This is an exciting find for me. I grew up watching Sid James on TV and in the Carry On films. A comedy legend and here he is an a previously unknown one-off bit of Christmas nonsense and for reasons I'm not entirely sure of he's in a Doppelganger/UFO space suit. Sid in a spacesuit at Christmas time is like Pigs in Blankets but for the eyes! (not entirely sure that will translate outside of Blighty but suffice to say it's a very good thing)
Steve
the suit and Helmet must be from series UFO
ReplyDeletethe White one worn by Personnel of "White Base"
but allot of piece are missing or are modified
If only there was that much logic to the colour of the helmets! Most the time they are yellow with an occasional silver, white or red. They were originally from the film Doppelganger then used on UFO.( Orange to Yellow) They were seen a lot after UFO but there was also a break in filming for a studio change and the suits were hired out in that gap as well, so pop up in Doomwatch before UFO hits the screens, Follow the Helmets-Doppelganger label for the history as best I know it so far.
ReplyDeleteAFAIR the Suits were color coded for some reason, but never explained why
ReplyDeleteAfter 17 episodes had been filmed, the MGM Borehamwood studios,
suddenly declare the UFO Production "we shutting down" Anderson had to wait six months for
Soundstage was free for them at Pinewood studios to complete the remianing 9 episodes.
were they had made Doppelgänger two years earlier
Very Interesting is that in Pinewood studios only ONE episode with Space Suits were made
"the Man who came Back" feature orange helmet like Doppelgänger a coincidence ?
How got the UFO prop in hand of other TV production is unclear to me
MGM Borehamwood studios (also 2001 was made there) was used by ITV for various production.
like Gerry Anderson UFO until closure under EMI takeover
while the site of their former studios was redeveloped for industrial use and housing.
here start the Selling of Props like 2001 backpack ending up in Doctor WHO at BBC
i guess allot abandon UFO prop were under that too.
Its a fascinating moment of TV history. I'm no expert but I've picked up bits of information from a variety of interviews with various special effects people and the like. My feeling is that while production was on hiatus, props were loaned out to other shows to make money in the downtime. I think this was relatively normal practice for costume and prop hire companies. And at some point later there was a big sell off of sets and props, a van load of which ended up back at the BBC. As for 2001 stuff well, that obviously wasn't destroyed as Stan K had instructed it to be - ie I think they fell out the back of a skip. We'll probably never know the whole story but its fun to look for the clues
DeleteTo repeat what I said earlier, I'm no expert on UFO, and there are people out there who might correct me on this but I believe that in both episode 21 The Man Who Came Back and episode 25; Mindbender only two helmets are seen. An orange/red one with white stripes and a plain white helmet. Mindbender filmed during August 1970 and that's the last time UFO used them. Doomwatch had three orange/red helmets so the white stripes may have been added to one of those when they got it back after the studio swap. Can't recall if a white one was seen in previous episodes or if they might have repainted it at the same time as they added stripes to the other one. Its a safe bet where the white one ended up though - on Sid James. One day I'm going to produce a timeline for this stuff which will be just about the most nerdy waste of time imaginable but will make me very happy! When I get round to doing that; you are all invited to help.
DeleteWow!,thats a crazy one.
ReplyDeleteI`ve found another suit its from the japanese movie Space Brothers
https://40.media.tumblr.com/f305ff35ffabaaef029a8c5f8649c28e/tumblr_nfs9d7knpZ1qg6d3co1_500.jpg
http://smg.photobucket.com/user/willysmb44/media/Sci-Fi/Space-Brothers-2012-Movie-Image.jpg.html
http://asianwiki.com/images/4/49/Space_Brothers-003.jpeg
http://www.viki.com/videos/1053323v-space-brothers [1:12:11-1:13:39/1:26:04-1:27:33/1:40:36-1:46:30]
Also found this from outland
http://www.propstore.com/product/outland/rare-original-miner-space-suit/
http://www.catspawdynamics.com/images/outland_spacesuit.jpg
Cheers Tim. This was indeed a new one to me. Post on the way.
DeleteIn UfO, between filming first and second block the original spacesuit originally designed for Doppleganger had taken a bit of a beating , namely in the UK shower piping, that cover the suits. The piping was starting to unwind. Indeed there is a photo of U.F.O. Michael Billington - Paul Foster in The Responcilbility Seat showing this this that it is conjector but the suits get a redesign making them simpler. A silver yoke is added that obscures the rubber bellows so visable in earlier episodes.The block, oxygen for the wearer is nolonger attached to webbing but secured to this silver yoke. It is also cut down, as I think if you watch Survival you will see there is a large visable crack in that part of the costume, to the attentive eye.
ReplyDeleteSecond block or so called Second Season or series of UFO we only see the spacesuits in two scenes in Mindbender, worn by two different sets of actors Ed Bishop and Mike Billi gton and another pair, and also in The Man who came back Ed Straker and Mike Collins. In the second block/series 2 you only ever see two SHADO spacesuits in one shot..where as in Series 1 you see 3 spacesuits in a single shot of filming....notably in The Dalatec Affair
Kerry
Cheers Kerry, yes, I think I've blogged the gist of this over a number of UFO posts but interestingly a lot of the damage may have been done because the costumes are hired out to other shows between the two recording blocks. as I believe were some of the sets
ReplyDelete