Original Console Control Panels

[Rassilons Rod]

I've got to admit, this grill is totally new to me.

Awesome work as usual Tony.

[galacticprobe]

I've got to admit, this grill is totally new to me.

I thought I knew this console inside and out, having it be my favorite until the 2005 console came along; but Tony's research into the console as it appeared in the first few stories ("An Unearthly Child" to at least "Edge of Destruction") and the subsequent high-res photos he's managed to unearth have shown me things about this console that I'd never known about, or noticed! So all throughout this thread there have been loads of things about this console that are/were new to me. (Ergo, Marc, you are not alone.)

Awesome work as usual Tony.

I'll second that one! (And I am unanimous in that. )

Dino.

[tony farrell]

I thought I knew this console inside and out but Tony's research into the console as it appeared in the first few stories ("An Unearthly Child" to at least "Edge of Destruction") and the subsequent high-res photos he's managed to unearth have shown me things about this console that I'd never known about, or noticed! So all throughout this thread there have been loads of things about this console that are/were new to me.

Awesome work as usual Tony.

I'll second that one! (And I am unanimous in that. )
Dino.

Thanks Marc and Dino (though I think - with quotes like "I am unanimous in that" - I shall have to call Dino Mrs Slocombe from now on  )!

In terms of the hi-res photos, for the most part, credit should go to Jonathan... Though, I do seem to be rather good at teasing information out of people.

As an aside, before I've posted the few hi-res pics that I have (the view of the Tardis set from behind the scanner, the publicity shot of Jackie Lane/Dodo in front of the duplicate Police Box doors, etc), I've waited until these have been sent to me by at least two separate and completely unconnected sources. In this way, I have maintained confidentiality (i.e., on occasion I have been asked not to 'publish' the pictures because they are BBC copyrighted). By waiting until I've received the pictures from a second - unconnected - source I've respected the request not to 'publish' the pictures and therefore have protected the identities of those who were kind enough to share them with me in the first place.

I started my 'research' into Peter Brachaki's magnificent creation over two years ago; from a point where all we had was grainy images, we now have a full set of comprehensive and, dare I say, screen-accurate plans for the Tardis Interior and Console.

It's been hard work at times - and there have been friendly disagreements along the way - but it has also always been fun. Tardis Building is a hobby after all!

Lastly, and most importantly, let's not forget that without Peter Brachaki (and the rest of the Production team in the autumn of 1963), we would have nothing - no Doctor Who, no Police Box exterior, no Tardis interior and no Console. To misquote Isaac Newton, I am simply "standing on the shoulders of giants"!

T

[galacticprobe]

Thanks Marc and Dino (though I think - with quotes like "I am unanimous in that" - I shall have to call Dino Mrs Slocombe from now on  )!

HA-HA! I've been using that phrase every now and then for some time, and I wondered when someone would notice it! (I've thrown a few other phrases around and eventually someone noticed my reference... but I'm still waiting for someone to make mention of a certain spelling in one phrase I've been using - more often than I care to - to describe my vision.)

In terms of the hi-res photos, for the most part, credit should go to Jonathan... Though, I do seem to be rather good at teasing information out of people.

I'm certain that most of us have thanked Jonathan at various times throughout this investigative process (even mentioning that he must have a larger photo collection that the BBC does!), so Jonathan is not being "left in the dirt", so to speak. But while he is the custodian of those magnificent photos - of which I think all of us never knew he had - you managed to "unearth" them from his archive, and work with him to get those great photos posted. So once again a Thank You! to Jonathan for posting those photos and being willing to share them with us, and also a Thank You! to you, Tony, for somehow learning who to turn to in order to find such great photos.

