Matt Smith's TARDIS

[deck5]

Here's a blow-up of the new St. John Ambulance logo, enhanced as well as I was able from the small image.

[deck5]

Doing some quick measurements -- the new TARDIS looks to be at least 10% bigger -- 17"-tall panels, give or take.  Am I overestimating the height of the actors, or is it really that big?

[anson]

I believe the previous version has 17" panels too

[Scarfwearer]

Karen Gillan is reportedly 5'11", so the new TARDIS would appear to be the same size as the 2005 version - though much larger than the previous props.

Crispin

[slidin_sidewayz]

Have they got rid of the window lighting though? Those white boxes look like they do something, especially seeing as they have cables attached-

[kiwidoc]

The windows still light in night scenes (at least) as does the phone panel according to some on-set photos that have leaked out.  It looks (so far) as if they're not lit in daylight scenes though which seems off to me now.  I think that Purple believes that they are now lit by a form of "electronic paper' or something that will at least finally get rid of the appearance of flouro bulbs around the windoed whcih was always pretty poor..

Have they got rid of the window lighting though? Those white boxes look like they do something, especially seeing as they have cables attached-

[slidin_sidewayz]

Quick question- the door in this pic-

appears to be not wide enough on the hinge edge to go behind the corner trim. That could mean the doors could open out if hinged appropriately as in a reference picture thus-

And again-

This appears to be the old TARDIS judging by it's colour and the window frames, etc.
But why would the doors be opening out?!?!?
My doors are positioned and hinged in such a way as they only swing in. Anyone?

[geminitimelord]

It does appear to have a steeper angle on the roof.

[DoctorWho8]

Thanks to CBBC for posting pics of David Tennant's last two episodes, there is a straight on TARDIS shot just like with Karen (and Matt Smith obscured on the right).  Here are the comparisons to the Series 4 and the Series 5 boxes.

As you can see, the overall dimensions are the same between the two boxes.  BUT, the roof pitch is double on the the Series 5 prop than the Series 4 prop.  Below is an overlay so you can see the difference in pitch.  Oh, and the side panels are not wider than the doors on the Series 5 prop like all the previous ones had.

Caption: Time Crash 2.
Bill Rudloff

[Rox]

Having done a similar thing with a pic of my TARDIS, the new one has the same pitch as mine!

Hooray!!  My roof is finally accurate! 

[purpleblancmange]

The thing to take into consideration with these two images are that even though they look like they're taken the same way, they're not.

The DT shot is taken at a wide angle from a short distance away, so perspective is coming into play where as the MS TARDIS shot is taken from a greater distance and zoomed in.  This crushes the perspective and makes things look all on the same level.

I can give an example of how this works.  I was on a shoot at a grand old house and the director wanted a wide establishing shot of the house with the trees behind the house looming over the roof.  Taken from a wide angle, you couldn't see the trees because the house was in the way, the camera was then taken much further back to the point you could see the trees, but now the shot was too wide and the house detail was lost, so to correct this, the lens was zoomed in and hey-presto, we had a beauty shot of the house with the trees looming over the roof.

With the TARDIS roof, the closer you are to it, the less of the roof you see, but go further back and zoom in, you see more of the roof. 

All three NST rooves are quite similar, MkI has the widest roof, but it's pretty much the same height as MkII and MkIII and these two (II and III) are more or less identical.

Funny how the way an image is taken affects the over all look of something... and they say the camera doesn't lie.

[DoctorWho8]

Interesting point.  What I find odd when I sized the images at the same size, apart from the roof, all other dimensions fit perfectly, especially since the sides match the front now on the Series 5/MKIII prop.

I looked at the plans I made way back when, and it looks like my roof pitch matches the picture of Tennant's prop.  My original reference pics were taken by a fan, and it was not a zoomed closeup of the TARDIS, it was a larger shot of Mickie walking from the TARDIS for The Christmas Invasion.  Here's what I originally used.

Now I know this was the Fiberglass prop, but as you can see in the original pics on the right, the roof pitch matches more with the Tennant pic I posted.  The photo is not at the same angle, and it may be zoomed it some, but with the TARDIS being on the left of the pics, it still shows the roof at the same pitch.

So with this additional reference, it's still looking like the Series 5/MkII prop has a taller roof pitch.  Does anyone else have other photos that show the roof pitch of the original Eccleston/Tennant props?
Bill Rudloff

[purpleblancmange]

So with this additional reference, it's still looking like the Series 5/MkII prop has a taller roof pitch.  Does anyone else have other photos that show the roof pitch of the original Eccleston/Tennant props?

Try this one - the original wooden series one prop, the one the fibre glass was cast from:



This shows quite clearly how tall the pitch actually is / was.

EDIT: Keep in mind, the new series 5 prop's roof is somewhat more narrow than the roof here in this shot, that sort of adds to the illusion of the bigger pitch because the angle would be slightly different, but height-wise, they're near identical.

[DoctorWho8]

Just for reference, here's all three rooves.

Bill Rudloff

Edit: OK I see the pic posted.  So I guess the roof pitch would be the same.  I might need to change my plans now since my reference pic seems to have the shallow roof syndrome.  Thank you good sir.

[lorisarvendu]

Well, now Matt Smith looks like a mix of TVM Sylvester McCoy and little Patrick Troughton.  For the TARDIS, notice the lamp is reminiscent of the 1996 TVM Lamp.  Plus they recycled the cap from the previous lamp housing.  And notice the windows are now of a more proper configuration.  I wonder if the windows and sign boxes are no longer being lit up, since even the sign boxes have new signs with white letter.  Good news is, I don't have to make new drawings.
Bill Rudloff

6 months down the line, what do you think now?  Are the dimensions still the same, or is it me and is the roof a bit higher?

When I've finished my BW model, I wouldn't mind cranking off a version of Matt's new box before April!