The Doctor's TARDIS

The Doctor's TARDIS (also called the Ship, the Box, and simply the TARDIS), was the Doctor's primary means of transport. It was capable of travelling through space and time. The Doctor voyaged all across the universe in this vessel, from the Big Bang (DW: Terminus, Castrovalva, to the end of the universe, the centre of the universe (DW: Terminus) to its outermost edges. (DW: Planet of Evil, Underworld) The craft was also capable of travelling between parallel realities, in spite of the fact that it was not specifically designed for inter-dimensional travel. (DW: Inferno) Like all other TARDIS models, the Doctor's TARDIS was controlled via a central control console. (DW: An Unearthly Child,et.al)

Other Time Lords frequently characterised the Doctor's TARDIS as woefully out-of-date. (DW: The Claws of Axos, The Ribos Operation) Indeed, by at least the time of the Doctor's fourth incarnation, if not much earlier, the model (a "Type 40 Model") had been pulled from general service on Gallifrey, and replaced by more advanced models. (DW: The Deadly Assassin, The Invasion of Time)

The craft was prone to a number of technical faults, ranging from depleted resources (DW: An Unearthly Child, The Wheel in Space, Vengeance on Varos) to malfunctioning controls (DW: The Edge of Destruction) to a simple inability to arrive at the proper time or location. However, because the TARDIS was a living being, these "faults" may instead have been at least partially attributed to the manifestation of the ship's free will.

According to The Eleventh Doctor, he believed that the materialisation noise the TARDIS made when it appeared, brought hope to anyone who heard it, no matter how lost they were. (DW: The Confrontation of the Wicked)

Exterior
Almost all TARDISes were designed to blend into their surroundings by means of a mechanism usually called the "chameleon circuit", but occasionally the "camouflage unit".

Some later models seemed to let the pilot choose a desired exterior, overriding what would have been "natural" for the surroundings. (DW: Time and the Rani, Time-Flight) The Fourth Doctor showed Adric how the TARDIS could be changed to the shape of an Egyptian pyramid, implying he could override the chameleon circuit's "automatic" functionality. (DW: Logopolis) Susan mentioned the TARDIS also had previously appeared as a sedan chair and an Ionic column. (DW: An Unearthly Child)

In any case, the defining characteristic of the Doctor's TARDIS was that its chameleon circuit had broken after assuming the shape of a police box in 1963 London. (DW: The Cave of Skulls) Not knowing this, the First Doctor and Susan expressed surprise that it had not changed form when they arrived at a new destination. (DW: An Unearthly Child)

On at least one instance it was implied that the chameleon circuit was working, but that the Doctor was fond of the Police Box shape so the TARDIS remained in that form for his happiness.

By his twelfth self, the Doctor was telling their companions that the chameleon circuit was working, but due to a fault, invariably assumed its customary police box shape:

"It's camouflaged. It's disguised as a police telephone box from 1963. Every time the TARDIS materialises in a new location, within the first nanosecond of landing, it analyses its surroundings, calculates a twelve-dimensional data map of everything within a thousand-mile radius and then determines which outer shell would blend in best with the environment.... and then it disguises itself as a police telephone box from 1963."

Friends and enemies could identify the TARDIS by its unvarying shape. The Daleks even used miniature copies of the TARDIS for target practice. (DW: Death to the Daleks) The Cybermen recognised it, (DW: Earthshock) as did the Black Guardian's operative known as the Shadow. On one occasion, an actual police box was mistaken for the Doctor's ship.

Because the police box shape was relatively easily recognised, the Doctor occasionally made attempts to change the exterior of the TARDIS. None were particularly successful. In the end, he forewent changing how the TARDIS' outer shell looked by his ninth incarnation, deciding that he liked it. When Lizzie Clarke questioned the wisdom of leaving the TARDIS parked in 1965's Lake Grasmere, thinking the sudden appearance of a police box would draw unwanted attention, the Doctor reasoned that it was not a concern - people would see a blue box in the vicinity and walk past it, taking no further notice. (DW: In Thy Image) This was most likely due to the perception filter that the TARDIS had.

