Handcuff Key/Opening device - It's the sonic!

Started by Cardinal Hordriss, Dec 23, 2017, 03:39 pm

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Cardinal Hordriss

Dec 23, 2017, 03:39 pm Last Edit: Dec 23, 2017, 08:18 pm by Cardinal Hordriss
Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh look!!!!!! Caldwell uses it.

COLONY.png

That's why the sonic has the slanted bit with a hole in, it had a clip.
I speak to you from the final days of Gallifrey. I am the past you have forgotten. You are the future I will not live to see...

The14thDr

Wow!! Nice discovery, Cardinal! This is something I don't think has ever been noticed before, and should be extremely useful when it comes to tracking down what they might have used for the original prop.

Thanks for sharing this. :)
"Would you like a jelly baby?"

Cardinal Hordriss

Noticing it was a bit of a fluke but it might be a step closer to identifying it. I think it was first seen in Thunderbirds and I refuse to believe they scratch built it in metal for the short time it was on screen so maybe one day someone will work out its true origins.
I speak to you from the final days of Gallifrey. I am the past you have forgotten. You are the future I will not live to see...

Terrasolo

Feb 25, 2018, 12:59 pm #3 Last Edit: Feb 25, 2018, 01:12 pm by Terrasolo
I actually discovered this back in 2015, although I posted on the RPF at the time https://www.therpf.com/showthread.php?t=59377&p=3545935&viewfull=1#post3545935 It first shows up as the Hand Cuff key in Episode 3 of "Colony in Space" and then later shows up in the same story for the first time as the usual colorful Sonic Screwdriver in Episode 5 of the same story, although not in close up.

That said, this prop used for the Sonic Screwdriver was not a found item. On the commentary track for "Thunderbirds Are Go!" they talk about how the prop was "turned in shop", meaning machined for Thunderbirds Are Go. So the prop was custom made for Thunderbirds and then later bought in a job lot from Gerry Anderson's film company by the BBC for Doctor Who.

EDIT: Here is the direct quote from the film commentary track.

The commentary track was all done by Producer Sylvia Anderson and director David Lane. When the Sonic Screwdriver prop first shows up, David had this to say about it:

"There's John Brown doing his piece here with the live action hand (the hand pulls out the Sonic Screwdriver and begins to use it on the control board). Great piece of mechanism this, all turned up in the workshop. All based on a... *gets interrupted by Sylvia* ... but uh, it worked, it actually worked."

galacticprobe

Feb 25, 2018, 05:09 pm #4 Last Edit: Feb 25, 2018, 05:09 pm by galacticprobe
That's some very interesting information about this little prop. Too bad Sylvia Anderson interrupted David Lane as he was about to say what it was based on.

Were Sylvia Anderson's comments intelligible? And did they have anything to do with the prop or the scene? (It might be trivial, but it would be interesting to know what she said when she interrupted David Lane.)

Thanks for posting this!

Dino.
"What's wrong with being childish?! I like being childish." -3rd Doctor, "Terror of the Autons"

Terrasolo

Unfortunately all she said was "Yes" :/ One simple word lost us some priceless information.

Cardinal Hordriss

And here's me thinking I'd made a contribution lol.
I speak to you from the final days of Gallifrey. I am the past you have forgotten. You are the future I will not live to see...

Terrasolo

Feb 25, 2018, 11:26 pm #7 Last Edit: Feb 25, 2018, 11:28 pm by Terrasolo
I'm just surprised how far news doesn't travel on the net. I'm so used to false information never going away - because of the net -  that I had just assumed that this information would have spread to other forums. I even wrote the Classic Sonic History writeup for Rubbertoe Replicas site, where I included this handcuff information. Goes to show how small the net can be sometimes.

Still, good on you though for noticing it on your own.


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Cardinal Hordriss

Thank you for the consolation but I should have known it would have already been noticed and published somewhere.
I speak to you from the final days of Gallifrey. I am the past you have forgotten. You are the future I will not live to see...