ROBOTISING DESK

-

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 CAME FROM BEYOND SPACE, 1967

And also in 1967 it’s back on the big screen in another Milton Subotsky produced film. You can see the row of a square and two circles to the right of this screen grab.








Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

SEARCHING FOR SPIRALS

-
Image
Season Eight opener, Terror of the Autons, features a nifty new laboratory for the Doctor. And lurking in the back is a rather interesting spiral staircase. Interesting because it seems to turn up in all manner of other shows.  TERROR OF THE AUTONS, 1971 STEPTOE AND SON, 1962 The earliest I have been able to find the stairs is from the original run of Steptoe and Son, from 1962-65. They can be regularly spotted in the Steptoe’s junkyard, just next to their front door. READY STEADY GO!, 1965 Scottish pop pixie Lulu starts her performance of ‘Shout’ on a familiar set of stairs in a 1965 edition of Associated-Redifussions music show Ready Steady Go! In truth, I’m not 100% certain this is the same staircase. The shape of the steps and the balusters is correct but this staircase feels longer and sturdier than the other examples I have found. Lulu is actually able to walk down half of it and not kill herself. So the jury is out on this one. ADAM ADAMANT LIVES!, 1966 ‘So clever…but oh so ...
Read more

UPDATE TIME

-
Image
Hey, it’s time for another round up of props I’ve covered before and have spotted elsewhere. Yep, it’s yet another update. This one is for all you spiral staircase fans, looking at you Steven. So far I’ve spotted the staircase in 6 shows beyond its many Who appearances. Well chalk up yet one more. The screen grab below is from the Doomwatch episode Tomorrow The Rat. And for those keeping track, this one goes clockwise.  DOOMWATCH, 1970 Back in July I posted about the Dino stun gun from Invasion of the Dinosaurs. Well, I missed that a very similar gun can be seen in Frontier in Space. FRONTIER IN SPACE, 1973 This is another one suggested by Zoe’s Feather Boa. I previously posted about this cone prop here . It’s in The Dominators and The Seeds of Death. ZBF points out it actually started life as the base of the Gravitron in The Moonbase. THE MOONBASE, 1967 Like the spiral staircase, this wide blue computer, originally from UFO, pops up everywhere. This appearance in a 1977 edition ...
Read more

DESTINY’S SLAVES TO FASHION

-
Image
Hey! This week I take a look at the Dalek’s slave labour from Destiny. This eclectic bunch are dressed in some familiar looking rags. They basically had whatever could be found in the stores. So let’s dive and see what we can spot. I’ll be highlighting the costumes that are being discussed in this ready brek style. This screen grab is from Destiny Part 4 and we can see a man in a blue and white futuristic suit. That suit comes from… PLANET OF EVIL, 1975 Destiny of the Daleks actually features two sets of slaves. The group on location was a different set of extras to those in the studio. Some of the costumes appear in both and the Morestran suit can be seen on the far left of this screen grab. It does seem to have lost its belt between the location and the studio.  FRONTIER IN SPACE, 1973 The Morestran suit isn’t the only familiar costume in the Destiny screen grab above. As you can see below the Draconian costume from Frontier (minus the belt and jewel) is also present.  And t...
Read more