Pilot Episode Police Box Porch in Toymaker

[kert gantry]

Well, after posting above I've had some communication with Tony and, despite his taking a (hopefully temporary) break from TARDIS Builders, he very kindly sent these to help with this thread and as a goodwill gesture to TB members in general.

First we have a couple of screengrabs from The Reign of Terror, with both the full prop and secondary doors in use (explanatory text is Tony's).  Must admit I watched Reign recently and completely failed to spot this!




Then there's this studio floor-plan for The Tenth Planet episode four, showing the doors set up outside the TARDIS control room set.  So why this was done?  At first I thought it must have been for the brief shot of Ben and Polly at the police box doors, calling for the Doctor to let them in.  With the large Snowcap set, not to mention the Cyberman spaceship, taking up so much studio space it would have made sense to use the porch rather than the full prop.  All the film sequences of the TARDIS at the South Pole were mute with sound dubbed on later, and if you listen to the audio to the animated episode on the DVD, the sound at this point sounds distinctly 'in-studio', rather than the more muffled sound on the earlier film inserts.  Then again, if I read the plan correctly, no camera line-up is indicated for this part of the set, which is at a very cramped and awkward angle should anyone want to do an 'outside the TARDIS' shot.  Maybe the doors were simply there for Mike and Anneke to make the right sort of 'knocking on wood' noises (sounds and dialogue acted out over a film insert played in live*) before heading straight on into the control room for the regeneration sequence?  




So, that's four outings for the porch after the Pilot; Reign, Massacre, Toymaker and Tenth Planet.  Any more?

*Amendment 3/12/15.  This looks to be the right answer, see telesnap below:-

[timewomble]

Well, after posting above I've had some communication with Tony and, despite his taking a (hopefully temporary) break from TARDIS Builders, he very kindly sent these to help with this thread and as a goodwill gesture to TB members in general.

I hope he's well. I hadn't realised that his last post in the Hartnell Console thread was him signing off. He seemed irritated, but it wasn't obvious to me that he was leaving us. I hope he comes back, but maybe he feels that his work is done and he'd prefer to watch the various builds as a guest. Please pass on my best wishes to him if/when you speak to him again. His forum avatar somewhat reprogrammed my recognition circuits: whenever I see Roger Delgado now in an old episode I think "What's Tony doing there? Oh, right."

- Peter

[kert gantry]

Thanks Timewomble.  Tony's fine as far as I know.  Can't say much beyond that but some stuff happened to make leaving TARDIS Builders an attractive idea for him.  A lot of us are hoping that's a temporary state of affairs.  As the reference material above shows, his work is far from done here!

He may well have seen your very kind message, but I'll be sure to mention it next time I'm in contact with him.

Cheers,

Tom

[Volpone]

That's too bad.  He's one of the anchors here; one of the people who have done methodical, exhaustive research and then documented and shared it in a way that invaluable to anyone who wants to know about the old sets. 

[tony farrell]

Then again, if I read the plan correctly, no camera line-up is indicated for this part of the set, which is at a very cramped and awkward angle should anyone want to do an 'outside the TARDIS' shot.

So, that's four outings for the porch after the Pilot; Reign, Massacre, Toymaker and Tenth Planet.  Any more?

You make an interesting point about the 'jump' in sound quality on Tenth Planet episode 4, the banging on the Tardis doors, as well the point about camera positions not being able to film the outside of the porch doors:

Looking at the studio plan, there seem to have been (unusually) five cameras used and their positions (and direction of shot) are indicated by the letters (i.e., 1A, 1B, etc and little arrows). The cameras are shown as circles and the boom microphones are shown as rectangles.

For the scenes set in the Tardis Control Room, boom microphone 'C' is shown near the console and cameras 1 (position G), 2(E), 3(G) and 5(B) are all pointing at various points within the Tardis Control Room. From the little arrows, both cameras 1 and 5 would be able to 'see' the Tardis doors from their respective positions.

Obviously without the camera shooting script, this is speculation, but, given the change in sound quality when Ben and Polly bang on the Tardis (Police Box Porch) doors and that the interior of these doors would be visible from both camera positions 1(G) and 5(B), I wonder if the companions' entrance scene was 'filmed' from inside the Tardis and we see the porch doors being used?  As an aside, this would give William Hartnell's reign as the Doctor a nice symmetry with regards the use of the duplicate Police Box doors (being used for both his first and final regular appearances as the Doctor)!

T

[tony farrell]

Sorry, forgot to add picture showing camera positions!



T

[markofrani]

Welcome back Tony! The Sherlock of TB!

[galacticprobe]

Indeed, Tony! Welcome back! You have been sorely missed! And thank you for this latest image with the camera positions. It certainly gives one a new perspective on what this story would look like if it still existed (which it may... somewhere).

Dino.

[kert gantry]

Looking at the studio plan, there seem to have been (unusually) five cameras used and their positions (and direction of shot) are indicated by the letters (i.e., 1A, 1B, etc and little arrows). The cameras are shown as circles and the boom microphones are shown as rectangles.

For the scenes set in the Tardis Control Room, boom microphone 'C' is shown near the console and cameras 1 (position G), 2(E), 3(G) and 5(B) are all pointing at various points within the Tardis Control Room. From the little arrows, both cameras 1 and 5 would be able to 'see' the Tardis doors from their respective positions.

Obviously without the camera shooting script, this is speculation, but, given the change in sound quality when Ben and Polly bang on the Tardis (Police Box Porch) doors and that the interior of these doors would be visible from both camera positions 1(G) and 5(B), I wonder if the companions' entrance scene was 'filmed' from inside the Tardis and we see the porch doors being used?  As an aside, this would give William Hartnell's reign as the Doctor a nice symmetry with regards the use of the duplicate Police Box doors (being used for both his first and final regular appearances as the Doctor)!

T

Yes, I think it's more than likely there was a shot of Ben and Polly coming in through the TARDIS doors, filmed from the inside.  My money's on Camera 5.  Having re-watched the surviving 8mm footage, presented in different ways on the Lost In Time and Tenth Planet DVDs, it's pretty clear that we don't have everything from that scene, despite the various attempts to marry the surviving visuals to audio as smoothly as possible.  Just watch the awkward 'jump' in action between 8mm and the regeneration clip from the Blue Peter tape.   Also, if you look at the 8mm clips from other stories, you'll see there are lots of jumps within the scenes recorded, with little bits left out.  

Of course, best way of knowing would be to have the episode back.      

Oh, and Tony, in the words of Zoonie the Lazoon:

"Welcome home!"


.

[galacticprobe]

Oh, and Tony, in the words of Zoonie the Lazoon:

"Welcome home!"

Okay, dude; you have just dated yourself! (Frack! And now so have I! See what you just did!? )

Dino.

[kert gantry]

I'm just glad Mister Farrell's back.  Pass the Martian Delight!  


.

[Volpone]

As much as I value Tony, I never want to meet him.  Because I'll be a little disappointed when it turns out he doesn't look like a snarky Roger Delgado. 

[Sofia Fox]

Can there be a better thumbnail for the thread like the explanation picture?

[warmcanofcoke]

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[tony farrell]

Ah, these aren't the original 'porch doors' but rather these Tardis 'cupboards' became the front and rear elevations of the Altered Brachacki Box.

T