Big Chief Studios - 1/6 Doctor Who - #1 William Hartnell

[ProgMatinee]

I don't think the hat makes or breaks this figure either way, but I would be slightly surprised if it didn't come with one. And certainly, his hairstyle is nothing like number 4 which was the only reason they did it the way they did. I think they can certainly make either a cloth or soft plastic cap to fit on number 1's head quite easily, especially the way his hair is slicked back. The paint job on that prototype cane is excellent, btw. For me, a fake signature is a noninterest. I'm hardly interested in real signatures. I only got the siggy #4 because of potential resale value if I needed to sell it.

 

[Entropy]

While interesting, a black and white version would require different paint aps for head and accessories as well sourcing different fabrics. The additional expensive might make an alternate version like that not cost effective. Personally I'd only want 1 version and that would be the color to match the other docs.

 

[illproxy]

cmon BCS show us the holding his jacket pose, the suspense is killing me!


really tho looking forward to seeing that pose, when i think 1st doc i think that.
also kinda random but hoping to see capaldis 12th doc start doin that on the reg...

 

[Doom Saber]

---

They are holding something back according to Greggo's Facebook comment on his page. There is also an image he posted in one of comments:

 

[Doom Saber]

That would work for the non-living actors who played the Doctor. Coincidently, the first three are also the only Doctors that have been seen on black and white tvs. The third, while all his eps were filmed in color, his run was also around the time ppl transition to color. Some of his episodes in color where lost resulting black and white second airings. However, because of the fans, his episodes were bought back to color by using VHS fan recordings to mesh with the original BW film and computer technology. It would make sense that he would get a black and white exclusive figure even though ppl remember him in color.

 

[The Mike]

Make the fake sig standard then and let the B&W folks have their ex. ed.

I want a signature version to keep uniformity even if it's a replica. It'd be better for me financially if they just made it standard.

 

[Entropy]

It would make sense that he would get a black and white exclusive figure even though ppl remember him in color.

It would only make sense if there is enough demand and desire to spend more on a b+w exclusive to warrant the additional R+D & production costs involved in 2 separate and distinct paints jobs + pieces of clothing. I'm not sure that there are enough of those people. The goal obviously is for BC to make money off of these so they can keep making more Docs rather than get stuck with unwanted, unsold inventory.

I want a signature version to keep uniformity even if it's a replica. It'd be better for me financially if they just made it standard.

While not standard, they said the faux signature edition would be the same cost as the non-sig.

 

[JonWes]

IIRC, they were worried about making a b&w variant look good, too.

 

[Doom Saber]

That's true, though I would think that if BC releases a B&W figure, it would be for a con like the 50th Tennant figure. I would suspect that would be a way for them to not only test the waters, but to see if they can make money off of it - they can only make 50 or 100 of them and have them all sold out. Besides, a figure like Hartnell and Troughton wouldn't need much change in costume color as their costumes are mostly black and white. Judging by the outfit the protype Hartnell is wearing, BC would only need to change the scarf and the cape lining to black or a different shade of grey.

 

[Captain Britain]

These are so expensive that I think only a small group of people would be prepared to pull the trigger on a b&w version. They would be more expensive to do than a Tennant 50th - he only needed a new tie and shirt and that put a tenner on the price of the basic figure, Hartnell would need a new tie, waistcoat and cape lining, the head and hands would need repainting and I guess most of the accessories would as well, plus it would make no sense not to have b&w packaging. What's that, an extra £50 on the price of the figure (at least) with no real indication of how popular they'd be? Plus DOTD Tennant was being sold at the precise time that DOTD was being shown at the biggest Doctor Who live event ever and was a version of a sold out figure of the most popular Doctor. Much as I love Hartnell he couldn't begin to compare.

What might be nice is if BC sold a limited quantity of unpainted Hartnell heads and hands to customisers so folks could make their own b&w versions if that's what people want. The precedent is when figures made for sculpture trails are produced as 'paint your own' figures.

 

[Taibhse]

I think as others have said, there may not be enough buyers to justify the B&W variants.
I went through the transition from a family B&W TV to Colour during that time and my memory is of watching Troughton in B&W.. but Pertwee in Colour (even though I'm certain I must have watched some of Pertwee's seasons in B&W).. I seem to remember that Colour TVs were initially, considerably more expensive than B&W sets.

However there was also an intensely annoying period, of being completely without a family TV for a couple of years during this time frame, while my parents were on a crazed "TV is not good for children.. It will make you 'Square Eyed'!"..etc. fad and banned TV from the house (I blame hysteria in the Media).. fortunately they grew out of it.
I suspect the last TV before 'The Ban' was B&W but the replacement after 'The Ban' was Colour.. this might explain my Whovian memories.. also story arcs I don't recall seeing..and the slightly twitching right eyelid, when I turn my TV off...

