Dr Who's Space Adventure

Here's the first TV advertising appearence for a Doctor Who associated commercial product - the 1967 Walls Sky Ray ice lollys... featuring, of course, the Daleks, and the Doctor (sort of!) and a very dodgy looking TARDIS control room.



Thanks again to Combom who picked this up in his blog last year. Now to you lucky yongsters who have grown up in this technological revolution called the internet, this might seam a bit tame. But to a Who fan growning up in the 1970s/80s, you honestly never imagined you would ever get to see this sort of stuff ever again.

No matter that the 'second Doctor' isn't in fact the Doctor at all (now there's a quiz question... name the actor?). It's presumably linked to the Daleks appearance in Troughton's first story, Power of the Daleks, broadcast in December 1966, as 'the Doctor' wears a similar hat in this story, and they even look like offical Beeb Daleks. Did you spot the recorder in is hands? Troughton wasn't really one for all this promotional stuff, and this is a rare example of merchandising during his reign.

The promotion was based around a set of 36 cards given away with Walls 'Sky Ray' ice lollys. The cards featured a somewhat long-haired doctor based on Patrick Troughton joining forces with the 'Sky Ray Space Raiders' to battle the Daleks. The cards were collected in an album, Dr Who's Space Adventure Book, which also included games and other features.


I got these images from the Cutting Archive, which has sadly dissapeared off the net - a great shame as it had so much Who info that I didn't get a chance to get to grips with. Anyway, as it's now gone, here are a few more images for those who are not lucky enough to own one of these. The artwork's not great, but that hardly matters - this is a classic bit of collectors Who!


And the cards themselves:




You can find odd cards for sale on ebay for a couple of pounds each, and I've seen mint sets go for £60. The album goes for between £50 and £100, depending on condition - usually with some, but not all the cards glued in - most prized would be without the the cards!

Now one thing I haven't found is an image of the wrapper for these lollys, other than that which appears in the ad, or the sales packaging/boxes. I guess the wrappers are rare and quite collectable.

Not to be confused with the 1970's Walls Dalek Death Ray lolly, which will no doubt pop up in a post soon...