Series 12 News & Spoilers

[Professor Zoom]

A redesign would be too expensive. A refit would be most welcome though - use more of the space they have instead of being constantly crowded around the console with nowhere else to go, sit, stand, or work.

IMO, Capaldi's refitted console room still stands as the best use of space and time, as it were.

Mark

They just seem so crowded in by those crystal arches. It ruins the effect of being bigger on the inside if it looks crowded. If they just got rid of those, that would go along way.

 

[Mark_Nguyen]

It's the same thing with the first console room set used by Nine and Ten. There's plenty of usable space, but there's effectively a physical barrier keeping them fenced in by the console itself. In both cases the arches / columns restrict the possible shooting angles including everyone if you want them to be seen, so there's a lot of "dead space" that can't be used. At least with the earlier room there was an occasionally-used scaffolding against the wall that gave some vertical dimension to the set - I didn't realize that Thirteen's console room columns moved until more than halfway through the series!

What I'd do is blow out those nearer wall segments, which further close in the room. They make it look deeper and more layered, but they're never seen up close. Move them back and closer to the actual set walls, and if possible angle them TOWARDS the outer wall, creating a sort of "bowl" shape akin to the previous room. Then, move the crystal columns back accordingly to give the central area more space. Finally, add stuff between some of those columns that the actors can interact with - a sofa, a desk / workspace, storage lockers, a friggin' INNER DOOR... Use that dead space while maintaining the central console as-is.

In this way the camera isn't always locked off so close to the console and can actually include more volume in the background that the viewer's mind doesn't consign to be "sci-fi wall stuff". More people can move into and out of frame and actually be doing things in the background than be clustered around the Doctor as she's the only one to actually fly the TARDIS. The console rooms of Eleven and 11/12 are far more open while maintaining a ton of stuff in the background for people to do and go, higher and lower.

Mark

 

[Professor Zoom]

It's the same thing with the first console room set used by Nine and Ten. There's plenty of usable space, but there's effectively a physical barrier keeping them fenced in by the console itself. In both cases the arches / columns restrict the possible shooting angles including everyone if you want them to be seen, so there's a lot of "dead space" that can't be used.

I disagree it's the same thing. The actors themselves maybe have been fenced in, but, the space itself didn't looked cramped. The "fences" were only waist high, you could still see the walls and the ceiling and the arches that supported them.

The crystal arches in 13's console room are so close to the console, it's like four large immobile people are also on set.

At least with the earlier room there was an occasionally-used scaffolding against the wall that gave some vertical dimension to the set - I didn't realize that Thirteen's console room columns moved until more than halfway through the series!

Yeah, whoever has been directing those scenes, all of them messed it up.

What I'd do is blow out those nearer wall segments, which further close in the room. They make it look deeper and more layered, but they're never seen up close. Move them back and closer to the actual set walls, and if possible angle them TOWARDS the outer wall, creating a sort of "bowl" shape akin to the previous room. Then, move the crystal columns back accordingly to give the central area more space. Finally, add stuff between some of those columns that the actors can interact with - a sofa, a desk / workspace, storage lockers, a friggin' INNER DOOR... Use that dead space while maintaining the central console as-is.

In this way the camera isn't always locked off so close to the console and can actually include more volume in the background that the viewer's mind doesn't consign to be "sci-fi wall stuff". More people can move into and out of frame and actually be doing things in the background than be clustered around the Doctor as she's the only one to actually fly the TARDIS. The console rooms of Eleven and 11/12 are far more open while maintaining a ton of stuff in the background for people to do and go, higher and lower.

Mark

Sounds good to me... get on it.

 

[jaime]

Turning on some lights would t hurt.

But I would just ditch the columns.

And yes. Inner door.

 

[matthunter]

I doubt they'll redo the console room this series since there's a big VR game out soon that makes full use of the current design.

 

[David cgc]

I don't like the layers of swiss-cheese walls and colored spotlights coming in through the distance. It looks like there aren't any real walls to the room, it's just sets sitting on an open stage, like a play (the first Smith console room had the same problem, it looked like the half behind the camera opposite the door was just open, like a sitcom apartment). And the fact that you can see the back of the exterior of the TARDIS in front of the door on the inside still makes me viscerally uncomfortable.

 

[StarMan]

I wouldn't mind Chibnall leaving. Except for a few good moments, this last series was.... forgettable and boring.

