TARDIS console (Rose)

TARDIS console
Main aliases:	Nerve centre
Type:	TARDIS control console
Used by:	Ninth Doctor, Tenth Doctor
First appearance:	Rose

Main TARDIS consoles on TV

The TARDIS control room used by the Ninth and Tenth Doctors had its own version of the TARDIS console.

A squatter, cleaner version of this console with different controls was used by the War Doctor. (TV: The Day of the Doctor ^[+]Loading...["The Day of the Doctor (TV story)"])

In the semi-organic logic of the Time Sceptre's structure, this type of console could be considered a "nerve centre". (PROSE: The Visual Dictionary ^[+]Loading...["The Visual Dictionary (2007 reference book)"])

Layout

The console's panels are ordered here in clockwise order, starting with the panel facing the TARDIS doors in the placement first seen in the episode Rose ^[+]Loading...["Rose (TV story)"].

This console had six main panels and six raised secondary panels between them. (PROSE: The Visual Dictionary ^[+]Loading...["The Visual Dictionary (2007 reference book)"])

This console was almost identical to the previous one; the differences, however, include the change of white lighting to bright green and the alteration of some of the controls. The time rotor was also slightly different, (TV: The Day of the Doctor ^[+]Loading...["The Day of the Doctor (TV story)"]) as it now had a similar structure to that used by the Eighth Doctor; (TV: Doctor Who ^[+]Loading...["Doctor Who (TV story)"]) the pair of rings connected to glass pillars were doubled, one set being at the top and the other at the bottom. In flight, these rings would rise and collapse towards and away from each other. (TV: The End of the World ^[+]Loading...["The End of the World (TV story)"], et al.)

Parts of the console had a "cracked-porcelain" texture matching elements on the Ninth Doctor's sonic screwdriver. (TV: Rose ^[+]Loading...["Rose (TV story)"], et al.)

Within the wider structure of the Time Sceptre, the console extended downwards into an organic shape of circuitry in the switch room, where commands issues on the controls were relayed via transdimensional circuits to the rest of the TARDIS. (PROSE: The Visual Dictionary ^[+]Loading...["The Visual Dictionary (2007 reference book)"])

Scanner

This console featured a monitor that displayed Gallifreyan writing with sticky notes left on it by the Doctor. It could also show television channels. (TV: Rose onwards) When Mickey Smith asked Rose Tyler how it worked, Rose said, "It sort of tunes itself." (TV: The Christmas Invasion)

The Ninth Doctor's sonic screwdriver could be inserted into a port behind the monitor. (TV: Aliens of London ^[+]Loading...["Aliens of London (TV story)"])

Exterior monitor secondary panel

The exterior monitor secondary panel (PROSE: The Visual Dictionary ^[+]Loading...["The Visual Dictionary (2007 reference book)"]) was the part of the console which faced the TARDIS doors. (TV: Rose ^[+]Loading...["Rose (TV story)"])

On its upper half were the controls for the Hostile Action Displacement System. (PROSE: The Visual Dictionary ^[+]Loading...["The Visual Dictionary (2007 reference book)"])

Exterior monitor panel

The exterior monitor panel controlled all external sensors. (PROSE: The Visual Dictionary ^[+]Loading...["The Visual Dictionary (2007 reference book)"])

Master control secondary panel

The master control secondary panel included the crosstime telephone. (PROSE: The Visual Dictionary ^[+]Loading...["The Visual Dictionary (2007 reference book)"])

Master control panel

The master control panel contained overrides for all TARDIS systems. A switch on its upper right portion was what enable the console to open to reveal the Heart of the TARDIS. (PROSE: The Visual Dictionary ^[+]Loading...["The Visual Dictionary (2007 reference book)"])

Internal systems secondary panel

The internal systems secondary panel included the fault locator. (PROSE: The Visual Dictionary ^[+]Loading...["The Visual Dictionary (2007 reference book)"])