Door
Generally, the TARDIS had two doors along one of the craft's four sides. They could open inward and outward. (DW: Time-Flight, The Ice Warriors)

The right-hand door usually had a lock, (DW: The Sensorites, Spearhead from Space et al.) although the lock was sometimes on the left-hand door, even though normal entry was still through the right. (DW: most serials prior to The War Machines)

On the left-hand door was a panel in which was a replica of a telephone used in real police boxes to summon the police. (DW: The Empty Child) While the Second Doctor inhabited the TARDIS the emergency phone was sometimes on the right-hand panel, but by the time of his adventure on Dulkis, it had returned to the left-hand door. (DW: The Dominators) Although during the Doctor's twelfth incarnation this phone was (usually) non-functional, (DW: The Empty Child) A sign on this small door offered instructions on use of the phone. (DW: Logopolis)

On most occasions, the left-hand door was set to a fixed position. Likewise, the windows on the door were most often seen in a closed position, though the First Doctor sometimes opened them. (DW: The Dalek Invasion of Earth)

The left-hand door was sometimes used for egress and the right-hand one stayed in a fixed position. (DW: The Aztecs)

The windows on the doors and around the exterior could be opened, at least during the First Doctor's tenure. (DW: The Dalek Invasion of Earth, The Rescue, The Web Planet) During the Doctor's first incarnation, a faded St John Ambulance logo could be seen on the door, even though it was sometimes barely visible under a layer of paint. Beginning during their second incarnation, it was not present. (DW: The Dominators onwards)

By the time he was going to have the chameleon circuit repaired by the Logopolitans, the Fourth Doctor had installed a handle on the telephone panel on the left-hand door. This remained a subtle, if functional, part of the design. (DW: The Empty Child)

At some point prior to arriving in Empire City, the Eighth Doctor affixed a small handle to the right-hand door. (DW: Tragedy Day)

First/Second Doctor console room


When the TARDIS was used by the First Doctor and Second Doctor its interior was a bright white room, with roundels on the walls and a large computer bank taking up a major part of the back wall. These computer backs contained the fault locator and various systems relating to navigational control (DW: An Unearthly Child, The Daleks). The interior had several pieces of furniture and antiques strewn about it, the position/presence of these objects changed over time. This interior also had a scanner on the wall, its appearance and position often changed as well (DW: An Unearthly Child, The Abominable Snowmen, Fury from the Deep, The Wheel in Space, The Mind Robber).

The overall structure of the room occasionally changed, with it at times being hexagonal (DW: An Unearthly Child), and other times rectangular (DW: The War Games).

The console was shown in the Third Doctor era separated from the its interior as The Doctor attempted to fix it during his exile (DW: Inferno).

Third Doctor console room
The first look at the TARDIS interior in the Third Doctor's era showed an interior with unchanged wall from the original version, the difference in terms of structure to the original room include a different scanner and the fact that the room is noticeably smaller. The main difference from the previous interior was a new center console, the controls had minimal changes but the time rotor now had a green column with white and red lights inside the glass casing (DW: Colony in Space).

The Third Doctor briefly changed the walls of the console room, adding concave "bowl" shaped structures over the regular roundels, with edges that jutted out from the wall, and featuring shallower, non-backlit roundels for the half-roundels at the tops and bottoms of the walls. One of the roundels served as a replacement for the scanner, a picture appearing in its centre (DW: The Time Monster). He later reverted to the more traditional design, though with a more visible separation between the roundels and the wall behind them. This new interior had several similarities to the original, with a ceiling based scanner and a large computer at the back (DW: The Three Doctors).

Fourth Doctor's first console room
The Fourth Doctor's first console had many similarities to that of his predecessor, however it was remarkably different. The most distinct feature of this new consoles aesthetic was the introduction of the first new roundel style. While half the walls remained the same indented roundels seen in the previous interiors, the other half consists of new shallow roundels that are the same grey colour as the walls around them.(Note: The ratio of new to old roundels changes from episode to episode) In terms of the console only one aspect carried over from the previous one, that being the time rotor.

The time rotor of this console is the same as the one from the previous one, except that the previously white lights on it have been changed to red. The controls of the console have been completely changed, as opposed to previous console which only added aesthetic changes (i.e. paneling). At the back of the console room is an indented door that leads to the rest of the ship. (DW: Planet Of Evil, Pyramids Of Mars)

Fourth Doctor's second console room/ Secondary console room
There existed a small second control room which the Doctor claimed may have been the original console room; a recorder and smoking jacket were found in here, implying both the Second and Third Doctors visited this room but chose not to use it. It was simpler and more compact than the main control room, with the console resembling a desk, no visible time rotor and all the controls hidden behind what appeared to be wooden paneling. The controls of this console primarily consisted of various keyboards of multi-coloured keys. On one wall there is a very large scanner built into an indented space on the wall.

