Dials on console's underside

[kert gantry]

Forgive me as I think this may have been covered before (a cursory search yielded nothing), but does anyone have a definitive answer as to what the white dials on the underside of the Mk.1 console were for?  



My guess is they were to turn the control panel lights on and off, and maybe the column itself. Anyone know how many of these dials there were originally, and under which panels? I seem to remember that at least one looked quite askew towards the end of the console's life, as if it was about to fall off.  Possibly a few had gone completely by then?

[celation]

My feeling was that they were something to do with the controls apparently working themselves in Tenth Planet 4 - but as your pictures show, they're nowhere near the panel that's seen to operate itself. So I've no idea.

[maverickjsmith]

Perhaps they're knobs on giant screws to hold the paneling on

Probably not but I think it's more likely.

Maverick

[Rassilons Rod]

My feeling was that they were something to do with the controls apparently working themselves in Tenth Planet 4 - but as your pictures show, they're nowhere near the panel that's seen to operate itself. So I've no idea.

They also existed way back in An Unearthly Child too...


Although, I must say I have never spotted that one underneath what I have been calling the "Hydra" panel. That is the one to the left of the one with the two white speaker panels and the red box.

[celation]

Hmm. Still think they might be to do with controlling the controls above.

The image you posted is around the time that the radiation meter does its thing - so the knobs could be to turn up the radiation meter reading and kick in the flasher by someone out of shot, under the console. Possible...

The other panel I've seen with a control underneath is the panel which does its stuff in TP4:



No idea what the "hydra" panel does that would be interesting, though.

[Rassilons Rod]

I wonder if this could mean that the panels were taken off at all. I mean, I know they were never out of sequence, like Tom's console, but it could explain why some of the ping pong balls had nearly all their paint scratched off by the time of "The Aztecs".

I make this suggestion because of the knobs appearing under different panels. I guess more research is needed, though I have to admit, previously I had only ever noticed them in the above pic from Power.

[kert gantry]

Thanks for all the musings, gents.  Have begun looking for more photos featuring the dials.  I'd always thought the Radiation Counter panel was the only one to have two dials underneath  - and I'm still very tempted by the theory that they were to operate it for the Firemaker/Dead Planet cliffhanger scene.  But then there's this rehearsal shot from Unearthly Child....  

 

Edit: Checking through other pics on the site, in The Mind Robber the Radiation Counter has lost both its white dials, while the above panel is down to one. By The War Games that dial has gone too. 

[Rassilons Rod]

Hmmm... could be you're right... If they are tied to the meters.....

What do we know so far. Two under this panel, two meters on top... Could they have had variable resistors in them?

[celation]

It's possible, isn't it? Is there a shot in Unearthly Child where the meters go wild? Can't remember now...

All the shots of meters working are in close-up, as far as I remember (you probably wouldn't see it otherwise...) so they would be able to be worked from underneath - out of shot.

[kert gantry]

It's possible, isn't it? Is there a shot in Unearthly Child where the meters go wild? Can't remember now...

Just been watching the take-off sequence from the broadcast version of Unearthly.  Can't really see the metres, but the console lights certainly seem to go into a bit of a tizz.  Could be nothing, but as the camera begins to pan up from the console towards the scanner, Hartnell quickly leans down to somewhere near the Radiation Counter and adjusts... something*.


 

*Looking again, maybe he's turning the scanner on.  Have just compared this with the two unbroadcast versions of the same shot. In one of those he leans over the console and upsets some kind of gizmo on a wire (there's a faint rattle as whatever it is falls across the control panel).  Odd.   

[Rassilons Rod]

Then the only question here is, what does the one do on the "Fast Return" panel?

Underneath the Radiation Panel, there are 2 knobs, but 3 meters (if you include the Radiation Meter itself).

So far we have:

Radiation Panel: Three Meters - two knobs under
Telepathic Panel: Two Meters - two knobs under
Fast Return Panel: No Meters - one knob under (Not seen in Edge of Destruction)
Hydra Panel: No Meters - one knob under (Though doesn't seem to be visible in the early days).

Edge Of Destruction: Fast Return panel without underside knob.


Web Planet: Hydra Panel


Web Of Fear: Telepathic Panel



The Mind Robber: Telepathic Panel - one knob

[kert gantry]

Thanks for those pictures, rassilonsrod.  Yes, it looks like you've established with some certainty that the dials turn up when a particular bit of the console is required to do a special bit of business.  The telepathic panel is the one that is seen to go nuts during take-off in Unearthly Child, and has two dials underneath.  The radiation counter does it's thing in The Firemaker/Dead Planet and again, there are the dials below. Nothing under the Fast Return panel, apparently, until it works itself in Tenth Planet. 

As for the control panels being removable, my feeling is that they were fixed, can't prove it though.

[Rassilons Rod]

I would have thought they were fixed too, because they never changed position relative to eachother.

My feeling re: the knobs is that they would be attached to meters where a needle would be required to move over a scale...

Though that doesn't really explain the Fast Return panel or the Hydra panel.

[kert gantry]

I would have thought they were fixed too, because they never changed position relative to eachother.

Unusual shot of the set from Edge of Destruction, showing that one of the dials from Unearthly Child has already gone (maybe shifted to one of the other panels?).

Note also the thin underside partially hanging down.  Presumably the panel interiors were accessed by unfastening this; further evidence that the original console panels were indeed fixed.  

[galacticprobe]

I would think that if those under-panel knobs were used to hold the underside part of the console (access panel?) in place then they would be placed one at each end rather than two side by side on only one end (sort of a lopsided fastening there), and not every panel had one of these knobs under it. Also, when you consider that this console had the flared "V" shape to those arms under the console, it would make accessing the electrics from underneath rather difficult as those Vs took up a large space (when you put the two corners of them together).

Most of the controls on the console had visible screws that held them in place, meaning they could be removed for maintenance/repair from above. And those corner pieces on top of the console were much smaller than those underneath. In some close publicity photos you can see screws holding them in place, so again it would be easier to remove them and a full panel to get at electrics from above rather than underneath.

Dino.