Doctor Who (1963) - Season 2

Continued from Doctor Who (1963) - Season 1

'Planet of Giants'

The serial's premise, of the TARDIS crew being shrunk to a miniature size, required several 'giant' props to be constructed, including a pair of insect puppets. While Shawcraft Models did construct many of the giant props, they did *not* make the insect puppets.

The first of the puppets, a giant ant, was fabricated by another freelance modelmaking company, Derek Freeborn Associates. Derek Freeborn himself was a modelmaker, who contributed to several Gerry Anderson series such as Thunderbirds and Space: 1999.

The second of the puppets, a giant fly, was fabricated by the BBC's Visual Effects Department, in one of their rare contributions to the show's earlier seasons. The giant fly was handled by Rhys Jones, who was assisted by Bertram Caldicot. Rhys Jones explained:

'I made the fly for this scene and it was also my job to manipulate the fly in the studio. I used a series of nylon lines which were attached to the fly's abdomen, head, legs, wings and proboscis. These lines led up to the lighting grid, high above the studio floor and were operated via a number of cross bars (as used in puppet work), I even had one line in my teeth. For some of the action it was necessary to remove the lines, which was annoying as they were all about 30 feet long.

'(...) As luck would have it, Bertram fell into conversation with a cast member just after releasing all the nylon lines. To my horror, I watched as all the lines began to rotate and become a complete tangle. I shouted my head off to Bertie, but it was impossible to make myself heard, such was the efficiency of the sound damped walls and all the other studio noises. We managed to untangle the lines just in time to re-commence shooting.'

'The Dalek Invasion of Earth'

The public's reaction to the Daleks naturally led to their return to the series. Shawcraft Models, at the behest of designer Spencer Chapman, altered the four Dalek props originally made for 'The Dead Planet', and also constructed two new Dalek props for the serial.

The most notable of the modifications Shawcraft made to the Dalek props was a 'fender' fitted with pneumatic tyres, that allowed the props to move easily on pavements during location filming. Another addition was a radar dish on the back.

One of the original Dalek props made for 'The Dead Planet' was painted black to denote its status as the 'Supreme Controller' over its underlings. Shawcraft's two new Dalek props were painted in the same silver and blue colourscheme as the originals.

An original 'Dead Planet' prop in an unfinished Supreme paintjob.

The three other 'Dead Planet' props with the two new 'Dalek Invasion of Earth' props.

And if you look closely, you can see also the cardboard cutouts...

Shawcraft contributed the other special props in the serial, such as a brainwashing device in the Dalek saucer, and the 'Robomen' helmets worn by several extras. However, Shawcraft also contributed the costume for the Slyther, a monster from the Dalek's home planet.

The Slyther was described in Terry Nation's script as being akin to a giant black jellyfish. Shawcraft's Slyther costume was constructed from a tarpaulin fabric fixed over a frame, with clumps of rubber and string used to cover the seams and airholes.

In the Slyther's second appearance in the following episode, Shawcraft modified the costume to have a larger top half, with two eyestalks made from jablite and plastic balls.

Colour footage of the Slyther costume at Shawcraft's workshop.

'The Rescue'

Raymond Cusick was the set designer allocated to this serial, and so designed the 'sand beast' creature that menaces the cast. The sand beast costume was fabricated by Shawcraft Models, and was designed so that the bottom half covered actor Tom Sheridan's legs.

Sheridan would have to drag himself across the set floor while in the costume, to make it seem as if the creature was slithering across the ground like a snake or newt.

'The Web Planet'

The task of realizing this fairly ambitious serial, set on an alien world named Isop that was populated by intelligent giant insects, was split between costume designer Daphne Dare and set designer John Wood. Dare was assisted by makeup supervisor Sonia Markham.

Markham's task was in doing up the Menoptera performers' faces to resemble those of an actual butterfly, using facepaint and specially made eyes. Markham herself recalled, 'I certainly remember looking at lots of books of butterflies and other insects, and making lots of drawings. We made the Menoptera eyes by using material from a miliner's shop, because I knew that was a kind of stiff material that would take a shape from a mould, that was made in an approximation of a fly's eye, so it was kind of a wide mesh.'

The grub-like Optera were also handled by Daphne Dare and Sonia Markham, wearing specially constructed costumes designed with fabric false arms, shells, eyes and antennae. I could imagine both the Menoptera and Optera were entirely made by the BBC's wardrobe department with no help from freelancers, but I can't be sure!

John Wood designed the Zarbi on paper, with director Richard Martin remembering how his ambitious design drawings fell short of the BBC's funding.