Internal ship systems panel

The internal ship systems panel had controls for life support, power systems, failure diagnostics, and repair. (PROSE: The Visual Dictionary ^[+]Loading...["The Visual Dictionary (2007 reference book)"])

This panel had a switchboard with Gallifreyan symbols on it and a removable bubbly transparent ball. (TV: The End of the World ^[+]Loading...["The End of the World (TV story)"])

Information systems secondary panel

The information systems secondary panel included the control room recorder at its base. (PROSE: The Visual Dictionary ^[+]Loading...["The Visual Dictionary (2007 reference book)"])

Information systems panel

The information systems panel was used to access the TARDIS encyclopaedic databanks.On its right portion were the fluid links. (PROSE: The Visual Dictionary ^[+]Loading...["The Visual Dictionary (2007 reference book)"])

Secondary navigation panel

The secondary navigation panel included the Fast return switch, as well as a sextant. (PROSE: The Visual Dictionary ^[+]Loading...["The Visual Dictionary (2007 reference book)"])

A vertical pump extended from the right side of this panel. (TV: The End of the World ^[+]Loading...["The End of the World (TV story)"])

Navigation control panel

The navigation control panel contained the landing coordinate input panel. (PROSE: The Visual Dictionary ^[+]Loading...["The Visual Dictionary (2007 reference book)"])

This panel also had the vector tracker. (GAME: Attack of the Graske ^[+]Loading...["Attack of the Graske (video game)"])

Time Vortex control

The Time Vortex control was a secondary panel which had a grey wheel on it which could be spun.(PROSE: The Visual Dictionary ^[+]Loading...["The Visual Dictionary (2007 reference book)"])

This panel also had a bell and the dimensional stabilizer. The Vortex loop extended from its side. (GAME: Attack of the Graske ^[+]Loading...["Attack of the Graske (video game)"])

Dematerialization systems control panel

The dematerialization systems control panel was more flat than other panels, notably having a pyramid shape sticking out from it. (PROSE: The Visual Dictionary ^[+]Loading...["The Visual Dictionary (2007 reference book)"])

It was this panel which opened to expose the Heart of the TARDIS. (TV: Boom Town ^[+]Loading...["Boom Town (TV story)"], The Parting of the Ways ^[+]Loading...["The Parting of the Ways (TV story)"])

History

Notable changes

When the Saxon Master converted the TARDIS into a paradox machine, the console had undergone many modifications. It was enclosed inside a metal cage, with tubes and appendages attached to it including a pipe at its base connecting to another area of the TARDIS, with a dial showing a readout of the pressure build-up inside. (TV: The Sound of Drums) Jack Harkness destroyed the machine by shooting at the console, causing it to ignite and breaking the paradox. The Doctor subsequently repaired the TARDIS, returning the console to normal. (TV: Last of the Time Lords)

As with the rest of the control room, the console was badly damaged by the Doctor's regeneration into his eleventh incarnation. (TV: The End of Time) During the subsequent crash parts of the console exploded. (TV: The Eleventh Hour)

Regular usage

• The Ninth Doctor connected the the Auton Mickey Smith's head to the dematerialisation systems control panel in order to track the Nestene Consciousness. (TV: Rose ^[+]Loading...["Rose (TV story)"])
• The Ninth Doctor once used the crosstime telephone. (TV: World War Three)
• Rose Tyler once hooked her MP3 player to the console and blasted Destiny's Child across the cold vacuum of space. (PROSE: He's Behind You)
• The Tenth Doctor had a small slot in the console used to store the mobile phone given to him by Martha Jones. (TV: The Sontaran Stratagem)

Behind the scenes

• In the real world, this console is commonly known as the "coral console". (TEDW 2)
• Much of the equipment on the console was acquired from antique shops, with the set designers intending that the Doctor had gradually pieced together this version of the console over his many years of travels using devices from across time. (REF: Impossible Worlds)
• A diagram of this console was included in the Technology section of DWDVDF 4.