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New "Blue Peter" Competition - Design A TARDIS Console

Funnily enough I caught the end of the TV movie the other night and I have to say that while I do like the whole gothic look to the TARDIS, the console is a little, well frankly a little cheesy--it screams HG Wells just a little too unsubtlely.

The new series console room has its flaws, but it does at least look like it was built by aliens.

Agreed. I really like steampunk, but looking back at that room now, it just feels way too contrived, and not enough like Doctor Who to me.

It looks more like something that was cobbled together by an eccentric scientist on Earth.

Exactly, contrived, that sums up the movie console nicley. Don't get me wrong, it's nicely done, but like I say it screams HG Wells just a bit too much.
 
The TV Movie console was steampunk. The RTD era one looks like it was made by Fisher Price.

Lol. As opposed to the original console, which looked like it was made out of a few sheets of plywood.

And let's not even talk about the white dinner plates glued to the wall... ;)
It's easy to joke now, but it did the job on a budget. It never troubled my suspension of disbelief.
Funnily enough I caught the end of the TV movie the other night and I have to say that while I do like the whole gothic look to the TARDIS, the console is a little, well frankly a little cheesy--it screams HG Wells just a little too unsubtlely.

The new series console room has its flaws, but it does at least look like it was built by aliens.

Agreed. I really like steampunk, but looking back at that room now, it just feels way too contrived, and not enough like Doctor Who to me.

It looks more like something that was cobbled together by an eccentric scientist on Earth.
Or the Doctor, as he's also known.
Exactly, contrived, that sums up the movie console nicley. Don't get me wrong, it's nicely done, but like I say it screams HG Wells just a bit too much.
You can call it contrived if you're looking for an excuse to criticise it. I still regard it as the best Tardis interior we've seen in the show.

As for the 2005+ interior, the coral bits really did look fake to me, perhaps more so than the silly controls. And it's dark and unwelcoming. Not somewhere I'd want to spend a lot of time. I can tell they were trying to make it look alien, but that seems to be all they were going for.
 
You can call it contrived if you're looking for an excuse to criticise it.

You wouldn't ever be guilty of such a thing yourself, would you?
Hahaha! Hoisted by my own petard! What a negative fool you've just proven me to be!



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I don't criticise things for the sake of it. After all, why would I want to dislike something about Doctor Who, a show I care about? But I think this criticism of the TV Movie Tardis interior is an excuse to maintain the notion of superiority of all things in the new show over the film.
 
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It looks more like something that was cobbled together by an eccentric scientist on Earth.
Or the Doctor, as he's also known.

But the Doctor isn't from Earth, he's from Galifray, and the TARDIS was built by Timelords, not humans. I like the movie console room, , I just feel its a little too perfect, and a little too Victorian time travelling adventurer that's all. Interesting to note of course that the console room in the new series owes a lot to the movie console room, in scale if nothing else.
 
The movie console room was a progression from the short-lived wooden/brass/stained glass console room from the Tom Baker era. If anything the Baker one was too small: the movie console room was too big, too cathedral-like. And who wants to run down a huge flight of stairs to get to the console?
 
The Tom one was quite small, but it was only supposed to be an auxillery console room which explains that. The movie one was perhaps a touch too grand. I think the new series one is quite a good compromise scale wise.
 
I've always known it to be called an auxiliary console room but I've never seen anything official that named it as such. It certainly has a less functional console.

I think the scale of Coral is OK but I've never really liked it from a design perspective. I quite like the structure but not the detail.
 
I don't criticise things for the sake of it. After all, why would I want to dislike something about Doctor Who, a show I care about? But I think this criticism of the TV Movie Tardis interior is an excuse to maintain the notion of superiority of all things in the new show over the film.

Actually I've always kinda liked the TV Movie. The underlying plot isn't very good of course, but the style, characterizations, and music are all about perfect, I think.

In fact watching it again recently, I was amazed how much it kind of felt like the New Series in tone.

And I DO like the movie console room as a standalone design. I just don't think it holds up as "alien" enough today.
 
I'm hopeful that this indicates a console change. Hopefully back to something more reminiscient of the classic series ones. I'm over the 'cobbled together from a junkyard' look..
 
Hmm, difficult to determine whats meant by featuring in teh show, so it could be anything.

Doubt highly that its THE console, but it could be something featured somewhen.

But yeah, the BBCs track records of competion winners having things incorporated into shows is pretty bad.

I admit the new console and the coral things bugged me at first. But I got used to it.
Same here, but I think that was mostly due to such a radical change in design (The Eighth Doctor's TARDIS aside). But I got use to it overtime and now I like it. I have to agree with Sci that the design looks like it was built with spare parts

Actually, that's one of my problems with the idea of a completely new TARDIS interior. If the TARDIS is still capable of just "changing the desktop theme" and creating an entirely new interior and interface... then why did the Doctor need to use spare parts to repair it? Why not just change the desktop theme and magically conjure up a completely repaired console every time something broke?

Dude, where would the fun be in that. The Doctor would love to tinker around with the Tardis to keep it ticking, excuse the pun.


Seriously though, i didnt like the tardis when we saw it in Rose, but i grew on me and i kinda like it now. Just wonder how drastic a re-design Moffat will comission.
 
I imagine changing the entire console room over requires a lot of energy and effort, and it's not something the Doctor (or the TARDIS) likes to do very often. It's probably easier for him just to tinker and add a few new parts when needed.
 
Hmm, difficult to determine whats meant by featuring in teh show, so it could be anything.

Doubt highly that its THE console, but it could be something featured somewhen.

But yeah, the BBCs track records of competion winners having things incorporated into shows is pretty bad.
The kid in "Utopia" was a competition winner, and I thought did quite a good job.
 
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