The Hurt TARDIS interior

[superrichi1a]

Some new stuff to add here I think. The novel "Engines of War" by George Mann has just been released starring the War Doctor, I think these BBC tie-ins are confirmed canon. Thoroughly good read, best DW novel since "Fear of the Dark" in my opinion, and really does the horrors of the Time War justice whilst answering a ton of questions raised in "The Five Doctors", "The End of Time" and "The Day of the Doctor". But, more relevantly, it gives some good insight into TARDISes and the War Doctor's TARDIS. I will not spoil specific plot elements Note: this novel is set perhaps a year before we see the War Doctor in "Day". Of his console room:

- At this point it features metal railings that run around the whole console room.
- Cables tie everything together and are frequently ripped out and replaced.
- The doors are standard Police Box doors, not big roundel ones.
- The pillars are "stone", and no mention is yet made to living coral - I like to think this explains the general darker appearance at this point - it's reinforced itself more.
- The console is a hash of someone who's constantly repairing it but "can't find the right parts".
- The roof is a domed shape rising out of the walls and made of bear white material, though more often than not The Doctor "deopaques" this to get a full view of space around.
- The interior exit to the console room is via a flight of steps upward - it is unsure whether this leads to a gantry or just to a recesses corridor, but if you turn left at the end you come to a fork, one of which takes you to a garden with a fountain then a jungle, the other takes you to living quarters and wardrobe.

And more generally trivia of War-era TARDISes:
- Un-disguised TARDISes do indeed look like the cylinders seen in "The Name of the Doctor".
- "Battle TARDISes" look like this but can grow, shrink, and produce huge armaments at will.
- Much like in the Navy there are larger command TARDISes, these may be piloted by 3 timelords at 3 separate smaller consoles and have the ability to completely "deopaque" the whole console room.
- When a TARDIS is destroyed for a split second the interior "unpacks" in real space offering a glimpse of the console room, corridors etc. Afterwards some debris and structure from inside remains in real space.
- Dead TARDISes again do either start leaking their interiors into the real world, or start growing to epic proportions.
- Underneath the Gallifrey citadel was a huge cavern where TARDISes were dumped to die.

[galacticprobe]

Pillars of stone? Now that would have been great to see! It could also have been a nod back to the Cloister Room columns seen in "Logopolis". And this is just MHO, but I think it would have been a better fit to the War Doctor's console room. It already had that console if they were looking for a tie-in to the 2005 console room, and walls that harked back to the 1st Doctor's console room. So, stone pillars, nod to the "Logopolis" Cloister room columns and the Classic Series' later seasons: yeah; definitely. I like that idea.

(Wait... what's that? Can I actually hear someone starting to render this version of the console room already? )

Dino.

[superrichi1a]

Fully agree! I wasn't sure if the book meant clean white stone or just fortified coral-like stone, but indeed the same thought had crosses my mind. I like the former idea - you really get a feeling in the book for just how much of a pounding the TARDIS goes through, I mean, in direct relation to the pillars and their state

Spoiler

At the end Borusa and The Doctor actually house an explosion between two of them

[close]

.
I like to think that the War Control Room started off as all white and metal, but over time the decorative coverings of the exposed bits started wearing away, whilst fragile areas like the railings were also broken down, especially in that last year when the Daleks broke through Gallifrey's defences and The The Doctor fought tooth and nail every second of every day. When the war was over the TARDIS, rather than remodel the console room, in it's worn out state, could simply have used up power bringing the old one back to life and back I into functional condition.

[danielc]

Was the console kept?

[galacticprobe]

Well, I would hope so. I mean, this was originally the 2005 travelling promo console used to let everyone know the show was coming back. Once the promo tours were complete, they kept that console around somewhere between 2004 (end of the promo season), and 2013 (when they redressed it as the War Doctor's console).

So if they could keep it around for that long with (at the time) seemingly no further use for it, now that it's established as the War Doctor's console I really hope they've kept it, and have it in storage somewhere for a possible reappearance. (They didn't think it would reappear after the tours, so now there's a precedent... it's a canonical War Doctor console, so it could always appear again in another episode or two. Sadly John Hurt has passed and not here to reprise his role as the War Doctor, but who's to say that someone wouldn't approach Paul McGann and ask him to make an appearance in his "The Night Of The Doctor" persona and have him using that console, especially since "Night Of The Doctor" was obviously taking place earlier in that Last Great Time War, before he regenerated into the "young" War Doctor.)

Dino.

[ThePuzzledBoy]

Okay, possibly off-topic here, and don't quote me on this if this isn't the case, but I think I know what those computers used to drive the monitors are. In fact, I actually own one of them! (At least, not one of the ones used for that console, AFAIK. Also, if this is a pointless non-sequitor in the grand scheme and worthy of deletion, the mods know what to do. Though, for the amount of detail this forum goes to, I doubt it.... )



The three PCs themselves are very, very, VERY likely HP Compaq dc7600 Convertible Minitowers. (front and back pictured above) From what little is seen in the quality, it certainly looks like that computer.

