The Tardis Console of the 8th Doctor: Doctor Who goes steampunk

[@MattMcIrvin]

The TV movie's TARDIS control room set was one of the best things about it. I would have very much liked to see more of that.

[@WeTravelbyNight]

It was pretty awesome, and I liked the lived-in feel it had. The rugs on the wooden floor were a nice touch. I might recreate the console room eventually, although as the console itself took 1 hour and 10 minutes to render for each ten to twelve seconds of footage you see here, it maybe some time.

[@kaitlyn__L]

@@WeTravelbyNight damn, how many ray tracing samples per pixel are you taking? I suppose with the lighting bloom it must be fairly high.

[@Z1gguratVert1go]

Must agree. As an American Doctor Who fan I was always proud that the American attempt at making a TARDIS console room was so good. Best thing about the movie (well that and Paul McGann was great). Seeing its unmistakable influence on all subsequent console rooms always made me happy.

[@cam1e754]

I love the console room and the return of the sonic even though it was barely usef and all the references were awesome and the intro is my fav of all time and paul mcganns acting was good and the visuals were great, they had a cool feel to them and the other sound tracks were cool, but i do say the main story was mid but it had many loveable aspects

[@Lumibear.]

This was my favourite Tardis interior, next to Matt’s brass and copper beauty. I loved the sense of space and depth, and that it looked like The Doctor’s home, not just a device.

[@WeTravelbyNight]

My fondness for this console has grown over the years. There are well-lit set photos of the console room on the Tardis Builders forum website, in the reference forums.

[@danivarius]

Naa I thought the first console room of Matt Smith was ridiculous, not to mention purely idiotic.

[@JustAboutTime]

Actually it was the Canadian’s that brought it back. The CBC helped pay for a lot of it and it was all shot in Vancouver BC (Where I live). Sure it was made for an American audience .. but the actual backing behind it was mostly Canadian.

[@STE6677]

Your model making never ceases to amaze me.

[@WeTravelbyNight]

Nor me. It's all the more remarkable being made on a cheap little laptop - a surprisingly capable one, although it draws the line when it comes to fog - otherwise, I would have given this console a more smoky atmosphere.

[@lawrencedoliveiro9104]

@@WeTravelbyNight Fog is actually very easy to model, if you do it in a compositor rather than volumetrics, which is the expensive way. For example, in Blender, you ask the renderer to produce a z-depth map in addition to the image pixels, then you can use that to control mixing the image with the fog colour, so the deeper parts of the scene are more obscured by fog.

[@MatthewCaunsfield]

Lovely closeup look. The design of the room and console really set the direction for modern DrWho, for good or bad

[@ryantwombly720]

🎉Thanks! Pretty sure I asked for this. The TVM console was sublime, a fitting compliment to McGann’s incarnation. Lovely model and excellent research. Keep up the fine work. 🎉

[@definitely_notme4112]

Always loved this console

[@WeTravelbyNight]

I am happy you like it. It was hard-work to make.

[@IErikSteve]

Wow, this video was amazing. Thanks for doing it, man.

[@lawrencedoliveiro9104]

I never get tired of steampunk -- there’s something about that wonderful illogicality of mechanisms that couldn’t possibly work, yet look so beautiful. Among the roots of steampunk, here’s one name you might not have thought of: Rudyard Kipling. Specifically, his short story _With The Night Mail_ , which was first published in 1905, and was set in the then-future world of the year 2000. So yeah, he wasn’t faking the period feel, because he was actually living it.

[@Randy_Batswinger]

It's a design triumph! Loving these console videos. Can't wait for the secondary console room. I haven't missed it, have I? Hang on, I'll go and check... Brilliant video! 🙂

[@purefoldnz3070]

One of the main problems of The Doctor Who movie is that they tried to make it like Terminator 2. From the liquid "metal" Master to the bike chase.

[@darmtb]

One of my favourite console room. The display screen/ tv on the chain seems to been repeated on the 11th Doctor’s first console room too

[@matthewmurdock7329]

Not bad for the only Tardis from the 90s

[@The-Cosmic-Hobo]

I grew up with the 5th Doctor, so the console from The Five Doctors onwards for me was THE console. BUT - if I was to have a TARDIS console hiding out in a corner of my house... I would 100% go for McGann's! It was beautiful... and I was so pleased when a few years ago it was shown, restored by its new owners, and featured at a convention. Very jealous of all who got to see it!

[@nightowl8477]

Eight's TARDIS exterior in Night of the Doctor is actually War's, implying that it was actually he who (like 7) travelled in his future counterpart's TARDIS first. Though I like to think that initially his second TARDIS merged his and War's design, like the model you shown here. His console, War's walls.

[@plantainsame2049]

Well, the novelization had the TV movie control room. Which I find better, aesthetically just imagining a young John hurt piloting that tardis and it all burning to the ground They probably Had to use the box they had

[@nathanahedgehog2871]

The fact you left the classic room in the thumbnail makes me think to the version seen in Human Nature. Same desktop with half the column and no struts but with the classic roundals bathed in more of a sunset light instead of white

[@Concreteowl]

The column isn't the rotor. Often the rotor is in the column but not always.

