Doctorin' the house

January 20, 2008 9:58 AM

Help my son get his Tardis on. I'm currently decorating my 7 year old sons bedroom, and he is a big Doctor Who fan. He has asked me for a giant (I guess 6 ft) tardis on one wall of his painted bedroom. My initial thought was to paint - but I don't have the requisite skills really, so I was looking for a Fathead / WallBangers equivalent. I'm not sure the custom option on WallBangers will allow me to use a copyright image. Do you have any other recommendations for giant Tardis resources? Or maybe a suggestion to get a large scale picture onto a bedroom wall - I'm in the UK if it makes a difference.
posted by mattr to home & garden (12 comments total)

How about a 62" Tardis poster?
posted by bcwinters at 10:04 AM on January 20

I have a better idea-- put a constructed Tardis *outside* his bedroom door, so that entering it is like going into Dr. Who's estradimensional space. In other words, replace his door with a police box. Screw copyright--you're not selling it, are you? Call the local art school and hire some student to do it for you. Especially effective if you can make it seem like the Tardis door has nothing behind it. (Can't take credit for this idea-- a guy I met once did it for the apartment behind his storefront. It was fabulous.) I also found this (just Image google "tardis" for many options)

Then I'm loathe to tell you, but he's going to need a desk that looks like this.

hate me yet?
posted by nax at 10:12 AM on January 20 [5 favorites]

Just for reference, there can't be a copyright on any of the externals of the Tardis, as it is a replica of an old UK Police Box. It would be impossible to copyright that.

The internals are different, but no-one is going to raid your house and remove a kids bedroom furniture, let's be honest. If you are going to sell it, it's a different story, of course. Then, using the name 'Tardis' is what's copyright protected and would apply to the outside if you use the name to refer to a Police Box. While it's just a police box, it's fair game.
posted by Brockles at 10:20 AM on January 20

One option is to somehow project the picture onto the wall, trace it, then paint. A friend of mine did this with a map of the world and it looked great. He used an overhead projector that he borrowed from school, but of course you could do something fancier if you had the resources.
posted by number9dream at 10:28 AM on January 20 [1 favorite]

it is a replica of an old UK Police Box

It's not, though. There have been at least five major different versions of the prop. To my knowledge, none of them are exact copies of a UK police box.

using the name 'Tardis' is what's copyright protected

No, that's trademark.
posted by grouse at 10:34 AM on January 20

You could make a giant Tardis poster using Rasterbator.
posted by electroboy at 10:42 AM on January 20 [1 favorite]

There's no way the BBC is going to bring claims against a family for creating their own private police box, but, for the curious, here's a link to an article about the trademark dispute between the BBC and London's police over the Tardis image. The trademark (for the image(s), and not just for the name) was awarded to the BBC over the Metro Police's objections.
posted by nobody at 11:15 AM on January 20

Thanks for the ideas guys...I'm going to try Rasterbating (also thanks to Erika who emailed me that suggestion).

If that doesn't work out - then I'll buy the poster that bcwinters found (demonstrating a much better command of search than me).

Oh - and Nax, I'm not a builder (trust me on that) - but thanks, its a good idea.

Thanks all!
posted by mattr at 11:50 AM on January 20

You can't beat a good rasterbating I always say, but have you considered the TARDIS-shaped zipperobe?
posted by Katemonkey at 2:36 PM on January 20 [1 favorite]

Does he have a favourite monster or character? My husband is a Who-head but prefers Daleks over Cybermen, etc.

Before you charge ahead and put in a lot of work, ask him what he likes or watch Dr Who with him to see what he really likes about it.

Cautionary tale: DH was way into Thunderbirds and Stingray when he was a boy and his dad had a brilliant idea to paper his room with Thunderbirds comics as a surprise. Unfortunately, they were his son's Thunderbirds comics used for the wall papering, which caused him trauma instead of joy. All my FIL had to do was to watch the freaking show with his son to see that his son was way into the vehicles and buy him a Thunderbird 2. Not saying you haven't thought past this kind of thing, but... tread carefully. :)
posted by Grrlscout at 1:55 AM on January 21

If you own the house, you could try a variation of Nax's idea. A visit to your local DIY centre can get you new moldings for the door and frame that you can put up. Then a coat of paint - white for the windows, cobalt blue for the rest. There's a number of plansets out there you can download for making your own Tardis, such as this site, that'll help you recreate the door. Keep in mind you should test and make sure you can still open and close the door early on.
posted by Kioki-Silver at 7:53 AM on January 21

Talked to DH about this and he asked if we could do it too.

Also recommended Project Dalek
posted by Grrlscout at 5:39 AM on January 22