1963 Pilot : Unearthly Child Pilot console

[handofomega]

I just rewatched on BritBox the unaired pilot of "Unearthly Child" and I noticed that the TARDIS console controls are in a VASTLY different layout than the Hartnell console we all know and love.  Specifically the scene where Ian goes to the console to try to open the doors before the Doctor electrocutes him.    Does anyone have any clear images of the controls on the panels?

[domvar]

http://tardisbuilders.com/index.php?topic=1096.0

[galacticprobe]

I think some screen grabs might be in order for the thread Dom has pointed us to. (Thanks for the direction, Dom!) Most of the images in it look like they may have been thumbnails at one time, and are really too small to see the controls layout. The one image that is large enough is with Susan and the Doctor standing at the console, and even that one has the panel at an angle that only affords us a partial view of its controls layout.

Dino.

[handofomega]

Thank you Domvar.   Dino I agree with you there needs to be a bigger version of those pics.  I would love to see the layout clearer.  Having just completed a version of the Hartnell console in Sketch Up I am interested in these alternate control layouts.

[Davros Skaro]

I'll try over the next few days to get some snaps off my DVD, it has both pilot episodes on it, so I'll see what I can do.
Unless someone beats me to it. 

Chris.

[handofomega]

Davros any luck on getting bigger images?

[Davros Skaro]

Yep, got snaps from both the Pilot Episode & retake of the episode.
First up the Pilot.









And the Retake of the episode.








If you save them to your computer, you can enlarge them to what ever size you like to see detail.
Hope they are what you were after, let me know if there is any others you would like.
Cheers.

Chris.

[handofomega]

Thank you Chris!!!  I appreciate it.    I think I am going to do a Sketch Up work up of the Pilot.    At the very least it is documentation of the set up.

[galacticprobe]

Chris, those are some great grabs! Thank you for posting them. I'll have to check my DVD now to see if I've got the "retake" on it as well as the original take.

Dino.
P. S. For the Mods: Would it be a good idea to merge this topic with this one (http://tardisbuilders.com/index.php?topic=1096.0)? That way we would have all of this great Pilot Console reference in one place.

[tony farrell]

Ah, sorry Chris (I may call you Chris, mayn't I?), in your previous post, you've stated that the last seven screen-grabs are from the broadcast episode - they're not; in actual fact they are from the Pilot Episode but are taken from the second attempt at recording the Tardis interior scenes for the Pilot Episode. (The first attempt at recording the scenes set inside the Tardis was unsatisfactory because the stage hands couldn't close the main doors.) 

Even when he was shown the second attempt at recording the interior of the Tardis, Sydney Newman ordered a re-mount of the entire episode and it is the remount which was transmitted. For the remount, certain script changes were made (for example the removal of references to the 49th century), the Totter's Lane set was slightly altered, the Tardis exterior was dirtied down and the Tardis interior was heavily modified - gaining, among other things, a new scanner housing, the computer banks and the re-arranged controls on the Console.

T

[Davros Skaro]

Firstly, Yes you may call me Chris!  
The first set is from the pilot episode where the doors didn't get closed properly, seen here:





Second retake of the episode, doors did get closed properly as shown here:




I understand that they redid it twice, both versions are on the DVD I have.

Chris.

Apologies, just checked the disc & found the OTHER version, getting grabs now.

[Davros Skaro]

Again Apologies, Here are the grabs from the OTHER proper broad cast episode:










Here you can just see the top of the set wall on the top left.








I hope this clears up the confusion.  

Chris.

[Davros Skaro]

Chris - your latest post shows screen-grabs from the transmitted episode!

T

Yes, that is what I was meaning, I found the right one that was transmitted, sorry for the confusion, had a busy 2 days, plus worrying about the wife, who's pulled a hip muscle & in pain.
I've edited my other comments.

Chris.

[galacticprobe]

Great job posting both takes of the Pilot episode, Chris, and then getting the Broadcast episode grabs for comparison. (I've edited my comments above on that as well.) I actually never knew they did a retake before recording the remount for broadcast. (So I guess you could call that retake the "second" Pilot episode. From what I've heard, at least in the US, that was not uncommon back then. I know 'Trek' gets a lot of attention with the whole "Second Pilot" thing, but that may be because both made it to broadcast: the "second pilot" as it was, and the "First Pilot" footage being intermixed in with the only 2-part episode of the original series. Now on the DVDs, the complete First Pilot gets its own episode.)

But not all pilot episodes in the US get broadcast. Some are only done to sell the idea to the network suits, and if anything we only get to see them now as DVD extras. When you compare the unaired pilots to the broadcast first episode (which can sometimes be a 2-hour episode, lending further to the "Pilot Episode/Movie" terminology), you can see some similarities, and sometimes those are only vague.

Dino.

[fivefingeredstyre]

Technically speaking, and just to confuse things further, the pilot was actually a broadcast/transmitted episode as well as the An Unearthly Child remount.

Only it wasn't transmitted until August 1991, as part of the BBC's Lime Grove celebrations...