Was anyone watching "The Doctor Drops In" on Comic Relief last night? If you were, you may have noticed this:





The windows lighting configuration has changed - now only panels 4 and 6 are lit. Odd, because in filming shots of series 6 all window panels are lit. Perhaps it was just an accident - they left the black insert in place in front of the EL sheet. One thing that got me thinking, however, is that after filming wrapped on series 6 - the exterior locations TARDIS prop was moved to the Expereince, this must be the new one. Perhaps this is the way they are lighting it now? Any thoughts?

Purple just posted about this on his blog.  He thinks they are now using one of the promotional props since the one is at the experience.
Bill "the Doctor" Rudloff

DoctorWho 8 - THAT - explains a lot... more than you know actually. I haven't seen Purple's blog yet, but let me start from the start.
A while ago I tried to figure out how exactly the BBC did the windows on their Matt Smith box. This was when the first lit up pictures of it came out, before we knew about EL lighting or any of that, and I determined that it was a translucent black insert in a T shape, over a white diffuser - which incidentally is what I am using for my box. Later, I was told that the black was not in a T shape, but the pebbled effect plastic created the illusion of a greyed out area - and there was no diffuser behind it. I had my doubts, but, I didn't say anything - knowing that I knew little compared to others. It was when I saw Phillip's build thread, and that the pebbled plastic made no difference to the black colour, that my suspicion - in my mind was proved. It seems that EL sheet is grey when not lit up - creating the illusion of a grey diffuser behind the pebbled plastic (by this time, Purple and others on here had already reported on this, but I was unaware of it then, I had no real need to visit the reference section at that point).
The promotional prop was a source of wonder for me - as I almost prefer the one at the BBC TVC to the actual prop. Window panels 4 and 6 always looked white, not grey as the EL sheet would make it look. The black perspex was also clearly opaque. When I saw it on a visit to London before Christmas, I looked closely at the windows, and I was pretty sure that the fibres visible in EL sheets were not there, meaning it was a white plastic diffuser (or maybe an opqaue filler - I dunno). So, if this box IS a promotional one, it would make sense for only panels 4 and 6 to light up, and, it would answer a puzzle that I have had for a long time.

Right, now... I'm off to Purples blog, where I'm sure he will have explained all of the above with a much greater prop knowledge and more accurate information

Hold on, Purple's right. That box, and the one at the TVC are one and the same. Look at the wood grain - it's identical.

That's incorrect, kind of - and correct too....Look,
The new Tardis (Matt Smith MK2) is an entirely new build, saw it myself... and was being built through-out November and December 2010 January 2011, and in February it was completed, and the old one from series 5 was brought into the Doctor Who Experience for display and they started to film with the new one.
However, The one in BBCTVC, used on the Comic Relief show, WILL indeed be the display one (usually outside the audience entrance) - as they wouldn't bring the new Shooting prop all the way from Wales, when they already have a near identical display one at hand. see.

the story is...
This is the day I went with Andrew Beech, to collect TYJ1 from the Dr Who Studio's.
I found the Head of Props to be a little worried that I was taking such an interest in the TYJ Tardis and he got a little confrontational, but I tried not to bite and managed to charm him into showing me the new Tardis Lamp - which I had spotted in the back of his car. He then whipped his mobile out - to call security or who-ever to confirm that I was supposed to be there collecting the old series Tardis, and in the mean time he let me snap a few pictures... ( He's the chap holding the new Lamp for Matt Smith 2).
He was really very unkind about the old TYJ, saying that he didn't want it ANYWHERE NEAR anything to do with NEW SERIES Doctor WHO! - as he had told me that they were trying to hide it away, because it was considered detrimental to the branding  and image of the show - being so knackered and the wrong shape! - I had to bite my tongue and just ignore his remarks, it was as though he had insulted a loved one.
Please send this info onto Mr PurpleB and let him know he's welcome to update his blog with the pics and my regards to him.
Time Rotor Mark
P.S A nice clear picture of the St John's ambulance sign to print off!!!

Thanks for clearing that up, Mark! With a story as complex and confusing as that, is it any wonder that (and Purple and others for that matter) got a bit muddled on the subject?

Some lovely pictures of the new Smith box there, too. You know, I hope one day I'll get a second shot at TARDIS Building. My current build has ticked several of the right boxes for me, but, at the start, i asked myself if I wanted accuracy or preference, and, in hindsight, I think I would have preferd accuracy (seeing how the Smith box turned out over the Tennant).
I'm interested in this new lamp, though, is it any different to the series 5?

Quote from: timerotor on Mar 19, 2011, 09:25 pm
He was really very unkind about the old TYJ, saying that he didn't want it ANYWHERE NEAR anything to do with NEW SERIES Doctor WHO! - as he had told me that they were trying to hide it away, because it was considered detrimental to the branding  and image of the show - being so knackered and the wrong shape!

What an absolute sod!

Interesting to see that the Saint John's logo is hand painted, would they have been hand painted on the original Police Boxes?

