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I get it now, in the preview of next weeks episode a creature tells the Doctor that it has killed hundreds of Timelords must have their TARDIS vehicles remaining on the planet and they are what we will see in this weeks episode. I didn't think this was a spoiler since this was aired at the end of the last episode.
There's a clip from Blue Peter showing what appears to be a classic series style TARDIS. It can be found at blogtor who. Apparentally it's actually the one from the competition last year, but it has an old style time rotor and looks a lot like the 1970s console all the same. They're also making a toy out of it.
I've often wondered about the Doctor borrowing other incarnations TARDIS's (TARDISI?)... perhaps even bring together an armada of TARDIS's to battle a particular foe, and even hiding TARDIS's inside TARDIS's (trippy, no?)... BUT, is it possible?
They've had the Doctor's TARDIS inside the Master's TARDIS while the Master's TARDIS was simultaneously inside the Doctor's back in The Time Monster! So, anything is possible!
I have a theory about that. I think that, during the Time War, the Time Lords redesigned TARDIS controls to be intuitive and seemingly nonsensical to anyone but its designated pilot. That way, even if the Daleks figured out how to pilot one TARDIS, that knowledge would be useless when it came to controling any others.
This also fits in with the Daleks' assertion that only the Doctor can operate the TARDIS.
I have a theory about that. I think that, during the Time War, the Time Lords redesigned TARDIS controls to be intuitive and seemingly nonsensical to anyone but its designated pilot. That way, even if the Daleks figured out how to pilot one TARDIS, that knowledge would be useless when it came to controling any others.
This also fits in with the Daleks' assertion that only the Doctor can operate the TARDIS.
I have a theory about that. I think that, during the Time War, the Time Lords redesigned TARDIS controls to be intuitive and seemingly nonsensical to anyone but its designated pilot. That way, even if the Daleks figured out how to pilot one TARDIS, that knowledge would be useless when it came to controling any others.
This also fits in with the Daleks' assertion that only the Doctor can operate the TARDIS.
I think that the RTD and Moffat-era TARDIS consoles are actually kinda consistent with the original run's consoles (and help explain some things about the OLD style consoles that made them seem kind cheesy and unbelievable to someone not really familiar with the show...)
The first time we saw the TARDIS console in the very first episode of Who, it was *supposed* to be this hyper-advanced Alien technology - but the console was made of bits and pieces of what were clearly 40, 50's and 60 's electronics!
But of course, the Doctor was stuck where he crashed in an 60's ear junkyard with a broken TARDIS which he had to rebuild using parts from the junkyard! Hence all of those mid-2Oth century electronics! (Guess for some reason the TARDIS couldn't rebuild *itself* that time ala "11th Hour"..)
Now jump ahead to the 2005 reboot, and the TARDIS has once again obviously been wrecked during the Time War and the Doctor again has to rebuild the ships control out of whatever he can scrounge up - like bicycle pumps and other bits and bobs...some of it from Earth, and some obviously from Alien TECH, maybe some from the TARDIS itself and some of it junk he's scrounged up from scrapyards around the galaxy!)
Of course, in "11th Hour" we saw the TARDIS rebuild *itself* - and for some reason the console was STILL largely made up of assorted pieces of Earth scrap - rather than being made of newly regrown Time Lord tech as one might expect. So as this a matter of aesthetic choice? The new "desktop theme"? Or did the TARDIS search around in it's vicinity for whatever it could use? Or maybe it pulled it all out of a giant junk drawer/parts bin somewhere inside of the TARDIS?
I don't really know..
(But man I *LOVE* how Who is always able to take budget and production limitations and turn them into really interesting part of the series' plots and mythos! Can't cart around and rebuild a giant mock-up the exterior of a big space-time ship to every set and location you film on! Easy, the TARDIS is bigger on the inside and disguises itself as everyday objects and structures - and the circuit is stuck in Police Box form! And now a Police Box mock-up becomes your *spaceship*! Much easier to cart around and put where it's needed! Only have junked 50's Earth electronics to use for your ship's controls, well... Also give you main character a quirky and endearing love of "retro"/"steampunk"/period motif... )
I think that the Tardis console and Themes still exist in the Ship in other sections.. that when a new part of the ship is constructed, it creates a new desktop theme based on the personality of the doctor at the time and any objects of use found near by, which are manufactured ala matter construction..