It had more subtle roundels, some of them framing stained glass windows. There were many pieces of furniture in this interior, several chairs, tables, and desks are present. There are railings that surround the console and line the staircase leading to the exit. For a brief period, the Fourth Doctor used this as the main control room. (DW: The Masque of Mandragora, The Hand of Fear, The Deadly Assassin, The Robots of Death, The Invisible Enemy)

Fourth Doctor's third console room/Fifth Doctor's first console room
This interior was very similar to the Fourth Doctor’s first interior in terms of structure, however there were several differences. The biggest similarity between the two interiors is the console itself. The controls of the console are the same as the ones as the ones from the first one, with small changes and repairs on this one. The time rotor is the same as the one in the first except that while the original was green this one is red. The walls of the interior are notable for two things: the introduction of columns between the individual walls and the phasing out of the original roundel style. Though the last interior used a mix of old new roundels, this interior used a brand new type. These roundels were yellow when lit and had a very different structure to previous types. These roundels were shallow like the last new type, but where these differ is that the roundels have an outer rim that as even further indented.

The doors also had a version of these roundels in their indented roundels. Opposite to the doors are the scanner and a single door leading to the rest of the ship. The scanner opens in an ‘’eye-like’’ fashion and rests on its own indented space in the wall. (DW: The Invisible Enemy)

The Fifth Doctor continued to use this design. On orders from the Black Guardian, Vislor Turlough later damaged the heart of the TARDIS enough to the point of the TARDIS nearly falling apart, (DW: Terminus) leaving the room darker for some time until repairs were done. (DW: Enlightenment) The appearance of the interior change very little, with the exception of refurbishment to the controls.

Fifth Doctor's second/Sixth Doctor's/Seventh Doctor's first console room
This interior had many similarities to the previous one, primarily in the setup of the walls. The roundels were carried over from the previous models as were the set up of the columns, however the columns themselves changed.

The columns were originally cylinder-shaped but now they were more rectangular in shape. This new rectangular motif continued on to the scanner, with new descending rectangles lining to the sides of it. The main difference for this interior was the new console.

The console of this interior was simultaneously the most complex and yet one of the most simple. All the panels consisted only of several keyboards and switches, some of the panels had a monitor. The time rotor was also new, it consisted of an ascending incline of clear discs sat upon several red and white poles inside the glass cylinder.

Aside from those elements, all parts of this interior were identical to the previous model. (DW: The Five Doctors).

Following the Fifth Doctor’s regeneration, (DW: The Caves of Androzani) this interior would continue to be used by the Sixth and Seventh Doctors with no changes (DW: The Twin Dilemma, Time and the Rani).

Seventh Doctor's second console room/ Eighth Doctor console room
The interior was the most drastic change of interior since the use of the secondary console room. This interior consisted of a large hexagonal room that consisted of dark beige walls covered in yellow roundels. This console introduced a new roundel type, with the roundels in this interior being completely flat. On the left of the console was the scanner, the mechanisms and appearance of which was identical to the previous interior (with the colour changed to match the wall).

Opposite of the doors was the entrance to the rest of the ship, this entrance was quite simple as it consisted of an opening without a door. Above the wall were slanted blacks pieces of roof that connected to the top of the console, each slant contained two trapezoidal-shaped light pieces. The most drastic change was in the console itself, this was the first and so far only console to connect to the roof of the interior. The console actually hung from the ceiling, with the console’s rounded bottom being off the ground with no support. The time rotor consisted of a long glass cylinder connected to the roof, inside of which lay several glass mechanisms with a reddish light shining through it. The console was a gold colour and the controls consisted of a new arrange of switches, levers, and buttons. (DW: Earth Aid)

This interior continued to be used by the Eighth Doctor and went relatively unchanged during his tenure, with the exception of the occasional piece of furniture being added (DW: Night Thoughts).

Ninth Doctor console room
After his Regeneration, The Ninth Doctor began using a new control room, one that resembled a small comfortable Victorian Parlour. The Time Rotor now glowed with a blue light which grew brighter when the ship was in motion. The Console no longer hung from the ceiling and was once again standing on the floor. The console now featured various flashing lights and several controls which could be turned to change the destination. The doors and scanner remained the same as the previous interior along with the roundels which now had a dull orange light. A large bookshelf was also added. (DW: Revenge of the Master)

After leaving Janet, the Doctor redecorated the interior to reflect his mood. The roundels were removed and the interior doors were changed to large wooden doors. The TARDIS computer was removed from the main console and replaced with a small monitor that hung from the time rotor and displayed bold white text when in flight or displaying other information. (DW: The Hail Mary)

After he spent some time traveling with Sammy Thompson, the Doctor expanded the console room making it much larger than it had been before. A vast bureau that almost entirely covered the left wall was added, its huge drawers were filled with various objects that the Doctor wished to retain. Surrounding the console now were several metal half-arches, covered in circular holes that resembled roundels. Clocks of all descriptions- but mostly mechanical ones- littered various nooks and crannies.

Furniture, usually anathema to the Doctor's control rooms were found in abundance here. Indeed there was a large area immediately adjacent larger than the Console area itself which had several comfortable chairs, lamps, and ottoman- all of which conspired to give the control room the appearance of a cosy living room.

