RESPECT YOUR ELDAs

This week on Instagram I posted pictures with a ‘seating’ theme. One of them featured this designer chair 

This is an Elda chair designed by Joe Columbo in the Sixties. I normally shy away from posting about ‘real world’ items that you could conceivably buy (if you happened to have a spare 10K). Partly because when you see it in multiple shows it’s unlikely to be the same prop. And partly because other people have covered this very well elsewhere. When it comes to chairs the absolute key source is Tim Dickinson’s sublime Pink For Your Actual Pterodactyl. I’m indebted to Tim for the information in this post. Other blogs Film and Furniture and catacombs.space1999.net also proved to be invaluable.

THE WHEEL IN SPACE, 1968

Here’s that picture I mentioned at the top. It’s a really familar image of Zoe in a massive chair. But I’d never noticed how much that chair turns up elsewhere. 

THE WHEEL IN SPACE, 1968

Here’s another image from Wheel so you can see the whole thing.

DAY OF THE DALEKS, 1972

The Elda chair came in a variety of colours. This example has a white fibreglass body with black upholstery.

FRONTIER IN SPACE, 1973

And here it is a year later being sat on by the President of Earth (Vera Fusek)

THE CAVES OF ANDROZANI, 1984

This all white version takes pride of place in the office of Morgus. And that’s it for Doctor Who but this chair was ideal for all sorts of science fiction productions. Here is a list of those I know about from the blogs listed at the top of this post.

STAR TREK, 1966-1969

This all black version appears in the episode ‘The Enterprise Incident’.

UFO, 1970

An old favourite of the Prop Hunt blog.

SPACE: 1999, 1975-1977

An Elda was usually found in Moonbase Alpha’s living quarters but pops up elsewhere.

THE SPY WHO LOVED ME, 1977

Not only a familiar white and black Elda but that console turns up in Doctor Who as well. After a green paint job it appeared in The Invasion of Time.

BLAKES 7, 1978-1981

Naturally 😀

THE HUNGER GAMES, 2012

And here is the most recent example proving you can’t put a good chair down. Thanks for reading, I’ll be back next week. Seeya folks.