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How_They_Made_TUGS_-_(HD)_FULL_BEHIND_THE_SCENES!_RARE_FOOTAGE!

How They Made TUGS - (HD) FULL BEHIND THE SCENES! RARE FOOTAGE!

TUGS was shot in live-action animation.

Production

  • Filming the thirteen episodes took place during October 1987 - December 1988.
  • Originally, episodes were planned to be as long as 30 minutes, but changed to 20 minutes once filming began- as the original runtime was too long to keep the attention of the audience. [1] When the series started to air on TV, the run-time was shortened again to 15 minutes.
  • While the show was being produced, huge wooden standees of Ten Cents and Zip stood at the entrance of Shepperton Studios.
  • The Star Fleet are loosely based off the Crowley Maritime tugs of San Francisco, and the Z-Stacks are based off the Moran Fleet of New York City.
  • The Walt Disney cartoon (Little Toot) served as an inspiration for the series.
  • Robert D. Cardona went to the United States in March 1990 to set up a deal with American distributors. Plans were made to redub the series with New Jersey, Mid West, and Bronx accents. But unlike Thomas the Tank Engine & Friends, an actual US dub for this TV show sadly never came to be. Three episodes were dubbed with this format, but only one episode, Sunshine, has surfaced online[2]. What episodes the other 2 dubs utilized are still unknown as of 2023.
  • The remotes that were used to control the eyes from Tugs were the same type of remotes used to control the characters for the model series of Thomas the Tank Engine & Friends.
  • According to Shaun Prendergast, voiceover sessions were usually done separately with each actor alone in the booth, but occasionally scheduling clashes resulted in the actors providing voices in the same session.
  • The voice actors were freelance and never credited. Shaun Prendergast admitted in an interview with TUGS: The Exhibition he was unaware he wasn't credited for his roles.
  • Mike O'Donnell and Junior Campbell recorded the music for TUGS using a Prophet 2000 sampler, a Roland Jupiter 6 synthesizer, and a Yamaha RX5 drum machine. A live recorded acoustic piano, bass guitar, and saxophone were used for the opening and ending themes. The live recorded piano also briefly appears in the incidental score to Pirate.
  • A second season was planned, which would have introduced new characters and have mostly taken place up river.
  • The Fire Tug's horn is from the Staten Island Ferry.
  • Early character concept arts indicate the series was going to be set in the 1930s rather than the 1920s as the Firefighter, Lightship and Submarine are all based on 1930s built vessels.
    • The Submarine's basis is a German WW2 Type IIC U-boat, indicating a war element.

Model Tidbits

  • Ten Cents' model is 20 inches long, and his hull was the basis for Zip and Zug.
  • Hercules' model is 39 inches long.
  • Izzy Gomez was 4 feet long.
  • Top Hat was the only character to have a wheelhouse which could move up and down.
  • Five tug models were used for multiple characters. Bluenose's model was temporarily turned into Sea Rogue and was found nearly completely turned into him a second time. Boomer had his model temporarily made into Sea Rogue's Uncle and was also found partially converted into him a second time. Finally, the pirate tugs became Burke and Blair, while their close up model became a tug in the White Fleet. The models are currently Burke and Blair.
  • A faceless unnamed tramp steamer that went unseen in the series would be present during the filming of Sunshine, with its funnel being reused for Johnny Cuba and Old Rusty, and its superstructure later reused for Nantucket. Old Rusty and Nantucket would also go on to share the same hulls, with it being destroyed during the filming of Trapped. Johnny Cuba's model would also typically serve as a faceless unnamed background tramper.
  • Only one ocean liner model was made, frequently modified with different liveries and stacks depending on which shipping line she was portraying. It measures out be 12 feet long. The other ocean liner with two red stacks which could sometimes be seen in the background was a 2D wooden fake.
  • Each central character had between one or two dozen interchangeable face masks.
  • Several character face masks were auctioned off on eBay in mid-2012.
  • The models were built at a scale of one third of an inch to the foot (1:36), however some of the larger boats had to be "adjusted" in scale.
  • The Dock Railway engines, rolling stock and barges track gauge are 45mm (Gauge 1/G gauge), same as standard gauge characters appearing in Thomas the Tank Engine & Friends.
  • Each tug cost between £6,000 - £8,000 to build ($10,000 - $13,000 in US dollars).
  • It took two men to control the trolleys, smoke, steam, eyes, etc. for each tug.
  • The series was filmed in a renovated boiler house at Shepperton Studios.
  • The cranes were built by modelmaker Mark Dorsett.

