The Fourth Doctor uses a consumcard. (TV: The Sun Makers)
Consumcards were devices used to represent a value of talmars, the currency on Pluto.
History[]
The consumcards were computer micro-loaded and fed into a reader at a Consum Bank, transferring the value.
The Fourth Doctor was tasked by Mandrel with taking a consumcard worth 1000 talmars to the Consum Bank on subway 37. When he inserted it at the bank, it was detected as stolen property and the cubicle he was in closed down, trapping him. Balerium gas then began to fill it and he was knocked unconscious. (TV: The Sun Makers)
Behind the scenes[]
- The consumcard, with its blue, white and orange horizontal stripes, was deliberately based on the then current design of Barclaycard, a brand of credit card used by the real-life bank Barclays, used from 1966 to 1983. The original prop resembled a Barclaycard even more, but producer Graham Williams thought this might be taken for product placement instead of satire, and asked that it be altered. (INFO: The Sun Makers) The green bands were added to disguise the prop. (DCOM: The Sun Makers)