As an aside, before I've posted the few hi-res pics that I have (the view of the Tardis set from behind the scanner, the publicity shot of Jackie Lane/Dodo in front of the duplicate Police Box doors, etc), I've waited until these have been sent to me by at least two separate and completely unconnected sources. In this way, I have maintained confidentiality (i.e., on occasion I have been asked not to 'publish' the pictures because they are BBC copyrighted). By waiting until I've received the pictures from a second - unconnected - source I've respected the request not to 'publish' the pictures and therefore have protected the identities of those who were kind enough to share them with me in the first place.

You are doing things like this in the best way possible, Tony. If three or four different people send you the same photo, but only one ask you not to post it while the other two or three say it's fine with them if you post the photos, then those photos can be from any of those people that said it was okay. Everyone is protected and no breach is made. (There were many times when I was in the military when I ended up doing that with certain info that needed to go to the fleet, so I'm familiar with that drill.)

I started my 'research' into Peter Brachaki's magnificent creation over two years ago; from a point where all we had was grainy images, we now have a full set of comprehensive and, dare I say, screen-accurate plans for the Tardis Interior and Console.

Wow! Has it really been two years already!? And I agree; I think we've - make that you've - managed to provide us with very screen-accurate plans of that first console and room. (Yes, we all helped some, but you did most of the work when it came to calculating dimensions, and making drawings.)

It's been hard work at times - and there have been friendly disagreements along the way - but it has also always been fun. Tardis Building is a hobby after all!

Ah... no wonder it doesn't feel like two years have gone by since this project started; it has indeed been FUN! As for TARDIS Building being a hobby - well - when one is stuck at home all day like I am, it's more than that. It's socializing and making friends - and sometimes it really makes one's brain think!

Lastly, and most importantly, let's not forget that without Peter Brachaki (and the rest of the Production team in the autumn of 1963), we would have nothing - no Doctor Who, no Police Box exterior, no Tardis interior and no Console.

Here-here! And in all those things you mentioned, they will live on, forever!

To misquote Isaac Newton, I am simply "standing on the shoulders of giants"!

Also, don't forget that you had to climb up to get to those shoulders, and that effort has not gone unnoticed. And you've had this great TARDIS Builders Family to help you with that climb. So, like those who have scaled Everest, all tethered together as one, while it may have been a combined effort to reach the top there was one person at the head of the line leading the way, and in this case, with this recreation of the Original Brachacki console and room, you were the one leading the way.

Dino.

[Angelus Lupus]

... but I'm still waiting for someone to make mention of a certain spelling in one phrase I've been using - more often than I care to - to describe my vision.)

You're referring to the double 'z' in your 'stanky old wizzard eyes'? I just assumed you were a Rincewind fan.

[galacticprobe]

You're referring to the double 'z' in your 'stanky old wizzard eyes'? I just assumed you were a Rincewind fan.

Bingo! And not only a Rincewind fan, but also an all round Sir Terry Pratchett fan. (He shall be missed by millions, if not more.) That phrase itself harks to my occasional "Oh, my Glob!" exclamations, as the Ice King also once referred to his "Stanky old wizard eyes". So I thought I would put my own spin on that one, hence the "wizZard".

Nice catch, Angelus!

Dino.

[tony farrell]

Anyway, setting aside Dino's various pseudonyms, back on-topic!  

Continuing my search for a better picture of the ventilation grille on Panel Three, disappointingly, this picture (posted by Jonathan) is the best I can find:


With the best will in the world, all that can be discerned from this small section is that this grille has sloping edges. I cannot see any screw fittings, neither can I see any reflection that might indicate the materials used. The hunt continues......

Whilst searching for this elusive grille I did however notice something which 'caught my eye'; in the first three transmitted Dr Who stories, there are a couple of 'blink and you miss them moments': The first two come in the closing sequences of "The Firemaker" and the third in "Brink of Disaster". All three moments relate to the movement or 'travel' of the Console's Central Column.

In Brink of Disaster, the central column is seen momentarily to only partially rise - the distance travelled being no more than three inches - and then to 'sink' back to its 'powered-down' height. This prompts the Doctor to explain that the column prevents the power of "the Ship" escaping and that the rise of the column proves the extent of the power thrust.

