If you have some disposable income and happen to be a Doctor Who fan, then I have the perfect way for you to get rid of that excess cash: splurge on some authentic props and costumes from the television show.

An incredible archive of Doctor Who memorabilia comprising monsters, costumes and props from the BBC series is to be sold by Bonhams, Knightsbridge on 24 February 2010 at 2pm.

As the world’s longest running science fiction television programme, Doctor Who has attracted a cult following and this sale represents a unique opportunity for collectors to get their hands on authentic, screen-used props.

David Tennant proved a highly popular Doctor with more than 10 million people tuning in to see his last adventure over Christmas. A dinner suit worn by him in three episodes is expected to generate a lot of interest. Clothes worn by the Doctor’s companions in the New Series are also represented with a complete costume of Astrid Peth’s (Kylie Minogue) from the 2007 Christmas special episode, and various garments worn by Rose Tyler (Billie Piper), Martha Jones (Freema Agyeman) and Donna Noble (Catherine Tate).

Two Daleks, a sea devil and several Cybermen who featured regularly in the Classic series have avoided extermination to make it to the sale room, and different pieces of ceremonial regalia modelled by Time Lords are also joining the ranks. Also under the hammer will be examples of Kroll squid, Mandrells, Nimons, Foamasis, Tractators, Mogarians and Vervoids and a Brontasaurus spanning the tenure of Jon Pertwee, Tom Baker, Peter Davison, Colin Baker and Sylvester McCoy at the helm of the TARDIS.

Also of significance are two versions of the Malus from ‘The Awakening’ and the Magma Creature which featured in ‘The Caves of Androzani’, Peter Davison’s last show as the Doctor which aired in March 1984 – several times voted the best Doctor Who episode. Other former adversaries of the Doctor included in the catalogue are a Gastropod ‘Mestor’, Jacondan headdress, LI Tracker Robot, The Kandyman, one of the Gods of Ragnarok and Cheetah People – the latter featuring in the last ever story to air in the show’s Classic run.

As well as monsters and costumes there is also a selection of vehicles up for auction – including Captain Jack’s Torchwood Range Rover and a black cab from The Runaway Bride episode aired in 2006.

This Friday, Bonhams of England will host a large auction of Doctor Who props, including the following items:

Remembrance of the Daleks, October 1988, An Imperial Dalek (Mk 2)
Estimate: £5,000 – 7,000

The Caves of Androzani, March 1984, The Magma Beast
Estimate: £1,200 – 1,600

The Five Doctors, November 1983 and Silver Nemesis, November 1988 A Cyberman
Estimate: £1,800 – 2,500

A ruling has finally been rendered in the legal battle between LucasFilm and a prop designer in England who sells replicas of Star Wars costumes. The Force was not strong with LucasFilm:

A spokesman for Lucasfilm told the newspaper: “This ruling deals a significant blow to the copyright protection afforded not only to Star Wars but to every other great success of the cinematic arts, from Harry Potter to Dr Who and beyond.”

Mark Owen, from law firm Harbottle and Lewis, which acted for Lucasfilm said: “To say that you cannot retain copyright unless the object in question is by a renowned artist just seems wrong. Why should people be able to copy something?

The ruling is the latest twist in the legal battle which has been running since 2004 when Lucasfilm – which owns the Star Wars brand – first discovered Mr Ainsworth was selling the replica outfits.

The designer, from Twickenham, south-west London, was paid £35 each for making the 50 Stormtrooper helmets for Star Wars in 1976.

Source

Whether you want to dress as a Tauren at the next company Halloween party or rob a bank without retro panty hose over your head, these news masks from Costumes Inc. should satisfy your needs. I have to admit, the Tauren mask appears to be of high quality. At $142, it better be.

They also have an Orc mask available.

Costumes Inc. World of Warcraft Collection

Michael Chabon, whose book The Yiddish Policeman’s Union was justnominated for best science fiction novel of 2007, has written an fantastic essay for The New Yorker that delves into the realities of superhero costumes.  It’s isn’t an attack on the outfits comic book characters wear but a meditation on the overall futility of bringing these same uniforms to the real world, i.e., it just isn’t possible.

Now the time has come to propose, or confront, a fundamental truth: like the being who wears it, the superhero costume is, by definition, an impossible object. It cannot exist.
One may easily find suggestive evidence for this assertion at any large comic-book convention by studying the spectacle of the brave and bold convention attendees, those members of the general comics-fan public who show up in costume and go shpatziring around the ballrooms and exhibition halls dressed as Wolverine, say, or the Joker’s main squeeze, Harley Quinn. Without exception, even the most splendid of these getups is at best a disappointment. Every seam, every cobweb strand of duct-tape gum, every laddered fish-net stocking or visible ridge of underpants elastic—every stray mark, pulled thread, speck of dust—acts to spoil what is instantly revealed to have been, all along, an illusion.

I’m so glad someone is finally raising this point and the fact that it’s Michael Chabon makes it even sweeter. Let’s face it, convention-goers, Cosplayers…they all look like fools.

But realism is not, in fact, merely difficult; it is hopeless. A plausibly heroic physique is of no avail in this regard, nor is even the most fervent willingness to believe in oneself as the man or woman in the cape. Even those costumed conventioneers who go all out, working year-round to amass, scrounge, or counterfeit cleverly the materials required to put together, with glue gun, soldering iron, makeup, and needle and thread, a faithful and accurate Black Canary or Ant-Man costume, find themselves prey to forces, implacable as gravity, of tawdriness, gimcrackery, and unwitting self-ridicule. And in the end they look no more like Black Canary or Ant-Man than does the poor zhlub in the Venom mask with a three-day pass hanging around his neck on a lanyard.

Mr. Chabon goes on to prove his point by laying waste to superhero-based television shows and movies, eventually offering suggestions for a complete overhaul of superhero outfits. It’s funny, illuminating and honest, much like Chabon’s fiction.