The Brachaki Police Box Prop (The War Machines to Seeds of Doom)

[tony farrell]

Crispin has already produced a magnificent Secondary Control Room Console and plans. Nathan (Warmcanofcoke) is working his way through the Five Doctors Console Room. This set re-utilised the walls from the Secondary Control Room (principally in the adjoining corridors). The Secondary Control Room's scanner section was also re-used in the small Graham Williams control room. The moulded roundels (or at least roundels produced from the same mould) from the Secondary Control Room were re-used in the Five Doctors set. So, in theory, it ought to be relatively easy to pin this one down.
Simply because you've mentioned it - and for want of anywhere else to add the reply - I think the Secondary Control Room's short tenure was artistic; a change of producer meant a change of tone away from the 'gothic' and towards the science fantasy (comedy) which was a characteristic of the Graham Williams era.
I'm not sure, but I think it was the original (Brachaki) walls which had warped in storage hence the building of the smaller walls with the fibre-glass roundels (only the original Brachaki zig-zag doors and console were re-used for season 15 onwards).
Tony

[DoctorWho8]

This is a very important piece from old friend Purpleblancmange about the original TARDIS prop, and how the idea that it was split apart so the doors were in front of the console room for the pilot was the wrong conclusion in his research that he made public years ago when he was active in TARDIS Builders forums.  In fact, thanks to the floor plans released by the Radio Times this week, he has the final nail in the evidence that ANOTHER set of doors were fashioned and placed in front of the TARDIS console room, just like the new series TARDIS console rooms have had.  Please read and digest.  This does mean the 1966 refit details will have a different meaning now. http://purpleblancmange.wordpress.com/2013/09/26/the-doctor-who-pilot-episode-tardis-police-box-props/
Bill "the Doctor" Rudloff

[tony farrell]

Hi Bill, thanks for posting the link - you beat me to it! Yes, I've read Purple's blog with interest.
I'm not quite sure how Purple has reached his conclusion.... The existence of a separate set of Police Box doors does nothing to contradict the 1966 (War Machines) alterations or - for that matter - any of the subsequent alterations to the original prop documented in my 'history' of the prop from 1966 onwards.
The only thing which might change is the reason for the 1966 refit - I've accepted/re-iterated the reason as being the need to 'flat-pack' the prop for increased location filming but I've also stated that rot was beginning to set-in (hence the trimming down of the doors and the appearance of re-inforcing strips on the bottom of each side panel).
Purple's history of the prop like the Mindrobber's website contains at least two further errors (he claims the top tier of the roof was replaced in 1966 - it wasn't - this happened in September 1970 and secondly that the rear doors were rehung to open inwards for The Three Doctors - they weren't - this happened during the inter-season refit after Terror of the Zygons. The Mindrobber's site repeats these errors and adds a third - namely that the door lock was swapped back to the left-hand door for The Invasion - it wasn't, the evidence Mindrobber sites is in fact nothing more than a scuff mark!
I'd be interested to find out from Purple why he thinks the 1966 refit took place but, this doesn't in anyway alter what was done during the refit or any of the other alterations I've documented.
Tony

[DoctorWho8]

I know the refit is not at issue, but the reason behind it now seems to have changed.  With the false facts being bandied about for a decade or so, it doesn't get to the reason of why they did it in the middle of recording The War Machines.  I do agree it had to be reconstructed for more and more location filming.

As far as the other incorrect facts, they may have been some of the incorrect information that Purp purposely said incorrectly, or they were incorrect conclusions he made at the time that he has yet made public in his more recent findings.  There is stuff I know he's not told yet that he's keeping a lid on for now.  But there are other factors involved that need to be sorted before he can say anything definitive.
Bill "the Doctor" Rudloff

[Kingpin]

I think Purple would prefer not to have his full name posted here.