[@purefoldnz3070]

even the series when it came back used the same continuous central column in the middle of the console likely inspired from the tv movie.

[@kaitlyn__L]

Guitar pickup switches, telephone/synthesiser patch bays, voltmeters, and parts from an adding machine? Someone involved definitely tinkered with electronics. Definitely a mid-late-90s design sensibility too, compared to the early-80s “everything is buttons” one preceding it, the pendulum had swung from minimalism to realism and complexity. As with synthesisers of the time, taking place of the highly-organised buttons comes controlled chaos, with each section following its own organisational rules and nothing lining up quite as you’d expect. My ADHD brain always loves how varied and tactile this kind of design is, which persisted into the late-00s (by which time minimalism was fashionable again, though 11th’s console didn’t follow that trend anywhere near as much).

[@adamali1976]

Hey, is there any chance we could explore the War Doctor’s TARDIS?

[@malbourne805]

This would have fit in well with 2008's The Next Doctor - Jackson Lake if he really was the next doctor, as he originated from Victorian London.

[@jcarterla]

I really like this design but it would be problematic for regular filming. The pillars are too close.

[@WeTravelbyNight]

Very true - they kept getting in the way of my virtual camera!

[@lawrencedoliveiro9104]

Set designers know exactly how to deal with that: just make the pillars removeable -- you didn’t think they were structural members, did you?

[@seantressel1754]

Fantastic... Absolutely Fantastic...

[@mahatmarandy5977]

I would love to see a render - or at least a floor plan - of the entire control room

[@derekhart3308]

Always thought a part of the 8th Doctors console was a modern of the 4th Doctor during time when Leela was with the Doctor in season 14, I think, or season 15.

[@Gamingdude1618]

Awesome 🤩👍💙👏⭐️😎❤️❤️🟦💙💙😁😃😄😆😀🙂🔷💎😍👌💚

[@KingofPotatoPeople]

I love humans. Always seeing patterns that aren’t there.

[@EngineeredNonsense]

6:16 I restored the console with its owner, and those aren’t guitar switches (not sure where you got the info, as the blog of my restoration is on there in entirety). They’re old-school ‘leaf switches’ that I used as the master control for all of the automation we added.

[@EngineeredNonsense]

Apart from that little hiccup, the rest of the video is great! On Tardisbuilders there’s a PDF I made of straight-on photos of each panel that I labeled the lights on to help with the automation. Every black or brass panel with a dial or a post on it is a found item, mostly of Bakelite era variable resistor boxes. The only two panels that appear to be purpose built for the show are the switch banks on the ‘star panel’ (where Sylv breaks off one of the toggle paddles at the beginning), and the long vertical panel of larger leaf switches on the ‘crank panel’ with jewel lights to the left and right.

[@TheMilkman-ur5ip]

Ever considered creating download links for your consoles and police boxes? They’re actually very well made.

[@yazidelsoleno8126]

Could you make the 2010 Eleventh Doctor TARDIS next?

[@pianoif]

Look up the Human Nature TARDIS. They actually made an artwork of this idea.

[@karmaduq]

(Pssst... It was already steampunk)

[@PenneySounds]

I don't know why you specify that the Times used month-day during the 1920s. It still does now. As far as I can tell, all English-language newspapers do.

[@EverythingLooksBetterDrawn]

Hi, on the off chance you read this, did you make that 3d model of 8th's console, or did you find it online? I am trying to find a model to use to help me on an animation project I am doing, where I am going to animate some clips and scenes from 8th big finish audio dramas. A 3d model of the console would help me out a bunch with shot planning and helping me create more complex shots easily. So if you found it online, could you point me to where, and if you made it yourself would you be okay with sending me a copy of the model for me to use? Thank you for your time

[@originaluddite]

I never noticed till now, but it bothers me that the six pillars are positioned at the sides of the hexagon rather than at the corners.

[@DarkDaysOfficial]

Would I be able to use this video for my upcoming Big Finish telesnap-type reconstructions?

[@TheRedCreeperTRC]

Do you share these models anywhere? They're gorgeous!

[@danivarius]

Your pronunciation of a couple of words is incorrect: console which you pronounce ‘consul’, and ‘adaption’ which is more correctly said as ‘adaptation’. Otherwise great video. By the way, the ceiling does not ‘open’ when activated, merely a holographic display of the exterior environment.

[@Randy_Batswinger]

I still can't understand why Character hasn't produced consoles for the 5" range. One and a bit is pretty poor after all these years.

[@SaturnCanuck]

... and filmed in Canada

[@greenr369]

It's a shame that the last few doctors were not the good. Especially her who should not be named!

[@Quert_Zuiopue]

Don't insult David Tennant or Peter Capaldi!