TARDIS Key 7.9

[Cardinal Hordriss]

TARDIS key 7.9, 7 for McCoy and 9 for the introduction of Circular Gallifreyan post-2005. I've been meaning to have a go at this for a while. It's cast using the two-part sand method then tidied up in the workshop. The detail came out perfectly but the shine in the pics hides it and the slightly uneven weathering does too to an extent but up close it looks just right.

Top Left - The screen accurate key (for comparison), the replica I chose as a basis, the pendant from The Doctor Who Experience and the finished key cast in recycled aluminium.

Top Right - A close-up of the highly polished, finished key.

Bottom - The finished key with some light weathering although the photo is badly lit.

The reverse is the same design, I'm not keen on the flat-constellation design on the Ghostlight key.

[galacticprobe]

Wow! That key came out really great, CH! Great job!

Top Left - The screen accurate key (for comparison)...

...I'm not keen on the flat-constellation design on the Ghostlight key.

Odd... I thought I saw somewhere that the key McCoy used - which we barely got to see clearly - was identical on both sides. I could be remembering incorrectly and I wish I could remember where I read that; but I would almost swear that someone who saw or had access to the original "7th Doctor TARDIS Key" prop said that both sides were identical. So, theoretically, there was no front or back proper (like a double-sided coin).

Dino.

[Cardinal Hordriss]

The previous owner didn't show it off much but when it last came up for auction at Bonham's...

[galacticprobe]

Wow! Now that's one image I've never seen before! That constellation on the back is completely different than the one on the back of the 3rd/4th Doctors' key. Thanks for the image, CH! That clears things up for me nicely.

And you're right; the back of that key does look sort of, well, blah. (Funny how it worked for the 3rd/4th Doctors' key, though.)

Dino.

[Cardinal Hordriss]

Exactly. with all of that beautiful detail on the front the back is just a complete let down. Maybe they ran out of time but I wouldn't have thought it more than a days work to cast a reflected image of the front but there we go.

[galacticprobe]

Unfortunately, what we also have to remember about this key, is that it was made during McCoy's final season, and I think they already knew there was not going to be a Season 27 because they'd already dismantled the TARDIS console room. (There's a discussion about the dimly-lighted console room walls in one of the episodes somewhere on here, and it mentions that the set had already been taken apart by then, and the room they bodged together for that scene was something like one wall shot from different angles to make it look like there was more than one.)

So this key was made when the show was coming to an end, and sadly the funding for it showed in just about everything, this key being no exception. Unlike the money they had in the Hartnell era, they were now indeed operating on a (very thin) shoestring budget. If they hadn't taken the console room set apart, if they'd known there was definitely going to be a Season 27, then maybe they would have given the back of the key a little more attention. But for a one-off prop that was going to be barely visible, and in the final season of the show, they probably only made it because they had enough of the "use it or lose it" money left. And who knows? Maybe they hoped there would be a Season 27, and then they would have retooled the back of the key a little. (One thing we'll never know... unless someone gets a chance to ask one of the crew or actors at a convention panel, and get more details about the key that way.)

Dino.

[13drwho]

Actually, the new TARDIS key was designed for the 25th anniversary episode Silver Nemisis. Unfortunately, it didn't make it into the episode. They liked the design and made it one of the 7th Doctor's continuity props. They finally had a good opportunity to show it in Ghostlight. In both cases they had no reason to believe the show was cancelled. After all the episodes were filmed John Nathan Turner was worried about cancellation, which ultimately happened, so he had Sylvester McCoy do the voice over at the end of Survival to kind of wrap up the series.

[superrichi1a]

Unfortunately, what we also have to remember about this key, is that it was made during McCoy's final season, and I think they already knew there was not going to be a Season 27 because they'd already dismantled the TARDIS console room. (There's a discussion about the dimly-lighted console room walls in one of the episodes somewhere on here, and it mentions that the set had already been taken apart by then, and the room they bodged together for that scene was something like one wall shot from different angles to make it look like there was more than one.

I haven't seen the original discussion, but is that the reason the console room was taken apart? I'd never heard of that!
The way I'd heard it was that they knew they were bringing in a new one for season 27 and the old one was getting more and more beat up so they set up what they had left in a dimly-lit tent and only used close-up shots (I actually think it looked really cool this dark!).
But thinking about it now I don't see any reason that the set should have been in such bad shape. It was only, what, 6 years old? With less use than usual after barely appearing in most of Baker and McCoy's run. So I do see sense in this version of events.

[galacticprobe]

I haven't seen the original discussion, but is that the reason the console room was taken apart? I'd never heard of that!
The way I'd heard it was that they knew they were bringing in a new one for season 27 and the old one was getting more and more beat up so they set up what they had left in a dimly-lit tent and only used close-up shots

That could very well be the case, but with each season ending with the production crew fighting to get a green light for the next season, it's very possible that they knew Season 26 was going to be the last. (Of course this is the speculation given on some PBS specials. Also, on the DVD special features for "Survival", they commented on the closing scene, saying they had a feeling there would be no Season 27, but "just in case", they had McCoy dub a voiceover that would leave the closing so it could go either way: a closing to the series, or a lead-in to the next season. So even the staff didn't know at the time. Unless they're fibbing in that commentary and they did know there was no Season 27 coming, but were just being hopeful that things would change in their favor.)

(I actually think it looked really cool this dark!).

It was a definite departure from the bright grey console room we were used to. And it did give a good segue into the dark console room of the 1996 TVM, and eventually the 2005 Series 1 console room (before they brightened it for Tennant). Serendipitous lighting.

But thinking about it now I don't see any reason that the set should have been in such bad shape. It was only, what, 6 years old? With less use than usual after barely appearing in most of Baker and McCoy's run. So I do see sense in this version of events.

If those were the same walls as used in "The Five Doctors", then they would have only been about 6 years old. Unfortunately there's no telling what may have happened to them while they were in storage during the hiatus. And does anyone know if any of those walls were carryovers from the pre-"Five Doctors" years? Maybe a 4-roundel wide one or more from another part of the interior set (unless they reused those same walls for all of the corridor scenes)? If that was the case, then parts of the set could have been older - like the main entry doors and that wall, for example. That one looks like a carryover, unless I'm missing some detail that would indicate otherwise.

Dino.

[Cardinal Hordriss]

I hate to sound needy but budgets and console room walls aside what do people think of my key lol? 

[tony farrell]

Well, I'll help you bring your topic 'back on course'...  

I for one, rather like your version - having the new series-style circular 'constellation' is a big improvement on the 'constellation' of the TV prop and I prefer the 'circuit board' detailing in the recess as against the almost Mayan detailing on the original. You've obviously got a 'good eye' and are clearly skilled in metalwork! Is there a reason you chose not to retain Rassilon's Seal?

T

[Cardinal Hordriss]

Thanks.

I changed the symbol to indicate a more modern era key and perhaps indicate the design is unique to a particular TARDIS as though the symbol might indicate production number, make, model, launch date or ownership, circular Gallifreyan is complex enough for one symbol like this to give a lot of information, the lines, the positioning, ratios etc. Plus I've got a few different replicas with the Seal or Rassilon and just wanted to mix it up a little and have something unique to me.