The wall scanner was also removed, and a new scanner was placed above the room that was the size of the Ceiling, the Doctor could flip a switch on the console and reveal astronomical phenomena on a grand scale. (DW: The Puppet Master)

Tenth Doctor console room
This interior was different to that of the Ninth Doctor in almost every way.

While the previous interior was dark and dreary this interior was lit bright white, reminiscent of earlier consoles. This interior was also reminiscent of the early consoles in its roundels. This is the first console since the Fourth Doctor's first console to use the original indented roundel type. The wall are arranged in a roughly circular pattern around the console. At the centre of the room is a circular platform, upon which rests a second platform that holds the console. The console itself is also a drastic departure from usual consoles. While every other console has been hexagonal in shape this one is circular. The main body of the console is divided in two halves with a silver piece in between. The lower half consists of several large black wires wrapped around the bottom and eventually leading into the bowels of the ship. The upper half consists of the control panels, they consist of a clear panel with several controls on it, each panel is separated by the border piece.

The border piece encases both halves of the console, serving to contain the wires of the lower half and separate the panels on the upper half. On the upper half of the console, there are more controls on the border piece. The controls of this interior are unique with how they are all worn and broken. Some of the controls would have tape on them, implying that The Doctor had to manually repair them. Above the main body is a metal piece, which serves as the swivel for the interior's scanner, and resting on that are two large ceramic plates which serve as the base of the time rotor. The time rotor consists of a long glass cylinder, inside are six smaller glass cylinders that rise and fall when the TARDIS is in flight. Both the panels and the time rotor are both lit white from the inside of the console. There is one similarity that exists between this interior and its predecessor, its use of archways. The archways of this interior are made of the same material as the border piece on the console and curve from the floor to the top of the time rotor. The ceiling is just plain white, but several thick black wires hang from it in between the arcs. The floor outside the main platform is also covered in these wires. (DW: Night of the Angels, The Dance of the Devil).

The Eleventh Doctor, assumingly, used this console room to retrieve Sandra Armstrong from Exotract 42 to close The Eye of Harmony then put her back at The Space Station so she could die and keep the timeline stable (DW: The Confrontation of the Wicked).

Twelfth and Thirteenth Doctor console room
After regenerating and stepping down as Lord President of Gallifrey, the Twelfth Doctor received a new console room (MOV: Doctor Who: Revelation)

The colour scheme was similar to that of the secondary Console Room with browns and greys whilst also containing elements from the earlier console rooms. The roundels were a hexagonal shape based on the overall room and were bright white as was the lights on the main console.

After some time, more furniture was added in around the room with a sofa placed near side which gave it an unusual homely feel. (DW: Cannon Fodder) This would remain in place for the rest of the Twelth Doctor's life and throughout the Thirteenth Doctor's life.

Fourteenth/Fifteenth Doctor's first console room
Following resurrection and getting DNA from the First Doctor, the Fourteenth Doctor received a more futuristic looking console. Seemingly smaller, her new control room contained a console with more literal input devices and instrumentation, as well as a pair of secondary consoles on the railing of the main platform. The room was stark and mechanical, covered in tones of pink, creating an ambient glow that added warmth to the room. There were glowing circles over the hexagonal roundels on the lower floor, echoing the circular roundels of her earlier control rooms.

This control room contained several items including a reclining chair, bookshelves, candles, chalkboards, an additional staircase to the upper level and circular lights around the lower balcony. (MOV: Doctor Who: Genesis)

The control room featured pink lighting from the time rotor, Gallifreyan markings on the ceiling and above the time rotor, hexagonal roundels on the lower console level, and Gallifreyan markings on the top level. Several tiny lights went around the walls of the room in a straight line, flashing sections at a time. The console featured two screens, and what seemed to be a radar on one face. There were two additional consoles around the edge of the main level. It was also much darker than the previous iteration. Except for the time rotor, all lights could be turned off when the Doctor was not inside. (MOV: Doctor Who: Genesis)

There were three levels: an upper balcony, which looked down over the console and had doorways off of it, the landing, which housed the console, seating, and main doors. (MOV: Doctor Who: Genesis)

Fifteenth Doctor's second console room
The Fifteenth Doctor used a new console room towards the end of her life. The interior was far larger and more cathedral-like, with the console being brighter; containing a crystal central column. This console also shared some similarities to several previous consoles, with it being shaped circular as did Ten's.

The doors resembled those of the earlier console rooms with stairs leading to the centre, as well as the roundels occupying the side walls, with furniture also placed around the edges, similar to the first console and large metal arches surround above the time rotor, stretching across the console like the Ninth's console. (DW: The Doomsday Cannon)