Riddle me this: When you reach rock bottom what do you do?

...You start to dig.

And Neill Gorton has got out his pneumatic drill and has started digging in earnest.

I've just spent the past half hour driving myself back to the office and my workstation when I could have been tucked up at home, in bed with the wife. Either I'm very sad or very dedicated - the Missus thinks I'm the former, but she feels the same way about LV handbags so guess we are a very sad couple. Still, I wanted to run some analysis on Photoshop as per Neill Gorton's subsequent posts here:

"Take the pic of the sonic and laser and drag it in to photoshop. Put the eyedropper over the crackles and see what colour pops up. They're completely different. Sonic shows as shades of green, laser shows as shades of grey. Do it an at least ten spots to account for the variations on the surface. These are two objects in the same image that it has been said are painted with the same paint. They clearly haven't. If you think they're the same then frankly you either need a new monitor or need your eyes checking.

The wires are obscured by the fact the perspex has been bored out incorrectly which has misted the plastic. Again, do the eyedropper and you will get yellow reading through.

This is fact, and I'm showing you facts, but if you prefer the fantasy then go right ahead and believe what you want.

If you can't be bothered to do this check in photoshop (or pretty much any other photo software with a colour eyedropper) then you really shouldn't be posting.

Enjoy"

and here:

"David actually has three of mine, with heritage gold finish, that I gave him while we were filming the Catherine Tate Xmas special back in early November. He loved them and thought they were spot on!

I also have three which David signed for me with a Sharpie on top of the Heritage Gold crackle finish. I like to collect the odd little souvenir. Russell T also has one, and Julie Gardner, I gave them theirs at the screening of the last episode at BBC TV centre in late December. Nick Robatto has one I gave him too as thanks for all his help with reference material. Strangely none of these people ever questioned the colour... Hmmm. can you guess why that is?

Regarding the laser not being in question. The point was if the crackle on the laser is the cream colour plastikote and it's different than the paint on the sonic int he same image then what colour is the sonic if you have all of three colours in the plasti-kote range to choose from; cream, black and heritage gold....?

...I'll help you there. It's NOT Cream, it's clearly NOT black so it must be.......... Heritage gold anyone?

Anyone tried the photoshop test yet?"

Ok Neill, you asked for it.

Here's the protocol: I am taking a color from a single random point on the alleged 'Heritage Gold' sonic body within the pic which is then displayed as an RGB value on the right hand side. Both points are circled in red. I then do the same with the ridged end of the Laser screwdriver which is known to be painted in Colony Cream.

The results are simultaneously unsurprising and surprising:

As the above analysis shows from various points taken across the two props - in shadow, in light and in-between, the values don't deviate much in the RGB. From a few points up to about 28ish (I don't know the EXACT amount as I can't be bothered to tot up the exact figure)  - Basically, not very much variation across Red, Green and Blue and certainly not enough to warrant it being a completely different color. Not convinced? Unless you are a total moron this should convince you:

What I have done is taken a reading of the white paper, a color that we are not disputing the color of, to show that even across a single color, shadow, lighting and angle can give differing RGB values. However the point I am trying to make is that even though there can be a thirty point discrepancy in color value, it does not change the color. On the above white analysis, the values differ around 30-40 points and even on the Blue values between point 1 and point 2 above, the Blue value differs by 72 points! But you won't have Gorton arguing that the paper has been painted in different shades of white!

Even the paint on the same prop differs in value across different points. See here on the sonic:

There is an approximate 40 point difference in the RGB values between the two points of the same color on the prop! What's Gorton going to do? Argue that the sonic is now painted two different colors simultaneously?

So what does this analysis show? Well, it shows that the laser screwdriver and sonic are probably painted in the same or similar color. What this ABSOLUTELY proves is that they are not widely different colours as Heritage Gold is from Colony Cream.

So why is there even any disparety between the paint on the Laser screwdriver and the paint on the sonic? Very easy answer: The angle of the ridges on the laser for one. There is no horizontal surface on the ridges so you end up with stark light or shadowy areas. The other reason is I don't think the laser screwdriver is clearcoated!!! I know this for a fact. Clearcoating darkens and greys out Colony Cream. Here's a pic of my unclearcoated prototype from last year:

And here's a pic of a clearcoated production model. The only difference to the paint is the clearcoat:

Quite some difference, eh?

