Binge-Watching Doctor Who, and 3D Printing

We have been binge-watching Doctor Who. Well, more precisely, we have watched one episode every night starting sometime in October 2016. We started with the show's 2005 rebooted series and the ninth Doctor.  (From 1963 to present, there have been twelve Doctors).  If you don't watch the show, don't worry. I was very confused about it's history, too.  

Here's a very short synopsis, taken from the Doctor Who wikipedia page: 

"The programme depicts the adventures of the Doctor, a Time Lord—a spacefaring and time-travelling humanoid alien. He explores the universe in his TARDIS, a sentient time-travelling space ship. Its exterior appears as a blue British police box, which was a common sight in Britain in 1963 when the series first aired. Accompanied by companions, the Doctor combats a variety of foes, while working to save civilisations and help people in need."

I've been aware of Doctor Who since I was a kid. The show originally aired from 1963-1989, with one TV film in 1996, and then a full on series reboot starting in 2005 and continuing to the present. Before 2005, if you'd asked me to conjure an image of "the Doctor" (as he is referred) this is what would come to mind. ↓

This makes perfect sense, since this was the Doctor (played by Tom Baker) from 1974-1981, smack dab in the middle of my childhood. 

I'm pretty sure I never actually saw an episode of the show back then. I guess I was too busy with Star Trek, and maybe that's all the science fiction my little mind could handle at the time. I definitely knew of the show, though. I think in my child's mind, Doctor Who was synonymous with a local late night program Doctor Madblood, which was a mad scientist skit sandwiched between whatever horror film was being aired that night and it's commercial breaks.  You can see where I'd get that idea, right? Doctor Who? Doctor Madblood? ha. 

My next brush with Doctor Who was watching a few seasons of it's spin-off show, Torchwood, which aired from 2006-2011. I didn't even realize it had any connection to Doctor Who at the time! Silly me. Oh, and then, there was the time I stumbled on the world's most awesome TARDIS cake. It actually is "bigger on the inside"!

So, back to this summer, when we started nightly watching the Doctor Who 2005 series reboots. I don't know about you, but we like to wind down our evenings by watching TV in bed, and we had just finished binge-watching an episode of The X-Files nightly. That's 202 episodes for the last 202 nights, plus 2 feature films. After some "I want to believe" withdrawal, we had to find something else to binge on.  At first we were going to do the entire Star Trek canon, which included the original series and every one thereafter. Well, that all seemed a bit daunting. Then, Jason suggested Doctor Who, and I was totally on board. I wanted to finally unwrap this show that had been such a mystery to me as a child, and was still confusing to me as an adult, with all it's different Doctors, and this TARDIS thing that was "bigger on the inside", and vague inklings of Daleks, and weeping angels. I was IN!

As of last night, we are on our eleventh Doctor, played by Matt Smith. Don't ask me how many episodes that is... 78 to be exact, about 45 to go to be caught up on all the episodes that have aired to date since 2005. 😉 

So, what am I getting at, you ask? Well! 3D prints! What else is there to post about? 

Oh, besides the Doctor Who Lego set he got for Christmas, that is, but legos are a whooole other can of worms. ha. ↓

So, now that we are huge Doctor Who fans, Jason's first print after the test prints was of course, the TARDIS (aka "Time And Relative Dimension In Space"). 

The tenth Doctor (played by David Tennant) and the TARDIS.

It came out great except for some wonky window panes. TARDIS before painting. ↓

TARDIS digital design file via Thingiverse user 23Maple

That is my ipad mini in the background (if you are wondering about scale) which has various versions of the TARDIS in view. I was trying to get the right color blue for the current version we were watching. You can see the wonky window panes below. ↓

TARDIS digital design file via Thingiverse user 23Maple

And then, since it was Christmas, and we all know The Doctor travels through time and space in the TARDIS, what better spot for it than in the victorian era England of our Dickens Christmas Village.↓ 

Which then led to a weeping angel. Scariest episodes so far contain weeping angels, who get closer and closer to you each time you take your eyes off of them. Literally. Don't Blink!

Our first weeping angel print. ↓

weeping angel painted with acrylics. Digital design file via Thingiverse user vincentbarre.

Jason felt she was not the correct scale for the TARDIS, so printed another one, which is now, of course, creepily at home in our Dickens Village. The angel pictured below was printed with silver filament, so I didn't have to paint her. ↓

Jason wanted to print a Dalek next, but I'm resisting that idea as best I can, though I know I'm fighting a losing battle. They are my least favorite enemies of the Doctor.  I mean, they have a toilet plunger and egg beater as hands, and the worst, most grating voice ever, but I guess it could be fun to paint. ↓

Dalek via wikipedia

We'll see. Stay tuned....somewhere in time and space....

🤖

and Thanks for visiting!