Why B+W?
Unlike most other TV series that graduated from early black-and-white to color in later episodes, SFT went backwards. The first season was in color and the second (final) season was BW. I wonder what forces caused this to happen.
I wondered exactly the same thing. Anybody have a good guess?
shareI can only guess
A few shows in the mid 50's were filmed in color (Superman From 3rd season, Cisco Kid, later seasons of The Lone Ranger). This was done basically Just to be prepared. At the time many stations were still broadcasting only in B&W, so many color set owners still only saw them in B&W. The producers had originally thought that color TV would progress faster then it did.
It's just possible that the producers of Science Fiction Theatre didn't feel that it was worth the extra expense and difficulties (Color equipment was more bulky and difficult to use in the mid 50's then B&W) to keep using color if almost nobody was going to see it.
For the most part, color sets were a curiosity until the 60's. Bonanza (1959) is given credit as the show that made many people consider buying their first color sets.
A similar situation happened a couple years later with movies.
The 1958 movie "The Fly" was filmed in color. However, the sequal "Return of the Fly" was filmed in B&W.
"(Color equipment was more bulky and difficult to use in the mid 50's then B&W)"
The series was shot on film so the cameras were exactly the same (by then no-one was shooting 3 strip Technicolor, which did use far bulkier cameras). There would have to be some increase in light levels but otherwise shooting would be much the same. Cost was almost certainly the only reason for the change.
"A similar situation happened a couple years later with movies.
The 1958 movie "The Fly" was filmed in color. However, the sequal "Return of the Fly" was filmed in B&W. "
Until recent years sequels always had a lower budget than the original (taking inflation into account) because it was always reckoned that the audience would inevitably be smaller. Hence, sequels often didn't have the same stars as the original to save money. In the case of The Fly, it didn't have expensive stars or lavish production values anyway, so shooting on b/w would have been one of the few ways to make a saving on a sequel.
Higher budget studio films were still commonly shot in b/w until the mid-1960s anyway.
I think you are right about the bulky color film equipment. Although I think three strip technicolor ended in 1955, I am pretty sure THIS ISLAND EARTH was in three strip technicolor. Its seems SFT was probably shot in something like Eastman Color that used regular equipment .
shareI think it's generally accepted that the last US film shot in 3 strip was in 1954, which I agree could mean one or more could have been released the following year.
Having said that, 3 strip was a very expensive process and was hardly likely to be used on low budget films, let alone TV. I wouldn't have even mentioned it in my original reply except that someone might have pointed out that 3 strip was a process which required a bulkier camera even though it wouldn't be relevant here.
Money, money and possibly, money. Specially if the series was not pulling in a big audience. The color was terrible in its early stages too. Loved the show, with Tales of Tomorrow the most imaginative of the real early scifi shows.
share