 

[Doom Saber]

I think as others have said, there may not be enough buyers to justify the B&W variants.
I went through the transition from a family B&W TV to Colour during that time and my memory is of watching Troughton in B&W.. but Pertwee in Colour (even though I'm certain I must have watched some of Pertwee's seasons in B&W).. I seem to remember that Colour TVs were initially, considerably more expensive than B&W sets.

However there was also an intensely annoying period, of being completely without a family TV for a couple of years during this time frame, while my parents were on a crazed "TV is not good for children.. It will make you 'Square Eyed'!"..etc. fad and banned TV from the house (I blame hysteria in the Media).. fortunately they grew out of it.
I suspect the last TV before 'The Ban' was B&W but the replacement after 'The Ban' was Colour.. this might explain my Whovian memories.. also story arcs I don't recall seeing..and the slightly twitching right eyelid, when I turn my TV off...

In regards of some Pertwee episodes being in B & W, it happened during the initial airings. Like the missing Hartnell and Troughton episodes, the Pertwee episodes were trashed after airing once in the UK and the US - the UK ones were obviously the original color films whereas the US were VHS color copies. The ones that survived where the black and white film versions. Anyway, when "Spearhead from Space"? aired in the US on a LA PBS station, a guy in the UK paid his friend in the US to rent a Betamax and purchase Betamax tapes to record the episode. His friend recorded the episode, but one of the episode, I think it was episode 4, was missing 20 seconds of footage since this was where his friend had to switch Betamax tapes as Betamax tapes, while superior to VHS tapes, had less record time. The guy then went to the US to visit the LA PBS station in hopes to get the colored tapes that was aired. He was told that after the serial aired, the tapes containing them were trashed. Sometime later, a guy in the UK wanted to test out a method of restoring color black and white film by overlaying the colors on top of negative. He not only did he use the original black and white film of the episode and the record betmax copies, but also another copy from another fan that had the missing 20 second segments. After the success of restoring the episode to color, other Pertwee episodes followed with similar techniques.

I read this on the Doctor Who Restoration website a few weeks ago. It is quite fascinating.

Anyway, I don't think black and white figures would sell well if the limit is huge, but if it is a few like 10-50, I think it would. Also, BC doesn't have to follow the same clothing pattern as their color versions especially how difficult it would be to get and match fabrics of different grey. I would think a simple plain black and white outfit with no eccentric designs (like the Unearthly child costume) would work. It doesn't necessarily have to be the same outfit as the color versions. Heck, they did it with the Underground Toys figures, why not these? Regardless, I certainly wouldn't buy them. however, it would be nice for the 3 first Doctors to come with a collector's edition of some sort. If not black and white figures, would exclusive accessories work like a different colored Troughton flute

 

[Doom Saber]

These are so expensive that I think only a small group of people would be prepared to pull the trigger on a b&w version. They would be more expensive to do than a Tennant 50th - he only needed a new tie and shirt and that put a tenner on the price of the basic figure, Hartnell would need a new tie, waistcoat and cape lining, the head and hands would need repainting and I guess most of the accessories would as well, plus it would make no sense not to have b&w packaging. What's that, an extra £50 on the price of the figure (at least) with no real indication of how popular they'd be? Plus DOTD Tennant was being sold at the precise time that DOTD was being shown at the biggest Doctor Who live event ever and was a version of a sold out figure of the most popular Doctor. Much as I love Hartnell he couldn't begin to compare.

What might be nice is if BC sold a limited quantity of unpainted Hartnell heads and hands to customisers so folks could make their own b&w versions if that's what people want. The precedent is when figures made for sculpture trails are produced as 'paint your own' figures.

I really don't think unpainted Hartnell heads would sell even since most people who buy unpainted fanmade heads here have professionals paint them. Even so, someone can buy an extra Hartnell figure and repaint it black and white or repaint it - a few individuals repainted the Tom Baker head to remove the stubble.

 

[Taibhse]

In regards of some Pertwee episodes being in B & W, it happened during the initial airings. Like the missing Hartnell and Troughton episodes, the Pertwee episodes were trashed after airing once in the UK and the US - the UK ones were obviously the original color films whereas the US were VHS color copies. The ones that survived where the black and white film versions. Anyway, when "Spearhead from Space"? aired in the US on a LA PBS station, a guy in the UK paid his friend in the US to rent a Betamax and purchase Betamax tapes to record the episode. His friend recorded the episode, but one of the episode, I think it was episode 4, was missing 20 seconds of footage since this was where his friend had to switch Betamax tapes as Betamax tapes, while superior to VHS tapes, had less record time. The guy then went to the US to visit the LA PBS station in hopes to get the colored tapes that was aired. He was told that after the serial aired, the tapes containing them were trashed. Sometime later, a guy in the UK wanted to test out a method of restoring color black and white film by overlaying the colors on top of negative. He not only did he use the original black and white film of the episode and the record betmax copies, but also another copy from another fan that had the missing 20 second segments. After the success of restoring the episode to color, other Pertwee episodes followed with similar techniques.