In The Firemaker (unlike An Unearthly Child - where the initial movements of the column during 'take-off'/dematerialisation are inter-cut with shots of Ian and Barbara feinting), we see an uninterrupted shot of the Console's Central Column in motion. At first I thought that what I was seeing was an uneven or jerky movement but - bearing in mind the sequence from "Brink of Disaster" - I re-watched this sequence from "The Firemaker" again. As the Tardis materialises on Skaro, William Hartnell says words to the effect that "the readings are starting to come together"; at the same time that this line is spoken, the rise of the central column beings to decline i.e., it rises progressively less far with each 'power thrust' eventually coming to rest in the powered-down position - thus giving a visual indication of the Tardis 'coming in to land'!

I've attempted to show this in the following drawing:



If there are any mechanically minded people reading this, I'd be really grateful if they could suggest how this movement might have been achieved.... 

[Angelus Lupus]

It's amazing that we can still learn new (to us) things about something so familiar. I'm going to have to re-watch Hartnel again, but it's a brilliant piece of design/engineering to have the Tardis build up to full fight power in stages.
I'm now intrigued as to how they achieved the effect on the minimal budget they had... some manner of gearing?

[galacticprobe]

I've read various explanations for this in the different 'Who' documentary books that came out back in the mid-to-late 1980s. Each one had a different account as to why the column moved in "unsteady" motion, but the one thing they all seem to agree on is that, for some time, it was necessary to hide a stagehand out of camera shot - one even claims to have hidden a stagehand inside the console plinth at times - and it was the stagehand that manually raised and lowered the column because the initial motorized mechanism used to raise and lower the column was so unreliable. (The rotating inner part didn't seem to present any problems, at least not that were mentioned.)

Perhaps that could explain part of this. (Since at the moment this is all conjecture...) What if, say, while the props/tech people worked on getting the motorized raise/lower mechanism to be more reliable, and they had to use a stagehand to do the work, someone had the brilliant idea to put markings on the pole that the stagehand lifted and lowered, with those markings indicating things like "max. height" (or "max. power" - could have been either) to ensure the stagehand didn't raise the column too far and have it topple out and smash; "min. height" (or "min. power" - self explanatory, the column is all the way down).

Other markings on the pole, according to Tony's drawings and observations would then have been for "quarter height", "half height", and "three-quarter height" (or substitute "power" for "height"), and they used that to indicate what Tony has just explained. I know it's a reach, but unless someone can come up with a better idea, this is all I can think of and that is if those accounts of using a stagehand to operate the column while the mechanics were on the blink are true.

As far as the mechanical aspect for doing this, it would require someone, off-camera perhaps with a controller, working the column's mechanism in much the same way as with the New Series they have someone off-camera working the Daleks' flashing lights as Nick Briggs cues him so the flash coincides with the vocals (and I'm sure we've seen the behind the scenes on that). The only difference is today it's all done with remote controls, while in the early 1960s it would have needed wiring to control the column (which could partly explain those heavy cables running across the floor). The person controlling the column's motion could adjust the movement in the same way that one would use a controller to adjust the speed of a model train: turn the control up a little, and the column rises to one point, and then turn the control down and the column sinks back to its "resting" position; the higher the control is turned up, the higher the column rises, and then the column sinks back to the resting position as the control is turned down again. Of course this means some poor sod had to stand there twisting his wrist off to keep the column moving up and down, but hey, a pay check is a pay check!

