h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Entry: 'Orphan Black' - the Television Series - A87928005
Author: Bluebottle - U43530

An outstanding television series – you will never see better acting and the scripts and storyline keep you fully engaged throughout.

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Thank you for telling us about this It's not something I would watch, I don't think, but your Entry gives me a great flavour of what it is all about

My only question was about the Technodolly, but then I saw it is defined later.

I particularly enjoyed the section about the clones impersonating each other! That is acting skill indeed...

Excellent concluding paragraphs

Thanks for that – you made a good point there about the technodolly, so I swapped the paragraphs round so that you now read the section where it is defined before reading about how it doesn't like being rained on.

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I had a few more thoughts after reading this again:

You perhaps don't need the mention of the Canadian production teams in the introduction, because the Origins section is very clear

In the Seeing Double section I can visualise the body double and split-screen. There is repetition in the mention of the Technodolly, but I think I can visualise it, that it is split-screen but the Technodolly moves the split around in three dimensions. The third paragraph is then describing the sentence "The length of the scene, timing lines are said and places stood all have to be identical in every take." in more detail, is that right?

"This was made even more challenging with the crew determined to film some clone scenes in 'one-shot', meaning an entire scene filmed in one continuous take from a single camera's viewpoint." - I can't visualise this - is that a scene with Tatiana and the body double, or is it that there are cuts to enable Tatiana to change roles but they are stitched together so seamlessly it looks like one shot?

" in the final series Toronto's Valley Halla estate was used " - final series, or final episode?

The mention of Cosima being named after the scientific advisor fits better into the Cast section? Is the character of Cosima LGBT+?

Thanks again for the thorough read-through, I've made some tweaks.

So, for instance, the third paragraph in the Seeing Double section does indeed describe that sentence in more detail. I've changed the wording so hopefully it is clearer. As for the one-shot, there's a brilliant scene in the final series which starts off inside Sarah's car as she's driving while being chased, then follows seamlessly as she parks in the alley, hides, runs upstairs and changes clothes with MK that is a one-shot. Essentially it is two shots – one following Sarah and then one following MK – that are joined together seamlessly.

Cosima is one of the show's LGBT+ characters (although naturally her sexuality is only one aspect of her personality) – there are by all accounts vast amounts of 'Cophine' fan fiction based on her and Delphine's relationship...

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"Maslany then plays the character that the camera is following first with her double(s) playing the other clone(s), filming not only Maslany in that role with the double but also on her own without any other clones present."

This seems to answer my question with more questions! What does it mean 'the character the camera is following' when there are two clones in the scene? Alexandre was not the only double after all, or she was also 'cloned' by the Technodolly? Could it be as simple as, "Maslany would then perform with her double and also solo. "?

In the introduction, 'exceptional talent' sounds good, but 'exceptional television series' perhaps doesn't have quite the right flavour...

What does 'street-living' mean? Am I right in thinking it is 'homeless'?

What is "mild nudity"?

Apart from those minor things, this is looking very good indeed

Thanks for your comments, I've made some tweaks.

To avoid the traditional split-screen approach where the camera and scene stays still, the camera tends to follow someone in scenes featuring multiple clones, usually Sarah. So a typical scene might have Sarah enter, say, Alison's kitchen where Alison passes her a cup of from where the kettle has just boiled and then Cosima passes her a bottle of milk from the fridge. The camera would follow Sarah, keeping her in the centre of the screen, as she enters the room, walks first to Alison who passes her a mug and then as she walks to Cosima who puts the milk bottle down and Sarah picks it up.

Alexandre wasn't the only double used, but was the head double who would do the interacting with Maslany. Other people would be used in scenes with two or more clones mainly to help maintain eye level, but if there was interacting between two of the clones it would generally be Maslany and Alexandre.

What does 'street-living' mean? Am I right in thinking it is 'homeless'?

Street-living in this context is close to homeless. You get the impression that Sarah has no permanent residence of her own and also has few possessions, if any, outside the clothes on her back. She's probably easily able to talk her way into getting to spend a few nights sleeping on the sofa of person A followed by spending time in the spare room of person B, but if she absolutely can't find anywhere else, she will spend the night outside and not for the first time.

The viewer information box on the back of the DVDs say 'mild nudity'. Which based on the series I interpret to mean that there are very occasional occasions in which a character will appear naked/topless but only for a split second and not long enough for the audience to actually get a look at any naughty bits. And only in very few episodes in any case. Make no mistake – this isn't porn.

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Aha, thank you

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