I read this on the Doctor Who Restoration website a few weeks ago. It is quite fascinating.

Anyway, I don't think black and white figures would sell well if the limit is huge, but if it is a few like 10-50, I think it would. Also, BC doesn't have to follow the same clothing pattern as their color versions especially how difficult it would be to get and match fabrics of different grey. I would think a simple plain black and white outfit with no eccentric designs (like the Unearthly child costume) would work. It doesn't necessarily have to be the same outfit as the color versions. Heck, they did it with the Underground Toys figures, why not these? Regardless, I certainly wouldn't buy them. however, it would be nice for the 3 first Doctors to come with a collector's edition of some sort. If not black and white figures, would exclusive accessories work like a different colored Troughton flute

Yup, the hunt for 'lost' footage and the extraordinary process of restoring those rediscovered Dr Who episodes is a wonderful detective story.. and I'm delighted to now have the 'Web of Fear' series on DVD (with only one episode still to be re-discovered) as it is one of my all time favorite Dr Who series.

I probably did not make myself clear, although Pertwee's era was transmitted in colour, I was referring to the fact that many kids watching those Seasons (particularly the early ones) would still have been doing so on B&W televisions.. for example the reason I think of Pertwee's era as colour, is because I definitely remember watching 'The Green Death' series in colour.. but that is a story from the Tenth Season of Dr Who.. Pertwee had joined the show in Season Seven and left at the end of Season Eleven.. so it is extremely likely I had watched a number of Pertwee's Seasons in B&W but for some reason it is the colour of 'The Green Death' story that makes me associate colour with Pertwee's Dr Who.

 

[Entropy]

Anyway, I don't think black and white figures would sell well if the limit is huge, but if it is a few like 10-50, I think it would. Also, BC doesn't have to follow the same clothing pattern as their color versions especially how difficult it would be to get and match fabrics of different grey. I would think a simple plain black and white outfit with no eccentric designs (like the Unearthly child costume) would work. It doesn't necessarily have to be the same outfit as the color versions. Heck, they did it with the Underground Toys figures, why not these? Regardless, I certainly wouldn't buy them. however, it would be nice for the 3 first Doctors to come with a collector's edition of some sort. If not black and white figures, would exclusive accessories work like a different colored Troughton flute

R+D of creating new patterns, sourcing new materials, devising new paint apps = time = money. Doing this once, the costs are spread out over 1000 figures. Incurring those costs and additional man hours (which could be spent on new product), for a more limited variant that hardly anyone wants, yourself included, is a poor business model and a good way to torpedo this fledgling company.

Exclusive accessories, like the damaged 10 sonic or the signature plaques, are much easier to pack in. If they distribute another overseas again we'll likely see them again to encourage direct purchases. If there's only 1 place to buy from and these are already limited, I'm not sure there is any reason to create another ex. edition beyond the sig. ed's.

 

[JonWes]

Those are good points, and... to be honest... I think on a high-end figure B&W might look odd. I keep thinking of the CO figures. I was all excited about B&W variants, but I eventually sold mine because I thought they looked too creepy in execution.

 

[Captain Britain]

R+D of creating new patterns, sourcing new materials, devising new paint apps = time = money. Doing this once, the costs are spread out over 1000 figures. Incurring those costs and additional man hours (which could be spent on new product), for a more limited variant that hardly anyone wants, yourself included, is a poor business model and a good way to torpedo this fledgling company.

Exclusive accessories, like the damaged 10 sonic or the signature plaques, are much easier to pack in. If they distribute another overseas again we'll likely see them again to encourage direct purchases. If there's only 1 place to buy from and these are already limited, I'm not sure there is any reason to create another ex. edition beyond the sig. ed's.

 

[Captain Britain]

Those are good points, and... to be honest... I think on a high-end figure B&W might look odd. I keep thinking of the CO figures. I was all excited about B&W variants, but I eventually sold mine because I thought they looked too creepy in execution.

Yes! They looked... dead. Not something I want on my shelf.

 

[Taibhse]

Depends how it is done.. I have the B&W variant of the Silent Bob, Clerks Inaction Figure and that works.. but it is an animation sculpt.

 

[JonWes]

Yeah, I got the Talky Tina replica doll in B&W, and I think it looks cool.

And I'm definitely getting the 3 3/4'' Twilight Zone figures in B&W:

But all of those things share fairly simple sculpts and paints. As CB said up above, the CO ones just came off more zombie-ish. The picture below actually makes him look a bit better than mine did. Maybe it's the brighter lighting.