So who's liking the 2014 TARDIS console room?

[Mark_Nguyen]

I quite liked the arrangement of the previous room, in that it gave a real sense of depth and places to go (or come from). The coral / organic thing was fine, and I preferred the sense that the various odd bits and bobs that made up the controls were purposefully placed there during the refit, instead of the impression of the 2005 console which looked like the Doctor retrofitted all the stuff onto the existing console as he went along. However, the lack of high-tech in the previous set was certainly noticed, and it's the one thing I'm so glad they brought back for this one. The most recent redeco gave the whole thing that much more purpose and lived-in feeling that it needed.

The new set has no fewer than four separate entrances to the room itself, and five ways to get to the main console platform (the Willy Wonka set had more entrances but fewer ways to get to the platform). I'm sure the cinematographers like this, to have better ways to frame shots and action. And of course, this is the first 360 degree console room set in the history of the show, which opens up a whole ton of new ways to see the place.

Mark

 

[Mr Awe]

It is a nice set. I enjoyed visiting it while in Cardiff! The TARDIS console room smells like wood. A whole lumber yard! The set is smaller than I expected, though not small by any means.

Mr Awe

 

[Christopher]

^I imagine most sets smell like wood, but it seems appropriate here.

 

[Mr Awe]

I was just surprised because the set depicts a high tech vessel but yet it smells more like an 18th century sailing ship!

 

[Cyke101]

I was just surprised because the set depicts a high tech vessel but yet it smells more like an 18th century sailing ship!

Well, the Doctor does love his anachronisms.

 

[Mark_Nguyen]

^I imagine most sets smell like wood, but it seems appropriate here.

"Same old TARDIS... Doesn't matter what's changed, it still smells the same..." -- Jo

Mark

 

[OmahaStar]

It seems like an awful big waste of money to keep rebuilding the set every half-season. I like it, but wonder why they spent the money on a new set instead of on a 13th episode?

 

[Mr Awe]

^ It's not a new set. Just a newly redecorated set.

 

[Mark_Nguyen]

The current set was also a necessity. The previous one was apparently too big to move economically and was physically bolted to the structure of the old studio - it was cheaper just to build a new one, and they decided to start afresh instead of trying to recreate the Willy Wonka set. I get the feeling that they knew they'd be stuck with the current set for a while, and so designed it with the following Doctor in mind; thus they give the initial set a bare bones look on purpose with the intent on making it the following Doctor's real home once he arrived with the new season and its budget.

Also note that the console room has been changed subtly since its premiere; most notably it got some extra grates and smoke-dispensing holes in the console platform floor, and for "Day of the Doctor" it got a temporary platform for Calra to park her bike on when she drove it into the TARDIS. I expect that there will be further little changes as time and budget permits... I'm also hoping they would expand the upper floor and give it a bit more room, as it's cramped up there now with all the extra bookshelves and such, making it visibly difficult for the actors to walk around each other and the extra props.

<Mark

 

[Mage]

I love it, but then again, I also loved Smith's first control room, and I hear a lot of fans hate that one.

 

[Worf2DS9]

I liked this set when it debuted in "The Snowmen," but I really like the revamp for Capaldi. The Series 7b edition was nice looking, but it had a cold, sterile feel to it. But this upgrade, with the new orange lighting of the time rotor & round things, gives it a warmer, more comfortable feel, and this is only enhanced by the bookshelves & chair(s) on the upper deck. I still wish the exterior had a bit of a more lived-in appearance instead of looking so damn new and perfect though.

 

[Robert D. Robot]

It is a nice set. I enjoyed visiting it while in Cardiff! The TARDIS console room smells like wood. A whole lumber yard! The set is smaller than I expected, though not small by any means.

Mr Awe

"Why doesn't the air get out?--
It is made of wood-- Oh, you have got a WOODEN time machine!"
-Amy, from that little bonus scene set between between "The Eleventh Hour" and "The Beast Below".

 

[Robert D. Robot]

....I still wish the exterior had a bit of a more lived-in appearance instead of looking so damn new and perfect though.

Maybe the dinosaur saliva somehow brightened the paint job!
I agree.... I wouldn't mind seeing the TARDIS looking a little more well-worn on the outside... like an old, comfortable pair of slippers. At least a bit dustier. But since she apparently repairs herself automatically from damage such as arrow holes, this may be the new look until some other circuit falls into disrepair!

 

[YellowSubmarine]

I like it. I like the books and blackboard.

Oh, the blackboard. The blackboard needs special appreciation. The blackboard's brilliant. I've been wondering what the show is missing since they showed Clara at a blackboard last season, and now I suddenly know. No longer missing anything.

 

[Cutter John]

I've been a fan of this design since it first appeared. Just wish they'd spend more time there.

 

[Mr. Adventure]

I think it may be because I've spent too much of my life in front of one but I really dislike the prominent widescreen monitor. They seem to be trying to strip out all the excessive whimsy but that's too much, the Doctor deserves better!

 

[Mark_Nguyen]

It's only really there for expository purposes, and for cost as well given that it would be cheaper to look at whatever's inside or outside there than to do a VFX shot for a proper scanner. The previous console room had both, but the big screen was hardly ever used...

Mind you, the 1983-89 console had the big screen and THREE small CRT monitors, and they only rarely used them as well; and at least a couple of the consoles previous to that one also had one small screen on the console ("TARDIS Information System - ready for entry" et. al.), so it's hardly like it's a new thing from 2005.

Mark

 

[Christopher]

For most of the first decade of the original series, the scanner screen was just a standard TV monitor. A couple of times in the Pertwee era, it was a chromakey insert in one of the wall roundels, but then it went back to a TV monitor in the last season or two. By the Baker era, they'd added a wall screen with shutters, done as a chromakey insert, but still used video monitors within the main console. The McGann console room had a very retro video monitor above the console and a holographic "planetarium" view projected above. And Eccleston and Tennant both used pretty normal modern flatscreen monitors, with Smith's first console room having a more fancily dressed-up version of the same thing.

http://www.thedoctorwhosite.co.uk/tardis/scanner/

 

[RoJoHen]

I really like the updated Capaldi version. Last season it looked rather dull and bleak, but it's a lot more lively now that it has more details and "stuff."

Matt Smith's original two-story control room is my favorite, however.

 

[The Doctor]

Matt Smith's control room was just so big! It was mad and grand and everything I believed the TARDIS would be. It is and will remain to be the best console room of the entire series, reboot or no.

The new one is very generic scifi and extremely cramped in comparison.