The Newbery Tardis

[fivefingeredstyre]

Hi Tony,

Thought that might peak your interest!  I'm afraid I have very vague memories, as I was about eight at the time.  There definitely was no back to the prop, just a black piece of material and I remember the cross pins that you see in the Shada studio photos.

Inside was a large piece of board, that was possibly hinged either to one side or to the roof, but I might be wrong about this!  I remember that it seemed wrong and that it made it difficult to enter the prop.  Having sat here examining the memory, it's possible that it was part of the roof that had flapped down, but that doesn't make much sense.  Or was it just a black board that was being stored inside?

Not much help, and not worth pursuing I suspect, unless anyone else has been inside?  How about when it was at Longleat and people were having photos taken, before being auctioned off (who won it I wonder)?

Anyway, looking forward to what you come up with.

Andrew

I was at Longleat, and the prop had been given a backboard (I'm looking through some of the Longleat DVD footage to see if I can find any reference shots that might help - however the footage is over 2 hours long, so this could take time...)

From memory the board was comprised of a full height panel, painted black on the inside, and the outward facing side of it had a kind of backing to it, like the filler in a "paramount wall". I seem to remember the door to the box had a door closure fitted to it as well. There were no light boxes around the windows, as you could see light coming straight through them.

I'm going back to Cardiff next week with the friend I went to Longleat with. we both went inside, I'll see if he can remember anything else about it as well (we had our picture taken as well, so he might still have that somewhere...)

As an aside, does anyone remember an episode of Tiswas from the 70's where Tom Baker was scheduled to appear, but couldn't make it? They opened the show with a TARDIS appearing and the entire cast and audience came out of the box as a "bigger on the Inside" joke. I mention it because the door (or maybe doors?) opened on the TARDIS and you could see straight through, and there was definitely no back (including support bars) or curtain fitted to it

I can't remember if they borrowed the Newbery for this stunt, it would have been around 1979 when the Newbery would have been in service. The only reason I can pinpoint the date is because (according to Wikipedia) Tiswas wasn't shown on the Southern TV network until then.

ETA - I've just been looking at clips from Tiswas on Youtube to see if there was a chance the footage was "out-there" (sadly it doesn't appear to be). The available footage has however just reminded me that presenter Sally James was one of the reason's why I knew from an early age I was never going to grow up gay! 

[tony farrell]

Thanks for the info Steve. I'm not sure what a 'paramount wall' is though! Hope you enjoy Cardiff (you must have a season ticket by now - or at the very least, the staff at the DWE must know you by name)!

Perhaps your mate can shed some light on the back of the prop.

Cheers

T

[tony farrell]

Can anyone identify the font used for the story titles in the Hinchcliffe and Williams eras of Doctor Who?



Thanks.

T

[fivefingeredstyre]

Della Robbia BT Bold

[fivefingeredstyre]

Paramount wall


Basically two slabs of plasterboard stuck together with a cardboard filler, making the wall a single, solid construction negating the need for studwork on partitions. It's a bugger from running cables through though.

The cardboard filler is what the back of the fillet on the Newbery prop reminded me of, only it was an elongated hexagonal shape rather than a square. (and it may not have even been cardboard like the paramount filler...)

[tony farrell]

Della Robbia BT Bold

Cheers Steve - I got the same answer from Dom(var) and Pete (Beeblebrox) on Twitter as well. I shall be using Della Robbia for my Newbery Tardis history! 

T

[Angelus Lupus]

For future font reference:
I had this (huge) image I downloaded ages ago that is a very comprehensive infographic of the fonts use for titles, credits, etc. Couldn't recall where I got it, did some reverse searching, can't find the origin (where I was hoping to see if there was an update), only a post about it. It's by Andrew Orton.

tldr; here's font info: https://brianofmorbius.wordpress.com/2012/12/20/the-knowledge-of-all-founts/

[tony farrell]

In the words of Cyberleader David Banks: Excellent!

Thanks for sharing.

T

[galacticprobe]

A little something I drew in "Paint" this afternoon...

Wow, Tony! That image is amazing! If you can call that just "a little something" that you drew up using Paint, then you should be using Paint to also create things other than Police Boxes or 'Who'-related images! You could make some good extra money with that sort of artistic talent.

Dino.

