TARDIS control room (The Masque of Mandragora)
The Doctor's TARDIS had a wooden control room which the Fourth once introduced as the ship's second control room. (TV: The Masque of Mandragora [+]Loading...["The Masque of Mandragora (TV story)"]) Several accounts concurred with this. (PROSE: Timewyrm: Genesys [+]Loading...["Timewyrm: Genesys (novel)"], et al.) However, the Doctor also suggested that it was older than the control room he usually used, (TV: The Masque of Mandragora [+]Loading...["The Masque of Mandragora (TV story)"]) being the original control room. (PROSE: The Dying Days [+]Loading...["The Dying Days (novel)"])
Layout[[edit] | [edit source]]
This control room in its original form was simpler and more compact than the white control room, with the console resembling a desk, no visible time rotor and all the controls hidden behind what appeared to be fold-down wooden flaps; one flap also had a writing desk beneath it. It had more subtle roundels, some of them framing stained glass windows. (TV: The Masque of Mandragora [+]Loading...["The Masque of Mandragora (TV story)"], The Hand of Fear [+]Loading...["The Hand of Fear (TV story)"], The Deadly Assassin [+]Loading...["The Deadly Assassin (TV story)"], The Robots of Death [+]Loading...["The Robots of Death (TV story)"], The Invisible Enemy [+]Loading...["The Invisible Enemy (TV story)"])
History[[edit] | [edit source]]
Early use[[edit] | [edit source]]
The Eighth Doctor recalled having used the wooden control room "ages ago" when he wore a tricorn hat, before he had begun using the secondary, white control room. (PROSE: The Dying Days [+]Loading...["The Dying Days (novel)"])
Second and Third Doctor's use[[edit] | [edit source]]
The entrance to the secondary room, which consisted of a wooden door with a stained glass window, stood out in the metallic corridors of the TARDIS. Polly, Ben and Jamie once stumbled upon the room while exploring the TARDIS. In a wooden chest there, they discovered an alien ouija board. (PROSE: Something at the Door [+]Loading...["Something at the Door (short story)"])
When the Fourth Doctor found the control room again, he found a recorder and a smoking jacket there, suggesting both the Second and Third Doctors had this room at times. (TV: The Masque of Mandragora [+]Loading...["The Masque of Mandragora (TV story)"]) The Second Doctor may have used this room during his period after his trial working for the Celestial Intervention Agency, when he wasn't using a more advanced control room. (GAME: The Second Doctor Sourcebook [+]Loading...["The Second Doctor Sourcebook (reference book)"])
Fourth Doctor's use[[edit] | [edit source]]
For a brief period, the Fourth Doctor used this as the main control room. (TV: The Masque of Mandragora [+]Loading...["The Masque of Mandragora (TV story)"], The Hand of Fear [+]Loading...["The Hand of Fear (TV story)"], The Deadly Assassin [+]Loading...["The Deadly Assassin (TV story)"], The Robots of Death [+]Loading...["The Robots of Death (TV story)"], The Invisible Enemy [+]Loading...["The Invisible Enemy (TV story)"])
Continued usage[[edit] | [edit source]]
After destroying the console in the main control room, the Fifth Doctor and Tegan Jovanka retreated to the secondary control room to gain the advantage on Chaos; Tegan commented that the secondary control room looked like "Sherlock Holmes's back bedroom". (AUDIO: The Kamelion Empire [+]Loading...["The Kamelion Empire (audio story)"])
While looking for a Kymbra Chimera which had invaded the TARDIS, the Sixth Doctor and Frobisher discovered it and Peri in the second control room. (COMIC: Changes [+]Loading...["Changes (comic story)"])
Ace discovered the second control room whilst exploring the TARDIS, which she originally thought to be the Doctor's study, and once again the Doctor battled the Mandragora Helix from inside it. (COMIC: Distractions [+]Loading...["Distractions (comic story)"], The Mark of Mandragora [+]Loading...["The Mark of Mandragora (comic story)"])
Fates during the Seventh Doctor's life[[edit] | [edit source]]
By some accounts, the room reached its final fate during the Seventh Doctor's life.
At least one second control room was lost when the Doctor ejected the primary one from the TARDIS in an attempt to defeat Qataka, a megalomaniac who had downloaded her mind into the TARDIS, the Doctor having tricked her into thinking that the life support systems were controlled from that console. However, Qataka was able to use the console to turn herself into the godlike Timewyrm. (PROSE: Timewyrm: Genesys [+]Loading...["Timewyrm: Genesys (novel)"], Timewyrm: Revelation [+]Loading...["Timewyrm: Revelation (novel)"])
At one stage, the Seventh Doctor suspected that the secondary control room had been deleted, as he hadn't seen it in a while. (PROSE: Cat's Cradle: Time's Crucible [+]Loading...["Cat's Cradle: Time's Crucible (novel)"])
The Eighth Doctor stated that the lush Victorian control room the Seventh Doctor used near the end of his lifetime (TV: Doctor Who [+]Loading...["Doctor Who (TV story)"]) was this control room — in actuality the original, which he had neglected in favour of the "second" white control room for a long time, having undergone some alterations. (PROSE: The Dying Days [+]Loading...["The Dying Days (novel)"])
Continued use[[edit] | [edit source]]
Other accounts showed this room continuing to exist.
The Eighth Doctor was forced to again retreat to his secondary control room with Cardinal Ollistra, Doctor Eva Morrison and Commander Roxita when a group of Vashta Nerada infiltrated the ship, using a set of three spacesuits in this room as part of a plan to purge the Vashta Nerada from the TARDIS. At this time, the control room was once again made of simulated wood. (AUDIO: Day of the Vashta Nerada [+]Loading...["Day of the Vashta Nerada (audio story)"])
The Twelfth Doctor may have once used this control room to escape his TARDIS after his main TARDIS control room got infested by malignocites. (PROSE: Terror Moon [+]Loading...["Terror Moon (novel)"])
Behind the scenes[[edit] | [edit source]]
- Damage to the TARDIS console prop was the reason that this room was not a longer-lasting part of the show. While in storage between filming of Season 14 and Season 15, the wooden parts of the console were warped by humidity, leading to it becoming unusable. (REF: Impossible Worlds)
