“The performer who played the sheriff had a huge, bushy moustache,” says Rebert, picking up the story, “which was far too big to cover with rubber prosthetics. So we decided to turn it into a cleft pallet. A dental prosthetic was constructed that would encapsulate his whole upper lip and then lower dental prosthetics were constructed with ‘plumpers’ to push out the lower lip and alleviate the over bite. That was covered with silicone prosthetics and hair was punched in what was left of his lip to give him his moustache back.”
While the work of MFX was pretty much scattered throughout ‘Johari Window’, the episode ‘Jacksonville’ featured one notable effects sequence, when an unwitting office worker is fused together with his other-dimensional counterpart when the two worlds converge. “Television production can be a rollercoaster,” Masters reflects, “so we rarely get a heads-up on big sequences like that.
“Our Vancouver shop, lead by Sarah Pickersgill, Werner Pretorius and Nicholas Podbrey, created several fused dummies, as well as the main character, multi-limbed Ted Pratchett, played by Jim True-Frost, who wiggles like a stuck bug against that beam. That was a really trippy episode to try and get our heads around. We did several designs trying to figure out what an intersection of universes would look like – and on a television schedule – but I felt the results were really effective.”
After several months of elaborate creature/casualty work, the subtlest effect of the season may well have been in ‘Peter’, which called for actor John Noble to be ‘youth-ened’ by about 25 years. “We initially considered using thin prosthetics,” claims Masters, but after some quick tests, our on-set guys Holland and Mike managed better with a complex system of lifts rigged to ballast hidden in John’s hair.
“The ballast was made with armature wires, so one could reach back and tweak a lift easily if it started to fail in hour 12. With some hair-pieces and nice colouring by Holland and Mike, he looked amazing. But again it was the blend of our work and Jay’s visual effects art that ultimately completed the magic in many shots.
“Most of the shots in the beginning of the episode were tweaked by Jay and company, because they needed to be flawless for the introduction of John’s character. It was subtle work that really helped us sell the 25 years he needed back. Combined with John’s amazing ability to switch ages without us tweaking his features, it really brought Walter to life and made for a modern classic of an episode.”
Next: Squirting tumours and super soldiers.
