film "[was] that I hired Bob Parrish in the first place". Sylvia later described Parrish's direction as "uninspired. We had a lot of trouble getting what we wanted from him". Parrish also clashed with Thinnes over the actor's refusal to have his hair cut a certain way for the scenes set on the Counter-Earth. Thinnes, whose hair had already been repeatedly styled, later decided that this was merely Parrish's way of asserting authority, having received a letter from a friend warning him that Thinnes could be difficult to work with. Anderson said that his own relationship with Thinnes was awkward, but that he liked the actor's performance. Other scenes led to disagreements within Century 21. For a scene depicting Lise Hartman (Loni von Friedl) taking a shower, cinematographer John Read did the lighting in silhouette as instructed by Parrish. Gerry Anderson, who had intended the scene to show Friedl nude, demanded a reshoot, insisting that Read honour his obligations not just to Parrish as director, but also to him as producer. According to Sylvia, "Gerry was very keen to show that he was part of the 'Swinging Sixties' and felt that seeing a detailed nude shot – as he visualised it – was more 'with it' than the more subdued version". Another dispute arose when Read filmed shots of the Phoenix spacecraft model using a hand-held camera. In his biography, Anderson recalled: "I knew enough about space travel to know that in a vacuum a spacecraft will travel as straight as a die ... [Parrish] told me that people were not familiar with space travel and therefore they would expect to see this kind of movement". Read refused to reshoot the scenes, stating that Parrish's instructions took precedence over Anderson's, and resigned from both the film and Century 21 at the request of fellow company directors the Andersons and Reg Hill. Anderson elaborated: "Clearly, John was in a difficult position. I do now understand how he must have felt, but in my heart I feel he couldn't play a double role". Effects The film's special effects were produced at Century 21 Studios on the Slough Trading Estate under the direction of Derek Meddings. More than 200 effects shots were filmed. The design of the Phoenix spacecraft was based on the Saturn V rocket. During filming, the scale model unexpectedly caught fire and had to be completely rebuilt. For realism, the