Quote from: rassilonsrod on Sep 13, 2013, 01:12 pm
Um, Dino.... When you say Key to Time season (16), I think you mean Season 13 (Zygons to Seeds of Doom). Season 14 debuted the Newbery box, along with the wooden console room ;-)

You're right though, the gloss finish was used at the end of the life of the Brachacki prop :-)

Marc, I was just referring to the really bright, glossy color the TARDIS prop had during the 'Key to Time' series. It was brighter than the blue used in the previous seasons. I guess I should have included the matt/semi-gloss royal blue of the Newbery box's premier, and then moved to the brighter, high-gloss, royal blue in 'Key to Time'. My mistake there: just trying to cover the wide spectrum of "blues" the TARDIS prop has gone through so I - pardon the pun - glossed over a few of the major color changes. (Trying to cover each and every shade of blue would drive one mad!)

Dino.

Interesting... I hadn't thought the KTT paintjob was gloss. Always thought it was matte...

It's got a semi-gloss sheen for Ribos Operation, but I think it was painted again around Power of Kroll.

Bill "the Doctor" Rudloff

Totally never spotted that, good catch

Quote from: DoctorWho8 on Sep 14, 2013, 02:23 pm
It's got a semi-gloss sheen for Ribos Operation, but I think it was painted again around Power of Kroll.

I rest my case; here she's changed colors in one season. (Thanks, Bill!) Mad, one would go trying to cover every shade of blue the TARDIS went through from 1963 until now - not counting the "pink" TARDIS from "The Happiness Patrol"; utterly mad, I say! (AH! But now there's something I don't think anyone's built yet: a pink "Happiness Patrol" TARDIS!) <maniacal laughter like Renfield follows... 'Hm-hmmmm, hmmmm, hmmmm, hmmmmmmm!' See? I'm already going mad! >

So, she's changed colors from Series 7 to Series 8. Watch - she'll do it again at some point. (Paraphrasing about the weather: "If you aren't too keen on the color blue used on the TARDIS prop, give it a few episodes; it will change." )

Dino.

I am going to risk the ire of Ye Olde Moderators by going slightly off topic and pointing out my pet argument on the TARDIS: 

People will go on about her looking like she's been beat up and battered because she's been around the universe for several centuries, but logically that doesn't matter, because the (albeit malfunctioning) Chameleon Circuit recreates her appearance each time she materializes.  So if someone painted her pink or tagged her with "Bad Wolf", the next time she materialized that would be gone and replaced with the computer's best attempt to make her look like a mid-20th century police box. 

A question that has puzzled me for a few years (maybe someone here knows?) Why did they decide to shorten and fatten the Tardis Prop when the series came back?
I know we all get shorter and fatter as we get older...but really 

Actually, Pete, they didn't make the prop shorter and fatter. The new prop (2005 onwards) is much taller than any of the Classic Series' props. They did make it a bit wider to go with the "more robust" look they wanted to the new prop. It just so happens that (and Bill, correct me if I'm wrong) the widths they used for the door and side stiles was pretty close to those on the Classic Series props, thus making the inset panels look more square (especially on the sides).

Take a look at this diagram that someone posted on here somewhere. (I can't find the original post, but I saved the image when it was first posted. I've just cropped it to save space, and added the dotted lines to show the height differences. And actually, the only TARDIS prop that came anywhere close to an actual Police Box was the ones used in the two Peter Cushing 'Dalek' films of the 1960s.)

I know this doesn't show the 2010 model, but that one is basically the same as the 2005 model (Series 2-4) with a new base, lamp, and paint job; the dimensions are the same. But in the diagram you can see the thickness of the stiles is on par with the Classic Series props. (Look at the Met Box on the left for reference and see how much thicker its stiles are than those of all TARDIS props. Even the Brachacki and Hudolin boxes' inset panels look squarish compared to the Met Box's.)

So the New Series prop isn't really shorter and wider than the Classic Series props; it's taller and wider, but without the stile thickness proportionately increased to match. This is what gives the new prop that "squat" look.

Dino.

I am only repeating things I've heard on the Internet, so take anything I say with a handful of salt and if purple or tony (or pretty much anyone) says I'm wrong, they're probably right: 

From what I understand, the BBC is a little like the US Marine Corps:  When they decided to revive the series they said "Money is no object. We're going to make the best TARDIS prop ever," and contracted a prop house to design them a TARDIS.  Then when they saw the bill and the timeline to actually build the prop they said "screw it" and told the in house people to put something together. 

As a result they wound up with the chubby box with a garden lantern on top that they used.  But what the heck, at least it was new Dr. Who.  And it is still more "accurate" than the Newbury prop. 

Well Edward Thomas the production designer said himself in a number of interviews including one for Doctor Who magazine, that he wanted the new tardis exterior to be much taller and wider and more in line with the real metropolitan police boxes. In the Doctor Who magazine interview he also said that he wanted to make the exterior more british bulldog type so that it would have more of a real presence compared to the classic series tardis props which he thought were very brittle and tall and thin.

Obviously Mr Thomas didn't have a look at any original Metropolitan Police Boxes when designing it then! 

They actually looked at pictures of the TYJ Season18 tardis prop, in fact there are pictures of this somewhere on the tardis builders website and in a Doctor Who book called Doctor Who The Inside Story.

Actually, they were pictures of models made by old friend Purpleblancmage as part of his group's bidding package to do the props for the show.
http://tardisbuilders.com/index.php?action=dlattach;k=326;topic=969.0;attach=61221;image
They ended up using those as part of the prop building photoshoot for the behind the scenes stuff.  Needless to say Purple wasn't too happy about his work being showcased as someone else's at the time. The rest of the pics are here. http://tardisbuilders.com/index.php?topic=969.0
Bill "the Doctor" Rudloff

Some shots from one of the trailers for The Day of the Doctor:




Wonder if that bit on the lower edge of the door was meant to keep it only slightly ajar.

From The Day of the Doctor: