Doctor Who Prop Hunt

It’s part 2 of my look at the props of Paradise Towers. Part 1 can be read here . If you search for this story online one of the things you’ll find is mention of some drums that came from the movie Aliens. Well that’s just tip of the iceberg as there is a load of stuff from James Cameron’s film in this McCoy tale. I’ll look at the drums later, for now I have other stuff to look at. PARADISE TOWERS, 1987 Around the door of the Red Kang’s brainquarters there are a number of grey tool boxes. There are a few different sizes but they are all distinguishable due to notches in their top half.  ALIENS, 1986 The tool boxes can be seen throughout the film. In this image you can find them on the extreme left and hidden on the right. RED DWARF, 1989 The boxes can also be seen in the third season of Red Dwarf. In this screen grab from Marooned one is visible to the left of Lister. And yes, that is one of the space washboards to Listers right. That’s not the only prop of interest here though. At...

I recently recorded a podcast all about the season 24 story, Paradise Towers. That inspired me to take a look at props of this underrated McCoy tale. Set in a Dystopian tower block this one features a lot of junk which makes it perfect for prop hunting. This will be the first of two, possibly three posts, about the props of this story. Including some stuff with an exciting pedigree. This post features a couple of props from the Fountain of Happiness Square set. Build high for happiness! PARADISE TOWERS, 1987 In the opening scene in the Fountain of Happiness Square McCoy ad-libs an encounter with this tall silver prop. DESTINY OF THE DALEKS, 1979 Part of that silver prop can be seen here. The top is different but the corkscrew section is a definite match. THE LENNY HENRY SHOW, l985 And here it is again. This time the top section is a match for the one in Paradise Towers. Hanging high above the Square set is a bit of set dressing that appeared a few times during the Eighties. It’s a bit ...

Thanks must go to zoesfeatherboa for this one. Over on Bluesky, ZBF pointed out that the solar weapon from the climax of The Man With The Golden Gun later went on to appear in a number of BBC productions. THE MAN WITH THE GOLDEN GUN, 1974 BLAKES 7, 1978 From the series A episode Cygnus Alpha. All of the appearances of this prop feature the gun barrel and the rigging removed. It leaves a chunky trapezoidal prism shaped bit of tech that looks good in a sci-fi setting. It’s easily identifiable by the ribbed curves of the angled sides and has been placed in an opposite orientation to the Bond pic above.  THE HORNS OF NIMON, 1979 As far as I know this is the first time it appears in Who. It’s to the left of the Nimon and has been placed on its end. THE GOODIES, 1980 It’s vertical again in this episode of The Goodies. THE HITCH-HIKERS GUIDE TO THE GALAXY, 1981 A blink and you’ll miss it appearance at the end of the third episode of this BBC series.  RESURRECTION OF THE DALEKS, 1984...

 Time for a round up of additional finds. Let’s dive right in. This funky blue space rifle originally came from the film Madame Sin and appeared in Frontier in Space and Invasion of the Dinosaurs. Here it pops in The Tomorrow People episode  A Man For Emily. In the image below it’s held by Sandra Dickinson. The episode also featured Peter Davison in a similarly outrageous wig.    THE TOMORROW PEOPLE, 1975 Up next it’s more washboard fun . These metal objects (actually heat exchanger plates) appear in Destiny of the Daleks, Shada, Warriors Gate, and Terminus. Outside of Who they are in Blakes 7, Red Dwarf, Alien, and even Inspector Morse. Well, I have another Who appearance courtesy of Zoe’s Feather Boa as they turn up in The Twin Dilemma. THE TWIN DILEMMA, 1984 And what’s more here is another Who adjacent appearance in the infamous Lenny Henry Doctor Who sketch. THE LENNY HENRY SHOW, 1985 This wedge shaped controlled unit was in The Space Museum, Colony in Space an...

A month ago I posted about these black panels seen in The Ambassadors of Death. They also appear in sixties sci-fi show Object Z and the film Spaceflight IC-1. But other than I didn’t know anything about it.  Well it turns out it’s part of a real computer. It’s the control panel from an ICT 1201 dating from the 1950s. Incidentally the other occasion I inadvertently covered a real computer was the ICT 1301 , part of the same lineage of machines from International Computers and Tabulators. As always with this niche tech stuff I am indebted to the excellent blog Starring the Computer who identified the other appearances of this panel shown in this post. ICT 1201 THE AVENGERS, 1964  From the season 3 episode The Wringer OUT OF THE UNKNOWN, 1965 From the first season of the BBC anthology series. The episode is The Counterfeit Man. OUT OF THE UNKNOWN, 1965 And later in that first season in an episode called Sucker Bait. HELP, 1965 And finally one pops up in The Beatles flick help ...

Hello folks! Science Fiction television props seem to fall in and out of fashion very quickly. As computer technology changed so too did the way it was presented on screen. This week’s prop was briefly popular in the mid sixties and then, as far as I can tell, seems to have faded away. Presented here are four appearances of the prop, all dating from 1966 and 1967. If you are aware of any later uses please let me know. DALEKS - INVASION EARTH 2150 A.D, 1966 We get a good look at the prop in this, the second of the two Aaru Dalek films. It’s the robotising desk in the lower half of this image. It’s identifiable by the a row of a square and two circles at the top, on either side. OUT OF THE UNKNOWN, 1966 In the same year as the Dalek flick it’s on the small screen in the OOTU episode, Lambda 1. The prop belonged to The Trading Post prop house explaining how it could be in both a film and the BBC production. THE MACRA TERROR, 1967 One year later and the desk appears in Doctor Who. THEY CAM...