I know this console is one of the most intricate props ever built for its time, but with the BBC allowing 'Doctor Who' only a minimal budget, I can't see that money being spent on a complex cog and cam mechanism to work the column in stages, mainly because that would also involve some way of pausing that cog/cam mechanism to keep the column rising to its max. height for extended periods of "in-flight" filming once the TARDIS had completed the build-up during take-off, and then have it go back into gear for the reverse (for the landing process). If such a "pause" wasn't built into the mechanism, then we would have seen the column constantly working up and down in stages, and never maintaining "full flight rise and fall" for more than one, possibly two times. And even if that was the case and they did have such a system driving the column, someone would have needed to shift things - again through those heavy cables on the floor, or they actually connected the shifting mechanism to levers on the console - to get that "holding pattern" of max. rise/fall until they were ready to land, in which case someone would have to shift things back into gear. (On the other hand, if such a system was used, it could explain why they had such troubles getting the mechanism to work correctly, and consistently.)

So this is my best guess, and I'm sure we'll hear more (and possibly ones more plausible than this) from others; but until we can find someone still living from that era, who actually remembers how that column's movement was worked mechanically, we may never know for sure how it was done (other than several docu-books all agreeing on the stagehand part of things: that is, that a stagehand was used to manually raise and lower the column, not the bit about the markings on the pole used; the markings are my thoughts on it based on Tony's observations).

I'm sure this has got some brain cells working overtime now! (I know mine hurt.)

Dino.

[tony farrell]

It's amazing that we can still learn new (to us) things about something so familiar. I'm going to have to re-watch Hartnell again, but it's a brilliant piece of design/engineering to have the Tardis build up to full fight power in stages.
I'm now intrigued as to how they achieved the effect on the minimal budget they had... some manner of gearing?

I know this console is one of the most intricate props ever built for its time, but with the BBC allowing 'Doctor Who' only a minimal budget, I can't see that money being spent on a complex cog and cam mechanism to work the column in stages, mainly because that would also involve some way of pausing that cog/cam mechanism to keep the column rising to its max. height for extended periods of "in-flight" filming once the TARDIS had completed the build-up during take-off.
Dino.

Thanks for the replies gents... I agree with 'Angelus', the more you actually look at what was built in 1963, the more complicated it actually becomes. Brachacki/Brachaki did indeed deliver a brilliant piece of design/engineering.

This brings me neatly onto the second point raised by both Dino and Angelus- the cost factor. Without intending any disrespect to anyone, can we actually debunk this myth once and for all? Dr Who has never been produced on a shoestring budget it has always been produced on what the BBC regards as a standard budget for a drama programme. If you read the BBC's current literature to outside programme makers, prime-time programmes are given a budget of between £630,000 and £700,000 per hour (and exceptional or one-off programmes up to £900,000 per hour).

http://downloads.bbc.co.uk/commissioning/site/tariff_prices_for_independents.pdf

In 1963, the cost of the Tardis set (what was - in pre-production - called the 'spaceship' set) is reported as being £4000. To set £4000 in context, in 1963 this would have bought a three bedroom semi-detached house. According to the UK's Land Registry (http://houseprices.landregistry.gov.uk), in 2015, the average price for a three bedroom semi-detached house is £166,500 (approx $250,000 US). By anyone's standards, the price of a semi-detached house is not something to be 'sneezed at' - it represents a significant investment!

According to the authors of this article http://www.doctorwhonews.net/search/label/The%20Story%20of%20Doctor%20Who, when Donald Baverstock (the Controller of BBC 1 in 1963) found out about the cost of the Tardis set, he ordered the production of Dr Who to be stopped:

"I am told that a first examination of your expenditure on the pilot and of your likely design and special effects requirements for the later episodes, particularly two, three and four, shows that you are likely to overspend your budget allocation by as much as £1600 and your allocation of man-hours by as much as 1200 per episode. These figures are arrived at by averaging the expenditure of £4000 on the spaceship over thirteen episodes. It also only allows for only £3000 to be spent on expensive space creatures and other special effects. It does not take account of all the extra costs involved in the operation of special effects in the studio.
Last week I agreed an additional £200 to your budget of £2300 for the first four episodes. This figure is now revealed to be totally unrealistic. The costs of these four will be more than £4000 each - and it will be even higher if the cost of the spaceship has to be averaged over four rather than thirteen episodes.
Such a costly serial is not one that I can afford for this space in the financial year. You should therefore not proceed any further with the production of more than four episodes."

