Passion Animation Studios – Augmented & Virtual Reality Confabulation

May 16, 2019

Take a Trip in the Tardis as Doctor Who: The Runaway Appears on VR Headsets

Doctor Who fans need to go and grab a virtual reality (VR) headset today as the new interactive experience Doctor Who: The Runaway has just arrived on the BBC VR app.

BBC Doctor Who: The Runaway

Premiering at the Tribeca Film Festival last month, Doctor Who: The Runaway is a 13-minute animation with interactive features starring the 13th Doctor, Jodie Whittaker. Viewers find themselves inside the famous Tardis, suddenly roped in as the Doctor’s unlikely assistant as she once again tries to save to galaxy from destruction.

The menace this time, a seemingly innocuous ball of energy called Volta, a teenager with a tantrum who has run away from home. Unfortunately, anywhere other than his home planet Volta can become rather unstable, and when agitated can turn into a rather destructive black hole, so the Doctor is trying to get him home as fast as possible.

Naturally, it’s never plain sailing in the world of the Doctor and as the assistant, you need to help out in a variety of ways, from piloting the Tardis to keeping Volta calm. “Fans will find themselves at the centre of this wonderfully animated story, helped by the natural charm and humour of Jodie Whittaker, in an adventure that really captures the magic of Doctor Who. Viewers truly are in for a treat – for those who ever dreamed of helping to pilot the TARDIS, this is your opportunity!” says Jo Pearce, creative director for the BBC’s digital drama team in a statement.

BBC Doctor Who: The Runaway

“This is the most ambitious project yet from our team in the BBC VR Hub, and the result is a magical adventure that Doctor Who fans everywhere will simply love,” adds Zillah Watson, head of BBC VR Hub. “It also shows the enormous potential that virtual reality has for creating new kinds of experiences that appeal to mainstream audiences.”

There will be two versions of Doctor Who: The Runaway depending on the headset, with the full 13-minute interactive experience available for Oculus Rift and HTC Vive on their respective stores, with an 11-minute 360-degree video version available to download from the BBC VR App for Oculus Go and GearVR. Produced by the BBC’s digital drama team, BBC VR Hub and Passion Animation Studios, for further updates from the BBC VR team, keep reading VRFocus.

April 26, 2019

Doctor Who: The Runaway – One for the Fans

The BBC’s incredibly long-running sci-fi series Doctor Who has gained millions of fans around the world over the years, spawning plenty of additional content and merchandise. The most recent is Doctor Who: The Runaway which made its debut this week during the Tribeca Film Festival. Created by award-winning Passion Animation Studios in conjunction with BBC VR Hub, the interactive experience might be short but fans of the programme will be delighted in its presentation.

BBC Doctor Who: The Runaway

First and foremost there are going to be spoilers ahead, so if you want to be completely surprised when the public launch takes place then stop reading, you have been warned. For everyone else – mostly the non-die-hard Doctor Who fans – then read on.

Featuring 13th Doctor Jodie Whittaker, Doctor Who: The Runaway takes place entirely inside the famous Tardis. To ensure maximum comfort for the audience there’s no actual movement involved, as this is a short film with interactive elements. With its own original story, you find yourself in the Tardis just after it has collided with an object, Volta to be precise. Volta is a being of pure energy who gets a little unstable away from its planet, unstable in the fact that Volta can explode turning into an all-consuming black hole that can destroy the galaxy (this is Doctor Who after all).

So the Doc needs to return Volta to its home planet and you not only get to come along for the ride, you can help along the way.

It’s easy to see why Passion Animation was chosen to produce Doctor Who: The Runaway as the art style and detail do look clean and suitably impressive – the screenshots don’t quite do it justice. During most of the 13 minutes, all the action takes place around the central column of the Tardis so you only need to face one direction. However, it is still worth watching the short on a twisting chair for certain moments and to get a good idea of the scale of the ship’s insides.

BBC Doctor Who: The Runaway Whittaker’s voice acting is spot on, perfectly conveying her Doctor Who character in digital form. The only real issue that VRFocus had was with the lip syncing, with it not quite matching up in areas – much more noticeable when the Doc gets quite close. Aside from that, the actual story whips along at a decent rate, so much so that those 13 minutes soon flyby – which always makes these type of VR experiences feel a little too short.

As mentioned, Doctor Who: The Runaway is at points interactive, so there’s no point sitting back and relaxing too much. For instance, in one section of the story as Volta is on its way home a squad of galactic busybodies descends on the Tardis looking to destroy the passenger. So the central column turns into a holographic projector allowing you to see the Tardis from the outside. You’re then tasked with piloting the ship through debris to lose these annoying peacekeepers, being careful not to hit anything as you are inside!

Another interactive moment is when Volta starts to get agitated – it maybe living energy but it’s still a teenager – so you’re given a selection of items to calm it down using the Sonic Screwdriver. These alter Volta’s size and colour, with the air horn a particular favourite – it really annoys Volta.

BBC Doctor Who: The Runaway

Even if you’re not a massive Doctor Who fan, The Runaway is still a delightful adventure, and another step on the road to bigger VR films that allow the audience to get involved. If you are a massive fan then the title is well worth a watch when it does become available – VRFocus viewed it on Oculus Rift – as well as several repeat viewings.

April 15, 2019

Check out the First Trailer for Doctor Who: The Runaway

The BBC announced in February that work was underway on a new virtual reality (VR) project involving one of the broadcaster’s most popular series, Doctor Who. Today, the first trailer has now arrived for Doctor Who: The Runaway.

BBC Doctor Who: The Runaway

The incredibly popular long-running series – it began in 1963! – is getting an animated, interactive story from the Doctor Who team, allowing fans to step inside the TARDIS with the Doctor.

