Polyphase Avatron

[The14thDr]

I did promise Dino that I would get round to posting some of the high-res photos in my images folder, and thanks to Davros Skaro's "round tuit", I've got no excuses now.

I'll start off with various screen caps and images from The Pirate Planet...





... and here it is. The really large image taken from the Doctor Who: The Vault book. (If you right-click and open this in a new tab, you'll see just how high-res it really is.)

I had to resize this image to make it fit on the forum, but if anyone wants a copy of the original, shoot me a PM and I'll be more than happy to email it to you.


Kind regards, The14thDr

[galacticprobe]

Wow! That's so high res that I can ID the workings on that annoying killer bird's chest. They're parts - still attached to their trees, from the MPC 'Space: 1999 Eagle Transporter' model kit! Granted they've been mangled before being put into this prop, but you can clearly see the hemis from parts of the engines in the rear, the full landing pad foot, one of the 4-way RCS thrusters that go on the sides of the landing gear pods.

Kit-bashing: in use since kits were created (and never more so than in productions like 'Space: 1999', Star Wars... heck, the original Galactica was one huge box covered on hundreds of model kit parts ranging from Apollo rocket bits to tank parts to jeep parts, and even one of the topside aft warp engine intercoolers from the AMT/Ertl USS Enterprise kit!).

And I wonder if the designers of this parrot prop were fans of the original 'Lost In Space' TV series, and borrowed the idea from the robot parrot that appeared in two episodes:


Season 1 episode "The Sky Pirate": Captain Alonzo P. Tucker (originally abducted by Talurians from Punxsutawney, Pennsylvania in 1876) with his robot parrot, Nick;


Season 2 episode "Treasure Of The Lost Planet": Nick on Will Robinson's shoulder, come to take him to where Captain Tucker is being held prisoner.

Nick's eyes lit up steady when he spoke (stereotypical parrot "Raagh - <whistle> - Pieces of eight!") while that little tip of his head antenna flashed in sequence with his voice. Only Nick didn't fly; he teleported from one place to another, with distance or line of sight not being an issue.

That killer bird from "The Pirate Planet" looks like a Nick on steroids, and I still wonder if the designer was a LIS fan.

Of course, you realize, 14th, your images only leave me wanting more!

Dino.

[Rassilons Rod]

Interesting to note that the circuitry is not flat silver drawn on (nor an ex circuit board) - but more likely sprues from an airfix kit

[russellsuthern]

Great pics!

Slightly off topic, I guess, but does anyone else think the Polyphase's head looks a bit like Boba Fett's helmet from Star Wars or is it just me?

Regards,

Russell

[The14thDr]

Wow! Dino, that's brilliant! I thought someone may have been able to help identify what was used, but for you to identify which specific model they used? That's unbelievable! Thank you! (And I wouldn't be surprised if the Polyphase Avatron wasn't based on the one from 'Lost in Space' - TV shows back then were well-known for recycling props/designs from other shows.)

Slightly off topic, I guess, but does anyone else think the Polyphase's head looks a bit like Boba Fett's helmet from Star Wars or is it just me?

No... I can definitely see the resemblance too - it's that T-shape on the front.


Now here's the question of the day: any ideas on the height of this thing? Going by my first image of the Avatron next to the Captain's head, I'd say about 1 foot (12" - 30.5cm), but that's just a quick guess.

Kind regards, The14thDr

[elkad]

I remember seeing someone on The RPF made one of these, & a Gard Gun.

[The14thDr]

elkad, could this be the build you're referring to? http://www.therpf.com/showthread.php?t=223375


I also got a few more photos of the bird from The Pirate Planet





And here's a nice image from the 50th Anniversary trailer back in 2013, where they had a bunch of items from Doctor Who's history all floating in mid-air with all the Doctors around them.

[davidnagel]

Oh another prop on my to do list .. maybe... maybe with a Captain cosplay... Who's nose!

Grace!



Apparently he appears in that 50th Anniversary trailer too...



Not HQ like your image 14, but here's an overview of the pages he appears in in the Vault book:

[galacticprobe]

Wow! Dino, that's brilliant! I thought someone may have been able to help identify what was used, but for you to identify which specific model they used? That's unbelievable! Thank you!

You're welcome, 14th. Glad I was able to help. I've got one of those 'Space: 1999' Eagle models which is how I recognized the parts from the kit.

(And I wouldn't be surprised if the Polyphase Avatron wasn't based on the one from 'Lost in Space' - TV shows back then were well-known for recycling props/designs from other shows.)

Irwin Allen was sort of like the American BBC of the 1960s. All of his SF TV shows reused the same props, sometimes not even redressed. You could find the Observation Nose and Flying Sub hatch from 'Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea''s submarine Seaview sets in a 'Lost In Space' episode, hear music and sound FX from both shows in each other. The same goes for his 'Time Tunnel' and 'Land of the Giants' series as well. He was also known to borrow film footage from other productions to use in his series. There was a World War II film called "The Enemy Below" about a US Destroyer captain playing cat-and-mouse with a U-Boat captain (the 'Trek' episode "Balance of Terror" was based on this film), and Irwin Allen made extensive use of this film's footage for one of his 'Voyage' episodes - so much so that about half of the episode was "borrowed" footage. (He's also use sets without authorization. When he wanted to borrow the sets used for the inside of the human body in the film "Fantastic Voyage" and was denied, he brought his 'Voyage' cast and crew into the studio in the middle of the night and used the sets anyway for the insides of a giant whale!)

Dino.