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Longleat/Blackpool Exhibition Console Photos and History

Started by chancellorgoth, Sep 13, 2009, 08:08 pm

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Mark

Sep 16, 2007, 08:27 pm #15 Last Edit: Jan 27, 2010, 05:19 am by doctoriz
Quoteit envokes something inside you...just to reach out and touch it; but it has DO NOT TOUCH written all over it


I have to be honest, my will power failed me - I couldn't resist....

:-[

tizzicle1919

Sep 16, 2007, 02:50 pm #16 Last Edit: Jan 27, 2010, 05:19 am by doctoriz
You have to admit that when it is lit up it envokes something inside you...just to reach out and touch it; but it has DO NOT TOUCH written all over it. Shame really

DoctorWho8

Sep 03, 2007, 03:02 am #17 Last Edit: Jan 27, 2010, 05:20 am by doctoriz
Here's someone's pic taken in the '80's I think.  It has the original controls.
http://66.102.130.170/innerclock/images/Tardis.jpg
Bill "the Doctor" Rudloff

purpleblancmange

Sep 02, 2007, 07:29 pm #18 Last Edit: Jan 27, 2010, 05:20 am by doctoriz
Quote from: mrbarry board=console thread=1188162244 post=1188759686The pics you posted of the panels on the Blackpool console are radically different in their detailing.


Yeah, that's due to the fire damage I mentioned earlier.  I'm sure the main construction is the original, including the rotor, but the control panels were remade in the 90s.  When was that fire, anyone remember?

The original Blackppol one is Long gone and was bigger than the Longleat one, though they were of a very similar design.  I'd love to put up some pictures of them, but I've long since lost most of my pictures... ancient computers for you.  Bah!

barry

Sep 02, 2007, 07:01 pm #19 Last Edit: Jan 27, 2010, 05:20 am by doctoriz
Back in the early 70's, 73 to be exact, I wrote to the beeb trying to get Tardis plans out of them. The kindly replied with a very nice letter saying they had no Tardises to sell (?) but they sent me seven blueprints of the console, the side elevations and plan views and all of the individual console panels.

I believe these plans were of the exhibition consoles, because in 74/75 when I visited the Blackpool exhibit, the panels matched.

The pics you posted of the panels on the Blackpool console are radically different in their detailing.

Barry

Mark

Sep 02, 2007, 06:17 pm #20 Last Edit: Jan 27, 2010, 05:21 am by doctoriz
Had a look at the rotor. well as best I could, and there are some pulley kind of wheels just below the top of the console.

There wasn't anything connected to the pulleys so I'm guessing it was knackered again, plus the fact the rotor wasn't actually doing anything!

yourworstnightmare

Sep 02, 2007, 11:58 am #21 Last Edit: Jan 27, 2010, 05:21 am by doctoriz
it is a really good console! i like the plasma ball thing on the left!

DoctorWho8

Aug 27, 2007, 08:35 pm #22 Last Edit: Jan 27, 2010, 05:22 am by doctoriz
If you find the picture around here of Jon Pertwee at the console when the exhibition originally launched, the controls mimicked his console at the time.  The current model is more of a unique layout.
Bill "the Doctor" Rudloff

purpleblancmange

Aug 27, 2007, 07:06 pm #23 Last Edit: Jan 27, 2010, 05:22 am by doctoriz
I remember it being at Longleat too and it is the original one they built whenever the place first started doing the exhibition, but after the fire there, they had to replace the top control panels as I think they got heavily smoke damaged or even a little charred.

dalethetimelord

Aug 27, 2007, 05:55 pm #24 Last Edit: Jan 27, 2010, 05:22 am by doctoriz
This, I seem to remember, is the old Longleat console from the long-running exhibition at Longleat House; which closed a couple of years ago. The central column is on a chain drive which breaks frequently I'm told, and when I was  last in the Blackpool Dr Who Museum it was having many problems including overheating and the soundtrack going wrong... it's a nice console, but not keen on all the stuff ON it!

chrisrowand

Aug 27, 2007, 12:59 pm #25 Last Edit: Jan 27, 2010, 05:23 am by doctoriz
It is a lovely console. I have seen it myself and it is a very well made piece. I suppose it must be to have lasted this long.

kiwidoc

Aug 26, 2007, 10:45 pm #26 Last Edit: Jan 27, 2010, 05:24 am by doctoriz
Maybe it's the moody lighting but with those panels of coloured lights that console is quite a nice intermediate step between the classic series consoles and the TVM
Quote from: doctorhugh board=console thread=1188162244 post=1188164771I visited it at the beginning of the month :)
If I made a TARDIS Console, it's be based on this one!

blackpooltardisconsolewr9.jpg

It was built in the 70's when the exhibiton was either first opened or first became a permanent exhibition

doctorhugh

Aug 26, 2007, 09:46 pm #27 Last Edit: Jan 27, 2010, 05:24 am by doctoriz
I visited it at the beginning of the month :)
If I made a TARDIS Console, it's be based on this one!

blackpooltardisconsolewr9.jpg

It was built in the 70's when the exhibiton was either first opened or first became a permanent exhibition

timerotor

When the fire swept through the Exhibition, it was a disaster, because even though the extent of the fire wasn't absolute, it damaged the console, the walls (which much like a studio set were only wood panels) and most of the exhibits were also damaged, if not by the fire, but by the heat and smoke.
I don't know if anyone can remember going to the Blackpool Exhibition (which is now closed) and seeing how the console room looked some what dirty and tarnished! It also smelt of smokey burnt wood and ash.
The time rotor was heat damaged and couldn't move properly again, so eventually became still.
When the decision was taken to re-open the exhibition to the public - even though it was not lit and awaiting the re - fit, a lot of fans got excited that there were no more perspex barriers to protect the console - or many of the exhibits.
I caught a young man who had actually climbed over into one of the main window's into the old Dalek display, and  h was trying to remove the gun I think...
and the Console got a lot of its original knobs and Levers pulled off and THIS is why it got a dodgey re fit, and lost so much of its original Hartnel/Pertwee Character.
They went for a high tech look, which in my view was a mistake because it looked cheap and you could buy many features from the local Gadget shop.
It was my first job in the mornings to dust off the console and I used to love turning on the lights, the Video players (shows how old it all was) and the sound effects real. But it really did smell bad.
I did take measurements, I think Purple is correct that it is scaled down from the Propper TV SET version, maybe even by half. I have the information at home.
I promise I will share that info with you when I am back in London. (I'm taking a few days off)
A few pictures of that sad time.
I still get depressed that the BBC took it out of Longleat.
It was such a legendary place and many dreams were made there, many friends were made there and many Fans flocked there...
I hardly ever go to visit Longleat now.
They turned the Tardis into a shabby shack housing BATS!
When I walk into the court yard and see remains of the old oversized police box - which is still visible, but they painted it brown and tried to make it look like a mining shack -  the sight of it make me rather angry and annoyed.
Anyway, If you're into the new series there are so many exhibitions it seems there's a new one every year! Kids have it so easy these days! ;)fire3.jpgfire2.jpgfire5.jpgLongleat Fire 3.jpgLongleat Fire 2.jpgfire4.jpg
living, learning, loving, refurbing, & preserving!

lorisarvendu

I've been nosing through some of my old pics, and found the ones I took when I went to the DW Longleat exhibition probably round about 1975 (judging by the fact there were Wirrn & Revenge Cybermen there).  The photos honestly aren't great, though I'll scan the rest if asked, but I thought these two might be of interest to this board.

If I'd known then what forum I was going to be on now, I'd have photographed every single panel at least 3 times!

;)

Longleat1a.jpg

Longleat2a.jpg