[tony farrell]

Hi Kingpin, name removed - though, since he quite openly refers to his Police Box history in his own blog, the link is already there for all to see!
Tony

[Volpone]

Tony, I love the work you (and everyone else) have done here. I've poked around and not seen anything. Have you (or anyone else) done a "paint by numbers" of the 1966 refit--like the way the phone panel screw holes are broken down?  Ideally I'd like to see the 1963-66 prop side by side with the 1966-70 prop with notes on the changes.

My reason is partly curiousity but partly selfishness. I modeled my TARDIS on the 1963 prop.  I prefer the blue windows, but I don't like the butchered roof and such of the Pertwee-Baker period.  Can I have blue windows on a prop that looks like the Hartnell prop?  Or do I have to go back in time and steal all the Troughton episodes so I can claim my TARDIS is screen-accurate?*








*I'm a long way from being screen accurate right now.  That said I promise that I have not/will not travel back in time and steal all the 2nd Doctor episodes for personal reasons.

[tony farrell]

Okay.....
1963 to 1966 (lamp replaced after "The Rescue") but apart from various dirtyings down of the paintwork prop unaltered after An Unearthly Child:



1966 to 1967:









1967 to 1968:







Phone panel replaced during Seeds of Doom:



September/October 1970 refit - the Tardis gets a new roof and base:

[galacticprobe]

Phone panel replaced during Seeds of Doom:

Superb work and research, Tony, not to mention those fabulous drawings! One small correction, though: I think you mean "Seeds of Death" for this phone panel replacement. "Seeds of Doom" was a Tom Baker story (with the Krynoid), and the prop was only seen (for the last time in this state) during the final few seconds. And while the phone panel was the same, it had a black background by then (having gotten that black background sometime during the late Pertwee era).

"Seeds of Death" was the Troughton story involving the Ice Warriors (and loads of soap suds from the BBC's foam-making machine).

Dino.

[tony farrell]

Thanks Dino, I always have to think about those two stories and I was tired!!!!!!

[Senseidale]

I think you can be forgiven for being tired, stupendous work
Dale

[tony farrell]

Thanks Dale/Dino - the full topic is here: www.tardisbuilders.com/index.php?topic=4489 Don't worry, it isn't thirty-odd pages long, it's nearly all pictures in chronological order.
Dino, the last time the phone panel was refitted was during the season break after the recording of "The Time Warrior" and "Carnival of Monsters" (got that one right, erm, I hope   . The panel had been badly damaged/dis-coloured after it had been sprayed with expanding filler in "Planet of the Daleks" (gosh, I'm getting good at this  ). If you look closely, it was still the same panel (there's a chunk of wood missing at the bottom) but, a new sticky-backed plastic sheet with the lettering has been stuck on. In the still from "Planet of Evil" you can clearly see where the film has bubbled/blistered. Before that, the panel had previously been painted a charcoal grey when the box was repainted a lighter blue for "Curse of Peladon".

[galacticprobe]

I can't argue any of that, Tony. I didn't want to split hairs on the color so was being a bit general with the phone panel background, since on screen the charcoal grey sometimes looked black (depending on the color of the TARDIS, and the lighting). I couldn't remember when the background color went from that of the TARDIS to the charcoal grey; I just knew it was late in Pertwee's era, but now that you mention it, I think it was in his last season, which started with "The Time Warrior".

I think there was also some discussion on the Phone Panel thread about the bluish and charcoal grey panel being the same one, just with the background having a repaint; even the lettering is unchanged. If they printed the new sticky-back sheet with the lettering after repainting the panel charcoal grey from the same graphic as they used for the panel in "Seeds of Death", then it's no wonder why the lettering is identical.

Dino.

[Volpone]

Indeed, wonderful work. Many thanks. So the capitals on the tops of the corner posts got chopped in 1966? (among other mods)   I guess if I retrofit my TARDIS and want blue windows I'll just have to be content with not being screen accurate.

Or travel back in time and steal all the 2nd Doctor tapes.

[fivefingeredstyre]

You know this is my favourite classic series prop, it looked wonderful in An Unearthly Child. But for all the butchering renovating it received over its long life, it does make you wonder if it really would have been easier and more cost effective to build another prop rather than cut this one to pieces time and time again...