Me And My Tennant Suit - Dan Neumann

It’s been a few months, but I thought I’d post anther entry in my occasional series, Me And My Tennant Suit.
This time we have Dan Neumann, who I had spotted at Gallifrey One this year and kept meaning to say hello to, but he was either busy chatting or I was in a rush to get somewhere.
Anyway, I friended him on Facebook and asked him to contribute. He’s what he had to say.

PROFILE
Name Dan Neumann
Age 22 years old
Location San Diego, California
Favorite Doctor Tenth!
Maker of my suit Baron Boutique
Colour of suit Brown Suit

I opened by asking Dan when he got his suit, “I ordered my suit in April 2011, right before FanimeCon!”

“After discovering Doctor Who a few years ago I was instantly obsessed with it, especially since David Tennant was my first Doctor”, he told me about his first encounter with the series. “A month or two after finishing the series I realized that I looked a fair amount like the tenth Doctor, and I had always been interested in cosplay but was too much of a perfectionist to go after something harder.” With that advantage in mind it seemed like a logical progression.
“I realized that replicating the tenth Doctor’s look was something that I would be able to do fairly easily, with the right suit - and so I found one!”

But what was he looking for in a suit? “I was looking for the best possible screen accurate suit I could get without breaking the bank. As a poor college student, I wasn’t prepared to spend a whole lot of money on a suit, and so I ended up looking for something around the $300 mark that was the most screen-accurate. The Baron Boutique suit worked excellently in this regard!”

So how was the fit? “Though it took a couple of round of alterations on the coat and the pants, it currently fits great! One of the best fitting pieces of clothing I own.”

The Ultimate Tennant Suit at Bad Wolf Bay

Last week I showed you some photos of Kevin Coppa, wearing his Ultimate Tennant Suit, at my local golf course surrounded by dinosaurs!

Well now I have some pictures of him at Southerndown Beach, aka Bad Wolf Bay.

First was used in Army Of Ghosts and Doomsday, it was where Rose said an emotional farewell to The Doctor (see right).

Later they return to the bay for a similarly emotionally charged scene in the close of Journey’s End (see left).
More recently it was the crash site of the Byzantium in the Matt Smith episodes Time Of Angels and Flesh And Stone; and it is due to appear again in series seven.

The photos below form part of a massive shoot we did in Cardiff, more of which will follow soon on my blogs, so watch out for them.

Southerndown Beach is very popular with swimmers and families, so we had to choose our moments to get the views to ourselves. Sometimes the locals got in the way, but they were a friendly bunch! (see left)

While we were there, we did some portrait shots, as well as some more action stuff! (see below)

But the main shots we wanted to do were the ghostly appearances of the Tenth Doctor from the close of Doomsday.
We did a couple of set-ups, and I’m pretty happy with the results. Let me know what you think!

SB6 Space suit - full breakdown

A little while ago costume designer Louise Page told us the background story to the recurring space suit worn by David Tennant during a number of his adventures.

It first appeared in The Impossible Planet and The Satan Pit as part of the equipment at Sanctuary Base Six; the idea of a space suit returned (abet remade) in 42; before making a final appearance in The Waters Of Mars.

Design © Peter McKinstry

The suit may look to be custom designed, but Doctor Who is made on a limited budget and if anything can be sourced as pre-existing pieces, it will be – and this suit is a prime example.

All of the accessories such as gloves, boots, harness and base of the helmet were all widely available at the time of production for a reasonable price.

Dinosaurs On A Golf Course!

This past week I have had a very welcome house guest in the form of Kevin Coppa, who I made the Ultimate Tennant suit for last year.
He’s here for a top secret project, but while in the country we have some special photoshoots planned. But more on that later.

Just to get us warmed up, we visited a local golf course. Why? Cos it’s got dinosaurs!
Look closely and you can just see a T-Rex on the right side of this picture (see right).

My inspiration for doing the photo shoot comes from the Radio Times 10th Anniversary Special, which had a picture of Carole Ann Ford at the Crystal Palace Dinosaurs.
I’ve always wanted to see them myself, and as yet I still haven’t, so this will be a fun second best!

