Millennium FX Dr Who Sonic Screwdriver

[Asp9mm]

Here are a few taken under artificial light, daylight and with flash, quite a few variances there.....

All randomly taken off Google search.

 

[mfxreplicas]

CT has posted a Photoshop analysis of this pic in his blog and he claims the right hand pic was taken under artificial light. I don't know enough about these things to tell whether it's true or not but it appears to say different from what you are saying.

CT has also posted a photoshop adjusted copy of my picture of the original sonic on his blog claiming it's a more true depiction of the colour balance on the sonic. In his haste to try and prove himself right in the face of actual facts and proof he has actually helped proved my point for me.

Take a look at the original image of mine on flickr and look at the slider button where the paint has worn away. It is clearly brass as it was made of brass which is without dispute. Now look at CT's adjusted image to get the body colour to the 'grey' he suggest it is. See how the brass now looks like steel. It's totally lost its distinctive colour through having all the yellow removed artificially. Now, Brass is very distinctive and have never seen it photograph grey in any lighting condition. Even in my comparison shots of the same prop, with and without flash, the brass looks 'brass' in both.

Also the hazy colour of the yellow wires showing through on the neck has also disapeared. In addition the body is now the same colour as the carpet tiles in the background. If this grey was the original colour and it was somehow adjusted by tweaking in photoshop or through unusual lighting making the sonic look greenish then the brass should still look like brass when the colour was changed or, if I brought up the yellow value to make the grey look more like Heritage gold green then the carpet tiles would also change colour as well as the aluminium changing colour as has been suggested about other photos. The aluminium would have a gold cast and it doesn't.

This shows that my original image is unadulterated so, if you accept that and you do the eyedropper test in photoshop, and you compare with the colour swatch on the plasti-kote site, you can't come to any conclusion other than heritage gold being the colour of paint used on the original prop. No hocus pocus, smoke and mirrors, wild conspiracies and conjecture just actual images of actual props and a simple test you can do yourself with any image manipulation software.

Orange_Blend actually did the photoshop test and it proves what colours you are dealing with in the images. Have a look at the heritage gold colour swatch on the plasti-kote website and compare it to Orange_blends results.

If anyone genuinely can't see the colours then also do the photoshop test and see for yourself. Also look at the original image and CT's photoshop adjusted image and see how, when adjusted in photoshop, all the the other aspects change and become wrong. The simple fact is you can't take a grey object and make it look green without throwning the colours on the aluminium, brass and everything around it, including the skin on my hand in the picture which is totally drained of red, well out of whack and CT's own adjusting of the original proves this.

 

[Asp9mm]

In the name of fairness NMRs picture was much clearer before he adjusted the saturation. You can see from the saturation on the yellow wires that it has been adjusted in the simplest way. The originals before adjustment are on top....

You're not helping either way by doing that. Either side tweaking pictures to fit their argument is not at all fair. I think this thread should be closed as it's impossible any side will ever agree and the fans are making it far worse than it actually is.

 

[Organic Mechanic]

I have a feeling you'd stop feeling ridiculous right when you saw it in person. The unlicensed version is of the absolute highest quality and worth every penny (imo).

Oh, I'm certain that you are correct. From the pics I've seen, his sonic is as close a representation of the grey, non-slider prop (only it has the added functionality of the slider) as MFX's is of the darker "slider" prop.

They would both be a treasure, no doubt in my mind.

*For the sake of adding something to the actual discussion, let me just say that my assessment above is based on comparison with images, from this very forum, of the actual props.

In fact, the only things I can find "wrong" with either item are:

• MFX-The drilled hole for the wires in the neck is too clean. I like it that way.
• CT-The button is shaped wrong, as it's impossible to make it slide and look like the non-sliding version at the same time. Again, a good change.

The color thing is, in my opinion, a non-issue. Lighting, wear, even your view angle can change perception of color. MFX's SS matches some pics color wise, and CT's still others, right? It can hardly be a coincidence that the same can be said about the props themselves, can it?



(I'm still hoping to get a dimension or two so I can make myself some Sonics. )

 

[DrConstantine]

CT is curently working on a Tennant style sonic (with the flat slider)

 

[goldenage]

2 cents - It's Brown Bess/ Olive drab pulse rife all over again. You have those that prefer the color of the prop to be accurate to the actual existing item and those that prefer it to look like it did on screen.

Doesn't that seem like a reasonable solution - I hope so, because as a Doc W fan I find this endless bickering a bit embarrassing.