What of the photo Gorton posted of the yellowy sonic? Well, here's the answer:

I took a look at the RGB histogram of this pic. The first thing you will notice is a hump  in the middle which tells us that the pic is generally quite well exposed with the light well balanced. But the second thing you will notice is clipping on the red channel on the far right. Basically, there's a lot of red in the pic, probably through overexposure of the red.  This tells us that the picture is lit by artificial light giving too much redness and warmth to the pic.  There is also a shift in the Blue histogram toward the yellow (left) hand side and on the green this is also heavy on the left suggesting a shift in intensity towards magenta. All this means that the sonic in the pic is too yellow!!!!!!!!

What happens when you adjust that red saturation?. This:

Turn up the brightness a little to match a smilar brightness of the original pic and this happens:

You end up with a grubby, but definitely Colony Cream flavored sonic.

I've since done some tweaking of the levels having examined the histograms and this is what I believe is the final color under daylight. It preserves the original's light levels and overall saturation/hue but adjusts it to account for red brightness so the colours remain truer (see the flesh of the hand and you will see I haven't messed around too much with the levels, merely adjusted red intensity and corrected the contrast and brightness levels without altering hue and saturation to any significant degree):

Anyone with Photoshop is perfectly free to check these findings themselves.

I bet Gorton wishes he'd never issued the challenge, doesn't he?

Game, Set and Match

Galvanised by the 'HeritageGoldGate' saga (thanks Birdie), Neill Gorton has posted further pics of the prop that Chris Trice measured. Here is his response on the RPF and the pics for your pleasure:

"God this is getting soooooooo boring!!!!

original sonic flash and no flash on Flickr - Photo Sharing!

Both shots of the same original prop sonic (check the crackle and wear pattern) as supplied by the art department and photographed in the art department by me (that's my hand and I can prove it) in both flash and daylight showing how the heritage gold goes grey under flash or cold light, blah blah blah.

In addition original prop sonic next to laser screwdriver - screwdriver is painted with cream/grey crackle and sonic with Heritage gold - you can clearly see they're different, blah blah blah.

Sonic in this case was well used and very grubby (because it was used for filming believe it or not!) and not lacquered hence the greenish tinge is quite flattened, blah blah blah.

I won't be posting anymore on the rpf about sonics because it's a complete waste of time. If you want to stand there pointing and believing the king is wearing new clothes then good luck to you. By the way, did you know; I also shot JFK, I flew the planes in to the twin towers, the Roswell spaceship is in my garden shed and I changed the sonic and painted it a different colour just for laughs .

If anyone wants to return their sonic because CT says the colour is wrong then I will simply tell you to take your complaint to BBC worldwide who will check their references and check with the production props people and simply tell you it's actually the right colour and then who will you believe?

Have fun

Neill "

 

The pics can be found here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/mfxreplicas/

 

The two pics in question, here:

 

 

So what do we have here? It certainly looks that the pic on the lower right could be Heritage Gold. However, I'm not so sure. It looks like a grubby Colony Cream sonic to me.

The reason for this is obvious: I cannot get Heritage Gold to look grey/white under ANY lighting condition. It retains it's distinctive yellow hue, even under flash. Especially under flash. MFX owners can try this themselves and please feel free to post the results to me and I will post them up here.

If you look at the graph paper in the top pic, it looks a touch yellow but the colour is essentially true - more or less. Still looks grey to me.

So why the yellowishness of the lower right pic? Simple answer: Look at the floor: it's a carpeted office floor and the lighting is almost definitely artificial lighting. Here's a pic of my colony cream painted prototype under artificial light:

Note that Gorton posted the pic of the Laser screwdriver up for comparison. What's he's saying is that the Laser screwdriver ridged end was painted Colony Cream. The prop was painted Heritage Gold. Ok, here's the craic: Look at the following two pics. One of my Colony Cream sonic and one of the Heritage Gold MFX taken with and without flash, side by side:

The colors are distinct and different. The Laser screwdriver in the pic above looks like the same paint only grubbier and has a difference in coat application thickness.

