Postby Shane » Sun Oct 02, 2011 8:15 am
I think 29 years ago when I first watched the show on original transmission as a 9 year old I appreciated the flashbacks more as my family didn't have a video recorder at the time so it was the only chance to re-watch bits of the show in any way.It was only ever shown once in my ITV region which was HTV (Central and maybe a few other regions showed re-runs in 1988) so the original transmission in 1982 was my only memory of the show for many years.So I'd say the flashbacks served a purpose for many people in the days when the ability to record and re-watch a show was a bit of a luxury.Fast forward 20 years and we are now able to view the entire show in a digital format anytime we choose. So now the flashbacks start to stick out more as they are no longer as necessary in the current technological climate. I've noticed that most shows nowadays don't employ flashback episodes anymore, despite the fact that they save money. I think the Simpsons still do on occasion, but they often go meta with it and poke fun at the behind the scenes economical benefits of showing old clips again. South Park also did a great one where it masqueraded as a clip show, but all the past events were changed in some way.I think you're right that the production crew were probably bored with having to re-dub a clip show. Because of the Japanese origin of the footage and the fact that the flashbacks were hardlocked, I'm sure it was a pain to have to record segments all over again when if it had been a UK show the editor would have had the footage and dialogue ready to cut the episode without the need for a re-dub.I'm guessing time constraints led to ad libbing and changing of lines. Someone would have had to have spent time linking the original script to the flashback footage so I presume there was very little time set aside for the voice actors to do their stuff. Recording studios were very very expensive back then.I always thought that PPA was voiced by a different actor for several episodes before reverting back to the original voice actor. The substitute voice was a bit more camp as I recall.
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