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The Doctor Who USA Tour Console

darren79

darren79

Member
In the mid-80's the BBC sent an exhibition around American in a lorry.

BBC set designer Tony Burrough's (Keeper of Traken, Four to Doomsday, Warriors of the Deep, The Two Doctors) was given the job of designing the exhibition inside the lorry. Artist Andrew Skilleter was responsible for the exterior artwork.

Here are some shots of the console and walls that Burrough's included.

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A map of the exhibition.
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The lorry
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Exhibits within the trailer included;
A three panelled TARDIS console (set into one corner), modelled on The Five Doctors era TARDIS console.
A Revelation of the Daleks era Dalek
A Cyber-Leader and Cyberman from Attack of the Cybermen
A Cyberman of the same design as The Wheel in Space
A Warriors of the Deep era Silurian and Sea Devil
A Sontaran of the same design as appeared in The Two Doctors
A Mutt
A Marshman
A Tractator
K9
The Ergon
Davros
Cailleach mask
A Sandminer robot
The Malus' face
Sutek's mask
Styggron
 
Nice take on the roundels! They look like an off-the-shelf frame? A bit smaller than the real set, but they work really well for a small (half) console room. The rainbow/holographic paper backing is very 80's!
 
ciderman said:
I was always fascinated by the Who bus. Did it ever tour the uk? Seems a very clever layout.
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It didn't tour the UK but I believe the console was cut up and used in the short lived Worlds of Doctor Who Exhibition down Tooley Street in London in 1988 (Near where the London Dungeon used to be).
 
The red, white and blue keyboard type buttons almost look as though they could be the same type used on the actual 80s console that this is replicating.

I'd heard about this truck but never seen much about it, thanks for sharing these pictures.
 
I wish there was a way to "like" this post more.  Fond memories. 

It was at a Dr. Who convention at the Minneapolis Armory in Minnesota.  I was there as a teen.  Got my first Jelly Babies there, among other things.  The guests of honor were Patrick Troughton and Colin Baker.  They were each wonderful individually and they had a great rapport together.  They showed "The Two Doctors" and then Troughton and Baker took questions from everyone.  I've still got their autographs somewhere.  It was a great experience. 
 
I remember doing a walk through of this in North Carolina as a kid. I was awestruck as I'd never seen anything Doctor Who up close. Fond memories indeed!
 
I'd forgotten the 5 Doctors Tower of Rassillon (or whatever it was called) mural on the side. That was so cool to teenage me.
 
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Those mock TARDIS exteriors made for this seems to remind me of the Denys Fisher ones more than anything, though the doors made for those boxes seems a bit out of place with compared to the flat design.

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Although, I find it strange that they're using the Bernard Lodge 70's diamond logo for the USA tour rather than the neon sign Sid Sutton that was contemporary at the time. (Perhaps Americans were more familiar to the Baker era? I wouldn't know any other reason not to use the current logo at the time.)
 
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By the time of this tour, PBS (public televsion) stations were getting all the (then) surviving--and new--serials, but during my childhood, circa 1977 to say a year after Peter Davison took over, Tom Baker *was* Dr. Who. (Although they did have the neon logo during the last year of Tom Baker, but I digress.)
 
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