Maybe I could use it for my own TARDIS console. Though I'd have to find a way to deal with the loud fans it has (stupid Pentium 4 HT)...

-- Hunter

[discobiscuitcolor]

I find this incredibly interesting! However, I'm left with a few questions.
1: Is the monitor console mounted or is it on the wall like the classic consoles?
2: Does the time rotor even move like the 2005 console? (Looking at reference pics from the show it looks like there isn't a full interior mechanism)
3: Did the eighth doctor have this console before the war doctor or did he keep the Hundolin console?

If anyone has any answers that'd be much appreciated!

-Marc.

[The14thDr]

1: Is the monitor console mounted or is it on the wall like the classic consoles?

1. The monitor was mounted onto the base of the time rotor as it was on the 2005 console (you can see it in the photo quoted by ThePuzzledBoy above.)

2: Does the time rotor even move like the 2005 console? (Looking at reference pics from the show it looks like there isn't a full interior mechanism)

2. I'm afraid I can't be of any help with this as I simply don't know. (I'm sure someone else will be able to help with this answer, however.)

3: Did the eighth doctor have this console before the war doctor or did he keep the Hundolin console?

3. Nobody can say for sure. The 8th Doctor's only televised appearance (other than the 1996 movie) was the mini-episode The Night of the Doctor - released shortly before the 50th Anniversary special. We were never shown the interior of the TARDIS in this, but given the exterior was the same as the War Doctor's, it is entirely within the realms of possibility that he did indeed use this console towards the end of his life.

The three PCs themselves are very, very, VERY likely HP Compaq dc7600 Convertible Minitowers. (front and back pictured above) From what little is seen in the quality, it certainly looks like that computer.

Wonderful work identifying those computers, ThePuzzledBoy, especially given how little we see of them! And considering this is directly related to parts used on the War Doctor's TARDIS console, I wouldn't call it off-topic at all.


Kind regards, The14thDr

[galacticprobe]

2: Does the time rotor even move like the 2005 console? (Looking at reference pics from the show it looks like there isn't a full interior mechanism)

2. I'm afraid I can't be of any help with this as I simply don't know. (I'm sure someone else will be able to help with this answer, however.)

Looking at the image above, it looks like the column's interior does have both upper and lower halves of the mechanism. It's just that in this image the two are compressed together (hence being able to see the support discs at the top), and the mechanism is resting in its lowermost position (that is, not set up for motion; watch the 2005 console's column when it's in motion and you'll see the lower discs fully retract into the "collar" when the lower half is at its lowermost position).

In "Day Of The Doctor" when this console was redressed for the War Doctor's console, they did remove the top element of the mechanism, so only the lower half was used. I don't know if anyone has a video of this "travel-promo" console's central column in motion while it was on tour, but if they do, I (and maybe a few dozen others) would love to see it.

3: Did the eighth doctor have this console before the war doctor or did he keep the Hundolin console?

We're starting to enter into speculation with this one. As 14th said, no one knows the answer because the only console we ever saw the 8th Doctor use was the 1996 TVM console. Beyond that, we could start a back-and-forth on this that could rival the speed of any ping-pong death match.

3. The 8th Doctor's only televised appearance (other than the 1996 movie) was the mini-episode The Name of the Doctor - released shortly before the 50th Anniversary special.

Actually, that mini-webisode was "The Night Of The Doctor". ("The Name Of The Doctor" was the title of the Series 7b finale episode. It was followed by "The Night Of The Doctor" mini-webisode, "The Day Of The Doctor" 50th Special, and finally "The Time Of The Doctor" 11th Doctor's regeneration special episode.)

The three PCs themselves are very, very, VERY likely HP Compaq dc7600 Convertible Minitowers. (front and back pictured above) From what little is seen in the quality, it certainly looks like that computer.

Wonderful work identifying those computers, ThePuzzledBoy, especially given how little we see of them! And considering this is directly related to parts used on the War Doctor's TARDIS console, I wouldn't call it off-topic at all.

Just a little off-topic. This version of the console (Travel-promo) is the only one that had the computers under it like that. The redressed War Doctor's console had pretty much just open space under it, except for some 2005-esque tubing and wiring. (See the reference images on Page 1 of this topic for more details.)

I hope this helps.

Dino.

[simon83]

I know this fourm is a bit old but i was wondering if anyone knew the dimensions for this console?

[davidnagel]

I know this fourm is a bit old but i was wondering if anyone knew the dimensions for this console?

I don't think anyone does, but its fair to say its smaller than its counterpart. I'd probably start by using that roadshow photo and guestimating the size from the dimensions of the PC tower underneath... good luck!

[ThePuzzledBoy]

And since I know of -- and own -- that specific tower, I looked up the specs on HP's support site (https://support.hp.com/us-en/product/hp-compaq-dc7600-convertible-minitower-pc/472276/document/c00377076#AbT10).

Chassis dimension - inches: 17.65 inches x 6.6 inches x 17.8 inches

Hope it helps!

- Puzzled