Mar 29, 2024, 10:48 am

News:

New, New TardisBuilders!


Doctor Who Tour TARDIS Prop

Started by BioDoctor900, Aug 08, 2014, 07:37 pm

Previous topic - Next topic

BioDoctor900

Hi Guys, well, yesterday was a rather brilliant day, apart from standing around for hours, I got to meet Peter Capaldi!  ;D ;D  (ftp://;D ;D) I also met Steven Moffatt and Jenna Coleman again.....

Capaldi.jpg

But, thats not the reason for this topic, its to do with the TARDIS Prop they had there on display with 3 NSD's. Ill show you the pics first and then explain what I noticed....

10603054_824039864275951_1075550502_n.jpg

10603173_824039927609278_1966577599_n.jpg

10559265_824039947609276_375554291_n.jpg

10592201_824039920942612_1077593480_n.jpg

10602804_824039917609279_1128376323_n.jpg

10602950_824039930942611_223545116_n.jpg

It was a very Touch and go set of props. The fact that they didn't seem to be that bothered about the overall look makes me think its a hero prop or one that's been made for promotional use. The first thing I noticed was that the top signs had pieces of black paper at each end on all of the signs, which seemed a bit odd. The Lock in the door was upside down. The St. Johns Logo was hand painted on, and wasn't a vinyl sticker, there was blotches of paint dotted about the paintwork and the window frames and there was a massive crack in the top of the left front post (I forgot to photograph it) It seemed that the Tour crew had a very make do and mend attitude to the props, this was proven by the fact that two guys came up with a reel of black tape to tape on the plunger on one of the NSD's

I'm not too sure on whether anyone has any idea on whether this is a hero prop or not, but I thought you may be interested

BioDoctor900

DoctorWho8

The SJA badges have been painted on since 2010.  But that prop is either the Series 6 box (Series 5 is now at BBC America in NYC) or one of the promo boxes refitted.
Bill "the Doctor" Rudloff

DoctorWho8

Also, you lucky guy!  I see Capaldi's London shirt glows when flashes are used.
Bill "the Doctor" Rudloff

fivefingeredstyre

Quote from: BioDoctor900 on Aug 08, 2014, 07:37 pmIt was a very Touch and go set of props. The fact that they didn't seem to be that bothered about the overall look makes me think its a hero prop or one that's been made for promotional use. The first thing I noticed was that the top signs had pieces of black paper at each end on all of the signs, which seemed a bit odd. The Lock in the door was upside down. The St. Johns Logo was hand painted on, and wasn't a vinyl sticker, there was blotches of paint dotted about the paintwork and the window frames and there was a massive crack in the top of the left front post (I forgot to photograph it) It seemed that the Tour crew had a very make do and mend attitude to the props, this was proven by the fact that two guys came up with a reel of black tape to tape on the plunger on one of the NSD's

I'm not too sure on whether anyone has any idea on whether this is a hero prop or not, but I thought you may be interested

BioDoctor900
Is it just me or do the windows and panels look more rectangular than on the actual screen used prop

superrichi1a

I believe that's a promotional prop that lived somewhere for a deal of time... A picture of it cropped up on the forum and it's instantly recognisable by the tape and the panels which have gone on a sizable diet.
What you say though... I do wonder if it could originally have been planned as a hero prop? It looks to be in the same emulsion as the 7B prop, the SJA sign is painted on and compared on other promotional props save the one at TV Centre it looks to be remarkably well made. What if this one started out life as a brother to the 7B? They narrowed the panels slightly on that right? So what if they made 2, one with extremely thin panels and one with only slightly thinner, they picked the one that looked best and the other got promotional duties. Which would account for it being a cut above usual promo boxes yet still a bit beat up like one.
Isn't it how ironic that we have to think of solutions out of the box, in order to build our boxes a lot of the time?

mr mcgoo

I noticed something odd a while ago, and never thought to mention it till now. Observe the screenshot from 'Hide', below.

You will note this has a different St Johns Badge to the rest of Series 7. Could that promo prop in fact be an old hero prop, as seen in this episode? Hide was the first of the 7B production block as far as I know, so could it have been built before the props that were used for the rest of the episodes, and then retired?

Screen Shot 2014-05-05 at 7.37.14 PM.png

galacticprobe

Aug 09, 2014, 07:38 am #6 Last Edit: Aug 09, 2014, 07:52 am by galacticprobe
Quote from: superrichi1a on Aug 08, 2014, 09:23 pm
I believe that's a promotional prop that lived somewhere for a deal of time... A picture of it cropped up on the forum and it's instantly recognisable by the tape and the panels which have gone on a sizable diet.

It almost looks like the photos BioDoc posted are of the original promotional TARDIS prop that appeared here a while ago: http://tardisbuilders.com/index.php?topic=1561.0. That St. John logo is certainly the Series 5 version, and the New Haven-style lamp was used on the promo box (as you can see in the photos in the linked thread).

