Now that the new set has been revealed in all its glory, let's chat about it! Potential spoilers ahoy for the 2023 specials and onwards through the 2024 season and beyond!
- It's absolutely massive! easily the largest of the new series, and at least as large as the 1996 console room set.
- That said, it's got a lot of empty space, at least in its current configuration. I think a lot of this space is so the cameras can be positioned for really dynamic shots around the inside of the volume without having to move any walls, which seem to be static just like the 2005-09 set.
- Also, like the 2005-09 set, we're back to a 2/3 circular set again, meaning that 360-degree shots are impossible without visual trickery or a CG wall. This means the days of following someone as they go into the set and explore it while the camera moved around them, which was seen in the last two console rooms, is impossible again without help. As it stands, even the new promotional pictures of this set have been a victim to this, with at least one of them showing a corner where the set ends and the soundstage is barely peeking out.
- There are LOTS of ways into and out of this room! I count NINE doors plus the external access, not counting anything on the nonexistent wall. It's like they're making up for the 2005-09 set, which had no other internal doors and simply had people walk off camera to an imaginary door.
- Despite all the internal doors, there's only two other ways off the main platform once you enter the TARDIS. Seems a bit of an omission given all the places you can go from there, but OTOH both of the Matt Smith consoles had three and four ways off the platform) and the first one had various places you could go before you even got to the console, which I liked).
- The internal doors look like they would open in a circular pattern, or maybe even roll out of the way. We'll have to see.
- The Console is the biggest one yet as well! There's so much more space for buttons and switches and stuff, which is great if they had to sacrifice room for a coffee machine. Not like many of the controls REALLY had specific functions except for the "go" levers in the new series, anyway.
- The console room has regained a large viewer, which may have two parts to it. And the console-bound monitor is a practical device again, after being this mist-based projector that was rarely used in the previous set.
My conclusion: I like it. LOVING it may take some time, as the new stories and directors show it off. It's certainly an improvement over the previous set, which was visually striking but impractical in many ways - it had a large volume but no internal door (at first) and the arrangement of the wall segments meant the action was mostly contained tightly around the console itself.
My favorite, from a filmmaking perspective (and personal preference) was the Capaldi era console room. 360-degree set, lots of places to come and go, and proper uses for the walls and floors (seating, reading, storage, etc. ). The modifications to that set over its time reduced the useable space, but it still left plenty of options for a camera to capture lots of little details and construct dynamic shots.
THIS new one has so much space, that classic "walk and talk" sequences will be no problem, even for people to walk side by side. There's not really places for people to GO besides unseen inner rooms, the console and the external door, but getting to and from them will take long enough to be visually interesting. I have hope that when the Fifteenth Doctor takes over, he'll add some Capaldi-esque additions to make the ship look more lived-in and fun to explore.
Mark
- It's absolutely massive! easily the largest of the new series, and at least as large as the 1996 console room set.
- That said, it's got a lot of empty space, at least in its current configuration. I think a lot of this space is so the cameras can be positioned for really dynamic shots around the inside of the volume without having to move any walls, which seem to be static just like the 2005-09 set.
- Also, like the 2005-09 set, we're back to a 2/3 circular set again, meaning that 360-degree shots are impossible without visual trickery or a CG wall. This means the days of following someone as they go into the set and explore it while the camera moved around them, which was seen in the last two console rooms, is impossible again without help. As it stands, even the new promotional pictures of this set have been a victim to this, with at least one of them showing a corner where the set ends and the soundstage is barely peeking out.
- There are LOTS of ways into and out of this room! I count NINE doors plus the external access, not counting anything on the nonexistent wall. It's like they're making up for the 2005-09 set, which had no other internal doors and simply had people walk off camera to an imaginary door.
- Despite all the internal doors, there's only two other ways off the main platform once you enter the TARDIS. Seems a bit of an omission given all the places you can go from there, but OTOH both of the Matt Smith consoles had three and four ways off the platform) and the first one had various places you could go before you even got to the console, which I liked).
- The internal doors look like they would open in a circular pattern, or maybe even roll out of the way. We'll have to see.
- The Console is the biggest one yet as well! There's so much more space for buttons and switches and stuff, which is great if they had to sacrifice room for a coffee machine. Not like many of the controls REALLY had specific functions except for the "go" levers in the new series, anyway.
- The console room has regained a large viewer, which may have two parts to it. And the console-bound monitor is a practical device again, after being this mist-based projector that was rarely used in the previous set.
My conclusion: I like it. LOVING it may take some time, as the new stories and directors show it off. It's certainly an improvement over the previous set, which was visually striking but impractical in many ways - it had a large volume but no internal door (at first) and the arrangement of the wall segments meant the action was mostly contained tightly around the console itself.
My favorite, from a filmmaking perspective (and personal preference) was the Capaldi era console room. 360-degree set, lots of places to come and go, and proper uses for the walls and floors (seating, reading, storage, etc. ). The modifications to that set over its time reduced the useable space, but it still left plenty of options for a camera to capture lots of little details and construct dynamic shots.
THIS new one has so much space, that classic "walk and talk" sequences will be no problem, even for people to walk side by side. There's not really places for people to GO besides unseen inner rooms, the console and the external door, but getting to and from them will take long enough to be visually interesting. I have hope that when the Fifteenth Doctor takes over, he'll add some Capaldi-esque additions to make the ship look more lived-in and fun to explore.
Mark
