The Newbery Console: Dims and Discussion

[bjones]

Thanks for the response Tony.

they were substantial enough to take Elizabeth Sladen's weight when she swings on them! You might be interested to know that they were made (like the curved entrance banisters) from fibreglass and the uprights were painted to look like brass and the handrails painted to imitate wood!

I do recall Liz swinging on them. Perhaps I misspoke, the flimsiness to me is the hollow underfoot sound whenever they're on the dias around the console, or on the stairs up to the entrance. The rails bother me more because they lack any detail and look at odds to the detail elsewhere in the set. Diametrically opposite I loathe the railings in the Pickwoad Tardis because I find them overwrought in their detailing.

I'm odd like that.

Barry

[galacticprobe]

...the flimsiness to me is the hollow underfoot sound whenever they're on the dias around the console, or on the stairs up to the entrance.

Unfortunately such is the peril when working with a raised platform of any kind. If I remember correctly (it's been a while - a long while) when I was reading The Making of Star Trek they made reference to the same hollow footstep sounds when someone walked around the Enterprise bridge upper level. Their solution, which I think they came to during the final construction stages, was to cover the flooring with carpet.

I wonder how things would have sounded if they'd laid carpet on the console dais and the little walkway leading from the stairs to it. (As for the stairs sounding hollow, well, the TARDIS is ancient, and I've never been in an old house where the stairs didn't sound hollow, even those that had carpet on them. I grew up in a house like that and it made things very difficult to sneak out of the house; no matter how careful I was, those stairs - carpeted - always alerted my mother to movement on them with a "clunk" at the most inopportune moment!)

The rails bother me more because they lack any detail and look at odds to the detail elsewhere in the set. Diametrically opposite I loathe the railings in the Pickwoad Tardis because I find them overwrought in their detailing.

Well, when looking at the room as a whole, you did have a lot of detail in it: the three-way stairs, the decorative main entryway, all of the roundels, the lighted stained-glass roundels, the raised platform, the console with more details on it than we ever realized... Making those railings more ornate could have detracted from the main focus, which was (I think) supposed to be what was happening in the actors' movements and dialogue around the console. As it is those stained-glass roundels were a distraction enough. Then add an ornate railing to the mix and people would have probably been so distracted by the details that all console action/dialogue would have come and gone with viewers saying to themselves 'Wait... what just went on? I was too busy looking at those railings. Did you see the detailing on them?' (Maybe that's just me, but it's happened to me with other shows: too busy looking at the set details and not paying attention to the action or dialogue.)

I'm odd like that.

To quote the Face of Boe: "You Are Not Alone".

Dino.

[tony farrell]

Barry is almost there with his excellent renders. Just a wee while longer! 

T

[silverfox]

Sorry Everybody! Completely my fault. Tony had his plans finished ages ago but I was struggling with a couple of aspects of the build. You think it's a simplified console room but then there's curves and rails and filigrees and all manner of fiddly stuff.

Tony has been incredibly patient (as have you all) and I can't wait for you to see his excellent plans.

I am literally days away from finishing the modelling. Those console detail ram heads may end up looking like the Doctor has kicked them round Kastria a few times but it is nearly done.

here's another quick peek...

[galacticprobe]

Sorry Everybody! ...

Tony has been incredibly patient (as have you all) and I can't wait for you to see his excellent plans.

No worries, Barry. We're all basically Time Lords here. (Paraphrasing the 6th Doctor: "Of what consequence is time to us?" )

here's another quick peek...

Ah-ha... and another tease. (How many still have fingernails? Anyone start on their toenails yet? Okay... don't answer that. I don't think my stomach could take it; it barely tolerates the question. )

Dino.

[tony farrell]

Sorry Everybody! Completely my fault. Tony had his plans finished ages ago but I was struggling with a couple of aspects of the build. You think it's a simplified console room but then there's curves and rails and filigrees and all manner of fiddly stuff.

I am literally days away from finishing the modelling. Those console detail ram heads may end up looking like the Doctor has kicked them round Kastria a few times but it is nearly done.

Haha! I had absolutely no idea Barry was planning an 'in joke'. "Farrell's Ink" indeed! That made me smile!  

T

[galacticprobe]

Haha! I had absolutely no idea Barry was planning an 'in joke'. "Farrell's Ink" indeed! That made me smile!  

Yeah! I noticed something written on that bottle, and when I saw what it said I laughed and thought 'What a great Easter Egg!'. I figured Barry put it there to see if you would notice so I said nothing so as not to spoil his surprise.

I think it's brilliant! (And you've more than earned it, Tony!)

Dino.

[philsouth]

Really looking forward to the completion of this. The wooden console is my favourite partly because you know Robots of Death, but also it's the console I would use all the time if I was The Doctor.

Loving the quality of this work and looking forward to further updates!


Phil

[philsouth]

Oh very well.....

(Barry has the entrance banisters and handrails to do!)  

T

That is freakin amazing!