GOODY GOODY UPDATE

-

A quick update slash correction to my last post. I was previously looking for props from The Goodies and had inadvertently found a number of items from Gerry Anderson’s UFO. You can see what I found here. 

Amongst the props featured in that post was a pair of blue computer consoles. These were originally from UFO (in SHADO’s HQ), they crop up in The Goodies, and they are also found in several Doctor Who stories of the Seventies.

UFO / THE GOODIES / THE TIME WARRIOR

One of the stories I said featured these props was Destiny of the Daleks. And the picture I used to demonstrate this was this one. 
DESTINY OF THE DALEKS, 1979

However, even quickly looking this picture it’s very easy to see that this is not the same prop. I was certain I had seen the right blue computer in Destiny so I went back to look at it again, and here it is. 
DESTINY OF THE DALEKS, 1979, right pic this time!

The geography of the Dalek control room is a little confusing. Something that’s not helped by the fact there are actually four different computer consoles hidden in the background. Below I have roughly stitched together some images so you can see the whole set and the locations of these computers. Our one is at location 3
Incidentally, I believe the others computers are also from UFO. I have yet to identify the red unit at location 1 but believe I have found the blue ones at locations 2 and 4. They look like computers found in SHADO HQ in the left of this image below. 
I had thought that these units were also used in Logopolis but this seems to be a different blue computer altogether. 
LOGOPOLIS, 1981

As we are on the topic of corrections and The Goodies, there is something else I should have covered in my previous post. It is a long established fan ‘fact’ that the throne that appears in many episodes of The Goodies is the same one that appears in The Androids of Tara. However, as you can see, it seems they are not the same prop. 
THE ANDROIDS OF TARA, 1978
THE GOODIES

But when I was checking The Androids of Tara to confirm this, I noticed something familiar. Yes it’s another Doctor Who story that features the blue computers! Thanks for reading. I’ll be back with more prop hunting soon. 













Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

#totp

-
Image
This is not the post I had planned at all! I’ve been working on something else for a while. In fact I’m a bit late with that as the research has taken longer than normal. But in the meantime something popped up and I just had to share it. Friday evenings on our house are filled with the BBC4 repeats of Top of the Pops. One of the episodes this week, from May 1984, featured something that made me point at my telly like Leonardo DiCarprio. It was this trio of consoles. But what Doctor Who stories feature these props and why were they on Top of the Pops? First let’s look at their Doctor Who appearances. The unit with the circular screen can be seen in The Twin Dilemma. Designer Valerie Warrender made sure to give it a suitably glittery finish. THE TWIN DILEMMA, 1984 Here is a closer look at the console screen.  The consoles next appearance is the very next story, Attack of the Cybermen. This story features several variations on the same prop. Some featuring the circular screen and oth...
Read more

HEXAGONS! Part 2

-
Image
Last week I looked at the hexagon wall pattern that first appeared in The Mutants and all its subsequent classic Who appearances. This week I’m looking at some of the other shows that used this same set decoration. BLAKE’S 7, 1978-81 Probably the most obvious place to start is the show that is frequently viewed as a sort of Sister programme to Doctor Who - Blake’s7. The hexagons are featured throughout B7’s four seasons but perhaps the most visible use is in Servalan’s office as pictured above. THE ADVENTURE GAME, 1980-86 The hexagons proved to be popular on Children’s shows of the Eighties. As you can see it featured in the early seasons of the proto escape room sci-fi themed game show - The Adventure Game. CAPTAIN ZEP - SPACE DETECTIVE, 1983-84 Another BBC children’s sci-fi game show. And a firm favourite from when I was a nipper.  STAR COPS, 1987 The short lived galactic police procedural from Doctor Who and Blake’s 7 Writer, Chris Boucher. ASTRONAUTS, 1981 Another short lived ...
Read more

HEXAGONS!

-
Image
Nothing quite says ‘science fiction’ more than putting hexagons all over your walls. This design, first seen in The Mutants, pops up throughout the 70s and 80s. In this post I tried to catalogue all of its appearances in classic Doctor Who. Next week for part 2 I will cover the other shows it appears in.  THE MUTANTS, 1972 As mentioned, this story is widely considered to be the origin of this prop. I have checked to see if I can find an earlier appearance but have drawn a blank. THE MUTANTS ORIGINAL DESIGN DRAWING BY JEREMY BEAR As you can see in this original production drawing, the hexagons were always part of the design. THE STONES OF BLOOD, 1978 Rather surprisingly the hexagons don’t appear again for another six years. NIGHTMARE OF EDEN, 1979 Once they did return in the late seventies they were back for good. This one is quite subtle but it’s the first of two appearances in this season. THE HORNS OF NIMON, 1979 And here is the other. MEGLOS, 1980 For Meglos, Designer Philip Lin...
Read more