 

[Jamanticus]

2 cents - It's Brown Bess/ Olive drab pulse rife all over again. You have those that prefer the color of the prop to be accurate to the actual existing item and those that prefer it to look like it did on screen.

Doesn't that seem like a reasonable solution - I hope so, because as a Doc W fan I find this endless bickering a bit embarrassing.

An absolutely excellent point. Same problem that occurs with just about every prop and costume from LotR :unsure

No matter what color of paint the original sonic prop has on it, it's not that color anymore due to all the grime it's developed on it. The sonic looks beautiful with both color schemes, so I echo your 2 cents, bringing us up to a whopping 4 cents :lol

 

[croooow]

I also shot JFK, I flew the planes in to the twin towers,.

We're these offensive remarks really necesary? If making a joke involving assassinating a president and committing a terrorist act that killed over three thousand people is considered funny to you then I'm very happy that I was unable to buy one of your sonics.

You should be ashamed of yourself.

 

[LeAngeSolitaire]

We're these offensive remarks really necesary? If making a joke involving assassinating a president and committing a terrorist act that killed over three thousand people is considered funny to you then I'm very happy that I was unable to buy one of your sonics.

You should be ashamed of yourself.

Not sure if you are being enitrely serious but if you are not, this is a fantastic first post. :lol

 

[Howard]

Sarcasam.
Not a joke.
Some people get it - other's don't.

 

[MattMunson]

...I find this endless bickering a bit embarrassing.

Clearly, you are new to the internet!!

Though your first point is key, I believe, and dead on the money. Some want what they saw on the TV, some want what tennant held in his hand during filming. Two very different things.

To each his own.

Personally, I find this type of deep-dive detail dispute fascinating, interesting, and usually productive in the long run. The unfortunate thing is that it often turns into personal attacks and gets ugly. However, some of the greatest finds in the hobby have come from those who refused to accept the status quo, and kept searching for what they believed to be the truth.

I believe no good comes from killing a discussion just because an agreement cannot be reached. If anything, that is a strong indicator that more discussion needs to take place.

 

[LeAngeSolitaire]

Clearly, you are new to the internet!!

Though your first point is key, I believe, and dead on the money. Some want what they saw on the TV, some want what tennant held in his hand during filming. Two very different things.

To each his own.

Personally, I find this type of deep-dive detail dispute fascinating, interesting, and usually productive in the long run. The unfortunate thing is that it often turns into personal attacks and gets ugly. However, some of the greatest finds in the hobby have come from those who refused to accept the status quo, and kept searching for what they believed to be the truth.

I believe no good comes from killing a discussion just because an agreement cannot be reached. If anything, that is a strong indicator that more discussion needs to take place.

So speaketh the Munson :thumbsup

 

[Michael Bergeron]

CT has posted a Photoshop analysis of this pic in his blog and he claims the right hand pic was taken under artificial light. I don't know enough about these things to tell whether it's true or not but it appears to say different from what you are saying.

I don't know CT and I don't know Neill. I haven't seen either of these sonics nor will I ever likely be in a position to buy one so you can trust me when I say that I'm not biased in the evaluations I make.

As a trained Director of Photography I can safely say that the pic on the right is VERY CLEARLY a daylight lit photo. To create that convincing a daylight (I'm talking about color temp and softness, not just brightness) takes some doing. Even if it is artificial lighting it's artificialy set up to daylight specs so the color temp is in the proper range to be considered "daylight" lighting.

As I said, I don't know either of these manufacturers but CT is mistaken if he says the right pic is artificially manufactured to make it look more gold.

 

[E-Wan]

Personally, I find this type of deep-dive detail dispute fascinating, interesting, and usually productive in the long run. The unfortunate thing is that it often turns into personal attacks and gets ugly. However, some of the greatest finds in the hobby have come from those who refused to accept the status quo, and kept searching for what they believed to be the truth.

I believe no good comes from killing a discussion just because an agreement cannot be reached. If anything, that is a strong indicator that more discussion needs to take place.

This. :thumbsup

 

[Organic Mechanic]

CT is curently working on a Tennant style sonic (with the flat slider)

Sweet! Can't wait to see it. Doubt it'll be in my budget either though. :lol

On the other hand...

The 3 Gb folder of sonic pics I've amassed may just have provided me with enough info to do a fairly accurate Dollar Store/Hardware build.

Might just be starting my own WIP thread here after I hit the stores. :love

 

[jedibugs]

CT is curently working on a Tennant style sonic (with the flat slider)

Yeah... AND it will be available in the cream color AND a limited run of the Heritage Gold, so you can get it whatever your preference may be! Because even some people who are certain that the prop was gray still prefer the look of the heritage gold.