The lock isn't upside-down, though, so it's possible that someone redressed the S5 Promo TARDIS prop, being careful not to disturb the St. John logo (and saving a lot of work by not having to re-do it). If this is the S5 promo TARDIS then it may well have been stored away like superrichi1a said, and who knows how it was handled - or what was piled against it - during that time. So even though it could have been redressed it may not have been well-repaired if was just going to be on tour.

Quote from: mr mcgoo on Aug 09, 2014, 07:24 am
Observe the screenshot from 'Hide', below.

You will note this has a different St Johns Badge to the rest of Series 7.

Well, it's certainly not a Series 5, 6,or 7a St. John logo - not a thick enough white circle around the edge for that, and the cross at the bottom isn't "fat" enough for the Series 6 logo. And actually, that screen grab is so small you really can't get a good look at the logo; if you try to enlarge it, it pixelates too much and you can't really tell much about it. Maybe if someone can get a larger grab of it - crop it down to just the logo if the file is too large - and post that we might be able to tell more about the "Hide" TARDIS. But from what we can see of it here, it's more of a Series 7b logo than any other.

In fact, here's a nice big grab from the last Series 7a episode "The Angels Take Manhattan":
AngelsTakeManhattan.jpg
You'll probably have to open the image in a new tab or window to see it full size. You'll see what I mean about that logo and the "fat" cross at the bottom, and you'll see the New Haven-style lamp on top. But something else you'll notice; the lock on the door is upside-down! You can just barely make it out, but it's definitely upside-down. So maybe the TARDIS BioDoc saw is the Series 6-7a box, with the St. John logo repainted on after all (along with the other redressing this Old Girl went through before the tour).

Possible? (Plausible?)

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

superrichi1a

Quote from: galacticprobe on Aug 09, 2014, 07:38 am
Quote from: superrichi1a on Aug 08, 2014, 09:23 pm
I believe that's a promotional prop that lived somewhere for a deal of time... A picture of it cropped up on the forum and it's instantly recognisable by the tape and the panels which have gone on a sizable diet.

It almost looks like the photos BioDoc posted are of the original promotional TARDIS prop that appeared here a while ago: http://tardisbuilders.com/index.php?topic=1561.0. That St. John logo is certainly the Series 5 version, and the New Haven-style lamp was used on the promo box (as you can see in the photos in the linked thread).

Dino.


That's what's getting me! If it's a promotional prop it looks like it SHOULD be the TV Centre one PMC documented, but the windows don't match, the wood grain is different and the panels are way thinner. (And by 7B weren't the Heros using New Haven too?). It's the panels that make me think it's got a more confusing beginning - why so thin? And yet why is the rest of the box actually pretty good? I'm sure I've seen it before, in ine obscure photo posted to the forum not long ago of a promotional box somewhere, but I don't think it can be the TV Centre one...
Isn't it how ironic that we have to think of solutions out of the box, in order to build our boxes a lot of the time?

teejayy94

the Hide episode was more or less shot after the snowmen special. That's why the interior has some minor differences to the rest of the episodes. For example

The scanners / light ring that's on the base of the glass column.

Also the police box was in fact a tad different to the rest of the episodes.

Until I look more into...This is all I know right now.

torran


galacticprobe

Aug 10, 2014, 04:25 am #10 Last Edit: Aug 10, 2014, 05:23 am by galacticprobe
Thanks, torran. That looks like an actual (shortened-word version) of the St. John logo. Notice the thin black ring between the thick white outer circle with the lettering and the narrow white circle, before getting to the central black disc containing the arrowheads and animals. Also notice the positioning and spacing of the lettering. The 7b logo didn't look like that. (I think that maybe "Hide", if this grab comes from that episode, may have been given its own logo, possibly one just grabbed and printed from the Internet since those are all over the place.) Note the differences here:
SjJohnLogo(new)01.jpg
The Series 7b logo (for most of 7b);

SjJohnLogo(new)02.jpg
the Series 7b Finale/Series 8 version (almost identical, except for that narrow white circle added);

StJohnLogo(ShortActual).jpg
the one you can find all over the net, and what appears to be the version used in "Hide" (notice the size, spacing, and positioning of the lettering - completely different from the logo immediately above, but matching that in "Hide").

And for those who really want their minds blown with St. John logo details, see http://tardisbuilders.com/index.php?topic=1123.120.

For the most part, the 7b logo's black central disc reached out to where that thin black ring is; in fact when you compare the 7b logo to the Series 8 logo, it looks like all they did was add that narrow white circle. The lettering is the same (sized and positioned the same), and so are the animals and arrowheads. Okay, and for Series 8 they made it into a sticker so some poor sod in the props/art department didn't have to keep painting the logo directly onto the door by hand every time the Old Girl went in for a respray.

