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The season eight Console

Five Fingered Styre

Five Fingered Styre

Active member
How do!

Heres a question i've not seen asked or answered over the years (Which could mean the answer is actually quite obvious...  :-[ )

We know this console was first introduced in the Claws of Axos, way back in season eight, and it lasted, with many modifications, all the way through until the end of season 20... But was it originally a refurbishment of the original Brachaki Console or was it a completely new design and build?

When it has its debut the layout of the controls was very similar to the original (of course it changed drastically over the years, becoming unrecognisable towards the end) but ive never been able to make my mind up whether it was a fresh start or a rebuild...

Ta!

Steve
 
Beware a few things implied at that link, though. Specifically, it suggests that there are multiple builds of the main console prior to "The Five Doctors" (secondary console notwithstanding, of course). Simply put, the console introduced in "The Claws of Axos" is built on the bones of the original Brachaki one - not entirely new, though it had just as well have been due to the increase is size and mostly new time rotor. The next major refit would be for "Pyramids of Mars" where the chunky new controls were introduced. Numerous other superficial modifications were made until the end of the line for the dilapidated prop. There is more info about the console's timeline of changes in this forum.
 
To add a little to lespaceplie's reply I managed to find this amongst the posts:
scarfwearer said:

[quote author=PurpleBlancmange board=faq thread=12 post=29 time=1234259433]The Claws of Axos:  A "new" console debuted.  It was a partial rebuild / partial new build with most of the original parts that were still servicable, carried over from the "original" onto this prop, such items were: the various controls, rotor and elements of the substructure. The substructure itself had been beefed out a little, making the top panels slightly bigger than before, adding a handful of inches to the over-all size of the prop.

Although the Rotor was carried over, all of the original internal perspex elements were removed and the rest of the base was added to and upgraded.  The coloumn now had three central tubes, tinted with green gels.  

The prop was continually added to or adjusted over the years.
Click to expand...


Please feel free to add photo references for this prop here, making sure that your photo is of the prop used during the correct era above.

For a full summary of the console history, see Purple's FAQ entry.
[/quote]
Unfortunately, the link for "Purple's FAQ entry" leads to our very old page (http://tardisbuildersforum.proboards.com/index.cgi?board=faq&action=display&thread=12), where a message tells everyone that we've moved and asks them to join us at "tardisbuilders.com", a link which simply leads straight back to our Index page. I can't find Purple's "full summary of the console history" anywhere. (I even searched Purple's Blog site and came up with nothing; so if anyone can find the post that link is supposed to point to, please help.)

Dino.
 
Thanks guys. I'd always wondered if it was a rebuild or a completely fresh build. It would explain why the layout of the controls are very similar I guess...

When this Console appear in the Pertwee era, it looked so fresh (especially in stories like the Three Doctors and PLanet of the Daleks, when it had a nice new Console room to go in...). I have to say that, for me, the constant Baker refurbs really downgraded the whole thing to the point where, come season 20, It really was a pale shadow of its former self... :(

Do we know where it is now, or has it wound up in the great console room in the sky?
 
The final appearance in "The Two Doctors" is really just the old panels laid onto the newer console's frame, which is why it looks wonky. Surely parts have ended up in private collections, but it probably doesn't exist as a whole anymore.

There is a tale frequently told by Colin Baker that makes me wonder, though. Specifically he remarks on Pertwee having written his lines on the "rehearsal" console. The only rehearsal console I know of is the dupe of "The Five Doctors" one. Colin is probably just poking fun at Jon or embellishing, but it does raise the possibility that an older rehearsal console existed.
 
I always thought that was Sylv who came up with the story, and the lines in question turned out to be Gareth Jenkins from that Fix with the Sontarans; however I have also heard that Tom Baker used to leave his lines dotted about the set, so who knows... :D

The console did look a little strange in the Two Doctors though, the Time Rotor looks far too low...
 
Hello Steve.

I think the main reason it looks strange is because the base isn't the original one for that console. It's a lot wider because the Kelt console base is being hidden inside it, so visually it throws everything else off.

Dramatic lighting would have been a good idea in there for that opening sequence and maybe a bit of echo on the voices.
 
Hey! How do Bob! :D

Actually that never occurred to me, but looking back the size of the base, is a dead giveaway...

Do we know if the Kelt console was a completely new build or, like the Sharp refit in 70/71, it utilises the same internal mechanism for the base and the rotor?

If it did, then that could account for why the older console wasn't used in its original form. The panels are the same (as far as we can tell), so why keep the panels and not the rest of the console?
 
The whole 5 Doctors' console was a new beast.  The only thing taken from the previous model was the column lifting mechanism.  Otherwise, the rest of the old console was retired.
Bill "the Doctor" Rudloff
 
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