Filming the Series

  • The boats used specially-constructed wheeled trolley chassis clamped to the hulls for added weight and realism. The chassis were planned to be remote controlled, but the added weight from the mechanisms in the tugs' wheelhouses proved to be too heavy.
  • Transparent string was used to pulled the characters along by hand through the water.
  • The entire series was filmed on the Clearwater Periscope Lens System with a variable speed 35mm Fries Mitchell motion picture camera, running at 36 FPS, 48 FPS, or 96 FPS depending on the scene.
  • The studio crew members wore fishing waders whilst being in an aquatic set.
  • The superstructures were made of perspex and plastic, and the funnels were made of brass so they didn't melt when smoke was flowing through them.
  • Smoke was generated by a fog generator and pumped by an air compressor through a tube which was connected to the models with a down-weighted garden hose.
  • Most of the eye movements were controlled by David Mitton and Chris Tulloch.
  • The tank was designed to function like a swimming pool with a filter to keep the water clean, but with food color dye to give it more of a harbour like appearance and to hide the underwater mechanics.
  • The tank measured out 45 feet by 25 feet with a depth of 14 inches.
  • David Mitton reportedly tried to keep the goldfishes in the tank, which quickly died from the food color dye.
  • Several models of the tugboat characters were confirmed to still exist in December 2012. As of January 2013, nineteen of the models (twenty-five characters) are being preserved by The Star Tugs Company and are being funded to be refurbished and is currently touring with some selected models in the UK.

The Original Style of Tugs[1]

Note: These were all phased out by mid 1987.

Setting and Style

  • The faces on the watercraft characters were originality designed identical to Thomas the Tank Engine & Friends; painted grey, flat and used the same type of eye-mechanism. Following legal feuds with Thomas’ creator, Britt Allcroft, the crew made a new style.
  • Bigg City Port was designed much differently originally, resembling New York City more. The set was also much meant to be five times bigger. For example, the Star and Zero Docks were not originally placed next to each other. Some episodes appear to be written with this version of the set in mind.
  • Humans appeared and interacted with the vessels - similar to Thomas. In the final series, aside from the sentient vehicles, the world seems made with humans in mind, yet none appear or are even mentioned, but are somewhat implied.

Characters

  • Star Tug and Marine had a dispatcher.
  • The Star Tugs were crueller (torturing their charter for a mistake) and the Z Stacks were more evil (leaving savable people to perish).
  • Ten Cents was more privileged.
  • Big Mac was originally slow-witted and kind-hearted despite his powerful engine. He was also the main tug to be given garbage detail instead of Warrior.
  • Warrior was originally lazy and very cynical rather then clumsy. He was also nicknamed “Slouch” and “Worrier”. By early 1987, he was rewritten into the more friendly tug he is in the final series.
  • Sunshine was a clumsy and childish tug that was put through comical painful misfortunes. Before the Star Fleet, he was independent.

TUGS: The Exhibition

TUGS: The Exhibition (formerly known as The Star Tugs Trust and later The Star Tugs Company) are a group and exhibitors of the original Tugs models. They own eighteen individual models (twenty-four different characters) from the television series. They also own unreleased still photographs from the show's production, production notes, concept art, blueprints of the models, scripts, prototype faces and early versions of the episodes including temp tracks and deleted scenes, such as a twenty-minute workprint of Warrior (Warrior's Longest Day) and a seven minute sizzle reel. Most of this material is shown exclusively at the Exhibition's special events. Online, the Exhibition presents fan-art for the show, members' reviews of the episodes and blogs about other shows and books featuring watercraft.

In 2017, the Trust commissioned a contracted model maker based in Shepperton Studios to produce a replica of Sally Seaplane.

Links

Websites by Production Crew
Fan Sites
Sodor Island Fansite (SiF) 's Interviews

Photo Credits

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