Cushing Box in The New Avengers

[darren79]

I was just going watching the first episode of the Avengers called Hot Snow from 1961 and spotted something that hasn't stood out before. A police box during what I believe is a film insert. It shows a high view of a rainy street.



Oh and here's a decent picture of what is believed to be the Cushing Police Box prior to its demise in New Avengers episode "Target".

[lorisarvendu]

I remember watching that episode of the New Avengers first time round , and I got all excited about there being a real police box somewhere, so I grabbed a piece of paper and started writing a letter to ITV, intending to ask them where this was so I could go and see it.  Seconds later they blew the damn thing up, and my half-written letter was sadly consigned to the bin.

[agricola]

It's on Youtube - I think it might be clip 4. Was quite sad in a way to see such an icon gone in seconds - wasn't even wholly relevant to the story.

[purpleblancmange]

Excellent find on the first image and what a great grab from Target.  Thanks for those.  Is there any chance that you could do some more from Target please?  That box just screams Cushing TARDIS to me, even down to the colouring and weird base, plus the odd way that the door opens which you can just about make out here.

What would be greatly appreciated are key grabs from before, during and after the destruction... say three or six grabs if that's possible.

Cheers!

[Rassilons Rod]

Whats up with the RHS door window? one of the bars appears to be broken and the glass looks like its hanging inwards.

What about the phone door?

-Marc

[darren79]

Here is a few glimpses that you get throughout the episode.


The last shot prior to the explosion.


The actual explosion - not really clear what's happening.


Here is the remains after the explosion. You can see the frame leaning over to the left.


This would have been the best image but the shot never stabilises - very brief shot from a wipe that moves into a fast pan.


Hopefully one day the series will get some proper restoration to do some good screengrabs.

[purpleblancmange]

Thanks for posting these images - it's greatly appreciated!!!

This (below) is a very telling shot, I'd say this is the Cushing prop as it does match in some key areas.  You can also see where the prop has been sawn up and reassembled for detonation - it also explains where the Pull to Open sign has gone... wouldn't want that loose, it'd be like a bullet.



I suppose it's a fine way to go out in style.

[Rassilons Rod]

wouldn't want that loose, it'd be like a bullet.

For some reason that has me giggling like a 5 year old... and that was BEFORE I thought of the innuendo

-Marc

[markofrani]

These pics are great!! Firstly they must confirm that this IS the very same Movie Tardis prop in its final days. The proportions, size and shape in my humble opinion match exactly with the movie prop. (eg: The narrowness of the windows and recessed panels match on both) And secondly, as the movie prop was used in both movies but with a more accurate roof lamp in Daleks Invasion Earth, they confirm that the prop in the Who Shop is definitely NOT the original, unless it has indeed been reassembled from scraps of wood! Here's a snap from the first Dalek movie to compare:


and then from 'Target!'


Still it's a real shame that, along with the original TV prop, another major item of early Dr Who history was consigned to the skip before anyone thought it might be worth keeping.

[purpleblancmange]

Nice Black and White shot there from the first movie, seeing it now makes me feel sure that I know what they used for the TARDIS lamp and it's something I've suspected for a long time, but could never be sure...

Does it not look like a converted Lava Lamp?  These things were dotted all over the Dalek city set throughout the first movie, so it would stand to reason that if they couldn't get their hands on a proper lamp (which they obviously intended as there's space up there for it) they'd use something else.

Another key feature of the Cushing prop is the slightly over sized (widthwise) roof upper tiers and the wider than usual, flatter base - both of which can be clearly seen in the Target episode.

[Rox]

To me, the lamp looks a bit like an oil lamp, side on.  A bit like this:

[noimg]http://www.allproducts.com/manufacture97/whlanterns/product5-s.jpg[/img]

Happy to be wrong, mind...    I can see the lava lamp look too though.

[thedoctor]

From what I heard the episode is titled 'Target' and features Keith Barron and Deep Roy. So there!

[lorisarvendu]

Since it is now established fact that the prop blown up in the 1976 New Avengers episode "Target" was the original Aaru box from the Cushing movies (found lying around Pinewood studies), here's some screen-caps hopefully adding a little more detail to our knowledge of the box design and dimensions.

1. Dummy Steed outside the box. Patrick MacNee is apparantly 6ft tall (1.83m) so assuming the base is the same depth as in the Movies (and there's no reason why it should have been altered), the middle bar of the windows is 1.83m from ground level.  I wonder where the fresnel lamp ended up?



2. The box is mostly seen in out of focus long-shot and apart from the above picture we don't get to see any decent detail until the box gets blown up 5 minutes before the end.  It's an interesting choice of colour for the prop, and I wonder why it was repainted.  Perhaps the original paint job had deteriorated, or maybe black rather than blue was felt to be more in keeping with the decor and overall tone of the location.  Having said that, the St John sign is still there, so did they paint round it?

Interestingly the alcove for the phone (or rather the hole where the phone sign was - there was never an actual phone in there) shows the surround recessed a bit.  Probably where the sign assembly was fixed on.

[galacticprobe]

I agree that the paint job probably deteriorated while the prop was in storage (for about ten years - enough to deteriorate any paint job). The Cushing box, being so close to an actual Met box, probably had its St. John's logo as a plate held on by two screws at the 3 and 9 o'clock positions, and since the logo was six inches in diameter as was the logo on a real box, that's probably what it was: an actual logo plate. So during the repaint they probably just removed the plate and then replaced it after the new paint job.

As to the height of the window's middle bar, if MacNee is in fact 6 feet tall, that bar would actually be slightly above his head as in the photo, the bar is even with the top of his bowler hat, which is adding several inches to his height. (That's assuming for this long shot it is the REAL Patrick MacNee standing in for the dummy to get the "real Steed" look, and the dummy was placed there just before the "Earth-shattering kaboom!" that, sadly, destroyed the box.) And if it is the dummy Steed all the while, we're assuming they made or had a dummy that was exactly six feet tall, and again the bowler would still add several inches to its height.

But the one constant in the Cushing box as in a real Met box is the 6-inch diameter St. John logo. Even at this steep angle, top to bottom that logo will still measure 6 inches.

Dino.

[watcher]

The box looks the normal dark blue to me?