Unfortunately Who has been on that forgettable trend for some time. Starting with Christopher Eccleston, I can track pretty well most episodes in my head up until about the later part of Smith's run. Capaldi's run had it's moments but I'd be hard pressed to remember half of them. As for Jodie Whittaker (who I really rate as an actress), I remember the first episode, the frog, a trip to India and an out of Amazon warehouse in space.

Like Peter, Jodie deserves better than this.

 

[Mage]

Unfortunately Who has been on that forgettable trend for some time. Starting with Christopher Eccleston, I can track pretty well most episodes in my head up until about the later part of Smith's run. Capaldi's run had it's moments but I'd be hard pressed to remember half of them. As for Jodie Whittaker (who I really rate as an actress), I remember the first episode, the frog, a trip to India and an out of Amazon warehouse in space.

Like Peter, Jodie deserves better than this.

I agree. Which really sucks, because I loved Capaldi as the Doctor. But the stories just didn't work for me anymore.

 

[Emperor-Tiberius]

LIGHTS!!! Please bring more lights!!

Beyond that, my top five TARDIS console rooms:

5. NuWho Series 7B-10
4. OldWho Series 1-Twice Upon a Time
3. OldWho Series 14 (the wooden console room)
2. The Enemy Within (The TV Movie)
1. NuWho Series 1-4B (or as you call them The 2008-10 Specials)

 

[C.E. Evans]

To be honest, the only console room I've really liked since the classic run of the show was Capaldi's in his final series. While I love Jodie's run so far, that love doesn't extend to her console room.

I've seen a number of fan-made 3D console rooms that are so much better, IMO.

 

[starsuperion]

To be honest, the only console room I've really liked since the classic run of the show was Capaldi's in his final series. While I love Jodie's run so far, that love doesn't extend to her console room.

I've seen a number of fan-made 3D console rooms that are so much better, IMO.

Oh gosh yes. I actually am more a fan of the 7th Doctor's console room from the new adventure novels, the Lee Sullivan TARDIS concept. It has a TNG vibe to it with touch panels, but also that classic look and feel.
I wish someday we see that in actual use. I love its look!

 

[jaime]

Oh gosh yes. I actually am more a fan of the 7th Doctor's console room from the new adventure novels, the Lee Sullivan TARDIS concept. It has a TNG vibe to it with touch panels, but also that classic look and feel.
I wish someday we see that in actual use. I love its look!

First appearing in the DWM Tardis special, when he digs his old ring out of the console (that fell off during the very first regeneration) and stayed around until he temporarily swaps Tardises with his dead parallels universe self (the third doctor) I think. I can’t remember if it’s still in it when he gets the original back, or if it all just vanished when Gary Russell did his his new continuity snap around the TV Movie.

 

[starsuperion]

First appearing in the DWM Tardis special, when he digs his old ring out of the console (that fell off during the very first regeneration) and stayed around until he temporarily swaps Tardises with his dead parallels universe self (the third doctor) I think. I can’t remember if it’s still in it when he gets the original back, or if it all just vanished when Gary Russell did his his new continuity snap around the TV Movie.

Hmm... I don't remember how it changes, but in the comics, they took the suspended version, and did a pseudo 96' TV movie version, as a transition. I think also in another comic story, the Doctor is reformatting the ship with Ace, and it was originally the console room we saw in the TV series, so I am assuming that comic story with Ace running through the ship as it's being changed, and rooms being deleted was also the time when the Lee Sullivan version was coming into being, and that DWM comic is actually pretty cool and a treasure for my digital collection, as it shows what we've never seen before. The TARDIS as it is in transition. The Doctor apparently is interacting with the Grey prints paper on a psychic level which the ship then in turn is modifying itself, based on this interaction. Pretty cool.
I think my reasons for loving the Lee Sullivan model is because of all the console rooms, this one feels more like the classic, but ahead in tech like TNG was at that time in the late 80s and early 90s. I always wondered what the TARDIS would look and feel like in the TNG style.. I like the Lee Sullivan style, and the look of the 3D render. It's got all that style, just missing wood paneling.. cause you know. That's key.. LOL

But they did a transition from the Lee Sullivan model again int he comics and a bridge so to speak to that of the 96 movie version.. here you can see the console room start to look more like the movie version that the 8th Doctor Eventually pilots.

But on the 13th Doctor's Crystal, Snowflake, New agey, steam punk, plumbing look.. I am not a fan of it. I think it's awful.

out of all the Nu Who era Console rooms, I think my Fav. was the nicely lit, 11th Doctor and Clara TARDIS Console room. it was big, without being too much so, and yet cozy like the classic series.