[superrichi1a]

I really dislike this TARDIS... Which is why I love reading about it!
It's a weird relationship where we hate each other so much we just can't bear to be apart. Can't wait to see what's coming up!

I jest, I don't really hate it, but seeing as it's the "other" TARDIS in so many ways I just feel like anything that does get written about it is super-exciting. In a similar way to the McGann, though really with the McGann there isn't much history to dig into...

[tony farrell]

I know what you mean Rich:

I (sort of) felt that way about the Thomas Yardley-Jones version before I actually started looking at it (and its history) properly. Now, I actually like it (warts and all).

Of the three versions of the Tardis exterior in 'classic' Who, the Brachacki is still my favourite but, now I've taken the time to look at the Newbery version, it too has 'grown on me'.

Hopefully, in addition to providing more accurate dimensions, I'll be able to de-bunk a few myths along the way and add a few snippets of additional information as well.

As they say, 'stay tuned'!

T

[Volpone]

I'd say this TARDIS is part of the big reason Americans of a certain age are surprised by how big a police box is.  It's almost like it was designed off the refit Barachaki, where everything above the POLICE BOX signs is lopped off.  That's a lot of height.  Add in a tall actor like Tom Baker and then put a big hat on him and the frame of reference is that the TARDIS isn't very big (the other thing is that the closest to a police box most Americans will have seen is a 1970s full-sized Bell telephone booth, which is barely larger than a person).  

It would be interesting to hear from Newbery on the design of this.  I suspect there is a combination of the fact that police boxes had largely disappeared by the time this prop was in use and practicality for transport, storage, and setup.  All that space above the POLICE BOX signs is wasted (as is a 4th wall) from a production standpoint.  Of course that is just me theorizing.

[Oh, and a taller TARDIS requires taller sets.  You want the TARDIS to materialize inside a spaceship or bunker?  It had better have 10' ceilings or you're out of luck.  Shorter prop allows more flexibility on other set work.]

[tony farrell]

It would be interesting to hear from Newbery on the design of this.  

Barry Newbery died in 2015; so - unfortunately - you're going to have to make do with me.

I suspect there is a combination of the fact that police boxes had largely disappeared by the time this prop was in use and practicality for transport, storage, and setup.  All that space above the POLICE BOX signs is wasted (as is a 4th wall) from a production standpoint.  

In terms of transportation and set up, I agree with you!

[Oh, and a taller TARDIS requires taller sets.  You want the TARDIS to materialize inside a spaceship or bunker?  It had better have 10' ceilings or you're out of luck.  Shorter prop allows more flexibility on other set work.]

It was actually incredibly rare in the 1970s for a studio set to have a ceiling (or, at least, a full ceiling) because of the problems this would cause with the lighting and sound recording (boom microphones). There is a fascinating section on the DVD of "Terror of the Zygons" which recounts the resistance the designer encountered from the lighting director when he (the designer) proposed that the pub's interior should have a ceiling!

From what I can gather, you are correct in saying that 10 feet was a standard height for a set (with the 'flats' being ten feet tall by four feet wide). The original Tardis walls were 10' 6" tall but - as we know - these were cut down to ten feet in 1965/66.

T

[Angelus Lupus]

Barry Newbery died in 2015; so - unfortunately - you're going to have to make do with me.
T

Guess we just have to hope there are some interviews in the archives then. (Not that your investigations aren't fascinating in themselves)

[fivefingeredstyre]

Guess we just have to hope there are some interviews in the archives then.

Sadly there's very little in the way of interviews with Barry Newbery that I can find in DWM.

He was interviewed four times that I can see, as well as a tribute to him after his death last year (There may be more though, there are a lot of issues to check ...)

In those interviews, whenever the TARDIS comes up the conversation mainly steers around his redesign of the interior in Masque of Mandragora; however the tribute does contain the following quote from Barry:

"The original one had undergone quite a lot of repairs and modifications over the years before it wore out altogether, so for this new one I tried to go back more to what it had looked like when the series first began. The new version was much lighter too, and so easier to take out on location."


The archive feature for Masque of Mandragora in issue 287 does contain the following:

"Newbery had constructed a new TARDIS exterior prop after the original had collapsed during OB filming on The Seeds of Doom the previous December. This new prop had a flatter roof more like those of the original Police Boxes, and was easier to transport and assemble."

More like those of the original Police Boxes...? Hmmmmm.....