not have been broadcast like this and that an alternative was needed. So Lodge went back to the drawing board and edited the sequence using film and colour gels. Why the sequence was shortened has never been made clear. 

Interestingly, a version of the original print does still exist and can be seen here. 

What's particularly interesting about the original print is that the colours match the ones seen in 1971, implying that this print was the version with the 1967 theme attached and broadcast as part of the early episodes of season 8, which was later corrected. 

The print was tampered with yet again, and synced with the Delaware theme in 1972, which was also later corrected (unless you lived in Australia, New Zealand, Brunei and the United Arab Emirates). 

Re-edit for DVD

The DVD edit of the opening titles is the most well-known version of the sequence. Instead of improving the quality of the sequence, as was standard for the rest of the titles, Pertwee's titles were (for some reason) re-edited from scratch, presumably from the original videotapes, to "correct" faults in the unrestored print.

The DVD version alters the angles of certain objects, such as the blobby diamonds, and tweaks the looping spiral animation at the end of the sequence so it looks less jarring on the eyes than the original.

The most interesting change is that of Pertwee's face. Film prints, VHS releases, and indeed the original tapes, use a photograph with the "high contrast" lighting Lodge describes in interviews (i.e. harshly lit at the sides and a very dark space at the front), at the expense of Pertwee looking a little ominous. The DVD edit has been tweaked slightly, so this creepy effect is not present.

One last thing

It's a long-standing in-joke with some friends of mine that the Blu-Ray releases do horrific jobs at presenting the title sequences as it seems like some bloke in the editing department decided to dial up the colours and mess with the hue far more than necessary (see the Fourth Doctor's one, just ugh), and this sequence is no exception. It's literally just the DVD edit but with weird colour changes.

Right, that's enough of my inane rambling on shit nobody cares about, see you later.