The conclusion is that Colony Cream can look like Heritage Gold under certain circumstances but Heritage Gold can never look look like Colony Cream under any circumstance

Confused? Don't be. The MFX sonic is the wrong colour. Period.

I don't have Photoshop here on my laptop but will look at the RGB histograms in the morning but that should give you a pretty good idea as to the color behaviour in these pics.

Most disturbing from these pics is the lie that Gorton has perpetrated.

Why is the spacer block in the slider channel painted? Gorton stated himself that the reason why his replica lacked this feature is because the prop Chris measured lacked it. Again, BULLSHIT.

You can also see from the pics that the ridges on his replica are wrong as is the lower bevel just above the lower neck: on the prop and on mine it is a distinct bevel. On the MFX it is a curved radius.

Sorry peeps, but it's GAME, SET and MATCH.

Taxi for Mr Gorton please......

Tennant sonic color - The definitive answer

It appears that the mystery of Tennant's sonic color has finally been resolved courtesy of The Card over on the Gallifrey Base forum. Because I don't want to take credit for this, I'll quote the post verbatim:

He wrote:

"I think I have the answer to this whole debate. I just spoke to Dorling Kindersley and had a conversation with the really nice guy who did the artwork for the Doctor Who Visual Dictionary. I explained that there was a debate about this and the sonic colour online and he shed light on this by having a look at the original artwork supplied by the Beeb and he told me in no uncertain terms it was 'ivory gray' and was not yellow in the slightest.

 

He then went on to explain the reason why the colour issue occured. This was down to the printing and error in colour rendering.

The first edition of the DWVD published in the UK suffered from two much red in the RGB ink mix which made everything look a bit yellow. Here's the 1st Edition pic:

 

When the 2nd edition was publuished in America they corrected this and think they used CMYK (?) for the pictures.

This is the pic that Terrasolo published from the US 2nd edition:

 

He said that even the second pic suffered from a little yellowness over the raw pic but was truer to the actual colour than the 1st edition pic.

I think that must answer the question one way or other."

 
 

Thank god for common sense and someone actually going to the source! If what he's saying is true, I think this can safely be taken as confirmation of what I have said previously and has confirmed XeonXIII's initial suspicions. That being that the yellow sonic is entirely mythical and in a funny way, is the result of a cock-up. An interesting example of fuck-up becoming gospel. On a more serious level, this does make the MFX  hardly 'screen accurate' but a nice reproduction of the DK sonic. It should be pretty funny to see Risu, Primrodo and the usual shower of bastards arguing that it was yellow. Christ, I hate being right sometimes.....

When is grey actually yellow.....?

.....when you are our favourite fuckstick 'Ninja' Risu, that's when.

As a follow-on to my previous revelation regarding the colour of Tennant's sonic screwdriver, it seems that the cretin with the deadest optic nerves in Doctor Who fandom seems intent on holding onto the dogma that Tennant's sonic was in fact, yellow, based on Neill Gorton's pics of the prop he allegedly measured.

Here for all and sundry are those pics again:

The original Flickr link is here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/mfxreplicas

Writing on the Gallifrey Base, in response to whether he thought the prop in Gorton's pics was yellow, Risu replied:

"I think that it possibly could be. The heritage gold can turn out looking much more muted and more of a faded khaki depending on how you paint it and what kind of clear coat you use. When I used the heritage gold on my CO toy it turned out a very different color from the MFX sonics."

If it isn't apparent from the pics above how wrong he is, he also cites his 'experience' with the paint. Well, let me fill you in on something. I've tried every nuance of using this paint from using it on different surfaces, to different thicknesses of base coat, top coat, primers and clearcoats and whilst there is distinct variation there is no way that 'Heritage Gold' ever loses any of the distinctive yellowness and there is no way, in hell, that you can say that the sonic in the above pic is anywhere near yellow.

So Danny-boy, if you are reading this (unlikely since i didn't write it in braille), I'll stop making a fool of myself and actually heed the words of those who actually are a bit better informed than you are.  In the meantime, here's a song that really is 'Yellow':

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.

Wanker of the week - Congratulations Peter Nuallain!

