Interviews | Posted by TV Time Machine 19.05.12
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Skip Martin, colorist at Universal Studios Digital Services is interviewed by host Jim Benson about the Night Gallery Season Three DVD project.
In this edition of TV Time Machine, we explore from inception to completion, an extraordinary project that reaches into the deep recesses of the past, restoring a small slice of television history to the
present. In this very special edition of our program, we welcome Skip Martin, colorist with Universal Studios Digital Services. In conjunction with TV Time Machine Productions, Jim Benson and Night Gallery historian Scott Skelton, Mr. Martin played an essential role in the restoration of a lost episode for the Season Three DVD release of Rod Serling’s classic 1970’s TV horror series, Night Gallery.  

Over these audio segments, Skip Martin and host Jim Benson explore what it was like working on this remarkable project, creating a bit of DVD history while preserving television history. Again, for those of you intrepid enough to take a guided tour through a gallery of myriad remastered masters, feel free to paint in bold colors, as we slip from the restraints of the present, and visit a most artistic archive of the past!

Listen to the Interview Below

Skip Martin audio interview Segment One

In this segment, host Jim Benson talks to Universal Studios Digital Services colorist Skip Martin about the definition of a “colorist,” and some of the TV series Mr. Martin has worked on including Law & Order, CSI, and Parenthood. Skip and Jim also talk about the history of Rod Serling’s Night Gallery and what led to the necessity to restore four segments of the series (“Die Now, Pay Later, “Room For One Less,” “Witches’ Feast,” and “Little Girl Lost”), for Universal’s Night Gallery Season Three DVD set. The pair also discuss how the project was green-lighted by Universal Home Entertainment executive Julie Harter, and how Night Gallery historian Scott Skelton, Jim and Skip worked together to finalize this complicated and extraordinary restoration project.

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Skip Martin audio interview Segment Two

For the second segment, host Jim Benson discusses with Colorist Skip Martin the complicated process of restoring four rarely-seen segments of Rod Serling’s Night Gallery (“Die Now, Pay Later, “Room For One Less,” “Witches’ Feast,” and “Little Girl Lost”) finding and identifying visual and audio film elements, his biggest surprise while working on the project, and the challenge of piecing together footage consisting of dozens of different iterations and combinations, to come up with completed versions of the segments, as they were intended by the original filmmakers.

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Skip Martin audio interview Segment Three

For the final segment, host Jim Benson discusses with Colorist Skip Martin how the replacement music cue selections were made by Night Gallery historian Scott Skelton, the extraordinary commitment that Universal Studios made in green-lighting such an unusual and ground-breaking project, and the satisfaction Mr. Martin feels from being involved in such an amazing endeavor. Skip also discusses a new comic book project he’s launching, just in time for the 2012 Presidential Election.

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