Doctor Who 1963-64 (Completed)

[fastolfrus]

I love Patrick Williams's artwork on the Sky Ray set.  He also did Doctor Who comic strips for TV Comic Annuals and Summer Specials (for the weekly, he drew The Avengers and Adam Adamant Lives!).  His composition, figurework and line are all so lively and vibrant.  But fidelity to the source material was obviously not his priority.
For those of you who haven't seen the Sky Ray cards, this site has scans of the booklet into which they were supposed to be pasted, with all the cards in place:
http://dalektricity.wordpress.com/dalek-books/dr-whos-space-adventure-book/

The Sky Ray cards were about 40 years ago.
I like the flagrant product-placement, the spaceships were based on the ice-lolly design. The robotic insect is on the Dalek card there with the Doctor riding it.

[Plynkes]

How odd, looking at that book I get a kind of deja vu. It is so familiar to me from my childhood, and yet I'm not old enough to have had it at the time (Tom Baker is the first Doctor I can actually remember watching).

I guess my uncle must have had it or something. Damn, that's a weird feeling. And a weird Doctor, too. Looks like they took the Hartnell and Troughton Doctors and shoved them in Jeff Goldblum's machine from The Fly, and this Doctor is what came out the other end.

[fastolfrus]

Looks like they took the Hartnell and Troughton Doctors and shoved them in Jeff Goldblum's machine from The Fly, and this Doctor is what came out the other end.

Sounds almost like a script idea......

[Steve F]

And a weird Doctor, too. Looks like they took the Hartnell and Troughton Doctors and shoved them in Jeff Goldblum's machine from The Fly, and this Doctor is what came out the other end.

Trevor Martin's appearance as the Doctor in the 1974 stage play Doctor Who and the Daleks in Seven Keys to Doomsday could almost have been influenced by the 1967 Sky Ray pictures.

 

Mind you, he did wear a white wig in other publicity stills.

[Steve F]

And now, the obligatory sources post.

“The Aztecs” exists in its entirety in the BBC archive, and is available on DVD.  A good number of colour photos were taken on set, so the only costume colours that I had to guess at entirely were Susan’s, though the colours on parts of the outfits worn by Ian, Ixta and the Perfect Victim are also guesswork.

Barbara uses the same head as the figure at the start of this thread, on the body of a Foundry Aztec priest (which lost its upraised arms as well as its head).  The new arms, medallion, feathered cloak and main body of the headdress were made of putty, while the feathers at the back of the headdress were cut from blister-pack plastic.

Susan has the body of “Malinche” from the Eureka “Conquistadors” range, with a Hasslefree spare head.  Hair and shoulder-piece were added with putty.

Ian was converted from a Foundry Aztec Eagle Knight, with a quilted tunic, feathered collar and other details added with putty.  I reshaped the headdress a bit and added plastic feathers to it.  I also botched removing some nasal jewellery, which is why his face looks a bit odd.  Ah, well, it’s only obvious in photos.

As is generally the case, the Doctor made no attempt to blend in, and just wore his normal clothes, so I haven't made another figure for him.

Cameca was made from a Foundry Aztec priest (bizarrely labelled “Autloc” on the Foundry display picture).  I cut off the feathered headdress, remodelled the shoulders and replaced the artefact held by the original with a bowl of cocoa, as used by the Doctor to propose marriage.

Tlotoxl is Harlequin DW115, with a bit chopped off the bottom because it looked too tall.  I don’t know what height John Ringham, the actor who played the part, actually is, but he spent most of the story hunched over impersonating Olivier’s Richard III, so he seemed short.

My version of Autloc is a near complete swamping with putty of a Naismith Design Aztec warrior – only the face and feet remain, but the face was perfect for my purposes.

Ixta is a Foundry Aztec Jaguar Knight, with a new quilted tunic and other details from putty, and plastic feathers.

Tonila was sculpted over a Hasslefree dolly and spare head, and the Perfect Victim over a Reaper “non-heroic” dolly and Hasslefree spare head.

Edit: missed a bit.  For the bases, I carved Yetaxa's emblem into a piece of foamed polystyrene and made a press mould.  The emblem is seen on walls in the tomb, temple and garden sets, but since I wasn't making any walls, I put it into the flagstones instead.

[Steve F]

Three posts from me in a row.  That's bad - I'd better offer something to make up.  How about ...

