Space-Time Visualiser

davidnagel · Sep 21, 2014, 11:17 pm

I had a look around and couldn't find any pages on this prop, so here's one by me!

In its one time only appearance this prop "The Space Time Visualiser" gave us an insight into Earth history and predated MTV. Here are a few snaps of it from that opening episode:

And finally an image lifted from Tony's thread:

galacticprobe · Sep 22, 2014, 05:30 am

Nice images! Here; sharpened and lightened a little:

The labels for those little dials around the screen are - starting on the left side of that odd slot at the bottom and working clockwise:
JUPITER
SATURN
MERCURY(?)
MARS
URANUS
EARTH(?)
VENUS
PLUTO

The bold planets are the ones we can plainly see. The two with the ? next to them are hidden - one completely by Vicky's head, and the other mostly by Ian's. However, judging by the size of the names in the other photos, and the fact that the one by Ians' head is the shorter of the two, and has enough of it showing that it looks like "EARTH" (which is why it's bold even though I've got that ? next to it), the only one left is "Mercury", so that's got to be the one Vicky's head is hiding. (And it makes you wonder what's happened to NEPTUNE, and why they missed that planet out when building this thing.)

It's a nice prop, but as cumbersome as the Mechanoids in the following story, which is why we probably only get to see this prop once. And looking at the size of it compared to the TARDIS doors (both interior and the mains), it makes one think that maybe the Doctor materialized the TARDIS around this thing because it's clearly too tall for the doorways!

However, with the way that Seal of the High Council made a comeback in "The Time of the Doctor", having last been seen in "The Five Doctors", maybe at some point this one will rear its head in some episode.

Dino.

davidnagel · Aug 21, 2018, 12:41 pm

I think you mgiht be right there Dino.

Clayton Hickman, friend to many, has produced this graphic he released on his Twitter, of the STV. I'm including it here for prosperity and as potential reference material for builds.

flat,900x900,070,f.u1.jpg

galacticprobe · Aug 22, 2018, 04:15 am

Wow! Thanks, David! (And Clayton Hickman!) I've PMed with Clayton a few times on things other than 'Doctor Who' and he seems a really friendly bloke. I like to consider him a friend as well, and hope the feeling is mutual, but I also don't want to be presumptuous. (And I haven't chatted with him in a while now.

I really need to better my communication-keeping habits.

) But then I like to think I've got a friend in every TARDIS Builders member; it's that "TARDIS Builders Family" mentality I've got.

Anyway, if Clayton is right with his labeling, and I'm sure he is considering his background, then Neptune is the planet that Vicki's head it hiding, and Mercury is the planet that was missed out... something that didn't occur to me when I made my previous post on this. (I won't bother editing that post since yours clears up the labeling issue so well.)

So clockwise from the left of that slot on the bottom, the dials are:

JUPITER
SATURN
NEPTUNE
MARS
URANUS
EARTH
VENUS
PLUTO

and no Mercury. (Maybe there were no settlements on that planet... ever... so whoever built the STV didn't feel it was necessary to include that planet with all the others?)

Dino.