So, we are not dealing with a miniscule budget - Peter Brachaki spent the cost of a house of the Tardis interior!

This leads me on to Dino's second point about the central column being manually operated by an out-of-sight stagehand. I can understand how this rumour might have started (I use the word 'rumour' deliberately): As we know, the console sometimes appeared mounted on a circular disc - a kind of 'railway track' which was designed to allow the entire console to be spun on the spot. The spinning console was televised in The Web Planet when the Tardis falls under the influence of the Animus. Clearly, the rotation of the console was achieved manually by a stagehand hiding underneath it. Similarly, the appearance of the two small dials on the console's underside for "The Dead Planet" is indicative that the Radiation and Main (round) Meters were operated from beneath the console by someone out-of-sight of the cameras.  

Being honest with ourselves, much of the research published in the 1980s isn't reliable and I think tales of stagehands pushing the central column up and down fall into the category of rumour - look at the size of the hatches in the consoles plinth - you'd have to be a dwarf contortionist to manually work the column through such small openings!

As far as the mechanical aspect for doing this, it would require someone, off-camera perhaps with a controller, working the column's mechanism in much the same way as with the New Series they have someone off-camera working the Daleks' flashing lights as Nick Briggs cues him so the flash coincides with the vocals

Now here, I do agree with you Dino: When the central column is seen to partially rise in "Brink of Disaster", none of the cast are anywhere near the console. So, it follows that some kind of 'remote' control was used and I further agree that this was done with what Jon Pertwee used to call 'hard wiring' - the mass of cables seen on the Tardis' floor in this episode are more numerous than the standard two cables we normally see emerging from the console's base.

So, to sum up, the Tardis set was not built on the cheap nor was it built by amateurs (Shawcraft was a well established and respected firm of engineers - they built the forty foot long highly accurate model of the Titanic for 1958's film "A Night to Remember"). The central column was clearly mechanically operated and capable of being operated remotely (albeit through wiring).

Perhaps I should have re-phrased my original question: If you were going to build a central column which is capable of rising and falling in stages (to simulate take-off/landing) and fully rising and falling (to simulate being in flight), how would you go about doing this using a mechanical solution?

T

[Rassilons Rod]

(DRAFT)

Intriguing....

[Angelus Lupus]

I gladly stand corrected on the budget issue, with an initial expenditure like that, it suddenly makes sense why they tried to make the original console last so long. I think I may have been remembering how the situation was shown in AAISAT where it seemed to go from Verity Lambert being ignored/fobbed-off, straight to the finished console via a dissolve from a hastily slapped-together model/prototype. It was (in retrospect) clearly for dramatic effect, but it does gloss over the effort of the design/build team.
Good luck in researching this, I'm now eager to learn more of the ingenuity of the folks that created that classic.

[fivefingeredstyre]

I love this thread...

I do remember reading an interview in an old DWM (can't remember with whom, mind) that said the the central column was controlled off set via a stage hand and compress air pneumatics. That would certainly account for the seemingly random (and sometimes noisy) rotor action in the early days.

[timewomble]

I thought that in the first, unaired pilot the column used compressed air. If you watch it, it goes all the way to the top, quickly, and then falls slowly. That's the sort of behaviour you'd get from a compressed air piston. I think that it was changed to the cam-based approach soon afterwards, possibly for the second pilot, but I'd have to dig out the right DVD...

I could speculate that the compressed air approach was noisy, or was going to be too expensive or time-consuming to prep the cylinders, etc. but it would be just that, speculation.

[expendable]

I think the best bet is an egg-shaped or eccentric cam that's been shaped to allow the pauses up and down. With the central column on vertical slides, you'd just need the cam follower to push it up and down.