'He would do the most wonderful, elaborate designs, which unleashed his imagination and he was a good draughtsman. And then they would be put in for costing, and the same great big blueprints would come back with this rubber stamp, like a census stamp, and it just said 'O M I T'. Omit, omit, omit, on ALL the detail!'

The Zarbi costumes were fabricated by Shawcraft Models, with John Wood remembering how they were constructed. 'The Zarbi was based on a suit of armor. In many ways, because the operator had to lean forward to give the effect of this ant moving as they do, we couldn't have his arms hanging out, so his arms were operating the smaller feelers.

He was balanced by this proturberance at the back of him, and it all had to be strapped on. You can spot actually screws in the back of the neck of the Zarbi which I thought was...! At least they could have been painted black so they didn't show up!'

Shawcraft Models also fabricated the 'larvae guns' that flank the Zarbi in most of their scenes. John Wood remembered how the props were realized.

'The larvae gun basically was just a trolley which somebody sat on and they scooted it around with their hands. The top of it was I think made of fibreglass and painted. The actual 'fringe' part of it was supposed to look like little legs, and they made out of foam rubber. I don't think they were so convincing, having looked at it again.'

The Animus, an entity likened to a spider in the script, was presumably the work of the BBC's scenic department; it was coated in tendrils made of foam rubber, and held on a string.

'The Chase'

Doctor Who was a low-budget series, which meant that not every 'monster' was a success. The fish-like Aridians seen in the first episode of 'The Chase' were handled by both the costume and makeup departments, but the final result was not convincing.

Richard Martin, director of the serial, was not proud of the Aridian costumes. 'If you try to create somebody who is half-piscine, half-human, then you need all the help you can get, and you need money. Mary Husband*, who is a very fine costumer, had to just stick a couple of tea cosies on their head, and we stuck these ears on, sort of gilled them. But the costumes were awful! They looked like rather tatty, bad ballet costumes. We'd given up!'

*(Interesting that Martin credits Mary Husband, and not Daphne Dare who was credited for the serial's other episodes. Dare was more experienced with costuming 'monsters', so perhaps that is why the Aridians were not successful?)

Meanwhile it was Daphne Dare who was responsible for designing the serial's other monsters; the mushroom-like Fungoids and the squid-like Mire Beasts, and had the construction of the suits outsourced to Jack Lovell. Lovell explained how he made the Mire Beast;

'Although television was only made in black and white back then, you still had to pay an awful lot of attention to the particular shadeof grey a color would transform into on a monocrome camera. This was particularly tru of my brief regarding the Mire Beast, which was described to me as a desert dwelling octopus, big enough to house a human operator at its centre.

Daphne had to ensure that the monster would show up clearly against a desert grey background and with this in mind told me that it needed to be a disgustingly bright orange colour to make it contrast correctly.

The main costume of the Mire Beast was made from foam rubber, then textured with a latex skin. Running through each of the tentacles and into the centre of the creature was thick armature wire, enabling the actor inside the manipulate the costume. We also put some lights in the Mire Beast's head so that you could see its eyes glowing when it was lurking in its cave.'

Lovell recalled how he made the Fungoid costumes. 'We cut out the basic mushroom shape of the Fungoid monsters from foam and then covered this with sheets of thin rubber bonded together with latex. We built three (Fungoids) in all, detailing the costumes with suckers and hanging tentacles and then painting them in shades of green, grey and yellow.'

'The Chase' marked the third outing of the Daleks, with Raymond Cusick acting as set designer along with John Wood. Shawcraft Models yet again provided the special props.

Shawcraft needed to refurbish their existing batch of Dalek props, thanks to the damage they had received when loaned out to children's events and exhibitions. Cusick used this as a chance to modify the Dalek design, as he said in The Doctor's Effects;

'Originally (in 'The Dead Planet'), the Dalek casings were meant to have drawn their operation power through the conductive metal floors of their city, a bit like dodgem cars at a fun fair. So I thought I'd offer some kind of visual explanation as to how the Daleks had overcome this limitation, by designing a waistband of vertical metal slats. This was to suggest their use of solar power whenever they were beyond the confines of their own environment, which in this instance was a time machine that I'd designed.'

Two newly modified Dalek props at Shawcraft

Shawcraft loaned out four Dalek props for 'The Chase'; two from the original four props constructed for 'The Dead Planet', and the other two being the newer props built for 'The Dalek Invasion of Earth'. One was briefly in a black paintjob in its turn as the Dalek Supreme.