as for the original ship's console from Hartnell and forward, that is the original style.. the ship's technological physics are advanced, but remember the Doctor's is an antique.. so it would make sense it's controls would be extremely outdated and not TOS style light panel buttons and digital screens to begin with.. think of time lord technology as advancing at a frighteningly fast rate, so fast that it would be like 1800's style steam punks with warp drive ships or like star wars for example.. large knobs and levers..with hyperspeed..
then when the doctor in the 4th incarnation went to Gallifrey it upgraded it's software, and hence the newer 5th doctor's tardis.. kinda like an app for an I-phone..even when 3 was given his dematerialisation circuit, and knowledge back, one could argue the secret of how to download a new app for the desktop theme was given to him as well..
once gallifrey was lost, the 9th-10th doctor's tardis had to reuse technology it found around it at the time to repair it's controls.. (kinda like the transformers scanning a nearby object and becoming that object) the Tardis now does the same thing..no apps to upgrade to, and those older console rooms are what is left of it's original programming software (desk-top theme upgrades.. like microsoft windows, XP, Vista, and Seven.. etc..)
at least that is how I understand how it works..
when a Tardis went in to get worked on, wireless data was added to the ship's main computer and the ship could modify it's engines, or rooms based on that..
the Master must have hacked the system to install the Tardis information screen which he used to trick the 5th doctor's companions..
One thing about archiving the TARDIS console rooms that's worth thinking about. When you delete a file off a hard drive, you never actually fully delete the file (depending who you listen to, it's either physically impossible to do so, or you need to have some sort of CIA-grade scrubber. Or destroy the drive). So even though the TARDIS overwrote the desktop theme and all that - it made perfect sense that she wouldn't fully delete the old file. In fact, now I think about it, the whole process of her redesigning and rebuilding in The Eleventh Hour could be equated to reformatting a drive or reinstalling an OS.
One thing about archiving the TARDIS console rooms that's worth thinking about. When you delete a file off a hard drive, you never actually fully delete the file (depending who you listen to, it's either physically impossible to do so, or you need to have some sort of CIA-grade scrubber. Or destroy the drive). So even though the TARDIS overwrote the desktop theme and all that - it made perfect sense that she wouldn't fully delete the old file. In fact, now I think about it, the whole process of her redesigning and rebuilding in The Eleventh Hour could be equated to reformatting a drive or reinstalling an OS.
I think the reason the Tardis classic sets were all white was like the doctor said, "Computers have no imagination." So the other versions of the desk top theme may have been contrived by the doctor himself, using a complex program to manipulate the system to render his ship in a more decorative setting..this could be something he linked to the psychic circuits which enabled the ship to use his personality profile as a key to the design the ship, that it was ultimately going to change itself into..
this then begs the question of the previous designs.. all white and clean..
I wonder if those previous incarnations of the ship were default desk top themes created by the time lords as default options, and up until the 4th and 5th doctor's trip to Gallifrey, the ship's upgraded technology from their data base was sent to the tardis via wireless download once in the panopticon..this may have also allowed the ship to upgrade other key systems within itself via this new data (though the data was typical timelord programming..like a wallpaper from microsoft-HP-Dell, instead of a custom one from an artist on say a trek site or something like that)
In the TV movie the ship's desk top theme was more personalized, which may be the manual versions created from the Doctor's mind and psychic link to the ship.
this must have been the case still when the ship reformatted again after the war, only Gallifrey was gone, so no more desk top upgrades, and since the war was on, maybe all tardis consoles were fitted with a chameleon circuit seperate of the outside one, making the consoles controls look like junkyard bits, thus preventing an enemy from knowing what each thing does..
maybe then those controls became psychically given to the mind of the doctor and how to operate it..or only time lords could sense what each section does.. hence why the master in "Utopia" was able to pilot it as well..
maybe through the psychic circuits the Doctor is able to see a holographic type heads up display that only his eyes and mind can see when he uses the sonic screw driver.. which is produced directly from the console itself, as we have seen.. thus the new sonics are directly linked through the telepathic circuitry like the language systems, and he is able to diagnose and decern various readings from his screw driver..but only he sees the 3D image..akin to the holographic computer systems seen in the video game, Mass Effect..
