Doctor Who Typography, couldn't think of a Doctor related pun

August 14, 2008 5:06 AM

Call the MetaFilter Typography brigade! Information desired on typography of past and present Doctor Who logos.

Specifically I'm interested in the first 3 lines or so of this page of past and present logos.

Particularly interested in knowing the names of the fonts for the first and second ones.

Many thanks!

posted by mediocre to media & arts (6 comments total)

Have you tried What The Font?
posted by puffmoike at 6:37 AM on August 14, 2008

I found this by a search, but I'm not sure which (if any) apply to the one you're looking for:

Fonts used on the BBC's Doctor Who books and videos: AssiduousSmallCaps, Assiduous, DoctorWho2006, DellaRobbiaBT-Bold, DellaRobbiaBT-Roman, ExterminatePreview, ElementaryBold, EurostileRegular, FuturaBT-Medium, FuturaBT-ExtraBlack, PostAntiqua, ThetaSigmaRelease2, Westminster, Dr.-Who, EurostileBold, Haettenschweiler.
posted by sharkfu at 8:05 AM on August 14, 2008

Most of those look like custom lettering, but this might be helpful: Doctor Who fonts
(first link when you Google "Doctor Who font", btw)
posted by designbot at 9:37 AM on August 14, 2008

The 2nd one is good ol' Times New Roman Bold

The first one I still haven't figured out. The bottom looks a lot like Franklin Gothic (condensed), but I can't figure out the "Doctor" part.
posted by O9scar at 10:07 AM on August 14, 2008

The very first (Hartnell) logo is basically Franklin Gothic, with a Wide on top and a Condensed on bottom.

Troughton's is Times New Roman Bold -- note the R and W in particular.

Pertwee's may be a custom design. Certainly the D, R, and H are all unusual. It may have started from something else and been given custom flourishes. There are a variety of signage-type faces that could have been the source. I'm inclined to think the same of the Baker-era badge. YMMV.
posted by dhartung at 10:59 PM on August 14, 2008

You should compare Revue for some of the custom-lettered logotypes (first entry on second line, for example). It’s of the right period (then again, so were the spontaneous handlettered shop signs that inspired Revue itself) and was probably an influence.
posted by joeclark at 3:39 PM on August 15, 2008