 

[jaime]

Hmm... I don't remember how it changes, but in the comics, they took the suspended version, and did a pseudo 96' TV movie version, as a transition. I think also in another comic story, the Doctor is reformatting the ship with Ace, and it was originally the console room we saw in the TV series, so I am assuming that comic story with Ace running through the ship as it's being changed, and rooms being deleted was also the time when the Lee Sullivan version was coming into being, and that DWM comic is actually pretty cool and a treasure for my digital collection, as it shows what we've never seen before. The TARDIS as it is in transition. The Doctor apparently is interacting with the Grey prints paper on a psychic level which the ship then in turn is modifying itself, based on this interaction. Pretty cool.
I think my reasons for loving the Lee Sullivan model is because of all the console rooms, this one feels more like the classic, but ahead in tech like TNG was at that time in the late 80s and early 90s. I always wondered what the TARDIS would look and feel like in the TNG style.. I like the Lee Sullivan style, and the look of the 3D render. It's got all that style, just missing wood paneling.. cause you know. That's key.. LOL

But they did a transition from the Lee Sullivan model again int he comics and a bridge so to speak to that of the 96 movie version.. here you can see the console room start to look more like the movie version that the 8th Doctor Eventually pilots.

But on the 13th Doctor's Crystal, Snowflake, New agey, steam punk, plumbing look.. I am not a fan of it. I think it's awful.

out of all the Nu Who era Console rooms, I think my Fav. was the nicely lit, 11th Doctor and Clara TARDIS Console room. it was big, without being too much so, and yet cozy like the classic series.

That suspended console room was very definitely post 96, presumably IDW. It’s not from that time period (though the suspension design is, that was in some BSB think I think. Tucker did a model.) the biggest giveaway being the explicit Big Finish séries reference, which places that image in the last few years if I had to guess. It’s one hundred percent not from the Seventh Doctors original run in DWM (or Incredible Hulk presents) because I was a regular reader back then.

Ace running through the corridors as they change is literally that Tardis special strip. It’s also partially related to similar seems in The Mark of Mandragora (strip) where the Tardis’ internal dimensions are being anchored to London (possibly for quite some time, and a bit of an idea from Terminus.) It also ties into the exploded/imploded Tardis from Cats Cradle: Times cricuble (which is a bloody awesome book, and I even remember its opening chapter title...Moussaka and chips. Yum. There’s also some yum in the next book. Warhead.)

There’s a middle period with a round console, but that’s the parallel universe Tardis from blood heat, that hangs about through some of the DWM Doctor/Ace/Benny strips. (Which all gets terribly confusing, because Gary Russell and BF go out their way to contradict the NAs for many years, whilst originally being dependent on Benny...from the NAs. Then we get side trips, but they still want to contradict the EDAs but not the Radio Times comics...because Gary Russell is who he is. Which is why for me the books are more canon than the audios xD)

We much later see the inner Tardis get destroyed when Ace dies in...Ground Zeroes I think it is. She dies saving Sarah Jane Smith, and it’s Gary Russell totally breaking with the John Freeman editor era (and thereby the NAs) and literally closes on angry Sylvester face with the ironwork of the inner Tardis exposed (harking back to the Invasion of Time and it’s cheap ‘Tardis Interior’ and ahead to the TVM and the outdoors on the inside approach that gave us things like the butterfly hill etc.)

 

[Haggis and tatties]

Hmm... I don't remember how it changes, but in the comics, they took the suspended version, and did a pseudo 96' TV movie version, as a transition. I think also in another comic story, the Doctor is reformatting the ship with Ace, and it was originally the console room we saw in the TV series, so I am assuming that comic story with Ace running through the ship as it's being changed, and rooms being deleted was also the time when the Lee Sullivan version was coming into being, and that DWM comic is actually pretty cool and a treasure for my digital collection, as it shows what we've never seen before. The TARDIS as it is in transition. The Doctor apparently is interacting with the Grey prints paper on a psychic level which the ship then in turn is modifying itself, based on this interaction. Pretty cool.
I think my reasons for loving the Lee Sullivan model is because of all the console rooms, this one feels more like the classic, but ahead in tech like TNG was at that time in the late 80s and early 90s. I always wondered what the TARDIS would look and feel like in the TNG style.. I like the Lee Sullivan style, and the look of the 3D render. It's got all that style, just missing wood paneling.. cause you know. That's key.. LOL

But they did a transition from the Lee Sullivan model again int he comics and a bridge so to speak to that of the 96 movie version.. here you can see the console room start to look more like the movie version that the 8th Doctor Eventually pilots.

