Ed Ting Video: Telescopes in the Movies and on TV

[John]

I've followed Ed Ting's reviews for many years and found them very interesting and useful.

Ed has produced quite a few videos on his Youtube channel recently which seem to be nicely put together as well.

Here is his website:

https://www.scopereviews.com/

I've just watched this one on Telescopes in the Movies and on TV which is fun

 

[JeremyS]

 Brilliant- thanks for posting John.

[domstar]

Very nice. I was just watching Sherlock on Friday and a man was murdered because of his astronomical knowledge. He had a small reflector aimed at a skylight window. I had a hideous moment of self-awareness as I couldn't stop myself from talking over the episode to my less than interested partner. 

[Andy ES]

Yes these videos are delivered very well. This one helped me make the right decision.

 

[JeremyS]

1 hour ago, domstar said:

Very nice. I was just watching Sherlock on Friday and a man was murdered because of his astronomical knowledge. 

Yes it’s a very dangerous hobby we have.

 Might give it up for skydiving instead 🤣

[Alien 13]

My favorite TV/scope moment has to be the Avengers "from Venus with love" episode lots of scopes on view like this one, although no idea what its is apart from big.

My favorite scene though is when Emma is looking the wrong way through a Charles Frank 8 inch reflector (the realy cool one with the skeleton frame).

Alan 

[JamesF]

1 hour ago, domstar said:

Very nice. I was just watching Sherlock on Friday and a man was murdered because of his astronomical knowledge. He had a small reflector aimed at a skylight window. I had a hideous moment of self-awareness as I couldn't stop myself from talking over the episode to my less than interested partner. 

Is that "The Great Game"?  An outstanding episode.

James

[JeremyS]

40 minutes ago, Alien 13 said:

My favorite TV/scope moment has to be the Avengers "from Venus with love" episode lots of scopes on view like this one, although no idea what its is apart from big.

My favorite scene though is when Emma is looking the wrong way through a Charles Frank 8 inch reflector (the realy cool one with the skeleton frame).

Alan 

Has the observer gone up in smoke?

Focal ratio looks about @F15Rules, not that I’m pointing the finger at Dave 🙂

 

[Sunshine]

That was fun to watch, anyone else notice that silly looking apparatus on the front of the Meade SCT in the last example? what is that they fit to the scope? it is made of metal as i can see weld marks lol.

looks like the producer figured it isn't impressive enough so they fit a cage to the front haha.

Edited January 18, 2021 by Sunshine

[John]

Having performed as an amateur astronomer in front of cameras once, I can verify that the ideas that the director / production team have on what looks good through the camera is sometimes completely at odds with sensible astronomy practice

 

Edited January 18, 2021 by John

[Alien 13]

35 minutes ago, JeremyS said:

Has the observer gone up in smoke?

Focal ratio looks about @F15Rules, not that I’m pointing the finger at Dave 🙂

 

Hard to have even a guess but mine would be an 8 or even 10 inch refractor...

Yes the observer was fried by the light from Venus....or was he.

Alan

Edited January 18, 2021 by Alien 13

[JeremyS]

9 minutes ago, John said:

Having performed as an amateur astronomer in front of cameras once, I can verify that the ideas that the director / production team have on what looks good through the camera is sometimes completely at odds with sensible astronomy practice

 

Tell us more John!

[domstar]

45 minutes ago, JamesF said:

Is that "The Great Game"?  An outstanding episode.

Yes indeed.

[John]

1 minute ago, JeremyS said:

Tell us more John!

3 hours of filming with ITV on Clifton Down, Bristol with fellow Bristol AS members pretending to be at a star party, in the fog, in the persistent rain, We bought our own scopes including an 18/20 inch dob which took ages to get in place only for the production people to decide that it didn't look enough like a telescope. They had put some tiny tents up that we were supposed to crawl in and out of looking excited. They put masking tape all over my scope to hide the branding and insisted that having the lens cap on did not look realistic (true - but it was raining !). It took ages to dry and clean the objective later. 

The piece was going to be part of a montage that ITV used to show local activities before the evening news. As far as I know our bit was left on the cutting room floor. We probably looked a bit too wet and grumpy !

We did get some pocket money for doing it though and I did get to know some of the good folks at Bristol AS a little better in the pub so it was not all a negative experience  

My only experience as an "Extra" and probably that's a good thing !

[F15Rules]

1 hour ago, JeremyS said:

Has the observer gone up in smoke?

Focal ratio looks about @F15Rules, not that I’m pointing the finger at Dave 🙂

 

No, not me...I think whoever it was tried to pick up the scope and mount from the focuser end - without a handle...

Dave

[JeremyS]

21 minutes ago, John said:

3 hours of filming with ITV on Clifton Down, Bristol with fellow Bristol AS members pretending to be at a star party, in the fog, in the persistent rain, We bought our own scopes including an 18/20 inch dob which took ages to get in place only for the production people to decide that it didn't look enough like a telescope. They had put some tiny tents up that we were supposed to crawl in and out of looking excited. They put masking tape all over my scope to hide the branding and insisted that having the lens cap on did not look realistic (true - but it was raining !). It took ages to dry and clean the objective later. 

The piece was going to be part of a montage that ITV used to show local activities before the evening news. As far as I know our bit was left on the cutting room floor. We probably looked a bit too wet and grumpy !

We did get some pocket money for doing it though and I did get to know some of the good folks at Bristol AS a little better in the pub so it was not all a negative experience  

My only experience as an "Extra" and probably that's a good thing !

Great story John. Pity the film didn’t get shown.

[Andy ES]

“Don’t loosen the clutches” and “Buy Meade their still operating”

classic 😂

[Andy ES]

This one is pretty toe curling ! 😬

 

[HutchStar]

17 minutes ago, Andy ES said:

This one is pretty toe curling ! 😬

 

Watched this last night. Had me in stitches, he's a very funny guy with a dry sense of humour.

[7170]

On 18/01/2021 at 19:36, Alien 13 said:

My favorite TV/scope moment has to be the Avengers "from Venus with love" episode lots of scopes on view like this one, although no idea what its is apart from big.

My favorite scene though is when Emma is looking the wrong way through a Charles Frank 8 inch reflector (the realy cool one with the skeleton frame).

Alan 

Indeed a good episode. The weight bar at the objective end reminds me of some of the old fullerscopes. Talking of which there was a massive fullerscopes refractor in the  UFO episode "Destruction" - a 6" F15 on a MKIV mount according to various references on the net.

[bish]

Thanks John. I used to regularly read his reviews, but haven't been on in a while. He"s certainly looked through a lot of scopes. Not at all jealous!

[JamesF]

Does this one count, from the film of Dan Brown's "Angels and Demons"?

James

[wulfrun]

Just watched Marcella, season 3 Ep 2 last night. There's a white, 130-ish sized reflector by the window in one scene - pointing the wrong way, of course! 🙂

[garryblueboy]

Altered Carbon on Netflix has  a moon raker built for the show 

[Zermelo]

On 19/01/2021 at 22:35, 7170 said:

Talking of which there was a massive fullerscopes refractor in the  UFO episode "Destruction" - a 6" F15 on a MKIV mount according to various references on the net.

This episode was repeated this morning on the Horror Channel.
Apologies for the poor quality, snapped in haste:

You can't read it here, but it did clearly say "Fullerscopes" on the OTA.  Paul Foster is clearly impressed.

It was never shown precisely how this beast had access to the sky from the flat.
In the script, the finder was imbued with the ability to project some kind of disabling rays out into deep space, but presumably an upgrade from the standard edition.