On monday, I wandered out of a meeting with BBC drama, and as usual, got hopelessly lost and ended up in the props warehouse. I've never really subscribed to the 'blokes shouldn't admit when they're lost' thing, because I get lost quite a lot. And once I was in the Arctic Circle, and got lost, but then I turned around and the bus was there, so that was okay.
Anyway, I saw a chap going in roughly the same direction, so I said 'Do you know the way out?' and then I said 'You know, it's funny, I always expect to see the Tardis down here, but I never-'*
And there it was, blue and lovely, and a bit battered, and right in front of me. I'm glad I didn't have a camera, I like the picture in my head. Mmm.... Tardis.
* I know it sounds cheesy, but it really did happen like that.
UPDATE: I have now joined an elite society of bloggers, for lo!
UPDATE 2: Hamilton B reminds me this is not the first time I have been geographically adrift in the presence of a classic bit of Who-ery
23 comments:
Ooh, serendipitous.
I've always suspected that the BBC's props department would be the best place in the world to play in - stuffed with Tardises, Phoenixes and Carpets and Boxes of Delights. I see myself in Lizzie Bennett's frock with a sonic screwdriver in one hand and Gordon the Gopher in the other with a Clanger stuck in my bonnet.
Am I weird?
Well yes, but you're clearly on the right internet.
There wasn't anything else interesting in the Props dept, or I suspect passers-by would have nicked it all long ago. It's mainly unrecognizeable bits of set, or random bits of scaffolding, which is why yer Tardis looks so cool, sitting amongst it all. It's like the last scene of Raiders of the Lost Ark....
It's all in the bloomin' Fab Cafe in Manchester. I really don't like drinking and cavorting with a Dalek bearing down on me.
...awesome. (The twelve year-old's adjective of choice seemed appropriate)
I couldn't resist taking a photo when I passed it, so now I've got a slightly blurry pic of me next to it, posing like a twat. Mental images are always better, because you're not raising an eyebrow and pretending to be a Timelord...
link please!
I do remember you seeing it actually, which I think is how I knew it was there in the first place. Doesn't the Incredible Danny Stack have a Tardis-pic as well? Clearly this is a rite of passage all scriptwriter/bloggers must go through...
http://tinyurl.com/272zxb
I've linked to the blog post, as the full image is massive - I give you the choice of clicking on the smaller version or not, because I'm dead magnanimous, me. And a Timelord.
I don't know if Sir Danny of Stackshire has one, but I'll scour his blog and see...
Wow, I'm rather envious!
One of the best proppy days I ever spent was on the set of Band of Brothers, where I walked down a bombed French street, walked through a snowy German forest, and held a series of rubber machine guns. Triffic!
There's a dalek in the Media Centre down the road too.
Not really a Props-story, but my claim to fame is that I went for a very fast drive in the real Batmobile (from Batman Begins - the most recent film).
That was, quite literally, the ride of my life. It certainly made up for working 16 hours a day, 5 days a week, for 7 months helping make that hellish film.
Oh, and I've also played with Harry Potter's wand. No, that's not a euphemism.
"Oh, and I've also played with Harry Potter's wand. No, that's not a euphemism."
I'll be 35 next month, yet I still can't help collapsing into giggles at things like that. I think I should be applauded for this ability. Hopefully it will keep me young and fertile, or something.
A friend of mine said he'd once been eating a pie on the set of Phantom Menace while watching Ewan MacGregor practice with his light sabre. All of us present, in chorus, replied "What kind of pie?" That'll larn him to be successful and know famous people and that.
This reminds me of a similar "James gets lost and has a Doctor Who style encounter" story.
Not that I'm baiting, you understand...
Well I'm just envious. Given your propensity for getting lost, its better to admire a Tardis from the outside.
Tell us then was it bigger on the inside?
Well, the door was slightly open, but I couldn't bring myself to look, just in case it wasn't.
I spent a day playing an "English Landlord" for a german film about the bombing of Dresden. They wanted everyone in that scene to be a native -english speaker. I don't know why, because they spent the whole time telling us to shut up.
I had gone in the hope of being cast as an RAF pilot. They told me I was too fat, and I got the landlord part. Come the day of filming, who's standing in front of the bar, playing a pilot? A big fat American bloke, that's who.
Which was a bit of luck for me, really, because he runs this :
http://www.hollywoodscomedynights.de/
and he's helped me get parts in other stuff. I suppose that counts as a vaguely "proppy" bit of info.
Oh, yes. I used to be in a dramatic society who bought all their bits of scenery at a sale from ATV. We apparently ended up with several large chunks of Crossroads Motel.
I went to a stately home somewhere and it was hom to a Dr Who museum! Yay! The TARDIS :)
I got molested by a Dalek in Forbidden Planet on New Oxford Street.
(Blogger being a pain - can't log in to comment)
llewtrah: Ooh, I think I went there too, I have faint memories of it - was it Longleat? They had the whole TARDIS console and props and stuff.
Very likely Longleat. I've only been to a couple of stately homes in the last 15 years - Longleat and Blenheim.
There was also the front door of a Tardis at some museum I visited umpteen years back. It was neat - the Tardis door was the entrance from reception into the main museum!
I just found out yesterday that the BBC has trademarked the name TARDIS.
I can't tell you how much it tickles me that you can trademark something that doesn't, technically, exist.
you saw the tardis!! the actual real live doctor's tardis!!! ooooh i am sooo jelous now - some people have all the luck!
Post a Comment