But on the 13th Doctor's Crystal, Snowflake, New agey, steam punk, plumbing look.. I am not a fan of it. I think it's awful.

That looks like something they would throw together on Blue Peter back in the day with a few empty Fairy liquid bottles, the bottom of a old cake tin and some glue and tinsle....."get down Shep!". lol

 

[jaime]

That looks like something they would throw together on Blue Peter back in the day with a few empty Fairy liquid bottles, the bottom of a old cake tin and some glue and tinsle....."get down Shep!". lol

Nonsense, it’s the cutting edge probably 4K ready movie effects house level splendiferousness of the current series of last of the summ...I mean doctor who! It’s got six gears! 1-5, neutral and gender neutral (this is a pun and does not in anyway reflect my actual political views) It has drivers airbags, sat nav, a small cheap plastic toy of a police box, and despite having lots of money spent on it, cunninglyuses post modernity to resemble an empty studio with a pile of junk in the middle! It’s slighting and sparseness are a subtle call back to the last ever appearance of the classic control room, whilst harkening to the future by only needing a little dry ice to look like a strictly dance off set! It has no interior door, because who needs interiors when you can just have a walk in wardrobe for a door!

 

[matthunter]

I quite like the walls of 13's console room but the crystals are way too dominating and Fortress of Solitudey and make the console itself look tiny, when it should be the focal point of the room.

 

[starsuperion]

Too bad their stuck with that set. I hope the next fairs much better and harkens back to the classic in a big way. I miss the roundels. It had a mysterious quality to it. Making one think the interior walls indicates some function of mathematics and geometry for the ship to exist bigger on the inside. Not necessarily it's cause, but rather an element to be sure. Anyhow, I hope,those roundels come back. Used to wonder what manner of tech could be behind them. That's kinda why I liked the 5th Doctor Era alot. They had many things, that roundels had hidden inside.

 

[Haggis and tatties]

Nonsense, it’s the cutting edge probably 4K ready movie effects house level splendiferousness of the current series of last of the summ...I mean doctor who! It’s got six gears! 1-5, neutral and gender neutral (this is a pun and does not in anyway reflect my actual political views) It has drivers airbags, sat nav, a small cheap plastic toy of a police box, and despite having lots of money spent on it, cunninglyuses post modernity to resemble an empty studio with a pile of junk in the middle! It’s slighting and sparseness are a subtle call back to the last ever appearance of the classic control room, whilst harkening to the future by only needing a little dry ice to look like a strictly dance off set! It has no interior door, because who needs interiors when you can just have a walk in wardrobe for a door!

I am surprised BBC health and safety did not come down on that step up to the console, but i suspect just out of camera shot will be big red letters on the floor stating "mind the step".........hey she might even trip on it at some point and cause her next regen..... "and the Dr will fall" lol

 

[starsuperion]

The interiors of the ship in the new era, have been way way too whimsical and silly. They have gone well far from the concept that was established in the classic era. Yes, the Rani's TARDIS was much different then we were used to seeing, but once the concept of desktop theme came into canon. The ideas seemed to be all junk yard rubbish console, and gritty interior. Which is fine, I guess for Red Dwarf, but Time Lord Tech should be a bit more shock and awe. I kinda miss that. When I was younger and finally saw the first ever episode, the shock of the interior in the Hartnell ERA was a great thing, it made you feel like you were entering something amazingly technologically advanced. Yet, old tech. Given the Type 40 is such an antique. One thinks of a Earth like civilization whose physics were vastly superior to our own, but also applied to different times in our technological revolution. Like time travel physics and temporal physics were employed during the 1500s, with the society being very young, and yet tech was on the rise at a frightening speed on Gallifrey. The Time Lords themselves embody this feel. As if their emotional or racial maturity level was outmatched by their scientific prowess. Like a child developing extremely early, almost too early for it's emotional or experience level growth could contend with. The original console rooms had this feel.

Like imagine an earth of the 1950s, where humanity not only developed the atomic bomb, but say from 1955-1960 also developed all the tech the time lords developed, within that time. And given 1960s mentality, what do you suppose such a society's tech would look like? That's kind of how I feel about the type 40. And generally the time lords themselves. I'd love the next console room to pull that kind of emotion out of me in future series. It was only felt in the classic episodes with the exception of the Smith/Capaldi console room. Loved that one.