Doctor Who Prop Maker, James Sutton, First Friday Presentation

[@akshaytrayner1960]

James Sutton is awesome he was omega in dw2012 fan films amongst other roles torchwood fan film

[@CallMeJoy_wastaken]

Its the new years, I am not with my family and watching this at 4 am. Wow I have no life.

[@spenceduggs]

This was such a delightful watch! I love these looks behind the curtain, especially from someone who had their proverbial boots on the ground.

[@gadgez_]

I remember in some of the Series 1 books, the Vortex Manipulator is referred to as... I think it was a "wrist-o-matic..."

[@Lumibear.]

Wonderful, thank you.

[@Bingbongles9million]

That was truly fascinating ❤

[@smithel3538]

Good presentation

[@diskgrinder]

So, effectively.

[@nico-kitten]

what about the 50th anniversary version of 9/10s? the one thats wayyy too yellow, why not mention thatttt

[@ScarecrowProps]

Ooh that’s a whole can of worms to open, I was strapped for time! The 50th anniversary sonic was actually the MFX Replica sonic screwdriver that had become publicly available in 2009. This was because the 2 original hero props (the Cream and Grey Robatto’s) were out of action at the time of filming the 50th, as one had been given to David Tennant at the end of filming the End of Time, and the other had been damaged at the end of filming the 11th Hour. So they needed to find a few new props in time for filming, which is where the MFX replicas came in. Neill Gorton provided 4 to production, all practically identical besides the slight natural variations in the crackle paint. And speaking of crackle, let’s address the “wayyy too yellow” comment, you’re quite right, it was the wrong colour. The original crackle effect paint that was used on the 9/10 sonics was from a brand called plastikote, and they had multiple colours available that all gave the same effect, however the originals used the paint labelled “Colony Cream”, whereas the MFX replicas were painted in “Heritage Gold”, hence giving that golden, darker shade, in comparison to the previous light cream. However this wasn’t entirely inaccurate, as the original props had been repainted several times since the beginning in a different branded crackle paint, which had been coloured differently, and that started to wear over time. By the end of the Tennant era, they had gone a darker grey/cream shade, not quite heritage gold, but definitely somewhere between the 2. So when MFX had chosen the paint for their replicas, the heritage was the visually closer equivalent to the originals out of the 2 plastikotes. There’s even more than that lore on these, but there’s a quick (ish) answer!

[@DoctorRedivivus]

@@ScarecrowProps Such an interesting presentation, James. It's so great that we can learn so much about the genesis of props and then details about their 'working lives', so to speak.