I think it is all a little confusing - as you say, there are things that seem likely, so one tends to assume, but then there's the truth of the matter...
I don't understand why they keep building all these Tardis police boxes at ALL! Soon there will be so many!
Anyway the lamp is indeed a little different - but more or lees the same in design and materials soureced. The Head of Props told me that they buy an old ships lamp, and modify it using their top secret design techniques, which is the responsibility of the shows designer (as if we didn't know that).
I asked about the 'nipple' and he said, "Ah... you can ask, but I can't tell where we got it and how we made it"...

I can tell you that the lamp is MUCH bigger than the one I made and the lights that are commercially available. But you should be able to make an accurate one if you get the correct lamp size and turn a good 'nipple top' (sorry)
I don't follow Mr PurpleB's blog - didn't know he had one... but I'm sure he's on it.

Quote from: Kingpin on Mar 19, 2011, 09:47 pm

Quote from: timerotor on Mar 19, 2011, 09:25 pm
He was really very unkind about the old TYJ, saying that he didn't want it ANYWHERE NEAR anything to do with NEW SERIES Doctor WHO! - as he had told me that they were trying to hide it away, because it was considered detrimental to the branding  and image of the show - being so knackered and the wrong shape!

What an absolute sod!

Interesting to see that the Saint John's logo is hand painted, would they have been hand painted on the original Police Boxes?

Well, I guess he was just doing his job! He wasn't a sod at all letting me take pictures there! I think that the St John's ambulance is hand painted onto all the props by hand (not at Olympia though - other than the series 5 prop - they are all stickers) I wouldn't know if they were printed or hand painted on actual police boxes all those years ago, but it wouldn't surprise me as everything seems to have been done with a lot more care and attention to quality back then!

Quote from: timerotor on Mar 19, 2011, 09:53 pm
I can tell you that the lamp is MUCH bigger than the one I made and the lights that are commercially available. But you should be able to make an accurate one if you get the correct lamp size and turn a good 'nipple top' (sorry)
I don't follow Mr PurpleB's blog - didn't know he had one... but I'm sure he's on it.

I just posted a link to this thread in his comments section
The lamp to me looks the same as before, but, even to my untrained eye - something about it looks different - couldn't say what it was though. As for the roof "nipple", that does seem to be a mystery lol. Doesn't bother me toomuch though, as my lamp is the same as the one on the promo box - so I always have the Gardman to fall back on.

That's fine,
I just remembered, The poor artist who did that St John's ambulance sign writing actually did it on the wrong door, take a look at the pictures.
I'm sure he was told he had to re-do it as they couldn't change the door configuration - poor thing!
(can you imagine)-YEAH he did it on the
door pull sign side. eek!
TR

I'd hate to have been in his shoes, I'd like to think that he got a casual telling off, but the reality was probably leaps and bounds harsher.

That being said, it's also interesting that the door panel is solid, rather than cut to house the sign panel.  Even if it wasn't being lit, I probably would've affixed the sign on the inside rather than have it stuck on.

Interesting the guy was so adamant about having nothing to do with the old series box like it was a carried leprosy or something. If it didn't exist, he wouldn't have a job cause there's be no new series.

So if this new Tardis was being built last Nov, was it among the metric buttload of TARDISs spotted on that truck back then? Has anyone figured out why or where all those, what was it 22 TARDISs went?

I'd like to see what a forest of of TARDISs all lit up would look like myself... Maybe someone with the CGI models could wow us?

Timerotor...

It's really great to see the photos.

As I'm about 12 seconds from trying to draw the smith lantern nipple so it can be turned from aluminum, do you happen to have a full sized version of your photograph you can send me?

philip @ rebelscum.com

thanks...

I guess I'll have to update my Matt Smith St. John logo now that I've got a good shot of it! As for the "real" Police Boxes, the logos were metal plates held in place by at least two screws (at the 9 and 3 o'clock positions inside the black area between the arrowheads and the white circle). You can see some of those in great detail in the Reference sections:
http://tardisbuilders.com/index.php?topic=1123.0

As for that little pointy thing on the top of the lamp, it looks like a slimmed-down version of actual one on the Gardman Lantern (which I think is what was on the Smith Mk 1 lamp top, at least according to the photo in Steve Tribe's "THE TARDIS HANDBOOK"). I did find that strange since they used basically the same top as they used on the 2005 TARDIS lamp, but on the 2005 version it looks like they removed that pointy part, covered the hole, and put the small "ring holder" back on. (Check out Jasononion's and Mordrogyn's posted images here:)
http://tardisbuilders.com/index.php?topic=613.90
KB's image posted here:
http://tardisbuilders.com/index.php?topic=613.60
and Scarfwearer's posted image of the actual 2005 TARDIS lamp here:
http://tardisbuilders.com/index.php?topic=771.0

And here's a great shot of the 2010 lamp from markofrani (about half way down the page):
http://tardisbuilders.com/index.php?topic=970.0
You can see there that the pointy thing is there, and just looks a bit larger than the one on the Smith Mk 2 lamp top.

Dino.