Now these aren’t your typical fibreglass static statues, these are rubber-skinned animatronic versions, though they do move a little ponderously.

These’s a number of dinosaurs around the course and I sought special permission to have a photoshoot with them. Here’s what we took.

First we took some shots with an unidentified planet eater (see above), though The Doctor wasn’t taking any chances!

Creeping away, we are soon being threatened by a Tyrannosaurus Rex (see left).

A meeting of Doctors

Wow - have I got something real cool coming up for you!

I’ve just returned home after an amazing day down in Cardiff doing an all-day photoshoot with two of my favourite Doctor cosplay look-a-likes, with a superb Amy Pond to moderate.

Many of you will know US-based Kevin Coppa (see left) from The Ultimate Tennant Suit I made him, something he proudly wears to many US conventions; you will also have hopefully seen UK-based Matt Elliott (see below), who is the most awesome Eleventh Doctor look-a-like.

Well, I wondered what would happen if I could get the two of them together in the same photo – and now I know!

It didn’t take much persuading to get these guys in the same place together, but it took several weeks of planning to make it happen.

Here’s a little teaser photo for you, with more to follow soon.
We shot about a dozen scenarios, some just portraits; others are hilarious, so watch out for them in this and my Eleventh Doctor blog.

Spoilers!

Louise Page has been back to visit me this week, this time to answer all your questions submitted for the Ask Louise Page competition.

We had lots of great questions, and I took the opportunity to get a few more of my own answered, as well as a couple I spotted which were being debated on the forums.

She gave some great and interesting replies, plus identified some previously unknown Tenth Doctor costume accessories . . . . but you’ll have to wait a little while before we prepare the videos for posting.

In the meantime, Louise is keeping those spoilers tightly under wraps!

Louise Page - SB6 Space suit special

As well as talking to costume designer Louise Page at length about the ties worn by David Tennant during his time as The Doctor, I also had the chance to discuss he work on a number of other items for his wardrobe.

We chatted about the suit and over coat, but first I thought we’d look an increasing popular focus for cosplayers - the Sanctuary Base Space Suit.

Louise tells us the background story to how the suits were made and assembled.

Thanks to Kevin Coppa for giving the interview clips the polished look, and enormous thanks to Louise Page for sharing her memories of dressing the Tenth Doctor with us all

Louise Page - Time Crash special

If you’ve been following the Louise Page interviews on my suit recently, you will have heard all about ties David Tennant wore.

I’ve been limiting my questioning to the costumes worn by The Doctor, and there are still some more interview bites to come, so watch out for those.
But before we hear more about David Tennant costume, I thought we’d discover the full story behind the dressing of another Doctor: the Fifth, played by Peter Davison.

In 2008 when Doctor Who participated in that year’s Children In Need of appeal, they approached Peter Davison to return to the role of The Doctor.

At first glance assembling the original costume was a relatively easy job, but Louise found nothing is ever really that simple.

Thanks to Kevin Coppa for giving the interview clips the polished look, and enormous thanks to Louise Page for sharing her memories of dressing the Tenth Doctor with us all

Louise Page - The Tie Twelve story

Today is the last time we will hear from costume designer Louise Page on her choices of ties worn by David Tennant.

The final tie is by Massimo Dutti, and was only ever seen in one episode, The Doctor’s Daughter.
It does briefly appear in the closing scene of the previous episode The Poison Sky which runs directly into the next adventure, thus keeping continuity between the scenes.

Louise tell us about this final tie.

This was Louise’s final interview about the Tenth Doctor’s ties. But never fear, she will return very soon to tell us about several other aspects of The Doctor’s wardrobe, including his suit, overcoat and space suit!

Check back so to hear what she has to say.

Thanks to Kevin Coppa for giving the interview clips the polished look, and enormous thanks to Louise Page for sharing her memories of dressing the Tenth Doctor with us all

Louise Page - The Tie Eleven story

The penultimate tie in The Doctor’s wardrobe is a bit of an odd-ball in my mind.

It is made by Massimo Dutti, and features predominately in The Next Doctor, the 2008 Christmas Special (see left).

However, it had first appeared back in Partners In Crime, the series four opener, although it shared screen time with Tie Two, the Daniel Hechter tie, making it less memorable.