Shawcraft's TV Dalek props (and I specify 'TV' there for a reason, as we'll get to) were reused with little modifications throughout the 1960s; by the 1970s, they would get increasingly jumbled up with other company's Dalek props...but we'll get to that in another article!

Shawcraft also had to supply a new 'stunt' Dalek prop for the various sequences where the main props could not be used without damaging them. The stunt prop had no internal mechanisms or wheels as it was not meant to have an operator inside.

The 'stunt' Dalek was made from the same plans Shawcraft used for the Dalek props they had made for the Amicus-produced Dr. Who and the Daleks movie, and its components would go on to be mixed up with the other Shawcraft Dalek props and reused in later serials.

The stunt Dalek's main use was originally a shot where it would emerge from the sand dunes; this was unfeasible as Raymond Cusick explained in The Doctor's Effects.

'At one point in this story, a Dalek that had hidden itself completely within a sand dune had to swiftly emege. I knew immediately that the sequence would have to be realised as a model shot, but the show's director, Richard Martin, insisted that we go on location to Camber Sands, bury a full size Dalek and tow it out using a Land Rover.

We tried to explain it to him that the physical resistance of the sand against the Dalek casing would increase its weight by about a ton, but he still wanted to try it. Richard compromised slightly by allowing us to only partially bury the Dalek before we attempted to drag it out. Even with concession of it being half bured the Land Rover still couldn't shift the Dalek and only succeeded in snapping the towing cable. Evetually Richard had to admit defeat, so I got Shawcraft to make me a fifth scale model Dalek and we realised the sequence in the studio.'

The 'stunt' Dalek prop, constructed from Shawcraft's newer moulds.

Shawcraft had ample experience in miniature modelmaking and so gladly were able to make a miniature Dalek for the sand dunes shot. The miniature Dalek prop was fully motorized, with the dome and eyestalk able to move.

The miniature was briely reused in 'The Dalek's Master Plan', and still exists to this day, having been purchased by Matthew Doe of The Movie Reliquary.

Shawcraft's miniature Dalek prop as it exists today

Shawcraft's miniature Dalek prop in 'The Chase'

Shawcraft Models also were tasked with realizing the serial's other mechanical antagonists, the Mechanoids. The Mechanoids were again designed by Raymond Cusick, who explained his inspiration for the design, as well as how the props were realized.

'I based the Mechanoids on a kind of geometric ball, having been inspired by the geodesic building principles used by an American architect named Buckminster Fuller. This is where dome shapes are made up from multiples of smaller triangular shapes.

Construction of the three Mechanoids was once again farmed out to Shawcraft, who moulded the robots in fibreglass. The casings were made with flashing lights, two arm levels and a working flame thrower, at a cost of £270 each.

All of its functions were controlled from within by an operator, who used castors concealed by a skirt around the base to push the Mechanoid forward in a similar way to the Daleks. Since all the sequences featuring the Mechanoids were being filmed at Earling Studios, there wasn't a problem with me designing them as large as they were.

I later heard though, I think via Verity Lambert in an interview, that it was the Mechanoids size that prevented their return to the programmed. That was a pity as I understand they were very well received by the audience.'

Dr. Who and the Daleks (1965)

That earlier specific description of 'TV Dalek props' was because, thanks to the Daleks' runaway success, Shawcraft now had to make Dalek props for the film industry.

Amicus Productions, a film company that mostly specialized in horror, bought the rights to adapt 'The Dead Planet' as a feature film titled Dr. Who and the Daleks; the production on the film had started *before* the BBC had filmed 'The Chase'!

For the first Amicus film, Shawcraft made eight 'hero' Dalek props, with two of them given unique paintjobs - black with gold and silver trim, and red with gold and black trim - to distinguish them as the Dalek leaders.

In addition, ten 'dummy' Dalek props were made at Shepperton Studios' own plaster shop, and *not* by Shawcraft. These dummy props were made to fill out crowd shots, and placed in the background to hide their poorer construction.

Shawcraft's hero props flanked by the Shepperton plaster shop's dummy props

Interestingly, because Dr. Who and the Daleks was filmed before 'The Chase', Shawcraft was able to lend some of these new props to the BBC. They either had their lights and fenders removed, or were placed in the background, due to being so different to the TV props.

Dr. Who and the Daleks props cameoing in 'The Chase'

Sources:

• The Doctor's Effects (Steve Cambden, 2001)
  
• 'Tales from Isop' featurette
  
• 'The Thrill of the Chase' featurette
  
• Doctor Who Magazine: Chronicles 1963-1964
  
• Dalek 6388 fansite (An indepth history of Doctor Who's Dalek props)
  

Continued in Doctor Who (1963) - Season 3