Why Was 7th Doctor's Console Room Set Junked Before Final Season?

[FalTorPan]

I was just reading the history of the TARDIS console room from the original program, and it seems that the console room set was junked prior to the final season of the show, forcing the construction of a cheap set in the final-season story "Battlefield."

Why would the show's producers have junked the set before the show was canceled?

 

[Brendan Moody]

I believe it wasn't that the set had been formally junked, but that it was so old and damaged (something happened to it in storage between seasons 25 and 26) and the budget was so tight that a cheap mockup was the easiest solution under the circumstances.

 

[Candlelight]

There was also an encouragement to have the stories set away from the Tardis, which was either due to this or simply wanting to have the Doctor and co land and immediately start the adventure by stepping out.

 

[23skidoo]

There was also an encouragement to have the stories set away from the Tardis, which was either due to this or simply wanting to have the Doctor and co land and immediately start the adventure by stepping out.

That's the way I'd heard it too. I think they wanted to do more on-location work rather than booking sets (indeed, look at the stories in both Season 25 and 26 and you'll find only 2 that involved serious studio work - the rest were shot either 100% on location or close to it). Had there been a 1990 season I doubt we'd have seen the inside of the TARDIS at all (unless JNT greenlit a story that required it, of course).

The irony, of course, is when the time came to do the movie, McCoy got to relax and eat JBs in the million-dollar TARDIS interior set.

Alex

 

[Peacemaker]

Wasn't there a push for a brand new console room set with a console hanging from the ceiling for Season 27?

 

[OmahaStar]

Wasn't there a push for a brand new console room set with a console hanging from the ceiling for Season 27?

Indeed. One of the DVDs has pictures of the mock-up they were going for.

 

[Allyn Gibson]

There are pictures of Mike Tucker's concept for the Season 27 console room here. It's very TNG, especially with the way the ceiling looks.

 

[Stevil2001]

Oh, cool. Thanks for that.

 

[Allyn Gibson]

It looks cool, but I don't think it would have been stable as the time rotor class would have had to support the weight of the console. I suspect that, had it been built, for most console room shots there would have been a removable support underneath the console (between the floor and the rounded bulb) to keep the console stable and supported. For a wide shot -- or a shot where they wanted to draw attention to the fact that the console was suspended in the air -- the support would be removed.

 

[Rarewolf]

There was also an encouragement to have the stories set away from the Tardis, which was either due to this or simply wanting to have the Doctor and co land and immediately start the adventure by stepping out.

That's the way I'd heard it too. I think they wanted to do more on-location work rather than booking sets (indeed, look at the stories in both Season 25 and 26 and you'll find only 2 that involved serious studio work - the rest were shot either 100% on location or close to it). Had there been a 1990 season I doubt we'd have seen the inside of the TARDIS at all (unless JNT greenlit a story that required it, of course).

The irony, of course, is when the time came to do the movie, McCoy got to relax and eat JBs in the million-dollar TARDIS interior set.

Alex

And further irony in that when the BBC did finally redesign the room, thats pretty much all we saw of the ship for 6 years (the costume room was a redress)

Console room scenes were also the first to be cut, if they didn't add to the story. Slight contrast to the Colin Baker era where in some cases it took 20 minutes to get outside!

It was probably also harking back to the Tom Baker Hinchcliffe era - Ian Marter never had a scene inside the TARDIS; Liz Sladen didn't have many either - along with the idea you didn't need more than one companion. You only really had seasons 13,14,22-26 that followed that rule for more than a story, if you count K-9!

IIRC seasons 24-26 were supposed to be 50% location, 50% studio; remounting Greatest Show in the car park threw it out of sync, perhaps persuading them to do more on location in 1989.

Assembling the console room in the car park proved the final nail. Some of that set was nearing 10 years old.

I'll never for get a wilderness years interview with Andrew Cartmel where he said Doctor Who shouldn't be (Soap Opera) Neighbours with roundrels on the wall. All I could think was Neighbours had viewers!