Costume designer Louise Page remembers the tie.

Check back VERY soon to see Louise Page talk about the final Tenth Doctor tie - and in an EXCLUSIVE - she reveals the label behind the tie . . .

Thanks to Kevin Coppa for giving the interview clips the polished look, and enormous thanks to Louise Page for sharing her memories of dressing the Tenth Doctor with us all

Louise Page - The Tie Ten story

We are getting down to the last few ties in my tie index, and costume designer Louise Page is on hand today to tell us about Tie Ten, the St George by Duffer.

It was first seen in Utopia, and the subsequent episodes The Sound Of Drums and The Last Of The Time Lords.

Louise had explained to us that for the series two double episode, The Impossible Planet and The Satan Pit, she had chosen a new tie (Tie Six) for a one-off use in that story, thus reducing the the chance of over exposure of her more favourite ties.

So when it came to the season finale story arc to series three, she put the same principle into practice, using a brand new tie that after this story was never seen again.

Louise explains the background to this unique tie.

Thanks to Kevin Coppa for giving the interview clips the polished look, and enormous thanks to Louise Page for sharing her memories of dressing the Tenth Doctor with us all

Louise Page - The Tie Nine story

The second tie to be worn with the blue suit was made by Japanese label, Kenzo.

With its appearances in lots of publicity stills, as well as being seen on display at exhibitions, you would be forgiven for thinking the previous Nina Ricci tie was worn more, but you’d be wrong.

The Kenzo tie was first worn in the two part story Daleks In Manhattan and Evolution Of The Daleks, but it went on to crop up extensively in The Lazarus Experiment, The Last Of The Time Lords, Time Crash, Voyage Of The Damned, The Unicorn And The Wasp, Silence In The Library, Forest Of The Dead, The Waters Of Mars – that’s almost triple the appearances of the Nina Ricci!

Thanks to Kevin Coppa for giving the interview clips the polished look, and enormous thanks to Louise Page for sharing her memories of dressing the Tenth Doctor with us all

Louise Page - The Tie Eight story

The next tie costume designer Louise Page will tell us about is the first to be worn with the blue suit, introduced in series three.

This beautiful tie, by designer Nina Ricci, was first seen in season opener Smith And Jones (see right), and cropped up again for the later two part story The Sontaran Stratagem and The Poison Sky.

It was notably worn in the Sarah Jane Adventures cross-over story The Wedding Of Sarah Jane Smith (see below).

This was the last time David Tennant went before the cameras as the Tenth Doctor.

Although it was shown before his departure in The End Of Time, due to the shooting schedules on the two series, it was actually shot after the regeneration scene had been filmed.

Louise explains her colour palette for the blue suit, as well as how it was decided which episodes it would specifically appear in.

Thanks to Kevin Coppa for giving the interview clips the polished look, and enormous thanks to Louise Page for sharing her memories of dressing the Tenth Doctor with us all

Louise Page - The Tie Seven story

We are now just over halfway through the Tenth Doctor’s tie wardrobe, and we come to Tie Seven, the Giorgio Armani tie.

It first appeared briefly in Love And Monsters, but had been featured extensively in Army Of Ghosts (see right) and Doomsday, which were shot first.

It also was seen in Smith And Jones, The Shakespeare Code, Gridlock, Fires of Pompeii (see left), The Family Of Blood, Turn Left, The Stolen Earth, Journey’s End and Planet Of The Dead.

Louise tells us about one of her favourite ties, and listen out for the nickname given it by her staff.

Thanks to Kevin Coppa for giving the interview clips the polished look, and enormous thanks to Louise Page for sharing her memories of dressing the Tenth Doctor with us all

Louise Page - The Tie Six story

Today we come to Louise Page’s story of Tie Six, a rather forgotten about tie which appeared principally in The Impossible Planet and The Satan Pit.

It did crop up briefly in Human Nature and The Family Of Blood, but beyond that was never seen again.

Louise explains why she choose this tie over the more popular ties such as the Daniel Hechter.

Thanks to Kevin Coppa for giving the interview clips the polished look, and enormous thanks to Louise Page for sharing her memories of dressing the Tenth Doctor with us all