The Color of Sonics

The past couple of days something has been bugging me. I mean seriously bugging me. In fact, it was something than XeonXIII posted online a couple of days ago that sowed the seed of some minor doubting that has now blossomed in the early summer sunshine into some serious, major giant beanstalk level doubt. So this morning I have decided to get up early to try and dispel or realise this doubt once and for all.

What the source of this doubt is, is the long held, almost axiomatic truth that David Tennant's sonic was a straw colored yellow. After viewing all the material on DVD I have come to a scarcely tenable new conclusion: Tennant never used the straw coloured sonic on screen!

Stay with me here as this is some serious mojo: There is not a single screenshot of Tennant using the straw coloured sonic on screen. Ever.

At the beginning of Season 2 Tennant inherited the resin static stunt sonics from Eccleston: not entirely sure how many there were but there were fully opened, half opened and fully closed versions. These were all painted light grey. There was also commissioned at least one hero prop that had a working slider but looked pretty much identical to my Season 1-2 replica: narrow slider channel and large trapezoidal slider button.

These props were refurbed continually until Season 3 when a new slider control was designed beginning the evolution of the Season 1 props into the Tennant prop we are familiar with. Basically, they retained the Eccleston body and grey color scheme but implemented changes to the slider assembly, where the trapezoidal button was removed and replaced with a curved plate, the microswitch was changed into a long button version and sunk into the battery tube with the top of the button column poking out through a hole in the centre of the slider plate. The wires inside the acrylic rod were changed to yellow. I call this sonic the 'Intermediate' sonic. Here is some shots from Runaway Bride where this sonic variation debuted showing the tactile switch and the two yellow wires:

Further along into Season 3 the Intermediate sonic changes and the hitherto clear central channel begins to mist up and give the illusion that it is in fact, a solid central rod or sleeve. As can be seen in the following shots:

And here is the same prop in Voyage of the Damned:

This is an optical illusion caused by the oil used within the channel to fill in the tiny scratches and cracks to aid transparency flowing out leaving the misted up channel.

In Season 4, things get even more interesting still as there is a whole new hero prop added to the mix with the distinctive new ridges and the tactile switch was replaced with a leaf spring contact assembly with self coloured button . Accounts vary as to when this was built but most accounts have it built during the prop refurb between series 3 and 4 and there is uncertainty about whether there were one or two built. This retains all the characteristics of the Intermediate 1 prop including the color. You can see this prop and the distinctive new ridges in the following shot from Partners In Crime, the Season 4 opener:

 

It is this prop in the shot above that is pictured here:

It is also the prop that I believe was the one allegedly reference by MFX here (you can tell it is the same prop from the wear pattern to the paint on the slider plate. It is also apparent that the colour in the above composite shot is inaccurate and the yellow lighting has caused an artificial yellowness to everything including the paper which gives the impression that the paint is straw coloured when in acutal fact, the picture below proves that it is in fact light grey):

The confusing thing is that Intermediate 1 or 2 and the older static props were still in use as can be seen in this shot, also from Partners in Crime:

What we can say for sure is that the Intermediate sonic was still in use late into Season 4 as this shot from Turn Left shows:

So where the hell did the idea that Tennant had a straw colour sonic come from? Well, I believe there is a sonic I'm going to call the DK Sonic. This was a sonic, possibly a Season 4 scratchbuild, that was supplied to Dorling Kindersley for use in the Doctor Who Visual Dictionary. And here it is:

 

The conclusion is that Tennant was never actually seen using the above prop onscreen. This was mainly because the static props from Season 1 were still serviceable and were actually favoured by Tennant, especially the half open version, during filming.

In the Eleventh Hour, Matt Smith can be seen using the grey Season 4 Tennant version.

Here then, is the definitive list of sonic screwdriver variations used by Tennant and Eccleston including any defining features:

• Eccleston Hero Prop 1 - Wide slider channel, bare tactile switch for slider. Very fragile aluminium build.. Built by Penny Howarth and is distinguished by a 0.25mm step just below the struts. Painted in Plastikote Colony Cream.
• Eccleston Aztec 1 - Built by Aztec and painted in Colony Cream, this had a fixed 'blobby' button with inset tactile switch but could extend and retract into the body yet had no slider channel. This was often seen fully closed and is often thought of as a closed static prop. It wasn't.
• Eccleston Aztec 2 - This was an Aztec sonic fixed into the half closed position and featured a sharper, more geometric trapezoidal button mount than the Aztec 1.
• Tennant Intermediate - Intermediate style ridges: a mix of Aztec head and flattened Season 1 Aztec ridge shape on an aluminium body, crude slider plate introduced. extended black tactile switch button sunken into inner body and protruding through contre of slider plate, yellow wires twisted a quarter turn. Painted in new style ceramic look crackle. The yellow wires were obscured as eventually the perspex clouded up giving the impression of a solid rod. Most probably a refit of the Tennant Season 2 prop but using the Aztec made head.
• Tennant Final Version - New build by Nick Robatto. Debuted in Season 4. Modified ridges.Painted in ceramic look paint. Extended tactile switch replaced with a leaf spring contact switch painted to match the colour of the body. Also seen in Eleventh Hour.

Where does this leave me in the screen accuracy stakes? I don't know. I need to think about this long and hard as I've already invested much time and money into this project. Here's what I am going to do: I will release an idealised grey version of the Season 4 Tennant but with the yellow wires and produce a smaller run of 50 DK versions in the straw colouring. Eventually down the line I will produce the screen accurate Intermediate 1 and Season 4 Tennant sonics with the tube and inner rod. Not an ideal solution but sadly the best I can do under the circumstances.

Addendum: Having looked at the DK Pic and the composite pic above of the prop MFX referenced, I've done a bit of color correction to the pics and balanced the colour to match the white highlights within the pic. The results are somewhat startling:

The top pics are the uncorrected released pics, the lower ones have been adjusted for white balance and should be indicative of the true colour. Interesting stuff eh?:

This is not conclusive proof, but I suspect that the 'Heritage Gold' was NEVER actually used at all on any prop except perhaps a prop that MFX alleged to have lent Tennant for a photoshoot (pics of which have never surfaced). Is this possible? I'll let you make up your own mind. I will say this though: if it turns out that Tennant has never been near a 'Heritage Gold' sonic, this could well rate as one of the best practical jokes of all time.

Here's my theory over the 'Heritage Gold' color:

It is a combination of thin paint application of Plastikote Colony Cream OVER a yellow brass body PLUS natural grubbiness and accumulation of grease and dirt from prolonged handling.

I think MFX/RussRep, in the absence of a definitive color reference knew that it was PlastiKote crackle touch but didn't know the exact colour. On the shelf, the Heritage Gold was closest to the grubby sonic but in reality this was just illusory. Hence they picked the wrong colour!!!!!

It appears that the Dk sonic is actually the Intermediate sonic with the slider photoshopped out.