Now, about those bits of paper at the ends of the Top Signs that BioDoc mentions: If you look closely at the large photo in my last post, you can just make out what looks like the same area on the "P" end of the Top Sign in "Angels Take Manhattan" as the Top Sign does in BioDoc's photos. (Sorry we can't see the "X" end of the sign in my photo; it's hidden by a wall.) So, what does that leave us with?

Answer: a "WTF moment!" As usual more questions than answers! :P All we know for certain is that "Hide" uses the same St. John logo as the one found all over the net (or appears to); the "Angels Take Manhattan" box has the lock upside-down like the one in BioDoc's photos, and a Series 6 St. John's logo; and BioDoc's photos show the box with the lock upside-down, the Series 5 St. John's logo, and a New Haven lamp on top, just like the original Promo Box (NOTE: The Promo Box in pmc's thread has the lock right-side-up, by the way: I double-checked).

On a whim, I'm going to pull that wild hair out of my... nose... and guess that what we "could" be looking at (could being the operative word) is the Promo Box that pmc documented in his thread, having been given a "facelift" after being in storage and possibly used for part of Series 7a - at least the end of 7a. (And let's face it, when pmc had the photo op with it, the poor thing was already missing part of the first "E" in "FREE" from the PTO sign, and had the right door handle broken off, so she was already in need of a facelift way back then!) And was given another facelift with its Series 5 St. John's logo returned.

Anyone else have any other guesses? ??? :-\

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

superrichi1a

I feel like I'm going on a bit but it just can't be PMC's box! Look at the width of the panelling, it's far thinner! The TV Centre/PMC box also had extremely distinctive wood grain on the right corner post which isn't present here.
It's driving me nuts because not long ago a picture of this very box was posted on the forum, I remembered the thinner panels because I thought they looked odd, and the emulsion paint, and I've been scouring the forum but I can't find it! Does anyone else remember? It was one picture with a small description posted in a thread on a slightly different topic "this is the promo box at so and so" sort of thing. It may have been in reference to the Capaldi box or 7B box because I think there was some discussing going on about panel size but I can't be sure on that.
Isn't it how ironic that we have to think of solutions out of the box, in order to build our boxes a lot of the time?

BioDoctor900

The interesting thing is that the TARDIS that they had in Cardiff for the Tour, looks like the original. Its only a small photo, but you can immediately tell the difference, due to the fact that there are no 'Patches' on the ends of the top signs and the pannels look a bit more square....

TARDISCrowd.jpg

I think they weren't really that bothered about the tour in London, the crowds were a lot smaller, The TARDIS seemed a bit thrown together, the same with the Daleks and also the Cybermen were made from a foam like material, and you could see patches where the spray paint had worn off...it was only the helmets that seemed to be made properly. The thing is, to they eye you could see it, but the pictures I took make it look like theyre made the same as the originals

10494537_824003587612912_6892937839488747019_n.jpg

Also I think this is the box you might have been talking about at the BBC centre.....

2010TARDIS_at_BBC_TV_Centre.jpg

Also this pic seems to be similar, if not the same box..... http://everythingdifferent.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2013/07/Tardis-JPEG.jpg

The Lock is upside down as well

BioDoctor900

Kingpin

I'm not inclined to believe it's the TV Centre prop.  The one posted by BioDoctor looks a lot shabbier.

Wasn't there an old Tennant-style TARDIS that'd been refitted to look more like a Smith box?

galacticprobe

Aug 11, 2014, 04:58 am #14 Last Edit: Aug 11, 2014, 04:59 am by galacticprobe
Quote from: superrichi1a on Aug 10, 2014, 06:37 am
I feel like I'm going on a bit...

Don't we all at times? It's our passion. :)

Quote from: superrichi1a on Aug 10, 2014, 06:37 am
It's driving me nuts...

I know! Tell me about it! You're at the wheel and I'm in the passenger seat! I can't figure this thing out either! :o :P

Quote from: superrichi1a on Aug 10, 2014, 06:37 am
...not long ago a picture of this very box was posted on the forum... I've been scouring the forum but I can't find it!

Join the club! (If I had a dollar for every time I posted that comment, I'd have a lot of dollars! ;))

Quote from: superrichi1a on Aug 10, 2014, 06:37 am
Does anyone else remember? It was one picture with a small description posted in a thread on a slightly different topic "this is the promo box at so and so" sort of thing.

I have exceedingly vague memories of it, and like you I can't find it either. If it was in the "Off Topic" section and was more than six months ago, then it was auto-deleted; that's done with Off Topic posts to help keep those threads down and allow for a little more room on the rest of the Forum because some of those Off Topic posts can be very photo heavy.

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