And not only do you get to see the first video footage, the BBC has released the first story synopsis for the upcoming animated short: “You’ve been in a collision. You wake inside the TARDIS. The Doctor introduces you to the person, or thing, you collided with. He’s a strange and magnificent ball of living energy called Volta. Part surly teenager, part bomb, Volta is very unstable. In fact, he’s primed to explode. Big time. Unless he can be returned to his home planet, sharpish. The problem is, a squad of galactic busybodies has other plans for Volta. Bad ones. Drawn into a frantic chase, you become the Doctor’s unlikely assistant as she races against time to get Volta home to his parents. Armed with a sonic screwdriver, it is down to you to help the Doctor as she faces the forces of evil, and teenage angst, in this animated 13-minute VR adventure from the team behind Doctor Who Series 11.”

Developed by the BBC’s digital drama team, BBC VR Hub and Passion Animation Studios, Doctor Who: The Runaway features 13th Doctor Jodie Whittaker. While the BBC has stated the experience will be interactive it hasn’t specified how it’ll work or to what level.

BBC Doctor Who: The Runaway

Doctor Who: The Runaway has been written by Victoria Asare-Archer and directed by Mathias Chelebourg (Alice, the Virtual Reality Play and The Real Thing VR) and features new original music from series composer Segun Akinola. The film will premiere during the Tribeca Film Festival in New York City. The festival runs between 24th April – 5th May, with Tribeca Immersive taking place from 26th April to 4th May 2019. It’ll also come to UK audiences in the near future. For further updates, keep reading VRFocus.

February 15, 2019May 2, 2019

‘Doctor Who’ VR Experience is Coming Soon to Vive, Rift & Oculus Mobile, Trailer Here

Image courtesy BBC, Passion Animation Studios

The BBC debuted their latest VR experience, Doctor Who: The Runaway, at Tribeca Film Festival last week. Now, the company’s VR division says the 12-minute animated experience, which is voiced by the original actors, is slated to land on PC VR and Oculus mobile headsets soon.

Update (May 2nd, 2019): The BBC says that Doctor Who: The Runaway is slated to arrive ‘soon’ on Oculus Rift and HTC Vive as a real-time rendered experience. A 360 version will also be made available on Oculus Go and Samsung Gear VR.

There’s no firm launch date yet, but we’ll keep you posted once the BBC releases word.

Update (April 15th, 2019): The BBC have released a new trailer for Doctor Who: The Runaway which gives us a great first peek at the look an feel of the upcoming experience (see embedded video above). It looks to be a polished experience and that intriguing art style looks great in motion. We’ve also got more information on what the experience involves – courtesy of the latest press release:

“You’ve been in a collision. You wake inside the TARDIS. The Doctor introduces you to the person, or thing, you collided with. He’s a strange and magnificent ball of living energy called Volta. Part surly teenager, part bomb, Volta is very unstable. In fact, he’s primed to explode. Big time. Unless he can be returned to his home planet, sharpish. The problem is, a squad of galactic busybodies has other plans for Volta. Bad ones. Drawn into a frantic chase, you become the Doctor’s unlikely assistant as she races against time to get Volta home to his parents. Armed with a sonic screwdriver, it is down to you to help the Doctor as she faces the forces of evil, and teenage angst, in this animated 13-minute VR adventure from the team behind Doctor Who Series 11.”

The full experience is to receive its inaugural showing at next week’s Tribeca Film Festival, taking place in New York from Friday April 26th.

The original article covering the announcement continues below.

Dubbed Doctor Who: The Runaway, fans will get a chance to step into the TARDIS and join the Thirteenth Doctor (played by Jodie Whittaker) in virtual reality.

According to a press release, the experience is said to last 12 minutes, and will be available on “selected VR headsets in the coming months.” Just which headsets the experience will launch on is still unclear (see update).

The animated VR experience was created by the BBC and Passion Animation Studios, with Whittaker reprising her role as ‘The Doctor’.

Step Back Into the Tardis Soon with Doctor Who: The Runaway

The BBC’s sci-fi series Doctor Who has been running for years, seeing numerous doctors come and go, garnering a worldwide fan base. In 2017 the broadcaster melded the TV show with virtual reality (VR) for an experience called Time Vortex 360. Today, fans will be pleased to hear the BBC has another immersive piece of content planned for later this year, Doctor Who: The Runaway.

The new VR experience is an animated short, with Jodie Whittaker reprising her role as The Doctor. Expected to run for around 12 minutes the film will feature music from the series composer Segun Akinola.

Developed by the BBC’s digital drama team, BBC VR Hub and Passion Animation Studios, Doctor Who: The Runaway will be an interactive experience where fans will get the chance to be the Doctor’s champion and help her on this exciting adventure, as they find themselves at the centre of the action facing a deadly threat.

Jo Pearce, creative director for the BBC’s digital drama team, said in a statement: “Fans will experience the TARDIS like never before in this thrilling new interactive story. As ever, the Doctor is full of warmth, wit and charm – helped by a wonderful performance from Jodie – which puts fans at the heart of the story as they immerse themselves in this beautifully animated world.”

“Our team at the BBC VR Hub has been creating new experiences with the goal of helping to usher virtual reality into the mainstream, and Doctor Who is exactly the sort of series that can help more people to try this new technology. The show has been pushing boundaries for over 55 years, and VR enables Doctor Who to explore a whole new dimension of storytelling,” Zillah Watson, head of BBC VR Hub adds.

Doctor Who: The Runaway has been written by Victoria Asare-Archer and directed by Mathias Chelebourg, whose previous VR films include Alice, the Virtual Reality Play and The Real Thing VR. It will be available on selected VR headsets in the coming months. As VRFocus receives further updates on Doctor Who: The Runaway, we’ll make sure to keep you updated.