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The Pale Green Console and Set

Started by tony farrell, Dec 07, 2012, 06:41 pm

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tony farrell

Feb 05, 2013, 04:34 pm #75 Last Edit: Feb 05, 2013, 04:38 pm by Tony Farrell
Quote from: kert gantry on Jan 31, 2013, 11:26 pm
Had the 'buckets' still been attached when the above photo was taken, the edge of the door frame on that side of the wall would have been more or less flush with the backs of them.  I'm guessing the frame's extra depth was simply to hide the buckets on either side of the opened doors whenever the camera was looking out through them.

I agree about the depth of the zig-zag concealing the back of the buckets but then, what about the backs being visible when the doors are open? In the measurements thread, I did suggest that the greater depth of the door frame might be to provide a degree of protection for these flimsy bucket mouldings.

Here, Marc has created yet more superb renders that illustrate the idea of a vestibule based on The Pilot Episode. Marc has incorporated the pale beige floor plate and the pale blue floor specified in the floor plan posted by Rob. The brass candlestick is just there for fun but it helps to visualise what was going on 50 years ago!
Thanks as always to Marc - I don't know where he gets the time!
Tony
2013-02-05_01_Pilot_Shot.jpeg2013-02-05_03_PoliceBoxDoors.jpeg2013-02-05_04_PoliceBoxDoors.jpeg2013-02-05_02_PoliceBoxDoors.jpeg2013-02-05_05_PoliceBoxDoors_From_Inside.jpeg

Mark

Nothing to contribute as I have nothing useful to contribute but I do follow this thread with great interest.

Excellent work guys, loving your work on this project.

One thing I will add is that my understanding is that for the pilot episode sequence the exterior doors were apparently the actual ones from the Police Box but unmounted from the actual police box so to speak (does that make sense?) enabling that particular shot. When the actual broadcast episode was shot the Police Box exterior had been glued and screwed together making the recreation of that scene impossible, is this still true?

rob49152

they were built separate and marked as 'keep for series' and 'to be moved in & out as required'

tony farrell

Feb 06, 2013, 04:51 am #78 Last Edit: Feb 06, 2013, 06:49 am by Tony Farrell
Rob, are you saying that the additional flat I suggested was actually built?
What a pity they never re-used it! (Isn't there a shot in the Pilot Episode additional feature (Beginnings DVD) which shows a stage hand holding the door frame in place?)

galacticprobe

Feb 06, 2013, 06:21 am #79 Last Edit: Feb 06, 2013, 06:21 am by galacticprobe
Unless I read it wrong, in the History of the TARDIS prop it said for the Pilot the back of the prop was left off so the camera could "track Barbara entering the TARDIS", thus giving the instant illusion of the 'bigger on the inside' effect without having to cut to a new scene. I could see this as in several stills from the pilot you can see the TARDIS prop wasn't quite finished yet.

But yes; when it came to re-filming the pilot as the first Production episode, the TARDIS prop had been fixed together so the back was permanently attached and Barbara's entrance into the TARDIS couldn't be tracked by the camera as it was in the Pilot, and the 'bigger on the inside' effect had to be done by cutting from the scene where Barbara forces her way into the police box to the scene of Barbara's astonished face when she's already in the console for the first time.

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

rob49152

Feb 06, 2013, 08:02 am #80 Last Edit: Feb 06, 2013, 08:06 am by rob49152
The entrance to the actual TARDIS console room was about 30 feet from the  TARDIS prop according to the set plans. The TARDIS main doors were just left of Ians car on the set  (which was the front half of a 1947 Wolseley 4-50). To film Ian and Barbara sitting in the car the camera would actually be placed in the door way looking through it. You can see in the shot from the pilot the fence through the doors that is part of the street set
2.jpg
You can also see the stage hand crouched down between the exterior and interior doors. (by barbara's purse).

The exterior TARDIS doors were not flush with the doorway wall. There was about a 2'5" frame coming forward from the prop walls. Just enough of a gap so the doors wouldn't collide with the set. I think of it as the original 'black void' that was in the 80s set just outside of main doors.
1.jpg

rob49152

I also think with this exterior door frame in the way it would have made it very hard for the stage hands to close the interior doors... which he did :)

I think this is why they were never used again.

Rassilons Rod

Ha, we'd always asumed that fence to be the matress, but now you say that, it makes a lot more sense that it's a fence Rob :)
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

also the fake exterior doors had windows that would open by tilting backwards (like the full prop)

Rassilons Rod

Hang on, are you saying they aren't the actual doors from the TARDIS prop?
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

Feb 06, 2013, 08:24 am #85 Last Edit: Feb 06, 2013, 08:33 am by rob49152
That I do not know. I'd imagine to save cost the doors would be re-used.

I can say is that a frame was built for the doors to be attached too and sit outside the interior door set. You can see in the above photo that the doors (by the stage hand) are really close to the ground. Where the TARDIS prop was on casters and had a real floor on the inside. So the interior floor was maybe 2-3 inches above the stage floor.

Rassilons Rod

Why would they need to lift the floor up? If they just make a frame and hang the doors to it, they don't need to use the police box base at all, right?
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

yes that's exactly what I mean. You can see in the pilot Ian and the Doctor just stroll into the room. They don't step up or down. It's all level. So it was not the actual TARDIS shell with just the back removed.

Rassilons Rod

Ah right, I see what you're saying. I didn't think that actually, but I guess it's good to clarify :)
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.

DoctorWho8

If you look at the pic of Barbara standing just inside the internal doors, you can see the that the Police Box doors are not in an enclosure.  You can seen the scenery to the right of the sign door.  The confirms that the original prop was never split up to begin with.  They either had an extra set of doors made or removed the existing doors from the prop and hung them up to a frame outside the console room doors.
Bill "the Doctor" rudloff