"The Blue Box. You dreamt of a blue box."

TV This is very much, in a very definite, very clear sense, the new Doctor Who logo, yes indeed, what looks like two in fact, and my brain is aching because I’m sure I’ve seen the acronym one with the lense flare before. To ask long term fans, and I mean those of us who were reading Doctor Who Monthly when it was called Doctor Who Monthly, wasn’t something like this used for an unmade spin-off videos like The Dark Dimension or by Doctor Who Appreciation Society back in the day? There’s something about the rather wonderful way the D and W creating a TARDIS shape that seems very familiar.

As you’d expect, I rather like it. It’s certainly closer to what I think Doctor Who is about than the weird taxicab logo, which as we discovered in this making-of video, was the result of designers incorrectly watching lots of science fiction shows and trying to create something similar. The full title version looks backwards to previous Who logos, essentially taking the version of the Pertwee logo that appeared in the TV movie and rendering it in Hartnellesque rectangular letters producing just the right kind of futuristic retro. In other words, the font from the side of the classic dvds with a few seriffs. In TARDIS blue.

Quiet how it’ll look when turned out into the world appearing on everything from umbrellas to underpants is another matter. The long thin taxicab logo readily lent itself to appearing on the spines of things; does the appearance of these two (assuming it is two) suggest that the one of the left will appear on the front of novels and the one of the right on the side, perhaps at the top like the old BBC Books paperbacks? Will it stay blue or change colour ala the London Olympics fiasco? Whatever. These new logos are another sign (along with these spoilery shots of Karen Gillan in her pants -- you'll go blind) that DW 2010 is going to have an identity all of its own.

UPDATE! Scrummy new configuration released with the insignia in the middle of the logo (or something) which gives some indication of how it might look on Doctor Who Magazine.

[Links and embeds broken in the original post, but the logo is here should you need a reminder.]

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