Jon and the Whomobile (1974)

You should know I like a picture or two of Jon Pertwee by now; He's so iconically the 70s

 

Here he is showing off his new custom built futuristic car which would go on to feature in a couple Doctor Who stories

I "met" this car some years later at the Stoneleigh Town and Country Show and have to say it was just as wonderful in reality.  Looking back I can't help feeling the vehicle should have generated a diecast toy or plastic model kit at the very least.  I would have been so up for one of those.  Still would if anyone wanted to play catch-up

 

These are some of the nicest pictures I've ever seen of Whomobile and they are certainly clearer than any images captured from the TV episodes.

And there you have it, not the first flying car I fell in love with as a kid but certainly the best looking
....and no, the other one wasn't Chitty Chitty Bang Bang.


Steve

From Sin to Who - Recycling the Future

How did this:

Madam Sin (1972) ITC

End up here:

Doctor Who Invasion of the Dinosaurs (1974) BBC

Well lets go for a bit of a ramble and speculate...

ITC (Incorporated Television Company) or ITC Entertainment as it was known in America was a British television production and distribution company best remembered for a string of cult TV shows made during the 60s and 70s.

Randall and Hopkirk (Deceased), The Champions, The Prisoner, Thunderbirds, Captain Scarlet and the Mysterons, Stingray, Joe 90, Man in a Suitcase, Department S, The Persuaders!, Jason King and The Protectors, to name but a few of the ones we may look at here one day.

In addition to television programming, ITC also produced several feature films, including; Capricorn One, The Eagle Has Landed, The Boys from Brazil and Madam Sin.

The latter; Madam Sin, had started life as a pilot for a potential TV series but had failed to excite the American network schedulers and so, following its initial broadcast in 1972 on ABC, it saw distribution to the rest of the world in the aforementioned guise of a movie.

And, having recently viewed the cinema trailer, I can now identify it as one of those half remembered movies I started watching on my portable TV late one night in the early 80's (?) without ever knowing its name.  I think I fell asleep without seeing it to conclusion but I do intend to rectify that quite soon because it looks like fun.

Its perhaps also worth mentioning at this point that ITC was founded by television mogul Lew Grade who, with fingers in many other TV pies of the day, was also co-owner of Century 21 Productions, alongside founder and creator Gerry Anderson.

Now when the Century 21 partnership ended in 1970, many of its costumes, sets, and props from its various TV productions were sold off to hire companies, with quite a few of the smaller pieces going to the special effects boys from the BBC who, rumour has it, filled up a van with goodies for 70 quid.

So my guess is that the sonic gun from Madam Sin was mixed in with the Century 21 stuff as part of the clearance and as such destined to be recycled as a dinosaur stun gun in Doctor Who.

There are a few other bits and bobs from the back of the van that are worth looking at in the future but this seemed as good a place as any to start, if only because its that little bit more obscure than the sonic screw driver and various spaceships... and a bit of speculation usually brings the experts out into the open and starts discussion.

In the mean time it is a hansom prop and it wouldn't surprise me at all if it had featured in further roles as well as these.

Steve

The Tomorrow People paperbacks (1973 to 1977)

1973

1974

1975

 

1976

1977

 

I only own the first one which is interesting because its written ahead of the TV episode and therefor slightly different.  It's also got some interesting illustrations in it, like all good books of that era did, which I may scan for your future amusement.

 

Steve

Zardoz (1974) Lobby Cards

Steve

Tom Baker and the Daleks at BBC TV Centre (1974)

Its interesting how they've been using these images for decades now but its only through putting a few of them together for this blog post that I've thought of them as a set of stills from the same photo-shoot.  That's quite an icon and successful photo-shoot for which I would like to credit the photographer, if anyone knows.

I reckon this must be Tom's Abbey Road

 

Which oddly the following isn't!

 

And that's why you haven't seen these images of Jon Pertwee, 3rd Doctor, used quite so much - Come on Man! Get up and stand up to them!

 

 

Steve

Phase IV - Lobby Cards (1974)

Phase IV is a film I saw numerous times in my youth but which then disappeared out of the public consciousness or at least the late night TV viewing schedules.  Its a  rather stunning piece of work that stayed with me and a generation of movie viewers that have now helped to label it a cult classic, rather than the box office failure of its 1974 cinematic release.

I'm not sure of the exact years that I watched it but it must have been post 1975 and I'm fairly certain I saw it two or three times before it left our screens for good.

By way of a few facts, its the one and only feature film directed by American graphic design and filmmaker Saul Bass and stars Nigel Davenport, Lynne Frederick and Michael Murphy.  Its an Anglo American venture with the interiors shot at Pinewood Studios in England and the exterior location filming taking place in Kenya,  Although in the film it self, the action is supposed to be taking place in the Arizona desert of the United States.

In content its a film about ants, very clever ants, and something I recently described to a friend as the; 2001 of eco-sci-fi thrillers, which is fairly accurate a description if your interpretation of the source of the ants' intelligence is the same as mine.  Its also that good a film in my opinion.

I say this not simply from nostalgia and childhood memory but from a recent viewing.  Having given up waiting for it to appear back on TV or the high street DVD suppliers, I recently tracked down a German copy which can be played without the sub titles and thus enjoyed in its original mother tongue.  In fact if I'm honest I think I enjoyed it even more as an adult.

What's left to say about Phase IV apart from the fact that I would really like a new cleaned up English release with the extended even more trippy original ending having been restored to the edit.

In between writing this, I've just gone off and ordered the old paperback tie-in of the movie because I've now reminded myself that its still on my wants list.

And finally, that the film stars, as you will have noticed in the names above, the rather lovely Lynne Frederick, who we have already featured in the coverage of The Amazing Mr Blunden and who we will be looking at again, as something of a reoccurring English Rose, that much like the films she features in, deserves far more praise and credit than they are currently afforded.


Steve

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

(Pages 46, 61 & 62)

TV Times - 22 June 1974 - Whodunnit?

Only a couple of weeks after his demise and transformation on the floor of the UNIT laboratory,  3rd Doctor; Jon Pertwee was up and about, and not in the least bit Tom Baker'ish, as he hosted this murder mystery quiz show on ITV.

 

I've a vague recollection of watching an episode or two of this and finding it all a little odd and something of a bonkers concept!  It's still strikes me as a fairly unusual idea now which makes it all the more surprising that someone hasn't resurrected it as a bit of daytime filler at the very least.

 

 

 

Steve