"The Sensorites"
Strangers in Space; The Unwilling Warriors; Hidden Danger; A Race Against Death; Kidnap; A Desperate Venture

The TARDIS materialises on a spaceship from Earth orbiting around the planet Sense-Sphere.  The ship is being kept from returning to Earth by the native Sensorites, who have telepathically sensed the humans' greed for their mineral deposits.




The spaceship crew: Captain Maitland, Carol Richmond, and her fiancé, John, who has been driven mad by the Sensorites' "thought transference"




Two Sensorite warriors visit the ship




On the Sense-Sphere, the Doctor and his friends become involved in Sensorite politics involving (from left to right) the First Elder, the Second Elder and the City Administrator




More Sensorites: the two on the left are scientists, one using a thought transference device.




Survivors of a previous Earth expedition: Number One, "the Men" (there's only one of him), and the Commander

[aggro84]

Very cool updates Steve F! 
Great stuff like always. 

[Michka]

Fantastic stuff as always. I am truly in awe over what you've done. I usually wait till I have some extra time to check out any new entries you make on this thread because I want to savor the goodness. I was waiting till I had the time to check out your Aztecs update and by the time I get around to it you've already moved on to The Sensorites.

Bravo my friend. Bravo.

[uti long smile]

Amazing stuff as ever!

[Steve F]

Thanks folks.  I was quite pleased with painting, photographing and posting 15 figures in three days.

Sources, then.

"The Sensorites" exists in full in the BBC archive and is available on DVD.  Colour photos were taken on the spaceship set for the second episode, and show that the costumes for both the humans and the Sensorites were entirely grey.  Fortunately, the set designer painted his planetary backdrops in a vivid blue - sky, buildings, ground and all - so I have used that to inject a little colour via the bases.

Captain Maitland, Carol Richmond and the mad human Commander are all light conversions from Matakishi's "Starship Crew II".  I should emphasise that the mess that is Captian Maitland's right arm is entirely my fault.  The Commander carries a sprig of Deadly Nightshade (Atropa Belladonna) made from Silfor flowers.

John is from an RAFM "Call of Cthulhu" character pack, the Soldier, with a Hasslefree spare head swapped into place and some minor changes to his outfit.

The two Sensorite Warriors are Harlequin DW114 and DW134.  All the other Sensorites were adapted from these two figures.  They aren't very varied, but there's not a lot you can do to repose the legs with such big feet to get in the way.

The remaining two human survivors are Artizan Vikings (pack VIK011), with added tunics, and their trousers distressed with clippers.  I resculpted their shoes to bare feet (badly), and added thick sharpened staves made from cocktail sticks.

Group shot:




Next episode
A Land of Fear


Woooo Woooo ....

[Plynkes]

I love this. I've admired your curious (some might say obsessive) Doctor Who projects for some time now, but don't think I've ever actually remembered to say so.

Do you take requests? I'd like to see what the DVD marketing people call the E-Space Trilogy: especially those wonderfully over-the-top vampires from State of Decay, and everyone from Warrior's Gate. If you're doing the whole series in order, I'll be an old man by the time you get to them... 

[shadowking1957]

i take my hat off again to your commitment superb, i rember that episode when the men were shown it scared the crap out of me

[Count Winsky]

Fantastic Stuff!!!!!!!

[Steve F]

Thanks, all

Do you take requests? I'd like to see what the DVD marketing people call the E-Space Trilogy: especially those wonderfully over-the-top vampires from State of Decay, and everyone from Warrior's Gate. If you're doing the whole series in order, I'll be an old man by the time you get to them... 

My project planning is a bit like piloting the TARDIS: I have some vague idea of where I want to go, but there may be extensive diversions on the way.

At the moment my Metebelis 3 is the first half of the 2011 series (from "The Impossible Astronaut" to "A Good Man Goes to War").  I've gathered all but a handful of the figures I need.

Thereafter, it depends on whether I remain cash-strapped.  If I can't afford to buy any more, I'll work from the stocks I've accumulated, perhaps doing all the regulars.  That doesn't bode well for the E-space stories, I'm afraid.  Other than the regular cast (which includes the unappealing prospect of Adric and the 4th Doctor in the costume which Tom Baker later described as "the shitty one"), I have no suitable figures for "Full Circle", none for "State of Decay" and only 3 Tharils for "Warrior's Gate".

By way of consolation, here's a green tinted picture of some bats, as seen in "State of Decay".



(Bat swarms from Masquerade Miniatures.)

[verd]

Hey, great stuff here!    Very well done.