Page 15 - Fujifilm Exposure_5 The Wings Of The Dove_ok

The Heavens
The Heavens
tv production news
solar system, looking at different aspects of it. One episode for example is about life, another is about atmospheres, another is about the giant gas planets, another focuses on the terrestrial planets that are closer to us. One is on how the whole solar system started - or our best guess of how -
and of course why the planets are all so different.”
With a narrative linking all these aspects of the overall subject together, the series will give viewers - and scientists - the chance to compare and contrast details of other plan- ets with aspects of more famil- iar, earthly terrain.
“We will be showing com- parable locations on Earth, just to help with the understanding of it - although Earth is the one planet that is in a way under represented, partly because there’s so much to say that people won’t know about other planets. We are taking scien- tists to comparable terrains as there are areas of the Earth that look like Mars, and we take a Russian scientist, the world’s leading authority on Venus, to a setting in the United States which bears an
uncanny resemblance to the same geology.” Currently involved in the creation of those eye popping graphics, as well as organising the various interviews and capturing space phenome- non visible from the Earth, this project has been with David McNab since January 1997. With a broadcast date of early 1999, it is a huge logistical and technical exercise in information gathering, computer wizardry and editing, but one that he
cheerfully admits he would not have missed.
But one possible pitfall in making such a series is the risk that the huge volume of data that
Photos clockwise from left:
Left to Right; Vladimir Zharkov, leading Soviet Planetary Scientist and Jacqueline Smith, The Planets Producer/Director with a Moscow Observatory staffer.
Boris Chertok, Soviet Rocket Designer. Cameraman Richard Ranken on location in Norway; Crew filming Ruslan Kuzmin, the leading Mars Soviet expert.
is constantly being processed, detail that affects the way we look at our solar system, could make the information in The Planets instantly obsolete. McNab and his team have a structured contin- gency plan to get around this possibility.
“We’ve not written the end of the programme on the moon yet,” he explains, “because we’re waiting to see what the moon probes find out. We’re still constantly rewriting a lot of the stories about the moons of Jupiter, because Galileo is con- stantly turning up new evidence about the activity on these moons, if not life. Almost daily we’ve got probes buzzing planets all over the place, on their way to other planets in the universe.
“Mars Observer is orbiting Mars, Galileo is fly- ing round the Jupiter system and Cassini is on its way to Saturn. So there’s going to be an enormous amount of data flooding back, and hopefully we’ll be bringing the latest thoughts on all the ques- tions that anybody’s ever asked themselves about the planets. With sensible convincing answers.
“Also the life story is very much the hot topic at the moment, and will continue to be so over the next five years I imagine, with a lot of interesting moons further out into the solar system becoming the focus of attention. But I think I can guarantee we will be showing things audiences simply have never seen or experienced before.”
For David McNab himself there is one tangible benefit he is enjoying now, one that we all might share this time next year. After a long, hard day at the office a glance up at the night sky reveals more than just an inky blackness interspersed with a few bright dots of light.
“It’s quite correct and it has become a com- pletely different and rewarding experience,” he smiles. “I can now spot Jupiter, Saturn and Mars when they’re visible and that has become a great source of wonder for me.” ■ ANWAR BRETT
The Planets is originated on Fujicolor 16mm Motion Picture Negative.