Season Eight – Eleven TARDIS Interior
Season Eight TARDIS Console Room Design
After being exiled on Earth for the beginning of the 3rd Doctors era it was time for the Doctor to start travelling again in the TARDIS. With this in mind a new console was built and the TARDIS set was brought out of storage by the BBC.
TARDIS Console in Colour
With more TARDIS adventures on the way a new console was built however it looked almost identical to the original version. The only notable differences between this and the previous console is the centre column which has more colour (green and red) and the fresh/cleaner colour of the TARDIS console itself. The console had more connecting lines on it resembling a circuit board.
Console panel 1
Console panel 2
Console panel 3
Console panel 4
Console panel 5
Console panel 6
Leaving Earth
The Claws of Axos was the first time the TARDIS interior had been seen since The War Games. With the Masters help the Doctor got his TARDIS working again. There was a catch, no matter how many times he attemped to leave the High Council of Time Lords had programmed it to always return to Earth.
Console Room Changes
The TARDIS interior went through a rough patch in Season nine. The season started with Day of the Daleks where the console appeared outside of the TARDIS with the Doctor attempting to fix it. The curse of Peladon featured the old and tired TARDIS interior, this was the last time the TARDIS roundel wallpaper would be seen. The season finale featured a completely new and redesigned set however the console remained the same.
Day of the Daleks – The Doctor trying to fix the TARDIS
The Curse of Peladon – The end of the TARDIS wallpaper
The Time Monster – A new TARDIS console room
Doctor Who 10th Anniversary
A new console room was constructed for the 10th Anniversary story The Three Doctors. It featured the same designed roundels as the original console room. It also had another wall without roundels which resembled ideas used for the original console room.
Similarities between the original 1960’s design and the 10th anniversary additions.
Planet of the Daleks
The console room changed again slightly in Planet of the Daleks where another wall was shown containing lockers and a pull out bed.
Death to the Daleks
The console room was next shown in Death to the Daleks. This was the last time it was shown during the 3rd Doctors era. In Death to the Daleks the TARDIS had an energy drain from the planet Exxilon. An hexagonal light shows the power drain on one of the TARDIS walls. The doors can be opened manually if there is no power.
The TARDIS Scanner
From season eight onwards the TARDIS scanners position became very inconsistent. The TARDIS scanner was shown being used by the Master in one of the TARDIS roundels directly on the wall. In a few stories it was shown as a close up so you couldn’t tell where the scanner was in the console room. When the console room was re-constructed for the 10th anniversary the scanners new position was shown clearly although the scanner itself did appear to change slightly between The Three Doctors and Planet of the Daleks.