I haven't done a 'wanker of the week' for a while, mainly due to the surfeit of wankers that I encounter on the Interweb but this prize tool, in displaying a level of ignorance hitherto thought unreachable,  has distinguished himself with a level of vigourous single handed masturbatory action that defies belief. In doing so he has deservedly earned the moniker 'wanker of the week'.  So, ladies and germs, without further ado, I present Mr Peter Nuallain.......

Nuallain posted the following on the Gallifrey Base internet board this evening (My reply in RED):  

 Quote:

Originally Posted by Doctor Who


That is not a picture of the released version of the sonic. It is a picture of the prototype MFX made to copy. We won't get in to screen accuracy of the released version of the replica. There has been lots of discussion about that on some of the prop replica forums.

Nuallian wrote:

Just to clarify for anyone wondering - the upshot of that discussion wasn't, as you might have assumed, that the replica wasn't accurate. Rather it was that since the sonic was rebuilt time and time again it's not exactly the same from episode to episode (or even from scene to scene at times). So while it's perfectly possible to take screengrabs from any particular scene from any particular episode and detect differences between that screengrab and the replica in your hand, the replica is made by the same people to the same standard as the ones used on the show and is, if you like, a "typical" screwdriver prop as like any of the ones that were used in the show as those versions were like each other.

Actually dickhead, it is you who needs clarification. Gorton claimed to have replicated a SINGLE prop. He has said so himself and posted pics of said reference prop. It looks nothing like what was produced. There has never been any prop that has the dimensions of the MFX. The MFX replica was not 'made by the same people' as the props. The MFX was made by unlicenced replica maker RussRep and the props were made by te BBC art department. Get you facts right you stupid ignorant cunt.



Quote:


Besides you can't buy one any more. MFX has lost the license and will not produce any more ever. You can get one on ebay at exorbitant prices.


Nuallain wrote:
AIUI it's not so much that they 'lost' the licence (that implies BBC WW took it off them for shoddy product or something) but that the team decided it was too time-consuming for too little profit so didn't pursue a renewal of the licence.

Well, you don't understand it. You really believe that official line don't you? Actually, the licence was taken away. MFX didn't have a choice in the matter. Gullible twat. 


Quote:


Any way, I prefer the Celestial Toystore's version of the sonic. I won't post the link to his site because I don't want to violate any forum rules. But Google is your friend if you search for celestial toystore sonic screwdriver.


Nuallain wrote:

One thing to bear in mind about the Celestial Toystore operation is that not only does it sell illegal, knock off, merchandise but - last time I checked - the operator freely admitted he'd deliberately chosen the payment method - direct wire transfer - so that he could conceal his identity and location from his own customers. If people are satisfied with his product, that's great, but there seems to be very little room for redress, or protection, for anyone who's dissatisfied and it's up to the individual to decide how comfortable they are with that, considering the prices involved.

Here's some news for you, you dumb stupid fuckstick: 1) My goods may not be licensed but they are infinitely superior in accuracy and quality to 'official' releases and are not recasts or copies of official releases so hardly can be considered knockoffs when they are original sculpts and toolings. 2) I use Paypal. 3) I may be an egotistical and sociopathic nutjob but I care about my customers and stand by my product 110%. I have the best customer service and product satisfaction of anyone comparable and I can back that up with testimonies of hundreds of satisfied customers worldwide over the past three years. This is not an idle claim, this is fact and if my customers want to chime in in the comments section, they are free to, so don't shoot your sanctimonious mouth off, spouting utterly untrue statements when I can back up everything I say with proof.

Just look at this knob.What the fuck is going on with that combover hairdo? And why does he wear a shit costume all the time waving toy sonic screwdrivers in people's faces, gurning and scowling in an attempt to look....interesting? You look like precisely what you are: a dozy cocksucker who is old enough to know better. I've noticed him around the boards for a while. He's an intellectually stunted wannabe whose overestimation of his own capacity for intelligent argument becomes woefully apparent when queried by those with more acute faculties. Get a fucking life Nuallain, you prick.

Addendum: It turns out that it is not just me who thinks Nuallain is a cunt. A couple of years ago the Anorak Zone did a poll for who was the 'Biggest Cunt in Fandom'. Funny enough, our mate Nuallain made the nominations: http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:Az--LEHq9zEJ:anorakzoneforum.informe.com/forum/post124118.html+%22peter+nuallain%22&hl=en&gl=uk&strip=1