 

[Birdie]

I've seen three season 3 sonics in the flesh, so to speak. All identical, all grey.

I own an MFX and have found it impossible to produce a remoteley grey looking photograph - not with flash, natural light, diffused tungsten or fluoerescent, and yet Neil would have us believe that every single publicity shot, on set photo or screen cap, all with wildly differing lightsources, have been affected by lighting to make a gold sonic to look grey.

Think about just how unlikeley that is.

Which leaves us with the possibility that a naturally weathered gold sonic could look grey. The exact same grey that the season three sonics were (and why, exactly, would they change that anyway...)

We know that the Sonics were continually stripped and repainted by the BBC props department due to such acquired grubiness - yet time and time again a single sonic escapes this process to be the one that appears before our eyes on film and still photograph, and into Neil's hands to be replicated?

As for all the photoshop comparison evidence - come on, please! We've been through all this before so many times with the various Star Wars helmet meltdowns. It's just meaningless in a digital domain to try and apply this pseudo scientific logic, any information acquired in this way can be spun to 'prove' anyone's point.

For heaven's sake, Neil and others are referring to Plastikote swatches, which have clearly been digitally adjusted to represent an 'ideal' representation of a finish that resembles a typical application -they're not real guys!

But why would Neil lie?

Because he claimed to be producing a 100% accurate screwdriver.

Look at the photos of the screen used prop Neil used as reference, then look at the MFX version. In particular, compare the ridges under the slider. Look at the emitter windows and bars. Compare the size and shape of the lens.

Neil claims that these differences were due to different variations of the sonic being produced by the BBC propmasters - but now he's shown us the sonic he used for replication, and it's exactly like the one that has appeared in every image of the sonic we've ever seen, including the accurate prototype - and very different to what MFX eventually produced.

Sound pretty much like a lie right there, to me....

 

[TheNickFox]

I'm going to go out on a limb here and say that after CT's recent "Fox Hunting," (AKA pointlessly calling me names) stalking the hell out of me across these wide-wooly interwebs, he's not going to admit publicly or privately how he allegedly obtained access to the original prop. I think that's a shame, he could have bolstered his credibility instantly by just allowing Straker to PM me, or even by contacting me through one of my many sites he's clearly visited.

You know, if he put as much effort into making sonics as he does wasting his time harassing a "nevergonnabe" like me, he'd be making the props for the show by now.

Since I know CT is reading this: If you had an 8th sense, you'd get the signal by now ( ); you are allowed to debate the specifics of a prop, you are allowed to disagree on color, size, texture, and taste of a prop, but what people tend to have a problem with is your general holier-than-thou demeanor and altogether unprofessional attitude. So, go ahead, continue down your road of personal attacks, it only diminishes the quality of your work, which, if you spent a few more minutes Googling me you would know, I think is extremely high-quality, and the best that's currently on the market (I even recommended it in another thread here).

That said, your attitude has made me never want to do business with you...in ANY field. So, by all means, debate the finer points of prop design (In a respectful manner), but if you're not willing to put up YOUR proof, don't blame everyone else if they believe the person who DOES have proof...and no, photoshopped images don't count.

-The Nick

 

[Jamanticus]

In the interest of accuracy, Nick, look at the MFX replica compared to the original prop. Yes, they handled it in person and took measurements, but it is clear that their replica is not completely accurate to it. Look at the black endcap on both of them (MFX doesn't taper enough towards the tip), the windows of the emitter head (MFX ones are almost right in the center of the emitter head, while the original had them further down on the head), the blue lens (MFX has the lens very round from edge to edge, while the real has the lens starting out going straight for a bit longer, then curving), even the ridges at the base of the slider slot (MFX has sharp corners on theirs while the original has rounded edges). Clearly quite different from original to replica. MFX said that their sonic was, "An exact replica of the Doctor's Sonic Screwdriver as used during filming." Do you still trust everything they say solely because they can prove they had access to an original?

EDIT: This doesn't mean the MFX is no good; it's a wonderful replica and I mean it.

 

[Organic Mechanic]

Uhh...guys? You may recall where I posted about having a ridiculous amount of SS pics?

Let me show you my two favorites. They are the ones I'll be basing my build(s?) upon.

View attachment 27292

Now, these two images have been posted here. Both of them bore the description "Screen Used" prop, or a reasonable facsimile thereof.

So I guess my question is; "Where's the debate?" That upper image could pass for an MFX in a heartbeat save for the poorly drilled neck hole. Or am I missing something?