Mar 29, 2024, 10:39 am

News:

New, New TardisBuilders!


TARDIS Armillary Sphere

Started by Rassilons Rod, May 29, 2007, 12:21 pm

Previous topic - Next topic

celation

Ah - thanks guys - that's brilliant! I knew you'd be able to tell me.

I'm tempted to try a reconstruction of this too. Don't know why I should be being distracted by this at the moment, though...

Must stay focused...  :-\

The one in Mind Robber looks like the same one, but it's lost the arrow through the centre. Makes it kinda useless as a sundial. Not sure how much use it would be as a sundial inside the TARDIS anyway. :P

Rassilons Rod

Mar 07, 2012, 11:18 am #16 Last Edit: Mar 07, 2012, 11:22 am by rassilonsrod
The strange thing is that in some shots, it looks like there might be a fourth band...

Something like this:
http://farm7.static.flickr.com/6145/5938434967_e7a0afb365.jpg

I think it's just perspective though. That shot of it in Edge of Destruction has a funny thing the way the light hits the inner part.
In the cities in the streets there's a tension you can feel,
The breaking strain is fast approaching, guns and riots.
Politicians gamble and lie to save their skins,
And the press get fed the scapegoats,
Public Enema Number One.

celation

It's also tricky to work out if the base is pyramidal or conical...

Rassilons Rod

My opinion, which like certain orifices is something that everyone has (and therefore probably not 100% reliable ;)), is that it is conical. But there is a lot of detailing, scoring or whatever that could give it multi-sided feel.
In the cities in the streets there's a tension you can feel,
The breaking strain is fast approaching, guns and riots.
Politicians gamble and lie to save their skins,
And the press get fed the scapegoats,
Public Enema Number One.

Rassilons Rod

Dec 11, 2012, 02:55 pm #19 Last Edit: Dec 19, 2016, 09:24 pm by warmcanofcoke
I just found this amazing photo on Chronovore.org. Despite the fact that its behind a camera, its probably the clearest image of this prop I have ever seen.

d1-1c-015.jpg
In the cities in the streets there's a tension you can feel,
The breaking strain is fast approaching, guns and riots.
Politicians gamble and lie to save their skins,
And the press get fed the scapegoats,
Public Enema Number One.

galacticprobe

Dec 11, 2012, 03:50 pm #20 Last Edit: Dec 11, 2012, 03:50 pm by galacticprobe
I remember a discussion of this prop before, in another thread. (Darned if I can find it now!) One of the big questions asked in that one was about the sphere's base. From what we can see of this prop, and from what I've seen of other such spheres in garden centers and hardware stores (and my wife's front garden), all of them had tripod leg bases, most ending with just the legs, while only a few had a ring connecting the legs at the very bottom.

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

Rassilons Rod

There's a lot more detail in the base than I have seen in previous photos but it still looks like a flat sided cone to me.
In the cities in the streets there's a tension you can feel,
The breaking strain is fast approaching, guns and riots.
Politicians gamble and lie to save their skins,
And the press get fed the scapegoats,
Public Enema Number One.

galacticprobe

Dec 12, 2012, 06:18 pm #22 Last Edit: Dec 12, 2012, 06:18 pm by galacticprobe
I just noticed that Ian (William Russell) is holding a sextant. (I guess now we know where TARDIS got that part for the 9th Doctor's console! ;) ;D)

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

Rassilons Rod

May 18, 2015, 10:28 pm #23 Last Edit: May 18, 2015, 10:29 pm by rassilonsrod
Just spotted this in Terror of the Vervoids, just as the Doctor legs it to rescue Mel from the waste disposal unit...

PDVD_003.JPG

Here is the original (which I am sure, did lose it's arrow at some stage):

EoD-2__0029_Layer 20.jpg
In the cities in the streets there's a tension you can feel,
The breaking strain is fast approaching, guns and riots.
Politicians gamble and lie to save their skins,
And the press get fed the scapegoats,
Public Enema Number One.

galacticprobe

May 19, 2015, 06:02 am #24 Last Edit: May 19, 2015, 06:04 am by galacticprobe
Well, I know this isn't the greatest image, but it does look like the Armillary Sphere had lost its arrow at least by "Tomb of the Cybermen".
ArmillaryShpere.jpg
I know I've got a better image around my computer's folders - somewhere. Once I can find it I'll post it for a better look (unless someone else beats me to it).

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

Rassilons Rod

We really should work out some proper dims for this thing.
In the cities in the streets there's a tension you can feel,
The breaking strain is fast approaching, guns and riots.
Politicians gamble and lie to save their skins,
And the press get fed the scapegoats,
Public Enema Number One.

galacticprobe

May 19, 2015, 06:42 am #26 Last Edit: May 19, 2015, 06:57 am by galacticprobe
Those three rings (the two rod-like ones and the dial-like one) look to be roughly about the size of a standard beach ball - say about 18 inches in diameter (just going by how large they look when comparing them to Hartnell's and Colin Baker's heads, and about how large it the Armillary looks against that roundel in the Troughton image).

And if it is about that size, then the cone base would be about 12 inches tall. (In one of the Trougton stories that base is definitely a solid-walled cone, not an open tripod with a ringed base; though that's not to say it hadn't changed since the Hartnell days.)

Looking at lightened images:
PDVD_003-Lightened.jpg
The one in "Terror of the Vervoids" is definitely solid-walled cone-based...

EoD-2__0029-Lightened.jpg
...but it's hard to tell in this Hartnell image whether that base is a cone or an open tripod with a ring base. But at least in this image, if the other dimensions I've guesstimated are anywhere near accurate, then the arrow would extend about 6 inches beyond the rings, and the wide part of the base would be about the same - 6 inches in diameter. The top of the base, where it meets with the rings, could be about 3 inches in diameter since it looks to be about half that of the bottom. (It's certainly not narrower than 2 inches in diameter.)

How's that for a start?

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

celation

May 20, 2015, 11:34 am #27 Last Edit: May 20, 2015, 11:36 am by celation
Amazing spot there, Marc! Almost certainly the same object.

The armillary is one of these:

image.jpg

Unfortunately horrendously expensive if ever you can find one for sale.

Rassilons Rod

May 20, 2015, 11:49 am #28 Last Edit: May 20, 2015, 11:54 am by rassilonsrod
Good grief!!! Where on EARTH did you find that!?!??? :) :) :)
Surely YOURS is the amazing find! :)

Got any more info?

Quote from: celation on May 20, 2015, 11:34 am
Amazing spot there, Marc! Almost certainly the same object.

The armillary is one of these:

image.jpg

Unfortunately horrendously expensive if ever you can find one for sale.
In the cities in the streets there's a tension you can feel,
The breaking strain is fast approaching, guns and riots.
Politicians gamble and lie to save their skins,
And the press get fed the scapegoats,
Public Enema Number One.

rob49152

wow! Nice find. I just looked over all the reference images I could find and this Swedish Armillary Sphere matches almost perfectly. The only differences being the wing-nuts and the interior of the ring. They appear to be more 'painted' and a different font

VTS_03_1_mpeg4_mp3.avi_001197997.jpg

Even on this image (if you can blow it up) you can see that the base has a similar texture with the square indents and patterns.
4a7a6f05afffa491ad30269dbb471c21.jpg

I have another image I am trying to locate that shows the arrow part more clearly and that the base is an extreme oval shape.