Laser Tank - Production Notes

Production Notes

• Husband-and-wife writing team Anthony Terpiloff and Elizabeth Barrows based this episode on the 1934 play The Infernal Machine by Jean Cocteau—which itself was based on Sophocles' tragedy Oedipus Rex. In it, the blinded Oedipus is portrayed as pompous, prideful and arrogant. To give the story a science-fiction twist, Terpiloff and Barrows made the main character a rampaging cybernetic entity. The writers hoped to have Sir Ralph Richardson play the dual role of Gwent and Companion; instead, the role went to Australian actor Leo McKern (best known in the genre for his being one of several actors to portray the enigmatic ‘Number Two’ in the espionage-fantasy series The Prisoner).

• When interviewed, model-builder Martin Bower stated the motorised ‘Gwent’ miniature used in this episode provided the least happy experience for the Bray Studios' effects crew during production. With its twin set of rotating legs, it was almost impossible to get a realistic shot of the heavy model rolling across the miniature lunar landscape during the required take-off and touchdown sequences. At the end of filming, visual effects director Nick Allder picked the five-foot-wide model up bodily and, throwing it across the studio in sheer frustration, destroyed it. A fourteen-inch version built for distance shots survived.

• Bower also built three different designs of laser tank for the episode, the only time they appear significantly in the series. All were based on 1/25 scale Tamiya Chieftain tank models.

• During the production of the previous episode ‘Space Brain’, a make-up artist had noted a small lump on actor Prentis Hancock's neck. That weekend, he went to hospital and the tumour was surgically removed. Fortunately, the mass was found to be benign. As ‘The Infernal Machine’ was scheduled to begin filming during his convalescence, Paul Morrow would be replaced by the one-off character Winters, portrayed by Gary Waldhorn.