From: Connie Date: Tue Mar 9, 1999 8:46 pm Subject: [probe_control] Let Us Prey That's a wonderful review you posted. I am surprised that after all these years, I actually remember having seen this episode. But of course, the details escaped me until I read your post. Now I am curious - how can one get hold of some episodes? I would love to watch a couple! Connie ------------------------------------------------------------------------ eGroup home: http://www.eGroups.com/list/probe_control Free Web-based e-mail groups by eGroups.com From: actingman-jc@worldnet.att.com Date: Thu Mar 18, 1999 7:46 pm Subject: [probe_control] A useless Probe set primer Technically, there were three Probe Control sets. The first one was in the pilot. The second (which was very similar to the first) was in the first 15 episodes (if the scripts I have are correct.) The third one covered the final eight episodes. Leslie Stevens described Control as being dark, like a cockpit, with the personel's faces lit up from their consoles. We see this in the first and second control sets. In the second set they used red lights aimed on the computer equipment to give a sense of darkness (which I don't think they used on the first set.) Stevens also wrote that in the background you could see other units working on other cases. In the pilot I think they went overboard with this idea. Behind the row of tape banks you can see another unit, and even a free standing wall, which I think is supposed to be that other unit's main screen. When shooting across Cameron's left, in the direction of Keach, you can see yet other people and activity. Where I think it becomes too much is at the end of the pilot, when Lockwood puts the scanner in his pocket. In control we are looking diagonally from Cameron to Griffin and beyond, and in the distance we see yet another unit, which is beyond the line of the wall, which we know is a waiting room on the other side. The waiting room is small, so technically it is possible, but then you wonder how the floor is laid out that the waiting room is in the near center of a highly secured area? Again, it is possible, but it is a little too much. In the second set we see nothing behind the row of tape units except some flashing lights, probably there to break up the monotony of the blackness. On each end of the row of tape units there are two catycornered consoles with seats, facing away from us, and usually when the shot would include these consoles, they would have extras sitting in these places. These consoles had no flashing lights of any kind, and I suspect their facing away from us meant they were supposed to be the people working on other cases, because as far as I know, Cameron never addressed these people. The first set had reel to reel standing machines that came up to about chin height on an average person. The second set had (what I think were the more attractive) reel to reel standing machines that were taller, and more narrow. The Probe screen was the same in the first two sets. With more shooting time and budget, there were more varied shots of control in the pilot, which included the main screen photographed with the actors standing in front of it. I only got to see about half of the episodes back then, and the only episode I know of where they photographed the actors in front of the screen was Moment Of Madness. In the pilot they did wide angle from above shots of control, and they had a free-standing wall in front that you could see the back of which was supposed to be the main screen. They did similar overhead shots in the second set, but they did not have a free-standing wall in front to represent the main screen. The third set was a complete change from the format as Stevens created it. I have not come across any explanation as to why they did it, or the thinking that went behind it. The scripts dated November, 1972 and beyond all use the third set. So at some point within the first two months of the show airing, either the production staff, or the network, decided to make this change. (What is very interesting here is that it wasn't too long after this...maybe even some overlap...where Fred Harpman, who designed the various Probe sets, created the Newscenter set which NBC used on their network new sets, as well as on their owned stations news sets...and the news sets looked very similar in lighting and design...especially the main screen...to the third Probe set.) Where the first two sets had two rows of three people set up in front of the main screen, the third set had one row of three. The consoles were the same as used in the first two sets: Cameron's three sided console in the middle, the left sided console to his left, and the right sided console to his right. The set was brightly lit, with the walls looking like white brick. This set was much smaller, with a definite "room" feel. The row of tape machines behind Cameron were eliminated altogether, and in the background you would see the front-sided-only consoles that were used in the previous two sets, scattered around the background, all facing forward. They were manned, and Cameron would bark orders at them. They even used the non-descript consoles from the second set in the background. In the background there were technicians walking back and fourth going to various machines that were not in any previous sets. There were also new standing flashing light banks that were not in the previous sets, and which were not as interesting. They also had a few very short, squat reel to reel standing machines that were not in the previous sets. They also made a change to the main screen. In the first two sets, the screen had rolling numbers to the upper right of the screen. In the third set, they replaced the numbers with rows of flashing, swirling lights (it looks like they took out the numbers and stuck the flashing lights up against the rectangular holes where the numbers had been.) In Moment of Madness, we can see that the rows of lights below the screen go down to the floor, like they did on the screen in the first set. With this special shot in MoM, the screen (not bathed in red like in the first two sets) is a white wall piece standing against the white brick of the set wall, and does not look good at all. It is funny because by changing the set, they had to go and shoot new stock footage of hands pushing controls, and various shots of the screen, to use in the episodes. By doing this, they ended up reviving something they did in the pilot, but that I don't think they did in the first 15 (again I'm not 100% sure since I have not seen all of the episodes.) In the pilot they had the head-on shots of the main screen, but they also had angled shots to show what it looked like from Keach's viewpoint, and Harding's etc. Watching one of the third set episodes I noticed they had an angle shot of the screen showing what it looked like from Miss James' position. They had one closeup shot of the third set screen that back then, and now, for some reason looked like a miniture, rather then a closeup of a huge screen with flashing lights and images. In the first two sets they shot from left to right, and from right to left, when needed and desired. In the third set they only shot from left to right, except for some straight on shots of Miss James. I cannot tell if they used multiple cameras during shooting of the third set, like they definitly did with the second set. To the best of my knowledge, they did not shoot right to left (where Harris would be in the foreground and Miss James in the background.) I suspect this was to eliminate the need to have a "fourth wall", which required more setup time...and thus more cost. I suppose there is more to be written, but I probably should do some office work now...nah. My permanent address is actingman@iname.com ------------------------------------------------------------------------ eGroup home: http://www.eGroups.com/list/probe_control Free Web-based e-mail groups by eGroups.com